Singley v. Easton Transit Co.
Singley v. Easton Transit Co.
Opinion of the Court
The questions of negligence on the part of the motorman of the defendant company and the contributory negligence of the plaintiff, who was injured, were necessarily for the jury, and they were submitted with full and accurate instructions. Two cars, one an open summer car, which was at the time used as a motor, and the other a flat car loaded with rails and attached to the summer car, were standing on a switch on a city street at a place where an east-bound passenger car stopped every fifteen minutes during the day, to allow a car to pass on the main track. The motorman stood on the east platform of the open car facing west in the direction in which he intended to move the cars. The plaintiff, a boy thirteen years old, was riding east on a bicycle, and when near the open car turned from his course to cross the street diagonally and pass behind it. This place was not a regular crossing, but was frequently used to reach a subway under a railroad. At the moment he reached the track the cars were started west, and he was struck and injured. There was nothing except the position of the trolley pole to indicate that the car would move west, and anyone not observing this might well suppose the car was a regular passenger car going east or a car out of
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Singley v. Easton Transit Company
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Street railways — Contributory negligence — Boy on bicycle— Evidence. In an action by a boy thirteen years old against a street railway company to recover damages for personal injuries, it appeared that two cars, one an open summer car which was at the time of the accident used as a motor, and the other a flat car loade.d with rails and attached to the summer car, were standing on a switch on a city street at a place where an east-bound passenger car stopped every fifteen minutes during the day, to allow a car to pass on the main track. The motorman stood on the east platform of the open car facing west in the direction in which he intended to move the cars. The plaintiff was riding east on a bicycle and when near the open car turned from his course to cross the street diagonally and pass behind it. This place was not a regular crossing but was frequently used to reach a subway under a railroad. At the moment he reached the track, the cars were started west and he was struck and injured. There was nothing except the position of the trolley pole to indicate that the car would move west, and anyone not observing this might well suppose the car was a regular passenger car going east or a car out of service. Reid, that the case was for the jury.