Norwalk, Connecticut, USA (Rowayton) (South Norwalk) (East Norwalk)
1853 - Awful Railroad Accident. FIFTY PERSONS KILLED!

NORWALK (CT) May 6. The 8 o'clock train for New York, ran off the draw-bridge into the river, near this place. One car was completely submerged and two others completely demolished. There has been a terrible loss of life. The excitement is so great that it is impossible to get a list of the killed or injured. The engine went through first, followed by two passengers cars. The 4th passenger car split in two, one half of which was thrown into the river, and the other half caught on the draw.

10 P. M. Thus far, 49 dead bodies have been recovered, and two of the injured have died; 18 others are seriously injured, and three dangerously. Among the lost is the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Griswold.

There are probably ten or more dead bodies in the creek. Most of the bodies recovered were those of physicians who had been attending the medical Convention in this city and were on their way home. The conductor, Mr. Comstock, was in the second car, but escaped with many bruises, but not dangerous wounds. The express agent escaped badly wounded. The bodies which have been recovered are much disfigured, and recognition is in many cases difficult. The wounded have the same benefit of ample medical assistance. The mails and most of the baggage has been had been saved in a damaged condition.

The drawbridge was open, the steamboat Pacific having just passed through. The locomotive baggage car and two passenger cars plunged into the river, fifteen feet below the surface. Every person in the first two cars were either killed or severely injured.

Drs. Ives and Wilcoxen, of New Haven, went down in the baggage car and were under water, but broke out and escaped. The news-boy in the broken car escaped unhurt. An infant in care of its aunt, on the way to its parents in Springfield, was saved the aunt however, was killed.

It appears that the train left New York with about 200 passengers, a number of whom were bound to Bridgeport and other places in Connecticut. The United States Medical Convention having terminated its sessions in New York city, many of its members, among whom were some of the most distinguished physicians of the land, were on board.

The train proceeded as usual, until it reached South Norwalk, a distance of about 44 miles from New York. At this place is a bridge across the river, with a draw which swings to one side, leaving an open space for vessels to pass through. It appears that before the train reached Norwalk, the draw had been opened to allow the steamer Pacific to pass through. The steamer had cleared the bridge, but before the draw could be replaced, the train suddenly approached the bridge going at a rate of thirty miles an hour, and perhaps faster.

The water at this place, at high tide, is about nine feet deep, and the soft mud beneath it also quite deep.

There is, we believe, a regulation that the train shall not pass the bridge at a higher rate of speed than six miles an hour. It was in fact passing at a rapid rate - as fast, according to all account, as thirty miles an hour.

On a high pole at the draw, a signal is placed, the position of which is, according to the rules of the road, to be arranged by the draw-tender, to indicate that the way is clear, or otherwise, as the case may be. It is likewise customary for a man to wave a flag at or near the entrance of the bridge, in the village, to indicate to the engineer that there are no impediments in that immediate locality, as well as to keep people from the track. The engineer alleges that he looked our seasonably, and that he not only saw the flag waving at the point last mentioned, but the signal on the pole at the draw so arranged as to indicate that all was right for the train to pass, and that he accordingly went on.

The draw-tender, on the other hand, asserts that the reverse was the case - that he made the signal that the draw was open, and the bridge of course impassable. The fault therefore, lies between these two men.

An investigation will determine upon which the dreadful responsibility must rest.

The draw being thus open, the advancing train leaped into the chasm. The engine went first, and was buried in the mud so deep that at low water it was out of sight. The engineer, who says he had reversed his engine, saved himself by leaping off at the abutment of the bridge. The fireman saved himself in a similar manner. The baggage and smoking car in which there were a number of persons, fell upon the engine, followed by two passenger cars; a third passenger car fell half way down, end broken in two, a portion of the passengers falling into the water, while others managed to save themselves, some of them being injured. The first passenger car contained some forty persons, many of whom were rescued through the roof. The baggage-car, when it struck the engine was much broken up, and the persons in it killed. One of the passengers cars was wholly submerged, and every person in it suppose to drowned.

The Farmers' Cabinet
Amherst, New Hampshire
May 12, 1853

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