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Opinion of the Court.

v. Johnston, 53 Alabama, 237, S. C. 64 Alabama, 603, a mortgage of a railroad and "all other property now owned, and which may be hereafter owned by the railroad company," was held not to cover a land grant of the United States made by an act of Congress subsequently passed. Other cases to the same purport are: Shamokin Valley Railroad Co. v. Livermore, 47 Penn. St. 465; Dinsmore v. Racine &c. Railroad Company, 12 Wisconsin, 725; Farmers' Loan &c. Company v. Commercial Bank, 11 Wisconsin, 207; S. C. 15 Wisconsin, 424; Morgan v. Donovan, 58 Alabama, 241; Walsh v. Barton, 24 Ohio St. 28; Calhoun v. Memphis & Paducah Railroad, 2 Flippin, 442; Seymour v. Canandaigua & Niagara Falls Railroad, 25 Barb. 284.

A consideration of the circumstances attending and following the execution of this mortgage strengthens the inference that we have drawn from it, that the land grant was not intended to be included. There is no allegation in the bill that the parties to this mortgage expected, or had any reason to expect that the land grant would be made; and had it been intended to include so important an item, it is scarcely possible that the mortgagor would have left such intention to be inferred from the indefinite and ambiguous language of this instrument. Nor is there any evidence that, after the act of Congress was passed, the line of the road was ever definitely fixed, as contemplated by section 9 of the act of March 3, 1871, 16 Stat. c. 122, 573, 576, although it had filed a map designating the general route of the road pursuant to sections 12 and 22, and obtained an order from the Secretary of the Interior withdrawing from entry and sale the odd-numbered sections of land within the grant and indemnity limits. As the grant was, by section 9, of lands not sold, reserved or otherwise. disposed of at the time the route of the road was definitely fixed, it is settled in this court that the title to any particular lands would not pass until the line was so located, because until that time it could not be definitely ascertained what lands had been otherwise disposed of. Van Wyck v. Knevals, 106 U. S. 360; Kansas Pacific Railway v. Dunmeyer, 113 U. S. 629; Sioux City Land Co. v. Griffey, ante, 32. As to lands

Opinion of the Court.

within the indemnity limits, it has always been held that no title is acquired until the specific parcels have been selected by the grantee, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Grinnell v. Railroad Company, 103 U. S. 739; Kansas Pacific Railroad v. Atchison, Topeka &c. Railroad, 112 U. S. 414, 421; St. Paul &c. Railroad v. Winona & St. Peter Railroad, 112 U. S. 720; Barney v. Winona & St. Peter Railroad, 117 U. S. 228; United States v. Missouri &c. Railway, 141 U. S. 358, 375; St. Paul &c. Railroad v. Northern Pacific, 139 U. S. 1. A definite location of this line was subsequently made by the Pacific Company; but there is no evidence that such location coincided with the general route designated by the Baton Rouge Company, and as no patents were ever issued for the lands earned by the construction of the road until March, 1885, when they were issued to the Pacific Company as assignee of the Baton Rouge Company, it is difficult to see what lands were ever "acquired" by the latter company, to which this mortgage would attach.

Not only this, but there is no allegation or evidence that the Baton Rouge Company paid the cost of surveying, selecting and conveying these lands, as required by the act of July 31, 1876, 19 Stat. c. 246, 102, 121, as a preliminary to their conveyance. New Orleans Pacific Railway v. United States, 124 U. S. 124; Deseret Salt Co. v. Tarpey, 142 U. S. 241. Nor is there any evidence to show that the Baton Rouge Company ever built any of its line of road or did anything to earn or acquire the title to any part of its land grant.

(3) The decrees in this case were also fatally defective in ordering all the lands assumed to be covered by this mortgage to be sold, free from all liens, mortgages and incumbrances, to satisfy a claim of $2400 in one case and $6000 in another, without making provision for other bondholders, subsequent mortgagees, or other creditors of the road. Assuming for the purposes of this case that, under the peculiar terms of this mortgage, these bondholders had the right to file this bill without calling upon the trustee to act a point upon which we express no opinion - they had no right to a decree for their exclusive benefit. If a single bondholder has any right

Opinion of the Court.

at all to institute proceedings, he is bound to act for all standing in a similar position, and not only to permit other bondholders to intervene, but to see that their rights are protected in the final decree. Upon this principle it was held by this court, in Pennock v. Coe, 23 How. 117, that a bondholder cannot, by getting a judgment at law, be permitted to sell a portion of the property devoted to the common security, as this would disturb the pro rata distribution among the bondholders to which they are equitably entitled. "These bondholders," said Mr. Justice Nelson, "have a common interest in this security, and are all equally entitled to the benefit of it; and in case of a deficiency of the fund to satisfy the whole of the debt, in equity, a distribution is made among the holders pro rata.. To permit, therefore, one of the bondholders under the second mortgage to proceed at law in the collection of his debt upon execution would not only disturb the pro rata distribution in case of a deficiency, and give him an inequitable preference over his associates, but also have the effect to prejudice the superior equity of the bondholders under the first mortgage, which possesses the prior lien." Jones on Railroad Securities, sections 392, 393, 434; Fish v. N. Y. Water-Proof Paper Co., 29 N. J. Eq. 16; Martin v. Mobile & Ohio R. R. Co., 7 Bush, 116.

In Railroad Company v. Orr, 18 Wall. 471, 475, a bill was filed by a bondholder, on behalf of himself and all others, against a county and a railroad company for the foreclosure of a mortgage given by the railroad company to secure the redemption of certain bonds issued by the county, and for a sale of the mortgaged property. The railroad company demurred for want of proper parties. It was held that the other bondholders should be parties to the suit, and, in delivering the opinion of the court, Mr. Justice Hunt observed: "It is the interest of every bondholder to diminish the debt of every other bondholder. In so far as he succeeds in doing that, he adds to his own security. Each holder, therefore, should be present, both that he may defend his own claims and that he may attack the other claims should there be just occasion for it. If upon a fair adjustment of the amount of the debts there

Syllabus.

should be a deficiency in the security, real or apprehended, every one interested should have notice in advance of the time, place and mode of sale, that he may make timely arrangements to secure a sale of the property at its full value."

In the view we have taken of the case it is unnecessary to consider the other points made by the defence. We are satisfied, both from the words of the mortgage itself, and from the circumstances attending its execution, that it should not be construed to include the land grant subsequently made to this company.

The decrees of the court below must be

Reversed, and the case remanded with instructions to dismiss the bills of Parker and Hamlin, and for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.

NEW YORK, LAKE ERIE & WESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY v. WINTER'S ADMINISTRATOR.

ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS.

No. 169. Argued January 19, 20, 1892. Decided February 1, 1892.

Parol evidence of what is said between a passenger on a railroad and the ticket-seller of the company, at the time of the purchase by the passenger of his ticket, is admissible as going to make up the contract of carriage and forming part of it.

Passengers on railroad trains are not presumed or required to know the rules and regulations of the company, made for the guidance of its conductors and employés, as to its own internal affairs.

Plaintiff bought a ticket in Boston entitling him to a passage over defendant's road. At the time he informed the ticket agent of his wish to stop off at the Olean station, and was then told by the agent that he would have to speak to the conductor about that. Between Binghamton and Olean the plaintiff informed the conductor that he wished to stop over at Olean and the conductor, instead of giving him a stop-over ticket, punched his ticket and told him that was sufficient to give him the right to stop over at Olean, and afterwards to use the punched ticket between Olean and Salamanca. He made the stop, and taking another train to Salamanca, presented the punched ticket, informing the conductor of what had taken

Statement of the Case.

place. The conductor refused to take it and demanded full fare. The payment of this being refused, the conductor stopped the train at the next station and ejected him from it, using such force as was necessary. Held,

(1) That he was rightfully on the train at the time of his expulsion; (2) That the conductor had no right to put him off for not paying his fare;

(3) That the company was liable for the act of the conductor; (4) That the passenger had a right to refuse to be ejected from the train, and to make a sufficient resistance to being put off to denote that he was being removed against his will by compulsion;

(5) That the fact that under such circumstances he was put off the train was, of itself, a good cause of action against the company, irrespective of any physical injury he might have then received, or which was caused thereby.

When the trial court has, in its general charge, given the substance of instructions requested, there is no error in refusing to give them in the language requested.

It is not the province of this court to determine whether a verdict was excessive.

THE Court stated the case as follows:

This was an action by David T. Winter, a citizen of Massachusetts, against the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company, a New York corporation, to recover damages for having been put off the defendant's train while a passenger thereon between Binghamton and Salamanca, New York. It was commenced in a state court of Massachusetts, and was afterwards, upon the application of the defendant, removed into the proper Federal court, on the grounds of diverse citizenship and of local prejudice and influence. Several other railroad companies that were supposed to have property or funds in their hands belonging to the principal defendant were made parties defendant, as trustees or garnishees.

The declaration contained two counts. In the first it was alleged that on February 13, 1882, the plaintiff, being the owner of an unlimited first-class ticket entitling him to carriage on the defendant's road from Binghamton to Salamanca, took passage on the defendant's train at the former place to be carried to the latter; that between Binghamton and Olean (a station on the road between Binghamton and Salamanca)

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