New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-05-17
LOSSES avn DISASTERS.

siueEanle hFes, destroying property worm lhoi
than s2O,0O0,Oo0, Perhaps the excessive losses
1865 are referable to extraordinary fires inVolVin
i the destruction Of large amounts o. cotton an
Of government warehouses The state OF Nef
York has an unenyable pre-eminenee IN oonia
grafton IN that State alone there were seventy'nV
ires. attended with d loss of sS,o0000o. Twenty
. five houses were destroyed in the little town 0
lima ana one hundred in Belfast, Me- In Charles
ton twenty people were killed by falling walls
! abost seven thousand bales of cotton were burnet
E Oh shore ana on shipboard. OF course this state
rnent does not include any of the losses by actua
war Or the burning Of cotton during the militar.
operations Of the earlier portion of the year. W.
may form some idea Of the destructiveness of ordi
nary fires, when we reflect on the fact that thu
losses in nine years, by fires which consumed
4 $4,000 worth Of property and upwards, amounted
| to s72, 600, 600.
During the three months ending on the last o.
April, there were So fires Of 100000 loss and up
| wards, and the total destruction was Sl0,0O0,o0o
The chief losers were the cities Of New York. Gin
cinnati, Philadelphia, Buffalo, the oil regions, the
Michigan Central and Pennsylvania railroads, and
the Federal government Cotton amounting to
three or four million dollars was burnt in Mobile,
Pixies splendid opera house was destroyed in Gin
cinnati, and many oil wells in the petroleum re-
gions were dried up by fire. The amounts of cotton
destroyed during the last two quarterss fully 49,,
600 bales The conspicuous fact in this connection
which forces itself on the attention is the vast in
crease Of loss by fire over the average of previous
years, when certainly the case was bad enough,
III We attribute this to transient and exceptional
causes, Of course no general effect viii ensue
1 4na
loss Of 50 much property; but if the causes are
steady and constant, or even approximately CON
slant, insurance rates would be sure to advance in
consequence. IN any event we have to learn, it
seems, that careIessness of all kinds leads to
calamity and loss; and We suppose that much of
this kind Of calamity and loss is directly reterabe
to cnlpable carelessnesso of one kind or another.
AS to railroad disasters, the reports are not by
any means SO bad. The New York Tribune, from
which paper we get these figures, says that from
September To January, the number of accidents.
involving loss Of property and lifesay at least an
average Of two deaths to each occurrence-were
76, Of which % were outright collisions. In eight
cases trains were precipitated; eight more were
explosions; in three, bridges broke down; in
four, switches were misplaced, and in one or two
instances the cars ran off trestles. On several
railroads as many as three or four locomotives
were destroyed in twenty-four hours On all the
railroads Of the country, estimating from the
quarterly figures the accidents were not far less
than 200 during the year 1865.
Contrasted with this statement, the quarter gone
BY shows either improvement Or good fortune in
the management Of The roads. The Tribune counts
only % accidents, the worst Of them two collisions
On railroads near New York, and one case Of
bridge breaking the whole with loss of between
fifty and seventy lives. IN eight months nearly
one hundred railroad accidents took place, more T
han one.fourth Of the number collisions, and Al
east cnetenth explosions
Here, continues the Tribune, it Is worth while
making q general count Of explosions. Out Of 81 |
which occurred between September and January, I
were on railroads, 10 on steamboats,, 8 in shops
md factories; 4were from gnnpowder, and one
rom gnoin oil or nitro-glyc Between January
nd May occurred %, some of them Of most ter
ibe character, and nearly all explosions Of engine
boilers By the explosions Of the steamers Mis-
souri, and Miami and the steamboat Carter, on the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers, more than 400 lives
we're lost. The new explosive essence, known as
nitro glycerine, has already cost three accidents
nd nearly 100 lives. BY Sc explosions ia the last
light months, it il not improbable that 1000 per-
ona have been killed. This dry statement is the
adex Of most appalling catastrophes
Steamboat accidents and losses have q similar
ainful variety. Out Of 70 boats lost Or DESTROYED
principally on the Western rivers, Is had coided.
exploded were burned and lost through
9akage, Five disasters took place on the lakes. n
y OF on The Mississippi; Il steamboats, and
argos were lostby tie ST. Louis ice gorge. By H
he explosions and collisions probably 500 lives
'ere lost u the succeeding quarter We reckon
2 steamers lost, but these include such fearful
isasters AZ the baFnings and explosions Of the
tealneFs Missouri Miami, Carter and Lockwood
iith "a aggregate loss Of about 900 lives. Alto
ether III valuable steamers, and their more pre-
loas irelght of human life and wealth, have been
unk Or destroyed in eight months. Add to the
ialendar rs marine disasters Of them collisions
md burnings, with loss Of 259 lives, ia the
luarter ending December; and IS wrecks between
January and May, with about lives lost. mostof
hem in the steamers Constitution, Nareissus and
'tler yessels-aa aggregate for eight months Of 1913
isasters costing 429 lives. In these eight months
he earthquake showed several alarming symptoms
2 California, and a storm on the Gulf coast swept
way number Of villages The reorganization
hows thatin the lasttWo quarters occurred Eli aeci
ents By which railway cars and steamboats, were
estroyed, 90 severe explosions, and 1873 shin
recks on the American coast. 1t is not little
markable that disasters to inland travel have
zen more frequent than upon the sea.
EDUCATING THE SouTH.-The New York Tribune
fers with some degree Of pride to the report Of
the American Freedmens Commission, which