The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-03-28
NEW YORK RAILROAD STATS TICS

Monday Nt0ruau&s maEgu ~Cs
NEW YORK RAILROAD STATS TIE
The several railroad companies OF We"
York are required by law TO make an ~"
repor, of all their doings to the Stcte Ens'"ee''
who. in his tsrn, is required to make '~r
TO the Legislature. As there is no peh"', -.
scr;bed for refusing or neglecting 20 'epo'H
several companies have deciih'o 'oe -
xe,,he returns of such as thought p'oPS' " p"'
Shoa;e,.e IN the law--twenty nine IN NUMBER
80, so,ne very interesting facts. one oil
these hears directly upon the saiets " 'ah'oau
,,sveI;np. which, as it is suolect Oh general
..,.,es, we present somewhat IN detail. Our
.n,ho,;ty ia the Syracuse Journal.
Tw.,fv.nipe railroads made reports. On
,.asa there were transported, during the year.
zz4o 653 passengers and the whole number Of
miles they rode was 343 ,35S,545. Twentysix
of these passengers-that is TO say one for eve.
nv 1896 ,O9S miles-were killed. The chan
ces, therefore, are, that man NAV ride on
railroad 525 times around the globe before he
will be killed. The law gives $4,000 damages
for killing man by negligence. At two cents
q mile, the company will receive nearly $780,
00e before man is killed, and, of course, be-
fore it shall nave to pay the $4,000. This is a
very strong case in favor of the safety of rail
road travelling, but the Journal says still
stronger one might be presented for of the 70
persons who were killed, by far the larger pro-
portion lost their lives by their own careless
ness. During the year there were Killed OF
the employees of the railroads, 6O, and oil ON
ers, neither passengers ncr employees, 10, ma
king d sum total of I62 deaths from this cause.
OF this number, Is were killed by jumping on
and Of the trains while in moilon-20 Tell on,
or weie thrown off the trains-76 were run over
while standing or walking on the track.
1t appears, from these facts, that persons
who get on the trains while they are at rest,
and who keep their seats while they are In
motion, are safer in railroad car than they
can be in any other mode Of conveyance which
will carry them more than four or five miles
an hour. These statements are curious, and
will serve TO relieve the fears of great many
worthy persons who have not yet become re-
conciled to the snoring Of the iron horse,
Three times the number of persons who, &C,
cording to this statement, rcde on these TWEEN
ry-nine railroads, would about equal the pop
ulation ofthe United States, (23,00G,O00) and
three times the number of passengers killed
would be IS. Now, we know not how many
persons in the U. States are struck, yearly, by
lightning, but we should suppose at least rs.
Taking that for the number, the railroad pas
senger stands about the same chance OF being
killed by the railroad that he does of being
struck by lightning. 1.-THE raging canawl" is
the only means of travel whose safety can be
compared with the railroad, and that lets US on
at about four miles an hour.
Another item Of intelligence which we gath.
er from this expose is of interest, inasmuch
as it shows that the support of railroads de-
ponds far more on those who make short trips
than on those who take through tickets-thel
is to say, that the way travel is the principal
supper. of the road. All these millions of pas
sengers averaged only II per train, and the
average distance was only 46 miles.
From the report of the State Eng ineer, il
appears that The cost of transportation for each
passenger, the trains averaging a passengers
rs about halfa cent per mile. "lf one hundred
passengers" says the Journal, "were carried
on a train, al one cent mile, il appears quite
certain that half Ct that amount would be
applicable to dividends, and it is probable thai
within FIVE years the rates from Albany to Buff
falo will not exceed one cent mile