Harlan F. Stone

“ The movement of the fifteen cars to and across the switch and onto the elevator track in a quiet neighborhood on a still night cannot be assumed to have given no warning sounds of their approach.
All these factors, taken together, render highly improbable the theory of respondent that deceased was run down by the grain cars while he was crossing or standing upon the track, and they give sharp emphasis to the absence of any proof of the fact, indispsensable to respondent's case, that deceased, while standing on or attempting to cross the track, was struck by the leading car. ”

“ It is the theory of the respondent, conforming to the findings of the jury in its special verdict, that deceased, while crossing the track near the derail, where, according to some of the testimony, the roadbed was overgrown with weeds and so thinly ballasted that the track had become 'skeletonized,' was knocked down by the leading grain car, and killed by that and the succeeding cars passing over him, and that his death was attributable to negligence in carrying out the kicking movement of the grain cars without signal and without placing a flagman or a light on them. ”

“ The negligence complained of must be the cause of the injury. The jury may not be permitted to speculate as to its cause, and the case must be withdrawn from its consideration, unless there is evidence from which the inference may reasonably be drawn that the injury suffered was caused by the negligent act of the employer. ”