87 Pa. 405 | Pa. | 1878
delivered the opinion of the court,
On the evening of November 9th 1876, James Collins was found dead on the tracks of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Company, in the city of Allegheny. An engine and two cars had just passed when he was found, and it seems clear from the evidence that one or both of the cars, and possibly the engine, had passed over him and inflicted injuries of which he died the same evening. This suit was brought in the court below by the widow and minor children of the deceased to recover damages for his death, upon the ground that it was occasioned by the negligence of the railway company.
We are saved the discussion of the question as to how far negligence on the part of the company or its employees was established by the fact that, conceding all that was claimed on behalf of the plaintiffs below in this respect, the deceased was clearly chargeable with contributory negligence. This will appear from a brief statement of the undisputed facts. He had lived for years m the immediate neighborhood of the spot where he was killed; was necessarily familiar with the track at that point, and must have known that it was a place of danger. There was no public crossing at or near the place where he was injured. The last time he was seen before the accident was about seven o’clock in the evening, passing along Wilkins street towards Preble avenue. The witness says he was under the influence of liquor. - He was probably on his way home. Preble avenue is forty feet in width, and runs parallel with and by the side of the track for a short distance. There was a sidewalk on the side of Preble avenue furthest from the track, along which he might have walked in safety to the point where he would naturally turn to go home. This was a switch connecting his employer’s mill with the railroad, and which ran across Preble avenue. Instead of turning off at the switch and going towards home he appears to have crossed the switch and continued on along the avenue, or else upon the railroad track, in a direction contrary to his home, to the spot where he W'as killed. It was undisputed that from that point the locomotive could be seen for a considerable distance; that it was running at a moderate rate of
Much as we deplore the loss which this unfortunate family have sustained, the law compels us to say that it is one for which the plaintiffs in error are not responsible. This renders it unnecessary to discuss any of the other points raised by this record.
Judgment reversed.