12

CASE OF THE DISCOUNTED RAILROAD TICKET

In the 1880s, it was not uncommon for the Manchester & Lawrence Railroad to offer discounted tickets that could be purchased from the ticket agent at every station. A reduction of 25 percent or so in the price of a ticket was certainly an attractive offer for those who regularly traveled by train. Albert D. Swan of Lawrence was one such man to commute regularly by train. Late in the year of 1880, Swan arrived at Derry Depot intending to purchase a discounted ticket in order to travel back to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Shortly before Swan approached the ticket office window, the ticket agent had stepped out in order to help the baggage master load baggage onto a passenger train that was quickly approaching the station. Although this left the ticket office unattended, this was a common practice by the ticket agent because tickets could always be purchased aboard the train.

While the agent was helping to load the newly arrived train, Swan approached the depot’s ticket office with the intention of purchasing a ticket that had been discounted from sixty-five cents to fifty cents. However, Swan noticed that the office was unattended and instead resolved to wait to purchase his ticket on the train. Although the train was scheduled to arrive at Derry Depot at precisely 11:31 a.m., it was running behind schedule; still, when the train arrived, the ticket agent was detained with other business. When the time came for the train to depart from Derry for Windham, Swan entered and handed the conductor the fifty cents for his one-way trip. To the annoyance of Swan, the conductor rejected his money and asked instead for the full fare of sixty-five cents. Swan steadfastly refused to pay the full price, as he could have purchased one at a lesser cost had the agent been diligent in his duties at the depot.

An altercation ensued, and Swan was ordered by the conductor to get off the train at Windham. Incidentally, W.S. Knox, a lawyer from Lawrence, had found himself in the same predicament as Swan and was also ordered off the train at Windham. At the station, Swan attempted to purchase a ticket from the Windham ticket agent, but he was refused a ticket for the rest of the trip to Lawrence. The conductor had spoken with the ticket agent in Windham and suggested that he not sell Swan the ticket, so Swan’s money was returned to him; he was left stranded in Windham without any foreseeable means to get home. As a result, Swan was forced to go through considerable trouble in order to find someone to bring him to Lawrence; the cost of the trip by private means far exceeded the cost of even several fullprice train tickets. Swan was evidently a man of principle and would rather go through unnecessary trouble and expense rather than be taken advantage of, by his own thinking, by the Manchester & Lawrence Railroad.

Upon arriving in Lawrence, Swan procured the services of a lawyer, E.T. Burley, in order to sue the railroad for $3,000 in damages. Although such an amount would seem to go far beyond any actual or punitive damages, Burley saw the potential for a large commission for himself and eagerly took on the case. Without one key piece of evidence, it would seem as if a strong case could be made for either side. Swan was unable to, by no fault of his own, purchase the discounted ticket at the depot. How could the railroad not honor the discounted price? However, in response to the suit, the railroad defended itself with a sign that had been posted in several places at the Derry stations. The sign specified that the fare from Derry to Lawrence was sixty-five cents. As for the discount, the sign stated that, according to the Derry News , “ticket sellers are authorized to make a deduction of 15 cents on local tickets when the tickets are procured at the ticket office.”

In light of this evidence, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the sign clearly indicated Swan had not had a right to purchase a discounted ticket after boarding the train. As the depot had been open long before the arrival of the train, Swan had a reasonable chance to purchase one at the discounted rate. Although the ticket seller had left his post, the court realized that at many small stations, like those in Derry or Windham, the ticket agent would often take on additional duties if necessary. It would only hinder the service provided by the railroad if one of the few station employees was forced to remain behind a window for hours waiting for every single customer to purchase a ticket. Swan, who regularly traveled between Lawrence and New Hampshire, should have had the foresight to arrive at the station early enough to procure a ticket in the event that an unforeseen situation arose.

A photograph of Windham Depot as it would have appeared during the case. From History of Windham in New Hampshire (Rockingham County), 1719–1883.

One of the other major points of the case was the refusal of the Windham ticket sales agent to sell to Swan a ticket to Lawrence. The court ruled that Swan had been rightfully rejected at the Windham station for refusing to pay the conductor the full fare. As the sign at the station had clearly stated a ticket could not be purchased from the conductor for a discount, there was no legal reason for Swan to object to paying the full price. Again, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendant because the railroad company was not required to let Swan purchase a ticket to ride on the same train after being ejected by the conductor. On this point, the court decided that Swan was not just another passenger looking to begin a new transaction. Rather, he was attempting to renew the contract he had already broken. He could not at his own will arbitrarily break the transaction into two parts. As he had not paid for the trip from Derry to Windham, Swan had broken the contract and was, therefore, unable to continue the contract whenever he saw fit.

In the end, Swan was left with not only the cost of arranging his trip to Lawrence via a private carriage but also legal fees and the loss of many hours of his time spent tied up in the case. The case helped to provide added protection for the railroad industry from passengers who sought to take advantage of discount ticket sales. While many instances of case law were cited in the ruling for the case, Swan v. Manchester and Lawrence Railroad was significant in its ability to bring numerous rulings together to form a single ruling specifying the duties of the railroad in relation to the rights of passengers. In conclusion, the story of Albert Swan is one that highlights the nature of such frivolous lawsuits. Over the matter of fifteen cents, lawyers, judges and members of the court staff were left with many wasted hours, time that could have been spent on more pressing matters.