Whitmeyer

About 8 o’clock in the evening an automobile in which respondent was riding stalled close to and almost parallel with the track of the appellant company, on a public street in the city of Alameda; and while respondent was stooped in front of the machine endeavoring to start the same by cranking the engine one of appellant’s interurban electric cars ran into the rear end of the automobile, shoving it upon respondent and severely injuring him. As a result of the accident respondent commenced this action to recover damages for the personal injuries suffered by him, and upon trial before the court sitting without a jury was awarded judgment for the sum of $954.17, from which judgment this appeal was taken, the sole ground urged for reversal being that respondent was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.

The accident occurred on Lincoln Avenue between Oak and Park Streets, about 150 or 200 feet easterly of Oak Street, in a business section of said city. Lincoln Avenue is a paved street and runs in an easterly and westerly direction. It is a little less than fifty feet wide between curbs and along the center thereof appellant maintains double tracks over which it…