The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-07-29
Human E.ement" in Three Railroad Wrecks
From the Burlington Hawk-Eye. !

ington Hawk-Eye. I,
swinging lantern suffices. Otherwise
the train is stopped as quickly as the
emergency brakes can be put on. To
those who may talk about such sys- |
tenn being cumbersome or too compli-
Gated. We desire to point out that the
speed on continental trains is greater
than in this country. That ought to
suffice
! Many other papers draw the same
lesson, and the Philadelphia Public
Ledger declares that
The railroads have themselves
! wholly to blame, and they need not
be surprised if the Corning accident
shall lead to requirement of equip /
ment which will make it impossible
for an engineer to disregard signals. =
Various other proposals are heard, /
from wireless control to the Brook
lyn Eagles suggestion Of two quail
fled engineers instead of one in each
engine cab. Says the Eagle:
Two qualified engineers instead Of
one in each engine cab would have
rendered either accident, humanity
speaking, impossible. One man is
subject to nerve collapse, to temper
airy asphasia, to blurred eyesight, to
those weaknesses that all men have
at times, and that ordinarily would
result at worst in loss OF his Job by
the common workingman, or a loss in
money for the merchant, or a lessen
:. ing of reputation for the professional
man. None OF these have hundreds of
lives dependent on their continuous
/ rormality OF eye and nerve and
muscle. Signals would have been
i seen on the Lackawanna and on the
i Pennsylvania in time to prevent
4 wrecks If second mans eyes had
been at work. Two men do not go
blind at once"
4 Rules Against Use Of Liquor.
i The st. Paul Dispatch pointedly
i asks: What has become of the sim
pie and old-time method of using tor
= pedoes for foggy weather signals?"
4 Rules against the use of liquor by
railway operatives are recalled, and
4 with powerful enough object lesson.
The Washington Star contrasts the
!, conditions in the first wreck, occur
ring on huge, efficient system. with
those on "the little jerkwater' mining
! road the Wilpen branch of the Ligo-
nier Valley road in Pennsylvania:
This line, too. had a long record
Of safety, not life having been lost
in the forty years of It's existence.
True. it is but ten miles in length and
: there is but one passenger train on
the schedule, all the remainder of the
traffic being freight mostly coal
mined by the owning corporation.
Railroading under such conditions
would seem to be an extremely simple
Z proposition, and yet here is a wreck
5 as apparently avoidable and unneces-
! sary as any that has ever occurred
! on a large and highly organized sys-
tom. There seems to be no guaranty
? against disaster In any condition OF
! steam railroad as long as dependence
is placed upon the moral effect OF
orders without the interposition OF
physical safeguards
II There was only one track on this
branch. A train with single, we'll
: filled passenger coach, rounded a
4 curve OH the afternoon OF July and
< smashed into freight train. Wheth-
: er to fix responsibility an the engi-
s neer or his superiors is a question
2 that has the newspaper critic some
? what perplexed.
) The Burlington Wreck.
L The comment on the Western
: Springs wreck is more conclusive
; There appears to be little doubt of
= three things. The woman in the tow
/ er at the fatal block became confused
. in her instructions, and tangled up
three eastbound trains, ultimately
bringing on the wreck. The flagman
: of the Overland Limited, which had
5 been stopped by the Western Springs
= block, failed to go far enough back to
? give sufficient warning to the rapidly
!, moving mail train. Engineer Brown
i son, of the fast mail, failed to see the
i warning signal or hear the torpedoes
t placed by the flagman in time to
: avert the disaster. Expert trainmen
: say there should be preliminary
! warning signal set 1000 feet from the
! block tower each way, which would
operate automatically with the signal
4 at the tower. This would give the en-
i gineer sufficient warning to get his
) train under absolute control by the,
: time he reached the blocl, and he
q could then proceed as directed by the
I signal at the tower.
l The rules Of the company are that
Y in foggy weather all trains should
Z slow down and keep within instant