The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-02-24
Of the Legislature.

~ Jill t4AE -H1fFo oAA1 - r. 'rNAF
The whistle and Bell" warning bill
OF Senator Justice had the right OF way
yesterday or the nat track.
1t started on schedule time with =
full head of steam, in charge Of Conduc-
tor Justice. met with many obstacles on
the track, and took on extra coaches, bu.
before getting into the depot was derailcd
and left q wreck.
III bill had been before two commit
tees. and unfavoTable reports was its
fate. It's purpose was for the protection
of human life and a minority report was
its backing when it came before the
Senate after several failures 70 be heard.
Al amendment offered by Senator Nc
Mullan providing that a penalty be
placed on persons who mischievously
made p%rctense as to cause the warning
bell or whistle to sound was adopted.
This left the bill so that it provided
that persons ahead Of moving trains on
the track should be seen, should be
warned, and the train should stop if it
was seen that the person had not heard
the warning Or was unable to heed it.
Senator Mcmillan spoke first on the
bill. He made a strong and earnest
speech, one that attracted attention. be
cause of it's able conception, its careful
delivery and its strong points. He de-
clared that the bill was for the protec-
ton of human life. and was a matter
Of great moment, that it put no extra
burden on the railroad companies and
was fought by the opposition with the
old cry Of prejudiccd juries. The state
.,o-t -@ol1 {h-t ,a;1 onl 1;4,or.or
were unfair to railroads, he said, was
a rank aspersion, and if listened 10
would always defeat the passage of
remedial laws in North Carolina.
If it is proper to blow at a crossing
to warn a man. he held it was right to
warn a man on the track. At this perio1
Senator Woodland said that the public
had an easement in the crossing, but q
man on the rack was a trespasser. To
this Senator Mcmillan replied. And if
he is a trespasser, is it right and proper
that he should be killed without warn
ing?" He strongly urged that the bill
pass for then one alarm, one blow of a
whistle. one pull at a cord might save a
life. in place of an engineer just sitting
and presuming that q man would get of
the track until beneath the train. a hu-
man body had been ground into one hor-
rible mass. A hog on the track was
warned, and a human being should be.
Just here came a tangle as to the bill,
this being whether it was an amendment,
a substitute or a minority report. In
this Senators Gillian. Justice and Norris
participated. The matter being seeming
ly Strengthened, Senator Webb said he
thought the penalty of a fine of SO to
$50 or Imprisonment for thirty days in
tho NToNI,l1ap r,,,l-,o~+ 49, 1:-l4
on people who mischievously stopped a
train or put obstacles on the track. The
amendment was there amended by an
agreement to strike out the sentences
relating to Obstacles as it was found
that this was covered by the Code.
Then the bill got tangled again as to
what it was. and when the President of
the Senate thought it was straight, Sen
ator Henderson declared that the pur-
pose of a part of the bill seemed 20
be to re-enact an old law. and to create
a new one that would virtually give tn
a laiman against a railroad all he
asked. The bill made as he saw it, CON
fusion worse COMPOUNDED in the laws. In
esponse to queries by senator Justice.
who quoted Senator Henderson as saving
that the law is now what the bill says,
and asked if nat was right. Senator
Henderson replied that the language of
the bill was not the law of any land.
Continuing, Senator Henderson urged that
an innocent failure tc give warning
would violate the provisions of the bill,
and that it should not pass. that it was
too lengthy and had in it too many words.
Then Senator Justice spoke for the bill.
lie said that the length ard the words
of the bill necdlcsSly alarmed Senator
Henderson, and that his objections seem
cd TO be to these, and that it could not
be understood. Il think it is neither"
said he, "and that it is as plain as the
English language can make it," He
urged that it simply made a law of pres
ent railroad regulations, that it was the
duty of the railroad company to keep a
lookout. not of the engineer, and that if
necessary a third man should be en-
ployed for this purpose. He paid a
splendid tribute to the engineers and
found no fault with them. AS to the
innocent failure to give warning
spoken of by Senator Henderson, he could
not imagine such when seeing a man
and giving a signal was required. Here
Mr.. Justice spoke of the anxiety of the
opposition to defeat this bill, because
some lawyers thought it unsafe to let
jurics pass on the question. Mr.. Jus
tice gave several Illustrations from tho
law as to killing by trains and the de-
cision of the Supreme court, all these
tending to strengthen his contention that
a simple warning by bell or whistle would
have saved 4 life.
Speaking Of the article from a rail
road engineer, published in the News and
Observer, opposing the bill. he said that
the gentleman who wrote it could never
nave read the bill, as it fully covered
the objections he made, as if the man
looked back, or If a lookout was kept
by a third man. the given signal would
keep from rushing q man into eternity
at sixty miles an hour.
In conclusion he plead that this little
chance for saving human life be not
denied, because somebody, somewhere,
somehow or at sometime may have felt
that a jury had rendered an unjust YER
dict. Such talk, he said, did not reach
the dignity of an argument.
Here occurred the third mix UP as to
the status of the bill. Mr.. Gillian
thought The original had been Withdrawn
and that there was nothing before the
Senate. Mr.. Justice thought the minority
bill was under discussion The President