Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-07-06
ESTABLISHED 1910.
Death on the Rail.

OF late the lovers of sensation must
surely have supped to the full. The
greediest appetite must have been sa-
tiateG by the startling accidents and
terrible catastrophes which we, in
common with the rest Of our cotem-
poraries. have been called upon in
the exercise OF q painful and Hnpleas-
ant duty to lay before our readers.
A lew months since our columns were
filed with the sickening details OF
frightful steamboat accidents. The
atmosphere seemed to be warning
against steamboat boilers, and explo.
siOns were Of frequent occurrence.
Dead bodies were found floating upon
the river for weeks like drift
wood. There is no comparative
safety on water; but death seems
to be lowering along our railroads.
During the past ten days our dis.
patches have reported half dozen
railroad accidents, and on Tuesday we
announced in an extra APPEAL one
still more disastrous. The accident
on the Nashville and Northwestern.
railroad is appalling in its results, anC
shocking to our people because they
are acquainted with many Of the suf.
ferer5. The HindOOs have dispensed
with the car of Juggernaut, under
whose pOndeROus wheels the pilgrims
formerly sacrificed themselves. But
it seems that this custom has beer
transferred to America, and that thou
sands of our citizens sacrifice them
selves under the wheels where idOla-
tors alone formerly perished.
Accidents are becoming so frequent to
travellers that, before going on jour
ney, a man now begins TO think about
leaving an order with an undertaken,
or making his will. Casualties and
catastrophes are so common these
days that they attract no notice, unless
among the sufferers there chance to
be some Of our relations or friends.
Killing people is as much 8 part of
our system of travel as it was Of Le
Sage's famous physician, with this
difference, that Dr.. .Sangrudo imagined
the science he professed could not err,
however much his patients might
have the i'll fortune to die, while We
behold the deplorable effects Of our
indifference, and make no effort to
prevent their frequent occurrence.
But, seriously, it is high time some.
thing was done to prevent the hor.
rible loss of life TO which we are
subject. Cannot we observe the same
caution. adopt the same measures,
and bring about the same results in
the United States that European
countries are distinguished for? We
surely ought to make the effort. Pub
lie safety, public good, and the cause
of humanity demand that general
and earnest attempt should come from
our people to diminish the horrible
and sickening wholesale slaughter Of
men, women and children by public
c0nveyances, whose conductors and
managers are almost invariably held
guiltleSs in the legal, il not the social,
eye. Cannot something be done to
prevent such cstastrophes IS that at
Harpeth river on Tuesday morning
last, OF which no one can read with
out a shudder ? Certainly, human
life is worth preservation, and our
endeavOrs 10 preserve it; and he must
remain sadly reniss In his duty who
does not strive to be in some manner
its savior. In Europe travellers are
not murdered by even detail, and
measures should be taken in America
TO prevent these murders by the
wholesale. The American people are
esrcful about their property, their
credit, their business affairs-the
merest nOthings, indeed, Of their
ordinary life; but Of their lives, in
which it is fair to suppose they are as
much interested as any one else, they
are so perfectly reckless that One
would think they had a power of self
reproduction of which the SGmian
sage, with all his visionary theories
never dreamed.