The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-09-15
SHOULD BE PROSECUTED.

The official of the Southern Railway,
who said in Charlotte last week that
the falling in of the t~restle on Fishing
Creek and killing and injuring many pas
sengers, was not due to the rottenness of
the bridge, was evidently looking through
Southern Railway spectacles. At the
~coroner's jury it was determined that the
'<TRESTLE WAS IN A DANGEROUS
AND UNSAFE CONDITION, BEING
DUE TO GROSS CARELESSNESS ON
THE PART OF THE OFFICERS OF
SAID R~AILROAD.' The coroner has.
sworn out a warrant for the arrest OF
NJ. s. billiard, supervisor of bridges for
the Charleston Division of the Southern
Railway in whose jurisdiction the Fishing
Creek bridge lies. Commenting on the
verdict and the evidence, the Columbia
State says:
cat the inquest Milus Miller, who lives
a quarter Of a mile from the ~trestle. is
reported as testifying that he had known
for a long time that the timbers of the
tlestle were rotten and when he called
the attention of Section Master Stukes
to the fact. Mr.. Stukes said he had re
ported the information to the officials
above The section master testified THAT
while he had charge of the track on each
side of the ~trestle he had nothing to do
with the trestle itself. Outsiders ne
said, had frequently called his attention
to the condition Of the trestle, but he
considered it reasonably safe However,
although it was not among his duties,
and although he considered the trestle
reasonably safe still he had more than
once called the attention of engineers 20
its condition so they would slow up as
they crossed it
Now here, it appears, is a railroad
man whose specific duties did not include
the inspection or care of this t~restle. and
yet he called the attention of engineers
to its condition so they would slow up as
they crossed it, Why should the en-
gineers' attention be directed by another
employee of the road to the REASONABLY
safe condition of a trestle? And what,
pray, is the meaning Of reasonably safe
anyway? Is a railroad expected to main
tain tracks and t~restles which are any
thing less than perfectly safe? Or is there
some fine technical distinction between
reasonably safe and 'safe?' 1t would
seem that the railroad commission might
at least possess the power to ascertain
the truth of this NATTER
The State calls upon the Commission to
make full investigation and it declares
that civil suits against the operating
corporation are not suitable nor adequate
punishment for carelessness and negli-
gence which result, or may result, IN
loss of life Damage suits are brought
by individuals for specific injuries. The
State has nothing to do with them. 1t
has a high duty to punish criminal negli-
gence so severely as to compel railroads
to be so careful that all preventable &C
cidents may be avoided.
Fortunately for the passengers and the
railroad, nobody was killed by the rotten
tie wreck at Walnut Creek, near Raleigh.
If an investigation had been held, it
would have been shown beyond the shadow
of a doubt that the wreck was due
to rotten ties-to criminal negligence.
An inquiry into the horrible tragedy on
the Saluda Mountain would have disclosed
the presence Of rotten ties.
Everybody would like to know the Sc
cret of living long. Here is how Prot.
Goodwin Smith says he accomplished it:
Having set out with a very weak con-
stitution, I believe l owe my attainment
of old age to my not having been over
worked at school as q child. At the
two schools at which I was, one of which
was Elton, work was very light. 1 can
not help fearing the children now, es-
pecially If their constitutions are not
strong, are overworked at school,