1862 — Jan 15, Train goes in Chesapeake & Delaware canal, open drawbridge ~St. Georges, DE-7

— 7  Dixon. Reflections on Delmarva’s Past (Blog). “Terrible Railroad Calamity…” 3-9-2009.

— 7  NYT. “Accident on the Delaware Railroad; A Train Precipitated Through…” 1-17-1862.[1]

 

Narrative Information

 

Dixon: “Early one Wednesday morning in January 1862, a train pulled out of New Castle while a furious ice, sleet and rain storm gripped northern Delaware. The extra with 13 empty platform cars and a passenger coach was proceeding down the Delaware road, with 25-laborers for a load of wood. It rolled safely past the quiet St Georges Station in the pre-dawn darkness.

 

“As it neared the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal the conductor, Albert Butler, stepped out onto the platform to look out for the drawbridge and apply the brakes if necessary.  But there was no light about the bridge as there should have been.  The draw, in order not to impede navigation on the canal was kept open, only being closed to allow trains to pass over.  He applied the brakes but the discovery came too late to stop the forward motion, especially with the ice on the road making things slippery.   Mr. Butler jumped to safety from his position in the back of the train, but about that time he heard the engine plunge into the canal, with car after car following behind, until all of them were piled upon each other.  The scene was one of horrible confusion, a mass of iron, timber, and human beings.  The engineer, Josiah Anderson was killed instantly, as well as the firemen, Edward Menam.

 

“Friends noted that Mr. Anderson, who had worked for the P. W & B. Railroad Company since 1836, was a careful engineer. Sy, as his friends called him, seldom traveled this road so he must have momentarily lost his reckoning, not thinking that he was near the bridge, they speculated.  Seven people were killed and a number were injured on that cold winter morning in Delaware so many years ago.” (Dixon, Mike. Reflections on Delmarva’s Past (Blog). “Terrible Railroad Calamity at the C& D Canal Drawbridge.” 3-9-2009.)

 

NYT: “A most fearful railroad accident occurred early yesterday morning, on the Delaware Railroad, just where the track crosses the canal, near St. George’s station, by which seven persons lost their lives, and fifteen were more or less injured. A wood train, consisting of thirteen platform cars, empty, and one old passenger, in which the conductor, Mr. ALBERT BUTLER, and some twenty laborers were seated, went down the Delaware road for a load of wood. When the train reached the high bridge which spans the canal, near the St. George’s station, the draw of the bridge was discovered to be open; but the discovery came too late to stop the train, the ice on the road preventing it, and it was precipitated into the canal, a distance of about sixty feet. Car upon car were piled in pieces upon each other, crushing a number of persons. The conductor, Mr. BUTLER, was, fortunately, standing outside of the car, and seeing the train was about to make the fearful plunge, jumped off and escaped; but he had no time to warn the workmen in the car, and the entire number were soon mixed with the ruins in the canal. The engineer of the train, JOSIAH ANDERSON, was killed instantly, as well as the fireman, EDWARD MENAM.

 

“The noise made by the breaking of the cars soon attracted the citizens of that vicinity and persons engaged upon the canal, and a dispatch was sent to Wilmington and Newcastle for assistance. The citizens assembled rendered every assistance in their power to rescue the unfortunate men that were still alive amid the wreck, and also to secure the remains of those who had been killed. In a short time the bodies of the engineer, fireman and the following were got out: WM. MCELWEE, WM. MENAM, JOSEPH DOLAN, NATHANIEL SHAY and JOSEPH GRIFFINS. The remains of these unfortunate men were taken to Newcastle, where most of them resided….” (NYT. “Accident on the Delaware Railroad; A Train Precipitated Through a Drawbridge Seven Persons Killed and a Number Injured.” 1-17-1862.)

 

Sources

 

Dixon, Mike. Reflections on Delmarva’s Past (Blog). “Terrible Railroad Calamity at the C& D Canal Drawbridge.” 3-9-2009. Accessed 12-15-2016 at: https://delmarvahistory.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/terrible-railroad-calamity-at-the-c-d-canal-drawbridge/

 

New York Times. “Accident on the Delaware Railroad; A Train Precipitated Through a Drawbridge Seven Persons Killed and a Number Injured.” 1-17-1862. Accessed 12-15-2016 at: http://www.nytimes.com/1862/01/17/news/accident-delaware-railroad-train-precipitated-through-drawbridge-seven-persons.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Cites the Philadelphia Ledger of Jan 16 as the source.