| From the New Orleans Daily Crescent |
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| November 26, 1861 |
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| Terrible Explosion of a Locomotive {of
the New Orleans & Carrollton RR} |
| One Man Killed and Two Scalded |
| The residents of the
neighborhood of the Jefferson {& Lake
Pontchartrain} Railroad depot, on the corner of Triton walk and
Apollo street, were startled yesterday by the terrific explosion of
the boilers of a locomotive. The nose was equal to that made by a
whole park of heavy artillery when fired at once, and pieces of the
machinery flew about in all directions, over ten squares off. For a
few moments the excitement was intense in the vicinity, and the result
showed that there was cause enough, as the destruction had not been
confined to the immediate neighborhood of the locomotive, but that
whole section of the city suffered more or less. One piece of the
machinery, weighing nearly two thousand pounds, was thrown over five
squares from the depot, and, falling on the roof of a house occupied
by Mr. W. H. Lindo, crushed its way through and down to the floor of
his bed-room, totally demolishing everything in that part of the
house. His furniture and crockery ware were made a complete wreck, and
the house looked as if an 120 pound shell had exploded inside. |
| Another piece of the
machinery, weighing several hundred pounds, was thrown across the
street, tearing down everything which was in its way, until it struck
a brick house, part of the wall of which, it knocked down. Other
pieces fell in various localities, endangering the lives of women and
children, and frightening every one nearly to death. The locomotive
had just been detached from the train, and was being switched off when
it exploded. The switchman, an Irishman, named Martin Dougherty, was
killed instantly, and the engineer and fireman very badly scalded,
besides being hurt internally by the inhalation of steam. As the
locomotive was completely demolished, we could form no idea as to the
cause of the accident, and as the engineer and firemen were both
speechless, we could gather nothing from them. We presume, however,
that the matter will be the subject of legal investigation as soon as
possible. |
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