Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-02-11

TIE more We learn Of the late rail-
road accident near POughkeepsie, n.
y. the more we are convinced that it
was the result Of carelessness and a
want Of promptness. Indeed, in the
course Of the c0rOner's inquest, the
details of which reach US by mail, one
OF the chief witnesses (the conductor
OF the ill-fated train) confesses as
much. He says he started out Of
New York City SIR minutes behind
time, and that he lost as many more
before his train coIlided with the oil
tank. He also admitted that he be-
lieved had his train been on time
there would not have been any eOlli-
sion. What more we may have Of
the same sort there is no telling, as
the Coroner adjourned his in
vestigatiOus over for 81 few days,
we suppose to await the re-
coverv Of other equally COM
peteut witnesses wounded by the coll
Iisfon. We trust that if this evi-
dence be sustained, the responsible
parties will be punished by as long a
term Of service in the penitentiaTy as
the law viii allow, and that every
one OF the MANNED, OF the surYiv-
ing friends Of the killed, viii be
awarded such damages for the Grip
pling and killing Of their relatives as
will trouble the reckless railroad COM
pany to pay and prove a warning to
all such corporations throughout the
country. The Treasury Department
has recently ordered thorough inves-
tfgati0ns Of our recent river disasters,
with a view To fixing the guilt Of
reeklessness, csrelessness or incOmpe-
tence where it belongs, and bringing
the parties to well merited punish
meat. We hope the State Of
New York viii initiate an exam
pie SO earnestly pressed, and
prosecute and punish with an un-
sparing hand whoever may. be found
responsible, nearly or remotely, for
the late great and awful calamity.
And we hope, for the sake Of our com
mon humanity, that the citizens Of
PouEhkeepsie will sift the charges Of
uuseemly brutality and lustful curios-
itv brought sgainst some Of them by
the New York Tribune and if they are
su5stantiated, that the perpetrators
viii be held up 10 the eXecrati0n Of
mankind. 1t seems as if this sort Of
brutal barbarism is confined to a GER
tain kind Of low scum in the North
whose instincts are lower than
those Of the brute, as they
possess passions to which the
brute Is a stranger. We seldom hear
ofsuch exhibitions at the South. In the
list of Outrages we are charged with
in Congress the like Of this
finds no place. Now and then a
nero feud in our section shames even
mis- race by an unsesmly brutalism;
but seldom a white man. 1t is only
in the North, many parts Of which
are fast verging upon the over
crowded condition, Ignorance and
wretcheiuess Of the manufacturing
districts Of England, where crime is
the lifelong JOB Ofmany, and plot and
diab0lism the only means resOrted
10 TO force terms from IN
willing employers, that we hear Of
these horrible brulalities. The con-
CfH1u Of the souls and bodies Of the
ever t0iing poor OF England begets
sullenuess, brutality and besiality,
and we frequently hear Of crimes
committed there, the details Of which
are sickening. Its becoming too often
the case now in portions of New
York, New Jersey and Peunsyl-
vania. peoPled by just such
classes. In the south we have no COM
mu1lies corresponding with these.
Our crime, too, is prompted by
ether motives than gain, and our
murders devoid of the fsud-
ishuess that is usually Incl
de1t to those Of the north or Of Eng
land. The same is also true Of Ire.
land, where murders are prompted
by revenge, and are generally accom- /
pIizhed without the revolving and sick
ening, hacking and mutiIating Of un-
fortunate victims, so characteristic Of
murders in New as well as Old Eng
land. We venture to say that nothing
equal TO the charges Of the Tribune
have ever before been brought against
a community like that in the neigh
b8rh0Od of the recent disastrous
accident, and that nowhere except
among imbruted hends could such be
perpetr7ted. One of the highest evil
deaces Of civilization is the respect
usually shown for the dead; one
&C the lowest, the vile pruriency that
would expose the nakedness Of dead /
women to the jeers and ribaldry Of a
brutal mob. The Smelling Commit
Tee Of Congress should sit ca Dgrma-
nance in the vicinity Of POughkeepsie. /
That's the place for them.