Another Newspaper Account of The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

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I have written previously much about the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.  For a few examples, see:

Monday, September 24, 2007: The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Tuesday, September 25, 2007: More About the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Wednesday, September 26, 2007: The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 Continued . . .

Thursday, September 27, 2007: Findings of the Coroner's Inquest That Followed the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Friday, December 21, 2007: 1886 Poem Representing Fictionalized Account of the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Wednesday, January 9, 2008: The Aftermath of the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Bell, Blake A., The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885: "One of the Most Novel in the Records of Railroad Disasters, 80(1) The Westchester Historian, pp. 36-43 (2004).
Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes the text of a newspaper account of train wreck published in the December 28, 1885 issue of the Newark [Ohio] Daily Advocate.  The transcribed text is followed by a full citation to its source.

"DOWN AN EMBANKMENT.

-----

A Train Derailed by a Depot Platform.
Dead and Injured.

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., December 28. -- The train leaving New Haven bound west, known as the 'Big Owl,' met with a most singular accident at Pelhamville station, which resulted in the death of one of the train hands, the serious injury of another and  the general shaken up of all the people aboard the train. 

The train was speeding rapidly over the down grade between New Rochelle and Mount Vernon, and when opposite Pelhamville station the engine struck an obstruction on the track and went over an embankment, nearly sixty feet high.  The tender and mail car followed.  The other cars, composing the train did not leave the track, although two sleepers were thrown on their sides.  The mail car fell nearly on an end at the bottom of the bank.  The ball broke the coupling of the air brakes to be applied and the six passenger cars behind the mail car were stopped almost instantly. 

The obstruction on the track which caused the accident was the platform of the railway station, which had been torn from its foundation, and thrown across the track by the heavy wind which prevailed during the night.  The total loss to the railway com [sic] is about $10,000.  The following are the casualties.

Eugene Blake, fireman of this city, married a few months ago, killed.  C. P. Turner of Boston, mail clerk, severely hurt about the breast and back.  He was taken to the Grand Union hotel, New York.  The three other mail clerks on the train were all more or less bruised.  Engineer Ralph Phillips was badly hurt in the back.  Wm. Gamble, of Springfield, Mass., baggagemaster, was injured about the back, and had his shoulders strained.  The passengers, of whom there were comparatively few on the train, beyond a shaking up, were uninjured."


Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site.

Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.