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Walter
French
Walter French was born on
8-29-1810 in Billerica and was the son of Luther French (#28 in Hazen's
book.) I'll admit that at
first when I was browsing through the
French family tree in Hazen's book, I didn't first give much thought to
Walter until I read when he died. He died on 5-6-1853 in Norwalk, Connecticut on a train going over a
bridge that still
had its drawbridge open for ships to
pass under. Something about
that date reminded me of a story I'd read not
too long ago about a train that had
fallen into a Connecticut river because its drawbridge was still open.
So
I went to the library to see if this
story had matched the date that Walter's death occurred on.
I found the book
called "Buried Treasures of New
England" by W. C. Jameson in the Burlington library and quickly
flipped the
pages to find the story. And
yes, the dates matched exactly. The
story in the book had happened on 5-6-1853 in
Connecticut exactly the same day and
same way that Walter had died.
Here's what happened
according to W. C. Jameson. The
New Haven Railroad train had started its trip early in
the morning of May 6, 1853 from CT to Massachusetts (It may have actually
started in New York).
On board this train was a famous English importer of
fine jewels and precious
stones named Thaddeus Birke. He was on his way to Massachusetts for a formal gathering
held by Boston
millionaire, Nigel Massey. On
the train, Thaddeus was carrying in the leading car with him, 2 wooden
trunks full
of precious jewels - diamonds, pearls, gold and silver jewelry that he was
hoping to show at the gathering and
hopefully be able to do some business.
The total approximate worth of all these jewels was around
$250,000.
As the train approached the
town of Stamford, CT, around 10:00, the steamship 'Pacific' was nearing
the
Norwalk River Railroad bridge. In a control tower adjacent to the drawbridge, the operator
saw the steamship
coming and began making preparations to open the drawbridge so that the
steamship could go through. This
drawbridge
was different than most drawbridges. When opened, the middle section of
the bridge turned in such a way as
to lie parallel with the water below
instead of having two ends go up like most drawbridges.
The operator
signaled to alert any oncoming trains
that the drawbridge was going to be turned and then he activated the
mechanism so the 'Pacific' steamship could go through.
After he signaled the ok , the steamship slowly
made its way through.
Once the steamship was out of the way, the operator turned to
adjust the mechanism
back so that the drawbridge could be
closed. Just as he was
getting ready to do this, he noticed in horror the
New Haven Railroad train coming full steam down its track towards the
still open drawbridge. The
occupants in
the train obviously did not get the signal about the drawbridge being
opened. As soon as the
engineer and
crew of the train realized the drawbridge was open, they jumped from the
train into the river below.
The uncontrolled train
seemed to pick up more speed as it hurled its way closer to the open
drawbridge. It
ran off its tracks and two passenger
cars fell into the river below with a third passenger car, hanging over
the
bridge.
Witnesses watched as freight, mail, luggage and dead passengers
fell into the river, some of which
got caught up in the current and floated out to sea.
46 people were killed in that train wreck, including
Thaddeus Birke and our Billerican, Walter French.
As the days passed,
volunteers tried to remove the wreckage from the river.
Some of the freight was
salvaged but the majority of it had
floated out to sea or sunk to the bottom of the river.
Of those that are
thought to be at the bottom of the
river, possibly, are those two wooden trunks of Birke's full of the jewels
he
had planned to show at the formal
gathering in Boston.
They may still be there as
they were never found.
As for Walter French, there
is no mention of whether his body was recovered.
To read more on other buried
treasures that may still be out there, read "Buried Treasures of New
England" by
W. C. Jameson; ISBN 0-87483-485-6;
August House Publishers. Who
knows? Maybe you will find
one of those buried treasures
yourself! And remember, it's always nice to share! Give me a
call if you find some treasure!
-Binny
copyright
2003
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