Nichols v. Commercial Travellers' Eastern Accident Ass'n

The plaintiff is the widow of Curtis Nichols and the beneficiary named in a certificate of insurance issued by the defendant, providing for the payment to her of a certain sum in the event of the death of her husband “wholly and entirely by external, violent, and accidental means.” He was found dead in the early morning of July 25, 1912, in the railroad yard in West Springfield. At the close of the evidence the defendant requested the judge * to instruct the jury that upon all the evidence as matter of law the jury should return a verdict in favor of the defendant. This the judge declined to…