Punch,  47 (1864), 113.

Railway Suttee

Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Technology, Gender


    Addressed to 'Railway Directors', this article discusses a letter in the Morning Post containing an 'alarming account of a fire in a railway carriage, caused by a lump of burning coke which entered it from the engine'. Describes how the burning coke ignited the furnishings of the carriage and how one passenger attempted to control the blaze with his paletôt, the carriage not being supplied with water. Punch urges railway directors to 'provide all your trains with a water supply' for extinguishing carriage fires, a move that will protect the carriage furnishings but also the lady occupants wearing 'inflammable fabrics'. Explains how a 'hose, running, the whole length of the train', connected to a 'properly constructed reservoir', would enable 'any gentleman at a moment's notice to constitute himself fireman to a lady on fire'.



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