Hermes v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co.
Wisconsin Supreme Court
APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Brown County. Action to recover damages for the killing of plaintiff’s intestate, a child about two years and eight months old. The child was run over at a highway crossing by a work train on tbe defendant’s railroad. At the close of the trial the court directed a verdict for the defendant, and from the judgment entered thereon the plaintiff appeals.
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APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Brown County. Action to recover damages for the killing of plaintiff’s intestate, a child about two years and eight months old. The child was run over at a highway crossing by a work train on tbe defendant’s railroad. At the close of the trial the court directed a verdict for the defendant, and from the judgment entered thereon the plaintiff appeals. They argued, among other things, that the question as to how far a child could have been seen on the day of the accident was proper, to show that the child could have been- discovered by the use of ordinary care.…
1Opinion of the CourtCorns, C. J.
It was error to sustain the objection to the question asked the witness Hubert Hermes as to whether he heard the engineer say anything as to how he came to *592run over the child. This conversation between the witness and the engineer was within a very lew minutes after the child was killed, and there can be no doubt that what the engineer said about the accident was a part of the res gestae, and was admissible on that ground. “ The idea of the res gestae presupposes a main fact or principal transaction, and the res gestae mean the circumstances, facts, and declarations which grow out of the main…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Insurance Co. v. MosleySupreme Court of the United States · 1869
- Keyser v. Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway Co.Michigan Supreme Court · 1887
- Hooker v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1890
- Carter v. BuchannonSupreme Court of Georgia · 1847
- O'Connor v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul RailwaySupreme Court of Minnesota · 1880
3Cited by25 opinions
- Peirce v. Van DusenCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1897
- Anderson v. Great Northern Railway Co.Idaho Supreme Court · 1908
- Alsever v. Minneapolis & St. Louis RailroadSupreme Court of Iowa · 1902
- Hupfer v. National Distilling Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1903
- Robinson v. Superior Rapid Transit Railway Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1896
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