The Irish standard., 1908-01-25
KILLED OR MAMIEo
A Total of 57,919 Persons is the
Appalling Record
From Accidents During the
Year Now Closed.

The total number Of killed and in
jured in the principal accidents during
the calendar year 1907. reached enor-
nous proportions. If the killed had
been concentrated in one day at FL
mira, that city would have been wiped
out of existence as completely as was
Pompeii or Herculaneun1. If the IA
tai accidents had been united in their
dread force at Gasveston, the residents
of the city on the Gulf of Mexico would
have sunk into the past as suddenly
as did an appalling proportion of it's
population during the dread tidal
wave. Even the historic descent of
rushing waters upon Johnstown, Pa,
would have been boon in comparison
for the existence Of it's thirty-flve
thousand inhabitants would have been
summarily ended.
Combining the killed and injured IN
simultaneous visitation, practically 80
per cent of Hoboken's $4,000 residents,
according to the United States census
of 1900, would have been shrouded for
BURIAL while only a mere handful of
the remaining 40 per cent left un-
scathed in the disaster would have
been able to lend assistance to the
manned survivors. Were the blow to
have fallen on Elizabeth or Utica, or
Manchester, n. H, or Wilkesbarre,
Pa, the conditions would have been
even worse, because those escaping un-
hurt would have been materially re-
duced in proportion.
The death list for she year in the
accidents thus chronicled mounts to
the amazing total of 35,612. The col
unlns of the seriously injured footed
up to 22,307. Combined, the figure is
57.919. Aside from earthquakes and
similar upheavals of nature, practical
ly all of these accidents were in the
between the totals of killed and in
jured-the latter usually more than
doubling the forlner-is due to d num-
ber of causes. Chief among these is
the fact that so per cent of the killed
were victims of earthquakes. landslides
or tidal waves, which uniformly kill
instead of MAIN. Second, the table of
injured gives only the more seriously
hurt, not including the thousands who
fall weekly before trolley cars or rail-
way trains throughout the country,
but who soon recover from their ill.,
juries. Then, again, it does not in
clude practically any Of the various
minor causes of injury.
Mine disasters and explosions of va
rious kinds stand second in the totals
for the year. Moreover, the killed in
the month Of December through this
agency aggregate more than one-quar-
ter of the total for the entire year. The
noxious black damp, though, is the
deadliest foe of the miner, and both
oSesS'1 eAAAu 4le1SAoAAoA 6OSSAAhAiCAI11 Ill
vestigations are now under way to as
certain how the fatal power of this
noxious underground ruler can .be
curbed. In December alone it's irre-
sistible fumes killed more than five
hundred coal diggers in Fayette City,
Pa, Monongah, w. Va, and Yolande,
10 ha ~
Pa, in which nearly two hundred and
fifty men lost their lives was merely
a trif1ing variation of this cause of
disaster. A miniature mine is to be
constructed in or near Pittsburg by
the United States authorities, and ex-
periments on an exhaustive scale are
to be conducted in order to ascertain
how these dangers can best be avoid
ed. Both miners and mine owners look
hopefully to this source of relief from
present perils.
In large measure official accounts Of
the railroad wrecks of the year show
a violation Of orders by employees,
either through negligence or misunder-
standing which could have been clear
ed away with due care, to have been
responsible for the accidents. These
official accounts, which necessarily
come from railroad chiefs, have been
borne out in large part after investi-
cation by coroners' juries or grand jur-
les. The result is that the operating
officials throughout the country are
taking the most stringent measures to
remove this cause of peril as far as
possible, in doing so Offering their as
sistance in criminal prosecution when
the facts seem to warrant it.
Mother Earth has suffered from fire.
quent convulsions during the year and
her malady seems to be incurable.