Samuel Freeman Miller

“ We think this a very slender foundation to put to the jury the question of Gilmore's tortious intention to drive Seaver from the track at all hazards, and to rest upon that possible secret intention the proposition that the race was not the proximate cause of the death, but that Gilmore's act was. ”

“ The class of men who collect on such occasions, and who often become the leading parties in the conduct of the affair when large sums of money are wagered, have led to its denunciation by many wise and thoughtful people, and very surely adds to the risk of personal injury to the rider or driver. It was against this general species of danger, attending nearly all infractions of the law, that the company sought to protect itself by the clause of the policy in question, and of this class was the reckless driving of Gilmore. ”

“ It would have been much nearer sound principle to have said to the jury that if Seaver saw that Gilmore was ahead of him ever so little, his persistence in so running his horse as to bring about a collision was wilfully exposing himself to danger within the meaning of the policy.
But we are of opinion that if the testimony raised the point the instruction was erroneous. The company in protecting themselves against accident or death caused by a violation of law, acted upon a wise and prudent estimate of the dangers to the person generally connected with such violations. ”