The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-01-11
THE RAILROAD TERROR.

| Oause VI IAe AsnCaDuia Osaster-A Cal
for a New Deal in Bridges.
! Referring to the recent accident OF
the Lake Shore railroad, the Cincinnati
Commercial says words are inadequate
to express the horror of the calamity
Ii is startling in its proportions, distress
ing beyond measure in it's details, and
taken all in all, the most disheartenine
event in the history of railroads in this
country.
This frightful affair took place in the
twinkling of an eye, on one of the most
perfectly appointed and completely man.
aged Lines of road in the country. Il
was disaster without warning, and with
out remedy, and wanting no circum-
stances of the hideous.
Here was great road teeming with
traffic-thronged with travelers-with
long trains of palace cars looming
| through the snowstorm-c cars with the
comforts of fresides, filed with passen-
gers who were active in the busiest
scenes of Life.
In a moment all was changed. There
was q sickening crash, tremendous
fall, the shrieks of mangled and despair
ing men, women and children, the awful
outburst Of flames, the spectacle of
masses of humanity burned in the frag-
ments of the train-the survivors
stunned and helpless strong men run
ming to the rescue powerless. If the
train had plunged into volcano, the
catastrophe could not have been more
complete.
The fatal bridge is said to have been
one OF the best on the road. It had
been tested by six locomotives in q row.
and was stauneh but under a heavy
train it snapped, splintered and col
lapsed as it built of glass. The reason
usually assigned for the failure of an iron
bridge is that the engine gave way, or
flew the track, and came in contact with
the framework. This explanation will
not answer this time. The foremost en-
CINE had cleared the bridge and remained
on the track. How, then, is the disaster
accountable2
The train was long and, owing to the
heavy snow, drawn by two locomotives.
1t was behind time, and the two engines
were moving with full power. The rails
on the bridge were probably clear of
snow, and the movement of the train was
accelerated at the moment. The span
of the bridge was $50 feet, over an abyss
seventy feet in depth. That is a long
span. The material was iron. The
strength of the iron was no doubt i'm
paired by the change in the weather &C.
curing at the time Of the calamity.
The few surviving passengers suffered
from the violent storm and the RAPIDLY
increasing cold.
The cause of the disaster ia not OBJ
scure. The iron was chilled by the
sharp, frosty storm, and gave way under
the weight of the traia, breaking like
glass, sure enough. One must not be
hasty IN concluding that iron is an un-
safe material. All materials entering
into the structures that civilized man re-
quires have their defects. Wood is USE
full, but it rots. Stone is excellent, but
it crumbles. This much, however, may
be said: Bridge material should be
abundant. The fancy devices for build
Ing bridges of slender rods, supposed
to support each other, must be dis
carded. Where there is such an abyss
as that at Ashtabula, there should be a
pier in the center, built and mas
s1ve /; and engineers should, on cold
nights, have care how they fling their
trains upon bridges that once were
tested.