Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1887 — RAILROAD INTELLIGENCE. [ARTICLE]

RAILROAD INTELLIGENCE.

The verdict of the Coroner’s jury that has been investigating the recent railroad horror at Republic, Ohio, is a startling document The jury attributes the accident to culpable negligence on the part of both the railway officials and the trainmen. According to its report the locomotive of the freight train was in an unsafe and unserviceab’e condition; the engineer was exhausted by nearly seventeen hours continuous labor and exposure; the conductor guilty of wanton and reckless neglect of dnty; the brakes in the express train were inferior and ineffective, and the manner of heating and lighting the cars, which caused most of the loss of life, was dangerous and in violation of aw. The jury expresses its regret that under the laws of Ohio the persons responsible for tbe slaughter can not be criminally prosecuted. The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Company has declared a dividend of 1% per cent on preferred stock, payable March 23. The Alton Road reports gross earnings of $8,060,639 for the past year, and operating expenses of $4,650,955. A meeting held in Chicago by the general managers of the Western railways resulted in the passage of a resolution that the tariffs be corrected and the methods of doing business be revised to conform to the requirements of the interstate commerce law. Transcontinental freights have received a marked stimulus from the interstate commerce leg.elation. San Francisco merchants are stocking up for the summer trade, and large quant tie? of sugar have been shipped to points east of tne Missouri River.