Ice, Snow, and a Temporary Thaw, 1893-99
Author | C. Ian Kyer |
Pages | 47-62 |
Chapter
ICESNOWAND
ATEMPORARYTHAW
bales involving the performa nceof t he TorontoRailway
Company (TRC) were fought directly between the City and the Company.
AttimesanissuewiththeCityledtoaprivateactionbyanaectedcitizen
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.
OneofthekeyconditionsimposedbytheCitywasthattransitusersbe
permiedtotravelthroughoutthesystemforasinglefare Payment of that
fareentitledpassengerstoacontinuousridefromanypointonsaidrailway
toanyotherpointToenablethistransferarrangementsweretobemade
by the Company that met with the approval of the City engineer and city
council.
Aswithmanyoperationalmaersthepreciseformthatthesetransfers
wouldtakewasnotsetoutintheagreementthiswastobeseled
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.
AThirtyYearsWar
Att imes howeverthe conductor wouldget bus y with other maers 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
provedineectivephysicalforcewasused
This is exactly what happened to Albert Gri nsted on the bierlycold
nightofJanuaryGrinstedtooktheQueenstreetcartoSpadinaAv
enuewherehenotiedtheconductorthatheintendedtotransfertoacar
going south along Spadina to King Street West. The conductor on the Queen
carensuredthatGrinstedwasputinthechargeoftheTRCagentstationedat
Spadina to look after transferri ng passengers. When the Spadina car arrived,
GrinstedboardedbuttheconductoroftheSpadinacarwasbusyanddid
notcollectfaresfortwoblocksWhenhenallywentaroundheaskedGrin
stedforafareatwhichtimeGrinstedinformedtheconductorthathehad
transferred at Queen. The conductor did not believe him, and even though
Grinstedhadatleastthreerailwayticketsinhispocketherefusedtouse
oneBoththeconductorandGrinstedbecamebelligerentandtheconductor
physicallythrewhimothecarGrinstednowsweatyandupsetwalked
back to the transfer point at the corner of Queen and Spadina. The agent
wassympatheticandlethimwaitforanothercarOnecameabouttwenty
minuteslaterUpsetandstandinginthefrigidnightairGrinstedcaughta
severecoldwhichcausedhischronicbronchitisandrheumatismtoareup
As a result, he missed work for several weeks.
InnomoodtoletthemaerdropGrinstedbroughtalegalactionagainst
theTRCforbreachofcontractAttrialGrinstedscounselcalledthedoctor
whotreatedhimduringhisillnessThedoctortestiedthatinammation
or severe cold might have ensued upon his exposure to the frigid conditions
ofthatnightHecouldnotbecertainbecausetheeectwouldbedierent
ondierentpersonsbuttheexposureexperiencedbyGrinstedmighthave
beensucienttobringonhischronicbronchitisandrheumatismHenoted
that a person going out into the cold air who was excited, and thereby over
heatedwouldbeapttosuerfromsomeinammatorytrouble
ThejudgeinstructedthejurythattoawarddamagestoGrinstedthey
wouldhavetondthatGrinstedhadbeenwronglydeniedhistransferand
thatGrinstedsillnesswasthenaturalandprobableresultofhishavingbeen
To continue reading
Request your trialUnlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
