Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Colwell

The declaration in this case contains several counts, charging that the appellant was a common carrier of freight and passengers between Streator and Ottawa, in the county of LaSalle. That in October, 1876, James FT. Colwell took passage at Streator on one of the railroad company’s freight trains, to which was attached a car for passengers, and that while temporarily standing on the platform of the passenger car, was, by the negligence of the employees of the company, suddenly jerked off and killed.

The train appears to have been loaded principally with coal, and in starting out from Streator,…