New-York daily tribune., 1856-07-21
,o,d utt.,ut a telegraph should b declared puo-

Afser All. tefeyrnphs, signals, wafchmen, 'u."
,.hlo, and vrittsa instructions, all may fail 10
If ,ll had been in perfection, and every man o. ID
No,therp Pennsylvania road except Vanstavo'eo
N. down train conductor, hsd ebeyed instruction.
and watched signals, yes the failure Of that ene IN
sane nsn-insane, as proved By ticking his OWL
life sffer destroying hundred oth'rs-tne isuufe
only for FIVE minutes 70 wait his tine, would as
did. create the most dresdAl slaughter that ever
has appalled, the wOrl since the commencen'en' u
the era Of railroad murders.
In all railroad collisions We read OF ears oe'ns
shut into each other like tie tubes OF 'eie-
"scope and of persons impaei upon the broken
.nlintsrs Of the wood in all the horrible hesrtsiek-
snjpo terror of ancient bsrbarsm that drove stakes
through living bodies. And now v'e have An sdui-
ton TO the Internal cruelty that thus sends h'''
children out OF the world in their white gala robes
gored with blood for are coOlly told tnas A''er
they were thus impaled, splintered' cr'ooed'
jammed up, ard held fast, some ey hsnd' sou''
by foot leg, an srm, so that none Could escape
the dry pine splnters of the wrecked cars 'ooA n'0
(as well they might in such day, for ve use pune
splr,srs for Lue,ttr matches and kindliug woody.
end The poor innocents were literally roasted alive
We are an ingenious people, but We cant In
vent sny refinement Of cruelty beyond that. But
We can invent, build and use cars that Will NOT
shut up like telescope, crushing pine boards 70
spnters, to be lighted into great aS'' do te oi
tie poor. confdine souls who have had faith enough
A. 10
vances for destroying human life
o1be two epgnes reared up until their ash pans
touched" says the account; just like two nery
literally steeds, compressing their red-hot entraus
and Gisgorgng stream Of fire back upon the IN
fernally prepared splihters, mixed up with the
finder of cotton dresses, inpaied bodies, human
blood, and chidrens besds, hands and hearts reaSt
ing them alive, charring their flesh, consuming
even their little bones till their own, mothers VINO
came shreking in despair to rake the ashes that
they might recognize and give them Christian
burial, turned sway and wept again, that no recog
pizable yessige remained
Was this destruction of life, limbs and the corses
Of the dead an inevitable sequence of the disaster
of the meeting uansl No. We answer enphati-
cally. No. =.
Cara built of iron will not burn. Cars made OF
woye wire, strengthened BY hollow tubes and Gov
cred with ipconbustibls canvas, may oe twis1ea'
wrenched and broken, and may destroy life but
they will not burn. They may shut up aud con-
fine their inmates, but they will not impale them
upon wooden spnters, roast them alive, or burn
up their bodies.
Human ingenuity csn--American ingenuity
sboud-contriye shields to be interpOsed between
tho fiery locomotive and wooden ears, so that In
case of collision the one could not come in contact
with the other. Let US suppose such shield,
ade Of plate Of iron ten feet across, interposed
between tho engine and cars Of the fatal train on
the Northern Pennsylvania road, could the sPlln-
tered cars have been piled upon the fret No,
the engines nighs have reared aud tumbled down
the embapkment, the cars been broken up, bus
they would not, as they did, have rushed upon the
fiery furnace, With open doors, sPltting open IKE
log upon the point of wedge driven IN with
GIANTS force. because the shield would have come
back with it, fat surface upon the end Of the car,
and though crusking it, would have shield ttorn
still more terrible calamity And If this car had
been such one as we have indicated, Of iron, it
might have been crushed half it's length ard not
destroy o single life.
What if such shield, or One Of diffeie form,
though absolutely mpenitrable, had been placed be-
~ cen each pair OF cs1s, as such might be at little
expense ?
There would have been no splitting open or
shutting into each other like the joints of tele
scope"
Twice on the Hudson River road this splitting
open has occurred from engines rushing upon the
rear Of standing trains. If it had been an imper-
atige rule of law hAt every train should carry such
shield behind the last passenger car, the result
would have been that the standing train would
have been butted forward, and possibly car might
have been thrown from the track, but the chances
sre that no life would have been lost by the col.
lisCn.
Lastly, as to brakes. Two trains are never abb
solutely in collision before they are (or may be
visible or audible to each others engineer. The
moment he hears or sees train approaching to
meet his on the same track, he should be able to
to touch spring or pull cord always at hand
and apply all the force of his engine to set Of
brakes at zach end Of every car in his train Such
brakes and apparatus already exist; but if they
did not it would be easy to invent them. Suppose
the two engines but ten rods apart when the
steam. brakes are brought to bear on the meeting
trails-it is clear that collision could not Sc
wholly prevented; but It's momentum and 3e.
s,Iuctive effect might be immensely diminished.
In the recent Philadelphia sauf liter, such brakes
costing perhaps $500, woald have probably saved