Evening journal., 1913-02-25
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Earliest Notable Dis
aSter in the United States
By Holland.

The late James D. Laying, who died
in 1908. was in his banking career
contemporaneous with and a part Of
the intellectual forces whicn made
the development Of American railways
possible. Mr. Laying began life as an
assistant to the englreerlns corps
which surveyed the line for the pro-
posed railroad from Pittsburgh to
Cincinnati
That was in 1S49. From that time
until the year 1900 Mr. Laying was
in active railway life and after long
service as important executive Of The
Chicago Northwestern railroad line,
he was summoned by the Vanderbilts
to take charge of the management OF
the West Short railroad. He was
vice president and general manager
of the West Shore until that system
was completely absorbed into the
New York Central about 1900.
Mr.. Laying had accumulated a vast
fund of anecdotal "reminiscences
which. as a whole, portrayed the de-
velopmcnt of the American railroads
from 1850 to 1900.
was chatting with Mr. Laying one
afternoon shortly after his retirement
from active railway life about the
precautions taken to prevent acct
dents. Something in the. conyersa-
tion reminded him Of an anecdote
which he said was told to him by a
prominent physician Of Connecticut
whose name. If he remembered corr
rectly was Woodward.
NN,aI.trat4a olnnln
think" said Mr.. Laying, shortly after
the Civil War. IL is my impression
that he visited Pittsburgh to attend
a medical convention.
Or Woodward asked me II 7 re-
membered the railroad accident which
occurred Just east Of the little town
Of South Norwalk Connecticut, about
1858.
"In reply 7 said that this accident
had made an indelible impression
upon the minds Of every one who was
engaged in the railroad business
about that time. I said that It was
the first of the great railway acci-
dents involving heavy loss OF life
For about twenty years railways had
been operated in the United States
without any startling accident. Rail-
way managers were beginning 10
think that the danger Of accident had
been overestimated. Then came the
news Of the appalling accident at the
drawbridge over the Norwalk river
CDR Woodward said to me: My
recollections OF that accident are
more vivid than yours. ! shall never
forget t. 7 was upon the train which
met with disaster was not only
upon the train but I was within a
foot or two myself Of death.
"'There had been a medical con-
vontion at Norwalk. and many Of the
delegates who lived IN the eastern
part OF the State and in Rhode Island
had taken this train for their homes
The train had got under fair head
way when OF a sudden there was a
jerk followed by Q crash. The cal
In which | was seated was broken
in two and the first third Of it drop
/ ped into the river The seat Which
occupied was the second from the
] point OF breakage. The car split In
two as though it had been halved by a
1 gigantic axe. The engineer had run
| into an open draw. 7 think some 30
! lives were lost I have often thought
since that time that II our party had
at that time been travelling in a heav-
/ iNI~UNiAI Adl Al' 'MiAAN - tiAh NRA''
/ have been submerged in that river. II
was the sender construction Of the
cars Of that day which caused it TO
break in two at point where the
/ weight was great enough 10 bring
about that effect
Nov the extraordinary thing about
( this Norwalk accident" said MI
I.ayng to nc. "was the fact that, al
though for about % years from tho
time Of the first railway operation IN
tho United States until this Norwalb
disaster there had been no startlinf
railway accidents. vet soon after this
tragedy OF Norwalk the country be
gan to be startled, with reports o
railway accidents. and these were 81
frequent I'm one year that many pcr
sons were dissuaded from travelling
Every accident. however. was follow
ed by the invention Of one or another
OF the safety appliances which hav'
made il practically impossible a
least upon leading railway systems
for trains to run to an open draw"
Copyright. 1913. by y J Edwards
All rights rcscrved)