 Ellet and Stephens continued writing to Griswold 's ex @-@ wife , urging her to have the divorce repealed . Myers was finally convinced and filed in Philadelphia on September 23 , 1853 . The court , however , had lost records of the divorce and had to delay the appeal . Adding to Griswold 's troubles , that fall , a gas leak in his home caused an explosion and a fire . He was severely burned , losing his eyelashes , eyebrows , and seven of his finger nails . That same year , his 15 @-@ year @-@ old daughter , Emily , nearly died in Connecticut . A train she was riding on had fallen off a drawbridge into a river . When Griswold arrived he saw 49 corpses in a makeshift morgue . Emily had been pronounced dead when pinned underwater but a doctor was able to revive her . On February 24 , 1856 , the divorce appeal went to court , with Ellet and Stephens providing lengthy testimony against Griswold 's character . Neither Griswold nor Myers attended and the appeal was dismissed . Embarrassed by the ordeal , McCrillis left Griswold in New York and moved in with family in Bangor , Maine . 
