Wyckoff

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of plaintiff, and from an order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial.

The action was brought to recover damages for the death of Cyrus N. Wyckoff, which it was alleged was caused by the negligence of the defendant.

The defendant had been engaged for about fifteen years in operating a single-track narrow-gauge steam railroad, running from Watsonville to the town of Spreekels, a distance of about twenty-three miles, and the decedent had been employed by it, at the time of the accident, for about ten years as a locomotive engineer.

For the accommodation of beet-growers the defendant has provided at different places along the line of the railroad twenty sidings or switches; and during the beet season places on these sidings empty cars, into which the farmers load their beets. One of the sidings is known as Gaffey’s switch, and it was at this place that the accident happened. Beet-growers in this vicinity load cars with beets in the following manner : The beets are thrown from the ground into nets which are spread over the bed of a wagon. The wagon is then hauled to the siding, alongside of which is a stretch of raised earth called a…