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Leader (1850-1860), 17th September 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 12

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      Analysis Of A Murderer. A Man Must Go Th...

      bare in food , and altogether less " homely" than loathly ! What previous examples of parents ; ¦ what training at school ; what aid , support , or comfort from any preacher of any gospel ? Had the schoolmaster been with him ? Perhaps—teaching him how to add two to two , or how to read a few pages in the history of England-about John and the Barons—totally dry and unintelligible to the thick-minded boy , and convejang no kind of lesson applicable to James Hayes , who was under bo temptation to deceive Barons or to surrender England to the Pope , but was under other temptations which that page

      gave him no clue to avoid . But perchance the preacher of the Gospel did come there also , telling him that he had been " redeemed , " or perplexing him with the diversity and unity of " three Persons ; " but how helping him to understand the way in which he could behave to Jane or Mary , or whatever her name was—whether as the object of his courtship or the object of his avoidance P What had been the example of his parents , and who had taught them ? How much

      had he undergone in early life of distracting , tyrannical orders , without aim or consistency- — of brutalizing exasperation , destroying to Mm the influence of authority ; of reckless dissipation in mid youth , of still more brutalizing despondencies as the " illusions" of Stepney , or the penny theatre , began to flag before his middle-ageish mind ; how many questions to himself , whether the prison was worse than the workhouse , or both worse than such a life , or murder so bad as

      either ? If we could get hold of such a tale , out of such a mouth—trembling , sighing , and shivering ¦—it might teach us that we had better do something more searching with these murderers than to take them up bj the police and put them into prisons . If we could not teach them , perhaps we might drill or bind them into something like tolerable existence . And in the meanwhile ,

      before we become wise enough , whatr had we best do ? Perhaps the shortest , the purest way of dealing with a creature thus depraved and wholly spoiled for living , would be to put him out of the world . - ~

      900 The Leaded L^Atur^Y,

      900 THE LEADED L ^ atur ^ y ,

      The Way To Live A Thousand Years. Statis...

      THE WAY TO LIVE A THOUSAND YEARS . Statistics acquit railway managers of any crimes . Indeed , they enjoy less than their rights . But the statistic evidences of this fact produced at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science are in themselves peculiarly interesting . Mr . JNTeison , for example , tells us that railway travelling is so safe , that the ratio of killed is only one in 2 , 018 , 939 , and one injured in 337 , 916 . Now it is only surprising that railway managers do not kill more ; ho that they are under their fair allowance . As it has been shown , indeed , that by far the larger proportion of the deaths on railways happen through accidents which can bo prevented , even that one in those two millions needs not be killed ; but a larger proportion die by real accidents on common roads , and hence it is implied , the railways have a right , at least , to this amount of victims . " Romances toll of dragons that xised to have a right to so many virgins or otherwise in the year . The railway steam-dragon , it appears , also lias its right , but it docs not make distinctions of sex , or condition . All of us are grist to that mill .

      Another inference , although conclusive as bearing upon the rights of railway companies , is peculiarly surprising . There is but one passenger killed for every 40 , 000 , 000 of miles travelled , and Mr . Neison has boon at tho pains to calculate- that " if a person were always to bo travelling on the railway , at tho average , speed of twenty miles an hour , including stoppage "how those minute particularities strengthen tho value of tho evidence !— " ho would travel 175 , 000 miles yearly ; and he must he constantly travelling for 228 years to be killed by accidents from

      all causes . " Imagine a man who has an ambition to bo killed , by " accidents from all cause - * ' 'It must bo a miieulal propensity exceeding that of the monomaniac who hired a boat , in order that ho might tako prussie acid , eut his throat , and jump into tho river . But if a man woro bent upon that ; remarkable self-suoritiee , he would have to travel two hundred and twontyeight , yearn for the purpose , even if he travelled every hour in the twenty-four . Again , " if ho travelled only twelve- hours a day for ovory day in the year , " including Sundays , " it would tako

      him 426 years to be killed by " accidents from all causes . ' . -, Ifc would , however , take him 852 years to be killed by accidents , by causes beyond the control of companies ; or if he preferred to be killed only by accidents from causes under control of companies , he could not possibly manage it under 980 years . Evidently , the special murder is the one that takes the longest time ; e conversq , it is to be-calculated that a man who desires to realize the oriental compliment of living for ever , ought to travel constantly on railways for the purpose of being killed by causes under the control of companies , which would insure his life for 980

      years . Mr . Cheshire , however , is the man who supplies the most practical information on this subject . As only one passenger is killed in twoand-a-half millions of passengers , he tells us , the whole population of London could take an average journey by rail , and only one death occur . Here is an opportunity for London—all going out of town in one grand , excursion train ! It would be a great improvement if the one death were arranged before starting , so that some ambitious cockney might earn the historical immortality of a Curtius . '

      There is , indeed , one mournful fate attending the railway . It is exhibited in a calculation deduced from these tables by the same Mr . Cheshire . Supposing , he says , there were a railway to the sun , it would take 514 , 000 , 000 of years to accomplish the journey ; and as it has been shown that every soul in the train would perish in 228 , 000 , 000 of years by the chances of accidents , no individual could ever reach that luminous globe . A bad look out for " the brother of the Sun

      and Moon ! " It is melancholy to reflect that we are thus , by the inevitable voracity of " accidents , " prohibited to travel by theGreatLondon and Solar Junction . Some of us , however , would be quite content to feel a comfortable certainty that we could travel from London to Birmingham ; but when these practical men supply us with information , as the . clown ¦ in . the Winter ' s Tale w ould say , they " lay it pn thick . " We recommend the information supplied by Mr . Neison and Mr . Cheshire , on the London and Sun Line , and on Life Assurance , to Rradshaw .

      What On Earth Is To Be Done ? If The Ing...

      WHAT ON EARTH IS TO BE DONE ? If the ingenious gentlemen at Hull had considered the question of railway accidents , we might have had some useful information : and instead of knowing how to travel safely for a thousand years to the sun and moon , we might now be able to see how a man could go from town to town on this planet without close risk of life or limb . Some suggestions by the savans are placed by the papers as a discussion on railway accidents , but the reporter must have mistaken the application of the words . Dr . Scorosby said that no train should start from one station until leave to advance was signalled from tho next station . Has tho Doctor never

      hoard of express trains , nor of the modern requirements of fif ty miles an hour ? Another reverend gentleman thought that trains should have wings , to be spread out when a full stop was wanted . This funny proposition scarcely called for the serious reply that , to stop a heavy train , the wings should bo acres of canvass . Tho same adviser hinted that wo should stop an advancing train by electrifying tho l'ails , a very effective chock surely , for it would loosen tho lino and capsize tho carriages . Mr . Oldham pointed out what is really tho cause of many disasters , tho

      overworking of iron-, which loses fibre , and becomes crystalline as ifc gets old . Another gentleman intimated , reasonably enough , that ; tho harsh e fleets of collisions might bo softened by providing tho buffers of ouch railway carriage with " boxing gloves . " But Mr . Kairbairn ' s inquiry as to " the neeossity of ascertaining how long an axlo might bo kept safely without changing the character of thfj moloculcsof tho iron " soonis unnecessary : when 3 i , Lord Mayor ' s nose is severed , or n member of

      Parliament shattered , then wo " ascertain" Mutt j . hooharaelororthembleeulesof ' tho iron is very bad indeed . In fine , all scientific inquirion wore pooh poohod by a , railway ollioial present ; ho laida . ll tho blanio on the public , who delay trains by coming too late . Tho numerous instances of railway trains waiting at , ntations until panting gentlemen" run up , confirms this ; and I ho precise punctuality of tho directors IhomsolveH mtiUva this offeuaive delay the moro criminal . Dr .

      Scoresby concluded the discussion by savino- « . A "if the public are so unreasonable as to in -J upon being conveyed safel y , punctually , and ? J fast as possible , they must be content to m * * with accidents . " eet

      This is not true . Railways can , be marl speedy , safe , and certain . In this fast enorl senility steals quickly on , and railways S already antique . Their managers have blunderprl from the beginning . They vacillated abouf gauges ; they built lines for one kind of carria ^ and use them for another ; they have mad engines too heavy for speed , and too we arisometo the rails ; they have covetously-extended their lines beyond the resources of an agency not en ortion

      arged m prop ; tney nave greedily grasped at various kinds of traffic , and have not ¦ means ^ o manage the complications ; they work engines too much , keep rails too long in use , and re tai n the worst method of making the permanent way Their officers are too few , their arrangements ' miserably rude , and their carriages constructed to facilitate the fatality of accidents . For t l h i

      instance , almosalte carrages are of teak accounting for that general paragraph in reports of accidents : "The carriages were broken , into little bits . " But these deficiencies are defended on the ground that the company cannot afford to do better , and the poverty of the dividend is pointed at as an excuse . This , also , is not true . The company could afford to have a safe line , but the money they should spend in paying a-staff of

      officers is given to attorneys in Palace-yard ; . the funds that might enable them to replace rails or rolling stock are spent in legal and Parliamentary contests with rival lines . Before a single spade was put into the ground of the London and York Railway , 600 , 000 Z . of the shareholders' money was spent in a Parliamentary battle . And-the opposing companies— -a host in themselves—had , to bear their own expenses in the foolish fight . The other day , the two greatest companies quarrelled over a third , and Jong law proceedings are entailed because the rival directories covet

      territory . This thirst for extension is a disease—a galloping decline . The London and Birmiughani Company stretched onward , and assumed the " North Western" style ; its dividends fell from ton to five per cent . It lately bought or built six branch lines : they cost 3 , 800 , 000 ^ , and return 10 , 000 £ . a year . Here are the great first causes of railway accidents . Tho immediate causes of most railway accidents arc the varieties in speed and time of the different trains . It sorely taxes station-masters

      to bear in mind the differing arrangements for express , goods train , coal train , excursion train , parliamentary train , special train , ordinary train , and pilot-engine . In short , if we requiro safety , we must not have express trains run on the same line with slow goods trains , and excursion trains , or on the same line with ordinary trains stopping at intermediate stations . For all our important lines of country , wo must have new lines exclusively built for " express purposes . On such a lino , all the trains travo ling at tho same speedstopping but very seldom ,

      , unimpeded by the trains of branch linos , and unhindered by tho opposition of goods traffic , couia travel safely at a great speed . Tho engines should bo light , to suit the trains ; the carnages well padded , and well built , of good wood , noc brittle teak ; and tho road built on tho broa gaugo , with rails " fish-jointed" into an ini lexjij > line . With airy , spacious carriages , allor < nif , free transit from one to another , and ooniw

      ing conveniences for refreshment on the . ] " ¦> ' such an institution would , at once , t >» b eossful . A direct , line of this kind from L (] 11 ( l , to Liverpool would pay . Tho distance ) conK travelled in four hours : and eig hteen uim u persons paying 100 / . a year for mini '" t ^ J j ^ would sufliee to start and support Hie l » 1 (; - , old railways would then bo forced to »>(< what the ' old roads were — « ™ llion (> ' * <| h . country towns , and highways for heavy U ^ But for quick communication between oiu h . ^ cities wo must have direct linen , wilh saio ill express speed .

      Piou.Soxal Manjjinrs. - ' . . ^ Somb Fad...

      PIOU . SOXAL MANJjINRS . - ' . . ^ Somb fads of tho day show a , « I . riuiff «^< - * ; '" J '' . ! J tho personal manliness of the people . ['' , ' , , „ ,,, a husband hunted his wife about » ) UIU'IC , j / ,,, ! . )) , and when in terror she crouched beJun' , ^ , that man warned her of I " , afraid lo F " ' J ' oijce-When tho sweep Cannon maltreated tuo j

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1853, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17091853/page/12/