The New York herald., 1876-12-31
The Lake shore Catastrophe-Iron
Railway Bridges.

trophies than has ever before, perhaps, iailen
to the record of any single day. Besides
the horrible slaughter at Ashtabula there
is the story of the fall of another
train through a bridge in Vermont.
and still another report of lamentablo
loss OF life by the sea at Bridgehamp-
ton, Long Island. But the others are
trivial by comparison with the dreadful
calamity on the Lake Shore road, and have
in common with it little else than their asso-
citation with the same great storm that is in
some degree certainly to be counted as
cause in each case
In the accident on the Lake Shore road
there was n wonderful accumulation of hor-
rors Only the plunge of the cars through
the night from the broken bridge appals the
thought but add to this the ice and the
river below, the fire from the burning cars
and the cold and the raging storm of wind
and snow and sleet. and we have
n picture of terrors that imagination
never surpassed. Within few feet of
one another are lying the manned bodies
Of those who were killed by tho crashing
timbers in the fall; the remains of those who
were burned in the wreck; Of those who were
drowned and those who were frozen to
death. In the fearful catastrophe Of the
Brooklyn Theatre it WAS possible 20
hope that the wIetched victims per-
shed with comparatively little pain,
for the Supplying effects Of the smoke
doubtless acted as IN anmsthetic. But in
the case before us the many forms in which
death came were all without this mitigation,
and that night must be remembered as one
almost without a parallel in the infiction Of
al that is terrible in the torture Of
humanity,
No effort will be spared, we presume, to.
arrive ut some positive knowledge us to the
cause of this calamity. Various theories
are mooted on this subject. 1t is held that
the iron Of the bridge was exhausted, and
that the structure gave way unWer this
strain simply because the limit Of
its resistance had been reached. It
is also held that the intense cold
had so affected the iron rs to destroy
the cohesion of its PARTICLES Some are
Of opinion that iron bridges in northern
climates are the greatest possible blunder;
while others believe that they fail only when
the demand that they shall be made within
certain limit as to price renders it impossi-
bic that they should be made well.
Does any one of these theories touch
the case of this calamity, and if SO which
one is it? This is certainly the most impor-
tant inquiry that can be set on foot for the
possibility of the recurrence Of such events
in every cold storm, or whenever o bridge
has reached certain age, is danger that
the travelling public cannot contemplate
with equanimity.
Iron bridges are constructed on contracts
by builders who make them speciality, and
the competition is very high. They COM
monty made by the lowest bidder. They
can be made, as the builders say, lat any
price," That is to say, they can be made in
the best manner for an adequate price and in
various degrees Of inferiority as the price is
forced lower and lower. Chenpness may af-
feet the pattern of the bridge and compel
the adoption of some style not sufficiently
strengthened, or it may affect the material
and compel the use of poor iron. There is
no doubt that our system Of railroad con-
struction acts as direct preference to
bridges that are really slaughter traps
Railroad bridges have been contracted
for in this country at prices barely
sufficient to pay for good iron at the time,
and the only chance, therefore, that the
builder could have to pay his labor and
make profit was by the use Of cheap and
inferior IRON Yet if a builder contracts at
fair price, and is underbid by another whose
bid must necessarily rest on chicanery OF
some sort, the lowest bidder is very apt to
get the contract
With bridges constructed, however, of the
best material and on patterns Of approved
excellence it is unquestionable that the
resistance Of the iron is exhausted after
certain period What is that period, and is
there any known rule for its application
to structures composite iron
bridges? For rails it seems to be possible
to get at fair rule by computation
Of the weight that has passed over
them at n given rate of speed, and of the
heat evolved by the friction. This is ap-
parently the rule with regard to railroad
wheels, which are condemned when they
have gone through defined service, even
though they may be none the worse SO far
as observation can discern. In this case
the sound principle is acted upon that
they have gone through what should have
exhausted them, and that it is better
TO send to the foundry few wheels that
may accidentally have outasted then iegiii-
mate service than to imperil single train
with its precious freight Of lives by the at
tcmit to cxtort from the iron few moro
revolutions. But since railroad economy
thus recognizes distinctly the fact that tho
cohesion Of iron has its limit. is il not
nl.1 faI