Small v. Boston & Maine Railroad

The decedent, in a drunken state, was walking northerly on the defendant’s track near the railroad station at Windsor, Vermont. A train from the south struck him. As the train approached him, warning signals of the whistle were sounded, to which he paid no apparent attention in the time he had before being struck.

The plaintiff’s only claim of liability was upon the last chance rule in force in Vermont. The decedent was negligent in becoming intoxicated and hence was in fault for creating his danger. But if in his situation of peril he was too irresponsible to be able to use care to save…