Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1875-04-15
The History Of Railroad Accidents.
From Charles Francis Adams. Jr.'s, lecturc.l

from Charles Francis Adams. Jr.'s, lecturc
1t might sound brutal to say SO, but in few
! ways were lives lost with such great imme-
diatc benefit to the world as in railroad acci-
dents. The whole world travelled thenceforth
more safely, for with every life lost new ap-
plances. new precautions and severer dlscl-
plnc followed. every accident. During the
first eleven years of railroad experience al
most no disastrous accidents occurred. The
first terrible one was on the ersailles road
in France, in May 1S42, when an engine
broke down while running at full speed, and
its cars piled up On top of it. The doors Of
the cars were locked, they took fire. and fifty
| three persons were crushed or burned to death
and many injured The lecturer gave other
F.! instances Of like character, and showed how
| recent improvements IN car construction ob-
Waited the danger Of such accidents. In New
| ENGLAND there have been three terrible rail-
road accidents that at the Norwalk draw
bridge in May, 1868: that at Valley Falls, K.
| l., on August II, 1853. and that at Revere
Station in August 1871. Each OF these was
taken up, described and analyZcd, and Illus
| trated by the experience OF many other accl-
dents Of like character elsewhere. All OF
them were preventable, and there could be
no excuse for their recurrence. The various
apnlianccs which had been adopted il conse-
/
and the opinion was expressed that the Re-
we're disaster had reduced the dangers Incl
dent to railroad travelling in Massachusetts
! by one-half 1t had brought the train-brakc
and the S'Aliller; platform into general use;
it had caused the general adoption OF running
signals and greatly improved discipline.
! The lecturer then passed to accidents which
had not happened Since the Revere acci-
dent 120, 100000 of passengers had been car
ried by railroads within the limits of Massa-
chusetts How many of these had been kill
ed by faults of the railroad companies and by
accidents over which the passenger himself
had no control? Just one. This statement
applied only to passengers exercising due
care; in all ways connected with the opera
ton of railroads about 800 people year were
killed or injured in the State. Another ques-
ton: What is the length in Massachusetts of
the average railroad journey, resulting in
death? The answer sounds absurd; it is 324.-
OOO, 900 of miles, That is, on an average,
22.OO0, 600 persons travel fifteen miles each
before any one of them is killed by railroad
accident So the average journey resulting
in injury is 20,OO0,OO0 miles If a person
travelled as a passenger on Massachusetts
railroads 800 miles a day, every day of his
life, he would, by doctrine of chances, be
seventy years old before he would receive an
| injury Ill II ItillI Odu uCCINCuG. 4ACuSA otts-
tistics showed that stage-coach travelling was
at least fifty times as dangerous as travelling
by rail- The danger of being murdered in
Massachusetts was greater by far than that of
being killed in railroad accident. In 1873,
the railroads carried $4,000, 900 passengers
without killing one in the same year in BOs-
ton alone five persons were killed by tumbling
down stairs, seven by falling cut of windows.
With 10000 miles of track, full of curves,
culverts and bridges, Will safety depending
on everything, from the state of the atmos-
phere to the strength Of the rail-with trains
moving in every direction at all times-acci-
dents must happen, since the managers of
railroads are human. That they should hap
pen so rarely is the true cause for wonder.
There is no more wonderful human achieve
ment than the combination Of speed and safe
ty with which the movement of modern civil
ization is maintained through the unceasing
exercise of human care, human skill, and
human foresight.