201 Pa. 237 | Pa. | 1902
Opinion by
Adam C. Muhlhause, the plaintiff, a boy of fourteen years of age, accompanied by his sister and her husband, boarded a car of the defendant corporation at Smithfield street and Fifth avenue, in Pittsburg, about eight o’clock on Sunday evening September 9,1900, with the intention of making a continuous trip to Kennywood Park and return. This park is a pleasure resort and about eleven miles from the heart of the city. On the day of this occurrence a concert was to take place at the park and it had been extensively advertised by the defendant corporation. A large crowd of people visited the park during the day and evening. The street railway runs from the city to and through the park where it has double tracks enclosed by a fence. There was in the park one place for unloading
This action was brought to recover damages for the injuries sustained by the boy. At the close of the plaintiff’s testimony the court refused the defendant’s motion for a compulsory non-suit. Subsequently at the conclusion of the defendant’s evidence, the court denied a prayer for instruction that under the pleadings and evidence the verdict should be for the de
The defendant denies these allegations of negligence and asserts that it had made its station as safe as it could possibly be made, and that “ the injury resulted not from anything it had done, but simply because of the rudeness and negligence of certain persons in attempting to get on the car before it came to a stop.”
In determining the liability of the defendant in this case we need not consider whether or not the plaintiff stood to the carrier in the relation of a passenger, requiring from it the exercise of the degree of care which that relation exacts. The case was not tried in the court below upon that theory. The learned trial judge held the defendant corporation only to the exercise of ordinary care under the circumstances. This was the standard by which the acts and conduct of the defendant on the occasion of the accident were to be judged, and its responsibility for the plaintiff’s injuries could only arise on the finding of the jury that it had failed in the performance of that duty.
The single assignment of error raises the question whether there was sufficient evidence to submit to the jury to justify a verdict that the defendant had not exercised ordinary care in view of the dangers to be apprehended on this occasion. A carrier must furnish a safe and sufficient means of ingress to, and egress from, its trains. It is likewise incumbent upon it to exercise ordinary care in protecting from danger persons assembled at its stations, intending to depart by its trains. Rudeness and bad manners of strangers and intending passengers, resulting in injuries, will not convict a carrier of negligence. Such conduct is not to be anticipated, and the carrier is not required to provide against it. But when a street car company invites the public to. use its line to visit a park, or other public
In the case in hand the learned trial judge instructed the jury that “ the place (station for departing passengers) was good enough. It is not pretended that the place was defective because it was not defective, for the evidence is that it was a proper arrangement. But the point is whether, with that arrangement, there was proper care.” Kennywood Park is much frequented by the people of Pittsburg. In the summer, many concerts are held there which are extensively advertised by the defendant corporation, whose street car lines furnish the means of transportation to and from it. Large crowds are attracted to the park by the advertisements and inducements held out by the defendant, whose, cars and stations are crowded on such occasions. These conditions had prevailed during the summer preceding the Sunday in September, 1900, when Adam C. Muhlhause was injured. On the day of the accident from 6,000 to 8,000 people visited the park, and about 3,000 people were there during the evening of the day. This crowd was not in excess of the numbers frequenting the park on similiar occasions. It was, therefore, clearly the duty of the defendant to anticipate
The defendant contends that the arrangements for taking care of arriving and departing passengers had been carefully planned by an experienced engineer, and “ that everything had been done that could be devised to provide for the safety of the passengers.” It is conceded, and the court so instructed the jury, that the place used as a station was safe. It is not claimed that the negligence of the defendant was the maintenance of an unsafe platform or station. Nor that the crowd in the rear of the boy pushed him against the moving car. But the allegation of the plaintiff is that the defendant permitted its station and the running board of the car entering it to be overcrowded, and ran the car recklessly and negligently into the enclosure at an improper and excessive rate of speed. It is averred that this action on the part of the defendant was the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. In considering the only error assigned in this case we must assume the testimony of the plaintiff to be true. ‘ It shows that at the time of the accident there were 150 to 200 people at the station, ready and anxious to board the first departing car, and that but a single car entered at this time to carry them to their destination. It was an open summer car, having a running-board on the side, and with a seating capacity of forty-five, and with a seating and standing capacity of about double that number. There was no person in charge of the gateway used as an entrance to the station, nor was there any officer or person at the station to control or direct the movements of the crowd. The plaintiff’s witnesses testified to this, and under the instructions of the court the jury must have so found. It must also be assumed as a fact that the car entered and passed into the enclosure at an excessive rate of speed, much beyond what the safety of the people awaiting it permitted.
These facts necessarily carried the case to the jury on the question of the defendant’s negligence. The fence surround
But aside from this means of protecting those at the station, the corporation could have controlled the crowd and prevented disorder by having a sufficient number of officers present at the station to direct the movements of the people. It was not a lawless crowd, nor was it beyond the control of a reasonable number of efficient servants or officers. The learned judge practically told the jury that one officer would have been sufficient to prevent the crowd from jumping on the car. Had the crowd been kept off the car until it stopped the plaintiff would not have been injured. The failure to control the crowd in this respect, aided by the rapid speed at which the car was propelled at the station, caused the boy to be thrown under, and crushed by, the wheels of the vehicle. The accident could have been avoided by the exercise of reasonable care on the
The assignment of error is overruled and the judgment is affirmed.