Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1871-11-18 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

LEVEL CROSSINGS.  THE serious accidents which have this week occurred upon the railway, have again drawn public attention to the network of level crossings bywhich we are surrounded, and the glaring neglect a precautions which might prevent the calamities we to-day report. On more than one occasion the Town Council has attempted to grapple with the evil, and, in due course, it has received a pledge that two of the public highways shall be placed at levels different to the lines of rails which cross them. But we regret to say that the most dangerous and objectionable of the crossings remain, and are daily becoming the sources of greater anxiety. With the development of trade, the boundaries of the borough have expanded, gigantic industrial establiahments have been erected upon its outskirts, and the branches or sidings of the railway are increased in numbers. Land which a few years ago was in the country is now part and parcel of the town; dwellings  have sprung up on every hand, our population has doubled with surprising rapidity ; but the evidence adduced before the coroner on Thursday night, shows that measures necessary for the safety of the public have not been adopted in like proportion. It is lincredible but true, that some of the most frequented level crossings of the railway are actually without a person specially appointed to guard them. At the Primrose Hill crossing, where the latest accident occurred, where 500 men have daily to run the gauntlet of trains which may be passing on eight lines of railway, where, in addition, there are three branch aiding, converging upon the main lines; where shunting is frequently going on; where trucks are driven about in the dark without carrying a light; where women and children, of necessity, must go with the meals of those employed in the adjacent works there are two gas lamps, which tend to make confusion worse confounded, a pair of gates—generally standing open—" to keep cattle off the line !"—and an old man, who informed the jury that he looked after the safety of those using the crossing when he was not occupied with his duties as signalman and pointsman. At the Stamp-street crossing, perhaps 300 yards from Bishepton-road, where a passenger train came upon a boy with his horse and cart unawares, killed the horse, maimed the boy, and smashed the cart, there is not even a pointsman or a signalman to be seen. Stories of men and boys knocked down by passing trains, and of "hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach," are commoneas autumn leaves, and we can only be surprised that more persons are not killed. The jury, on Thursday, were thoroughly in earnest with their first verdict, and with them, we believe there is negligence somewhere, if it is not on the part of the railway company. If the servants of the company are not responsible, then we are forced to the inference either that the waggon which did the mischief is blameable for not carrying a light, or that the woman had no right to expect that she could walk along a public footpath in safety. The first conclusion is absurd, and the second one incompatible with , any common sense of justice; and therefore it became the duty of the jury to search out and fix the blame upon the responsible party. To say that a verdict of "Wilful murder" could not be returned because the murderer happened to be unknown, is an idea which would be scouted as ridiculous in the extreme; and therefore we hold that the jury was fairly entitled to say that the death resulted from negligence, if such was the case, even though the person guilty of neglect might not have then been discovered, we are not aware of any law which prevented an investigation being made which would have led to the discovery of the guilty parties, and placing the responsibility on the proper shoulders. Setting aside this point, there was an unanimous opinion of the unsafety of the Primrose Hill level crossing—danger which cannot be prevented by the appointment of watchmen only. The only available method of preserving the rights of the public to the free and unobstructed use of the footpath lies either in the erection of a footbridge or the construction of a sub-way, and we commend this suggestion to those immediately concerned, and on whom devolves the duty of seeing that the lives as well as the privileges of the people are protected.