The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-03-21
MRS. HATTIE FROST WINS
A Butte Jury AXlrds Her a Verdict Of
Fifteen thousand Dollars.
FOR HER HUSBANDS LIFE
Judge Knowles Holds That a Mas
ter Is Responsib for the Act
of His Servant. Be He
Ever So Lowly.

! BUTTE, March 20-The jury in the So
| 900 damage suit of Mrs. Hattie Frost
against the Oregon Short Line and Utah
Northern Railroad company this evening
gave a verdict for Mrs. Frost for $4,000
| for the loss of her husband, James w.
Frost, who was killed in n collision near
| Dillon in February, 1891. The collision was
caused by tho failure of the operator,
George Storer, TO deliver to Engineer
Frost of the northbound passenger, orders
TO wait at Dillon until tho arrival of a
local train from Butte.
| During the trial of the case to-day Judge
Knowles mldo an important ruling re-
garding tue liability of the railroad COM
| panics. At the close of the testimony
Mr.. Shropshire, for the defense, asked the
court TO instruct the jury to return a YER
dict for the defendant on the
ground that the testimony failed to estab-
iIsh the liability of the company and that
IT did show that Storer, who was respons.-
BILE for the collision, was a fellow servant
of Frost, in which case it was a well es-
tablished point of law that the plaintiff
could not recover. The question raised
was argued by both sides from IL o'clock
this morning until o'clock this after
noon. Mcbride and Stapleton contended
that n telegraph operator was not fellow
servant of an engineer. also that the ques-
tion of n fellow servant did not enter into
the case, as Storer was acting in the ca
pacity of an agent for the company. Great
quantities of authorities were read Oh
both sides and decisions of the United
States supreme court were cited in sup
port of both propositions.
In ruling OH the question the court said
the question of whether or not tele-
graph operator was fellow servant of
the engineer did not enter in the case on
trial and that he was acting as agent for
the railroad or as vice principal. 1t was
the duty OF tho railroad company to de-
liver orders to the engineer and notify
him OF change from schedule time. If
the master delegates that duty to a serv-
ant, however low that servant may he,
the master is responsible for the acts of
the servant. The master cannot be in all
places at the same time or personally see
that all of his machinery is in perfect or
der and therefor delegates other persons
to look after it for him and the master
becomes responsible for the agent he
delegates. The railroad company dele
gated the operator at Dillon TO carry or
ders to the engineer and his negligence
became tho negligence of the company.
Judge Knowles said the supreme court
seemed to be on both sides of the ques-
ton, but taking the later decisions as his
guide he would override the defendants
motion for a verdict. As there was no
conf ct over the facts and as the railroad
company depended entirely upon the law
point raised, there was nothing left for
the defense to stand on after the courts
ruling except the claim that the accident
might have been avoided by Engineer
Jones of the south-bound train if he had
looked ahead on his track and seen the
passenger approach. The arguments to
the jury were waived and the court dc
livered it's instructions. In regard to the
alleged negligence of Engineer Jones, the
court said that the only testimony offered
on that point was that Jones might have
seen the passenger approach had he
kept a lookout, but there was no evidence
TO show that he did see or that he could
have stopped his train in time to prevent
a collision. However. il the jury found
that the accident was caused by the negli-
gence of Jones, then the plaintiff could
not recover, for Jones and Frost were fell
low servants. The jury was instructed
that the act of the operator was the act of
the railroad company, and if the accident
was caused by tue operator then the COM
pany was table,
The defense took exceptions to the
courts rulings and was granted 20 days to
file a bill of exceptions.
The jury was out but a short time be-
fore verdict was reached.