The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-03-11
Railways Ruined by Accidents.

u VI uiiS " POPUioA VA ~
burban railroads carrying passengers
out of New York during the summer
season went into the hands Of a re.
ceiver a few days ago because there
were pending against it damage suits
to the amount of 81, 900, 900 arising
from an accident on Labor day-ar
accident in which a number of people
were killed. Not one of the suits has
yet COM to trial, but such is the
closeness with which railroad earnings
and expenses are computed that the
net earnings for many years to com
would be hopelessly engulfed if onlys,
part Of the suits came to trial and If
only a fraction of the damages claimed
was recovered in court.
When one reads Of q ''terrible rail
road accident on some railroad line,
an accident entailing loss of life and
perhaps serious injury to many, the
circumstances is lost sight of that,
after the doctors and nurses have be-.
gun their work of skill or philanthropy,
there come the lawyers whose clients
are to be settled with either by cash
compromise or as the result of a jury's
decision, and j%uries, it is well known,
are hardly ever partial to railroad
companies when private individuals
are suing for injuries sustained or for
the loss of immediate relatives. It is
for this reason that a very serious &C
cident sometimes means the wreckage
of the finances of a railroad company.
A few minutes neglect, recklessness
or imprudence may cost, in subsequent
financial damage, years Of labor.
Among railroad men the case Of the
Toledo, Peoria and Western is a ia
miliar one. In August, 1887, there
was an accident at Chatsworth, Ills,
on the line, in which 100 persons were
killed, and the litigation resulting
therefrom has kept the company in the
courts ever since. The Monon road,
running from Chicago to Louisville, is
another sufferer in its finances from
an accident along the line, and the
Ashtabula accident along the Lake
Shore railroad some years ago involved
that railroad in many thousand dollars
of loss. Railroads have no reserve
fund to meet the losses sustained
through damage suits from accidents.
A contrary opinion prevails, especially
among litigants and Jurors, who seem
to act on the general proposition that
railroad corporations keep on hand a
large sum for such contingencies as an
occasional accident costing anywhere
from $50, 900 to $500, 000..
The amount of money paid in settle.
ment of damage suits by American
railroads cannot be computed with
any positiveness, becauseit varies con.
siderably from year to year, while the
| condition of the railroads transporting
passengers has much to do with it.
When roads are in good condition, &C,
cidents involving loss of life or serious
bodily injury are rare; when roads arc
in poor condition, such accidents are
frequent. The large systems of the
country, such as the New York Cen.
trail, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St.
Paul, the Illinois Central and the
Southern Pacific, spend on an average
in the settlement of damage suits
about $500 600 each, and the smaller
railway companies bring up, probably,
the total amount paid to about So, 000.
900 in all.
Although the American railroads
carry collectively in a year GOO, 600,
900 passengers, the number of fata!
accidents averages but about 300, and
of injuries to passengers about 5000,
or one killed for every 1000, 600 car.
ried, and one injured for every 2OO,,
900. One of the amendments to the
present New York State Constitution
adopted in 1894 (section l9 of article
y did away with the statutory power
of the Legislature to limit a verdict
for damages for injuries resulting in
death to S., 0O0.-New York Sun.