Commonwealth v. Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment on the Gen. Sts. c. 63, § 97, to recover a fine for the use of the widow and children of George A. Johnson upon averments that he was killed through the gross negligence of servants or agents of the defendant corporation while he was a passenger upon their railroad.
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Indictment on the Gen. Sts. c. 63, § 97, to recover a fine for the use of the widow and children of George A. Johnson upon averments that he was killed through the gross negligence of servants or agents of the defendant corporation while he was a passenger upon their railroad. At the the trial in the superior court, before Pitman, J., “ no evidence was introduced, but a statement of facts was agreed to before the jury,” the substance of which was as follows: On October 17,1868, Johnson, who had then for several years been selling popped corn upon the defendants’ trains, submitted to them an…
1Opinion of the CourtAmes, J.
In order to maintain this indictment, it should be
made to appear that the person for whose death it was brought was a passenger upon the defendants’ road at the time of the accident, and that his death was occasioned by the negligence or carelessness of the company, or the unfitness or gross negligence or carelessness of its servants or agents. Gen. Sts. c. 63, § 97. *11The defendants object that, upon the facts reported, neither of the two conditions, upon which their liability depends, was fulfilled ; that the man who lost his life was not a passenger, but a servant or workman of the company;…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Gaynor v. Old Colony & Newport Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1868
3Cited by11 opinions
- Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. CassinSupreme Court of Georgia · 1900
- Doyle v. Fitchburg RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1894
- Quimby v. Boston & Maine RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1890
- Annas v. Milwaukee & Northern RailroadWisconsin Supreme Court · 1886
- Littlejohn v. Fitchburg RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1889
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