New-York daily tribune., 1858-07-19

Thai old r,scL, NobodT, tss besn at 1t ss,n'
He has killed sI or eett persons On tae Ene hAii-
road ana wounded forty ODD. in spite Of the ufmo"
care. vigilance, &c on tie part Of the superIn'
tsbdett trackusster. conductor, engineer. brake
ner, &c, &c TIE victims .:e dead or wounded
there .. ultsppIy, Go Ioon for uistsAe or DOUBT
about that par. Of the eusinesa-but now or WY
they came to be so uIlucky, the Coroners Jury
csnIo, nsQire! At all events, Nobody Gid II
Two cars of the express tain that left the CITY a.
.. N. on Thursday were run of the track be-
tween Otrlle and Port Jeryis, and parged
down precpice some thirty to fifty feet, whereby
ore of them was rolled over aud over, smashed to
pieces and most of its inmates killed OF wounded;
but the Jury find that the killed
"csne 10 tleir death casually, accidentally, and oy
misfortune ard net otherwise; ard urtte er from a.
TIE testuCny before "a and from peIs nal insPeC
ton of TIE ground, ii is our belief thst the css Teie
thrown from the track il consequence OF broken
rail, against witch ordinary care and foresight o1 the
part Of those il charge Of the tram could not 81 ao
No. rentlsn nen that will not do You cannot
deceive yourselves so monstrously; at all events,
you can deceive nobody else Itwas not casually
nor misfortune, nor yet a "hsw in the rail, nor
ary defec. in the track that robbed these persons
Of their lives The causes are sbundacty laid bare
in tie evidence given before you. That evidence
proves that
l. Tie train had les. eish: minutes mainlS by
bot iourra snd was behind tine .aen i. lett OTIS
VILE
2. 1t was running down tie west eide OF the
M untsln st hazardous speed-probably not less
than forty miles per hour-in order to make up this
lost tine before reaching Port Jeryis
3 Having FIVE passenger cars-an unususly
large number for the Erie Rosd-it necessarily bore
harder on the rails than light train would do, and
its extraordinary speed caused the wheels to bound
from point TO point on the track, striking each rail
with fearful force. The resu. was the breshing Of
a rail-probably BY the engine or one of the FORE
most cars-followed up BY successive breaking' Of
the now unsupported fragment, until some OF the
broken pieces were thrust out Of place, and the
binder cars hurled of the track and down the preci-
pice. But for the breaking of the coupling the
whole train would have been dragged of and served
in like manner.
We say the evidence before the Jury shows all
this, in spite of the mystfcation Of the railroad
men, who (of course) swear they, though con-
fessedy behind time, were running no faster than
ususl-not over thirty miles per hour &c. Who
ever heard of railroad conductor or engineer who
(according to his own testimony running fast at
the time Of such tragedy, any more than Of q
steamboat engineer who had not his steam very loW
and his water rather high at the time his boiler ex-
ploded7 The public are familiar with this sort of
testimony, and know just what it is worth. The
testimony of Measrs. Adam Ray, + ID. G. Prime,
Isaac L. Peet, being that Of dainterested persons,
is conclusive; while the evidence Of Dewitt the
"train baggage man." that "we usually make up
"lost time if possible puts the whole matter be-
yond doubt. In the light Of this evidence, the
fact that the train was admittedly behind at OTIS
vile would Of itself create an almost Irresistible
presumption that they were going at extra speed
thence to Port Jervis; and the testimony of the
passengers removes all doubt on the subject. The
train was being run down steep grade, where the
track frequently curves with precipitous dechyi-
ty Of twenty to fifty feet on the right, at rate Of
some forty miles per hour. No doubt, the same
thing had been done repe atedly without disaster;
but ii was never anything else than reckless, foil
hardy tempting Of Providence, sure to result at
last in wide spread and eartrending calamity.
We call upon the managers Of the Erie Road for
iome public assurance that this narrowing calamity
shall not have been suffered in vain. They must
know that the testimony of their subOrdnate' is
gsmmon-that the causes Of the disaster are per-
fectly plain. Let them assure the public that they
have prohibited forever the culpable practice Of
making Up lost time by extra speed on down grades
that they have given orders to run all such grades
at speed Of not more than twenty miles per hour,
and much less than this, where precipice yawns
On one side of their track There should and ulti.
mately must be avail Of solid rock and mortar,
at least three feet thick rising fully four feet above
the track between it and every such precipitous
descent. 1t would cost something on such road
as the Erie, but would render speedy progress
much safer, and would save in time hundreds of
precious lives.