124 Iowa 685 | Iowa | 1904
The defendant is a town of four or five hundred inhabitants in Pottawattamie county. The two principal streets therein are Broadway, running north and south, and Second, running east and west. At the time of the accident in question there was a board walk, some ten or twelve feet in width, running east and west on the north side of Second street, along the south side of block eight in said town. What was known as “ Hesley’s Saloon ” was one door from the west side of the block, and between this saloon and Broadway street, to the west, was á general store, at which plaintiff traded. The post office was half a block from the saloon, and still east of that, and on the south side of the street, was plaintiff’s hotel. On the afternoon of March 21, 1902, and at about the hour of two, plaintiff left his hotel to go to the general store, where he traded. Just after passing the post office he met a traveling man with whom he was acquainted, and passed down the board walk with him until they arrived at a point just in front of the saloon, where they stopped and talked for fifteen or twenty minutes. When the conversation was concluded, plaintiff saluted his companion, turned around, and started to resume his journey westward, when he immediately fell into a hole in the sidewalk which was three and one-half to four feet in width, and seven or eight feet long, and down into an excavation under
The motion for a new trial should have been sustained. The case is therefore reversed.