Taunton, MA Train Wreck, May 1853

ANOTHER FRIGHTFUL RAILROAD ACCIDENT.

Saturday afternoon, as we learn from the Gazette, at half past two o'clock, as the New Bedford and Taunton train was about one mile and a half below Taunton, the axletree of the tender gave out, causing a succession of serious mishaps. The tender was immediately thrown down an embankment of thirty feet. The baggage car, directly behind, was precipitated below, on the right of the track, and also the succeeding car, in which were twenty-five passengers. All three were completely demolished. As if by a miracle, no lives were lost.--- Fifteen persons were more or less injured.

The cars and tender were thrown some forty feet from the track, and in their fearful passage completely revolved three times. The rails of the track were torn up for several rods. No defect was discovered in the axletree.

The Farmers' Cabinet, Amherst, NH 12 May 1853

More Rail Road Accidents.

A serious accident occurred on the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad, last Saturday afternoon. As the accommodation train reached half a mile below Taunton, a wheel of the tender broke. The tender, baggage car, and passenger car, with twenty-five passengers, were thrown off the track, and precipitated down an embankment thirty feet high. An eye witness says that it is little abort of a miracle that all in the train were not killed. The cars were broken to pieces. Several persons were injured, only two severely. Thomas S. Hathaway, of Somerset, Mass., who is here on a visit to his friends, was very badly hurt. He was brought to the city, and is doing as well as can be expected. His face was shockingly mangled, and he will probably lose the use of one leg. Oliver Lewis, carriage maker, was also hurt, but not badly. Two colored people, belonging to this city, whose names we did not learn, a man and a woman, were injured, but not seriously. ---------Providence Journal

The Barre Patriot, Barre, MA 13 May 1853
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!