113 Mo. App. 79 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1905
— Action for double damages for the killing of a steer by the defendant’s train. The animal went on the track of the defendant at Eaglet, a stopping place or station in Stoddard county. The defense was. that it was necessary to leave the railroad track unfenced at that place in order to carry on the business of the station with reasonable convenience to the public and safety to train operatives. The court gave an instruction for the plaintiff which ignored this defense and, in effect, directed a verdict for the plaintiff if the animal strayed on the track where the railroad was unfenced, unless the point was at a public highway crossing or in an incor
By judicial construction of the statute requiring railroad companies to fence their tracks, they are permitted to leave a sufficient space open about depots or stations for the safe and commodious transaction of the business of the station. One side of the main track at Eaglet is unfenced, as is also a spur which runs out from the main track about two hundred yards. There was testimony that it was necessary to leave this space open for the safety of train operatives and so the patrons of the company could load and unload freight. Cattle guards would have been required if the whole space had been inclosed and these might have endangered trainmen. On the whole we think it was a question for the jury whether it was necessary to leave the track unfenced where the plaintiff’s steer entered, provided Eaglet was a station within the meaning of the rule allowing railroad companies to leave such space unfenced about a station as business needs require to be open. The word “depot” or “station” is used in different senses according to the subject-matter of the case under consideration. Sometimes a court has to determine whether or not a railroad company has complied with its contract to maintain a depot or station at a certain point. [Gayeau v. R. R., 25 Grant’s Ch. (N. C.) 64; Hood v. Id., L. R. 5 Ch. 525.] At other times whether a certain point is a station in the sense that notice of the times of arrival and departure of trains must be posted. [State v. R. R., 133 Ind. 69.] And, again if the point is a station so that
Of course, whether it was necessary for the track to be open at the very point where the plaintiff’s animal entered was a question for the jury, to be submitted by an appropriate instruction. .
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.