1853 — May 6, Train goes through open drawbridge into Norwalk Riv., So. Norwalk CT-45-46

–45-46 Blanchard estimated death-toll range.*

— 56 Haine. Railroad Wrecks. 1993, p. 31.
—< 50 Childs. History of the United States. 1886, p. 139. -- 50 Simonds. The American Date Book, 1902, p. 93. -- 46 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 433. -- 46 Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. Notes on Railroad Accidents. 1879, p. 91. -- 46 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours, 1977, p. 736. -- 46 National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Railroad Historical Almanac 1840-1859. 2006. -- 46 New York Times. “The Norwalk Catastrophe,” May 9, 1853, p. 1. -- 46 Reed, R.C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line., 1968, 9. -- 46 Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” -- 46 Willsey and Lewis. “Memorable Railroad Accidents,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 673 -- 45 MA Board of RR Commissioners. “Accidents…,” Third Annual Rpt., Is.9, Pt.2, 1872, ci. -- 45 Sparks. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1854. 348. -- 45 Whittemore. Fulfillment…History of…Empire State…Steamboat Navigation, 1909, 75. -- 40 Holbrook, Stewart H. The Story of American Railroads (5th printing). 1959, p. 276. *Blanchard note: We choose not to use the outlier sources. Have found Haine unreliable in that he frequently draws upon early press reporting. Similarly we have found Childs and Simonds not always reliable, possibly because of reliance on early press reporting. We choose not to rely on Holbrook in that his death-toll number is out of keeping with the majority of sources. The reason we show numbers we do not use is to make the point that one should never rely on a single source, not even older government documents. While not the case here, we have seen several federal agencies report differing death statistics for the same event. Narrative Information Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. Notes on Railroad Accidents. 1879: “The railroad at Norwalk crosses a small inlet of Long Island Sound by means of a draw-bridge, which is approached from the direction of New York around a sharp curve. A ball at the mast-head was in 1853 the signal that the draw was open and the bridge closed to the passage of trains. The express passen¬ger train for Boston, consisting of a locomotive and two baggage and five passenger cars, containing about one hundred and fifty persons, left New York as usual at eight o'clock that morning. The locomotive was not in charge of its usual engine-driver but of a substitute named Tucker; a man who some seven years before had been injured in a previous collision on the same road, for which he did not appear to have been in any way responsible, but who had then given up his position and gone to California, whence he had recently returned and was now again an applicant for an engineer's situation. This was his third trip over the road, as substitute. In approaching the bridge at Norwalk he apparently wholly ne-glected to look for the draw-signal. He was running his train at about the usual rate of speed, and first became aware that the draw was open when within four hundred feet of it and after it had become wholly impossible to stop the train in time. He im¬mediately whistled for brakes and reversed his engine, and then, without setting the brake on his tender, both he and the fireman sprang off and escaped with trifling injuries. The train at this time did not ap¬pear to be moving at a speed of over fifteen miles an hour. The draw was sixty feet in width; the water in the then state of the tide was about twelve feet deep, and the same distance below the level of the bridge. “Although the speed of the train had been materially reduced, yet when it came to the opening it was still moving with sufficient impetus to send its locomotive clean across the sixty foot interval and to cause it to strike the opposite abutment about eight feet below the track; it then fell heavily to the bottom. The tender lodged on top of the locomotive, bottom up and resting against the pier, while on top of this again was the first baggage car. The second baggage car, which contained also a compartment for smokers, followed, but in falling was canted over to the north side of the draw in such a way as not to be wholly submerged, so that most of those in it were saved. “The first passenger car next plunged into the opening; its forward end crushed in, as it fell against the baggage car in front of it, while its rear end dropped into the deep water below; and on top of it came the second passenger car, burying the passengers in the first beneath the debris, and itself partially submerged. The succeeding or third pas¬senger car, instead of following the others, broke in two in the middle, the forward part hanging down over the edge of the draw, while the rear of it rested on the track and stayed the course of the remainder of the train. “Including those in the smoking com¬partment more than a hundred persons were plunged into the channel, of whom forty-six lost their lives, while some thirty others were more or less severely injured. The killed were mainly among the passen¬gers in the first car; for, in falling, the roof of the second car was split open, and it finally rested in such a position that, as no succeeding car came on top of it, many of those in it were enabled to extri¬cate themselves; indeed, more than one of the pas¬sengers in falling were absolutely thrown through the aperture in the roof, and, without any volition on their part, were saved with unmoistened garments.” “These terrible disasters were both due , not alone to the carelessness of the two engine-drivers, but to the use of a crude and inadequate system of sig¬nals. It so happened, however, that the legislature of Connecticut was unfortunately in session at the time of the Norwalk disaster, and consequently the public panic and indignation took shape in a law compelling every train on the railroads of that state to come to a dead stand-still before enter¬ing upon any bridge in which there was a draw. This law is still in force, and from time to time, as after the New Hamburg catastrophe, an unreason¬ing clamor is raised for it in other states. In point of fact it imposes a most absurd, unnecessary and annoying delay on travel, and rests upon the Connecticut statute book a curious illustration of what usually happens when legislators undertake to incorporate running railroad regulations into the statutes-at-large. It is of a par with another law, which has for more than twenty-five years been in force in Connecticut's sister state of Massachusetts, compelling in all cases where the tracks of different companies cross each other at a level the trains of each company to stop before reaching the crossing, and then to pass over it slowly. The danger of collision at crossings is undoubtedly much greater than that of going through open draws. Precau¬tions against danger in each case are unquestion-ably proper and they cannot be too perfect, but to have recourse to stopping either in the one case or the other simply reveals an utter ignorance of the great advance which has been made in railroad sig¬nals and the science of interlocking. In both these cases it is, indeed, entitled to just about the same degree of respect as would be a proposal to recur to pioneer engines as a means of preventing acci¬dents to night trains.” “…it is a curious fact that neither at grade crossings nor at draws has the mere stopping of trains proved a sufficient protection. Several times in the ex¬perience of Massachusetts' roads have those in charge of locomotives, after stopping and while moving at a slow rate of speed, actually run them¬selves into draws with their eyes open, and after¬wards been wholly unable to give any satisfactory explanation of their conduct….” (Adams 1879, 90-91, 94-95.) Childs: “A sad disaster occurred on the New York and New Haven Railroad on the 6th of May. A drawbridge of sixty feet in width, across the Norwalk River, was opened to admit the passage of a vessel. A train advancing at unusual speed, in broad daylight, rushed into the opening and was plunged into the water. Over fifty persons were killed, many of whom were physicians returning from a convention held at New York.” (Childs 1886, 139) Haines: This train left New York City at 8:00 in the morning destined for Boston. “The train consisted of a locomotive, three passenger coaches, a smoking car, and a baggage car. On board were about 218 passengers, a large number of whom were physicians returning home after attending a convention of the Medical Association in New York. “At South Norwalk, Connecticut, at 10:00 A.M., the train, running at fifty miles per hour, plunged into the Norwalk River off an open drawbridge. The draw, shortly before the accident, had been opened to allow the passage of the steamer Pacific. The width of the draw was sixty feet but such was the speed of the train that the engine nearly leaped the open space, instead striking the wall on the opposite side of the bridge with tremendous force. The locomotive, baggage car, two passenger car was broken in the middle with the fore part only entering the water. Every person in the first two passenger coaches, as well as those in the fore part of the third car, was killed outright, drowned, or seriously injured. “By 10:00 P.M. 6 May 1853, 48 bodies had been recovered with 100 others receiving varying degrees and types of injuries. The dead included 12 women and 2 children. Eight other persons known to be on the train were never accounted for…. “An investigation of the wreck by a coroner’s jury found that the catastrophe was due to the surviving engineer’s failure to observe and act on a stop signal which had been placed in a display position on a pole when the draw bridge opened and which was visible for at least a mile. Edward Tucker, the engineer, and his fireman, who had both jumped from the locomotive just before the tragedy, were arrested and held in custody pending a possible trial. Tucker was eventually charged with gross negligence and was held primarily responsible for the disaster. “The Norwalk calamity was at the time the most serious railroad accident in American history. The final death toll was fixed at 48 plus 8 missing for a total of 56 persons.” (Haines 1993, 34) NRHS: “May 6, 1853 An eastbound New York & New Haven train, despite a signal indicating an open drawbridge, plunges into the Norwalk River at South Norwalk, Connecticut, killing 46. It is the second major rail disaster in less than two weeks (see April 25, 1853).” (National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Railroad Historical Almanac 1840-1859. 2006.) NYT, The Norwalk: According to a New York Times report of the time, the river was about 12 feet in depth, with three to four feet of mud at the bottom. The baggage car landed on top of the engine and the passenger cars “were on top of each other.” “…instead of forty-eight bodies stated to have been recovered on Friday, only forth-six had been found up to last evening….Nor is it at all likely that any more bodies will be found…. The entire number conjectured to have entered the train at this City, is 218, but this is only surmise, and our list of dead, injured, and saved, reaches 213. There cannot, therefore, be more than two or three bodies yet to be discovered… “At the time of the catastrophe there were only eight persons in the smoking car, and as that car, when pitched into the river, rested upon the pile of the bridge, it was only partially submerged, and the door being open to accommodate the smokers, escape was comparatively easy. The locomotive and tender are still in the river, so deeply embedded in the mud that it is believed to be impossible to extricate them without the assistance of Bishop’s derrick, which, proceeding up the East River, and down the Norwalk River, will perhaps reach the spot to-day. “The scene at the drawbridge, on Saturday, was very animated. About a hundred men were employed in dragging from the river, the wheels and fragments of the ruined cars…. The dead had all been decently laid in coffins, purchased by the Company, and the trains, of which some extra ones were run for the occasion, brought, on each arrival, a crowd of friends and relatives to identify the bodies and take them home. Thus a train of coffins kept moving from the depot to the cars, attended by weeping and wailing guardians. Hundreds of strangers, influenced by sympathy or curiosity, or both, flocked in relays about the coffins, opened the lids, and commented, many with trembling voices and tearful eyes, upon the features and person of the dead…. “The Jury continued the inquest during Saturday, but adjourned without a verdict…The Connecticut Legislature took action on the subject of the catastrophe…A Committee appointed by them will meet at Norwalk on Wednesday, and proceed to make a searching investigation into the whole affair…. It is still the general belief that Tucker, the engineer, is the party solely to blame…. “The following has been handed to us by M. Whistler, the Superintendent of the road. It is the sixth in the list of rules provided for the guidance of the engineers and other servants of the Company: All Trains must run with care in approaching Norwalk River Bridge. Trains going East from Norwalk Station will move around the curve with exceeding care – and Conductors of Trains out of time are cautioned about crossing the bridge; they will be held responsible for the safety of their Trains. (New York Times. “The Norwalk Catastrophe,” May 9, 1853, p. 1.) NYT, Eyewitness Letter: From “Letter from an Eye-Witness,” to the New York Times, Norwalk, Saturday, May 7: I have no hesitation in saying that if ordinary caution had been used in approaching the bridge, this frightful tragedy would never have occurred. Immediately before reaching the bridge, the track forms a curve, so that the bridge itself is not within sight till you are almost upon it…. I was present at the time of the catastrophe. I was not on board the cars, and I was very near the drawbridge. The draw was raised when I approached the bridge, and the steamer Pacific had just passed through. It was then I first heard the noise of the approaching train. I thought to myself, ‘Good God, that is the express train.’ I ran toward the bridge, feeling that no earthly power could prevent an accident. I looked up at the signal pole, and the ball was down. The train dashed past me like lightning. I am a tolerable judge of railroad speed, and I should say the train was going at over thirty-five miles an hour. It might have been more – it certainly was not less….I was only one hundred yards from the bridge, and in a moment the locomotive had almost leaped the gulf – that fact alone is convincing that the rate of speed was not an ordinary one, as the draw is 60 feet wide. The engine and tender seemed to disappear together, and, rapid almost as thought, first the baggage car, then the second, went over the wall of the draw, a plunge of about twenty feet, into the water, which as at high tide. I heard the crash of breaking timbers, and one scream uttered simultaneously by many voices. Then, for a second or two, all was still as death; then I heard the gurgling of the waters, as they rushed into the cars, forming eddies or little whirlpools on the surface. In another moment, shrieks from those in the rear cars, and in the hind part of the third passenger car, filled the air.. [which] was nearly pulled into the water. There was, however, the restraining force of the rear cars, while the weight of those which had gone over operated, in front, to drag it over the wall. The consequence was that it snapped like a match; the flooring, the sides and the foremost end flying forward, with a jerk, half across the draw. Many of the seats and dislodged window-sashes, with a crowd of timber fragments, were impelled, some of them fully across the gulf, and two of the passengers, who were seated just at the spot where the car snapped asunder, were thrown full twenty feet forward, and pitched with frightful force upon the ruins of the second and first cars. The first passenger car was wholly submerged. Only a portion of one end of the second was visible, and the water soon covered that; I suppose by the sinking of the first car, upon which it had fallen, deeper into the mud. The baggage car was submerged, as also were the locomotive and tender….On hurrying to the beach, I saw forty or fifty persons struggling with the water, crawling up the end of the second passenger car, or catching at fragments of the floating wreck…. The passengers who were uninjured, and those whose bruises were sufficiently slight to allow them to exert themselves, thronged to the assistance of the drowning. The poor creatures were taken out of the car windows, axes were brought to break through the sides and roofs of the cars, and as fast as any one rose to the surface, an effort to save them was made by some men, who had put off in boats, or who had ventured into the water as far as their own safety permitted. The steamer Pacific which had just passed through the draw put back and ropes were thrown out, and a boat lowered. I did not see any one taken on board….” (NYT, “Letter from an Eye-Witness,” May 9, 1853.) Sparks: “May 6. – A terrible accident occurs on the New York and New Haven Railroad, at Norwalk, Conn. The drawbridge by gross carelessness is left open, and the cars are thrown into the water. Forty-five persons are killed, and many others severely injured.” (Sparks 1854, 348.) Sources Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. Notes on Railroad Accidents. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1879, 300 pages. Accessed at: http://www.archive.org/details/notesonrailroada00adamrich Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982. Haine, Edgar A. Railroad Wrecks. New York: Cornwall Books, 1993. Holbrook, Stewart H. The Story of American Railroads (5th printing). New York: Crown Publishers, 1959. Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners. Third Annual Report, Issue. 9, Part 2, Jan 1872. Boston: Wright & Potter, State Printers. Digitized by Google. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=VVIaAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages. National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Railroad Historical Almanac 1840-1859. NRHS, 2006, 17 pages. Accessed at: http://www.nrhs.com/almanac/rr-almanac-1840-1859.pdf New York Times. “Letter from an Eye-Witness.” May 9, 1853, p. 1. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE6DC1331E13BBC4153DFB3668388649FDE New York Times. “The Norwalk Catastrophe,” May 9, 1853, p. 1. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE6DC1331E13BBC4153DFB3668388649FDE Reed, Robert C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line. New York: Bonanza Books, 1968. Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC Sparks, Jared and George Partridge Sanger, Compilers. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1831. Boston: Gray and Bowen, Nov 11, 1830. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=OKs0AAAAMAAJ&dq=editions:LCCN05001604&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s Whittemore, Henry. Fulfillment of Three Remarkable Prophecies in the History of the Great Empire State Relating to the Development of Steamboat Navigation and Railroad Transportation, 1808-1908. Henry Whittemore, 1909. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=_ZRDAAAAIAAJ Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-1950_rail_accidents Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false