Litchfield enquirer., 1879-02-06


 CT 12 injured, jumped off trains in motion; 9 others either fei or jnmpei off, and was in4red il attempting to gt't oa g. a.pf ng, trin sOfihose "ho iHig eds"Ef were B tlstls . Ii IS gfa.if yin5 10 note tiat except at TarH- vile no train accident attended aith injury to messengers occurred, and no passenger -was 1 iured except in case Of his own careiessness. Of employees, 8 were in red; 14 fatally: 16 fell from cars, 8 were. injured in coupling cars, and 15 frehl all other causes" '@@
 The number injured at highway crossings, and as trespassers on the tracks, was less thar usual, though stiH large, a,npuatngt to 4b, /of which numberi2r were killed. Of the whole number were injured. 5 fataIIyl at grade crossings. G.t-NE | ~J~2
 The railroads generally have beenlnproVed, both in the tracks. the rcad-beds, and the bridges Six hundred aHd sixty tons fof steel rail have been laid on the Airline $50 tons on the Valley, (which has now gone into the hrsi ,anrtgage i,endhodcrs, yhesidcs 301 tons of new iron rail, the placing of 3, 00O new ties, and the filling in of about 52, 000 cubic yards oi earth in the long filing, above Middlatown j 475 tons of steel rails and "A. 600 new ties were laid bv the Hartford, Providence and ,Fishkiil, before that roa was transferred towards tic close of the year, to the New York and \ w England co.npany; 602 tons of steel rails were laid on the Housatonc, and 32,0)0 new ties: the Connecticut Wes ern has put down 100 ''is of $. ee1 Tails, 26,Oa0 ties.5 nglheneda every bridge and built one new one, of iron, at oa- s tans Kingdom, of remarkable strength theS Canal road, which was especially unfortunate in the December floods, is strengthening itself at all points; the same thing is true of the New London Northern, whose track is now all steel from New LeabaHen%; and most of the others are improving road and track. The New York, New Haven and Hartford road has 572 tons of new steel rail- S1 900 new ties, and new crossings, not at grade, in Hartford at Parkville and in Bridgeport. The Shore Line has all been laid with steel rails, and, the bridges strengthened.
 Complaint is made by the town officers of Terrington, Harwinton, and Thomaston, against the New York and New England. the Connect nectlcut Western and the Naugatuck rail road co mpanies, for not .affording reasonable facilities for receiving passengers from. and de livering them to, other roads 7 an unusual oc-- currence, and the hearing was not decided at the writing of the report.
 A striking argument {probahly prepared l'y Mr. W0oirutf) is made in favor. of the air. ~ brake and the Miller platform, for. all passen ger trains also there is faverable mention of the plan of employing track inspector. and of new device called the Safety Car Runner, an enormous iron bar, suspended from the
 
 It is claimed that this nhold. and has repeat edly held, trains on the track, when going at full speed ever places where the rails were re- moved. -'f fE ~E@a 5.-tD ID @t~ "
 The Appendix to the Report contains valu- able statistics relative to the breaking strain of iron, and how tr detect Overstrain: and a condensed and valu ,blr history of the Hartfo q, Providence and Fislkill, and New York and New E.lglaad railroads. .-HEtford Tinsss.
 
 The President having finally approved tie pension arrearage bill the chief thing left is to provide ways and means to meet an extraordinary drain of from twenty to an hun. dred millions as the expense of the measure is variously estimated. Tie Hartford Courant takes more cheerful view both of the amount required, and of the justice of, the measure, than most journals which have discussed:
 The bill for the payment of arrearages of pensions, which has passed both houses and is now in the fands of the President under seri- ous consideration, is expensive, but not SD much 80 nor SO nearly iudefensibe as has been represented. Originally the law provided one, year, then three, then five years as the limit within which an application for pension must be made in order to secure the giving Of the pension from the death or discharge for disability. If the application was made after the expiration of five years from the accrung of the right to a pension, the pension was given only from ne due cf tbe alplplicGtion. The bill in question removes thls limitation of time both as to pensions heretofore granted. If the President shall approve the bill, there will be & great humber of claims presented for money to cover any deficiency between tic time of death or discharge and the time at which pay ments actually began This time varies from five to thirteen or more years, according to the statements made in the debate in the Senate it will require from eighteen totwenty millions to make the payments. Three years, ago the Commissioner of Pensions reported that up to Jan l, 1878, there were 19, 454 invalid cases to which the five years limitation applied. Estimated amount of arrears, $9 52D,775. Number of widows and dependents, ,, 45. Estimated amount of arrears. S3. Ss7, 334 "a total of $13,417. 1O9. During the ensuing three years to date, it is estimated that five millions have accrued. And hereafter the annual grant for pensions must be larger, for in each case allowed there will become due a pension from the time the right accrued, in stead of from the date of the application under the existing law. .-..,- ,-,. a...t,.t