Ohio & Mississippi Railway Co. v. Wangelin (43 Ill. App. 324, 1892)

Sample, J.

This suit was brought by the administrator of Frank O. Wangelin, deceased, to recover damages for the death of his intestate, occasioned, as alleged, by the negligence of appellant. The' declaration in two counts charges, tirst, that the deceased was crushed between two cars while attempting, as a brakeman, to make a coupling, owing to a defective draw-bar, of which appellant had notice, which broke, and thus permitted the cars to come together, at which time the deceased was in the exercise of due care; second, that in addition to the above, the draw-bar of one car was so much higher than the other that when the cars, came together, one draw-head passed under the other, and thus the bodies of the cars came together, crushing the deceased. The evidence discloses substantially the following facts: that deceased was in the employ of appellant as rear brakeman on the second day of April, 1890, the day of the accident; that when his train reached Odin, where appellant’s line of road intersects that of the Illinois Central, it pulled up to the platform of the station and was then cut in two; a part of the train ran to a switch north of the main line and near to the depot for the purpose of taking on a car from the Illinois Central line; that deceased cut the switch to get to that line and also shut it, as the train came back on the main line with the extra car, went ahead of the moving portion of the train, picked up a pin and link that he had placed on the platform, adjusted them in the end of the draw-head of the Illinois Central car, stepped onto the platform of the station, moved along with the train a short distance as it was backing to be connected with the rear portion of the train, and just before the cars came together, caught hold of the iron step at end of the Illinois Central car, then stepped in to make the coupling, when the ends of the bodies of the ears came together and crushed him to death instantly, the draw-bar of the Illinois Central car passing under that of the Ohio