The New York herald., 1871-02-08
The uua.on River Railroad Accident.

seconds ahead Of the New York passenger ex-
press for Buffalo, which, with its packed mass
of human beings, plunges into the wreck.
Then the kerosene, that terrible agent Of
death and mutilation, takes fire, and then the
drawbridge upon which the collision took
place gives way, and then drowning and burn
ing are added to the other horrible methods of
death that waited upon the crash. Thirty-eight
persons are supposed 10 have been slaughtered
by this dreadful disaster, and great number
of them are New Workers, the passenger train
being the regular sleeping car train which left
this city on Monday evening. The details are
given in our news columns. They are too
heartrending for us TO enter into them here.
The description Of the dead bodies viii be read
with horrible fascination by many OF our read
ers this morning, who dread to see some loved
ones person outlined in the list or read some
dear friends name among the killed.
So far as human Judgment can 60 at present
it is impossible to say that the blame Of the
accident lies upon any human being. There
are little deficiencies that are overlooked in
every phase of human life every day, which
the ordinary human intellect is doubtless in
capable of recognizing, and which, little as
they are, are enough to affect such disasters
as the present one. In this case the initial
cause Of the calamity seems to be that the
train dumped" the track 1t is not known
that there was any defect about the rails
or the wheels, or that there was any cause
for the jumping" which the human intellect
could have foreseen and removed. The train,
with perverseness nearly human, merely
'jamped" the track, and bounding for the
length Of few rods along the solid sleepers
tilted over upon the up track and lay help
less In the way of the coming mass of human
ity. The most careful investigation could not
probably have foreseen Or prevented this
perverse jumping, and we believo there
has never been any serious complaint
OF the management of the Hudson River Rail-
road, so far as the carefnlness OF its employees
are concerned. After the first wreck took
place there seems to have been no time to
warn the coming passenger train, for it was
even then whirling, at the rate of twenty
five miles an hour (and yet not twenty rods
away, upon the stumbling block that so sud-
denly interposed for lis destruction. So far
as these particulars go, man may be held
blameless. But the breaking of the bridge
and the fearful horrors of the kerosene explo-
sion are matters that must be investigated
The bridge, one Of those trestles with which
the whole line of the railroad is
dotted, may not have been built to
sustain the shock of such collision
upon it; but it should have been. II must be
shown by legislative investigation at once
that there were no rotten timbers in that
edtce. As for the transportation of so
infammable a substance as kerosene upon
passenger railways, it is a practice which is
too fraught with danger to be justiflable un-
less extraordinary precautions are used. The
worst horrors of the disaster would have been
avoided and, most probably, many lives would
have been saved had that bridge been able to
bear the shock Of the collision and had there
been no loaded cars of kerosene to add fire 10
the dismal agents of death that rioted upon
the wounded. The public demands an inves-
tigation into this matter, and the censure and
punishment mus! be mercilessly and impair
tally placed where the fault lies.
The Defenceless Condition of Grent Britatn-
Army Reform.
In view of the opening Of the British Par
lament on an early day it is proper to notice
the fact that among the many questions de-
MI aft iho oh
the condition of the British army. 1t is on
all hands admitted that while the British navy
is equal to any demands that may be made
upon it, the British army is weak, not only
for aggressive but for defensive purposes.
The condition Of the army is the grand theme
of the quarterlies, of the monthlies, of the
weekiies. 1t is the testing question wherever
members OF Parliament have found it conve-
nient or necessary to meet with and address
their constituents. Earl Russell has sub
mitted plan by which he proposes to utilize
the strength Of the three kingdoms. Lord
Elcho, the soul for many years past of the
volunteer movement, has made public his
scheme. Mr. Trevelyan, an able and elo-
quent nephew of the late Lord Macauley,
has been traversing The country, delivering
speeches and writing for periodicals, calling
for army reform and holding up the example
of the soldiers of the days Of Cromwell.
Later, distinguished army officer, Sir Will
liam Mansfield, man who has won distinction
in India, has submitted plan W hich promises,
in modified form, perhaps, TO be accepted by
Parliament as the best basis of army recon-
struction. Sir William proposes that every
able-bodied young man be bound by law to
serve for one year in the militia, which must
be reorganized and placed on better footing.
He proposes also that in the event of inva-
sion the young militiaman be subject to service
for five years more. The ranks of the militia
force are 20 be kept fhl by the ancient though