The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-08-10


When q railroad drawbridge is in proper
condition for the safe passage of train the
rails on the "draw" are in line with the
rails on either side, and the great turntable
is held in position by a bolt or other con-
trivance. If the bridge is not thus ''locked"
the vibration caused by the heavy engine
throbbing over the ''draw" will cause it to
swerve little from the true line every
successive wheel Of the train will strike the
displaced rails and increase the displace-
ment until at last the cars leave the rail
altogether, and the result is a wreck. This
is what happened to the Long Branch train
on the New Jersey Central Railroad yester-
day morning. After the accident the lever
controlling the bolt of the ''draw" over
the Shrewsbury River was found in
the open position How it came open is the
question, for although no actual loss of life
is reported, the lives of two hundred passen-
gers were placed in peril; seventy OF them
were more or less injured, some of the num-
Der very severely. Our report elsewhere
throws some light on the important point
ut issue. man in n catboat wanted to get
through the bridge. The bridgetender at
first, it appears, wanted to oblige the man
in the catboat and made preparations to let
him pass and to signal the train then due. He
seems little later to have changed his mind,
for he ordered the red flags down and waved
back the man in the catboat. It is hard to
avoid the conclusion that the bridgetender
in the moment OF vaclllation on seeing
or hearing the approaching train forgot
to shut the lever he had opened
to oblige the man in the catboat
Had this bridgetender such doubtful
instructions that he was left choice Of
action in such q case? A man who vacillates
in such ON emergency is constant danger
to life and property, and as the pay is
probably not such as to command q very
high class Of man, as little as possible should
be left to his judgment. This man, shilly-
shallying between the questions whether
train with two hundred souls on board
should be secured from destruction or
whether q miserable catboat should be
speeded fifteen minutes on its journey,
seems to have managed to bring about
disaster The grave question then recurs,
and it is of interest to tens of thousands, Is
there no law in New Jersey to prevent the
lives Of passengers from being jeopardized
at the within of bridgetender? The en-
gineers Of the Central road claim to have
permission to pass over bridges at the rate
Of twenty miles an hour. In Connecticut
there is law which compels every train to
stop before coming on drawbridge, and
the safety Of the travelling community de-
mands such law everywhere.
The low state Of the tide alone prevented
the disaster from becoming huge horror.
The branch Of the Central road on which
the disaster occurred is essentially q
pleasure road. The great bulk Of its bust
ness is done in the summer time when our
citizens move to and from the watering
places Of the Jersey coast, and therefore
every train is'laden with men, women and
children. The accident of yesterday has
brought suffering to great many homes
and unutterable anxiety to thousands OF
others The recent smashes on the Coney
Island roads, the overloaded excursion boats
and this affair on the Jersey Central look
as though the managers took less concern
about human freight than any other. In
the recent labor troubles tho companies
promptly besought State aid to protect their
property. Will they now be as prompt to
protect their passengers? Let every train
be stopped before passing over a draw
bridge. Let the citizens insist that the
companies that clamored SO for State help
in their trouble shall be compelled by law
to do that which common sense should have
done unasked