The Washington herald., 1907-12-25
Responsibility for Railroad Accidents

Responsibility for Railroad Accidents.
The old question. How shall railway
officials and employees be personally
brought 10 account for railway accidents?
is again forced upon public attention by
the acquittal of the members OF the train
crew indicted for manslaughter in con
uection with the frightful Terra Gotta
wreck Of year ago. II is perfectly clear
that juries are unwilling 10 convict train
men Of so serious an onense as man
slaughter. even when it is shown that
their negligence or inattention 10 orders
or 20 operating rules has resulted in loss
Of life. Several jurymen are alleged to
have said. regarding the verdict in the
Terra Gotta case. that they believed the
real responsibility to have been located
elsewhere than with the men indicted
but there is no reason TO suppose that
any other employees or officials would
have shared a worse fate than the train
crew
The verdict is by no means an excep-
I tional one in such cases A New York
paper, commenting recently on attempts
to punish persons supposed to be respon-
sible for a number Of fearful disasters on
a certain railroad. declared that mo one
connected with the railroad has ever di-
rectly paid for these disasters-no direc-
tor, no operating official, no train hand
has ever gone 10 Jail Efforts to indict
or convict the man higher up" have
failed as conspicuously as those to punish
an engineer or brakeman. The trial Of
General Manager Smith. of the New York
Central, for manslaughter in connection
1 with Il wreck that cost the lives Of
twenty-foUr people was abruptly ended
by the judge. who held that there was no
evidence of personal negligence on the
part Of Smith. and that the fault lay with
Subordiaates But the subordinates were
compelled 20 run a train at a high rate
OF speed over a curve that was probably
unsafe, so that it Is certain no mrv
would hold them for a crime Of which
their superior is guiltless. Nevertheless
the judge reminded the general manager
OF his responsibility for the safety Of
passengers, and called attention TO the
need Of more careful supervision on the
part of superiors, more attention to do
tails. and more restriction Of speed In
other words. while the responsibility of
higher railway officials is great. it is not
sufficient to warrant their conviction on a
charge Of manslaughter when a wreck
kills a score or more passengers.
What seems to us a sensible view of
this perplexing subject appears in Henry
s. Haines' Railway Corporations as
Public Servants Recognizing fully the
duty Of a railway corporation to trans
port passengers in safety. and the ease
with which some minor defect in eouip-
ment or trivial inattention TO duty NAV
lead to a horrible disaster. Mr.. Haines
urges, on the part of the railways. closer
inspection of service. and on the part of
the government the most rigid inquiry into
the causes Of and responsibility for acci-
dents. Efficient inspection, he SAYS. would
place the responsibility for good service
upon superior authority, which could NOT
plead ignorance, and it would aid in the en-
forcement of discipline among employees
More TO our present purpose, however is
what Mr.. Haines says as to the interest
OF the public in railway disasters. He oh
serves that an attempt to fix the respon-
sibility for homicide upon some indfyid-
ual, which Is usually the course pursued
by the authorities, tends to defeat the
more important aim OF finding out the ex-
act cause Of accidents. with view TO
their future prevention, because every
person who has been in any way con-
nected with the affair win strive to con-