59 Miss. 284 | Miss. | 1881
delivered the opinion of the court.
If the animal killed in this case was stricken by the train
The object of the statute is to compel the companies to confine themselves to such speed within towns and cities that they can readily check their engines upon the sudden appearance of any obstruction. This object would be wholly defeated if the narrow construction contended for were placed upon the law. Railroad companies, in running their trains through incorporated towns, act at their peril in exceeding the speed prescribed, and are liable for all damage resulting from such excess of speed, whether it be done while such speed is maintained or by reason of it having been maintained it has become impossible to check the train in time to avoid collisions.
The defendant’s witnesses testified that the horse injured was not struck by the locomotive at all, but received his injuries by running across the track in front of the engine and hanging his foot in a water-gap, by which his leg was broken without any collision with the engine. Though no eye-witness to the transaction was produced by the plaintiff, the jury were warranted in disbelieving the defendant’s witnesses by the proof made that there were marks of the horse having been dragged along the track by the locomotive for twenty yards or more before the water-gap was reached. Herein the case of Chicago Railroad Co. v. Packwood, ante, 280, differs from this.
Affirmed.