Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-08-02

gage TO the owner. A baggage
agent of the company is the proper
person to inquire Of respecting lost
baggage. Where the passenger
keeps the exclusive control Of his
own baggage (as, for example, of a
coat, cane or umbrclla), the compa-
ny will not be liable for their loss.
But the proprietors Of steamboat
are liable for such baggage stolen
from a passengers state room, in
the absence Of negligence on the
part Of the passenger. The rail
road company owes the
DUTY TO THE PASSENGER M
of making and maintaining at all
times q suitable and safe track for
its road, Of providing comfortable
and safe cars, of furnishing q safe
and ready access between the cars
and the station buildings, of run
ming its trains regularly and safely,
of giving special notice to travellers
ON the road of the necessity Of
changing cars at any particular sta
tion, and of SO adjusting its y,
TINE TABLES 3s4
| that no injury will be likely to be
caused thereby. Most travellers
will have no fault to find with the
decision of a court of this State,
holding that a railroad company is
guilty Of negligence in arranging
its time tables in such a manner
that trains approaching a station
from opposite directions on the
same track become due at the sta
tion at the same moment.
Time tables published or issued
by railroad company amount to a
contract on the part Of the company
to forward passengers at the times
specified in the tables. So where,
under an arrangement between two
connecting railroads, the train of
one company connected at certain
station with the train of the other
company, for the forwarding of pas
scngers, but the arrangement was
finally abandoned, Notwithstanding
which the former company publish
es its time tables without alteration,
the courts have decided that such
company was guilty Of fraudulent
misrepresentation in the circulation
of such time tables, and that per-
son who, having seen one of these
time tables, and on the faith of it
had made his arrangements to trav-
el by the alleged connecting train,
and did not discover the fact of the
non, connection until his arrival at
tho company's strtion, was entitled
to recover of the company the dam
ages sustained by him.
While the company owes certain
duties to the passenger, it may re-
quire him to conform to its
BYLAWS REGULATING TRANsPoRTA-
TION.
There is, for instance, in every
carriers vehicle some place not in
tended for the use of the passenger,
and from which the carrier may re-
quire him to keep aloof. 1t is gen.
orally provided by statute that rail-
road companies may exempt them
selves from liability to passengers
injured while on the car platform,
baggage, wood or freight car, by
posting printed regulations to such
effect on the inside of their passen-
ger cars, and by furnishing suffi-
cient accommodation in their pas
senger cars for the use of the pas
sengers.
"sUFFICIENT ACCOMMODATION"
here means not only space enough
within the cars to contain the pas
sengers, but also the means of sit
ting in the usual manner during the
journey. This the company is
bound to furnish without request
Thus the passenger is not obliged
to go from car to car in search of
such accommodations, nor is he
bound to require one occupying an
entire seat to make room for him,
although the seat is large enough
to accommodate two persons, Sit
ting properly, nor to request per-
sons, in order to accommodate him,
to remove articles which they have
placed on the seat. And if the pas
senger be unable to find accommo-
dation in one car, he may pass from
car to car in search of seat, even
though the train be in motion, with
out being guilty of negligence
Where, however, no good reason
exists for his action, the passenger
is guilty Of gross negligence in mov-
ing from car to car while the train
is in motion.
The company, in adopting rcgu-
lations respecting transportation, is
limited only so far that the p
REGULATIONS MUST BE REASONABLE.
1t is a reasonable regulation that
the passenger, whenever requested
by the conductor, shall exhibit his
ticket, or surrender the same to the
conductor, during the trip; or that
the coupons annexed to the ticket
shall be worthless unless detached
by the conductor; or that the ticket
shall be good for q continuous trip
only, within a specified number of
days; or that passenger desiring
to stop over ut a station shall pro-
cure from the conductor such in.
dorsement on his ticket as shall Sc
cure the passage from that point to
the end Of tho journey represented
by the ticket, and on q subsequent
day or train. So, bylaw exclnd-
ing merchandise from passenger
trains, and confining its Transports
tion to freight trains, is reasona-
BILE regulation. But tho company
cannot limit its liability for loss Of
or injury to property transported by
it by q regulation to the effect that
al baggage is at the risk of the
owner; nor by q regulation that all
claims for damage for goods lost or
injured while in its custody must be
made within ten days after delivery
Of the property at tho station.
Whenever passenger refuses to