Ice, Snow, and a Temporary Thaw, 1893-99

AuthorC. Ian Kyer
Pages47-62

Chapter
ICESNOWAND
ATEMPORARYTHAW

   bales involving the performa nceof t he TorontoRailway
Company (TRC) were fought directly between the City and the Company.
AttimesanissuewiththeCityledtoaprivateactionbyanaectedcitizen
That was the case with two of the ea rly operational issues t hat arose between
the City and its transit provider — transfers and snow removal. Ironically,
these arose at a period of relative peace between the City and the TRC and
contributed in each instance to t he TRC and the City reach ing agreement on
issues without themselves resorting to t he courts.
OneofthekeyconditionsimposedbytheCitywasthattransitusersbe
permiedtotravelthroughoutthesystemforasinglefare Payment of that
fareentitledpassengerstoacontinuousridefromanypointonsaidrailway
toanyotherpointToenablethistransferarrangementsweretobemade
by the Company that met with the approval of the City engineer and city
council.
Aswithmanyoperationalmaersthepreciseformthatthesetransfers
wouldtakewasnotsetoutintheagreementthiswastobeseled
between the parties over time. In the beginning, the TRC relied on a per
son stationed at each transfer point. This agent would segregate transfer
ring passengers from new passengers as best he could. When the streetcar
on the second line arrived the agent would identify transferring passengers
to the conductor of that streetcar so that when the conductor went around
collecting fares he would know not to collect a fare from these passengers.
AThirtyYearsWar
Att imes howeverthe conductor wouldget bus y with other maers and
not collect fares until sometime after the transfer. In these cases there was
always the chance that he would not remember who had transferred. If the
person being asked for a ticket said that he or she had paid on an intersec ting
line, the conductor had to decide if they were being truthf ul. If the conductor
thought that the person was lying and that person did not produce a ticket
or pay the fare, the conductor could ask the person to leave the car. If asking
provedineectivephysicalforcewasused
This is exactly what happened to Albert Gri nsted on the bierlycold
nightofJanuaryGrinstedtooktheQueenstreetcartoSpadinaAv
enuewherehenotiedtheconductorthatheintendedtotransfertoacar
going south along Spadina to King Street West. The conductor on the Queen
carensuredthatGrinstedwasputinthechargeoftheTRCagentstationedat
Spadina to look after transferri ng passengers. When the Spadina car arrived,
GrinstedboardedbuttheconductoroftheSpadinacarwasbusyanddid
notcollectfaresfortwoblocksWhenhenallywentaroundheaskedGrin
stedforafareatwhichtimeGrinstedinformedtheconductorthathehad
transferred at Queen. The conductor did not believe him, and even though
Grinstedhadatleastthreerailwayticketsinhispocketherefusedtouse
oneBoththeconductorandGrinstedbecamebelligerentandtheconductor
physicallythrewhimothecarGrinstednowsweatyandupsetwalked
back to the transfer point at the corner of Queen and Spadina. The agent
wassympatheticandlethimwaitforanothercarOnecameabouttwenty
minuteslaterUpsetandstandinginthefrigidnightairGrinstedcaughta
severecoldwhichcausedhischronicbronchitisandrheumatismtoareup
As a result, he missed work for several weeks.
InnomoodtoletthemaerdropGrinstedbroughtalegalactionagainst
theTRCforbreachofcontractAttrialGrinstedscounselcalledthedoctor
whotreatedhimduringhisillnessThedoctortestiedthatinammation
or severe cold might have ensued upon his exposure to the frigid conditions
ofthatnightHecouldnotbecertainbecausetheeectwouldbedierent
ondierentpersonsbuttheexposureexperiencedbyGrinstedmighthave
beensucienttobringonhischronicbronchitisandrheumatismHenoted
that a person going out into the cold air who was excited, and thereby over
heatedwouldbeapttosuerfromsomeinammatorytrouble
ThejudgeinstructedthejurythattoawarddamagestoGrinstedthey
wouldhavetondthatGrinstedhadbeenwronglydeniedhistransferand
thatGrinstedsillnesswasthenaturalandprobableresultofhishavingbeen

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