New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-05-16
DAILY CRESCENT.
Terrible Railroad Accident.

l.,
FRTY-rHREE LIVES KNOWN TO BE LosT.-Ths
Catastrophe at NorWaM. Our Northern ex-
changes come to US burthened with the particu-
lars of another frightful railroad disaster: Il
The train to which this terrible calamity has
occurred was the express train for Boston, on
the NewHaven railroad. Itleft the Canal street
station, in NewYork, at eight o'clock on Friday
morning, the 9th inst, and consisted of two bag.
gage and FIVE passenger cars. The number of
passengers was about two hundred. The train
arrived at Norwalk at half-past ten O'clock
About half mile beyond the Norwalk station
the road is carried over the creek or river by
bridge, in which there is draw about sixty
feet wide, the steamboat Pacific plying between
Norwalk and NewYork and other vessels having
a right Of way. 1t was at this bridge that
the frightful catastrophe occurred.
The mode of signalling the engineer that the
draw is open, and that he must stop his train,
is the lowering of large red ball, which, when |
the bridge is closed and the track free from i'm
of some altitude OF course the engineer is |
bound so to regulate his speed as he approaches
the bridge that he can " brake up without diff
| fculty as soon as he discovers the warning sig
nal. In this instance the engineer appears nei-
ther to have so abated his speed nor to have
looked out for the signal. The ball had been
lowered, the drawbridge having just been OPEN
i
The train, according to the testimony given at
the coroners inquest was going at its full speed
| So that this fearful loss of life can only be
charged upon q criminal recklessness on the part
of the engineer which is almost without par
allel.
So terrific, indeed, was the speed of the train
that although the gap or opening in the bridge
was sixty feet wide, the engine literally over
leaped it and struck the abutments on the other
side, very little below the level of the line, be-
fore it fell into the water. The tender followed
the engine and fell upon it. The first baggage
car fell partly across the tender, and the Sec
ond, in which was smoking room, fell close to
it. Two of thep passenger cars were precipitated
upon this mass, and all were submerged, the
engine and baggage wagons being deeply i'm
! bedded in the mud. 1t was high tide in the
river, and the water was about twelve feet deep.
. The bottom Of the third car 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 dis.
! tance Of about fifteen feet
Z No pen can describe the scene that followed
We copy, however, the narratives of some who
were eye-witnesses to this fearful disaster
STATEMENT OF EYE -WITNEssEs.-Mr. james
\ A. Remand, engineer of the steamboat Pacific
makes the following statement, which is alst
). signed by Captain S. 8. Byxbee, of that boat
: 81 witnessed the terrible accident on tn
: New York and New Haven Railroad, which oc
. Cured at ten o'clock this morning. The plac
sf where it happened is called South Norwalk Vii
* lage, where there is drawbridge across til
NJ Norwalk river. The drawbridge had beel
raised to permit the passage of the steamboa
e Pacific. am the engineer of that boat, an
q was on board her at the time the accident oc
" CURED. We had got about thirty or forty yard
% from the draw when we heard the cars coming
" l Immediately walked aft and stood on tn
e' guard, where l could see every thing that hal
!. pened. The cars were then coming at fu
speed. The draw was open and the ball We
= down. The ball is used for signal. When
n. is up it signifies that all is right.
1.-The locomotive was under such headwa
- when it ran off, that before it reached the wat
& it struck the abutment on the opposite side
K distance Of about sirty feet, The tender, ba
riih gage car, and two mail cars came next. T,
pas passenger cars went into the opening the t
ALE of what had preceded them; the third broke
thu. middle and half of it went down. In tn
e. third car two were killed instantly, and mar
= more were hurt How many in all were killed
- do not know, but before left at twelve ocloc
ssi noon, between thirty and forty had been tax,
e. e. out dead. They were horribly bruised al
is mangled One beautiful young girl, about 81
teen years DID, had the back of her head knock
j.. in. There was one child about four months G
.. and many other children killed. The engine
and fremen of the train, when they saw the b.
. down, jumped off before the cars reached t
bridge.
s "When the cars ran off, those in the re
. =. ones screamed terrifcally. We put right ba
Eh and rendered what assistance we could. Peo]
iust @ went to cutting the cars with axes and TAXI
din out the dead. Not one that was taken out
e re. re-, the second car was alive The excitement "
,,u,s intense; women were rushing down with qui
i'm to cover the dead; others were vainly strivi
nary to restore to life the poor victims as they w
well taken OUT
ono Mr. Thomas Hicks, the artist, was in the Fl
'"' car with Miss King, of New York They oc,
pied seat within four of the end of the car
the right hand side, facing the engine.
s1M, Hicks describes the scene as follows:
ell "The cars were seemingly going at the us,
ases rate, when, without warning or intimation
any kind, he beheld the front part of the
se,.. rushing towards him in fragments, the pass
ious gers being tossed in the air like chaf, dasl
-, up against the top of the car, and thrown alb
- - in a hurricane Of destruction. In an inst
2Zo he found Miss King gone from his side, and HI
e.t. self crushed under the partially fallen roo
,,.u 49, the car, and surrounded by choking atm
~ phere, in the midst Of shapeless mass of ru
3 g. dead bodies on every hand, and the darke
ases car rapidly filling with water. He began f
nd for ing among the wreck and under the water
8 st his companion, but she was nowhere to be fou
and He continued the search till the water had ri
St to his chin, time which he judged to have
,aps, about ten minutes, when, despalrlng OF her
BY covery, he looked about him for mode Of csc,
rect. Just behind him, at the corner of the car
II A. beheld an aperture through which he cray
,,. out upon the top. Here he fingered with ,
- to renew the search for his companion, whel
icle' was accosted by some one, who asked him
rect. whom he was looking. He described the la
- dress, when his interlocutor informed him
,.., his inexpressible astonishment and gratifcat
: that she had just gone out upon the track.
), IN ascertained afterward that the front of the
rect rect was stove to atoms by the conclusion, and
,aica the top of it was split open laterally on the
reet where he sat, and this occasioned that sic
e6ro. the roof to fall. 1t also apeared that du
the instantaneous process Of splitting open
lIees. top of the car and the fall of the ceiling,
shed, King, without any knowledge or agency Of
mh.s own, had been projected through the Gre
Que upon the top Of the car. And here, wit
ne having been wet, but with severe woun
the face, she found herself with another car
cipitated upon it, which passed her and tum
over into the river beside the wreck of the
Her escape, and the manner Of it especially
a miracle Mr. Hicks called out, when he
covered the means of escape, to those in the
if so there be any living to hear, pointing t.
way of getting out. But he saw but one pc
sv,. avail himself of the notice, or escape in any
- "The second passenger car dashed into the
,,., nearly half its leangth. The death of nj