Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

Wreckage of the Montreal Express 1887

This week we have an image from a folder titled “Hartford Vermont Bridge Disaster, February 5, 1887.” A card on the back of the image acts as a key for various images within a collection. An x indicates that this image is the eighth in the collection. The caption reads “Near view of south abutment from the ice with debris and the broken journal in foreground.”

As the folder name suggests, the Hartford Vermont Bridge disaster, the worst in the history of Vermont, occurred early in the morning on Saturday, February 5th, 1887. The Montreal Express jumped the tracks just outside of White River Junction and plunged fifty feet to the frozen river below. The wreckage caught fire, burning many of the unfortunate passengers alive. It’s reported that fifty to sixty died in the wreck, although the exact number isn’t known. See more images of the Hartford, Vermont bridge disaster here.