(Download) "Yoder v. Corporation." by United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Yoder v. Corporation.
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Release Date : January 02, 1944
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
This appeal is from a judgment for the plaintiff (appellee), which was entered upon the verdict of a jury in an action brought to recover damages for the death of Colleen Swanson, who, on March 15, 1942, at the age of eight years, was killed when the automobile in which she was riding was struck by the engine of a passenger train of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company. The accident occurred in Walnut Grove, Minnesota (a village of about 900 inhabitants), at a point where the main line track of the railway company, which extends east and west through the village, crosses Sixth Street, which runs north and south. The paved portion of the street is 36 feet wide.The train involved in the accident was an eastbound passenger train, consisting of a steam locomotive, a tender, and five steel cars. It was due in Walnut Grove at 9:47 A.M. The train was on time and was not scheduled to stop. The day was cloudy and dark, with mist and fog in the air. Moisture was collecting on windshields and windows of automobiles. The headlight of the engine was on. There was some snow and slush on the roads. The temperature was about forty degrees above zero. The train did not slow down as it entered the village. The automobile which was struck by the train belonged to Gust A. Swanson, a farmer who lived northeast of Walnut Grove. In the automobile were his two children, Dwaine Swanson, his son, the driver, who was nearly eighteen years of age, and Colleen Swanson. Donald Carlson, the young son of a nearby farmer, was with them. The children were on their way to Walnut Grove to attend Sunday school. Shortly before the accident occurred, the automobile, which had come from the east on a highway parallel to and north of the railroad track, turned south on Sixth Street. The automobile was then about 150 feet north of the main track and was moving about eight or ten miles an hour as it approached the track. The automobile was driven or it skidded onto the main track, in front of the train. Apparently no part of the automobile crossed the main track. The engineer, who was on the right or south side of the cab of the engine and was looking ahead, did not see, and could not have seen, the automobile. The fireman, whose seat was on the left or north side of the cab, had left his seat, to attend the fire, when the train was about 300 feet west of the place of the collision. He felt the jar of the collision, looked out of the window of the cab, and saw the automobile sliding along the north side of the train.He notified the engineer, who, with an emergency application of the brakes, brought the train to a stop about 1800 feet east of Sixth Street. The three occupants of the automobile were dead.