The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-09-02

and Twenty-Five miles an hour when
tic accident happened, and consider
cd that the condition Of the track
! would Justify ne in running speed of
thirty miles an hour, and | would not
be afraid to run over the track at that
point at forty miles an hour. | went
and examined the track, and could not
find the cause of the accident, it being
one of those unavoidable railroad acct
dents which cannot be prevented.
(Signcd w. ID. FELL.
While We have decided opinion
concerning the management of tho
Railroad, it is far from our purpose
to do any act Of injustice. We there
fore give the accused Il full hearing.
We feel it due to ourselves, however,
to say few words III reply.
The United States statutes authorize
the postmaster-gencral to make dcduc-
lions and impose penalties for viola
lions of contracts. Several years ago
an official on tho Charlotte, Columbia
and Augusta Railroad informed tho
editor ofTlIE News AND HERALD that
a failure to connect caused Il loss of
fifty dollars OH the mail contract. An
official on another road made Il similar
statement. That there was q penalty
has always been generally prevailing
belief, and conductors have time and
again spoken Of loss attendant upon
misconDcctions. This is why we
charged in our article that human lie
was jcopardizel to save fifty dollars.
Colonel Palmcr's denial is u great sur
prise. lie does not say whcth-
CT the penalties have been lately
RENTED or not. We accept the
statement of the auditor, that now no
penalty attaches except in extreme
cases, and therefore retract that part
Of our article.
|. VIC arc sorry we arc not convinced
that the Road was acting prudcntly.
MIR. Fell is a good man and first-class
engineer, and we would rs soon run
behind him rs any one VIC know. lie
only speaks according to his Judgment.
We would not set our Judgment
against his unless we had corroborat-
ing facts. The writer of this timed
the train between Simpsons and
Ridgcway, and it was running much
more than twenty-thrcc miles, the
regulation rate. lie was engaged in
conversation when the accident occur
rcd. and was not then timing the train,
but i'll his Judgment, she was going
very rapidly, especially on the down
grade.
AS before said, we do not hold the
engineer or tho conductor responsible.
They were acting under orders, wait
ing in Charlotte scvcralhour and then
making up lost time. The down pas
scngcr has been late four times, and
the down freight almostcvcry time in
the past two weeks, showing a agcneral
practice Oh The part Of the Road of
waiting in Charlotte and then running
1astcr than schedule speed to make up
the loss.
The accident was caused by the
forcing off Of al outer rail, as many
citizens Of Ridgeway know, and the
Pullman car broke loose first. This car
was at least ten feet behind the passcn-
ger coach at the wreck.
The track was horribly wrecked,
showing either inferior road bed or a
great momentum. We cannot think
the accident unavoidable.
We will not weary our readers any
more with this matter. We feel coll
vinccd that as to the facts and causes
OF the recent accident we could prove
incontcstibly in q court of Justice:
"EfrSt, that the editor did not err;
second, that the Road cannot be right"