71 Mo. App. 385 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1897
In April, 1896, the plaintiff purchased a ticket for transportation from Webster Oro ves to St. Louis, over defendant’s railway, paying therefor the regular price of thirty cents. He exhibited this ticket to the station agent, ¡tendering at the same time an unboxed and unguarded bicycle, weighing thirty pounds, and demanded that the latter should be accepted as ordinary baggage and carried upon the same train upon which he took passage. This was refused by the agent in obedience to a rule adopted by defendant on December 1, 1895, fixing a special charge for the transportation over its railway of‘ ‘bicycles, tricycles andbaby carriages,” and excluding all of these from the category of ordinary baggage. To test the validity of this rule, plaintiff sued out a writ of mandamus under the statutes prescribing the rates to be charged by railroads in this state for the carriage of persons with ordinary baggage not exceeding one hundred pounds and requiring the checking of such baggage. The petition for the writ describes the construction and weight of the bicycle, and avers that it is taken on trains by users for “recreation and locomotion” at the end of their journey; that it can be conveniently carried in a baggage car; alleges
Under these rules of law can it be said that plaintiff’s bicycle should have been accepted by the defendant as ordinary baggage in the state and condition in which it was tendered! Bicycles were invented as* early as 1819. 3 Encyclopedia of Britannica, p. 575; Century Dictionary, definition and cut of velocipede. The form in which they were first made resembles their general appearance to-day, the material difference being in the manner of propulsion. At first they were driven by striking the feet of the rider against the ground. Now they are propelled by the action of the feet of the rider upon pedals attached to a crank over which a chain runs connecting the rear wheel. In 1869 the present principle of locomotion was adopted. At that time the relative size of the two wheels was changed, so that one was many times larger than the other. Now, however, the change in the size of the wheels has been abandoned and the original equality in that respect restored. When first used they were termed velocipedes. Shortly afterward the term bicycle was universally adopted. Both terms are treated as convertible by the lexicographers and are defined as “a light vehicle or carriage. ” Century Dictionary, Worcester’s Dictionary (Supplement),Webster’s International Dictionary, definitions of velocipede and bicycle.' So in cases involving the use of streets, the payment of tolls, and liability for negligence, bicycles are uniformly held to be vehicles or carriages. Mercer v. Corbin, 3 L. R. A. (Ind.) 221; Thompson v. Dodge, 28 L. R. A. (Minn.) p. 608; Geiger v. Turnpike Road, 28 L. R. A. (Pa.) 458; Com. v. Forrest, 29 L. R. A. (Pa.) 365; Twilley v. Perkins, 19 L. R. A. (Md.) p. 632, and notes. This consensus of authority establishes that the locomotive machine known as a bicycle belongs to
Another view of this case presents an insurmountable obstacle to the relief asked. The bicycle was. neither boxed, packed, nor guarded in any way when plaintiff demanded its reception as baggage. The law does not recognize as baggage the things contained, as discerpted from the bag, box, trunk; boxing case or receptacle which contains them; nor is any duty cast upon the carrier to receive personal baggage until it has been placed in a condition of reasonable security for handling and transportation. Under the facts shown in this record the defendant had the absolute right to refuse to accept the bicycle tendered as per