Presley v. Ft. Worth & D. C. Ry. Co.
Presley v. Ft. Worth & D. C. Ry. Co.
Opinion of the Court
This suit originated in the district court of Wichita county by appellant filing suit against appellee therein for the sum of $10,000 actual and $15,000 exemplary damages for an alleged wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, and personal injuries incident to the arrest. At the conclusion of the introduction of evidence on a trial before a jury, in response to a peremptory instruction by the court, it returned a verdict for appellee, defendant below, on which judgment was rendered and from which appellant, plaintiff below, has appealed to this court.
In view of the disposition made of the case below and the questions raised in this appeal, we have found it necessary to carefully peruse the entire record as a means of enabling us to make proper disposition of the appeal. There is some conflict in the evidence as to whether or not appellant, in the presence of the officer who made the arrest, committed a breach of the peace, thus warranting an arrest without warrant for that reason, and there is also a serious conflict in the evidence as to the nature and extent of the injuries sustained by appellant, but, as we view the record, there is no conflict found in the evidence as to the following facts:
Appellant was moving from Cook to Has-kell county, transporting his effects by rail, he accompanying them en route, having loaded his effects in a car at the initial point where they were billed to Wichita Falls, over the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway of Texas. Having reached Wichita Falls, and being desirous of going over the line of appellee from that point to Chilicothe, a station on that road, where he then expected to reship over the Orient, he and an authorized agent of appel-lee at Wichita Falls properly executed a written contract covering the transportation of his effects, as well as himself, from Wichita Falls to Chilicothe, which contract among other things provides as follows; “We the undersigned persons in charge of the live stock mentioned in the within bill of lading, in consideration of the pass granted us by the Ft. Worth & Denver City *670 Railway Oo. and of other covenants and agreements contained in said bill of lading, all of which for the consideration aforesaid, are accepted by us and made a part of this our contract, and all of the terms and conditions of which we hereby agree to observe and be securely bound thereby, and we do hereby expressly agree that we will remain in the caboose attached to the train while the train is in motion; get on and off the caboose when the train is still; not remain on any car except the caboose and not get on and off of any car while in motion, or while switching is done. This bill of lading does not entitle the holder hereof or any other person to ride on any train except in accordance with the conditions hereof especially provided in reference thereto and then only when such persons are active caretakers of the livestock shipped by virtue of this bill of lading.” The proof shows conclusively that appellant was the only person accompanying said shipment who had any interest therein or rights thereto.
Under said contract, the car containing appellant’s effects was placed in one of appellee’s freight trains at Wichita Falls, and started on its journey to Chilicothe. Soon after getting out of Wichita Falls, appellee’s conductor, or one of its brakemen in charge of said train, discovered that appellant was riding in' the car with his effects, and not in the caboose, as required by the contract, and -told appellant, in effect, that he had no right to ride in said car, and must get into the caboose and ride there. Appellant did not do as requested, but continued to remain and ride in the car with his effects. Thereafter each time the train stopped a similar notice was given and request made by appellee’s conductor with the same results, and at the last stop made before reaching Electra, the point where the trouble occurred, appellee’s conductor and brakeman, having become satisfied that another person was also riding in the car with appellant and his effects, who was not entitled to ride on that train, demanded of appellant that he either cease riding in said car and ride in the caboose, as his contract and tlie rules of the company required, or they could not further carry his car, and would set it out of the train, whereupon appellant insisted on his right to ride in the car where he was, and in effect declared he would not ride in the caboose. At this juncture the conductor, because of his other duties not having before called on appellant for his evidence of right to ride on any. part of the train, called on him for his contract or evidence of right to be on any part of the train and about the same time one of the brakemen started to climb into the car where appellant was, whereupon appellant presented a pistol, stating that that was his ticket or right to ride, and further stated in effect that he would fill with bullet holes the first man who came into the car. The train crew realizing they could not get appellant out of the car and into the caboose, nor cut the car out of the train so as to go on without it, without in all probability having a serious if not a fatal difficulty with appellant, and, by this time being fully convinced that another person was riding in the car with appellant who had no right to be on that train, concluded to call an officer when they reached Electra, and with his assistance either have appellant ride in the caboose or cut appellant’s car out of the train and leave it at Electra, and, on reaching Electra for the purpose above indicated, they called an officer without appellant so knowing, and informed the officer in substance of the facts above set out, who at once went with his pistol drawn and presented to the car where appellant was, and either demanded that appellant come out of the car or surrender, whereupon appellant, after telling the officer to shoot, turned as if to get his gun, when the officer seized him by one of his legs, and demanded that he surrender. As the appellant neither surrendered nor came out of the car, and the officer was unable to overpower him and thus effect an arrest, he called on appellee’s conductor and brakeman to assist him, which they did, and together they succeeded in overpowering appellant and in arresting him, and in doing so appellant received the injuries of which he complains, though no more force was used in making the arrest than was necessary. By this time it had been learned beyond question that another man had been in fact riding in the car with appellant with his acquiescence and consent, and who, in fact, had been concealed therein by appellant from Wichita Falls, and who had no right to be on any part of said train. He was also arrested by the officer, and the two, with the assistance of the conductor and brakeman, acting under request of the officer, were placed in the calaboose, where appellant remained for three hours, during which time the officer, who was a constable, communicated over the phone with the county attorney of that county at Wichita Falls, with the view of learning the charge under the facts that should be lodged against appellant. On learning the proper charge to be lodged against appellant, the officer so informed him, and he was released on bond. There was a justice of the peace at Electra, but he was a new man, and was not able to inform the officer as to the nature and kind of charge that should be preferred against the appellant; hence the necessity of obtaining said information from the county attorney. The proof is clear-that the only part the conductor and brakeman took in the arrest and imprisonment was under the command of the officer wlu> made it, and that no employé of the company asked that an arrest be made or called the *671 officer for the purpose of having an arrest made, though the officer elected to make the arrest on arriving at the train, as above indicated, after being informed of the facts.
Under the foregoing facts, and as we view the record there are none others that would throw any light on the legal questions involved, the first legal question to be solved is: Did the officer have a legal right to make the arrest «without a warrant (for he had no warrant)? If so, then we think under the law no recovery could be sustained against the appellee because of the part taken in the arrest by its conductor and brakeman.
Believing that under no theory of the law could a verdict be sustained in appellant’s favor against appellee, under the pleadings and the evidence introduced, it follows that there was nothing to submit to the jury on the trial below, and that the trial court in our opinion did not in giving the peremptory instruction commit error.
The judgment of the trial court will therefore in all things be affirmed, and it is so ordered.
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