Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-02-06
The Danger of Lying I'm Bed-Marls
ts Twain's MemOranda.
From the Galaxy

| EIOu bHo lOuihAS'J
The man in the ticket office said:
Have an accident insurance ticket
also2 bH1
| "No," said, after studying the mat
ter over a little. :" No, | believe not;
am going to be travelling by rail all day
to-day. However, tomorrow | dom
travel. Give me one for tomorrow"
The man looked puzzled He said
But it is for accident insurance, and i
you are going to travel by rail-"
If | am going to travel by rail,
shan't need it. Lying at home in bed is
the thing am afraid of. DD 8o
had been looking into this matter
Last year travelled 10000 miles, almost
entirely by rail; the year before | trav
eled over 5000 miles, half by sea anC
half by rail; and in the year before thai
| travelled in the neighborhood of 10000
miles, exclusively by rail. l suppose il
| put in all the little odd journeys here
and there, | may say | have Travelled
10000 miles during the three years ]
have mentioned. and nerer an dcci
dent. d.t
For good while Isaid to myself every
morning: "Now | have escaped thus
| far, and so the chances are just that
much increased that / shall catch it this
time. / will be shrewd and buy an ac
cident ticket. y And to dead mora
certainty I drew a blank, and went tc
bed that night without joint started ol
bone splintered. | got tired of that
sort Of daily bother, and fell to buying
accident tickets that we're good for Q
month. / said to myself: A man can
buy thirty blanks in the bundle.
But was mistaken. There was never
prize in the lot. | could read of rail.
way accidents every day-the newspaper
atmosphere was foggy with them; but
found had spent good deal of money
in the accident business, and had moth
ing to show for it. Ny suspicious were
aroused, and began to hunt around for
somebody that had won in this lottery.
l found plenty of people who had in
vested, but not an individual that had
ever had an accident or made a cent. /
stopped buying ACCIDENT tickets and went
to ciphering iGTne result was astound-
ing. The peril lay not in travelling, but
in staying at home. 1nn f1rti 1
] hunted up statistics, and was amazed
to find that after all the glaring newspa-
per headings concerning railroad disas-
ters, less than three hundred people had
really lost their lives by those disasters
in the preceding twelve months The
Erie road was set down as the most muir
derous in the list. 1t had killed forty
six-or twenty-six, do not remember
exactly which, but know the number
was double that of any other road But
the fact straightway suggested itself that
the Erie was an immensely long road,
and did more business than any other
line in the country; SO the double num-
ber of killed ceased to be matter for sur
prise. -.ilfu 'i.
BY further figuring it appeared that
between New York and Rochester the
Erie ran eight passenger trains each way
every day-sixteen every day, and car
ried daily average of six thousand per-
sons. That is about a million in six
montns-the population of New York
city. Well, the Erie kills from thirteen
to twenty-tbree persons out of its million
in six months; and in the same time
thirteen thousand Of New York's million
die in their beds My flesh erept; my
nair stood on end. " Thisis appallingr
said. "The danger isn't in travelling
by rail, but in trusting TO those deadly
beds; / viii never sleep in bed again.
had figured on considerably less
than one-half Of the length Of the Erie
road. 1t was plain that the entire road
must transport at least eleven or twelve
thousand people every day. There are
many short roads running out of Boston
that do fully half as much; agreat many
snch roads. There are a great many
roads scattered about the Union that do
a prodigioas business. Therefore it was
fair to presume that On average OF 25OO
passengers a day for each road in the
country would be about correct. There
are $40 railway lines ina our country, and
SAG times $500 are 2,ll5,O00 So the
railways of America move more than
two millions Of people every day; six
hundred and fifty millions Of people
year, without counting the Sundays.
They do that, t0o-there is no question
about it; though Ehere they get the raw
material is clear beyond the jurisdiction
of my arithmetic; for ! have hunted the
census through and through, and find
that there are not that many people in
tbe United States, by a matter Of six
hundred and ten millions at the very
least. They must use some OF the same
people over again, likely.
San Francisco is One-eighth as p0pu-
- -. NJ, VorE- there are so deaths a