The law of the road; or, wrongs and rights of a traveller

by R. Vashon Rogers

“Wal, but the old conductor saw me thar and didn’t say nothink agin’ it,” quoth the wounded man.

“That makes no difference.[505] If there had been no notice up you might get something out of them.”[506]

“I think,” I said, “that it has been held, in one case at least, to be a question for the jury, whether the passenger had notice not to stand outside, and whether the fact of his disregarding it contributed to the injury; and they having failed to find these facts, the Court of Appeals let the plaintiff keep the $10,000, awarded him.”[507]

“Oh, Jee-ru-sa-lem and Jee-ri-cho, I go in for that slick and quick,” cried the victim at the sound of the almighty dollars.

“Ha-ha; but the company, if you sue them, will only have to show that there was room and an unoccupied seat inside the cars for you. Of course, one is not obliged to displace either the persons or property of other passengers, or urge them to give up half a seat, or even a whole one, needlessly occupied by them;[508] that is the duty of the conductor; nor is one obliged to sit in the smoking car.”[509]

“But,” asked a lady, “should a passenger go through all the train searching for a place wherein to bestow her weary frame?”

“No, it is no compliance with the duty of the company to provide proper accommodation, that there is sufficient room in a carriage remote from the place where the passenger was allowed to enter.[510] C. J. Coleridge once remarked in the hearing of a friend of mine, that there may be no negligence in the company’s servants allowing too many persons to get into a carriage, as it would be difficult at all times to prevent it, and perhaps there would be no help for it until the arrival at the next station. But permitting an extra number to remain in the car and to continue to impose undue restraint and discomfort upon the other passengers is evidence of negligence; and companies should have a sufficient number of attendants at each station to see that their cars are not overcrowded.”[511]

“How would it be where a passenger is in the baggage car with the knowledge of the conductor, and is there injured?” asked one.

“It was decided in Canada, in such a case, that the traveller could recover damages. There a man went into the express company’s compartment (which was not intended for passengers, but whither they oft times resorted to smoke the pipe of peace): a notice was usually put upon the inside of the doors of the passenger cars and on the outside of the door of the baggage car, forbidding travellers to ride in the latter, but it was not shown that it was there on that particular day; the conductor passed through the car twice while the man was in there and made no objection. By a collision, this Watson had an arm broken, while none of those in the passenger car were much hurt, and the court held that even if W. was aware of the notices, yet the company were not thereby excused, under the circumstances.[512] But where a man rode free of charge on an engine, after the engineer had told him that it was against the rules for him to do so, it was held that he was a wrong-doer, and could not recover for injuries sustained while he bestrode the iron horse, as the consent of the engineer conferred no legal right.[513] If, however, passengers are carried, and charged fare, in the caboose car (whatever that may be) of freight trains, they have the same right to be conveyed safely as if luxuriating in a gorgeous Pullman palace car,[514] and so where one rides on a gravel train.[515] And where the conductor, though against the rules, allowed a passenger to travel in a freight car, charging him a first-class fare, the company were held to have incurred the same liability for his safety as if he had been in a regular passenger train.[516] Ditto where the conductor of a coal train invited a man to take a ride and charged him naught.”[517]

“That may be true enough down east, but out west if a passenger takes a freight train he takes it with the increased risk and diminution of comfort incident thereto, and if it is managed with the care requisite for such trains, it is all he has a right to expect or demand;”[518] remarked one who hailed from the city of Widow O’Leary’s celebrated cow.