1865.] Tyler on Circulation and Communication on Railways. 573 



the employment of any means of communication that might have been 

 at his disposal. Mr. Briggs was travelling, too, on a line on which 

 the stations were unusually frequent, and by a train which was due to 

 stop every few minutes. Just as it is impossible to prevent a man 

 from striking or even garotting another in the street, or from shooting 

 from behind a hedge, if he be so minded, and if his intentions be not 

 known, so also no facility for communication which could practically 

 be aiforded would provide against a sudden attack by one railway 

 passenger upon an unsuspecting and perhaps sleeping vis-a-vis ; and 

 it would further be difficult to provide for the stoppage of a train, 

 upon a signal of distress being given, more rapidly than this parti- 

 cular train was actually stopped in its ordinary course after the 

 murder. It is a question whether even the deterrent influence of a 

 ready means of communication, which would be very powerful to 

 prevent outrage in many cases, would have had any effect on so daring 

 and determined a villain as Miiller. On the other hand, it was the 

 certainty of isolation for a sufficient, though a very short period, that 

 made Muller's project feasible, and his escape comparatively easy ; 

 while, if there had been free circulation through the train, with pub- 

 licity or supervision in the interior of the carriages, he would not 

 have contemplated the commission of such a deed. 



But murder, and other deeds of lust or violence, have a command 

 of newspaper space, and therefore, we must suppose, a morbid interest 

 for the public, which is out of proportion to their real significance ; 

 and it is not surprising that the murder of Mr. Briggs should have 

 been seized upon to illustrate a real want, which was much and deeply 

 felt, in preference to other and more apposite instances. Passenger 

 communication is more required in cases of accidents to trains, and 

 circulation to prevent offences against individuals. But the circum- 

 stances of railway accidents are not, excepting where death ensues, 

 brought to light before any public tribunal ; and the official reports 

 in which they are detailed are only presented to Parliament after 

 they have lost their interest for the general public. All serious 

 offences, on the other hand, become immediately the subject of judicial 

 investigation. The evidence in connection with them is placed fully 

 before the public, and they are more readily described and under- 

 stood. 



The most alarming cases of accidents to trains that have happened 

 from time to time, are those in which disabled carriages, or carriages 

 on fire, have been dragged along at high speed for considerable dis- 

 tances, while passengers or their luggage were left behind on the 

 line, without the servants of the company being aware that anything 

 was wrong. And of the numerous offences that have been reported 

 within the last year or two, one of the most striking, perhaps, if not 

 the most important as regards our present subject, was that in which 

 a female passenger was driven by the fear of insult or assault to jump 

 out of the carriage in which she was riding, and to hold on to the 

 outside of a train in motion, at the imminent risk of her life. Space 

 will not admit of the enumeration of many cases, but we may give an 

 outline of two accidents, on which reports were presented to Parlia- 



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