The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-04-04
The perils of Home.
ACCIDENT INSURANCE MOST REQUIRED by
THOSE WHO NEVER TRAVEL.

IUt Iflau lt bUt blCket titCt sdlu
"Have an accident insurance ticket,
also 7"
NO." said, after studying the mat
ter over little. "No, believe not ]
am going to be travelling by rail all
day to-day. However, tomorrow l
don't travel. Give me one for to-mor-
row"
The man looked puzzled. He said:
"But it is for accident insurance, and
il you are going to travel by rail
"1f | am going to travel by rail, l
sha'nt need it. Lying at home in bed
is the thing | am afraid of
l had been looking into this matter.
Last year | travelled 10000 miles, al.
most entirely by rail the year before,
] Travelled over $4,000 miles, half by
sea and half by rail and the year be-
fore that | travelled in the neighbor
hood of 10000 miles, exclusively by
rail. / suppose if I put in all the little
odd journeys here and there, may say
have travelled 10000 miles during the
three years l have mentioned. And
never an accident.
For good while | said to myself
every morning "Now l have escaped
thus far, and 80 the chances are just
that much increased that | shall catch
it this time. l will be shrewd, and
buy an accident ticket" And to dead
moral certainly / drew blank, and
went to bed that night without joint
started or bone splintered. / got
tired of that sort of daily bother, and
fell to buying accident tickets that
were good for month. | said TO my
self, IA man cant buy thirty blanks in
one bundle"
But ] was mistaken. There was
never prize in the lot. could read
of railway accidents every day--the
newspaper atmosphere was foggy with
them but somehow they never came
my way. found had spent good
deal of money in the accident business,
and had nothing to show for it. My
suspicious were aroused, and began
to hunt around for somebody that had
won in this lottery. l found plenty of
people who had invested, but not an in-
dividual that had ever had an accident or
made cent stopped buying acci-
dent tickets and went to ciphering. The
result was astounding. The peril lay
not in travelling, but staying at home.
hunted up statistics and was amazed
to find that after all the glaring news
paper headings concerning railroad dis
asters, less than 800 peop'e had really
lost their lives by those disasters in the
preceding twelve months. The Erie
road was set down as the most murder
GUS in the list. 1t had killed forty-six
or twenty-six, do not exactly remem-
ber which, but l know the number was
double that of any other road. But
the fact straightway suggested itself
that the Erie was an immensely long
road, and did more business than any
other line in the country; so the
double number of killed ceased to be a
matter of surprise.
By further figuring it appeared that
between New York and Rochester the
Erie ran eight passenger trains each
way every day--sixteen together--and
carried daily average of 5000 per-
sons. That is about 100000 in six
months, the population of New York
city. Well, the Erie kills from thir-
teen to twenty-three persons out of its
100000 in six months and in the
same time $4,000 out of New York's
100000 died in their beds ! My flesh
crept my hair stood on end. "This
is appalling" l said. ''The DANCE
isn't travelling by rail, but in trusting
to those deadly beds. will never sleep
in bed again"
| l had figured on considerably less
than one-half the length of the Erie
road. 1t was plain that the entire road
must transport at least 10000 people
every day. There are many short roads
running ont of Boston that do fully as
much great many such roads. There
are great many roads scattered about
the Union that do a prodigious pas
senger business, therefore it was fair to
presume that an average of $500 pas
sengels day for each road in the
country would be about correct. There
are S46 railway lines in our country
and SAG times $500 are 2,1l5,000. Sc
} the railways of America move NOR,
than 100000 of people every day
$50, 100000 of people year, withou
5 counting the Sundays. They do that
too--there is no question about it
! though where they get the raw materi
al is clear beyond The jurisdiction o
3 my arithmetic for l have hunted tn,
, census through and / find that ther
: are not that many people in the United
t States, by matter of 6l0,000,OO0 a
: the very least. They must use som
of the same people over again. like
ly.
San Francisco ia one-eighth as popu
lous as New York there are sixt
deaths week in the former and 500
week in the latter--if they have lucl
g That is 3,l20 deaths year in Sa
n Francisco, and eight times as many j
e New York-say about 5000 or 26, ,00(
e The health of the two places is the SAM
e So we will let it stand as a fair pr,
'e sumption that this will hold good a
1t over the country, and that consequent
IT 25,000 out of every 1000, 1000 people "
, have must die every year. That amount
Is to one-fortieth of our total population
lie One million of us, then, die annual,
n Out of this 100000 of us, 10000 {
10000 are stabbed, shot, drowne'
ID hanged, poisoned, or meet a simil'
at violent death in some other popul
te way, such as perlshing by kerosel
C. lamp and hoop skirt confiagration
g. getting buried in coal mines, falling c
he bousetops, breaking through church
en- lecture-room floors, taking patent meC
Il. cines, or committing suicide IN 9th
ne forms. The Erie railroad kills fro
'r- twenty-three to forty.six the 9th
* S45 railroads kill an average of OF
n third of man each and the rest
ell that 100000 amounting in the aggI
We gate to the appalling figure of 8s
ee 73l corpses, die naturally in th'
of beds.
he You will excuse me from taking a
more chances in those beds. The ra
as roads are good enough for me.
or And my advice to all people