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

FIFTY-TuREE LIVES KNOWN TO BE L0sT.-IHs !,
Catastrophe at NorWaK.-Our Northern ex-
changes come to us burthened with the particu-
lars of another frightful railroad disaster:
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 a
bridge, in which there is draw about sixty
feet wide, the steamboat Pacific plying between
Norwalk and NewYork and other vessels having
right Of way. It 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
pediments, is again raised to the top of staff |
of some altitude. OF course the engineer is
bound 50 to regulate his speed as he approaches |
the bridge that he can s. brake up without diff
ficulty as soon as he discovers the warning sig
nal. In this instance the engineer appears nei-
| Their 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
| ed for the passage Of the steamboat Pacific.
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 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 oter
leaped it and struck the abutments on the other
side, very little below the level Of the line, be-
| fny fall tho tpof Tho ton1ar fn11nral
the engine and fell upon it. The first baggage
car fell partly across the tender, and the sec
ond, in which was a smoking room, fell close to
it. Two OF the passenger cars were precipitated
upon this mass, and all were submerged, the
engine and baggage wagons being deeply i'm
bedded in the mud. It 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
/ lance Of about fifteen feet.
{ No pen can describe the scene that followed.
We copy, however, the narratives Of some who
were eyewitness to this fearful disaster:
STATEMENT OF EYE-WrrNEssEs-Mr James
A. Renaud, engineer Of the steamboat Pacific.
!. makes the following statement, which is also
j. signed by Captain S. s. Byxbee, of that boat:
: 81 witnessed the terrible accident on ths
! New York and New Haven Railroad, which oc.
CURED at ton o'clock this morning. The place
sr where it happened is called South Norwalk Vii
4 lage, where there is a drawbridge across thu
= Norwalk river. The drawbridge had beer
raised to permit the passage Of the steamboa
g Pacific. am the engineer of that boat, ant
9 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
: Immediately walked aft and stood on til
e. guard, where could see every thing that hap
avn1 Ma k1..o,. e..
speed The draw was open and the ball wa
B down. The ball is used for signal When
= is up it signifies that all is right.
ssIhe locomotive was under such headwa
= when it ran off, that before it reached the wat,
g. 1t struck the a6utment on the opposite side
x distance Of about sirty feet. The tender, ba
Nth gage car, and two mail cars came next. TV
passenger cars went into the opening the tc
1bs of what had preceded them the third broke
- the. middle and half of it went down. In tn
D. third car two were killed instantly, and man
y more were hurt. How many in all were killed
= do not know. but before left at twelve o'clocl
sen noon, between thirty and forty had been take
t a1s out dead They were horribly bruised an
IL mangled. One beautiful young girl, about 81,
on teen years old. had the back fher head knocke
in. There was one child about four months o
:. and many other children killed The engine
and tiremen Of the train, when they saw the ba
down, jumped off before the cars reached tt
bridge.
8. "When the cars ran off, those in the re
= ones screamed terrifcally. We put right ba
~ and rendered what assistance we could Peor
lust went to cutting the cars with axes and TAXI
ia Ia out the dead. Not one that was taken out
re-. the second car was alive. The excitement W
turs intense; women were rushing down with quill
i'm to cover the dead others were vainly strivi
nary to restore to life the poor victims they we
well taken OUT
r 4. Mr. Thomas Hicks, the artist, was in the f,
car with Miss King, of New York They occ
pied seat within four of the end of the car,
the right hand side, facing the engine. N
,xas Hicks describes the scene as follows:
II The cars were seemingly going at the usu
ses rate, when, without warming or intimation
any kind, he beheld the front part Of the c
=. rushing towards him in fragments, the passe
GUS gers being tossed in the air like chaff, dash
st up against the top Of the car, and thrown abe
,g n in a hurricane of destruction. In an insts
2z2o he found Miss King gone from his side, and hi
e self crushed under the partially fallen roof
NV the cor, and surrounded by choking atm
and phere in the midst of shapeless mass of rui
s. dead bodies on every hand, and the darker
ases car rapidly filling with water He began fe
ID for ing among the wreck and under the water
81. his companion, but she was nowhere to be foul
and He continued the search till the water had Ri
St to his chin, a time which he judged to have b
ags, about ten minutes, when, despairing of her
Y covery, he looked about him for mode Of esca
eel. Just behind him, at the corner of the car,
r A. beheld an aperture through which he craw
y. out upon the top. Here he fingered with a v
- to renew the search for his companion, when
lcle' was accosted by some one, who asked him
sst. whom he was looking. He described the LAD
- dress, when his interlocutor informed him,
rae, his inexpressible establishment and graticati
- that she had just gone out upon the track.
= IN ascertained afterward that the front of the
w. w. was stove to atoms by the conclusion, and t
aica the top Of it was split open literally the
rect. where he sat, and this occasioned that sid
fro, the roof to fall. 1t also appeared that dur
the instantaneous process Of splitting open
rect: top Of the car and the fall Of the ceiling
he'd, King, without any knowledge or agency Of
ml.s own, had been projected through the Gre
Que upon the top Of the car. And here, witt
6 St. having been wet, but with a severe wounc
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
rect Her escape, and the manner Of it especially,
q 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 to
way Of getting out. But he saw but one pc
vee avail himself of the notice, or escape in any
. ':The second passenger car dashed into the
.,,,n.> nearly half its leangth. The death Of ne
Witt. | all must have been sndfen and instantane