The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-19
MIR. BELNAP's CONCLUSIONS.

The report of MT. Belnap, chief in spector of safety devices, for the United States, to the Interstate Com merce Commission, in the matter of the wreck of the Federal Express shows a marked disagreement from the finding of Coroner Wilson in the same matter {
 The Chief Inspector finds that the means used to cross from one track to another at the danger point were not in railroad parlance, a ''crossover" at all, but what in railroad terminology is called a slip" a much shorter and more dangerous form of switch:
 He goes further, and recommends the use at dangerous switch points of automatic train stops, device which the Farmer has already advocated, and which, Chief Inspector Belnap believes would prove a valuable Safe guard in cases where engineers or other trainmen should run by signals.
 Such mechanism comes into op- eration when the signals are set, and automatically brings the train to a stop. neither depending upon the alertneas of the engineer, nor upon anything except that the appliance shall be in working order and shall operate when the train reaches the predetermined point.
 If Inspector Belnap is right in his conclusions, Coroner Wilson must be wrong. The Coroner makes a find ing of criminal negligence against the New. Haven Railroad. but the chief inspector finds that the company was only indirectly to blame, and that its rules and signals were sufficient to have prevented the wreck had Engin- ger Curtis, who was, killed. needed them.
 It is unfortunate that there should be this variance of view between local and Federal authorities, for it will oc- casion a revival of the criticism that earlier attended upon the coroner's finding, to wit, that it was immature and perhaps not written without a lively recollection in the mind of the writer of its possible political effect. However unjust such a conclusion may have been it has undoubtedly been urged, hitherto because of the fail- -ure of the coroner to find what of ficials were guilty of the claimed negligence, but now because of the ex- treme difference between the conclu- sions reached by Chief Inspector Bel nap and the coroner.
 No authority, federal or local, has seen fit to consider the element of disaster represented by the, fragile day coach which was attached to the train. In this day yscoach most of the dead were killed and from it most. of the injured were taken. It is the truth that even though the engineer ran beyond the signals, and even though there was a slip" instead of a '-crossover" and even though there were no automatic train stops, and even though the train went over the embankment yet had each and every car in the train been as strong as the Pullman coaches the loss of life would have been much smaller and the injured less numerous. fas-
 The railroads. of the country should give their regular passengers, those who pay the ordinary first class fare, coaches as strong as they give to any passengers. The New Haven should install day coaches of steel like those used on the Pennsylvania, or like those used on the New York Central, or in any event wooden coaches as strong as the strongest wooden coach es.