The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1873-10-09 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

YEAR'S RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.  The annual Ilst of railway accidents issued by the Board of Trade Is a remarkable document. It may well be thought not very pleasant to the manager of • great railway to see the year's casualties On his line ranted in • terrible show (remarks The Times, from which journal we take the following report) r-"Excluding the deaths marked as being suicides, there were 900 joersese killed in 1872 upon 1401 our railroads, each having capital exceeding ten millions-95 persons on the Midland, 97 on the Great Western 133 on the North-Eastern, 167 on the London and North-Western line. The companies state that the great majority of the deaths occur through the misconduct or want of caution of the victim; but still it is no good report for the 14 great managers to make that last year their ways and works killed 23 passengers and 50 railway or contractors' servants without any fault of the persons destroyed, and killed also 170 persons tremessen on theme, and 56 more at level crossings. As such a very large num her are killed or hart upon our railroads through their own want of caution, it may be of use to present a few examples from the year's list as a warning against acts of folly or rashness. It would be difficult to get up much sympathy for such travellers as the man killed last year by a fall which happened to him while sliding down the banisters of the staircase at • station. Railway travelling has perils enough without inventing such as this. Danger begins before the journey begins. Allowance must be made for* certain amount of excitement and confusion In a situation to which many are little accustomed; a large allowance would be demanded for One of th 6 oases in this return—that of a paasenger in waiting who, on hearing a train (a luggage train) approach, rushed from the waiting-room to the platfonn, fell on the line, and was instantly run over and killed. A leas excited passenger, being near-sighted, walked acmes the platform In a more leisurely way and fell on the line, but escaped with a broken collar-bone. A lad rtmning alongside starting train to say "Good-bye !" to a friend In one of the carriages came into a collision with spasm moving in the opposite direction, and was thrown down under the train and killed. Several persons standing too rear the edge of the platform were caught by carriages or engines, and injured or killed; one through her dress catching carriage steps, another through the tali of his coat being shut in at the door. It would he tedious to give an account of the people killed or hurt through taking liberties with trains in motion, by getting into or out of carriages, riding a little way on a step, and the like. A pawner, only opening a door before the train had come to a standstill, fell out and was killed. The list shows heads hurt by being stretched out of a window; and a guard trying to regain his cap which had blown off, and thereby losing his head. A. corporal of Volunteer'', having alighted at a station, attempted to re-enter his carriage otter the train had started, and, failing to do so, actually managed to climb on the top of another carriage, but only to killed by coming in contact with bri4e. Crossing the line at a station seems a very simple matter, but unexpected dangers may make it to be crossing swords with death. Last year's list has the case of a woman asked by a companion to cross the line by the bridge, but declining to do so lest it should soil her dress; so she avoided the item went across the mils, and was run over and killed fly some waggons which were being shunted. A telegraph message boy, mossiug the line, got his foot caught in a set of points, and could not extricate it quickly enough to save being run over and killed; and • goods guard met the same fate through catching his foot in • rail while crossing. A boy was killed by fetchim • newspaper from the signalman's cabin at Castle Mina An old man of niaety cecale4 the lice at Reeky whoa oba zit•-r