Curry

This is an action for damages for injuries sustained by the plaintiffs while riding as guests in an automobile driven by the defendant. The accident occurred near Deming, New Mexico, about 10 o’clock on the evening of December 12, 1927. The defendant, driving a Willys Knight automobile equipped with four-wheel brakes, was proceeding west along a main graveled highway, the traveled portion of which was eighteen feet wide. At the point where the accident occurred a combination cattle gate and cattle-guard was located upon the highway. A post stood in the center of the roadway, on the south side of which was an iron gate, which was closed at the time, and on the north side thereof was a cattle-guard so constructed as to permit automobiles to cross. This cattle-guard, being seven or eight feet in width, was the only passageway open to automobiles at that time without opening the gate across the south half of the road. The post and gate were painted white, and the defendant had passed over this cattle-guard on a previous occasion when he traveled east. As he approached the cattle-guard on his right side of the road, defendant was traveling at a speed of thirty miles per hour. He…