The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-26
PREvENTABLE ACCIDENTS.

The Washington Star uses the recent
disastrous Rock Island wreck at Will
lard as a text for an editorial plea for
companies. If the block system had
been in use on the Rock Island this
frightful calamity would have UNI
doubtedly been averted. The Star says:
The engineer Of a passenger train had
orders to wait at certain station for
a freight which was to take the siding
there. On arriving at that station and
seeing a freight train on the siding. he
thought it must be the one he was to
wait for and pulling open the throttle
dashed ahead without stopping. The
side tracked train was not the one men
toned in the orders. That one was
few miles farther down the track, COM
ing ahead on the same rails. The head
on collision which resulted cost the lives
of upward of twenty people.
Where was the elaborate system of
signals2 Had the operator at the side
track station depended upon the engi-
neer's own vision and neglected to
show red light? Or was the red light
visible and did the engineer ignore 1t,
thinking that some one had blundered
in its manipulation? The list of killed
and wounded does not contain the
name of the passenger engineer. and
presumably he escaped with his life.
He should therefore be available for
examination and If found guilty of the
gross negligence which is indicated in
the reports, punished severely for hav
ing caused the death of the passengers.
This accident emphasizes afresh the
necessity of providing an automatic de-
vice which will turn off the power
whenever a locomotive runs into a pro-
hibited block. Such a device, 1t was
not long ago reported, had been tried
IN Germany and found satisfactory. It
is electrical, and of course is subject
! to arrangement, as are all mechanical
and especially electrical appliances
which are to any extent exposed to the
| elements. But it is assured that such
an apparatus, even if not always in
working order, would interpose a. fur
Their element of safety between the
passenger and the disasters which are
so common of late. Even if the device
does not entirely shut off the power,
but merely sets a signal in the cab
which cannot De missed by the engineer
and the fireman, it will go long way
toward reducing the percentage of cat
astrophes. For no engineer will delib-
erateIy ignore such a final warning
that he has blundered into dangerous
territory.
The public sentiment on this subject is
steadily mounting higher. A demand is
growing in volume that the railroads be
forced by law to expend larger sums il
necessary to perfect their safety appli-
ances, or to reduce their schedules il
they cannot find the mechanical means
to correct the errors of their employees
It is nonsense for the railroad man
ayers to declare, as they have from
time to time, that the public demand
for rapid transit is responsible for tn
high percentages of disasters. If all thu
roads were to adopt safety schedules
were to double-track throughout, wer'
to employ larger forces and reduce tn
hours of work required of each man
were to double and even redouble tn
safeguards against catastrophe, the.
would be no more than doing their frs
duty to the travellers of the country
Reasonable safety and rapid transit ar
not inconsistent.