On the morning of December 4, 1891, four trains were scheduled to pass through East Thompson, in the town of Thompson in the northeastern corner of Connecticut: the hotshot Long Island & Eastern States Express from New York to Boston via a ferry across Long Island Sound; the Norwich Steamboat Express traveling to Boston from the quays of New London, Connecticut; the Southbridge Local freight to the town of that name just over the Massachusetts border; and freight train No.

At 6:40 am, just before the East Thompson station, the two freight trains collided head-on violently, jackknifing several cars and tossing one across both eastbound and westbound tracks.

All four engines, the sleeper, and a baggage car were destroyed, the track was torn up for about 500 yards (460 m) east of the passenger station, and hundreds of people were injured in the wreck.

)[2] Windham County coroner A.G. Bill ruled engineer Henry Wildes and conductor William Dorman of the 212 responsible for the deaths of Tabor and Fitzgerald.

Close by is a trail loop leading to the Tri-State Marker, a small obelisk-shaped monument at the intersection of the Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island state borders.