"The laws regarding common carriers apply to steamships and steamboats the same as to railways, and the decisions in cases arising from loss of the property of passengers are of the general character already described.
"Many suits have arisen consequent upon the failure of railway companies to run their trains at the advertised time, missing connections, or otherwise causing loss to the passenger. The courts have generally held that the advertised time-table of a company has the validity of a contract with the public, and unless it can show that the failure to keep the agreement was quite beyond its control, the passenger must be paid for any immediate loss resulting therefrom. But the allowances are confined to 'direct' rather than to 'indirect' damages, and include extra expense for hotel bills or for special conveyances, and sometimes compensation for injury to health by exposure. A merchant may be able to show that by missing a connection he lost the opportunity to make a valuable contract; a lawyer may prove that a case went against him because the delay on the railway prevented his reaching court till after the judge had rendered his decision; or an actor may show that he disappointed an audience and lost the profits of a performance for the same reason. In all these instances the courts will not hold the companies responsible, as the loss is constructive and not actual. On the other hand the passenger is held guiltless for a free ventilation of his opinions to the conductor or other representative of the company, and he may even indulge in profane expressions, if he is unrestrained by moral training.
"There is a case on record in which a railway train that was running behind time was struck by a tornado, whereby a passenger was injured. A suit was brought for damages on the ground that if the train had been on time it would not have encountered the storm, but the court held that the delay was not in any way the cause of the tornado, and therefore the company had no responsibility in the matter. Accidents from floods, snow-storms, and similar causes are regarded by the courts as 'the act of God,' and if a company can show that it used all diligence to avert disaster, and made every reasonable effort to get the train through on time, it is exonerated.
"Delays on steamships are regarded in the same light. If a steamer meets with an accident at sea, or is detained by storms, the occurrence is treated as a case of force majeure, for which the owners of the ship are not responsible, unless negligence or incapacity of the officers can be clearly shown. If a steamer breaks down after starting on a voyage, and returns to the port of departure, her passengers are entitled to be conveyed on the vessel as soon as the necessary repairs are effected, or on some other vessel of the same company, but the company is not required to return the money paid for the passenger's fare unless it has no vessel to start on the voyage 'within a reasonable time.' It generally does so by courtesy, to avoid making enemies, and not infrequently the company pays the hotel bills of delayed passengers for the same reason. In the Mediterranean and the far East a passenger delayed by the failure of a ship to make a connection, or from any other cause, must pay his own hotel bills, and if he lives on board the ship while waiting in port he must pay for his meals, but not for his lodging.
"When a ship is detained in quarantine the passengers must pay for their meals, at a reasonable price, which is usually fixed beforehand. Several suits, growing out of delays in quarantine, have arisen, and almost invariably the decisions have been in favor of the steamship companies. In one instance a steamer touched at an infected port on her way, and thereby subjected herself to be quarantined on arriving at her destination. It was shown that she was not advertised to touch at the port in question, and her agents, at the point of departure, had distinctly stated she would not stop there; the court compelled the refunding of the money paid for board during the ten days' quarantine, and also other expenses caused by the delay, on the ground that there had been a clear violation of agreement with the public.
"The reader who desires fuller information on this subject will do well to consult 'Judge and Jury,' by Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, and 'The Law of the Road, or Wrongs and Rights of a Traveler,' by R. Vashon Rogers. 'Judge and Jury' endeavors to show the law of the land on topics of general public interest, and about sixty pages of the book are devoted to travel and transportation. 'The Law of the Road' is in the form of a story, introducing all the incidents and accidents of travel, and their legal aspects. In both books the decisions of the courts are cited, so that they can be readily found. 'Lawson on Common Carriers' is also recommended as an excellent authority on matters indicated by its title."
CHAPTER XXVI.
WILDERNESS AND FRONTIER TRAVEL.
The rapid extension of the railway across the American Continent, and the construction of lateral lines, have greatly diminished the volume of travel with wagons, and other primitive modes, but have by no means made an end of them. There is yet a large area without settlements, and unprovided with the iron road, and for many years to come the wagon of the emigrant and explorer will wend its way through the wilderness. For those who contemplate pushing beyond the borders of civilization, the writer presents this chapter.
The means of transportation available in frontier or wilderness regions are wagons and pack-animals; the former are adapted to most open and prairie countries, but in mountain regions it often happens that the wagon cannot be used. The pack-animals in general use are horses and mules; the latter are the surest of foot, especially the Mexican variety, which is smaller than the American mule, and can live where the latter would starve. Where snow is to be encountered horses are to be preferred, as the horse will plod on through the drifts long after the mule has given up in despair. The writer of "How to Travel" has an unhappy recollection of crossing the divide between the Arkansas and Platte rivers in the winter of 1860, when paths had to be trodden in the snow for the mules before they would consent to go ahead. Our horses kept on through snow that was nearly thirty inches deep, but even when they had made a very good path it was difficult to urge the mules forward.
The best pack-saddles for either horses or mules are of the "Grimsley" pattern; they are open at the top, and covered with rawhide that shrinks while drying, and is thus drawn straight. The Grimsley fits well on the animal's back, and saves it from soreness longer than any other form of saddle in use. The Indians have pack-saddles in the form of "saw-horses," and the Mexicans use a leather sack like a mattress, which is stuffed with hay, and has no projections for fastening the load in place. In putting it on a mule they draw the belt so tight that it seems to threaten to cut the poor brute in two, and certainly must give him great pain. All the forms of pack-saddles, as well as the best riding-saddles for frontier use, have broad girths of braided horse-hair, that are far less likely to slip than any girth of leather.