David Josiah Brewer

“ It is earnestly insisted by counsel for the railroad company that the court improperly narrowed the issues submitted to the jury by charging that the single question was whether the frog was blocked or not at the time of the injury, and it is urged that the true rule is that, if the railroad company had once properly blocked the frog, it incurred no liability to its employees by reason of the subsequent displacement of the blocking, unless such displacement was with its knowledge, or had continued for such a length of time as to impute notice to it. ”

“ The statement of the section foreman may be considered as challenged by the counter testimony of plaintiff and his witnesses, and, in the absence of any testimony as to the condition of the frog prior to the accident, the jury were not bound to assume that the frog had once been properly blocked, and the blocking thereafter removed or destroyed. ”