The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser. — 1873-10-04 (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England)

RAILWAY ACCIDENT.  RAILWAY accidents have been alarmingly frequent during the past week. Reference to another part of our paper will show that there has been a serious misfortune of this nature daily ; and independent of that, there are numerous minor fatal occurrences on railways which are not regarded as of general interest, and are never collectively reported. Our contemporary—lron—adduces some statistics with the view of allaying public anxiety, but even admitting these in their full force, there is cause for grave apprehension in the public mind, and the conviction must not only have gained ground, bat become established, that there should be legislative interference to regulate and correct the traffic to obviate the class , of accidents which, like many epidemics, may be catalogued as preventible. Under existing ' circumstances, there can be no compassion for railway companies who either underpay or overwork their servants, and it is not likely—nor is it desirable—that their pecuniary responsibility in actions for damages for injuries should be diminished. Although we cannot concur with the remark of our contemporary already alluded to, that there is anything cheering in the comparison of the number of railway accidents in 1871 and 1872, which shows an increase in the aggregate of 19—and more especially as it is admitted the last return was complete, and the L.:turas of preceding years inaccurate—we are prenatal to admit of his defensive version, and to agree at the outset that 1,145 killed and 3,038 injured in one year, are sufficiently appalliug figures for the United Kingdom. But tho most interesting part of the story is the analysis, which we quote Of the grand total of the slain and maimed A large space is occupied IT the unfortunate servants of companies or of contractors, and the mysterious individuals classed as other persons;' the number of passengers actuallykilled sinking into comparative insignificance by the side of these terrible categories. The three classes of accidents to passengers, servants, and other persons, are further subdivided into those occurring 'from causes beyond their own control,' and those arising from their own mis conduct or want of caution.' rhus of 127 passengers killed and 1,462 injured, 24 only are reported as killed and 1,247 injured from causes beyond their own control, while 103 deaths and 215 injuries are set down to carelessness on the part of the sufferers. Of 632 servants killed and 1,395 injured, 64 deaths and 376 injuries are referred to the purely accidental column, while 568 fatal and 1,019 minor cases are ascribed to want of caution. Of the other persons, trespassers, suicides, wanderers, and people run over at level crossings, 386 were killed and 181 injured. Anexamination of these figures leads to the conclusion that the percentage of travellers actually killed from causes " beyond their own control" is very small in proportion to the number injured, and that the railway traveller of 1872 enjoyed a period of happy security when compared with the luckless victim of 1873. A serious reflection is provoked by the terrible mortality among the "servants," as nearly one third of the accidents to this class proved fatal. It is true that a vast majurity of these casualties are set down to misconduct or •want of caution; but when we reflect on the promptitude and activity constantly demanded of railway servants, and the efforts made by the brave fellows to do their duty, we cannot but regard with unmixed regret the appalling number of deaths "in harness." Admiitting the railway servants of the United Kingdom to number 300,000 men, 632 violent deaths, and 1,395 injuries appear to make out the calling of a railway employe to be a service of extreme danger. Passing over the " other persona" as individuals who might, could, would, or should have got out of thu way, we pawl to the Indian returns for 1872. On a mileage of about one-third of that of the United Kingdom only 435 casualties occurred,of which 211 werefatal. It would of course be ridiculous to compare the traffic of the 5,000 miles' of Indian railways with that which traverses the 15,000 miles of English lines, but admitting that Oriental deliberation has something to do with the small proportion of accidents in Hindustan, it is impossible to shut our eyes to the wide margin between 435 and 4,183 total casualties. With these figures before us we await with dismay the publication of the miserable record of 1873—contributed to greatly by lines on which all or most of the approved appliances for securing safety are in operation, save and except the most important of all, a continuous brake, which shall give the driver at once the means of averting unforseen difficulty, and retrieving in time his own error or that of others." Taese facts and figures are valuable in a mathematical point of view, but they will fail to allay the terror of travellers—to alleviate the sufferers by accidents —or to arouse sympathy for reckless oompaaies.