Keddy

The defendant in error, as plaintiff below, recovered a judgment for injuries sustained by him while engaged in coupling ears of a freight train on which he was head brakeman. " He was charged with the duty of attending to the switching operations of the train at the station of Atwood. "He first opened a switch whereby the engine was brought to a waterspout for water. The conductor then entered the station to get his train orders, and, returning, directed that the rear portion of the train be cut off, and "that the remaining 24 cars, with the engine, proceed easterly until they were on a designated main line. The plaintiff, therefore, cut off all but the foremost 9 cars. The next operation was for the engine to move easterly and set 8 of the 9 cars on another track, after which the engine, with the remaining one ear, was to return and couple on the ears left standing on said main line. But after the plaintiff had cut off the 9 ears attached to the engine, and was adjusting a defective knuckle on the east end of the ears remaining on said main line, the engine with the 9 cars attached thereto, after proceeding eastward a short distance, came back, without signal, against the ear…