The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-07-20

THE MASSACRE ON THE ERIE RAIIROAD--ANY
ONE TO BLAME.-Last Thursday night train
Of cars, containing several hundred persons,
started from the terminus at jersey City on the
| New York and Erie Railroad. There was an
implied compact on the part of the company
that the passengers would each and all be set
Gown at their respective places of destination
safe as to life and limb. By the observance of
those strict safeguards and precautions which
iDDumerable railroad calsmities In this country
eboold have taught directors, superintendents
and employees, that compact might have been
faithfully complied with, and the confidence Of
those who gave tbemselve, up to the safe keep
ing Of the company might not have proved to
have been misplaced. But how was 1t! Not .
quarter of the whole journey had been perform
I'd when startling orash was felt throughout
the train, and in an instant, without
mon ent's warning. the two ndmost cars
we're violently disconnected from he forward
ones and sent topping over deep precpioe,
where ner, women and children, oil equally
helpless, were Jared, and crushed and mutt
lated, and hesptd together, MANNED, dying and
dead, in one terrible macs of ruin.
When the train was stopped and the ruins Of
| the two cars cleared away 1t was found that of
those Who, four hours before, had stepped into
them in full health and high confidence, ak
were lifeless corpses and the rest-some forty
or fifty-nore or less MANNED and injured.
The usual solemn farce of . Coroner's inquest
was held upon the bodies, and the stereotyped
verdict in such cases returned-"No one to
blame"
But was there no one to blame? Did the
facts and circumstances justify jury Of twelve
| respectable men in rendering such q verdict!
We do not think 80. Our contemporaries, whose
articles ON the subject we publish to day, do not
seem to think sO--there is no doubt as to what
was the cause of the catastrophe. A rotten,
| worthless rail-one Of that cheap and condemn
| ed class of rails which no railroad company
should p rmit to remain on any part of the line
| for a single day, broke under the weight of the
huge locomotive-or, perhaps, under the weight
Of the freight train that had previously passed
over it, and was shattered into seven fragments
The engineer felt the check as the engine jump
ed over the broken rail, shut off steam and
whistled for the brakes to be applied, but at the
terrific rate of speed which the train had then &C
| quired-rated at not less than thirty and as
high as forty. five miles an hour-the train could
not be stopped till it had gone on some three
| quarters of . mile.
In the meantime the couplings between the
| two last cars and the others had been wrenched
| asunder; and these two cars, with their human
| freight, were hurled down the precipice, with
the fearful results we have indicated.
That rotten rail and that headlong career of
speed we're the immediate causes of the disaster.
Were not these causes that might have been
easily avoided, and that would have been
avoided if the officers and employees of the
Erie Railroad had only exercised that due mea-
sure of care and precaution which they owe to
the community? Certainly they were. 1t was
the common remark Of the people In the locality
that that section OF road had been always
dangerous-that it had been laid with bad
iron and yet we find the train dashing over It
at rate which made the travellers hold their
breath for terror.
The fact of that portion of the road being in
bad order Ia shown even by the testimony Of
Mr.. Riddle the division superintendent When
questioned as to its condition, bis answer was
that the track was considered good enough
there" That answer, coming from functions
ry of the road, is equivalent to Its being econ
sidered bad enough there" "Good enough
certainly means "not as good as 1t might be-"
or perhaps not as bad as 1t might be-" We
will give the company the benefit of either In
! depreciation. Ii is somewhat remarkable in
cident, too, in connection with this that this
same Mr.. Riddle wrote to the president of the
road, the night of the disaster, asking to have
some one sent on to his assistance authorized
to settle with the injured" That would show
that he did not then entertain the opinion which
the Coroners' jury afterwards officially expressed
| that "there was no one to blame" He knew
| that there was some one TO blame, and recog-
nized the responsibility Of the company for the
injuries caused
We do not want 10 arraign the fidelity or the
independence Of the Coroner's jury. As in all
such casee the jurors were necessarily selected
from the people of the locality, whose interests
are directly or Indirectly involved in the pros
perity OF the railroad and no matter how de
sirous they might be Of rendering verdict &C.
cording to the evidence, their judgment would
very naturally be warped in favor of the COM
pany. Then again these inquests are got up in
a hurry; few facts relative to the deaths
of the unfortunate passengers are given,
and the reeult announced in twentyfour
or thirty-six hours after the accident" oc-
ours. But the verdict is after all, q mere
matter Of form. Grand Juries may act upon it
or set it sside, just as they think proper, and
may find bills of indictment against the officers
of the road, just a. II no such solemn mockery
had been perpetrated. There is no reason,
however, to expect anything Of the kind But
the injured and the representatives Of the
i ela..uk4axod NJ xarocl..d1d "a