206 



CONNECTICUT. 



Costoffuel 



Costof oil and waste $91,957 81 



Number of miles run by trains 3.951,459 



Carrying passengers 6,797,462 



Number of engines 



Number of passenger-cars 



Number of merchandise-cars 2,916 



Number of men employed 



Repairs of roads $1,041,454 02 



Repairs of bridges $120,694 97 



Total cost of maintenance of way $1,499,073 80 



Tons of merchandise transported 1,853,575 



Gross earnings $8,874,117 59 



Net earnings $2,390,66464 



Undivided surplus $529,504 39 



One mile of railroad to every 7.34 square miles of territory. 

 One mile of railroad to every 824.2 inhabitants. 



Sixty-five accidents occurred on these roads 

 during the year : thirty-two were fatal; twen- 

 ty-eight not fatal; and of the remaining five 

 the result is unknown. The cause of these 

 occurrences is generally ascribed to the care- 

 lessness of the persons themselves injured, no 

 great collisions of trains having taken place. 

 Seven millions of people, who duly kept their 

 seats in the cars, were safely carried to their 

 destination. 



But, the better to provide for the safety and 

 convenience of the travelling public, and to 

 perfect the service of the railways in other 

 respects, the State Kailroad Commissioners 

 recommended the adoption of several precau- 

 tionary measures by legislative enactment, as 

 follows : 



1. That the fiscal year of all railroad companies 

 terminate on the 31st day of December of each year. 



2. That all highway bridges hereafter constructed 

 over any railroad track in Connecticut shall be built 

 at a height fixed by the general railroad commission- 

 ers ; but if said bridges by the formation of the 

 ground are obliged to be less than eighteen feet in 

 the clear above the top of the rail on the railroad 

 track, then the said bridges shall be built with safe- 

 guards upon each side, so that a man standing on 

 the top of the railroad car shall have warning 'that 

 the train is approaching such a danger. 



3. That an act be passed requiring the several rail- 

 road companies to place a telegraphic instrument in 

 one ticket-office in each town through which their 

 railroad runs, where a telegraph-office is not now 

 established, and to furnish a competent person to 

 operate the same during the usual business hours. 



4. That the form of schedule for the returns of 

 railroad companies be amended generally. 



5. That an. act be passed forbidding any town or 

 city to build a highway or street over any railroad 

 track at grade, or parallel thereto within the distance 

 of seventy-five feet, without permission ; and also 

 giving authority to change and abolish grade cross- 

 ings, and highways parallel to railroads whenever it 

 is impossible to do so, throughout the State, upon or 

 near any and all railroads. 



6. That an act be passed defining the powers of the 

 commissioners over the depot accommodations of old 

 existing railroads. 



7. That an act be passed giving to the commission- 

 ers the use of a room in the State House at Hartford, 

 where their records shall be kept for examination and 

 preservation, and where maps and profiles of the 

 several railroads shall be deposited and kept, and 

 that the Secretary of State be required to deliver to 

 the chairman of the railroad committee all maps, 

 profiles, and papers relating to railroads, which have 

 previously been deposited by such roads in his 

 office. 



8. That the use of kerosene, or other inflammable 

 oil or material, be forbidden in the passenger-cars of 

 any railroad company in this State. 



9. That the law regarding the fencing of railroads, 

 embodied in sections 492, 493, and 494, of the general 

 railroad act, be amended. 



A law was made by the General Assembly 

 at its last session, ordaining that "no highway 

 or public street of any kind shall hereafter be 

 laid out, or constructed, across any railroad in 

 this State upon a level therewith, except under 

 authority and permission in writing from the 

 general railroad commissioners." 



The number of births and deaths as well as 

 of marriages and divorces, which took place in 

 Connecticut during the year 1869, with some 

 data indicating the duration of life of the 

 inhabitants, was as follows: "In 1869 there 

 were 12,481 births, or twelve more than the 

 preceding year. Of these 6,505 were males, 

 and 5,886 females, or a ratio of 52.5 boys to 

 47.5 girls in each 100 born. The number of 

 plurality births was 125 ; the number of illegit- 

 imates, 113. September and March witnessed 

 the most births. 



The number of marriages was 4,754, twenty 

 more than the previous year. The greatest 

 gain in the number of marriages was in Hart- 

 ford county. No marriages took place in the 

 town of Prospect, and in Sterling and Killing- 

 worth but one each. 



The deaths registered numbered 8,417, em- 

 bracing 4,280 males, and 3,972 females. More 

 than one-third died before the age of five, and 

 little more than one-quarter had reached the 

 age of sixty. Five were over 100 years old, 

 three women and two men. One of the latter 

 was a farmer in. Colchester, who lived to be 

 1 10. About a quarter of the number of deaths 

 was from diseases of the respiratory organs. 

 The deaths from suicide were 29 ; from poison- 

 ing, 16 ; from burns and scalds, 47 ; from 

 drowning, 106. 



There were 491 divorces, the largest number 

 ever reported, and bearing the proportion of 

 nearly one divorce to ten marriages. The fol- 

 lowing table shows the details : 



The grounds on which these divorces were 

 respectively applied for and granted were the 

 usual ones of cruelty, desertion, infidelity, in- 

 temperance, misconduct, single or combined 

 together. In three cases, the dissolution of 

 marriage was sued for and obtained for cause 

 affecting its validity from the beginning, 

 namely, for fraudulent contract. 



As the number of these divorces is appar- 

 ently too large in proportion to the population, 

 they being at the rate of more than one mar- 



