Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-11
SHOWSCAUSEOF
MANY ACCIDENTS
MEN WORKED TO POINT OF
EXHAUSTION
RAILROAD EMPLOYEES COMPLAIN
OF HOURS
Investigations Prove Men in Charge of
Trains Are Compelled to Work
Long Hours with Little
Rest
BY WILLIAM b. SMITH

B1 SMAlh
The Chicago Daily News, under the
title slaughter on the Railroads. says:
If the men who are directly respon-
sible for the safety of trains are worked
TO the point of exhaustion they are rem
dered incompetent by fatigue. That II
is not uncommon for accidents TO nap
pen from this cause has been proved by
past inquiries into fatal wrecks. steps
should be taken by congress to invesu-
gate thoroughly the cause of wrecks on
railroads and to provide such legisla-
ton as will compel the adoption of
methods and appliances that will put
stop to preVentable cataStrophes OF TINS
sort.
1t is not necessary that the railroads
of this country should pay dividends
on their stock while they are making
their train service safe. The question
of expense to those corporations should
have little weight with congress in con-
sidering legislation that is deemed
essential to put a stop to the continual
sacrifice of human life by railroads
which find it cheaper to kill than to
refrain from killing.
This matter must be taken up IN
easnest now by the lawmakers Better
facilities are needed for increasing
traffic.
Do Large Business
Many of the railroads continue to do
a very large and increasing business on
single track with Anticipated facilities.
One of the southern roads, for ex-
ample, has 7515 miles of single track
and only about $50 miles of double
track. The number of passengers car
Iied in 1896 on this road was 4,139, ALB,
against II, 663,550 in 1905, an increase of
1872 per cent, while the movement of
freight showed a gain of from 7,941,9SO
tons to 2351S,071 tons. nearly 200 per
cent The system has been conse-
quently congested with freight. which
is the bread winner for the company,
and the passenger service suffered ac-
cordingly. There have been numerous
disastrous wrecks on this road. and
many of the single track roads in the
west have had similar experience.
The remarkable record of the Queen
& Crescent road, with its splendid
equipment of automatic signals, can
and should be had OH other roads.
Calls Attention to Conditions
On account of the wreck near Lynch
burg. Va, November %. 1906. one of the
railway journals said in part:
The shocking and untimely death or
Samuel Spencer in an accident upon the
road of which he was president calls
attention with terrible directness to
certain conditions widely prevalent on
our railways. While the fatalities of
the accident are fresh in our minds, the
practical questions which it suggests
NAV well seem insignificant in compari-
son with the sense of loss so universally
felt at the destruction of a life so
usefuly spent and of such rich promise
for the future. In the matter of auto
matte signaling the railways as "a whole
are not so free from criticism. They
have very poor case.
1t is not matter for argument that
the greatest safety lies in automatic
block signals.
At best. the Geographic block system
is a crude and unscientific makeshift.
But automatic signals cost money, and
for roads with heavy traffic they cost
a great deal of money.
Happily the extension of automatic
signaling during the last two years has
been most encouraging.
Much Must Be Done
But much more must be done. Things
have reached such pass that 1t is no
longer considerations of economy that
must govern. Modern signals are a
necessity.
The responsibility which a board of
directors assumes in authorizing ex-
penditures of millions of dollars for
signal apparatus is very great
as some others. 1t would probably cost
IS zoo, 900 to reasonably equip system
such as the Southern railway with ade-
quate signals. Yet we venture to be-
Iieve that if the stockholders of that
company had been given the alterna-
tive of making such an expenditure or
losing Samuel Spencer in preventable
accident on his own road they would
not have hesitated one moment in
Spendiug the money.
The death-dealing open switch has
been the cause of many disastrous
wrecks one of which occurred at Col
ton, Cal, March 2S, 1907, when the
westbound Southern Paciic's Sunset
express was sent into the ditch at the
diately after crossing a long bridge
over the Santa Ana river, killing
twenty~siX people and injuring fifty
others.
Bodies Are Torn
Some of the bodies were literally torn
to shreds and had to be gathered up in
pieces and rolled in blankets to be
kept together. One of the local papers
said of this wreck:
Some remarkable facts were brought
out during Coroner A. C. Van Wie's
Switch Foreman L. r.
Alvord was the first to testify. He eX-
planned that when he came to work in
the morning he saw that the first sec
ton of the Sunset express. known as
No. 9, was challked mp on the board as
eight hours late. When he returned
from his lunch he inspected the board
and found it silent as to No ., and as
the eight hour limit had expired he con-
cluded the overland had gone through
during his absence. This error was not
discovered by him until he heard his
engineer whistling signal to the 'over-
land to stop. The overland was then
half way across the Santa Ana bridge.
Engineer Clarence Warrington and
his fireman both declared that the
switch target is concealed by a pole or
other obstruction and that they were
within about ten car lengths of the
open switch when the sWitchman sig
nailed them. Engineer Warrington
said that he did not see the switch tar
get at all. (And how could he see it,
for it was behind a trespass sign
board near a small building and on the
fireman's side of the track?)
Foreman Tells of Work
Switch Foreman L. r. AlVord, on
whom the chief blame is placed by the
Jury. asked permission to give his tes-
timony in reply to damaging state
nents by Yard Master Mcintyre.
AIvord said: 1t is a positive fact
that we have been compelled to go out
on the main line when trains are due.
The morning of the accident when
we were reducing train we had orders
from the yard master to work on the
main track, and train was then due;
H. H.. do