Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-14
How Injuries and Deaths Are Settled
for With Cash Out of Court.
CLAIM ADJUSTERS' SHREWDNESS.
Very Few Of the Accident Cases
Ever Reach a Suit.
E ATING UP ROF1T s

lnres persons OUT OF TOUR, Siter Nccuiii5 ~
the newspapers account Of a railroad
accident. in which passengers were Killed
and injured, will Immediately begin sur
missing what the damage list will amount
to in dollars and cents. In a majority OF
the states legislation has placed stand
ard value on a human beings life at $3.50,
with no limit for temporary or permanent
injuries 1nis is, OF course. outside railroad
employees as a class. The companies bene-
fetal associations provide for them, I'M
less in a case OF gross carelessness or neg
lgence on the part of the corporations
they are killed or injured, when the courts
are called upon to act as arOtrators- In
the latter Cases there Is then also a limit
on death damages. but not on injuries.
One OF the most prominent legal lights
Of the country has gone on record as say
Ing Inat eons.Ierei a raiiroad uAmase
suit the most easy to win of all cases taken
to court. Appeals are always taken to the
higher courts in cases where large damages
have been allowed. but 1t rarely happens
that the lower courts decisions are re-
versed. The lawyer referred to says this
state of things is directly traceable to the
Jury system and an almost unconscious
desire on the part of the American public
as q class 10 mUlct the wealthy and there
d. benefit the needy
The lain Agent.
In connection with damage suits the most
interesting character is the claim agent.
II Is generally acknowledged among bust
ness Hen that about the shrewdest class
OF human beings of the male gender that
trod this earth is the hre insurance ad-
5ustors. Many improbable stories are told
at their expense. Of how they not only can
sight and feel a fraud but that the sense
or smell Is frequently brought into use. Be
that as e may. the railroad claim adjustor
STANDS second on the list, when shrewd-
ness Is considered Their salaries are the
sQuaL In many cases, or those paid very
high railroad officers. But the wages are
We'll spent as in their hands are placed the
adjustment Of claims that in a years time
viii frequently mount high up in the six
figures
Everybody remembers how unpopular the
New York elevated railroads were directly
after they were thrown open to travel.
People were burt by the score and the claim
adjustOrs were continually on the 90 No
matter how trifiing were the injuries, COM
promise could not be thought of. but of to
the courts they would go: a jury would
near the case and nine times out of ten
the companies would be assessed for heavy
damages Years ago railroad officials gen.
orally attended to these claim cases. but
the elevated roads in New York are be-
Aeved to be the originators Of the claim
agent as a class.
The many and horribly fatal accidents of
the past year. particularly the last six
sion as TO the length of the damage list In
many cases, it Is believed, the worlds fair
profits will be wiped out. but this surmise
Is wrong SO far as the eastern roads are
concerned. The western roads were the
victims to an appalling extent and their
cIalm agents were never buster II the
true history OF the adjustment of acct
dent claims of 1893 Is ever told II will un-
ooubtedly be found that the shrewdness
or claim adtustors had saved more than
ceivers.
The Years Damage List.
An agent of one of the western roads, on
MS way tolan eastern city to ply his well
known suasive abilities upon a victim Of a
recent catastrophe In Michigan. was ac-
costed by an Evening Star reporter. at one
OF the local depots, last week In the course
Oh quite lengthy talk the question of the
years railroad damage list and claim. In
general came under discussion. He said:
Notwithstanding the immense worlds
Ialr trafnc on the western roads, the wear
1885 VIII show an immense list Of railroad
losses History is full of instances of great
disasters of an Identical nature following
each otner in an almost unbroken series
one year fires blaze from ocean to ocean
and hundreds of millions of dollars go nm
In smoke, and the insurance COMPANIES
stand aghast and feel the foundation of
tnelr financial stability shaking. Then cy-
Clones follow each other, until the inha hi
tants of all prairie towns live in momentary
terror OF the end. Floods have their saa
sens ana disastrous sea-coast storms theirs
ana then Tor months at a time the entfre
country Is shocked with a series of railroad
Cccidents, all involving loss Of life and
wholesale injury to limb
repeat that the profits Of the entire
world : fair business of the year have been
actually eaten up by the losses through
wrecks The loss to rolling stock Is always
totaI, as railroads carry no insurance Be
Tore passing to the adjustment of losses
permit me to say that the sad and expen-
sive experience Of the past six months in
the west argues that the railroads are not
yer equipped to handle the enormous pas
senser traffic that nominal rates to a CEN
trail point like Chicago creates PeopIe
point to the railroads of England and saw
lneS nave no accidents there These peo-
E.- ,no not know that the equipment of an
Fn|ish road Will average $500 900 a mile.
WIN the western roads average from
s|O.up 10 10000. Accidents will cea SO and
cGnDinat'on trains may be run, so to speak.
wren every railroad in America Is euuipped
with four tracks two for passanears 80
TWO Tor freiRhts. That is out of the nues
non now nut IL viii come In the far awav
,u'ure' with the building up Of the country.
y has already been achieved In some nor.
tons If the east. notably the PennsvIvania
NeVv YORK Central and Re fillmore and Ohio
timore. ~ N"i
Fear Jury TriaI
But as to claims, understand that FL.
railroad corporations never go tn court nm
less they are forced To. The reason IA o.
Vious-we fear jury trial II you see a
railroad damage suit in court put IT down
that the railroad company believes The
Claim either excessive or without meri,
Every railroad has claim department. II
Is a bureau, really, of the general man.
ayers department., and the legal denart
n.ent sLaauS toward IL only in an adyisorv
Capacity. There are great many penn,e
Employed in the claim department. both in
tae mann ONCE anu scattered along over the
line.
1t is not true. as has been fancifuuv
suggested, that as soon the victim of a
rSiIrCad accident RECEIVERS Consciousness
one of our claim agents is at his bedside
with q compromise offer and quit claim of
further demands for damages, ready for
signatures.
There all sorts of jokes about our
claim agents being surgeons, who compro-
mise with the victim while setting a.
broken limb and the purchase of indemnity
waivers from passengers at the depot be-
fore the train pulls out. Those are how
weight with any but the unsophisticated
Seriously. however. this item of personal
damage is one of the heaviest expenses
that a railroad company has 10 meet. One
bad wreck Is likely to eat up seasons
prOfts. not to men ton the loss of prestige
and consequent patronage that temporarily
may follow d disaster to a road.
when a railroad is so unfortunate as to