Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-05-09
A French View of Railway Accidents.

A French View of Railway Accidents.
1t really begins to look as though the
time were fast approaching when rail.
way and steamboat officials will be
everywhere held to strict accounta
bi]ity for the lives committed to their
care. Many months since, we recorded
the exemplary punishment meteo out
to South American railway manager,
who will doubtless learn, in the course
of long term of imprisonment, the in
expediency of permitting accidents on
his road in the future. Lately, this ad
mirable precedent has been followed
up and confirmed in France. The
Ly ons railway, during last September,
was the scene of an accident which
caused the deaths of nine persons, and
was found to have been caused by the
breaking of an axle-tree, while the train
was going at high rate of speed. 1t
is a theory of the French law, as it
should be of all laws, that there are no
such things as unavoidable railway &C
cidents, or, at least, that the burden of
proof should rest in all cases on the
person presumably to blame, to show
that the mishapwas not to be prevented
by human foresight or care. In obedi-
ence to this admirable provision, M.
Audibert, the traffic manager of the
road, was cited before the Tribunal of
Correctional Police, at Sens, to exp ain
why he should not be held worthy of
punishment for suffering one OF his
axle-trees to break. 1t was shown that
such accidents were by no means I'M
| common on the road, 220 having oc-
Cured in 1869, and after repeated
warnings and promises of amendment
on the part of NJ Audibert, twenty.
four such fractures had taken place in
four months of last year. NJ. Audibert
dence, and although through tech
meal defect in the law the gravest part
of the charge failed, he was still con
demned to pay fine of three Thousand
| francs and to suffer months imprison
ment.
These are steps in the right direction
Individual responsibility strictly en-
forced can alone secure moderate de
gree of safety against the manifold risk
of modern travel. Mulcting companie
i'll damages may indeed make then
more careful in selecting proper agent
and in holding them to a thorough per
Torrance of their duties. But peopl
on whose vigilance and attention hu
man live is constantly depending, mus
be made to feel that negligence will IN
volve graver consequences than thu
mere loss of a situation that they mus
render an account not only to thel
employers, but to society and to tn
law. They must be made to feel tina
for every accident some one is to blame
to be found out, and to be punished
This principle once thoroughly under
stood and acted on-and nowhere is
more necessary than with us-we ma
not, indeed, nave put beyond us a
danger of such pitiable disasters as tina
of the OceanuS the other day, OF tn
constantly recurring slaughters on ra
or river that almost daily shock US, bu
we shall have certainly very appr'
Gladly diminished the risks. What
/, better, we shall, as community, hay
. relieved ourselves from that share {
f responsibility for these massacres whic
t must attach to every society whel
:. recklessness and ineficiency are slim
/ lated to disaster by supine neglect
!. languid enforcement of obvious law.
:. is not alone the careless Waterman
n the drunken engineer who is to blan
!. for the accident that may cost SEQ
. of lives, but the public which has tall'
q to prove to these faithless servants tn
their neglected duty will be punisht
y as a crime.-N. Y. Times.