, 1878-02-09
The Pennington River Railroad
Disaster.


We gather the following par
ticulare Of the frightful railroad
disaster which occurred on the
Farmingten river, Connecticut,
on the 18th ult., from the, New
York Herald. There were at the
time of the accident six hundred
persons on the. train, fourteen Of
whom were killed outright and
twenty severely and many slight
ly wounded. The passengers
We're bound for Millcrton, to at
tend a Moody and Sankey meet
ing at that place. What follow
ed after the bridge gave way can
only be gathered by view of
the wreck and from the state
ments of the passengers who re-
lated their experience at that
awful moment:
The first engine, the Sauls-
bury, cleared the yawning
chasm of the frozen river, twen-
ty feet below, at one gignatic
bound, and so terrific was the
force of the leap that the great
engine turned fairly over in a
somersault and landed upon the
dry land opposite with its bot
tom up, killing its engineer,
George P. Hatch, outright. The
second engine, the Tariffville,
shot against the bank, tearing
off its cab in an instant, the roof
of which, falling upon it's engin-
eer, Thomas Franey, broke his
jaw, and leaves him now hover
ing between life and death. This
engine, which rolled back from
the bank from the effect of the
shock, now lies on its side in a
somewhat shattered condition,
partially submerged. The bag
gage car next in order crashed
through the bridge down upon
the ice, through which it went
slowly to the bottom, depth Of
FIVE or six feet, but not until it's
upper part had been smashed to
fragments by the first passenger
car. This car in turn swung half
around, pointing almost up and
down the river, and also fell
through the ice, and like great
battering ram descended upon it,
the front end of the second pas
senger car reducing all its upper
part to kindling wood. This
end of the second passenger car
then descended to the bottom,
the length of the car resting at
q sharp angle to the central pile
of the bridge, upon which the
rear platform rested. The third
passenger car in striking swung
diagonally, SO that it's endpassed
instead of telescoping the car be-
fore, and pitched headforemost
into the river, its rear, however,
resting against the abutment and
remaining there. The remaining
car safely kept upon the track,
the one in the lead being pre-
vented from going off the bridge
by striking against the upturned
ends of the second and third
passenger cars. This was the
effect of the break, as gathered
from the present position of the
debris, most Of which is still
submerged, and now ensued
what is described by all the
saved as a remarkable scene.
1t was nearly ten o'clock at
night, intensely cold, and, fortu-
nately, brilliant moon shone
upon the victims who tried to eff
feet their escape. The icy wa
ter, running inthrough tke shat
tered windows, doors and aper
lures IN tremendous sheets, was
in its greatest force in the first
passenger car, ard most Of those
that were killed are supposed to
have been drowned outright, as
q shrek of horror rang out up
on the brilliant, cold night from
nearly five hundred throats, and
as the ringing of the village
bells sounded the alarm the
thought probably uppcrmost in
everybody's mind was the Ash
tabula disaster was to be repeat
ed and the cars would burst
forth in flames.
\ From the ruins of the first pas
senger car, immersed in five feet
Of water, one passenger after
another was drawn completely
soaked, whose garments turned
to Ice when exposed for a few
minutes to the freezing temper