The bridge over the Glens Falls feeder of the Champlain canal, about one-quarter of a mile above Fort Edward, was the scene of a terrible railroad accident on Monday afternoon, by which three persons were killed and twenty-seven wounded.
    Edward Deal, driving the locomotive W. B. Culver, pulled the train which started out of Glens Falls at three o'clock to connect with the north bound express from Albany at Fort Edward. While crossing the wooden bridge at the canal feeder, the engineer felt the structure shiver. Fearful of the rickety old frame work, he opened the throttle and sent his engine on at a jump. But the bridge broke beneath the train, which consisted of a baggage and passenger car, precipitating them to the stream below into six feet of water. The engine snapped the coupling and rode safely away. The wreck of the two cars was total, the fall being sufficient to splinter the strongest timbers used in their construction. The scene of desolation and of death was heartrending. The townspeople flocked out en masse to lend a hand to the rescue. Such of the passengers as escaped serious injury also assisted in rescuing the wounded from the wreck. The work was attended with many difficulties, as the passenger car was half submerged in the canal. Holes were stove in the top of the passenger coach, out of which the maimed people were pulled. Not a person on board escaped unhurt, except Eddie White, of Lake George, the news agent. Three persons were killed outright, being pinioned in debris in the cars and crushed to death.

    Mrs. Michael Moynehan, of Glens Falls (she had a little child with her who escaped uninjured); Garrett Wynkoop, a glove manufacturer at Gloversville, and Dallas Crippin, proprietor of a billiard room at Glen's Falls. Mrs. Moynehan's death was caused by drowning. Wynkoop's and Crippin's skulls were fractured.

    The following persons were wounded: Patrick Howard, fireman, Glens Falls, head injured; Thomas Loomis, baggageman, Sandy Hill, shoulder dislocated and cut in forehead; James Brady, brakeman, Glen's Falls, leg broken and internal injuries; N. Goldstein, pack peddler, Glen's Falls, head cut and limbs bruised; E. D. Goldstein, Glen's Falls, bruised; William Scheffer, express-messenger, scalp wounds and hands bruised; Edward White, Caldwell, face cut; John Cashion, Glen's Falls, back injured; John H. Mesick, Saratoga, scalp wounds and badly bruised about chest; Mrs. B. Theise, arm broken and bruised; A. Ameden, North River, nose cut off; Mrs. L. M. Howland, Fort Edward, scalp wounds; Mrs. C. W. Cary, Fort Edward, ribs broken; Anna Tisdale, Whitehall, scalp wound and injuries to back; Mrs. Flora Galusha, Fort Edward, scalp wounds; Elisha G. Harrington, Warrensburgh, scalp wound and hands badly bruised; Cornelius Curtin, Waterford, leg badly bruised; Geo. L. Cleveland, Troy, bad cut back of head; James C. McIntyre, interested in the Ticonderoga pulp company, leg broken in two places, face badly bruised and nose entirely cut off; Edward Deal, engineer, Lake George, hip injured and face cut; a five-year-old son of Mrs. Moynehan, injured by being thrown to tow-path; Charles Balestrazzi, a Glens Falls peanut vender, ankle bruised; Jacob Falbstein, Glens Falls, head and arm injured. James Loomis, baggageman at the Sandy Hill depot, had a collar bone broken and face cut; John Jenkins, conductor, Lake George, face badly cut in two places, taken to the Waverly house, where he now lies; Mrs. L. M. Howland, Fort Edward, injured internally, body bruised and face cut by being thrown on the stove; Mrs. Charles W. Cary, Fort Edward, severe scalp wound and injuries to face and back; she narrowly escaped drowning; John H. Mesick, proprietor Albion house, Saratoga, severe injuries to chest and head; Abraham Wing, Fort Edward, head cut and burned; Mrs. N. A. Burritt, wife of the ticket agent at Fort Edward, had three ribs broken, and was injured internally; Benedict Theise, a jewelry peddler, of Fort Edward, severe scalp wounds, dislocated shoulder and cuts on face.
    McIntyre's lower jaw was broken, and he received injuries of the back. He was taken to the residence of S. S. Hubbell of Fort Edward. It is thought he will recover. Thomas Conners, brakeman, has a broken leg, several teeth knocked out and his face cut.

    The wounded were removed to the railroad station and houses in the vicinity of the wreck, where they were attended by physicians from Fort Edward and Glen's Falls. The bodies of the dead were taken to the station. The residents of the village did all possible in caring for the wounded.

    This was the fourth railroad accident experienced by Deal. Several years ago he went to the bottom of Lake Champlain with his engine. Last winter, on the Caldwell branch of the Del. & Hud. road, while assisting a fireman in connecting an engine to a train, he was caught between the engine and a car and terribly bruised. His escape at that time was considered almost miraculous. He had scarcely recovered from the casualty when his engine was thrown from the track near Glen's Falls by ice between the rails. He was not injured, but his fireman was killed. Deal is considered one of the best engineers in the employ of the Delaware & Hud. road.

    The locomotive which drew the train was the W. B. Culver, and was the same which engineer Deal ran the morning of the Glens Falls casualty. At that time the engine was badly damaged, and it was at first thought unworthy of repair. It was rebuilt, however, and returned to engineer Deal, who was as attached to it as a parent to a child.

    Men began erecting Tuesday morning a temporary trestle to replace the fallen bridge. The cars were so badly wrecked that they were set fire to and burned.

    John Jenkins, the conductor, was in the middle of the car when it went down. He was seriously disabled but did not lose his presence of mind. Binding his cap on his hand, he broke through the windows of the left side and crawled to the roof. Some of the bridge timbers had crushed through the roof, and these were removed and the occupants of the car were released through the aperture.

    The character of the bridge will be fully investigated by the jury empaneled on Monday night by Coroner Vandenburg. It is said to have been considered safe by the railroad authorities, although not by any means a model structure. The test of heavily loaded trains run during the summer was supposed to have been sufficient. Still, the people are inclined to blame the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company for not replacing it with iron, as will have to be done in all probability. It is said the trackman at Fort Edward was notified that a middle beam was broken at the bridge half an hour before the accident occurred. Pieces of the stringers of the bridge have been picked up since the accident that are nearly rotted through.

    A freight train of eleven loaded cars, drawn by the locomotive Theodore Voorhees, passed down the Fort Edward branch and over the bridge twenty minutes in advance of the illfated train, The railroad officials conclude from this fact that the bridge would not have fallen but for some unforseen defect.

    Engineer Deal of the Culver states that as the train crossed the bridge he was stooping down in the act of picking up his jacket. Suddenly he felt a twitching sensation, and was thrown violently against the side of the engine. Then there was a crash, and he realized an accident had occurred. He reversed his engine, and the locomotive stopped on the track.
    Patrick Howard, the fireman, was thrown head and shoulders through the front window, and back again and out of the side window of the cab, landing on the ground near the track.

    Ex-Sheriff Talbott, of Essex county, was standing near the bridge at the time of the accident. He states that he saw the train enter the bridge, and suddenly cars and bridge dropped from sight. He was the first person to reach the cars. A boy obtained an ax for Talbott and he cut a hole in the top of the passenger coach, which had separated from the trucks and tipped in such a position that water filled the west side of it. The first person he saw was conductor Jenkins. It was half an hour before the dead and injured were removed, Talbott states, and he also says that such a sad sight was never before viewed by him.

    As the train struck the bridge engineer Deal says he felt the structure give and sink. Several of the passengers with most of the train hands were in the baggage car. The bridge was a wooden affair about sixty feet long, the span between the abutments being about fifty feet. The whole woodwork of the bridge gave away with a crash heard all over the village, and the passenger coach and baggage car went down about thirty feet in the feeder and seven feet of water. The locomotive remained on the bank. The coupling to the tender held the forward end of the tender on the bank. The coupling between the baggage car and tender gave way. The sudden stopping of the locomotive threw engineer Deal forward, bruising his face and cutting his head. Fireman Patrick Howard escaped with slight bruises. The lower edge of the passenger car was in the water about two feet, the other end remaining on the bank.
    The first body to be removed was that of Mrs. Mary J. Moynehan of Glens Falls. She was dead. One leg was cut off and hanging by the skin and her head was crushed in. She was about fifty years old and leaves a husband. She was trying to save her child, holding it up when she was killed. She was found under the water.
    John Cashion, of Glens Falls, who was badly bruised, recently recovered a verdict of $2,500 against the Delaware & Hudson Canal company for injuries sustained when in their employ.
    Superintendent Voorhees was soon on the scene, looking after the clearing away of the wreck and the care of the injured.

Source:

Unknown, "Crushed Through a Bridge, Three Persons Killed and Twenty-seven Wounded in a Disaster at Fort Edward, Thrilling Details," Plattsburgh Sentinel, Plattsburgh, New York, Friday, 26 October, 1883, Page 1.