Case Name: The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, Appellant, v. Milly Meisenheimer, Appellee
Court: Illinois Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1861-11
Citations: 27 Ill. 30
Docket Number: 
Parties: The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, Appellant, v. Milly Meisenheimer, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Illinois Reports
Volume: 27
Pages: 30–31

Head Matter:
The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, Appellant, v. Milly Meisenheimer, Appellee.
APPEAL FBOM OLAY.
A party who sues a railroad company, under the statute, for injuries to cattle, resulting from omission to fence a road, should show that the road had been opened more than six months prior to the injury complained of.
This was an action brought before a justice of the peace in Clay county, and taken by appeal to the Circuit Court, where a judgment was obtained by Meisenheimer against the railroad company for eighty dollars, the value of a horse killed at a road crossing. There was entire absence of proof, in reference to the time when the railroad was opened for use.
William Homes, for Appellant.
W. B. Cooper, for Appellee.

Opinion:
Caton, C. J.
The plaintiff relies upon the statute requiring railroad companies to fence certain portions of their road within six months after the road is open, and it is not pretended that unless he made out a case under this statute, the action could be sustained. This he undoubtedly failed to do. He did not show that the road had been opened for six months before the casualty of which the plaintiff complained. This was indispensable. The proof, too, that the damage was done on the defendant's road, was very slight if not totally deficient.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded.
Judgment reversed.