Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-14

1kNslTSXEyM For months previous
ErEr sTEx to the opening of
AHkxYA<lE the worlds fair every
incentive was given
to the improvement
Of the roadbed, the
service and the
employees. Roads were Strengthened and
money expended almost to the limit Of the
sinking fund-many new bridges built, new
cars were turned out Of the different shops
at an unparalleled rate, and green employees
We're whipped into shape to give satisfac-
tory account OF themselves in advanced DO
sltlons. For several months everything
went Wen as far as accidents were con-
cerned, but this may be accounted for
from the lack of patronage. Then came
july and the travel began to increase at
a rapid rate, and August found every car
IN service and the employees working about
ohe,th1rd over time. Since the 1st Of Sep
TEMPER the travel on all the roads has been
something phenomenal. but before the pres
idents and managers of the roads could
shape their mouths for a reassurinp smile
over the financial prospects a series Of ter
rlpie wrecks occurred, and when these are
squared up to the full extent of damages
TO injured passengers the profits will as
sumo size far beneath those anticipated
as result of the great exposition.
me long series Of accidents which have
.atey occurred raises the question whether
tiere is any exceptional cause at work to
whlch they may be attributed. Up to the pres
ent year there had been a steady diminution
or casualties Of this kind in proportion to the
increasing volume Of traffic, and railroad
travel had come to be regarded as about as
sate as staying at home and going about
the streets. For years legislatures, railroad
commissioners and railroad companies have
Deen working together to improve the safe
guards and lessen the chances Of accident,
ana the results have seemed to be common
surate with the efforts made
suddenly there has come a series of dis
as'ers IN rapid succession which is altogeth-
er startling In most cases they can be
traced to some act of negligence or over
sight rather than to lack of the usual
safeguards prescribed by the law or by the
rules OF the corporations, though, In several
instances. there have been palpable faults
or management. Trains have been dis
patched over the same lines without proper
notice to conductors and engineers as to
points or meeting and passing. Telegraph
operators have construed or transmitted
orders amiss Signals have been wrongly
set or wrongly read. and switches have been
misplaced at critical moment, as in the
case of the terrible collision on the Wabash
road out in Indiana.
Machines Instead Of Men.
No doubt main cause Of the frequency
or accidents has been the increase Of traffic
caused by the worlds fair and the addition
OF many special and excursion trains to the
regular shedules Of roads Of which the con-
struction and equipment do not allow such
an addition to their ordinary traffic to be
made with safety. Not all of the accidents
nave been caused in this way. but enough
OF them to account in some measure for the
excess of accidents. There is one lesson to
be learned from nearly all these disasters,
and that Is the necessity of substituting
automatic machines for men whenever this
can be done. In almost every case the pub
lie hears of laundering brakeman or
switchman or operator, whose intentions
We're perfectly good. but who proved to be
untrustworthy. In such states as have
railroad commissioners this lesson ought
not to be lost upon those officials. Even in
the absence of railroad commissions, II
might well be made by law a case for dam
ages IN which 1t was shown that the COM
pany omitted to provide the best appliances
known for the prevention of accidents
While the presidents and general man.
ayers of the different roads offe- vague ex-
plantations for the epidemic of accidents the
members Of the rank and file of trainmen
are the right ones to give the true cause.
TO them are given orders which, IL not
properly carried out and a wreck occurs
they should know the reason why. Within
the last week a reporter of The Evening
Star shook hands with an intelligent freight
conductor and welcomed him back from q
trip to the worlds fair. He was in the
White City at the time the half dozen fatal
accidents took place on the western roads
and took the trouble to converse with train
men on his return trip TO their ideas Of
the causes therefor. He said:
OverTOrk the Cause.
One and all seemed to agree that it was
a case Of overwork. Business had been so
bad for several months past that expenses
were curtailed and the working force cut
down. The men that were laid Off sought
work elsewhere. and when business came on
with rush these tried trainmen could not
be secured. AS result, many green hands
were taken on, and If there are railroads In
the world that should have experienced
trainmen at the present time to handle the
great passenger traffic those entering Chi
cago are the ones. l ran: across several
employees of the Grand Teunk road soon
after the big wreck In Michigan In which
some fifteen persons were killed and three
times that number injured. They were en-
phatic In their declaration that the Grand
Trunk had been too stingy in the matter
of expenses. although the traffic in August
was in the neighborhood of 10000 passcn-
gers. They all declared, and from my pro-
fessional experience I think they are right.
that had the semaphore. or block signal.
been in use the wreck would have been
averted, as the colliding train half mile
away would have been notified. The ex-
pense of that wreck, when the damages
are settled for. would have equipped the
entire road with that system.
''On my way back from Chi cago I read an
item in a paper that forcibly impressed me
with the idea that what some of the western
roads do not know about railroading would
fill book. The item was headed A Little
year-old boy had turned switch in time to
prevent terrible accident happening to a
crowded passenger train. The boy, noticing
the approach of the flying train, ran to the
switch and threw 1t for the main track
Just as the pilot of the engine passed over
the split rails. moments delay would
have caused fearful wreck. The switch
was left open, 1t Is presumed, by freight
crew.
Guarding Switches in the East.
Now an accident Of that nature could not
happen on any first-class eastern road for
two reasons. The first is that the switch
keys arc guarded almost as closely as dia-
monds by the railroad officials and are in
the hands Of only responsible yard men
and the conductors and engineers of
through trains. II that switch had been
wrongly set in the east here that little boy
could never have thrown 1t right from the
fact that it would have been locked
Switches that run from the main line are
guarded too closely to permit any outsider
from working 1t. The second reason why
the accident could not have happened is
the safety signals that surround such a
switch all sides. Two hundred feet up