Textor v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Ritchie, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant is the owner of a lot on the south-east corner of the intersection of Henrietta street and Ohio Avenue, in Baltimore City, where he conducts a lumber business, and, the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Company, whose tracks lie along Ohio Avenue, having obtained permission under a resolution of the Mayor and City Council to erect at said crossing safety railway gates, he applied for an injunction to prevent their erection, on the ground that, when open, they would project over the pavement in front of his office door about three feet, and when down, about five feet, and besides, close the passage way or entrance to his yards and storage rooms from Henrietta street along Ohio Avenue; thus interfering with the free transaction of his business. He does not aver that the location of the gates is to be upon his own property; and the simple question, therefore, presented is, whether the appellee can he enjoined from subjecting him to such inconvenience and injury as, under the municipal license, it will incidentally cause him by obstructing in the manner indicated, the public highways on which his lot is situate. The answer to this question depends upon whether the city authorities have the power to establish such reasonable appliances in the public thoroughfares, where railroads pass along, as will by a temporary arrest of travel protect the public from the danger of meeting passing trains.

Of this authority we entertain no doubt. The streets are under the exclusive control of the city as avenues of travel; and whatever precaution may he reasonably taken to secure the safety of those who use them is hut effectuating the object of such highways and discharging a corporate responsibility. ⁶⁵ It is not alleged by complainant that the kind of gate to be set up is not one reasonably and skilfully adapted to its purpose; or that the closing of streets by this means is not an approved and customary practice in cities. The need of some effectual method of saving the passers-by of a populous city, from contact with trains whose approach is concealed by houses, is too obvious for discussion. And if experience has proved that the adoption of a gate, and of the pattern indicated in this case, combines a high degree of utility with no more inconvenience than results from its necessary post and pivot, we see no good reason for compelling the attendance, instead, of a watchman, as heretofore practiced, whose office is likewise to suspend the travel as the necessity occurs, merely because the appellant may