Crushed under the metal wheels of a streetcar between Montreal West and Ville St. Pierre.Tomasso Pellegrino, 44, died by broken skull, killed by Montreal streetcar.
His grisly death led to an unusual trial.
Giovanna Pellegrino was left widowed with nine kids to feed after her husband was run over by the eastbound tram.
His groceries lay strewn on the ground in the rain as he lay dead on the hill at about 12:30 a.m. on 3 May 1931.
He had exited a streetcar to walk home along the tracks towards Ville St. Pierre when he was run over and killed by another streetcar.
The widow figured the Montreal Tramways Company should be held accountable so she got lawyers John Ahern and Paul Smith of Hyde & Ahern on the case.
In her $20,000 lawsuit, she alleged that a streetcar employee had forcibly ejected her husband off a train at a point where he was forced to walk on the street car tracks in order to reach his home in Ville St. Pierre.
Once off the streetcar, the only safe walking route would have been be a lengthy hike via Upper Lachine* in the dark and rain.
There was no other route to walk, other than along the tracks.
As can be predicted, another tramway came and ran him over and killed him.
Pellegrino, according to that account, had been kicked off for refusing to pay the fare.
It was a clerical error, as he had already paid his full fare, the widow noted.
The Tramways Company, however, disputed that account and said that Pellegrino was very drunk at the time and indeed had never been asked for payment.
Indeed the conductor pleaded with him to stay on the tramway.
The court heard two diametrically opposite accounts.
The issue was settled by another passenger who testified as eyewitness before Mr. Justice Loranger.
The witness sided with the widow's version, claiming that indeed Pellegrino had been tossed off by the conductor.
In March 1933 a jury decided in favour of Mrs. Pellegrino and the judge ruled that she be compensated $15,000, the total to be reduced to $12,000 due to Pellegrino's own irresponsibility.
The $12,000 in 1933 he equivalent of about $232,000 in today's money.
The verdict was a triumph for Mrs. Pellegrino and her nine orphaned children, as well as her husband's reputation.
Soon after the proceedings wrapped up, however, something unexpected happened.
The witness, overcome by guilt, admitted that he had lied.
He confessed that he knew nothing about the incident and was not even on the streetcar.
He had committed perjury under threat, he said.
His name was not released.
The decision was immediately rescinded and a new trial was reopened the next week.
The case was never mentioned again, so presumably the widow got nothing.
*The stretch of St. James Street West, aka St. Jacques, west of Beaconsfield was known as Upper Lachine until the 1960s.
Where would this streetcar line have run? it wasn't in the middle of a street?
ReplyDeleteThere were never streetcars on that hill. Instead, if the man lived in Ville St-Pierre he could have a) been kicked off the 91 which ran between Lachine and Place d'Armes. A short section of route passed within the bounds of Ville St-Pierrre, all on the flat, along what was the riverbed of the St. Pierre River, i.e. the Turcot Yards, or b) he was riding on the 31, far to the east. In that case the incident might have taken place on the hill as Upper Lachine/St. Jacques rises between St. Remi and Decarie. But he wouldn't have been on the 31 if he wanted to go all the way to Ville St. Pierre because it only went as far as Belgrave where it looped back east. Also, did the 31 run as late as 12:30 AM?
ReplyDeleteIf he had been kicked off the 91 there was no street to walk on as Notre Dame didn’t exist and there were only the Tramway and CNR rights of way. So he would have been forced to walk along the tracks.
It’s odd his body was found “on the hill” and that he had been carrying groceries. Were there any places in 1931 to buy groceries after midnight?