Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-05
The Year Of Railway Slaughter.

nope IldL sOHiO dCCuIdJe anu AClld-
bic statistician, who possesses adequate
means of information, has collected the
materials for laying before the public the
facts in regard to railroad murders during
The year ts65-the number of accidents,
the amount of damage done to property,
andlthe total loss of life. If such a table
could be prepared, 1t would strike most
heavily upon the public attention. One
of the most marked features in the com
merciaI history Of the year has been the
number and seriousness of its railroad ae-
cidents. Slaughter has followed slaughter
with terrible iteration and now, in the
closing weeks of the twelve-month, two
more railroad breakdowns and twenty more
mmgled bodies remind the people of their
peril.
The cause for this alarming increase in
the loss of property and life is the fact
that our railroads, built originally with
more regard fol. rapidity and cheapness of
construction than for durability and excel
lence, have passed their prime. Many,
perhaps most, were built during the five
years which preceded the financial crisis
of 1851. Ten years or more of constant
use has told upon these hastily built and
ill-repaired roads, and the slaughters of
the season are the logical and iney-
table sequence of rotten ties, worm
out rails, and over-used rolling
stock. To this may be attributed a
large proportion of the, accidents Of the
year. But back of this, though of the
same character with it, are other defects,
which make our railroad system a very
imperfect and dangerous one, when COM
pared with those Of England and the Eu-
ropean continent. What theyare, may be
better understood by a brief comparison
between American and Trans Atlantic
railroads.
The most prominent difference lies in
the fact that in Europe every railroad is
under governmental supervision. Rail
rosd commissioner, capable engineers,
appointed by the government, are busily
employed in examiningthe railways, look
ing into all the n,iautig upon which de-
pend the safety and comfort of passengers,
correcting all abuses and prescribing all
necessary reforms. Before a railroad is
opened, it andqrgoes their closest scrutiny
Its c~ulverts ndLbridges, its road-bed,
track, and rolling-stock, are all examined.
When an accident occurs they examine
into, and report upon it. Their power is
peremptory, and they can even stop the
rnnning of trains, until their directions
are carried outg Under the control of
competent men; whose salaries place them
beyond the reach of brides, the condition
of our railroads would be radically
changed, and the defects and careiessness
which now invite disaster would be re
moved. o.J or
This is a general remedy for the evil
which stares the travelling public in
the face. Specific defects, in the con-
struction of and mode of running upon
railroads, are too numerous to be cata-
logued here. The th~oroughness of the
reform, in all its details, would of course
depend upon the competency, fidelity and
energy.of, the Commissioners. But there
is one notable difference between the con-
stfuction Of our railroads and those of
Europe which deserves attention, for the
reason that il is the indirect cause of a
very large proportion of our railroad ac-
cidents. On our railreads, the ends of the
rails are laid in clamps, technically called
chairs which are bolted to the ties. The
ends of the rails are at first joined as closely
as possible. Butthe expansion and contrac-
ton of the rail under the influence of the
atmosphere, and the conclusion of the
heavily loaded wheels against its ends, sep
uates it from its fellow; and it is
mot to see rails half-an-inch.
or even an inch apart. Now, if one of
these rails is slightly raised above the
Level, as is very often the case, and the
wheels of a heavy and rapidly-running
train strike it, both rail and wheel receive
ta terrible shock, which Is very apt to
break the brittle cast iron. Let this be
repeated over and over again, day after
day, and especially in extremely cold
weather, and the result is inevitable. The
wheel or the rail breaks, and a scene Of
slaughter and havoc follows. Two-thirds
of our accidents take this form and are at
tributable to this cause. The whole dan
ger can be done away with, we are as
sured, by following the system in vogue in
Europe. There the ends of the rails
are solidly Joined together, by what is
called a fish joint, 50 that it is continuous
Earring and jolting are abolished, the com
fort and safety of the passengers greatly
increased, and a speed of sixty miles made
possible with less risk than we run now
with half that speed. The cost of the
change, it is estimated, will be less than a
thousand dollars a mile. Its benefits, if
they are rightly represented, are i~ncalcu-
liable. 1t has already been adopted by the
Pennsylvania Central, and will soon be by
others 1000 n. 81 -s.s bas @
There is no reason why our railroads
should hesitate to introduce this or any
other needed improvement, None Of our
great roads can plead poverty as cause for
inaction. Every n of them has money
and is making money. The wonderful
-nrosneritv of our, railroads is proverbial.
They are over-crowded with business, and
are charging what they please for freight
tariffs and passenger fares. Railroad stocks
are regarded not only as more profitable,