, 1876-12-31
THE RAILROAD HORROR,

The public has hardly recovered from the
horrible recital Of the burning theatre in
Brooklyn and Of the burning convent in Can
ada, with the awful destruction Of men
and women in the one case, and Of little
children in the other, before another even
more hightful calamity occurs, in which,
although fewer lives were destroyed than at
Brooklyn, there is an element Of terror more
awful to contemplate. The victims at Brook
lyn met death in only one form, that of fire,
and il is altogether probable that their
physical suferings were but momentary,
sufocation saxing them the horrible pangs
of burning alive In the latter case, how
ever, death came in four different and fear
full shapes,-crushing, freezing, drowning,
and burning. A heavy passenger train of
eleven coaches. dragged by two engines
through the snowd1ifts, is slowly crossing an
iron bridge in Eastern Ohio on the shore of
the lake, in the midst Of a binding
snow-storm, over frozen creek seventy feet
below. The passengers are almost at the
station, when suddenly the structure gives
way and the whole train is precipitated down
tA4Rt 1HA ~ 9A1EA uH Ill CEE6h
in heap Of ruin, the passengers manned,
and mangled, and jammed into the wreck of
iron and wood. As if this were not enough,
the ice in the creek is broken, and the biting
wiads, driVing snow, and freezingly cold
water add their terrors. As if this were not
enough, the heap of splintered material,
piled high above the surface Of the
creek, takes fire, SO that many who were
wounded, and under more favorable cir
cumstances mighty have been extricated
from the wreck and received surgical
attention, were e1posed to death by
freezing, drowning, Or burning. In the
latter case, there was no relief from torture
by sutfocation. They were compelled to un-
dergo the most fearful pangs before death
ended their sufferings. There seemed to
have been no element Of horror lacking to
make this calamity one' of the most terrible
that has ever occurred in the annals of rail-
road disasters in this country or elsewhere.
As yet we have received no intelligence as
to the particular cause of the disaster All
that is known is that the bridge, as in the
case Of ali iron bridges which break, gave
way suddenly and completely, involving
everything in utter ruin, and this, although
the train with its double engines WAS prob
ably not much heavier than many freight
trains that daily pass overthis bridge, and was
goingslowly, SO TINT ttheweightwes not sprung
upon it with a sudden jerk There must
come tins, however, in the case of every
iron bridge, when the constant wear and
tear and the successive imposition of heavy
weights upon it, day after day, must prove
too much, and at such time single engine
and train may smash through it, althoue Oh it
may have been tested with string OF loco
motives reaching ita entire length. There
must be al. end to every bridge, and the only
question is whether this fact should necessa-
rily involve loss Of life. It Will be a question
for jury to determine whether this and
other bridges on the line of the Leke Shore
Road have been regularly examined by com
petent mechanics, as the regulations Of tho
road prescribe. It should of course also be
the duty Of this jury to inquire as to this par
ticular bridge, when and how it was construct
ed, whether there ewere any defects in its con-
struction. and whether, at the time Of the