New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-12-23
DEATH ON THE RAIL.

The recent horrible massacre by railroad
near Buffalo whereby forty to sixty human
beings were roasted alive in a car, should in
cite the public to insist that railroad travel be
rendered safer eycrmOre. Danger there is, and
must be, in travelling at the rate OF twenty to
fifty miles per hour in any vehicle, however
impcled; but that danger may be reduced to
q minimum. and it must be. We cannot afford
to lose forty or fifty precious lives every time
\ rnil breaks. n journal becomes heated,
wheel is fractured or a switch displaced. We
must have more efficient precautions against
wholesale slaughter; and now is the time to
inaugurate them. Here are few suggestions
toward general reform:
l. Car-wheels will fly apart; but each car
should have so many wheels, so placed, that
any one may be shivered without disabling the
car or throwing it off the track. This is simply
matter of cost; and economy is really on
the same side with safety. OF course the law
must demand a compliance with the dictates OF
caution and foresight.
III. Our passenger-cars must be made oil
iron-of cast-iron plates, firmly held by
wrought iron rods. These cost but little more
than frst-rate wooden cars, will last far longer
and are worth twice as much when worn out.
There is economy in the substitution OF IRON
for wooden cars; while the former are almost
proof against calamity. They do not burn III
ease of accident; they do not splinter; they do
not crash into oyen-wood; their general use
would save three-fourths of the lives now lost
by railroad casualties. No more wooden passen-
| eer-cars should be constructed, and those now
in existence should be superseded by iron ones
so fast as the latter can be completed
III. We must stop painting all manner OF
| public COMMUNICATIONS especially steam
boats-with mixtures whereof one ingredient is
highly inaammabc oil. Our grand and gay
river and sound steamers arc iireships, ready
| to fash into dcath-dcaling coDfagration. Now,
we not insist that wooden partitions, floors,
ceilings, SC, may be rendered absolutely IN
combustiblc by any known pigment, but we
do insist that there are paints which would
greatly retard the spread of fire, where they
did not completely prevent it, Now, cabins
are so painted aud upholstered that a fire.
once kindlcd, runs the length Of a steamship
or boat about as fast as a squirrel could. If
all the surfaces were painted or japanncd with
the least combustible combination of sub
stances already known to science. it would be
morally impossible to burn ship, boat, or car
filed with passengers. They could, at least,
confne the fire within narrow limits until they
could secure the means of extinguishing it.
". A passenger train should always be pro-
yided with brakes that could be instantly and
| firmly applied by n motion of the engineers
! foot. Brakemen cannot be relied on. They
! have various and conflicting duties; they are
driven 10y storm and cold to seek shelter and
warmth within the car; and the signals OF the
engineer to apply brakes are often defective or
unheard. The engineer keeping good look
out, is naturally first 10 perceive danger; and
he should be enabled to apply every brake on
the instant The seconds Cat leas) required 10
convey his signals to the brakeman, and enable
them to comprehend and obey those signals,
often involve the wreck of the train and the
loss of many lives.
V. New safeguards against flying the track
Oh embellishments, bridges, &C. must be pro-
vdcd. Two squared sticks of timber, eighteen
to thirty inches in diameter laid upon each side
of the track at such points, and firmly secured
and bolted there, would preclude scores of
| frghtful disasters A thick concrete wall of
rough stones laid in lime and cement, rising
on each side of the track to a hight of two
or three feet above the rails, would be still
better. Such timber or walls might add $1,000
per mile to the average cost of railroads
though, in prairie and other level regions it
could hardly be half that. But, even were it
to cost $4,000 per mile, this protection to hui
man life must be had.
| These suggestions are, Of course not ex-
haustivc. They may need to be amended in
some points and supplemented in Others. But,
though suggestions merely, they will indicate
| to railroad and steamboat men duties that can
no longer be neglected Reform must be had /,
comparative security must be attained if our
public conyeyances are not to be deserted by
the more timid and apprehensiye half of those
by whom they have hitherto been patronized
We exhort our railroad managers to act
promptly and decisiyely.