The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-03-13 00:00:00

LIABILITY 01 RAILWAY ODETAIMBIL

Bessant v. South- Western Railway Mainal•—iins
was a special jury cue, Mr. Stock with _ pKingdoa,
appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Kinglake
with Mr. Coleridge, for the defendants.
The action had before been tried in Loodou before the
Court of Common Pleas, but the jury Gould nth erne,
and the venal was changed, and the cuss brought down
here.
Mr. Kingdon opened the pleadings and Mr. Stock
stated the cue to the jury. He said that the plaintiff,
Mr. Robert Bement, was a farmer residing between
Poole and Wareham, and that the action was brought to
recover the value of 25 sheep which were killed on th•
defendants' line of railway on the night of the 16th of
November last. All the sheep with one exception were
ewes. The sheep had pissed through the railway fence
belonging to the defendants, aridit would be for the jury
to determine whether or not the from was kept ta
a state of repair as was required by the Act. The Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas said, whets the are was
before him, that the defendants were liable far the de-
struction of the sheep if the secideat were brought shout
by their negligence in not keeping such an ellaisat
fence as was required of them by law, bad he (the learn.
ed counsel) should be able to show that the tease win
not in an efficient state, and that, therefor*, the eompany
was without doubt, liable for the loos that had occurred
by the destruction of the sheep. The sheep, 112 in nom-
ber, wen in • Sold adjoining the railway ia • fold of
little more than three quarters of an acre in extent, they
were well fed, they were well littered for I=thfre
upon dry ground, and but for theibad stabs of t
fence, no accident would have occurred.
Robert Hesitant said: I occupy • farm called Bowden
farm, belonging to Sir Ivor Bertha Guest, near Wars.
ham. A field of about 20 three adjoins the defendants'
railway, and in November last turnips were growing
there, and I folded U 2 cheep on the wen side OD the
12th of that month. I began to fold shout the middle
of the field; the next day we moved lower down, next
the railway, and on the 14th we moved away from the
railway as the weather was wet, and they required drier
ground. They had the run of the whole fold, but !allotted
them unite sufficient food every morning forth. whole
day. Tie railway fence was quiek.est, with rails in some
places, but in other pieces them were DO rails. The fen, s
has been railed since. The rails were very bad and very
rotten, and the sheep could run under on account of the
bank having fallen into the ditch. There were places
under the lower rail where the sheep could pi out. The
ditch had not been scoured out sinos I have had the farm,
which is six years. Had the ditch been cleaned out and
the earth thrown on the bank, so as to fill the boles in
the places where the quick/ grew, and under the rails,
the accident might not have happened. At the west end
of the fold there was a very good quickest badge, but it
was thin, and there were also boles, because it had not
been banked, so that the sheep could get through. Before
the accident on the 16th November, I bad made many
complaints to the ooinpany's servants of the badness of
the fence. I complained to Barnes, the signal-man, and
pointed out to him the defects of the fence in various
places, and requested him to re port on the subject to the
proper authorities, lest an scridnt should occur. 1 re-
quested him to report to Shiner who ie over him. No
attention vu paid to my request. I placed up two hur-
dles at the west corner where I thought the sheep would
be most likely to get out. I think I placed them there
on the 14th. The weather was very wet at this time;
and I ordered my man to bring down a quantity of
and rough dung which was at the barn's door, and *et
on the not th corner and west side of the fad. This was
• gravelly mound, and sheep always get to the dryest
ground at night. On the 16th November I penned
the sheep myself, and saw them hist about a
quarter before five o'clock in the evening. They
seemed very coutfortabie, and many of them were lying
on the straw which had been placed then for them. It
was the train which came along about six o'clock
that evening which destroyed them. There were 94
ewes in lamb which were destroyed that night, and a
wether was killed by the train the that day. I then
took the sheep from the field lest others should be
destroyed in like manner. 1 valued the sheep at Ilk, or
two guineas a head. They were worth that to mine I
had keep for them. They would be worth that to say
farmer who had keep for them. They were all four-
teeth sheep. On the 17th I had • conversatioe with
Shiner, and asked him why they did not repair the
fence, when I represented to Barnes the bad dote it
was in. I did not tell humor any the else that whet
my man told me of the accident I amid not believe it
as it was such • good fence. I could not say so, for I
had frequently complained of it. On the 17th a tree
load of poets and rails were brought, and the company's
servants were 5 or 6 days !impairing the tenth. They
then repaired it all through the field. Previous to that
they had done nothing to it. The fold wee at the west
end of the field, and they began where the told was.
The sheep got through three holes, two holes on the
west end of the fold, and one on the Obit end. At the
west end they put up 36 feet of double rails, and on the
east end they put up a new rail below the two rails
already there. They also cleaned out the ditch and
banked up the fence. I afterwards pointed out to Mr.
Richards and the other wanes*s where the sheep had
rout. I know what clone foldinavis. For dose
iding it would require 1,500 or 2, sheep to the
sore. My fold for 112 sheep was three quarters of an
acre and 18 perches. It could not be called does
folding. They had been in this fold 5 days, and there
was plenty for them to eat. It was • good average
crop—trout 12 to 15 tons per acre.
By Sergeant Kinglake The railway faith was the
fold fence on that side of the fold from the 13th to the
16th November. On the north and west sides there
were hurdles to prevent the sheep going further en
the turnips till they had eaten these In the fold.
I was examined in London. I did not thee shatethe sheep
got through the fence at the east and vest earners leseass
I was not asked the question, but I said they get shangli
at three places. I state unhesitatingly spat mr oath
that the ditch had not been domed out, at the
time of the accident, for six piers, and V may
one should my it has been cleaned oat every
par they would say that which is nth tree. I have
ploughed my land since the aceidsat, but I did act
plough it into the ditch . I pot up tWO burdlea,aed UM MIKA
why I did not place them all along by the railway feasts
was, that I did not consider it WM my ditty to do so.
No one was repairing the fence along any part. of the
field previous to the sleep being killed, nor was any the
working on the railway opposite the field any day dung
the week before the stat occurred. 1 know • sg-
nal man named Tom Hawkins too well. I saw him ut
the fold the morning after the after the amildant. I did
not say to him it was a bad job, bulb. said to me " It's
a bed job." I told him they ought to have repaired
the fence. I did not say to him that I was in the fold
the night before intending to feed the diem, and that it
was wet and cold, and I said to Sam, "We won't fed
them to-night, bat we'll feed then in the moiming..
Neither did I say, "I am sorry now I did not feed that,
and then this would not have happened." I man=
what the weight of the sheep was that were
They might have weighed Iffibth per quarter.
Re-examined : We do not Wee breeding sheep. If
the sheep were hungry my opinion is they would be
more likely to get into the turnips thin to take
excursion on the railway.
James Reagent said: I am the son of the last withal.
On the 16th of November two of the railway men mass
to our house and told nu of the accident. I told them
the fence was so had they mut take the sheep whisk
had been killed. Barnes did not deny the tame was
bad. When we got to the field, Martin pointed oat
where the sheep had got through thQstith 0061014 P. 4.1
the west end. The state of the was leen and
thin, so that the sheep could easily get through, as ne
rails were placed there to prevent their getting cm the
line. The next morning I examined the Leath at the
mist end, where some of the sheep had also got through.
There were scarcely any quiche then, and the teeth was
bad; the bank had fallen into the ditch, so that the
sheep could get under the rails. The railway men com-
menced repairing the fence on the 17th, sad wen there
somewhere about • week. I consider the Amp wets
worth 40s. each at the time of the accident. I behove
they could have been sold for that money.
By Mr. Coleridge: I do not believe we meld have
bought the sheep under the sum I have named. The
men did repair more than the mare holes In the fess*
where the sheep got through. They put up al fast 01
new double rails in one plass. No them' have been cut
out of the fence since the case was tried in Loathe.
We had warned the railway servants of the badness d
fence before we put the sheep into the field. We did
not put hurdles against the lessee to prevent the shop
getting through—it was not our lisminths. ith-examithe
Besides the rails being put up and the ditch lasing slurs&
out, there were pegs driven into the bank to 11l up the
pp where the sheep bad got through. Since the trill
in London, Samuel Hawkins has pot moss thorns in the
fence.
Samuel Kayos said: lam servant to the plaintiff. I
remember the sheep being ant penned in the field cot the
12th of November. I saw them every day, sad thof
had plenty of turnips to eat. On Mouday, the 14th.
received instructions from my master to put Ave /OW
of straw and dung in the kldfortheth.cebobsss
I placed it in the dryad part of the fold, and the rui"..'r
from the railway. A day or two before the aceidesi •
heard my master point out to Barnes the bed state 01 ta!
fence, and he told him to tell Shiner of it, and to an"
him to Impair it all through the field. shiner is 0
gauger on the line. I saw nothiagdone totals Ince b 51I
saw some hurdles plthei against it in ow
knew the state of the fence before the aisestM
There were two rails on the eastward sad, steraskf„._.my
quick, and the bank had tumbled into the ditch, m
the sheep could go under the rails. On the wed ma,.
there were no rails, acid the quick' were very this al ra.
bottom. There were also two boles where N
got through. The day they the the o:a
raiarrant'
hot came to mouths loses by
l 36 BMA as Qs yid sod, sailit;Phill4