The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-11-26
Early Morning Activity at
the City Hall.
Way to Put a Stop to Track
Talking Tragedies.
Mr.. Freeman's Method is Best---A
Precedent Established

III you were In tne vlcinity OF the city
hail this morning at $3.50 O'Clock you
might have made the mistake of suppos.
ing that some important ceremony was
In progress within. True, the gathering
OF score and more Of hacks ana tho bril-.
liant illumination OF the city clerks
office would seem to indicate something
OF the sort, but In this instance tho In.
dications were misleading. The fact is
the assembling OF 80 many carriages, the
presence OF the full force of the city
clerks office and the attendance OF .
large number OF policemen was the final
act m the preparation for the municipal
Ii is at this early hour the city clerk
sends out tue official ballots, voting
lists, ward books, warrants, instruc-
tions, pencils, etc., TO the polling places,
OF which there are 22. The ballots for
sealed. In lsrge Japanned boxes, which
are fitted with padlocks, are placed COW
srs for the ballots east, with a blank form
tor the returns of the election ofiicers,s an
other cover for the return of unused bal
lots, the ward book, warrant, instruc-
lions, and In fact, everything that will
be n eded In the voting booth. One of
these boxes, together with the big pack
ages OF baDotsand the voting lists, was
delivered totwo policemen, who took one
OF the carriages IN waiting and carried
them to the psrticulsr district to
were received by the warren and dreceipted
for. This receipt vas returned TO the city
clerk Immediately by one OF the police
men, the other remaining on duty at the
polls. The same program was followed
out in each OF the 22 districts, so that 22
hacks and a. patroimen were required for
the work this morning.
The first ballots To be sent out went TO
the district at the greatest distance from
the city hall, which is the Third District
II - ...a IL.
b ur before the opening OF the polls,
aid the others followed in order OF dis
rance and City Clerk Clarke had ell on
tie road within ten or fifteen minutes af-
ter the first carriage left the hall.
Another track. walking tragedy al
Olneyvilie, hut how many will take warm
ing from u? Few, II any. People VIII
read of MGovern's shocking death, com
ment upon II and then 20 right on doing
just what led to his destruction. The
fact Is track-walking has become a fixed
habit with certain persons. and however
frequent fatalities resulting from IL may
be, or however apalling the maEgliDg OF
the latest victim, they learn no lesson OF
prudence, but pursue the same practice
of rtcklessIy exposing themselves to
similar fate.
When persons are so careless OF their
own safety as TO expose themselves fire.
oeath the law should step In and create
Q safeguard, even though In doing 80 IL is
obliged to make q misdemeanor or crime
o. what Ia now regarded as an innocent,
IL dangsrous, practice. Railroad Com
missioner Freemsn has The right idea on
this subject. He has, on more than one
Occasion, sought to have law passed
which Will make track walking pun
isba BILE offense, but has failed thus far.
Some OF those who opposed tue passage
OF the act in question contended that
there Ia already law enough TO suppress
track walking. They point out that every
trsck-waiker Is tresspaser on tie prop
erty OF the railway companies, and can
be prosecuted as such.
This Is true enough, but the railroads
are not in the prosecuting business whom
the object is simply TO secure the sa fety
OF human life. The only inconven ience
they experienced when train grinds the
life out OF an unfortunate Is In the loss
of time About the victim or his family
they care nothing. A few lives, more
or less, in year cut of in the space OF
q second, make no impress on upon
them. Certainly such fatalities have
never yet moved thom TO extra expendi-
tures, and as an endeavor to stop track
walking by prosecuting those who in
dulge In II as trespassers would involve
very considerable outlay, Ii can be safely
assumed il will never be made. II this
dangerous habit is ever TO be broken
it will not be by the effect OF repeated
tragedies or the action OF the railroad
companies. but by the passage OF some
such law as tEat recommended by Com
missioner Freeman and their vigorous
enforcement of IL afterward. One pre-
secution under such statute would
have more salutery influence in put
ting Stop to this life destroying habit
than halt hundred tragedies such az
that at Olneyvilie Sunday morning.
- Precedent Is almost everything In legal
procedure and practice. Once tabiisbcd,
IL soon becomes a fixed law, and one
often wonders If things were ever differ
ent Yesterday, in case on trial in the
common pleas division of the Supreme
Court, the jury was taken out for view
OF the premises involved In the litigation.
This matter of views by juries Is now
very common. Hardly n term OF the
court passe, without furnishing from
one to half dozen instances, and yet the
precedent Is of less than q dozen years
standing.
The fist case in this State in which |
the jury left the court room TO take q |
view was that of the State against Cong |
don. The detendsu, was accused of shoot |
ing and killing a man named Wilcox in |
Warwick Cove, near Oakland Beach. His |
counsel for the defense, A. j. Cushing |
and Willard Sayles, at the opening OF the |
trial, moved that tho jury be allowed to
take a view OF q certain locality near the |
scene OF the crime. Judges Stipess and |
Iiliingbast presided at the trial, and |
after hearing arguments on both sides, |
granted the motion, IL was then and |
there that precedent was esta bills he'd, |
which was followed In another murder |
trial short time afterwsrd-that of |
Charlie Skuce for killing John Field |
and in innumerable other cases, civil and |
criminal, since.