Case Name: Tommy R. ELSWORTH, Sr. and Tommy R. Elsworth, Jr., a Minor by Tommy R. Elsworth Sr., Father and Next Friend v. C. E. GLINDMEYER, E. E. Patenotte, Jr. and Atlas Cuevas
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1970-04-13
Citations: 234 So. 2d 312
Docket Number: No. 45676
Parties: Tommy R. ELSWORTH, Sr. and Tommy R. Elsworth, Jr., a Minor by Tommy R. Elsworth Sr., Father and Next Friend v. C. E. GLINDMEYER, E. E. Patenotte, Jr. and Atlas Cuevas.
Judges: ETHRIDGE, C. J., and RODGERS, PATTERSON and INZER, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 234
Pages: 312–329

Head Matter:
Tommy R. ELSWORTH, Sr. and Tommy R. Elsworth, Jr., a Minor by Tommy R. Elsworth Sr., Father and Next Friend v. C. E. GLINDMEYER, E. E. Patenotte, Jr. and Atlas Cuevas.
No. 45676.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
April 13, 1970.
Rehearing Denied May 11, 1970.
Daniel, Coker, Horton & Dukes, Gulf-port, for appellants.
Holleman & Necaise, Gulfport, for ap-pellees.

Opinion:
BRADY, Justice:
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Harrison County, Mississippi, wherein the appellant was denied damages arising out of a collision between an automobile, operated by the wife of the appellant, and a large Ford 5,000 all-purpose tractor owned by the appellees C. E. Glind-rneyer and E. E. Patenotte, Jr. and operated by appellee Atlas Cuevas, their agent and employee. From a verdict in favor of the appellees, this appeal is taken.
Numerous errors are assigned by the appellant but the disposition of this case requires our consideration of only three errors. We will consider the first two errors together, the first error being that the lower court erred in refusing an instruction which would have instructed the jury that the appellees were guilty of negligence as a matter of law, because the tractor was in the wrong lane at the time of the accident and the only testimony to the contrary was so inherently improbable and unbelievable when compared to the known facts as to amount to no evidence at all. The second error urged is that the verdict and judgment entered thereon are contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. In resolving these assignments of error it is essential that the cardinal established facts in this cause be reviewed.
On the morning of December 19, 1968, Mrs. Shirley Elsworth, twenty-one years old, the wife and mother, respectively, of appellants, was driving their 1968 Pontiac automobile, approximately sixteen feet in length, over highway number 603, a county paved road also known as the DeLisle-Vidalia Road. The road extends generally in a north and south direction. Mrs. Els-worth was proceeding north, in the east lane, that being the proper lane for anyone traveling north. The road is practically straight for a distance of 1187 feet from a slight curve on the south end to a cattle-guard entrance located off the east side leading to the home of Mr. Clyde Malley.
Appellee Atlas Cuevas, admitted agent and employee of appellees Glindmeyer and Patenotte, was driving their Ford 5,000 power-steered tractor weighing 6,250 pounds and loaded with a hydraulic lifted four-bladed turning plow weighing 1,289 pounds, so that the overall weight was 7,539 pounds. Mr. Cuevas had been plowing, but had to get smaller plows to perform this job and was returning over the same road traveling south thereon.
As he passed in front of Mr. Clyde Mal-ley's home he was proceeding in the west half and southbound lane of the road. This is confirmed by Mr. Clyde Malley and they both waived to each other as Cuevas proceeded southward. Thereafter Mr. Clyde Malley never saw where the tractor was until after the wreck. He looked southward as he and a friend, Har-bert Malley, were talking and saw the Pontiac car "coming up the road sideways the front end headed west and the back end was headed east, I just put my hands over my eyes and said: 'Look yonder.' " He did not know what lane the tractor was in at the time of collision and repeatedly refused to say where it was. He ran to the scene and saw the car impaled on the front of the tractor. Both vehicles were in the east half and northbound lane. Mrs. Shirley Elsworth was dead in the Pontiac. Cuevas was in the road. Subsequently, on Thursday, March 20, 1969, before the trial on March 27, 1969, he stepped the distance that the Pontiac had traveled from the place where he thought he first saw the car going sideways to the spot where the oil was deposited in the east half and northbound lane of the road and found it to be sixty-five steps. The left rear wheel of the tractor, he testified, was closer to the east edge of the road and the front of the tractor was nearer the middle of the road. He realized when he saw the Pontiac moving sideways that a crash was inevitable. He saw the tractor driven into the center of the Pontiac's right side. He testified that the oil, dirt and debris from the vehicles were in the east and northbound lane of traffic under the vehicles, except for a little glass which was over in the west side. Mr. Malley stated that he did not see any skid marks at the scene of the collision.
Mr. Atlas Cuevas testified that he was driving on the west or southbound side of the road traveling about ten miles per hour. He testified that he stayed on the west or right side of the road as he proceeded south because he always drove on the right side of the road. Cuevas first stated that he first saw the car when it came around the curve, which the map reflects would be a distance of eight hundred feet from the point of collision. The vision south and north is unobstructed considerably farther. Cuevas stated that the Pontiac was traveling so fast there was nothing he could do. He subsequently said the car was only two hundred feet away, but on examination by his attorney he increased the distance to three hundred feet. He said the car was traveling so fast at the time it came around the curve, "it just did that," indicating a side waving hand motion, "and that is all I remember." He was able to determine and remember, however, that the car was traveling eighty to ninety miles an hour and that the time interval between the time he first saw the car and the collision was just a "snap of the finger." Repeatedly he stated that from the time he first saw the car he had no further memory. Cuevas stated he did not know where the tractor was after the accident. He did not know if the tractor ever left the southbound lane or what side of the highway the car was on after the accident. He testified he was knocked out and the skull of his head "was cracked." He failed to give any details as to why and how the collision actually occurred except as above outlined.
Mr. E. E. Patenotte, an employer and appellee, arrived a short time after the accident. He had been following Mr. Cuevas. He testified he was so excited that he did not notice the details of the wreck, but was more interested in getting Mr. Cuevas to the hospital. Mrs. Elsworth appeared to be dead. Even Patenotte admitted, however, that the tractor "was a little on the left, off-center" of the road coming south, "and the car was cross-ways." It is interesting to note that Mr. Patenotte testified that the tractor dealer advised him the tractor "had a maximum speed of around seventy miles an hour, something like that."
County Patrolman Claude Miller, with fourteen or fifteen years of service, arrived at the scene approximately twenty minutes after he received the call over his radio. He testified that the tractor was in the northbound half of the road. Its rear left wheel was four or five inches closer to the edge of the pavement than the front end. "The tractor — the front of the tractor went in the right door of the car . The tractor's front end was about halfway through the front door of the car on the right side." He testified "the car was on the east or north bound lane . It was turned, the back end of the car was on the right, going north, it would have been in the right edge of the road." He testified that the tractor was facing south in the northbound lane. The road, he stated, was approximately twenty feet wide, the Pontiac was approximately sixteen feet long. The back bumper of the car was "almost right at the edge of the road." (The east side.)
Patrolman Miller stated, "the oil and debris and dirt from the plow were all underneath the plow and tractor and the car." He was asked, "Was there any debris in any other area nearby?" He replied, "I didn't see any, no sir." On cross examination by appellee's attorney he was asked, "Now there was debris all over that road, wasn't there Claude?" He replied, "No sir there wasn't." Also, he was asked, "Mr. Miller, you say there were no skid marks (at the scene of the accident) ?" He answered, "There were no skid marks."
Patrolman Miller took photographs which graphically depicted the scene immediately after the wreck. The pictures showed the position of the vehicles in the northbound lane of traffic, the front of the tractor protruding halfway through the automobile at the center of its right side. The front wheels of the tractor were broken off and the tractor front was resting on the chassis of the Pontiac. The rear of the Pontiac was about the east edge of the pavement and the front end was extending into the west half of the road. These pictures showed the exact position of the vehicles, the oil deposit, edges of the road and the condition of the tractor and car.
Patrolman Miller testified that appellees Glindmeyer and Patenotte "came by and looked at the pictures the night after the accident happened and said they would like to get copies of them." The record discloses that no further effort was ever made by the appellees or any of their attorneys to get the photographs from Miller. Patrolman Miller testified that traffic could and did pass on the west side of the road, by putting one wheel on the shoulder, and the record reveals that "even a gravel truck came by there at that time."
Mr. John C. Hogan, who repairs heavy equipment and operates a wrecker service, was called and went to the scene of the wreck. He did nothing until Officer Miller had made his investigation of the premises and taken pictures. He corroborated Officer Miller completely as to the vehicles being in the east and northbound lane, and the positions therein, the tractor headed south in the northbound lane and the car sideways in the northbound lane. He testified that "the car was tied to the tractor and cross, the car was in the northbound lane, it was traveling north, but turned almost completely sideways where the tractor drove into it." This disinterested witness testified that there were no skid marks. Regarding the debris in the road Mr. Hogan testified, "Well, the usual amount of things you find in that, mud and the tractor had spilled oil on the road, around the tractor and in the car." When asked, "Where was this debris located?" he replied, "It was in the neighborhood, close to the car and the tractor. It seemed to me that the large part of it probably under the tractor." He further stated, "This tractor was tied into the automobile-, the tractor had hit the car in such a way, the upper part of the tractor — the radiator and that part' — -had gone over the frame of the car, shoved the body back a little bit and had went into the body of the car, that's for sure, along in the center section practically in the center of the car." He further testified that "after he had pulled it out from under the tractor" he saw that "the wheels of the car were locked." He "drug it about one hundred feet." He then returned and "picked up the front end of the tractor and dragged it off in the same manner, off the side of the road. It was also locked, the back wheels on it were locked." Though there were no skid marks around the vehicles prior to their being moved, this witness testified that when they were moved both made skid marks.
"Q. Do I understand that in the course of your separating these two vehicles, you did cause skid marks to be made on the road?
"A. Both wheels were locked and they made skid marks as soon as they were moved, on both machines. The back wheels on both machines."
He testified further that "if there had been a center line in the road, but there was no center line — the front of the car would have been a little west of the center line." This witness stated that the photographs depict the scene exactly as it was. The four headlights of the car were intact and only the right front hub-cap was off of the automobile lying four or five feet from it.
We address ourselves to the first two errors assigned by the appellants, that the verdict of the jury is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and the appellants should have been given an instruction instructing the jury that the ap-pellees were guilty of negligence as a matter of law because the tractor was in the wrong lane at the time of the accident and the only testimony to the contrary was so inherently improbable and unbelievable when compared to the known facts as to amount to no evidence at all. The appel-lees contend in their excellent brief that the relative positions of the vehicles after the collision constitute no proof of the point of impact. Appellees urge that the only eye witness to the collision was Clyde Malley who could not say which side of the road the tractor was on and could only say the plaintiff's automobile was coming down the road sideways out of control. Appellees point out that Cuevas testified that he was on the west and southbound lane of traffic at the time of the collision, which fact the appellants urge is disputed by the physical facts, but appellees urge that the jury resolved this disputed fact in favor of the appellees. Counsel for the appellees categorically assert that "there is absolutely no proof in the record that the tractor was on the wrong side of the road before the collision, immediately before the collision or at the time of the collision, and state once again that the position of the tractor after the collision does not constitute proof of the position of the tractor before the collision." We cannot agree with these conclusions of the appel-lees.
First, because Cuevas testified that he was driving the tractor in the right or southbound lane when he waved to Clyde Malley does not thereby establish the fact that he continued in the west or southbound lane a distance of three hundred eighty-seven feet until the collision. Appellees concede that Clyde Malley did not know in what lane the tractor was at the time of the collision. It is evident that the only testimony as to the tractor being in the west or southbound lane before or at the time of the collision is that of appellee Cuevas. While Mrs. Elsworth's lips are sealed in death, there are numerous' and uncontra-dicted physical facts which strongly negative and refute the assertion of Cuevas that the Tractor was in the west and southbound lane at the time the vehicles collided. It is undisputed that the tractor struck the Pontiac on the right side, penetrating about half-way through the automobile and resting on the chassis or frame. It is undisputed that the two vehicles were "tied together" or "fastened together." The automobile had to be pulled out from under the tractor. The wheels of the automobile were locked and the car had to be dragged off the east and northbound lane of the road to the south. It is undisputed that the wheels of the tractor were also locked and it had to be dragged also out of the east and northbound lane of the road. Both vehicles laid down skid marks when being dragged out of the east and northbound lane where all witnesses who saw the wreck testified the vehicles were situated immediately after the collision. These witnesses were Clyde Malley, Patrolman Claude Miller, the wrecker operator John C. Hogan, and appellee E. E. Patenotte, Jr. It is undisputed that there were no skid marks visible at the scene of the collision as testified to by Patrolman Miller and wrecker operator Hogan. It is also undisputed that the mud from the plows, the tractor and car, the oil from the tractor, and the debris, were all in the east or northbound lane of the road under the tractor and automobile. There was no debris in the west or southbound lane save for a little glass. The large oil spot was under the tractor and was later covered with sand. All of the foregoing facts are conclusively shown by the photographs in this cause.
Although excluded by the trial court, the appellants, seeking to refute the implication created by the appellees' examination of witness Hogan that the position of the vehicles was the result of "a high speed wreck," with "tremendous force and impact," offered in rebuttal the testimony of Mr. Hogan as to what the two vehicles revealed when he examined them, namely, "As I say, we have handled hundreds of them, and that impact evidently had been two things struck together; the car didn't knock the tractor, the tractor didn't knock the car they tied together in " (Objection). This statement is borne out by the fact that there were no skid marks made by the vehicles prior to, at the time of, or subsequent to the collision; that all of the mud, oil and debris was under the two vehicles whose rear wheels were locked, and would not rotate, that the tractor had pierced the right side of the car penetrating about halfway through and was fastened onto the chassis or frame of the automobile. The court was not requested to instruct the jury to disregard this statement.
After a meticulous study of the record and the exceptional briefs of counsel, it is the opinion of this Court, based upon the uncontroverted physical facts and testimony in the record, that the verdict of the jury is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence for the reasons which were stated in Teche Lines, Inc. v. Bounds, 182 Miss. 638, 649, 179 So. 747, 749 (1938), in which Justice Virgil A. Griffith, speaking for the Court, stated as follows:
If there be any one thing in the administration of law upon which the decisions, the texts, and the general opinion of bench and bar are in agreement, it is that evidence which is inherently unbelievable or incredible is in effect no evidence and is not sufficient to sustain a verdict. This is true even in those jurisdictions which still cling to the scintilla of evidence rule. And, except in the few jurisdictions wherein the latter rule prevails, the overwhelming weight of authority throughout the country is that believable or credible evidence in civil cases is that which is reconcilable with the probabilities of the case and that bare possibilities are not sufficient. Where evidence is so contrary to the probabilities when weighed in the light of common knowledge, common experience, and common sense that impartial, reasonable minds cannot accept it other than as clearly an improbability, it will not support a verdict.
"It has been commonly said: Verdicts must rest on probabilities, not on bare possibilities. There is not capacity in any number of the former to create the latter. So the person on whom the burden of proof rests to establish the right of a controversy, must produce credible evidence from which men of unbiased minds can reasonably decide in his favor." Samulski v. Menasha Paper Co., 147 Wis. 285, 133 N.W. 142, 145. "An inherently incredible story is not made credible by being sworn to. Nor can it be allowed to serve as the foundation of a verdict." McCarthy v. Bangor, etc., Co., 112 Me. 1, 90 A. 490, 492, L.R.A. 1915B, 140, 142. "Courts are not required to believe that which is contrary to human experience and the laws of nature, or which they judicially know to be incredible, although there may be evidence tending to support it." Lessig v. Reading, etc., Co., 270 Pa. 299, 304, 113 A. 381, 382, quoting from Norfolk & W. R. Co. v. Strickier, 118 Va. 153, 86 S.E. 824. "The jury will not be warranted in finding the existence of a fact on the positive testimony of a witness, which is contrary to conceded facts or matters of common knowledge, or all reasonable probabilities." Latta v. Fidelity etc. Co., 186 Wis. 116, 122, 202 N.W. 299, 302.
The above are a few quotations which could be supplemented by hundreds from nearly every common-law jurisdiction. Our own decisions, upon the precise point, are in accord therewith from the early history of this court down to our last expression in Yazoo & M. V. Railroad Co. v. Skaggs, [181 Miss. 150], 179 So. 274, 278, wherein we held: "As this court has frequently said, verdicts and judgments in civil actions must be based on the probabilities of the case, not on possibilities; and a verdict, although it is treated with great respect, has no force to convert a possibility into a probability." See, also, Yazoo & M. V. Railroad v. Lamensdorf, supra. Incredibility as measured in the scales of probability was acted upon in review as early as Wilson v. Horne, 37 Miss. 477. The Supreme Court of Missouri in Hook v. Ry. Co., 162 Mo. 569, 580, 63 S.W. 360, 362, has tersely stated the rule thus: "Though this court will not undertake to measure the probative force of the conflicting testimony of witnesses upon controverted issues of facts, but must leave those matters to the jury for determination, still [the court] is not so deaf to the voice of nature, or so blind to the law of physics, that every utterance of a witness in derogation of those laws will be treated as testimony of probative value for the consideration of the jury, simply because of its utterance."
It is not essential to a review that the improbability shall amount to an impossibility. This precise question was recently considered and decided in Interstate Fidelity Building & Loan Ass'n v. Hollis, 41 Ariz. 295, 17 P.2d 1101, 1102, wherein it was held that a verdict should be set aside if the testimony in support thereof is so incredible as to be beyond the ordinary experience of mankind, and that the rule would be too narrow which would hold that a reversal may be had only where the improbability amounts to an impossibility. The best and most succinct statement which we have found is that of the court in Spiro v. St. Louis Transit Co., 102 Mo.App. 250, 262, 76 S.W. 684, 688, as follows: "Verdicts resting on evidence which looks contrary to the ordinary course of nature are not infrequently set aside and retrials directed, by appellate courts, as a proper precaution against an unjust outcome of litigation. While it is fundamental that juries must weigh evidence, and trial judges revise their findings, instances happen in which, from one cause or another, this practice so obviously failed to work out a right result that an imperative call is heard to supplement it by an exceptional procedure, in order that justice, the end of all procedure, may not be frustrated. This prerogative of courts of error is sparingly employed, but that it exists, as an emergency expedient, for the correction of verdicts palpably wrong, is certain. The appropriate use of it does not require a court to be convinced that the jury found an event to have occurred that was physically impossible or miraculous. It is enough if the event found was so improbable, according to ordinary operation of physical forces, or was so overwhelmingly disproved by credible witnesses, as to compel the conviction that the jury either failed to weigh the evidence carefully, or drew unwarranted inferences, or yielded to a partisan bias."
Upon a review of all the authorities, including, of course, our own cases, the rule must be declared by way of résumé as follows: Verdicts are to be founded upon probabilities according to common knowledge, common experience, and common sense, and not upon possibilities; and a verdict cannot convert a possibility or any number of possibilities into a probability. But before an appellate court can say that what the jury has adjudged as if a probability is nevertheless only a possibility, it must be clear or manifest that only a possibility rather than a probability is shown by the evidence. Some of the cases say that a test is whether the alleged fact found by the jury is or is not extremely improbable or highly improbable. These terms are indefinite, and we prefer the terms which have so long been generally used in this jurisdiction in connection with the review of findings of fact, to wit, that they will be set aside when, but only when, manifestly or clearly wrong, which is to say, when, but only when, clearly or manifestly against all reasonable probability.
For the collision to have occurred in the west and southbound lane as the appellee Cuevas asserts, and for the two vehicles, the tractor with the driver weighing over seven thousand, six hundred pounds, and the car and its driver weighing between two and three thousand pounds, to have come to rest in the east and northbound lane with the car extending west and east and the tractor pointing south, fastened or tied into the car with its front enmeshed half-way through the right side of the automobile and resting on the car's chassis, forming a rigid "T" because of the union, with rear wheels locked, and not leave a particle of mud, dirt, or debris, or one drop of oil in the west or southbound lane, with no skid marks or tire tracks whatsoever in the west and southbound lane, is nothing short of a miracle. The ruptured crank case of the tractor and the locked wheels of the vehicles in some supernatural way had to be transported, as they were locked together, from the west or southbound lane and deposited in the east or northbound lane without leaving any debris, trace of oil, or tire marks whatsoever in the west and southbound lane, save for a few pieces of glass. The verdict of the jury, as is true in Teche Lines, Inc. v. Bounds, supra, is based on testimony which is inherently incredible and is contrary to human experience and the laws of nature. We stated in that case:
The incredible story is not made credible by being sworn to. Verdicts are to be founded upon probabilities according to common knowledge, common experience, and common sense, and not upon possibilities, and a verdict cannot convert a possibility or any number of possibilities into a probability.
We must hold that the verdict of the jury based upon the testimony of appellee Cue-vas is clearly and manifestly against all reasonable probability and therefore the judgment must be reversed.
As reflected in Geigy Chemical Corporation v. Allen, 224 F.2d 110 (5 Cir. 1955), Gunn v. Grice, 204 So.2d 177 (Miss.1967), Western Geophysical Company of America v. Martin, 253 Miss. 14, 174 So.2d 706 (1965), Brewer v. Anderson, 227 Miss. 330, 86 So.2d 365 (1956), Montgomery Ward & Company v. Windham, 195 Miss. 848, 16 So.2d 622 (1944), suggestion of error overruled 195 Miss. 860, 17 So.2d 208 (1944). This Court has constantly held that under the Constitution it has the right to review the evidence and set aside the verdict of a jury on the ground that the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and in fact is under a duty to do so.
Furthermore, the use of the phrase "the absolute duty" which is argumentative as stated in appellees' instruction No. 6 has been condemned by this Court in Niles v. Sanders, 218 So.2d 428, 432 (Miss.1969) in the following language:
While the giving of this instruction standing alone probably would not require reversal of the case, we think that the instruction in the form in which it was granted should not be given upon a retrial. Also, the word "duty" should not have been qualified by the word "absolute."
Appellees' instruction No. 6, among other items, advises the jury:
The Court further instructs the jury that under the laws of Mississippi it is the absolute duty of the plaintiffs in this case to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendants were in fact guilty of some negligence that proximately caused or contributed to the accident * # *
In the case at bar the phrase "absolute duty" is used to qualify the verb "prove" and goes directly to the degree of proof necessary for the appellants to recover. The instruction is misleading and erroneous and of itself justifies, under the facts of this case, a reversal.
Instruction No. 4 granted the ap-pellees is as follows:
The Court instructs the jury for the defendants that you must return a verdict for the defendants unless the plaintiffs have proven to the satisfaction of a jury by a preponderance of the evidence that the aforenamed defendant, Atlas Cuevas, was negligent in the operation of his tractor immediately preceding the accident. (Emphasis added.)
The words, "immediately preceding," in instruction No. 4 following the mandatory requirement with the qualifying limitation are open to varying interpretations of what "immediately" means. The test applicable is whether the negligence prior to or at the time of the collision was a proximate or contributing cause of the accident. The element of time, while important, is not necessarily restricted to a narrow limitation as can be connoted by the word "immediately." Thus this instruction is also argumentative.
The appellants are entitled to a new trial on all issues since the verdict is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence and which, combined with the erroneous instructions given on behalf of appellees, make it apparent that a fair trial was not afforded the appellants in this cause.
Citation is unnecessary because throughout the United States in all civil jurisdictions it is uniformly recognized that the jury is the trier of facts and properly resolves logical issues of fact in dis pute. Furthermore, this Court is, as all courts are, reluctant to disturb the verdict of a jury. This reluctance, however, presupposes that the verdict exemplifies a logical and reasonable determination of the issue as to what the true facts are. Nevertheless, a jury verdict is no magic talesman or philosophers' stone which can by its pronouncement per se change the base ore of impossibility into the royal metal of fact. A verdict does not by its utterance create that which cannot be determined rationally to have existed. A verdict cannot metamorphose an incredible assumption into a plausible fact worthy of being accepted as a reality. Teche Lines, Inc. v. Bounds, supra. When law is not amenable to common sense or reason, it ceases to be a guide for man's great institution of self-regulation and assuredly lies beyond the cable tow of justice. If justice is to endure, it will be in the fair and impartial adjudication of the rights of all concerned through the operation of law based upon facts grounded in common sense and reason. No court is required to believe, or should be bound by improbable, incredulous, or unreasonable evidence supporting a verdict, as in the case at bar, which is violative of physical laws, human experience and common sense, and which intrudes into the realm of the supernatural.
For the foregoing reasons the judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
ETHRIDGE, C. J., and RODGERS, PATTERSON and INZER, JJ., concur.
ROBERTSON, J., GILLESPIE, P. J., and JONES and SMITH, JJ., dissent.
JONES, J., GILLESPIE P. J., and SMITH and ROBERTSON, JJ., specially dissent.