Connecticut western news., 1915-04-29
TRESPASSING EVIL PERSISTS
Heavy Toll in Human Life Shown by
 New Faytn'5 Figures.


 The New Haven Railroad is not afflicted by the genus hobo to the extent that some railroads are. Yet in the last three years I42 persons have been killed and 394 !n1Hrrd whih trespass. ing on that ra:lrnnl's property. Many of those injured were muime. for life.
 In the majority of cases these. persons were not tranps at all. They were peTSous using the railroad right of way as a convenient highway, generally to make short cat. or boys or young men stealing rides m freight trains to get to places quickly, The sacrifice of so many lives in this manner, the crip. bling permanently of so many able bodied workers, is distinct economic loss to the community and is the penalty paid either for lack of laws on the subject or for the non enforce ment of existing laws.
 Figures complied by the New Haven for recent years show that in 1919, 125 persons falling under the class of tres pessers were killed and 10S were in. jured; in 1913, li2 were killed and 160 injured; and in 1914. HIS were killed and 126 injured. During these years the New Haven, in common with other railroads, has been making a persistent effort to cur1 the trespassing evil and avert this loss of life, but without avail, it seems.
 Summer brings the heaviest sacrifice of human life ln this manner, the mortality rising through the spring months as regularly as the temperature. For example, in the month of January of this year on the New Haven's lines four trespassers were so killed; in Feb ruary, eight, and in March, fifteen, n gain of almost 10 per cent, in a month. Factory operatives and farm hands, per. sons whose lives can i'll be spared by the community, appear to yield to the temptation to walk on the railroad tracks and thus put their lives in peril most often when the world is at its brightest and best The problem this brings up is a national and not a local one and has been so emphasized for some years. From 1901 to 1910 those killed in this manner, in the country numbered 90, 0,025; the injured, 5B, a2;. The fatalities in n single year, ta13- 5, 5,55S-were more than those If the battle of Bull Run. And these were persons killed who had no business Co be in danger.
 The New Haven, like many other roads, has large force of special agents who have in recent months been carrying on an active campaign to stop trespassings. They have been seeking, for one thing, to get local magistrates to deal with offenders more strictly, as is the custom abroad, in order that such cases might serve salutary purpose. As there is as yet no general law in Connecticut prohibiting railroad tres passing, but little can be accomplished in that State.
 What makes the problem an es- pecially serious one for New England is the very large contribution which industrial workers make annually to this death toll. Probably no other rail- road in proportion to its length has so many industries located close to the railroad tracks as New Haven. In many cases the employees of these es. tablishments elect to use the right of way as highway to and from their homes in disregard of all warning signs. To abate this evil the railroad has taken the matter up directly with the heads of these concerns and has ask. ed for their cooperation. It has also asked school superintendents to caution their pupils of the danger of walking or playing on or near the railroad tracks.