Gleeson v. Virginia Midland Railroad
Supreme Court of the United States
ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. This is an action for damages brought in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.
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ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. This is an action for damages brought in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. It appears from the bill of exceptions that at the trial the evidence introduced by the plaintiff tended to show that in January, 1882, he was a railway postal clerk, in the service of the United States Post Office Department; that on Sunday, the 15th of that month, in the discharge of his official duty, he was making the run from Washington to Danville, Virginia, in a postal car of the defendant, and over its road; that in the course of such run the…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Lamar
It will be most convenient in the decision of this case to consider the third instruction first. The'objections made to it are three:
(1.) “ It assumes that the accident was caused by an act of God, in the sense in which that term is technically used.” It appears that the accident was caused by a land slide, which occurred in a cut some fifteen or twenty feet' deep. The defendant gave evidence tending to prove that rain had fallen on the afternoon of Friday and on the Saturday morning previous; and the claim is that the slide was produced by the loosening of the earth by the rain. We do not…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Inland & Seaboard Coasting Co. v. TolsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1891
- Bennett v. Railroad Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1881
- Stokes v. SaltonstallSupreme Court of the United States · 1839
- Railroad Company v. PollardSupreme Court of the United States · 1875
- Elliott v. RossellNew York Supreme Court · 1813
3Cited by160 opinions
- Patton v. Texas & Pacific Railway Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1901
- Sweeney v. ErvingSupreme Court of the United States · 1913
- Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Co. v. VoigtSupreme Court of the United States · 1900
- Jesionowski v. Boston & Maine RailroadSupreme Court of the United States · 1947
- Wichita Falls Traction Co. v. ElliottTexas Supreme Court · 1935
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