CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE. 251 



upon Street car tracks which were raised but not filled up, 

 notwithstanding the street was open for the use of travellers, 

 a recovery was not allowed.^^" Where the plaintiff was driv- 

 ing on a dark night over a road he knew and let the horses 

 go at will and they fell over an embankment built to protect 

 vehicles from slipping down hill, it was held that, as the road 

 was safe for ordinary travel and the plaintiff took the risk of 

 letting the horses find their way, the township was not lia- 

 ble.^®^ But it is not negligence as a matter of law to drive a 

 blind horse on a dark night whereby an injury results to the 

 plaintifif. "It was for the jury to consider how dark the night 

 was." ^^^ Where the plaintiff on his horse becoming fright- 

 ened, grasped the reins and himself backed the horse off an 

 unguarded embankment, he was not allowed to recover.^*^ 



Where the plaintiff, while riding, was injured by a defect 

 in the highway, his horse running away because frightened 

 by a dog, it was held that the question of contributory neg- 

 ligence was one of fact, though the plaintiff was riding very 

 fast.^®* A married woman is not chargeable with contribu- 

 tory negligence because she knew that her husband with 

 whom she was driving had but an imperfect use of one hand 

 and arm, though if he had had the complete use of them he 

 might have been able to prevent an accident caused by the 

 horse, which was a gentle one, taking fright at an unusual oc- 

 currence as a result of which she sustained personal in- 

 juries.^^^ It is not negligence for the owner of cattle to let 

 them run at large in the streets, where the ordinance allows it, 

 though excavations are being made for the laying of gas- 



'" Rock Island v. Carlin, 44 III. App. 610. 



'"' Mueller v. Ross Tp., 152 Pa. St. 399. 



And see Bitting v. Maxatawny Tp., 180 id. 357, as to using a lantern so 

 as to frighten a timid horse. 



^"'^ Brackenridge v. Fitchburg, 145 Mass. 160. And see Milwaukee v. 

 Davis, 6 Wis. 377; Bills v. Kaukauna, 94 id. 310. 



^ La Salle v. Wright, 56 111. App. 294. 



^"^ Brennan v. Friendship, 67 Wis. 223. 



'"= Dist. of Col. V. Boiling, 4 App. D. C. 397, 404- 



