New York Supreme Court November 15, 1887 (Palmer v. President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co.)

Williams, J.:

While it is true as a general proposition that the burden of showing negligence on the part of the defendant, occasioning an injury, rests in the first instance upon the plaintiff, yet in an action by a passenger for injuries received in an accident to a railroad train, when it is made to appear the accident resulted from defects in defendant’s road bed, machinery or appliances used