Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-10-30
A FRIGHTFUL EXHIBIT.
The Number Of Lives Lost by Railroad
Accidents i'm Great Britain and This
nn.uv.f~u
From the Boston Globe.

4
The Number of Lives Lost by Railroad
Accidents i'm Great Britain and This
Country.
From the Boston Globe.
| If the habitual newspaper reader would
take the t-ouble to mark in eacn days pa
per the dispatches and local accounts rela-
| live to railway accidents, and add them up
at the end of the month or quarter, he
would be beyond measure surprised, If, in
| deed, he were not -yond experiencing that
feeling. The eye, in running over the col
umns of newspaper, gets so accustomed
to the ever-present heading, "Railroad Cas-
ualty," that, without the results are some
| thing extraordinary in the way of destruc-
ton of life or property, the paragraph leaves
| little impression. A late number of the
Railroad Gazette says that during the single
month Of Angus: last there occurred In the
United States alone one hundred and fifty
accidents, resulting in the death of sixty
| three persons and the manning and lnjuring
of one hundred and thirty-6ve more.
| Nineteen of these accidents resulted fatally,
thirty resulted in injuries alone, the remain
| der being destructive only to property. On
six days of the month there were eight,
nine, and ten accidents caily, the 18th be-
| ing the only day of the month free from cas-
ualities OF some sort. or the numerous
causes assigned, the carelessness of railroad
employers is said by the board of investiga-
ton to be the most frequent. We give the
following statement, that the exact extent
of the aggregate disasters may be seen at q
glance, the first number following the date
being the number of accidents during the
month, the second the number killed, and
the third the number injured: September,
1872, II, "a, 104; October, 80, 20, 102, No
vember, 103, 81, ia; December, 112, AZ.
1873; January, 1873, It's, 40, 189; February,
1873, 25, he; March, III, IS, 90; April, 101,
%, IS; May, 10, 10, 113; June, 80, II, 104;
July, 90, Is, 80; August, $50, 60, 155; total,
1890, BAL, lao.
This is frightful sho wing, but the cata-
logue of disasters which occurred on the
railways of Great Britain during the same
period is much more extensive. There is
little difference in the running distance of
the railroad systems of the United States
and Great Britain, but the average speed is
greater in the latter country and the num-
Der of trains larger. One peculiar kind of
accidents happening on American railways
that Of telescoping-is impossible in Great
Britain, while, from the pecalisrity in that
country Of the entrance TO the car being
upon the sides instead of at the ends, there
is much larger number Of people injured
from falling under the wheels of trains than
in America. Daring the past year there
were killed upon the railways of the United
Kingdom !, 145 persons, while there were
3,O3S more or less injured. About halt of
both these numbers were servants of the
railways, and rather more than half of the
entire number suffered from their own
carelessness or misconduct. OF tie en-
ployes, 500 were killed from their own
recksssness, Ga only from causes beyond
their control. OF the 1,462 passen-
gers injured, 1,247 suffered from causes
beyond their control. OF the entire num-
Der killed, the report estimates that more
than two hundred deliberately chose that
method of committing suicide. Of the d.
rect causes of all the reported casualties,
PIT are ascribed to broken rails; collisions
with other trains, 1872; broken akles, 1872,
and running over distractions, 115. 1t is q
curious fact that only one life has been lost
through the breaking Of axles, aud but ten
from running over or against Instructions,
almost the ertire damage to property and
life resulting from COLI iions.
With these results before them, and
certain knowledge of the causes to which
the disasters upon their various roads are
attributed, it would certainly seem as if the
corporations Of both countries could put
preventive measures in force that would re-
duce the list st least so per cent the coming
year. Of course they have no Jurisdiction
or influence over cases of personal careless
ness, but for all other causes they are d.
racflV rnsnOnsibla and shOuId ba made to
understand 1t.