Hewitt v. Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway Co.

The night was black, and a heavy rain fell as Walter V. Hewitt and Jerry Shebley left the tavern in Lyle to drive out of town with Lester Roth in his 1953 GMC pickup truck. They intended to take Hewitt over to Bingen where he could arrange for a ride to work next day, and on the way back were to tip over Jim Pimley’s backyard privy as a sort of Halloween prank. They failed in both *286missions for on the way out of town on State Primary Highway No. 830 they rammed into a freight train as it coasted quietly through the crossing at the western edge of Lyle.

Hewitt, a guest passenger in the pickup,…