Thursday, January 7,
1858.
Accident on the Albany
and Harlem Railroad. A train on the Albany and Harlem Railroad came near
meeting with a serious accident on Saturday. The locomotive was thrown off the
track, upset and considerably damaged, in consequence of a switch having been
misplaced by some fiend in human shape. As soon as the accident occurred, some
of the employees on the road started with a hand truck to Croton Falls, for the
purpose of procuring another engine; and on their way thither they discovered
that several ties had been spiked down across the track, and a number of chairs
had been turned upside down and fastened to the rails in that position. Had it
not been for the accident to the engine by the misplacement of the switch, the
train would doubtless have run against the obstructions at full speed, and in
all probability resulted in a fearful loss of life. The misplacement of the
switch and the placing of the obstructions on the track were doubtless the work
of the same individual, and it is believed that the Company have secured the guilty
party and lodged him in jail at White Plains, where an investigation of the
affair will take place. The suspected person was discharged from the employment
of the Harlem Railroad Company only a few days ago and thus undertook to
manifest his animosity to the Company, regardless of its consequences to
unoffending travelers.Wednesday, January 18, 1858.
On the N. Y. & Erie R. R. on Saturday as an engine train of empty freight cars were
going westward from
Piermont [Rockland County], the boiler exploded, killing, almost instantly, the fireman named
Dalson, and a flagman named Lake, who was upon the engine. The engineer, wonderful
to relate, escaped nearly unharmed, The locomotive, valued at $10,000, was
shattered into fragments.
Monday, January 16, 1858.
There has been another fatal accident on the
Rochester Railroad bridge. A woman,
on Wednesday evening while walking on the track,
was overtaken and struck down by an engine cutting off both her legs, and
otherwise injuring her so that it is impossible for
her to survive.
Wednesday, February 3, 1858.
A panther was killed in St. Lawrence Co. last week.
It measured seven feet from the end of the nose to the tip of the tail, and was
two feet six inches in height.
Saturday, April 14,
1858
The New York Journal states that while the New York and Worcester train, connecting
the steamer
Commonwealth, was passing Nantick Monday morning, a ball of lightning
as large as the two
fists of a man descended, ran along the telegraph wire, and exploded with a
report as loud as a cannon. The wire was consumed, and the posts within a space
of half a mile were shivered from top to bottom. The passengers on the train
were greatly alarmed, as the ball of fire was all the time in sight, and the
explosion seemed as if beneath the cars. Had the train been under the wire it
must have been struck.
Tuesday, April 17, 1858
Killed. --A German was killed on the Central RR. by the
express train from Albany on
Saturday He was
walking on the track and was struck by the locomotive with such force
as to throw him a distance of twenty
feet. He was terribly mangled. His legs were cut
off and his head crushed
and mangled most horribly. He was taken into the cars, but
only survived his
injuries a few minutes. He never
spoke after the accident, in consequence of which his name and residence could not
be ascertained.
Utica Morning Herald and Daily Gazette Publisher Ellis H. Roberts*
Yesterday afternoon,
at about three o’clock a fearful calamity occurred on the Central Railroad,
about three miles west of Schenectady, resulting in the death of one man and
the probable fatal injury of another. The unfortunate individuals were in a
wagon going toward Galways’ Corners; as they approached the track, a locomotive
was going east from Amsterdam; the horse became frightened and unmanageable,
and just as the engine reached the crossing the animal plunged forward upon the
rails, when the locomotive struck the wagon, throwing its occupants upon the
track. One of the gentlemen was instantly killed, and his companion, a Mr.
Mead, had both his legs cut off, and will probably die. Both of the men
belonged at Galway. The locomotive was on the track for repairing purposes, and
was backing toward Schenectady at the time of the accident. We apprehend
carelessness on the part of the engineer
Monday, February 22, 1858. [Editorial] Railroading.
These be troublous times for travelling. What with the stopping of pitch and jerks, the breaking of axles, the splitting of rails, the cracking of wheels, and all the etcetera with their accompanying detentions, time tables are but mockeries at this season of the year. We in Utica feel this as much as any, and more than many. The Central R.R. trains fail to connect with the Watertown trains at Rome; the Watertown and Rome trains fail to connect with the Potsdam trains at Watertown. Passengers are subject to delays which provoke profanity; mails are delinquent with their important trusts; and by no means least in the catalogue of ills, our subscribers are made to go without their daily Herald when they go hungry for the morning meal of intelligence. Well, these things are provoking to patience and not pleasant to endure to be sure; but let us than Heaven they are no worse, and wait pleasantly for the "cold snap" to end its reign, and to give to Tantalus his walking ticket. [On Thursday, February 18, 1858, the temperature in Utica was fifteen degrees below zero.]
Wednesday, February 24, 1858.--Railroad News.
Thomas Foland, who refused to pay his fare to the Hudson River Railroad cars because the conductor could not provide a seat for him, and then sued the company for ejecting him, has obtained a verdict against them for $50, the judge ruling that conductors must find seats for passengers. This is the second trial of the issue stated. About two years since, Foland recovered a verdict of $100. An appeal was taken by the R.R. Company, and the result is as stated.
Saturday, April 17, 1858.
Myriads of wild pigeons [passenger pigeons] line the track of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad about sixty miles from Cincinnati. In nine hours, six sportsmen are reported to have killed over one thousand birds, which they sent to the city by the next train and sold at a speculation.
Monday, May 3, 1858.--Crimes and Casualties.
On Thursday morning, April 29, two engineers of the Central Railroad named John Wooliver and Hull Harvey, were in the railroad workshop at Syracuse, and a little boy came in accompanied by a pet dog. The two engineers seized the dog, saturated his hair with turpentine, and set it on fire, and the little animal was badly burned before some of the more humane workmen could extinguish the flames by throwing their coats over him. This act of wanton cruelty came to the knowledge of Deputy Superintendent Chittenden, when he promptly discharged both the engineers from the company's employ. He did right: a man with so inhuman disposition that he can take pleasure in torturing a dumb beast is not fit to live in decent society, and especially is it improper that he should have the lives of passengers placed in his keeping.
Monday, May 3, 1858.--Crimes and Casualties.
On Thursday morning, April 29, two engineers of the Central Railroad named John Wooliver and Hull Harvey, were in the railroad workshop at Syracuse, and a little boy came in accompanied by a pet dog. The two engineers seized the dog, saturated his hair with turpentine, and set it on fire, and the little animal was badly burned before some of the more humane workmen could extinguish the flames by throwing their coats over him. This act of wanton cruelty came to the knowledge of Deputy Superintendent Chittenden, when he promptly discharged both the engineers from the company's employ. He did right: a man with so inhuman disposition that he can take pleasure in torturing a dumb beast is not fit to live in decent society, and especially is it improper that he should have the lives of passengers placed in his keeping.
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