Oregon-Washington R. & Nav. Co. v. United States

This is an action by the government against the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, under the 28-hour law, to recover a penalty for confining a consignment of hogs in a car while in transit for more than 36 hours without unloading in a humane manner. The only question presented for determination arises upon a motion made at the close of plaintiff’s testimony for a nonsuit, and another at the close of all the testimony for a directed verdict in favor of the defendant.-

The hogs were consigned by John Daubert, as shipper, to Mahoney Bros., Wallace, Idaho. Mahoney Bros, had stockyards of their own, situated from a mile to two miles from the yards of the defendant, but on a branch line of the Northerri Pacific Railway Company, so that at Wallace the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company delivered stock consigned to Mahoney Bros, to the Northern Pacific Railway Company, and that company delivered to the consignees at their yards.

The testimony adduced by the plaintiff tended to show that the hogs were loaded at Endicott at 11:30 a. m., and arrived at Wallace' the next day at about 8 p. m.; that they were not then unloaded, but remained in the car until the…