The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-05-13
me Lass lIsrrer.

DuSy Allu IeStl6SS pSOplc though We are
for us to forget the horror and indig-
nation that was produced throughout
the entire United States when the ac-
count of the New York p~ostofice dis
aster was flashed across the wires.
As a people we were highly indignant,
and demanded an investigation and the
punishment of those who were to
blame in the matter. To be sure, the
investigation came all in good time,
and somebody was blamed, but there
the affair was dropped, and the daily
routine of the world went on as usual,
and nobody really suffered, mentally or
financially, except those who had a
father or son killed in the disaster, to
whom they looked for their daily bread.
OF course, these people were compelled
to endure the agony of their bereave-
ment in silence, in their saddened
homes; and after the first burst of feel
ing upon the subject was over, the world
and its people went on as usual, and
the contractors and builders, the real
criminals in the matter, sent lone of
the sufferers" or san agonized moth
err" or ian orphan" a paltry sum of
money, and deeming it highly COM
mendable to have done so much, went
on their way to contract and build
more buildings of the same kind, which
possibly may be the means of producing
a similar disaster.
To-day we have the full particulars
of another affair of the same sort, but
exceeding the New York horror, in
that more victims have been added to
the death roll, and that others, in the
full enjoyment of their health, are
suddenly crippled, d%isfigured, and rem
dered useless for life. This accident
was accustomed by the falling of the
inner walls of the north side of the
court house at Rockford, III. Several
men are known to have been killed
murdered would be as correct-out-
right, several are badly hurt, and others
are known to be beneath the Iuins still.
The reporter who is upon the spot in
forms us of the sad scenes that are
occurring, and pictures to
us with an artists hand the weeping
women" as they bent over all that is
left of some loved one who had quilted
them in the morning, bidding them a
fond goodbye, little dreaming that
this was to be their last farewell on
earth. He goes on to tell us of the
"mourning children" and the "heart-
rending scenes that are constantly
occurring round about him, until we
are so absorbed with the eloquence Of
his descriptive powers that we are upon
the scene with him in the midst of all
this bereavement, the walls and groans
resembling in u ears; nay, perhaps
we, too, have a friend among the miss
ing, and involuntarily search the record
of the names of those already dead or
dying, as we mentally search among
the debris with the rest.
But we are aroused to the conscious
ness of the fact that we are only there
in spirit, by reading that at "the SUI
preme moment of this disaster" w.
D. Richardson, the contractor, and F.
E. Latham, the superintendent, were
both on top of the dome of the build
ing, before it fell, and were talking Of
the probability Of its falling, when they
heard a crack, and only had time to
save themselves by jumping upon the
west wall. Mark you this! These two
men, like two great commanders of an
army, are standing talking of the prob
ability Of its falling! with all the cool
and characteristic indifference of the
two military leaders, who are coolly
considering the next best point to hurl
a brigade of living humanity, perfectly
Indifferent to the consequences of the
scene that must shortly ensue the mo-
ment their aids shall haye reached the
doomed brigade. Calmly and coolly
talking of the probability of its falling!
might enlarge upon this topic until
the very crack o. doom, but we feel
that we cannot do it justice. We
could tell the coroner's jury what the
will expect in the matter, and
can suggest that it is their duty to
perform it unflinchingly, and not to
shirk the responsibility of telling the
truth for fear Of wounding the feelings
of some man whose sensitive feelings
has suddenly been discovered for the
first time, and which may safely be set
down as fears for the result of the YER
dict by the jury.
1t is really about time that these ac-
cidents and casualties, due to gross
or incapacity on the part of
men to perform what they have prom
ised and cannot, were rendered amena-
BILE to the laws. If we have no laws
for such things, let us at once proceed
to make them. Napoleon the First,
when he found that a dishonest con-