“I should think,” I remarked, “one ought to be allowed a reasonable time to find his ticket.”
“Of course,” was the reply, “a passenger has a right to ride so long as there is a reasonable expectation of his finding it during the trip.[387] A conductor on a previous train wrongfully taking the passenger’s ticket does not excuse the traveller from producing it, when called upon by another conductor; although, in such a case, the company would be liable for the wrongful act of the first conductor.”[388]
“I suppose the courts assume that the conductors are the agents of the company and authorized to do all legal acts for properly collecting the tickets, keeping order, running the train and removing persons who misbehave or will not pay, and such?” I queried.
“Yes,” replied my friend, who was suffering from an acute attack of cacoethes loquendi, “and if in assuming to carry out what he is legally empowered to do, he forcibly removes from the cars (without any excuse) a passenger who has paid his fare, he will be liable for the assault; but if while being removed the man should slip, fall, and be injured, the company will not be responsible for his scratches and bruises, or his sprains and strains, such things being the remote, and not the proximate consequences of the ejectment.”[389] Force may be used to prevent one unlawfully getting on a train and no liability be incurred for injuries; but when once a man is fairly on care must be taken in removing him.[390] Companies have a right to adopt such reasonable regulations as are necessary for their security, and if they are not complied with by the passengers, not only may the railroad refuse them admission to the cars, but if they are already within they may remove them;[391] “and in the enforcement of order, and in the execution of reasonable regulations for the safety and comfort of passengers and for the security of the train, the authority of the officer in charge must be obeyed.”[392]
“Suppose a man suffered serious detriment to his business by being wrongfully turned out of the cars, could he recover for such losses?” I asked.
“It has been so considered in the great Republic, if he declares specially in regard to them.[393] But it has been held—and I think rightly—that one cannot get vindictive or punitive damages against a company, unless they expressly or impliedly participate in the wrongful action by authorizing it beforehand or approving of it afterwards;[394] or the case be one of gross negligence or wilful misconduct.”[395]
“What is it, then, exactly, that a man can get for being with indignity and insolence hustled out of a train, amid the laughs and jeers of the vulgar and the sneers of the polite?”
“Damages for actual injury, loss of time, pain of body, money paid to the doctor, or for injuries to the wounded feelings of the evicted one, may be allowed.[396] One man got $1,150 for being put off, when sick, away from a station.”[397]
“Suppose one was killed, and sent off unprepared to the happy hunting grounds of his fathers?” I queried.
“Then the company would be liable under Lord Campbell’s Act,”[398] answered my Nestor.