Washington telegraph., 1853-06-08
The NOrwaIk Tragedy.


The following letter from an eyewitness
gives a minute account of this sad catastro-
phe, and corrects some errors which have
appearedfn other reports. The editor of the
New York Times to whom it is addressed
says that the writer can be implicitly relied
upon:
NoRwALK, May Z.
l have no hesitation in saying that if or
! dinary caution had been used in approaching
the bridge this frightful tragedy would nev
er have occurred. Immediately before
reaching the bridge the track forms a
curve, so that the bridge itself is not within
sight till you are almost upon it. This GER
tainly is highly faulty arrangement, but
as it exists, and cannot now well be rem
edled, surely the express trains, which do
not stop at South Norwalk, the spot where
the accident occurred, (and not Norwalk.
which Is nearly two miles from the depot
should be compelled to slacken speed on
approaching the curve. Of course, with
the other trains, which do stop at the depot,
no such rule is necessary, as, the bridge be-
ing close at hand, they will not have resum-
ed any great rate of speed before reaching
| it.
[ now wish to say that I was present at the
time of the catastrophe. Twas not on board
the cars and | was very near the drawbridge.
The draw was raised when approached the
bridge, and the steamer Pacific had Just
passed through. 1t was then [ first heard
the noise of the approaching train l tho't
to myself, Good God that is the express
train | ran towards the bridge, feeling
that no earthly power could prevent an ac-
cldent. l looked up at the signal pole, and
the ball was down. The train dashed past
me like lightning. am a tolerable Judge of
railroad speed, and | should say the train
was going at over thirty-fve miles an hour
1t might have been more-it certainly was
| not less. The report in some of Saturdays
papers that it was going at the rate of fifty
miles an hour is incorrect. The road, in
most parts, is too heavily graded for such
rate of speed to be attained. What | felt
at that moment [ cannot describe [ cannot
even realize my own feelings, or recall the
horror that seized me as the train fed by.
was only one hundred yards from the
bridge, and in moment the locomotive had
almost leaped the gulf-that fact alone is
convincing that the rate of speed was not
an ordinary one, as the draw is sixty feet
| wide. The engine and tender seemed to
disappear together, and. rapid almost as
thought, first the baggage car then the
smoking car, then the first passenger car,
| then the second, went over the wall of the
draw, plunge of about twenty feet, into
the water, which was at high tide l heard
the crash of breaking timbers, and one
scream uttered simultaneously by many
voices Then, for second or two, all was
still as death then heard the gurgling of
the waters, as they rushed into the ears,
forming eddies or little whirlpools on the
surface. In another moment shrieks from
those in the rear cars and in the hind part
of the third passenger car, filed the air,
and in the next instant there was but one
scene of indescribable confusion.
l should have stated, what indeed is al
ready well known to the public, that the
third passenger car, was nearly pulled into
the water There was, however, the restrain
ing force of the rear cars, while the weight
of those which had gone over operated in
front to drag it'over the wall The cCnse-
quence was, that it snapped like a match
the flooring, the sides and the foremost end
flying forward, with a jerk half across the
draw. Many of the seats and the dislodged
window sashes, with a crowd of timber
fragments were impelled, some of them, full
ly across the gulf, and two of the passengers
who were seated just at the spot where the
car snapped assunder, were thrown full
twenty feet forward, and pitched with fright
full force upon the ruins of the second and
first cars.
The first passenger car was wholly SUBJ
merged. Only portion of one end of the
second was visible, and the water soon COW
cred that I suppose by the sinking of the
first car, upon which it had fallen, deeper
into the mud The baggage car was sub
merged, as were also the locomotive and
tender. The smoking car was caught upon
the piles of the bridge, which partially kept
it above water. learned that there were
only eight persons in it and they all escaped.
On hurrying to the beach, saw forty or
fifty persons struggling with the water,
crawling up the end of the second passenger
car. or catching at fragments of the floating
wreck. 1t is a curious fact that some of
the passengers in the third car, seated al
most at the point where it broke assunder
were not impelled into the water, while 9TH
ers, as have stated, were sent flying for
ward.
Language fails to depict the scene which
followed. The passengers who we're unin-
jured, and those whose bruises were suffici-
emily slight to allow them to exert them
selves, thronged to the assistance of the
drowning The poor creatures were taken
out of the car windows: axes were brought
to break through the roofs and sides of the