Connecticut western news., 1874-07-17
Is It Accident or Crime

It is scarcely to be supposed that the per sons who are responsible for the defects in the Williamsburg dam distinctly foresaw and deliberately planned tue appalling des truction of life and property, of which those defects were the unquestionable cause. They had no vision of drowning men, wo- men and little ones; of parents bereft of their children, of children made orphans, or of families made homeless, and stripped of their sustenance in an hour through their cupidity or ignorance or carelessnes. No motive of malice or revenge could have actuated them when they slighted the work on which SO much depended, and which was to stand as 8 wall between life and death, betwixt security and destruction. They must have known however, that if their work were defective in any part on which it's permanent security depended. the bursting of the dam was probable-naY, that it was inevitable-at some time or oth- CT. But they also knew that the danger was remote; and in proportion as it was so their sense of personal responsibility dimin- ished till it was reduced to an imperceptible point. And thus, in their case, the voice of conscience was quieted.
 So also with those who are responsible for the construction of the Central Baptist church at Syracuse, and other buildings crowds assembled in them, or which have been blown by gust of wind, crushing and mangling and staying fathers and moth CTS and innocent children in their ruins. They did not absolutely foresee nor delib erately plan this awful, wholesale slaughter, and yet they must have known that it was possible. It was only question of time and opportune circumstances. But it was in the dim distance, and they closed their eyes and hushed the approximations of con- science.
 A notable feature of all those calamities which arise from the cupidity, the ignor- ance, the neglect, or the carelessness of men, is their disproportionate destruction of human life. The ordinary murderer rarely destroys more than one life, but these homicides slay multitude at once, and of ten with as little warning as if they had plunged dagger to the heart of their vic tims. They are more destructive than the thunderbolt or the earthquake or battle. Many important engagements have been fought in the wars of our own country and of other nations, which have changed the course of history, in each of which the list of the killed and wounded was less in the terrible catastrophes-all things traceable 5 to mans folly or cupidity or neglect or carelessness or ignorance-which have sig nalized the last year or two: such for in stance, as the wreck of the Atlantic and of the Vile du Havre, the collisions on our railroads, and the more recent tragedies named at the head of this article.
 So far as we can perceive, there is but one remedy against the occurrence of these accidents or calamihes, as by perversion of terms we are wont to call them. The law must declare that they are not acci- dents; that they are not calamities, as 6y c perUersiOn cf teTnas zoe are aoont to can mem-ln any provldentlal or inevitable sense, but that they are crimes for which their perpetrators are responsible and pun ishable. The man who deliberately and knowingly puts an unsound piece of tim Der in building or bridge, or builds an insecure foundation or dam, or neglects or is careless of his duty and wrecks railroad train; or who, by similar neglect or cane- lessness, or by ignorance of his calling, runs his ship on breakers or dashes it in twain against another vessel; and who, by either of these processes, sacrifices human life, should be put on trial for his own life, ,or at least for his liberty; and if it be found that he has been guilty of fraud, neglect, or ig norance, resulting in the destruction of life, his own life or liberty should be forfeited. A few penalties of this kind would put an end to class of accidents and calamities which are only shade less criminal than the acts of the red-handed homicide or midnight assassin. B.s.T.