TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 565 



But that brings out the question, when the caretaker accom- 

 panies the car, you have got to be on the lookout to show where 

 the act of negligence on the part of the railroad resulted in a loss, 

 and if one or two hogs turn up missing or dead at the other end, 

 you have got to show to the railroad what happened to them if 

 you want to hold them liable. If the caretaker doesn't accom- 

 pany the shipment, they are presumed negligent until they can 

 show otherwise. In other words, the burden of proof changes 

 when the caretaker accompanies the shipment. 



Mr. Rippey : To what extent is the carrier obliged or required 

 to give the caretaker information with regard to the location of 

 the cars, etc.? 



Mr. Coon : That is a pretty hard question to answer : I would 

 say that it is up to the caretaker, if he is accompanying the ship- 

 ment, to keep on the lookout for it, and that is the reason he is 

 given transportation to look after the shipment; but as to any 

 specific duty being upon the railroad to show certain informa- 

 tion, or anything that otherwise he would not obtain, I don't 

 know that I could give any more specific answer to that question. 

 I can not conceive how it would come up. If he accompanies 

 the shipment he is supposed to be on the lookout for it. 



Mr. Rippey: The car is in bad order, and they ask the con- 

 ductor if car number so-and-so is in his train. The conductor 

 knows that the caretaker is there by his contract and by his car 

 number. The car is in bad order or set out, and he fails to notify 

 the caretaker, and it is probably a mile or such matter down the 

 line where repairing is being done. Is he under any obligation to 

 notify the caretaker of the bad order, or are they obliged to keep 

 themselves informed at division points to know whether they 

 have been set out, or continued in the same train? 



Mr. Coon : The duty would work both ways ; it is up to the 

 caretaker to exercise reasonable diligence to see what happens to 

 his car, and I would say it is also up to the carrier to notify the 

 caretaker and give him reasonable notice of what was being done 

 with his car. It is a question of reasonable diligence on the part 

 of both parties. 



Member: Is it possible for the railroad company to pay 

 claims of one or two parties, when there are a half dozen parties 

 having identical claims due to the same cause, and not pay the 

 rest of them? 



Mr. Coon: Maybe you are the man I have been corresponding 

 with on that point. 



