Townsley v. Missouri Pacific Railway Co.
Supreme Court of Missouri
Appeal from Osage Qircuit Qourt. — Hon. A. J. Seay, Judge. The defendant’s demurrer to the evidence should have been sustained. (1) The plaintiff’s mare was in his pasture, which did not adjoin the defendant’s railroad. As he was not an adjoining proprietor, it was incumbent on him to show that the fence around this pasture over which his mare escaped, was defective and not a lawful one.
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Appeal from Osage Qircuit Qourt. — Hon. A. J. Seay, Judge. The defendant’s demurrer to the evidence should have been sustained. (1) The plaintiff’s mare was in his pasture, which did not adjoin the defendant’s railroad. As he was not an adjoining proprietor, it was incumbent on him to show that the fence around this pasture over which his mare escaped, was defective and not a lawful one. Johnson v. Railroad, 80 Mo. 620, 625. if) Having once erected a lawful fence, the defendant could only be held liable for a negligent failure to maintain it, and as the plaintiff ’ s own evidence showed that…
1Opinion of the CourtHenry, C. J.
This action is for the recovery of' double damages for the killing of a mare belonging to plaintiff by a train of defendant’s cars, alleged to have occurred by reason of defendant’s failure to erect and maintain its fence at the place where the animal went upon the track.
The testimony was substantially as follows: This mare, with other stock belonging to plaintiff, escaped from his premises and went upon defendant’s track at a point where the lower four wires of a fence erected by defendant were down leaving only the top wire. It. was originally a barbed wire fence five feet high, erected…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Clardy v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1881
- Chubbuck v. Hannibal & St. Joseph RailroadSupreme Court of Missouri · 1883
3Cited by2 opinions
- Goodrich v. Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield Railway Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1899
- Foster v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern RailroadMissouri Court of Appeals · 1891