New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-01

The accounts Of the Atlantic City railway
slaughter are too confvse as yet. for any
exact Judgment as to it's cause. Whether the
West Jersey engineer lost his head when he
saw the other train approaching where he had
the right of way, or the Reading engineer care
lessly ran into a forbidden block, or the signal
man was slow in setting his lights so that both
men at different nstants as they approached
the crossing read permission to proceed and
thought the other would stop, cannot now be
told-perhaps never will be discovered. The
first obvious lesson of the wreck is that no
machinery can guard against accidents. The
working of every safety device depends in the
end for its efficiency on the care and intelll-
gence of human agents In this case at some
point the human agent failed to do his work.
Probably no two railroads in the country
have better equipped signal systems than the
Reading and the Pennsylvania OH whose lines
this accident occurred. The block signals were
there. but block signals cannot set themselves
or get into cabs and stop locomotives. The West
Jersey engineer says the signals were set his
way, and their condition after the crash tends
TO confirm his statement. The other is dead,
his fireman Is dead. the signals stand against
him. and the story is that he had friend in
the cab who also persisted. That raises the
suspicion that he may have been more occu-
pied in conversation than in watching signals
that. at any rate, he may have run into an
open block just as it closed against him and
failed TO notice the change or look on his own
account for a train on the other track The
two railroads come together on an open
meadow The trains were In plain sight Of
each other, and were seen 10 be approaching
the crossing at rapid rate Signals or no sig
nails. that ought to have Teen enough.
A Coroner's jury may sift the different stories
and find out who Numbered most, and conclude
that the m!nor blundcrs which failed TO per
ceiye and correct the great one were not I'M
natural The hint of n race between the Read
ing and Camden and Atlantic train may be
discredlted. The living engineer may be shown
TO have seen the approaching train so late that
II was the wisest thing for him to go ahead
at full speed in desperate hope 10 clear the
crossing rather than face certain destruction
by stopping on 1t. The man in the switch-tower
may prove that he did his full duty. But no
Coroner's jury can explain away the fact that
two railway trains, heavy with human freight,
approached a danger point with so little care
that some little forgetfulness, some slight over
sight brought death and ruin. II the safe rule
OF stopping Ill trains nj grade-crossngs had
been followed the disaster could not have o.
Cured The toIal abolition of gradecrosslngs
would he even better than stopping trains
This Is day Of sorrow in many Ncw-Jersey
towns-of sorrow that will not be comforted
| Nothing is more common than death. The
| stolcs tell us we place too high value on hui
man life. For ages men have been slaughtered
| In battle almost matter OF course. They
| and those who mourncd them had the comfort
| that such : fate at least brought glory. Tor
nadoes and earthquakes and fire and food Kill
| thousands but man bows submissive 10 the
resstess elements There Is even something
| grand in being victim Of Nature. But To meet
| death from the blind fury OF n Frankenstcin,
10 suffer and be crushed by the misbehavior
Of ones own creations, to 60 out for pleasure
trusting In the perfection of civilization and
| have that civilization turn and rend one, Is 10
| fall without any compensation. A railroad ac-
| cdent Is one Of the most distressing casualties