The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-13
SAFETY FOR TRAVELLERS.
Suggestions Looking to Better
ment of Present Conditions.


To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
1t requires some great calamity to call
the attention of the people to the abuse of
privileges and the reckless disregard of the
value of human life by corporations. The
whole world was horror-stricken by the
disastrous fire in the Iroquois Theater in
Chicago, and everywhere the theaters and
places of public gatherings were o~verhauled,
fire escapes and places of egress provided,
and everything done to secure the safety
of the public. and people are satisfied with
the results. But a greater reform is need
ed in another direction. / refer to the reck-
less wholesale murder-for it is nothing
else-of people by railroads. Every year
more people are slaughtered by railroads
than were killed in that awful theater fire
at Chicago, yet the people and their law
makers permit it 10 go on without protest
or effort to put a stop to it. Very recently
indianapolis has been called upon to realize
what IL means to have seventeen people
murdered by the lack of a little care in
the handling Of the Purdue special. Within
a little more than sixty days, and almost In
hearing distance of each other, four wrecks
the Purdue special. the Big Four near
Peoria, the Pere Marquette, and the B. &
o. near Pittsburg-killed 143 men. Almost
every day the papers print accounts of
fatal accidents Of this kind, and the au-
thorities of the roads are held blameless,
or the law is not strong enough to reach the
guilty parties, as in the wreck of the Pur-
due special. The roads do not deny the
charge of carelessness, but always try to
place the blame on persons unable to de-
fend themselves.
Now, l desire to call the attention of the
public to the necessity of some legislation
that will cover the cases. Railroads are
to a certain extent under the control of the
Interstate-commerce Commission, and it is
proposed by the people who lost boys IN
: Purdue special wreck to try TO have the
law so amended that the United States
courts will have criminal as we'll as civil
Jurisdiction in all cases of this kind, and
providing some standards of responsibility
10 which directors and higher officials Of
the roads may be held: then if a wreck
occurs in one State because of the act Of
some person in another State. as In the
Purdue special wreck. state lines will not
shield the guilty; also, TO provide an ade-
quate standard of damages in case of death
through the fault of the railroad or its
agents., under which the dignity Of human
life shall be at least on a parity with the
value of property.
In this State the courts nave held that
in the event of death by reason of the
neglect OF carelessness of a railroad or
its agents the amount of damages, if the
deceased is a minor, may not exceed that
which such minor might have earned had
he lived until he reached his majority.
Acting upon this theory the railroad in
the case of the Purdue wreck figured the
value of the boys killed at about $500 a year
and had made some settlements on that
basis. As a matter of cold damages in
dollars and cents that would probably be
a fair way to look at it If they would
carry it out so as TO measure the damage
TO the family of any married man killed
under like circumstances In the Purdue
wreck Patrick McClaire. the trainer of the
dren, was killed. On the same basis that
the road figured the value of the boys, i. G.,
earning capacity. his widow should have
had $4,000 or $4,000, for he had to be a
moral man. otherwise the faculty of Pur-
due would not have permitted him to aSSo-
c1ate with the boys as he did; he had to
be a perfect physical man or he could not
have had the endurance TO do the work
required in training fifty young athletes.
Being OF such physical development he
should aecGrding to the eSPectahcy tables
and earned for his family thirty or forty
years Instead of giving the widow any
such an amount they paid her 5000, which,
IL adVantageously invested, may give her
an income OF 500 a year. with which she
will have to try to care for and educate two
children. In my opinion the law should be
changed so as TO compel the railroad TO
they might reasonably have expected to
receive from their father had he lived until
they reached legal age.
The question of the equipment of trains
with proper devices for controlling them is
a serious one and the building of pas
senger cars on proper lines is another. In
an editorial in the Scientific American
Jan Z, in commenting on the comparative
safety of passengers in Pullman or ordi-
nary cars. the editor says, and gives Stats
tics TO prove II, that of two passengers
going aboard a train. one in a Pullman,
the other in an ordinary car, the passenger
in the Pullman has thirty-seven chances
TO the others one of reaching the end of
his journey in safety. If the Pullman
company can make it's cars so nearly in
~destructible so. can other cars be made
equally indestructible and the question of
cost, when human life is involved. should
not be considered. If Congress can com
pei the using of special couplings on cars
for the safety of brakemen and other rail-
road employees 1t can compel regulations
for the safety of the travelling public. and
should do so at once. The Interstate
m Commission. the Railway Mail
Clerks Association and others are inter-
esting themselves in this subject. and il
the general public will take the time TO
write letters TO the United States senators
and representatives il will not DC long
until we will have some effective legislation
in this direction. a. w. TRUITT.