The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-05-11
THE DAILY DISPATCH


THE NORWALh On ~"
RI. follovine isa part of the testimony Ia
Ten before the Coroner at the Inquest upon
~ -. If the persons killed by the accl-
dent at Norwalk:
,yosv OF WILLIAM HARTFORD, BRIDGE
KEEPER,
wm, Hartford sworn, testified as toliows:-
A. near as can remember it was hiteen ni'n.
o. from the time started the draw 10 close
!, before the train went over; | stood on Tue
h,;dge when Captain By xbee, OF the Steam
rs, Pacific called 10 me 10 open the Draw
4 then lowered the ball and laid II on the oriogei
I zen, The bridge down few minutes anu is
tsned if could hear the train coming; "hen
,he draw was raised left IL open 10 get
another boat through the tram was que oe-
fare open ID the draw; my orders are 10 give
.,,sn,;on first 10 the boats; those are The or
ders | received from the company ohiy
Ssa,i Oh. whistle as the train came round the
49,. t,h;s curve is one hundred and fifty feet
f,o,, he draw;l the whistle was blown twice;
Tbes,d no bell; | was so excited that could
moi take snv notice of the speed OF the train; L
vas IN the draw, and was OF course anxious
ahou, nv own safety; l could not get the
draw omen before the train reached il while il
,vas one hundred and fifty feet from the bridge;
had | heard the traid coming would not have
opeued the draw; the boat itself would not
mass through If the train was coming; the depth
TO the mud is twenty-five feet and The water
eight or ten at high tide; saw the train before
I heard il: got my directions from MIR. Sand
bourne. the road master, who told me when
heard train TO give it the preference, and
when did not hear it to give the beat the
preference he told me also not to forget 10
lower the ball when the draw was open;
have kept some vessels back when train was
coming; the ball was down fourteen or fifteen
minutes before the train came up; that is my
opinion as near as can guess the length OF
time have not seen the eng ineer, and don't
want to see him hardly.
TESTIMONY OF THE ENGINEER, EDWARD W.
TUCKER.
| have been on the road about two months
the last time; | received instructions on the
printed card from Mr.. Smons, at the shop in
New Haven; believe the train was going at
the rate of fifteen miles an hour past the Nor
walk depot; | whistled for btakng up just
west of the bridge over the road before coming
10 the depot; [ am certain that the ball was up;
| CANNOT be deceived; did not look through
the window glass, but entirely out; do net
think | could have mistaken anything for the
signal; can see the signal just before get to
the bridge; am certain saw the 81 gna: am
very careful; the brakeman usually sees the
ball, and | suppose he saw 1t that time, and let
up the brakes; received no other directions
except to look out for the ball; | sounded The
whistle the moment | saw the end of the
draw; the brakes were not applied for if they
had been think the train might have been
stopped before going off the bridge; | gave
the signal before getting to the depot; the en-
CINE might have gone if the brakes had been
applied but not the ears; l had no oo1versi-
ton with the conductor except about the brake
on one end of the cars; never read while on
the engine; had no paper YESTERDAY; the fir =
man jumped off near the abutment of the
bridge; he is not hurt; can stop the train be-
fore il has time to go twice its length; the train
yesterday had two baggage and five passen-
ger cars; was behind time eight minutes tt
Norwalk; it is the worst bridge on the road to
stop the train before coming to the draw; after
turning the curve near the draw the distance
is much shorter than any other.
TESTIMONY OF GEORGE ELMER, FIREMAN.
reside in New York; | WAS fireman on
the train to which the accident happened have
been on it thirteen months; | did not look at
the signal; it was not my business; | was at
tending to my duty; when we got TO a distance
of one hundred yards from the draw the engi-
neer halloed TO me; he blew the signal near
the bridge, about half mile from the draw
bridge; he blew it for coming into the depot,
but did not blow any signul for breking up;
l think the brules were put on when the first
whistle was sounded; lift was known at the
depot that the bridge was open | think the
train could have been stopped; when the train
went over jumped from the engine on to the
abutmenl; the train was going at the rate Ct
from fifteen TO twenty miles an hour when
passing the depot. The depot is about six
hundred feet from the drawbridge | heard
no orders given to the engineer by the conduc-
tor, MIR. Comstock; he is not in the habit OF
giving orders to the engineer; | never saw him
reading; only fred for him once; sometimes
the engineer reads upon the train; never saw
him read upon the train; | saw him put his
head out of the window Ist before nearing
the bridge; | did not hear any conversation
between the conductor and engineer at STAN
ford; saw Mr.. Comstock Just after the acct
dent; have not seen him since.
TESTIMONY OF IRA FORD.
saw the train coming at full speed; the
ball was down and the draw o7en; the whistle
sounded about five seconds before the train
went off; don't think the engineer saw the
signal until within one hundred and fifty fee
of the bridge, when the whistle was blown
] could not say that he rang bell: there
would seem TO be some neglect; the bridge wa
completely open; il would take about four mi
nutes to run down the ball and open the draw
think the train was going at the rate of tu en-
ty miles an hour when the accident occurred
saw the train as it fell in, and did not observ,
any brakemen at their places.