Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-05-18
irhs catastrophe a. Nor,yallk.

The train to which this terrible calamity has
occurred was the express train for Boston, on thu
New Haven railroad. 1t left the Canal street sta
ton, in New York, at eight O'Clock on Friday
morning, and consisted of two baggage and fvi
passenger cars. The num5er of passenger5 wa
about two hundred. The train arrived at Nor
walk at half-past ten O'Clock. About half mile
beyoud the Norwaik station the road is carried o
yer the creek or river by bridge, in which there
is draw about sixty feet wide, the steamboat Pa
ciic plying between Norwalk and New York ant
other vessels having right of way. 1t was a
this brideethat the frightful catastrophe occurred
The mode of signalling the engineer that tht
draw is open, and that he must stop his train, il
the lowering of large red ball, which, when the
bridge is closed and the track free from impedi.
ments, is again raised to the top of staff Of some
altitude Of course the engineer is bound so t
regulate his speed as he approaches the bridge
that he can "brake up" without difficulty as soor
as he discovers the warning signal. In this in
stance the engineer appears neither to have so a
bated his speed nor to have looked out for the sig
nal. The ball had been lowered, the drawbridgt
having Just been opened for the passage of thu
steamboat Pacific. The train, according to thu
testimony given at the coroner's inquest, was GO
ing at its full speed. So that this fearful loss o
| life can only be charged upon criminal reckless
ness on the part of the engineer which is almos
without parallel
So terrific, indeed was the speed of the train
that although the gap or openingin the bridge was
sixty feet wide, the engine literally overleaped il
ard struck the abutments on the other side, very
little below thelevel of the line. before it felntc
the water The tender followed the engine and
coII ,,rop The fret hoooara foil partlv a.
cross the tender, and the second, in which was a
smoking room, fell close to it. Two of the pass
enger cars were precipitated- upon this mass, and
all were submerged, the engine and baggage wag,
ons being deeply imbedded in the mud. 1t was
high tide in the river. and the water was about
twelve feet deep. The bottom of the third cal
broke in two, and the fragments hung suspended
on the edge of the stationary part of the bridge
Some of the passengers were thrown into the
stream distance of about fifteen feet.
Mr.. Thomas Hicks, the artist, was in the frs
car, with Miss King. of New York. They occu-
pied a seat within four of The end of the car, or
the righthand side, facing the engine. Mr.. Hicks
describes the scene as follows:
.'The cars were seemingly going at the usual
rate, when, without warning or lntmaton OF any
kind, he beheld the front part of the car rushing
toward him in fragments, the passengers being
tossed in the air like chat, dashed up against the
top of the car, and thrown about in hurricane Of
destruction In an instant he found Miss King
gone from his side, and himself crushed under the
partially fallen roof of the car and surrounded by
a choking atmosphere, in the midst of shapeless
mass of ruins, dead bodies on every hand, and the
darkened car rapidly filling with water. He be-
Gan feeling among the wreck and under the water
for his companion but she was nowhere to be found
He continued the search till the water had risen
to his chin, time which he judged to have been
about ten minutes, when, despaiHng; of her recov-
cry, he looked about him for mode of escape
Just behind him, at the corner of the car. he be-
held an aperture through which he crawled out
upon the top. Here he'liBgered with a view to
renew the search for his companion; when he was
accosted by some one, who asked him for whom
he was looking. He described the lady's dress,
when his nterlocutor informed him. to his mex
pressible establishment and qualification, that she
had just gone out upon the track. He ascertained
aterward that the front of the was stove to at
oms by the conclusion, and that the top of it was
split open laterally on the side where he sat, and
this occasoned that side Of the roof to fall. 1t al
SO appeared that during the instantaneous process
of splitting open the top of the car and the fall of
agency of her own, had been projected through the
crevice upon the top of the car. And here, with
out having been wet, but with severe wound in
the face, she found herself with another car pre-
cipitated upon it, which passed her and tumbled
over into che river beside the wreck of the first.
Her escape, and the manner of it especially, was
a miracle Mr.. Hicks called out, when he dis
covered the means of escape, to those in the car,
; he Twin IL, init IN la
way of getting out. But he saw but one person
avail himself of the notice, or escape in any way.
Mr.. E. J. Brown, (of the firm of E. j. Brown
& Co., of New York, J was passenger in the
train, and at the time Of the catastrophe was read
ing in the smoking room.
s'He escaped by the side door of the baggage
car. The tender and two baggage cars all passed
over the gap with such force as to strike the abut
ments and rebound He was much bruised. The
second passenger car dashed into the first nearly
habits length. The death of nearly all must
have been Sudden and instantaneous. There was
but one shrek; then all was still as death, save
The surging of the waters as they first recoiled
from the force Of the conclusion and then closed in
upon the car. He thinks none were iost out OF
the third car, or at most but one or two:"
We have the names of forty-one of the victims
of this melancholy disaster, and fifteen bodies still
remain at Norwalk unrecognised. The wounded,
so far as reported, number twenty-four, and one
hundred and eighteen escaped without injury
These form an aggregate of one hundred and nine
ty-eight, leaving eighteen persons TO be accounted
for, to make up the number of two hundred and
sixteen passengers, registered as being in the cars.
The missing, however may have escaped and con-
tinued their journey.-.Mat. Intel.
CALIFoRNlA NEws.-The news from Califor-
MIA by late steamers is of varied interest. The
New York Express saysofit. In business point
of view, everything seems to be going on prosper
ously and uuietly. The papers continue to repre-