Litchfield enquirer., 1875-11-11
.sTHzg gHc @ezgauc c7
WHOLE NO 257e.

citement and dism9y which tflIs catzssrO- phe caused thrOngh0mt Franea~ The neE invention was at once asscciabed- m the minds of an. excitabfe peopIs EIfh novel forms of imminent deAkhss zRrance had at best been Iaggard enough in is adoption of the new appliance. and now it seemed for time as if the Versailles disaster was to operate as barrier in the way of fur ther railroad deyelOpemenE Parsons availed themselves of the steam roads al- ready constructed as rarely d possibse, ,and then in fear and trembling, while steps were taken-to substitute horse fOr~steam power on other roads then n process of construction
 The disaster was, indeed, one well cal culated to make deep impression on tine popular mind, for it lacked almost no at tribute of the dramatic and eteznble. There were circumstances cOnnecsxd with if, too, which gave it sort of moral sig n1hcance-contFasting go suddenly the joyous return from the country Jete in fhe pleasant afternoon of May, with what De Quincy has called the terror of sudden death. It contained whole homily on the familiar text As respects the number killed and injured, also, the Versailles ac- cident has not often been surpassed per haps never in Europe. In this country 1t was surpassed on one occasion at least, and then under circumstances very simi- lar to it.
 This was the accident at Camphilf sta ton, about twelve miles from Philadel- phia, on the 17th of July, 1856, which be- fell an excursion train carrying some elcY- en hundred children, who had gone out on Sunday school picnic in charge of their teachers aud friends. THE ca1uaTTr arrTnw.-pL sr
 It was the usual story. The road had but single track and the train. both long and heavy, had been delayed, and was running behind it's schedule time. The conductor thought, however, that the next station could yet be reached in time to meet and there pass the regular train coming towards him. It may have been misealculatiOn of seconds, it .may have been a difference of watches, or perhaps the regular tram was slightly before It's time but, however it happened, as t!e excursion train, while running at speed, | was rounding reverse curve. it came full upon the regular train, which had just left the station. @
 In those days, as compared with tie present, the cars were but egg shells. aEd the shock was terrific. The locomotives struck each other. and, after rearing themselves up for an instaHt, it is said, like living animals, fell to the ground, mere masses of rubbish. In any case, tine force of the shock was sufficient to hun both the engines from the track and Iay them side by side at right angles and some distance from it. As only the ex- cursi0n train happened to be running at speed. it alone had all the impetus necessa- ry for telescopiDg three of it's cars 9c- cordingly closed in upon each other, and the children in them were crushed as in the Versailles accident, two succeeding ones were driven on to this mass, and then fire was set to the whole from the ruins of the locomotives. It would be hard to imagine anything more thorough ! ly heart-reuding, for the holocaust was of little children P~~Sy ~f pleasure Ez:s SgIs II an were burned, and 6 Der- more than loo. -zs~ ssr L Of this disaster nothing could be said either in excuse or extenuation 1t was not only one of the worst description, but it was one of a description the occurrence of which is most frequent An excursion train, while running against time on a sim gle-tFack road, came Tn collision with a regular train. s-E gsva The record is full of similar disassers, closing with that at Far ROckaway on the
 
 the 5th of July, 1875, with its ten killed and thirty wounded. Primarily, of course the conductors of the excursion trains were at fault in all these cases; nor should | it be forgotten that the unfortunate man who had charge of the Camphill train de- stroyed himself the next day by swallow | ing arsenic. But in reality, in these and | in all similar cases-bOth those which have happened and those herafter surely destined to happen-the final responsi biIity does not rest opOn the unfortunate ! or careless subordinate nor should the weight of punishment be visited upOn him.
 It belongs elsWhere At this late day no board of directors, nor president, nor superintendent has any right to operate single track road without the constant use of the telegraph i; and, If they persist in so doing, 1t should be under a constant and well understood liability to the pen aIties for manslaughter. That the iele- graph can be used to block, as it IS termed donble-track roads, by dividing them into sections, upon no one of which two trains can be running at the same time, isa mat | ter of long and daily experience There Is nothing new or experimental about 1t. It is q system which has been forced on the more crowded lines of the world as an alternative to perennial killings. That | in the year 1875, excursion trains shO1Id rush along single track roads and LnYI themselves against regular trains IS stTfi- ciently incredible but that such reads should be operated without the constant aid of the telegraph as means of block ing their tracks for every irTegTlaT train indicates degree of wantOH careless ness, or an excess of incompetence, for which adequate provision should be made in Ike criminal law. 4es.t...-f rfa--. COLLISIONS CAUSED BY THE TKLEGEAP1L.
 And yet, even with the wires in active use, collisions like tbOse at Far ROckaway and at CamphM will occasionally fake place. They have sometimes, indeed, Gy- cn been cansed by the telegraph, 90 that railroad officials at two adjoining Stations on the same road, having launched trains at each other beyond recall, have busIed themselves while waiting for tidipes of the inevitable collision in surnrsosi,ry medical assistance fOs thOse sGpe soon t0 be injured. In such eases. however. the mishap can almost invariably be traced tO some defect in the syStem under which the telegraph is used such as q neglect to exact return messages to Insurs aecuE- acy, or the delegatiDg 60 inexperienced sab | oFdinates the work which can only pTOp- erly performed by principal. Tbs y as siDgnlarIy illustrated in terrible collision which took place at Thorpe, between Nor wich and Great Yarmouth, on the Grezt Eastern Railway m England, on the Issh of September. 1874 The line had ia this place but . single track and the rna1 train to Norwich, under the rule, Ea3 tO wait at . station called BrundeIl untfl the arrival there of the evening expEezs from Yarmouth, or until i. TeeeIyesi per- mission by the telegraph to proceed On the evening of the disaster the express train Has somewhat behind Iss time, and the inspector wrote a dispatch directing the mall to come forward without waiting for it. T-I Tesa Gs-1e- rsef ~ This dispatch he left in the telegraph \ office unsi0ned whfIe he xent to attend