An accident on the dreadful American scale occurred in New
York on Wednesday. The proprietors of the New York Journal had arranged for an exhibition of fireworks in Madison Square to celebrate the election returns. Among the fireworks were bombs of unusual size arranged in cast-iron mortars, and intended, of course, to be shot into the air. A crowd of some fifty thousand persons had gathered to witness the display, when a mortar fell on its side, and three bombs in succession were fired into the mass. Many persons were actually blown to pieces, and the total of killed and wounded is estimated at upwards of ninety. There must, one would think, have been terrible carelessness somewhere; but Americans accept all such occurrences as "disastrous incidents," and forget them with a rapidity which seems to indicate a different estimate of the value of human life front any prevailing, in -Europe. It has been found quite impossible to prevent the practice,of driving railway trains, electric trains, and the like through crowded places "on the flat" ; and in Chicago, especially, accidents so caused rank among permanent dangers. We suppose the real. cause of this indifference is the splendid self-reliance of the community; but one does not see that heavy damages for recklessness would diminish that.
