Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-12-04
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NEsTMlN sTER, S. ..
RAILROAD WRECKS.
Train Orders Should be In Hands Of i sps-
ss. clai Train Oiiicor.

Editors Courier: The papers last week
told us aboutla terrible railroad wreck
In Michigan in which rs or more lives
were lost, others injured and thousands
Of dollars worth Of railroad property
destroyed.
1t seems chat train No: a had orders to
meet and pass train 13 at .Seneca., y No.
4, however, did not stop at Seneca, and
as a result there was a horrible massacre
of human lives in a collision. The coii-
duotor on No. a stated that he was busy
with q ticket and was passing Seneca
before he was aware Of 1t, and as the
engineer did not stop he supposed that
No. Is had cleared and wasin the side
track. The engineer claimed IL the
orders read Seneca, Ch en- he etmisunder.
stood them. The superintendent Of the
road puts the blame on the engineer;
that the orders were to meet and pass at
Seneca, and that the engineer of No.. A
evidently forgot his orders.
1t appears then from the above that
the conductor supposed and the engineer
misunders ood or forgot.
This wreck Is only one of many. "A
few years ago there was a wreck near
Columbia on the South.bound brought
about by similar causes. Perhaps there
have been others more recent In this
State. Nearly every day we read of q
wreck somewhere, and not unfrequently
as a cause it is stated that there was a
misunderstanding of orders or somebody
forgot, eto. D. 81
If mistake not, in this part of the
railroad world the practice prevails to
give the orders by which Trains are ope-
rated only to the conductor and engineer.
No one else on the train has the official
Information as to whore trains are to
meet, eto. The engineer would naturally
feel insulted IL the fireman should ask to
see an order, likewise the conductor If
the fagman should make such q demand
Of him. AS in the case Of this particu-
lar wreokit no doubt often OCCURS that
the conductor is busily engaged with
the passengers and tickets and is liable
to reach and pass q station unobsorved, !,
especially if it be at night and not
regular stop or if 1t be q new conductor
not familiar with the road, and the re-
sponsibility Is shifted to the engineer
alone. Is 1t not a dangerous risk Of
placing such q great responsibility on
one man alone, the engineerp If he only
forgets, what thenp And how natural it
is to forget! It has proven too often to
be q fatal risk and it is high time that
the government should take a, hand.
There should be on every train that is
operated by telegraphio orders an officer
whose only duty should be to see to It
that all "running orders, were thor
oughly understood by both conductor
and engineer and once understood that
they we're also carried out with every
precantion.
Such q step would not only be In the
line of safety for the travelling public,
but it you'd also be in tie line OF econo-
my, for the railroads averting the loss Of
property sustained in such wrecks and
lawsuits without end. If suoh plan
had been In force that wreck in Mfchi-
gan could not have occurred
Walhalla, December s. W