The Portland daily press., 1891-07-14
the SWISS RAILWAY DISASTER.
a Catastrophe without a Parallel In
swltzerIand-A Whole Town In
MournIng-Swiss officials unequal
to the Emergency.
Especial Correspondence of the Press.l

10 inc emergency.
Especial Correspondence of the Press.l
BALE, SWITZERLAND, June 25th.
No doubt the whole civilized world has
been shocked by the accounts of the recent
great railroad bridge accident, which hap
pened near the little village of Manchen-
stein. three miles from Bale. This has
shaken the little Republic of Switzerland to
its foundation, both on account of the actual
loss, and of the possibilities for the future
which such an event may signify. 1t is the
worst accident, which has ever happened on
the continent of Europe. The loss of life is
the greatest, except on the Tay bridge dis.
aster in Scotland, in which two hundred
persons were in a moment, precipitated into
the water and drowned. AT present, the
number of the dead here amounts to eighty
and 100 wounded and there are still a large
number unaccounted for;
There has been great mistake in the i'm.
preston concerning the relative safety OF
travel by rail. both abroad and at home. for
l think the idea, even on our side of the
water is that we have the monopoly of such
casualties. while here they think the regard
lessness of life there is something tremend-
Gus. But the fact is this, that our news
paper reporters are so enterprising and in
dustrious. that not man gets killed, or a
car leaves the track anywhere in the United
States but it comes out in some paper headed,
Another railroad catastrophe" while recent
statistics gathered by one of the late papers
here show that the percentage of loss of life
In America from this cause is considerably
less than on this side Of the ocean. In all
kinds Of calamities Americans are bette r
prepared and show greater presence of min
other people In the world Although such
accidents do sometimes happen here in
Switzerland, the people seem not to know,
what to make of a fire or railroad disaster.
Prevention rather than cure is their theory,
which Is no doubt the better principle. They
can hinder much better than they can alleyi-
ate the effects of any dire happening. They
have plenty of employees to watch and take
precautions, but as this event proved they
have nothing at hand to help in the work of
rescuing. In little station like Manchen-
stein, they have ticket-agent, telegraph
operator. a baggage master, a switch :tender,
and master over all, with various members
OF the family of each to look about and see
that all Is secure. AT home one man 0ccu-
pies the place and does the work Of all three
one OF them is as incompetent as the merest
school boy. They are dazed, they Iare para
yZed, they remember nothing nor can they
give any valuable information. There are
no brains in the artesan's work, tits simply
Nobody could afterwards tell how many cars
constituting this train had left the station,
and there seemed to be nothing registered,
to signify, In the investigation, just how
many tickets were Sold. 1t was the 14th Of
June. The rural districts of Switzerland
were very late this year In putting on the
full bloom of summer, but now the country
was alive with joy and gladness.
The season for pleasure and out of
door sports was at hand For Switzer-
land IS SO shut in by. the mountains,
that In winter the piercing atmosphere,
chilled by contact with the snow-capped
tablelands. saddens the heart Of the Swiss
peasant and makes him less gay than those
who dwell in Southern France and sunny
Italy, But summer is tho gala time of the
year for Switzerland, it is the festival season.
II al the cataracts, glaciers, and mountain
peaks are fenced in TO foreigners for a reve-
nue.. to the native Swiss all Is as free In sum-
mer as the crags to the mountain goat.
festival in Manchenstein. Thousands of
people had been planning to attend. The
thought of 1t had mingled with their labor
and had made them sing at their work.
A little while before the hour of two
o'clock the great station at Bale was swarm
ing with people of all classes-for in such
celebrations the rich and poor alike partici-
pate There was hurrying to and fro, there
was the usual crowding and 1ostling. one
another, as the two huge engines Numbered
In. Finally the whole. to the number of 700,
were seated, chatting in their gayest fashion
of the expected pleasure. In ten minutes
the happy thrOng would crowd the streets of
Manchenstein, and the festivities would
commence.
1t was the inaugural feast Of the summer.
Large wedding parties were making it the
occasion for a pOstnuptial merrymaking;
business men, with their entire families were
out for a day of uninterrupted relaxation
from business. Inc aire S;S OF SCHOOLS and
able them to exc out their waning energies
until the July vacation, and hundreds of
hard-worked people of the lower classes
were crowded together for few minutes in
order to enjoy full breath Of country air
little later. Words of cheer and hope were
on their lips. joy was in every heart. and the
light of expected pleasure In the counte-
nanceS of all.
But sound they do not understand strikes
their ears as the foremost engine touches the
bridge: II trembles, 1t shakes, 1t yibrates.
IL Is like the shock which precedes the rum
BILE of distant earthquake. 1t started every
one from his seat as the jerk of a train COM
ing to standstill, but there was no more
than a second In which to wonder, and all
was still, as If everything had gone out in
many poor heart, but the bliss Of amending
oblivion was not for all; for in an instant
there arose on the still country air sounds
like the wailings Of Dante's lost souls, the
shrieks and agonized cries Of hundreds
vibrating for moment between time and
eternity. The book of Life will only reveal
what human hearts suffer at such intervals.
Some few who had hair-breadth escapes
gave us glimpses of what passes in a soul,
when death stands and with its grizzly locks
and decisive call. demands the keys of the
past and asks memory to take its seat and
record all that has been unworthy and
ign0ble In the strife SO soon to yield to the
unrelenting conqueror, death.
But the shrieks of the wounded and dy-
Ing soon cease and the wailings are heard
gradually to die out, for the victims are soon
imprisoned by the splintered wreck of the
cars and the Two engines above, and the fast
flowing stream beneath. Some will rest In
their watery grave until the sea gives up its
dead, borne on further and further, until
they reach the ocean which ever seems to say,
In the rise and fall of its blue. green surf,
give, give"
The bridge was sixteen metres long, not
many yards longer than good sized draw
ing room and yet, before the modern patent air
brake could DO Its work, the two engines,
baggage car, postal van, and no one knows
how many first, second and third-class cars
were precipitated into the trap beneath.
One car, which l afterwards saw, was
kept suspended. from going over the preci-
pice, by the cars behind, which were finally
held back by the action of the automatic
Westinghouse brake, which does 1t work
most successfully, at the time of the acct
dent which 1t is made to succor 1t seems
as If two cars in their order could not rest on
the narrow stream, and as there was no al
Tentative of surface space, depth furnished
the only margin, so that down and down
went wreck after wreck until they filed the
river at that point to its very bottom and
left no escape, except by some miracle to
those in the lower vehicles.
From that hour, for many days, the work
Of bringing out the wounded and dead went
on. They laid their CHASTITY forms side by
side on the turf In the grounds of one of
Bales best citizens, who had country resi-
dence just facing the bridge. They were al
most unacceptable from the first SO swol-
len from the effects of the water and mang-
led by wounds. This was the youth and
beauty of the city, who had few moments
before looked love to eyes that spoke again
and the contrast was to sad and appalling!
Nothing resembling this had ever happened
in Switzerland before. A leading newspaper
commented upon 1t thus: ut is a thing in
creditable outside of the United States.
The developments seem to reverse the idea
that human life is there less esteemed then
abroad, and that for greed our people will