The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-05-08
TRESPASslNG ON RAILROADS

Roadmaster Erwin hands us the fol-
lowing circular sent out by the North
Western road as part of the Safety
First campaign, and directed to the
state, county and city school authori.
ties. 1t relates to ~trespassing on rail-
road property and is timely in view of
the fact that the recent wreck near
Volga was caused by children who
were playing on the railroad right of
way:
Your attention is called to the fol-
lowing statistics showing the number
of ~trespassers killed and injured on
the railroads of this country during
the last twenty years, which are taken
from a paper read by Interstate Com
merce Commissioner McChord at the
First Cooperative Safety Congress
held at Milwaukee in October, 1912:
S6,733 t~respassers were killed, 94,646
trespassers were injured, 1S1,379
total trespassers killed and injured on
the railroads of this country.
According to the reports made of
such cases to this company and the
New York Central Lines, these cases
should be divided aus follows: $4,000
young people under IS years Of age,
residing in the vicinity of accident,
many of them under 10 years of age,
1926 tramps and hoboes, 120,103 citi.
ems of the locality in which the acci.
dent occurred, mostly wage n
When you stop to think that in twenty
years there We're twenty-five thousand
young people killed and injured on our
railroads-enOugh to make a mile post
for every mile of travel in a trip
around the world, and that in nearly
every city, town and village there is
some child without an arm or a leg
lost trespassing on the railroad, or a
little grave in the cemetery OF some
child (perhaps an only child killed
Tipping on the cars; and that during
the last few years of the twenty-year
period referred to fourteen t~respassers
were killed and fourteen injured each
day OF the 365 days in the year; and
that four-fifths Of the killed and in
jured, or one hundred forty-five thous-
and, one hundred and three were not
tramps, but young people and children
and respectable citizens-mostly wage
earners of the vicinity in which the
accident occurred, fourteen times as
many trespassers killed every day and
every year as there are passengers
killed, because we are the only civiliz-
ed country in the world that either has
no laws penalizing trespassing on rail
road tracks, or, where W. have such
laws, neglect to enforce them; and
while all kinds of laws have been en-
acted and enforced to secure the
safety and protection of passengers,
none have been enacted and enforced
to prevent trespassing, although the
lives and limbs of the one hundred
forty-five thousand, one hundred and
three trespassers (Which number Is
exclusive Of the tramps) are just as
valuable to their families and to the
state as are the lives and the limbs Of
the passengers-you will, / think,
agree with me that something should
be done Immediately to stop this un-
necessary waste Of life and limb.
1t would actually cost the state and
municipalities less to enforce a tres
pass law than it does to pick up and
bury the dead and care for the cripples,
to say nothing Of the saving Of human
lives and limbs, the most valuable pos
session We hive in the world,
Believing the school, public and pri-
vate, Is the place to commence to
teach that t%respassing must be stopped
your attention lis called to the matter
in hopes that If you agree with me,
the proper instruction will be given to
the pupils in your school, and that
they be especially warned of the dan
ger of walking on railroad tracks or
bridges, lettering about railroad sta
tions or cars, Tipping on and off
trains, cars or engines, crawling under,
between, or yer cars, crossing tracks
without looking and listening to see
whether a train is coming, crawling
under gates when they are down.
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