The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-04-29
The History of Railroad Accidents.

a
from Charles Francis Adams, iris Lecture.J
1t might sound brutal to say SO, but
few ways we're lives lost with such gre
immediate benefit to the world as in RAJ
road accidents. The whele world ira
eled thenceforth more safely for evel
life lost. New appliances, new preca,
uons, severer discipline followed ever
accident. During the first eleven yea
OF railroad experience almost no disa
trous accidents occurred. The first te
rlble one was on the Versailles road
France, IN May, 1912, when an engiI
broke down while running at full speet
and It's cars piled up on top Of it. Tt
doors of the cars were locked, they toe
fire, and ffty-three persons were crushe
or burned to death and many iniuree
The lecturer gave other instances of Ill
character, and showed how recent iG
provements IN car construction obviate
the danger of such accidents. In Ne
England there have been three terrib
railroad accidents-that at the Norwal
draw-bridge in May, 1858; that at Vale
Falls, r. l., on August Il, 1853, an
that at Revere station in August, 1877,
Each of these was taken up, describe
and analysed, and illustrated by the e,
perience of many other accidents of ik
character elsewhere. All of them wei
preventable, and there could be no e:
cuse for their recurrence. The variot
appliances which had been adopted j
consequence of these accidents We're II
ferred to, and the opinion was expresse
that the Revere disaster had reduced til
dangers incident to railroad travelling j
Massachusetts, by one-half. It ha
brought the train-brake and the " Nj
Ter" platform into general use; it ha
caused the increased adoption drumming
signals and greatly improved discipline
The lecturer then passed to accident
which had not happened. Since the Re
we're accident 100, 100000 Of passenger
had been carried by railroads within til
limits of Massachusetts,. How many
these had been killed by faults of til
railroad companies and by accidents owe
which the passenger himself had no COZ
troll? just one. This statement apple
only to passengers exercising due care
in all ways connected with the operation
of railroads about 300 people year WEI
killed Or injured in the State. Anothe
question: What is the length in Mass
chusetts of the average railroad journey
resulting in death? The answer sound
absurd; it is 1924, 100000 Of miles. Thu
is, on an average, 22,000,000 person
travel fifteen miles each, before any Oh
of them is killed by a railroad acciden
So the average journey resulting III deaf
is 10000, 900 miles. IF a person travele
as a passenger on a Massachusetts railroa
800 miles day, every day of his life, /
would, by a doctrine Of Oh ances, be Sc
enty years old before he would receN
an injury in a railroad accident. Frenc
statistics showed that stage-coach trave
ing was at least fifty times as dangeror
as travelling by rail. The danger of b,
ing murdered In Massachusetts W.
greater by far than that of being kllle
In railroad accident. In 1873 the raj
roads carried 1000, 900 passengers witt
out killing one; in the same year in 30
ton alone five persons were killed /
tumbling down stairs, seven by falliI
out of windows. With 10000 miles
track, full of curves, culvertS al
bridges, with safety depending on ever.
thing, from the state Of the atmosphe.
to the strength of the rails-with trai
moving in every direction, at all times
accidents must happen, since the ma
agements of railroads are human. TIL
they should happen SO rarely is the til
cause for wonder. There is no mo
wonderful human achievement than Il
combinations Of speed and safety wit
which the movement of modern civiliz
ton is maintained through the unceasiI
exercise Of human care, human skill, al
human foresight.