45 So. 363 | Miss. | 1907
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an action for damages for being forcibly ejected from a railroad train. It is absolutely certain that Mr. Gortikov bought, paid for, and received a round-trip ticket at Tucson, Ariz., good from that place to Chicago, 111., and return, over the route on which he was ejected. On that ticket and over that route he went without question from Tucson to Chicago, and was on his return; and it is also certain that, pursuant to the directions of his ticket, he identified himself to the agent at Chicago and returned on that same ticket to and south of Memphis, Tenn., and was ejected at Grenada, Miss. The cause of his being put off, according to his testimony, was that the conductor 'said it was a “bogus ticket,” claiming that the plaintiff had purchased it from a scalper, because the original ticket had been issued to a female. Whether the ticket was in fact, or not, when bought, punched in the wrong place, so as to show that it was issued to a female, is in-our view wholly immaterial. That was a matter for the convenience 'of the railroad company, and no passenger should be held to be bound by the mistakes of the agent in using his punch. It will be noted that, in the description of the passenger made by the agent at Tucson, the appellee, plaintiff below, is perfectly described, even to the fact of his having a mustache.
It is also absolutely certain that the ticket, according to the actual contract made at its purchase, had not expired by several days at the time of the expulsion from the train. This is shown by the appellee’s testimony, and by the agent who sold him the
In the case at bar it was clearly the conductor’s duty to accept explanation, regardless of the punch marks. But, as we have said, the evidence on the part of the plaintiff is that the conductor made no such objection to the ticket, but put his refusal explicitly on the ground that the ticket had been issued to a female, and was a “bogus ticket.” Looking to all that appears on this ticket, the expulsion was unnecessary, and from the circumstances shown on the part of the plaintiff it is our opinion that they warranted the recovery of both actual and exemplary damages. Examining the whole ticket, it is clear that the contract was not to expire until December 31, and, if the punch mark contradicted this, it should not have been considered by the conductor, because the printed contract should be taken most strongly against the railroad company which issued it.
It is useless to comment on the provision of the ticket, under the head of “Caution,” to the effect that, in cases of do.ubt- between the passenger and the conductor, the passenger should pay the rate which the conductor demanded, and get a receipt from him, and report to the general office, and then “the same will receive prompt attention.” It is simply advice, and no part of the ten provisions in the ticket. It is a suggestion to the passenger that he could pay the fare, and, if he did it, the general office, on his report, would give it
Taking the instructions as a whole, we find nothing authorizing this court to reverse.
Affirmed.