The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-08-02


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INTO AN OPEN DRAW.
For some years after the railroads had be-
gun business they enioyed q singular cx- |
emprion from serious accidents as COM
pared with the European corporations. and
il was not until 1853 that n really preat ca
lamitv occurred. When It came. however.
It made up for lost time. and the shock Of
Il had an adverse effect on railroad travel
and growth for several wears afterward. II
occurred on the morning of Nave at South
Norwalk. Conn. IN the New York. New
Haven and Hartford. and cost 40 lives. The
Roeton exnress from New York was rnsh-
ing along MT n high rate of speed when it |
went thronoh an onen draw in the bridge
which SPAWNED the river about 25O feet east
Of the South Norwalk station.
II was n bright. fine. clear day. and there
was absolutely no reason whv the accident
should have hannened. excent the careless
ness of the engineer in charge of the loco
motive. who should have seen the omen
draw. For IL minutes before the train WAS
due the bridge tender had displayed the
signal .sopen draw'' to enable the steam
boat Pacific to mass. but it was only a mo-
ment before the train went down that the
reckless engineer realized the impending
danger. and both he and his fireman Jumped
in time to escape with slight injuries. As
for the passengers, the first intimation
of peril thew had was when they felt
themselves going over til. abut1nent.
Tie train consisted of two baggage cars
and five coaches carving 256 people.
With the exception of the three last
coaches the entire train plunged into the
stream below, which was at h'-h tide, the
top of the water being only IL leet from the
strippers. Most of the u~nfortunates killed
were drowned like rats in q trap. h aas
Four years later, on March 10, 1857, came
an accident which cost GO lives, and though
it occurred in Canada-on the Toronto and
Hamilton railroad-it caused almost as
great a shock in the United States as it did
in British America. Among the killed was
Samuel Zimmerman, one of the widest and
best known men in the Dominion, and a
number of the officials of the road. In this
case the engine ran off the track. The
weight of the ponderous machine as it
struck the bridge timbers cut through them
as though they ere so many pipestems,
and tho engine, tender, baggage car and
two coaches were precipitated to the bot
tom of the canal, 60 feet below. Everybody
on the train was either killed instantly or
SO badly injured that they could not render
any assistance, and it was some time before
help came from Hamilton. Finally. how
ever, when the people did arrive, they were
almost powerless to bring succor to the dy-
ing, for the wreck lay piled up between two
precipitous walls 60 feet below. 1t was not
until ropes had been secured that the res
cuers could do anything toward extricat-
ing the 10 or 20 persons who still remained
alive.
On June 20, 1864, there occurred another
dreadful accident in Canada, this time cost
ing nearly 100 human lives, and making
the record for American railroad disasters.
The train which came to grief consisted of
II emigrant cars on the Grand Trunk rail
way. 1t carried besides the train hands 1855
people, and like the Norwalk wreck, the &C
cident was due to the gross negligence of
the engineer, who, disregarding the warn
ing signals, ran through an open draw on
the Beloit bridge at St. Hilaire, about 10
miles from Montreal. The scene of the
wreck, as described by eyewitnesses, was
something terrible. The cars fell in 10 feet
of water and were only partially submerged,
But the height from which they tumbled.
about 70 feet, smashed them into kindling
WOOD, and Wle0 the reSCu6r6 DuC III an ap-
pearance they found an Understandable mass
Of splintered wood, iron and human re-
mains. all damned together in a solid
heap. Ninety-ive bodies were recovered,
and 100 injured were taken out of the
wreck. Among the latter was the guilty
engineer. who went down with his engine,
but was not fatally hurt.
Tn the next great accident. which came to
ho known no the uAnuoIa horror ,, fra add.
ed to the terrors of the situation, The
New York express from Cleveland on the
Lake Shore road had been DELAYED, and
with a clear road ahead was running undo,
a full head of steam to make nm lost time
It was midwinter, Dec. IS, 1857, and ths
rails were covered with snow and ice. Al
Big Sisters bridge, a quarter of Il mile east
OF Angola, N. y, a wheel broke under the
last coach. and the car went tumbling ovel
the embankment Only Il passengers were