The Wilmingtonian., 1885-10-24
The Railroad Horror.

Al iS""lhS Ghe dccOunl Ol U1e recent leI-
rible disaster on the Pennsylvania railroad
at Hackensack, where "over and over roll
ed the cars of human freight and upon the
night air rose the horrible shrieks of the
dying, the narrative containing descrp-
tion almost too narrowing to quote,-the
thought comes with compelling stress, is
there no way of obviating, in measure at
least, this too oft-recurriug picture! The
present story is not whit modified by the
fact that the cars weie filled by unfortunate
emigrants. The lives of those poor people,
strangers in the land are just as prec-
ious and demand equal solicitude as do
those OF our own people. 1t appears that
Superintendent Crawford, of that division
of tho Pennsylvania railroad where this
holocaust of human lives occurred has
quickly announced ''that Pratt alone is re-
sponsible."
Let us halt moment, right here, and be-
fore we too quickly accept the statement of
Superintendent Crawford, and condemn the
already miserable Pratt for the murder and
mangling of human victims, let us ask is
this one individual alone responsible?
We are driven to this question, for flagh
of memory reminds us that only very 1e-
Gently most remarkable and significant
petition was published; addressed to the au-
thorities of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, signed by their overworked,
slaye-drven employees here, operators and
Others, begging, not asking, for some brief
respite from the incessant toll exacted from
them by their employers. In that petition,
five remember aright was as strange a
statement, most appalling one in fact, of
the amount of work, length Of hours, and
restricted pay, revealed to the public eyes
that the citizens Of this section ever saw.
In reading it one wonders-h how those unror-
tunate block signal operators after days and
nights Of consecutive labor, labor of the
most exacting and responsible nature that
any field of industry can show, how those
human beings can use their brains, much
less their bands, arms, and legs in the per-
formauce of their duties.
We all are familiar with their pallid
faces and can leadly picture them sitting
semi-unconsciously over the telegraph in.
strument, night after night, only too thank
full, we presume, If they have been able to
slip through the weeks work with no col.
lsion Or accident placed against their rec.
ordl Yet these noddlng heads, pallid faces,
ncrtrcv harrrts- -ard7sleep Bntalities
are the responsible directors and care-tak
ers of hundreds and hundreds of con6ding,
hu man beings whom the accident of Gil.
cumstances causes, are found in the
railroad cars rushing along at midnight
over The Pennsylvania railroad.
This opulent, overgrown corporation,
richest of all monopolies in t is broad land
of ours, rich in a monopoly Of state and fed.
eral concessions, holding monopolies to the
exclusion of other roads, and holding then
only by the power of its gold and the pow.
er, influence, and bribery that that gold car
suborn-this overgrown monopoly with its
most gorgeous offices and magniticently
salaried high officers whose duties are al
ways at an inverse ratio to the immense
salary they deign to accept, are now indict
ed by this same p. .titlon, almost forgotten,
but now exhumed by the identity of fact
and affinity of principle borne of the an.
nouncement of the recent tragedy-thiE
rich company cannot afford to put in one
more extra hand even at the paltry salary
of from 81 to $40 per week, at the request
of its hardworking servants who make thi;
only too reasonable request for respite or as
sistance! Are these overworked servants
responsible for the too oft. recurring tales Of
loss of human life?
1t is the most contemplate sophistry, il
not something worse, to claim anything o
the kind. We must at present, for lack o.
fuller testimony listen to what Superintend
ent Crawford of the Pennsylvania railloa
says in crying SO blatantly and SO hurriedly
that ''Pratt was responsible for the Who'll,
of the accident" We confess that we ar,
Inclined 10 consider that company, such al
the Pennsylvania railroad has shown itsel
to be, in its parsimonious treatment of i'll
minor, and practically the only responsible
officers, is blamable in accidents of this ma
ture.
What is HAD