The Evening World

THE ACQUITTAL OF WHISKER.

Whisker somewhat unexpectedly goes free, and by the court's judgment no one is legally to blame for the Park avenue tunnel disaster. The moral blame attached to the management of the New York Central road and the policy of economy out of which grew the conditions responsible for the accident is sentimental merely, signifying little. It is a kind of blame that has never put a director in jail.

Some items of the testimony at the Whisker trial may be repeated for profitable reconsideration.

It was proved by Whisker's own testimony that he 'knew the signals only in a general way,' and further that he 'failed to see the danger signal because of the steam of a passing train.'

It was testified to by a brakeman sent back with red lanterns that 'the first he knew of the approach of the engine of the oncoming train was when the locomotive cylinder brushed his elbow.'

It was asserted that 'the company expects the engineers to use the light from the holes in the roof and walls when other signals fail.'

Fifteen months have elapsed since the disaster. Has definite action as yet been taken by the road to substitute electricity for steam in the tunnel? Has anything been done to change the old conditions of danger revealed by the testimony above?

Are green engineers, knowing the signals only in a general way, still permitted to run passenger trains? Are they still forced to 'feel their way' through the blinding smoke and steam? Has any good come to the traveling public as a result of the lesson, terribly expensive as it was in life and property loss? Will it run this same risks as of old?

These questions are not offensively put. They are asked of the road's directorate in sincerity and with a full understanding of the impending difficulties that need to be overcome to effect anything like a permanent improvement of operating conditions in the tunnel.