Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-03

! was making its way TO the terminal sta
| tion on the North river through dense
! fog. Before reaching the bridge on the
hackensacs river II came to a stop in or
der that the conductor and engineer OF the
train might be sure that the draw was
! down and the track ready for use 1t was
well known that another train was not far
! behind. The rear brakeman, or fiagman,
proper. started back with flag to warn
| this approaching train, which was said TO
have been running at the rate of twenty
! five miles hour. Discovering that the
train following was so near at hand that
he thought he could not prevent a collision,
he returned, and tried to warn the passen-
gers on the stationary train of their great
peril. Before they could profit by this
warning the following train crashed into
the cars in which they were trapped kill
ing twelve persons and injuring many
others
Desiring to get the inside views on the
subject, an Evening Star reporter hunted up
a retired railroad Official living up in the
northwestern part of the city and asked
} i'm where he placed the responsibility for
the wreck. This gentleman has not lost
sight of railroad matters since he retired
into quieter life. but has always been a
close student on railroad development, and
speaks by the card He said:
A Railroad Mans Views.
THAT accident at Hackensack was due
to the laundering action of the rear brake
man or iagman. The accounts say that he
had gone back ten feet when he heard the
noise of the on-coming train. and thinking
the train could not be stopped. he return
ed to warn the passengers on his train Of
their danger. Now You know a person can
hear a considerable distance; the train that
was rushing up from the rear was making
but twenty-five miles an hour. which is a
moderate speed for a passenger train, and
the fiagman should have kept on. He could
certainly have cleared twenty-five or thirty
five feet more, and even in a dense fog the
engineer could have seen him from a dis
lance OF ten feet. This would have put the
distance about fifty feet between the two
trains, and i take il that q train running
twenty-five miles an hour can be stopped in
that distance. or. in case of wet rails, to
lessen the speed TO such an extent that a
broken platform would have been the sum
total CT the damage done.
The causes of nearly all of the rear-end
collisions which have taken place in late
years has been reckless disobedience of or
derS or a refusal on the part of the train
men to be Influenced by well-known con-
ditions of danger. In the last six months
there has been much philosophic and learn
ed discussion of the question why con-
ductors and engineers, to say nothing Of
tue rear uaemefl, XIII passengers through
rear-end collisions. The more practical
question is how they and the companies
that employ them can be prevented from
endangering or destroying the lives of pas
sengers by collisions for which there is not
the slightest excuse. There should be Sc
we're penalties, both in the form of dam
ages to be recovered and In the form of
imprisonment for the guilty. The appalling
and unprecedented record Of railroad fatal
tiles last year should cause legislatures to
provide corrective measures.
Lack of Discipline.
About one-third, from 80 to 40 per cent
Of the railroad accidents are due to causes
directly traceable to a lack of discipline
All collisions are of this character many
derailments and a large share OF those
lesser accidents which cause the loss of life
and limb by railroad employees while max
ing up trains and handling them. In the
aggregate these foot up a butchers bill of
dead and wounded far in excess of that &C.
casioned by the spectacular accidents on
which public attention is riveted.
Newspapers and the public are loud in
their criticism Of weak bridges, broken
rails. bent axles and car stoves. With rea-
son. All are deadly. But altogether kill
fewer than lax observance OF known rules.
The Hackensack accident resolves itself
into lax discipline, which runs up to the
very superintendent Here was draw
bridge ahead; the first train properly Stacks
the nagman knew the place well, and
should have known that a train was fol-
lowing, but he holds on to his train until
the last fatal minute for fear of being left
Inc engineer on the following train knew
or should have known that there was a
train ahead, that ii would stop at the dra w
two times out of four in clear weather
the morning of the wreck was densely
foggy-yet he permits his train to near AN
important point at twenty-five miles an
hour, knowing the peril of wet rails even
with perfect working air brakes The tel
egraph operator at the station north of the
pridge is supposed, according to rules to
hold passenger trains ten minutes anart
when block signals are not used For the
distance travelled it would appear that the
latter allowed the second train to slip by
MS station somewhat within this ten min
ute limit.
Three Men Responsible.
Here are three men upon whom / place
the responsibility for the Hackensack
calamity, although the fagman I'm nv
mind, was directly responsible Discipline
In Its broad sense must have been very lay
to permit these three men to bunch their
ignorance at time when it would do the
most harm. In ordinary cases one man
should act as a guard over the other
Throughout the road was run haphazard
according to later day improvements in
raiiroading, and yet on no roads is dis
cipiihe Oh tne str1ctest kind more impera-
tive than on suburban lines, and on none
is the temptation stronger to take the small
risks. which generally, in the end term
mate in a big accident. The calamity
eliminated all the errors at the cost OF
many lives. That is what makes discipline
cheaper than accidents, as the Lacka-
wanna road is likely to find out by the
time damages are paid.
But the rear fiagman system is what
particularly desire to lift my voice against
Perhaps, though doubt II, having watched
similar calamities TO- many years.
Few more wrecks like that at
Hackensack will convince the travel
ing public how little safety is secured
bys the present rule and practice of guard
ing against rear collisions by sending back
a hagman to flag approaching trains
Whe-e trains are run by space interval or
on the block system, when a train is stop-
ped In block no other train can enter IL
until the train has moved on When trains
most American roads runs them when a
| train stops at any point where the approa oh
of train from the rear is possible a flag
man walks back half a mile with a lantern
or nag until he is called I'm by the whistle
Of his locomotive.
Very few of the passengers in the rear car
would rest easy during an unexpected stop
they knew how little this precaution
amounts to. At all hours. in ali kinds of
weather, on all tracks and at various dis
tances from shelter or a station. the rea-
naman, man earning not over $50 day.
Is expected on Stop TO leave the train.
walk back half mile run the risk of be-
ing left on the track. with long and dre2-y