the latter circumstances the duty of the carrier may reasonably include the due and timely announcement of particular trains, the furnishing of proper directions by which to reach them, and the taking of suitable precautions to prevent passengers from entering the wrong train or car.40

In any event, however, the duty of the carrier will require the stopping of the train for such a reasonable time as will permit prior passengers to alight in safety, and those wishing to enter, and who present themselves at the proper time and place for that purpose, to do so with equal safety. The carrier will not be required to delay an unreasonable time,41 or to wait for passengers who have not arrived at the time fixed for depar

40. See Allender v. Railroad Co., 43 Iowa, 276; McKimble v. Railroad Co., 139 Mass. 542; Marshall r. Railway Co., 78 Mo. 610, 616. As to duty to give directions, see also, post, § 1129.

It is the duty of those in charge of the train to see that all passengers or those manifestly intending to board the train are safely upon it before giving the signal to start. Hatch v. Railway Co., 212 Penn. St. 29, 61 Atl. Rep. 480.

41. Railway trains should stand at the station at which they are made up a reasonable time before their departure, to permit passengers to enter them; usually twenty or thirty minutes is more than can reasonably be demanded; and until it becomes necessary to put them in position to await passengers, there is no negligence in moving them back and forth as the convenience of the company in making up and stationing other trains may require. Flint, etc. R'y Co. r. Stark, 38 Mich. 714.

The purchase of a general ticket does not give the passenger an

absolute right to take any particular train. He must be on hand ready to take the train when the hour of departure arrives, and if not there, he has no right to have the train delayed till he can reach it. Paulitsch v. Railroad Co., 102

N. Y. 280.

Notwithstanding the fact that a passenger train may have stopped a length of time sufficient for passengers to board same, if a passenger be induced by one in charge or authority to board the train, the carrier is bound to hold the train a time sufficient to enable such person to get safely upon it. Railway Co. v. Horn, 132 Ala. 407, 31 So. Rep. 481.

If a passenger gets on a train after the signal is given for starting it, but before the train has started, and is injured in so doing, evidence that the car doors were locked until just before starting is admissible as bearing on the question of due care on the part of the passenger in not attempting to enter the train sooner, and also on defendant's negligence in not having the doors

ture;42 but if it does not furnish reasonably safe means of entering the car,48 or if, while the passenger is in the act of getting on, the train is negligently started and the passenger is injured, the carrier will be liable.44

But the carrier is under no duty, after the passenger has fairly entered the vehicle, to hold the train until the passenger has had time to reach a seat, unless there be some special reason for so doing, as where the passenger is weak or otherwise infirm of which fact the carrier must have notice.45 all passengers, strong or weak, have a right to assume that other cars will not be backed against those which they are upon in such a manner as to endanger their safety while proceeding to their seats, 46 or that the train or car will not be given an

extraordinary jerk or jar whereby they are thrown down and injured.47

Owing to the greater danger to passengers while traveling on freight trains, a railroad company carrying passengers on its freight trains must afford sufficient time for the passenger, in the exercise of due diligence, to get upon the vehicle and to reach a place of safety inside the caboose; 48 but if such time has elapsed, and the passenger has delayed in obtaining a seat and is injured by a jolt, the jolt not being unusual to such trains, his injury will be attributable to his own fault.49

Where a passenger leaves the train temporarily for some purpose, such as to procure a ticket, under the direction of or with the acquiescence of the conductor, it is the conductor's duty to allow him a reasonable time in which to affect his purpose and return to the train before starting.50 The same rule holds true as to a through passenger who leaves the train temporarily at an intermediate station,51 or as to a stockman who is required by the rules of the carrier to sign a written contract after loading his stock.52

48. Kelly v. Railway Co., 108 tree, (Tex. Civ. App.) 25 S. W. La. 423, 32 So. Rep. 388.

For the rule in reference to stage coaches, see, Haile v. Clayton & Hoff Co., 61 N. J. L. 197, 38 Atl. Rep. 805.

Rep. 989.

51. Railway Co. v. Humphreys, 25 Tex. Civ. App. 401, 62 S. W. Rep. 791.

52. Railway Co. v. Brown, 49 Ill. 49. Railway Co. v. Moore, 108 App. 40, 46 Ill. App. 137; RailGa. 84, 33 S. E. Rep. 889.

50 Railway Co. v. Gist, 31 Tex. Civ. App. 662, 73 S. W. Rep. 857; Foreman v. Railway Co., 4 Tex. Civ. App. 54, 23 S. W. Rep. 422;

road Co. v. Beebe, 174 Ill. 13, 50 N. E. Rep. 1019, 43 L. R. A. 210, 66 Am. St. Rep. 253, affirming 69 Ill. App. 363.

The questions concerning the particular circumstances of each case are usually questions that should be submitted to the jury under proper instructions from the court.53

1

Sec. 1112. Helping passengers to enter train.--While ordinarily, where access to the train is not difficult, there may be no duty resting on the carrier to afford assistance to passengers in boarding a train,54 still there may be circumstances such as to make it incumbent on the carrier's servants to render such assistance. Thus where the train had stopped an insufficient time at the platform provided for passengers to board the train, and the train had moved to a place where it could be boarded only with considerable difficulty owing to the height of the car steps from the ground, and a female passenger was invited by the carrier's servants to board the train at such point, it was held to be the carrier's duty to render her such assistance as was necessary to enable her to board the train.5

55

Sec. 1113. (§ 609.) Carrier must furnish sufficient room and reasonable accommodations-Right of passenger to a seat before surrendering ticket. The carrier is bound to furnish his passengers with sufficient room, and with all the usual and reasonable accommodations for their comfort, which they have the right to expect from the ordinary usages upon conveyances of the kind employed by him, and to which such conveyances are adapted. Failing to do so, he is liable for a breach of his contract, and for such damages as the passenger has thereby sustained.56

A carrier, therefore, by the customary conveyances employed in land travel, is usually bound to furnish the passen

53. Doyle v. Railroad Co., 82 Fed. 869, 27 C.-C. A. 264, 50 U. S. App. 249; Kulman v. Railroad Co., 65 N. J. Law, 241, 47 Atl. Rep. 497.

54. Yarnell v. Railroad Co., 113 Mo. 570, 21 S. W. 1, 18 L. R. A. 599.

55. Railroad Co. v. Voils, 98 Ga. 446, 26 S. E. Rep. 483, 35 L. R. A. 655; Railroad Co. v. Cheek, 152 Ind. 663, 53 N. E. Rep. 641.

56. "As a general rule and under ordinary circumstances," says the court in Pennsylvania, "it is the duty of the carrier to pro

ger with a seat, on the latter's request, if it is within his power to do so.57 But it is not negligence per se for a carrier to fail to furnish a passenger with a seat. Such a failure is only evidence of negligence to be weighed by the jury. There are circumstances under which a passenger might prefer to enter a car and stand up, rather than not make the journey. In such case it cannot be said as a matter of law that the carrier is negligent in permitting him to exercise such privilege.58

If the carrier has advertised excursions, and, in the nature of things, should expect a large crowd, it is his duty to exercise a high degree of care to furnish a sufficient number of cars with a view to the comfort and safety of the passengers. If the carrier has not room for the passenger, he should not contract to carry him; and if it be uncertain whether he will vide suitable car accommodations tiff thereupon left the train. The and seats for those whom it un- court held that since the plaintiff dertakes to carry; and if a pas- had paid for a seat, he was ensenger, exercising reasonable care titled as a matter of right to have and prudence, is injured in con- the servants of the railway com. sequence of the carrier's neglect pany provide him with one unof duty in that regard, the latter less a sudden and unusual influx is liable for the injury occasioned of passengers rendered that imsolely by its own negligence." practicable, and under the cirCamden, etc. R. Co. v. Hoosey, 99 cumstances shown, the conductor Penn. St. 492. could and should have made provision for seating plaintiff. The company was held liable in damages.

See also, Railway Co. v. Rea, 7 Tex. Ct. R. 888, 74 S. W. Rep. 939; s. c. 27 Tex. Civ. App. 549, 65 S. W. Rep. 1115; Graham v. McNeill, 20 Wash. 466, 55 Pac. Rep. 631, 43 L. R. A. 300, 72 Am. St. Rep. 121.

57. In Railway Co. v. Patterson, 69 Miss. 421, 13 So. Rep. 697, 22 L. R. A. 259, the plaintiff boarded a car in which there was no seat vacant, some sleeping passengers, however, occupying two seats and other passengers having filled available seats with their baggage. The plaintiff requested the conductor to provide him with a seat but that official refused. Plain

58. Railroad Co. v. Bryant, (Tex. Civ. App.) 72 S. W. Rep. 885; Olivier v. Railroad Co., 43 La. Ann. 804, 9 So. Rep. 431.

The mere failure to provide a seat is not sufficient to charge a carrier with liability for an injury to a passenger who is thrown down by a sudden shock to the vehicle. It must further appear that there was not sufficient provisions for as many passengers as customarily and ordinarily, required them. Burton v. Ferry Co., 114 U. S. 474.