When Were the First Municipal Street Lights Installed in North Pelham?

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In early 1896, the citizens of the area we know today as Pelham Heights stole a march on the rest of Pelhamville and were able to have their neighborhood incorporated as the first village in the section known as Pelhamville.  Worse yet, to the consternation of the vast majority of Pelhamville residents, Pelham Heights incorporated using the name "Village of Pelham."  See Mon., Mar. 28, 2016:  Pelham Heights Really Pulled a Fast One on Pelhamville in 1896 -- Again! 

The remainder of Pelhamville kicked into high gear and promptly arranged a vote to incorporate as the "Village of North Pelham."  That vote, as well as an election to designate the first village officials, was held on August 25, 1896.  See Mon., Oct. 27, 2014:  Pelhamville Votes to Incorporate as the Village of North Pelham in 1896.

The proposal to incorporate passed by the slimmest of margins.  It passed by only two votes out of the 132 votes cast.  In addition, Pelhamville voters elected local grocer Jacob Heisser as the first President of the Village (the position now known as Mayor of the Village).

One of the very first official acts -- if not the first official act -- of the new Heisser administration in the new Village of North Pelham was to install municipal street lamps along village roads that were not yet even paved.  

The settlements of Pelham Manor and Pelhamville, before the incorporation of any villages, had improvement associations funded by local private dues.  Both improvement associations hung kerosene lanterns in strategic locations in the settlements during the 1880s.  Pelham Manor residents hired a lamp lighter who wandered about and lit the lamps at dusk, then extinguished them late in the evening.  Pelhamville, however, handled the matter differently.  It placed lanterns in places where at least two families resided nearby and agreed to fill, light, and maintain the lanterns.  In both settlements the lanterns, however, were few and far between and did little to light the way of Pelham travelers.

On August 27, 1896, only two days after the vote to incorporate and the associated election, the new Village of North Pelham began the installation of new open-flame municipal street lamps.  The village installed 71 so-called "naphtha flare" street lamps.

During the 1890s, Naphtha lamps were becoming popular and were being installed as street lamps across the region.  Communities such as Jamaica, Queens were installing the lamps a hundred or so at a time.  The new Village of North Pelham adopted the trend.

Naphtha is a colorless petroleum distillate that, typically, is an intermediate product between gasoline and benzine.  It is highly volatile and can be used as a solvent, a fuel, and the like.  Although research, so far, has revealed no record of the source of the naphtha used by North Pelham in its street lights, one source was its creation as a by-product when gas is produced from coal.  Gas was produced near Pelham and used in the new Village of North Pelham at the time.

There were a host of different types of naphtha flare lamps.  The precise model installed on the streets of the new Village of North Pelham on August 27, 1896 is, at least for now, lost to history.  There are common characteristics of such lamps, however, that provide a sense of what the first street lights in North Pelham were like.

Typically, naphtha flare lamps were gravity fed and had no wicks.  The liquid fuel fed from a small tank through a tube with a tap to a preheated burner.  When the tap was opened, the liquid fed to the burner where it evaporated.  The evaporating gas would light and burn as an open flame.  

Preheating the burner of the lamp so that the liquid fuel would begin to evaporate for ignition typically was a difficult task.  Depending on the model of the lamp, there could be a small metallic cup beneath the burner to hold a small fuel that could be ignited and burner beneath the burner for a time to preheat it until it grew hot enough to evaporate the liquid naphtha allowed to drip to the burner.

Naphtha flare lamps were notoriously hazardous.  There are many news accounts during the 1890s describing explosions of such lamps when the fuel tanks became overheated or were ignited in some fashion.  Additionally, if the flame of such a lamp was blown out by the wind, for example, the liquid would continue to drip from the tank and collect as a puddle below before evaporating.  That puddle, of course, could ignite as well.  

The lamps came with varying-sized fuel tanks.  Of course, larger tanks when full, would light longer than those with smaller tanks.  Some of the more common models could burn for as long as seven hours.  

Nevertheless, the need for street lights in the growing Village of North Pelham was undeniable in the latter half of 1896.  Despite the risk, the new village purchased and installed 71 of the lamps.  Progress continued its inevitable march through Pelham.

1905 Newspaper Advertisement for One Type of Naphtha Flare Lamp,

a Wells Lamp Known, Colloquially, as the Hydra Head.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Example of a Wells No. 14 Naphtha Flare Lamp Lit.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Below is the text of a newspaper article on which today's Historic Pelham article is based.  The text is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"THE OLD DAYS

Back In 1896

Ran across a small bundle of the Pelham Press for the last six months of 1896.  In opening one a circular advertising a New York City evening paper fell out.  Before a law was passed making it a misdemeanor to insert circulars in newspapers without authority, it was the custom of chiseling merchants to have cheap circulars printed advertising their wares and for a nominal sum the newsdealer would insert one in Each paper sold or delivered.  Some big New York merchants had whole sections resembling a newspaper printed and many readers thought it was actually a section of the paper they bought.  Rival newspapers would print a circular criticising their opponent and have the newsdealer insert one in every one of the rival's papers.

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It Was Pelhamville Then

The edition of Wednesday, August 25 says 'Next Saturday is election and every respecting resident of Pelhamville should vote for the incorporation of the place as a village to be known as North Pelham.  It will bring modern improvements.'

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No Free Rides

Also in the same edition:  'Constable Paul Sparks was arrested in Mount Vernon last week for riding on a car without paying his fare.  He thought his badge was a pass but the conductor thought different.  The case came up before Judge William H. Bard who discharged him.

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Interesting Note

In the same issue we are told 'Today is the 84th birthday anniversary of Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher.  She was for many years famous chiefly as the wife of America's great orator-clergyman.  Of late years, however, she has won for herself a modicum of literary reputation as a writer on household articles.'

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Railroad Burglars in 1896

From the Sept. 1st:  'Div. Sup. Shepard of the New Haven road telegraphed Saturday night that a gang of burglars were coming down the tracks.  Constables E. L. Lyon, Bruce T. Dick and R. H. Marks stayed in the station all night but the burglars did not show up.  They did try to break into the Rye station but were fired on by the constables there.'

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Garden Work Fatal

From the same copy:  'George J. Pearson, aged 76, one of the oldest residents of Pelham, was stricken with paralysis while working in his garden last Wednesday and died Sunday.  The funeral was held yesterday.

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Who Remembers the Postmistress

Also:  'Miss Madge Collins, sister of Mrs. Katherine I. Merritt the local postmistress, and George Edward Meyers of Mount Vernon, were married last Thursday in Newark, N. J.  They came immediately to North Pelham to the home of the bride's sister, Mrs. A. B. Beckwith of Third avenue where a reception was held.'

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And Then Came The Light

'Incorporation' won and Jacob Heisser, the grocer, was elected first village president.  It will be a short term as all regular village elections will take place in March.  Two days after the election seventy-one street lamps were installed.  Each had a naphtha tank on top holding sufficient fuel to keep the light going all night.

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The Voice in the Presses

The August 26th copy has a two column illustrated article on the last page telling of the new 'Marvel of the Age,' 'The Linotype eclipses all modern inventions' and tells of the revolution in the art of type setting."

Source:  THE OLD DAYS, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 26, 1942, Vol. 32, No. 12, p. 8, cols. 4-6.  

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Loyalists in Pelham Were Punished with Targeted Taxes in 1784 Following the Revolutionary War

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At the close of the Revolutionary War, Americans were justly angry toward their British oppressors and the so-called "Loyalists" who resided in America and supported Great Britain during the War.  Indeed, among the many manifestations of such anger were the extensive forfeitures of Loyalist lands forced by New York and other states including forfeitures of lands in the Manor of Pelham authorized immediately after the War.  See Thu., Jun. 23, 2016:  Original Record of Forfeiture Sale of Lands of British Loyalists in the Manor of Pelham; Fri., Aug. 03, 2007: Abstract of Sale of Lands of Joshua Pell of Pelham Manor by the Commissioners of Forfeiture in the Southern District of New York State in August, 1784; Wed., Aug. 30, 2006:  1786 Notice Requiring Filing of Creditors' Claims Against Forfeited Estates of Loyalists Including Joshua Pell of the Manor of Pelham.

Another effort to punish those who either supported the British during the War or remained behind British lines and refused to support the American cause was a New York statute enacted over the Governor's veto on May 6, 1784.  Entitled "An Act for raising £100,000, within the several Counties therein mentioned," the statute ostensibly imposed a large tax on southern New York including the Manor of Pelham to be used to reimburse the middle Western and Eastern sections of the State for the burdens and expenses those sections suffered during the War.  

In reality, the statute imposed a tax on residents of parts of southern New York including the Manor of Pelham that were controlled by the British during the War but exempted all residents who fled the region while it was in the control of the British (whether such refugees fled elsewhere in New York or to any other State).  In short, the statute was an effort to tax Loyalists who remained in the region controlled by the British during the War and stayed after the War.  According to a preamble to the statute, the tax purportedly was imposed by consent of those taxed, but as one author has noted "the detailed provisions for collection cast great doubt upon its voluntary character."  Reppy, Alison, The Spectre of Attainder in New York (Part 1), 23 St. John's Law Rev. pp. 1, 37 (Nov. 1948).

The statute provides a fascinating glimpse of the times.  It imposed a £100,000 tax apportioned among the following communities in southern New York:  (1) City and County of New-York (£56,000); (2) County of Suffolk (£10,000); (3) Kings County (£13,000); (4) Queens County (£14,000); (5) County of Richmond (£5,000); and (6) "that Part of the County of Westchester comprised in the Bounds of the Borough and Town of Westchester, the Township of East-Chester, the Yonkers, Manor of Pelham, New-Rochelle, Mamaroneck and Scarsedale [sic]" (£2,000).  The tax applied to the real property and personal property of "all the Freeholders, Residents and Inhabitants" therein.  

Significantly, the statute contained the following exemption:

"Inhabitants of the Southern District, not in the Power of the Enemy during the War, exempted from this Tax.

VII.  And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every Person who being an Inhabitant in the Southern District of this State, at the Time of the Invasion thereof by the Troops of the king of Great-Britain, who removed from the said District into any Part of this, or any other of the United States of America, in Consequence of the said Invasion, and whose stated Residence has, from the Time aforesaid until the first Day of March, 1783, been in such Parts of this State, or any other of the United States, not in the Power or Possession of the said Troops, and every other Person whose stated Residence during the late War has been in such Parts of this or any other of the United States, not in the Power or Possession of the said Troops, shall be exempted from paying any Part of the Rate imposed in and by this Act.  That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Assessors, and they are hereby required to omit the Names of such Persons respectively, in forming the Assessment-Rolls directed in and by this Act, to be made by such Assessors."

Source:  Laws of the Legislature of the State of New York, &c. in Force Against the Loyalists, and Affecting the Trade of Great Britain, and British Merchants, and Others Having Property in that State, CHAP. LVIII:  An Act for raising £100,000, within the several Counties therein mentioned.  Passed May the 6th, 1784,  pp. 145-51 (London:  H. Reynell No. 21 Piccadilly, 1786).  

The statute further specified extensive procedures for having assessors determine the value of lands and personal property held by those subject to the tax.  It required the tax to be paid only in gold or silver coin and provided procedures for pursuing and even punishing those who refused, or failed, to pay the tax.  

The statute contains no indication as to why southern Westchester County including the Manor of Pelham (the Town of Pelham was not created by statute until four years later in 1788) was required to pay only two thousand of the one hundred thousand pounds required.  Most likely, however, the amount was comparatively low for southern Westchester including Pelham for at least two reasons.  First, the region was utterly devastated during the Revolutionary War.  It was part of the so-called Neutral Ground that was subject to marauding bands of irregulars known as "Cowboys" and "Skinners" that plundered the region and tormented, tortured, and even murdered its residents.  Little in the way of "wealth" remained.  Secondly, compared to the other more urban counties named by the statute, there were comparatively fewer residents in rural Westchester County to bear a share of the tax.

Nevertheless, the State of New York made its point.  It would continue to take its pound of flesh from Loyalists and others who failed to support the American cause during the War for Independence.

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The text of the statute on which today's Historic Pelham article is based appears immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.

"CHAP. LVIII.

An Act for raising £100,000, within the several Counties therein mentioned.  Passed May the 6th, 1784.

Preamble.  Reciting that heavy Burthens have been sustained by Part of the State, in Support of the War.

WHEREAS the several Counties in the middle Western and Eastern Districts of this State, and a Part of the County of Westchester have sustained many and heavy Burthens and Expences, in prosecuting the late War between these States and the King of Great-Britain.

And who ought to bear Part of Expenses

And whereas it is just and equitable, that all who participate in the Blessings derived from the Freedom and Independence which this State now happily enjoys, should contribute in the Burthens and Expenses whereby the same was obtained.

£100,000, deemed a Compensation for the Southern District.

And whereas the Citizens of the Southern District of this State, impressed with a just Sense of the Exertions and Sufferings of their Brethren in the other Districts, have by their Representatives declared their Readiness to afford a Testimonial of the Sense they have of the Exertions and Sufferings aforesaid, and it being conceived by this Legislature, that, if the Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds should be raised in the said Southern District, it would be such a Compensation to the other Districts as would prove satisfactory to the Citizens thereof, and that no future Compensation would be required from the Southern District:  And it being the Intention of this Legislature, that on all future Occasions where Burthens are to be borne by the Citizens of this State, each County shall be charged with a Proportion according to the relative Value of such County to the Whole.

Quota of different Counties in said District.

I.  Be it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the Authority of the same, That there shall be raised within the City and County of New-York, the Counties of Suffolk, Kings, Queens, and Richmond, and that Part of Westchester County herein after described, the Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds; that the Quota of the City and County of New-York of the said Sum, shall be Fifty-six Thousand Pounds; the Quota of the County of Suffolk, Ten Thousand Pounds; the Quota of Kings County, Thirteen Thousand Pounds; the Quota of Queens County, Fourteen Thousand Pounds; the Quota of the County of Richmond, Five Thousand Pounds; and the Quota of that Part of the County of Westchester comprised in the Bounds of the Borough and Town of Westchester, the Township of East-Chester, the Yonkers, Manor of Pelham, New-Rochelle, Mamaroneck and Scarsedale, shall be Two Thousand Pounds.

How an Account of Inhabitants Estates to be taken.

II.  And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen, of the City and County of New-York, or the major Part of them for the Time being, shall meet and assemble at the City-Hall of the said City, within ten Days after the passing of this Act, and then and there issue their Warrants to the several Assessors of the said City and County, 

When and how to be assessed.

to take a true and exact Account of all the Estates real and personal of all the Freeholders, Residents and Inhabitants, within the several Wards of the said City and County (and liable to be assessed by this Act) for which they at the Time of issuing such Warrants shall be Assessor or Assessors, and true, equal, and impartial Assessments to make, and at such Day to be therein prefixed, no more than fifteen Days after the Time of issuing such Warrants, to the said Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen, or the major Part of them to exhibit:  

Assessments being made, how Warrants to be issued to Collectors, and Monies collected.

And when the said Assessments shall, by the said Assessors, be compleated, and a full Account of the same, made and cast up according to the pound Value of the Estates of Persons, by this Act liable to be assessed, then the said Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen, or the major Part of them, shall issue their Warrants to the several and respective Collectors in the City and County (within fifteen Days after the Day on which such Assessments to be laid by the Assessors of the respective Wards as aforesaid shall have been exhibited) to collect the Monies so assessed, 

And paid to the Treasurer, by 1st of August next.

and pay the same from Time to Time to the Treasurer of this State never retaining in the Hands of any such Collector, more than the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds, and so that the Whole of the Monies to be raised in the said City and County, be paid to the said Treasurer of this State, on or before the first Day of August next.

Assessors to take an Oath before they proceed to assess.

III.  And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That each of the Assessors of the said City and County of New-York, shall, before he enters on the Performance of the Duties required of him by this Act, take an Oath before the said Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen, or the major Part of them, in the Words following, viz.

Form of such Oath.

'I ________ do solemnly swear and declare, that I will well, truly, equally, and impartially, in due Proportion, according to the best of my Skill, Knowledge, and Understanding, assess and rate the Freeholders, Residents, and Inhabitants of the Ward for which I am Assessor, who are liable to be rated and assessed in Pursuance of the Law, entitled, "An Act for the raising the Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds within the several Counties therein mentioned, agreeable to the Directions of the said Law.'  

To be taken before Mayor, Recorder, &c.

Which Oath the said Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen, or the major Part of them are hereby empowered, required, and directed to administer.

Gold and Silver only to be taken in Payment, and on Refusal to pay it, to levy by Distress, &c.

V.  And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That Gold and Silver Coins only shall be received in Payment for the said Rate.  --  That if any of the Persons so rated, shall neglect or refuse to pay the Rate imposed on them, the Collector shall levy the same by Distress and Sale of the Goods and Chattels of the Persons so refusing or neglecting; that where Distress and Sale shall be made in either of the Cafes above-mentioned, the Overplus, after deducting the Charges of such Distress and Sale, shall have been made -- 

For Want of Goods, to commence a Suit, before a Justice of Peace,

That for Want of Goods and Chattels whereon to levy the Rate, the Collector shall be, and is hereby authorised and required to commence a Suit in his own Name, before any Justice of the Peace of the County, and the Justice or Jury shall give a Verdict and Judgment for the Amount of the Sum at which the Defendant shall be so taxed, with Costs, upon the Rate Lists being duly proved to have been signed by the Supervisor or Supervisors or Justice; which is hereby declared to be conclusive Evidence to entitle the Plaintiff to recover;

Whole Authority is extended to all such Actions, &c.

and the Authority and Jurisdiction of such Justice is hereby extended to such Actions, notwithstanding the Sum to be sued for shall exceed the Sum of Ten Pounds:  And it shall an may be lawful to and for the Justice giving Judgment as aforesaid, and he is hereby strictly enjoined and required, to award Execution forthwith after such Judgment, and former Law to the Contrary in any Wise notwithstanding,

And direct a Return, &c.

therein directing the Officer to make Return of such Execution within ten Days from the Date of the said Execution, and to pay the Amount of the Rate to be paid by the Person against whom such Execution shall have been awarded, to the Collector who sued for the same, within fifteen Days from the Date of such Execution; or if the Person is committed to the Custody of the Sheriff, or cannot be found, to give such Collector a Certificate thereof, which Certificate shall be, by the said Collector, delivered to the Treasurer of the County, and who is hereby directed to credit the said Collector for the Amount of the Rate mentioned in such Certificate -- 

Collectors Allowance for collecting Rates.

That the Collectors shall be allowed, and are hereby authorised to retain in their Hands, out of the Rates by them collected, Four-pence in the Pound, for their Services in the Execution of this Act, except in the City and County of New-York, where the Collectors respectively shall only retain Two-pence in the Pound -- That the County Treasurer shall pay the Monies they shall respectively from Time to Time receive from the Collectors into the Treasury of this State, within fifteen Days next after the Days and Times in which the Collectors, by this Act, are directed and required to pay the same into the County Treasury -- 

And retain 8s. for every 100l.

That the several County Treasurers shall be allowed and are hereby authorised to retain in their Hands, out of the Monies they shall respectively receive from the Collectors, a Commission of Eight Shillings for every Hundred Pounds, for their Services in receiving the said Monies, and paying the same into the Treasury of this State.

Inhabitants of the Southern District, not in the Power of the Enemy during the War, exempted from this Tax.

VII.  And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every Person who being an Inhabitant in the Southern District of this State, at the Time of the Invasion thereof by the Troops of the king of Great-Britain, who removed from the said District into any Part of this, or any other of the United States of America, in Consequence of the said Invasion, and whose stated Residence has, from the Time aforesaid until the first Day of March, 1783, been in such Parts of this State, or any other of the United States, not in the Power or Possession of the said Troops, and every other Person whose stated Residence during the late War has been in such Parts of this or any other of the United States, not in the Power or Possession of the said Troops, shall be exempted from paying any Part of the Rate imposed in and by this Act.  That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Assessors, and they are hereby required to omit the Names of such Persons respectively, in forming the Assessment-Rolls directed in and by this Act, to be made by such Assessors.

Assessors may summon any Persons before them, to examine them on Oath relative to Personal Property.

XXI.  And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Assessors or a Majority of them may, by Writing under their Hands, summon any Person actually resident within the City, Town, Manor, District, or Precinct, to appear before them at such Time and such Place within the City, Town, Manor, District, or Precinct, respectively, as they may think proper, to be examined on Oath (or if of the People called Quakers) on Affirmation, which Oath or Affirmation the Assessors, or a Majority of them, are hereby authorised to administer, touching the Value or Amount of any personal Estate; 

On Refusal to appear, such Persons to forfeit 5l. for each Offence.

and if the Person so to be Summoned, shall not, upon being served with such Summons, appear before the Assessors, or appearing, shall refuse to answer to Interrogatories upon Oath (or if of the people called Quakers) on Affirmation, touching the Value or Amount of the personal Estate or any person or Persons within such City, Town, Manor, District, or Precinct, the Person or Persons so offending, shall, for every such Offence, forfeit the Sum of Five Pounds, to be recovered with Costs in an Action of Debt, in the Name of the Treasurer of the County; and when recovered, paid in like Manner as last aforesaid, so as the person to be summoned, shall not be compelled to answer to any Interrogatories touching the Value or Amount of his or her Property.

Proviso.  By the 7th Section of an Act of the 26th November, 1784, all legal Remedy against any Collector barr'd.

Provided always, That no such Evidence shall be conclusive for forming any Assessment, but that the Assessors shall be at Liberty to determine the actual Value of such personal Property as aforesaid, by such Evidence as aforesaid, or any other Means, which in their Judgment, may be deemed most proper for estimating such actual Value.

Lands vested in the State, not to be taxed, i.e. the forfeited Lands

XXVI.  And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That any Lands vested in the People of this State, as Sovereign thereof, shall not be subject to be rated by Virtue of this Act."

Source:  Laws of the Legislature of the State of New York, &c. in Force Against the Loyalists, and Affecting the Trade of Great Britain, and British Merchants, and Others Having Property in that State, CHAP. LVIII:  An Act for raising £100,000, within the several Counties therein mentioned.  Passed May the 6th, 1784,  pp. 145-51 (London:  H. Reynell No. 21 Piccadilly, 1786).  

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Two Boston Globe Accounts of What Happened in the Mail Car During the Great Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

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On December 27, 1885, the mail express train out of Boston known as the late night "Owl Train" and the "Boston Express" reached Pelhamville during a major windstorm. The train was running late and was trying to make up some time by speeding along the downgrade that passed through Pelhamville.  The train was traveling between thirty five and forty miles an hour.  Just as the train sailed past the Pelhamville Station, the gale lifted the station's massive wooden passenger platform into the air and flipped it upside down onto the tracks. 

Engineer Riley Ellsworth Phillips saw swirling dust ahead, but did not see the platform on the tracks.  Accounts differ as to whether he cut the steam, and braked.  One account indicated he ran up on the obstruction too fast and never had time.  If he did apply the brakes before hitting the overturned platform, it did not help. The locomotive engine smashed into the obstruction, left the rails, and tumbled end-over-end down the 60-foot embankment, dragging the fire tender and a large mail car with it. Though the passenger cars left the rails and bounced along throwing the passengers inside about the cabins, no passenger car tumbled down the massive embankment.  The mail car, locomotive, and fire tender came to a crashing halt only a few hundred feet from the little wooden trestle that carried the train tracks over the Hutchinson River.  

Engineer Phillips and his fireman, recently-married Eugene Blake, were thrown out of the cab of the locomotive as it flipped end-over-end down the embankment. Phillips was bruised, but lived. Fireman Blake, however, was crushed during the incident. He was found at the foot of the embankment and was carried into the nearby Pelhamville train station. Some accounts say Fireman Blake was laid on a "cot" of some sort in the Pelhamville station. Others say he was laid on the floor. 

Most accounts agree, however, that once carried into the Pelhamville station, the mortally-injured Eugene Blake suffered tremendously for an agonizing forty minutes. During most of that time, he was administered to by an angel -- a woman who stepped out from among uninjured train passengers to offer help. The woman was Emma Cecilia Thursby, a famous American celebrity and singer who traveled the nation giving concerts.  Fireman Eugene Blake died of his injuries.  A number of others were injured including, as one might expect, most of the mail clerks who were in the mail car as it tumbled down the slope.

There are hundreds and hundreds of accounts of the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.  There is one known photograph of the aftermath (see below) and a number of engraved images that appeared in an article about the wreck that appeared in Scientific American (see below).  

Two accounts of the wreck that appeared in The Boston Globe shortly afterward are particularly significant because they piece together what happened in the mail car during and shortly after the wreck.  Those accounts are transcribed below, followed by citations and links to their sources.

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"THE GLOBE EXTRA! 
3 O'CLOCK.
IN AN INSTANT, Enveloped in a Cloud of Dust, The Locomotive Takes the Fearful Plunge, Graphic Description by Engineer Phillips of the Disaster at Pelhamville.  Terrible Experience of the Men in the Mail Car.  Helpless, They Listen to Turner's Agonizing Appeals.  How Help Came When Hope Had Almost Fled.
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NEW YORK, December 28. -- Ira Phillips, the engineer of the Boston express which was wrecked at Pelhamville last night, gives the following account of the disaster:  'When I struck the crossing just north of the depot a cloud of dust rose up.  I had been keeping a sharp watch, as we were then a little behind time, and I was making it up on the down grade.  We were running about thirty-five or forty miles an hour.  Before I had time to put on the brakes, or, in fact, do anything, we came on the overturned platform.  The next I knew I was at the bottom of the ditch, where the water-boy found me.  After he had helped me, I sent him back to see if any one was signalling the Adams express train that I knew ought to be ten or fifteen miles behind us.  When the boy returned, we hunted for poor Blake.

The crash came in an instant, and there was nothing I could do to check the speed of the train.  It is a miracle we are not all killed.  On a straight track I could see a long distance ahead, and if there had been anything in the way I would have noticed it.  I am quite sure the platform must have been torn up by the same gust of wind that enveloped the track in dust less than 100 feet ahead of me.'

When the locomotive struck at the bottom of the ravine Phillips was thrown violently against the fire-box, the door of which was open.  He was stunned for a few moments, and when the water-boy found him the boot of his left leg was burned off, his heel burned and his overalls on fire.

'We had all our mail sacked and pouched,' said Chief Clerk F. S. MCausland, who was in charge of the mail car.  'Without any warning, we went tumbling down the embankment, and dust and dirt filled the car almost to suffocation, and, to make it worse, the lights were put out.  Oil from one of the lamps trickled down my back, and I thought it was water and supposed we had gone into Hutchinson's creek at the end of the filling, about 1000 feet from the depot where the accident happened.  It was very cold in the car, and the door of the safety -valve was opened.  My first thought was that perhaps coals might be shaken out among the sacks.  I called to some one to close the slide; but J. H. McCoy, one of my six assistants, with great presence of mind, had already done this.  Then I called each of them by name to learn if they were safe.  They answered me, and Turner, who was jammed between a table and the side of the car, said:

'For God's sake, help me.'

'The car had turned over on its side, the iron rods were twisted all out of shape, the sacks and pouches torn from the stanchions, and the heavy tables all heaped in the middle of the car.  Peter Conaty of Worcester and Charles Mitchell, the only New York boy, were buried under this, and were nearly smothered.  There was a glass window in the top side of the car, and McCoy smashed this, crawled out, and hastened for hep.  I told the men to save themselves, for I had no idea where we had landed, nor what might follow.  They did the best they could, but Turner cried piteously for help.

'I can't hold out much longer.  For God's sake hurry,' he called.

'Help came and I tried to encourage him by the light of a lantern, E. E. Clark of Haddam, Conn., C. P. Turner of Malden, Mass., W. F. Hart of Charlestown, Mass., Conaty, Mitchell and myself were helped out.  Clark, Turner and Hart were the ones most injured, although McCoy's ankle was twisted."

Source:  THE GLOBE EXTRA! 3 O'CLOCK.  IN AN INSTANT, Enveloped in a Cloud of Dust, The Locomotive Takes the Fearful Plunge, Graphic Description by Engineer Phillips of the Disaster at Pelhamville.  Terrible Experience of the Men in the Mail Car.  Helpless, They Listen to Turner's Agonizing Appeals.  How Help Came When Hope Had Almost Fled, The Boston Globe, Dec. 28, 1885, Vol. XXVIII, No. 181, p. 4, col. 3 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

"BURIED UNDER THE SACKS.
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Mail Clerk Conaty's Graphic Story
-----
Of His Experience When the Awful Crash Awoke Him at Pelhamville.
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Turner Pinned to the Floor by the Mail Bags.
-----

WORCESTER, December 28. -- Peter F. Conaty, a mail clerk on the 'Owl,' which was derailed at Pelhamville Sunday morning, arrived home today.  He was seen at the residence of his brother, Rev. T. J. Conaty, and gave an account of the occurrence.  With six other clerks he was locked in the mail car, and all having finished their work, made beds of the mail sacks upon which they laid down.  Conaty and Mitchell were at the end of the car near the engine and Turner was lying on a table with McCoy, who got up at Stamford and threw off the mail.  Fortunately he did not return to the table or he would have been crushed also with Turner.  They were rushing, of course, at a high rate of speed and were startled by a crash and jarring of the car as if glasses were being broken.  The uproar seemed to increase until suddenly the car seemed to snap and jump the track.  In an instant it was tossed down the embankment, going lengthwise, so that all the mail matter crowded to the upper end of the car where Conaty and Mitchell were lying and entirely covered them.  The men at the other end were of course knocked about but escaped the accumulating baggage except Turner, who was caught under the table upon which he was lying and pinned to the floor.

Young Conaty tried to extricate himself from the burden, while his imprisoned companions were groaning and crying for air as they were nearly all suffocated.  He was fortunately near a window, and grasping with both hands the iron bars he pulled himself from beneath the mail bags and immediately drove his fist through the window.  In extricating himself the full weight of the mail matter fell upon Mitchell, whom, after a struggle, he succeeded also in getting out, and both then crawled through the window.  They then clambered up the hill to get at the other end of the car, where they heard their companions struggling and crying for fresh air.  They took a stone to break in the door, but just then McCoy, another mail agent, who had also climbed out of the car window, opened the door with a key he had.  All the other clerks were then easily assisted out except Turner, who was severely hurt and bleeding, and it required the efforts of two men to bring him to the open air.  He was bleeding badly, and after being carried to another car was cared for by a young lady passenger.  The clerks released themselves from the mail car by their own exertions, and it did not require the use of axes to break open their prison box.  They were not confined in all more than thirty minutes.  Mr. Conaty is injured much more seriously than at first supposed, and tonight was scarcely able to move on account of injuries to his leg and his spine.  He is under medical care, and will not be able to attend to his duties for several weeks."

Source:  BURIED UNDER THE SACKS -- Mail Clerk Conaty's Graphic Story Of His Experience When the Awful Crash Awoke Him at Pelhamville -- Turner Pinned to the Floor by the Mail Bags, The Boston Globe, Dec. 29, 1885, Vol. XXVIII, No. 182, p. 4, col. 6 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

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I have written before about the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 that resulted in the death of Fireman Eugene Blake and injuries to several others including a number of the mail clerks and the train engineer, Riley Phillips. See:

Fri., Aug. 25, 2017:  Pelham Remembered in 1922 the Remarkable Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Fri., Dec. 30, 2016:  Pelham Recalled the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 Upon Death of Riley Ellsworth Phillips in 1927.

Tue., Apr. 05, 2016:  New Information About Efforts to Comfort the Dying Fireman Eugene Blake After the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.  

Tue., Aug. 11, 2015:  More on the Findings of the Coroner's Inquest That Followed the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Fri., Mar. 27, 2015:  Compensation Paid by the Railroad After the 1885 Pelhamville Train Wreck.

Wed., Feb. 11, 2015: Coroner's Inquest Jury Found Railroad "Criminally Negligent" in the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885. 

Wed., Mar. 26, 2014:  Postscript To the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 - Settlement of the Widow's Lawsuit Against the Railroad. 

Mon., Feb. 17, 2014: Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885:  Another Account Published with a Diagram of the Aftermath of the Crash. 

Fri., Jul. 15, 2011: Another Newspaper Account of The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885. 

Thu., Apr. 2, 2009:  Biographical Data and Photo of the Engineer of the Train that Wrecked in Pelhamville on December 27, 1885.

Wed., Jan. 9, 2008:  The Aftermath of the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Mon., Sep. 24, 2007:  The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Tue., Sep. 25, 2007: More About the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Wed., Sep. 26, 2007:  The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 Continued . .

Thu., Sep. 27, 2007:  Findings of the Coroner's Inquest That Followed the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Fri., Dec. 21, 2007:  1886 Poem Representing Fictionalized Account 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).

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Only known photograph showing the aftermath of the

"Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.” The January 16, 1886

issue of Scientific American included an artist’s depiction

of the same scene in connection with an article about the

wreck describing it as "A Remarkable Railroad Accident"

that occurred on the New Haven Line in Pelhamville

(now part of the Village of Pelham) at about 6:00 a.m.

on December 27, 1885. See A Remarkable Railroad Accident,

Scientific American, Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3, pp. 31-32.

The engine and tender lie in the foreground with the mail

car behind. NOTE: Click Image To Enlarge.

Front Cover and Images of the January 16, 1886 Issue

of Scientific American that Featured a Cover Story About

the Pelhamville Train Wreck Entitled "A Remarkable Railroad

Accident." NOTE: Click on Images to Enlarge.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
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Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."

17th Century Map of New Netherland Referencing Wiechquaeskecks in Pelham Region

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Sometime between 1654 and 1658 -- the precise date remains a mystery -- Arnold Colom of Amsterdam published a monumental sea atlas of the world.  Colom's "Zee Atlas" included what is believed to be the earliest Dutch sea chart of the New Netherlands.  Noted map authority Barry Lawrence Ruderman notes that "Jacob Theunisz Lootsman's chart is believed to pre-date it, but seems not to have been regularly published until later."  

Colom was a son of Jacob Colom, an Amsterdam printer, chart-maker, and bookseller.  Arnold Colom's sea chart of New Netherlands is "extremely rare on the market" according to Mr. Ruderman and sold most recently in a Swann Galleries auction on June 2, 2011 for $33,600.  A high resolution image of the map appears immediately below.

Colom, Arnold, “Pascaarte van Nieu Nederlandt uytgegeven door”

(Amsterdam, ca. 1656) (25.5 x 22 inches; hand-colored).  Source:

Ruderman, Barry Lawrence, Antique Maps Inc., Stock # 46535

(visited 24 Apr 2019).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Arnold Colom's sea chart of New Netherlands is significant for reasons other than its status as the first (or one of the first) such sea charts of the region.  Indeed, it depicts the region including today's Pelham and purports to label Natives in the New Netherland region.  It references "Manhattans," "Wickugick," and -- somewhat distant from Pelham and in the center of Long Island Sound -- "Siwanoys." 

Once again, like so many other 17th century Dutch maps of the region, this map seems merely to copy earlier references to supposed "Siwanoy" Natives in the region and places them distant from today's Pelham.  The map references "Wickugick" Natives (i.e., Wiechquaeskeck" Natives) near Pelham -- a group that, unlike "Siwanoys" is a group of Natives constantly referenced by that name in 17th century documents.

Detail from Colom, Arnold, “Pascaarte van Nieu Nederlandt

uytgegeven door” (Amsterdam, ca. 1656) (25.5 x 22 inches;

hand-colored).  Source:  Ruderman, Barry Lawrence, Antique

Maps Inc., Stock # 46535 (visited 24 Apr 2019).  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

According to Barry Lawrence Ruderman, owner of Antique Maps Inc., this significant map may be the first sea chart of the New Netherlands (which included the region of today's Pelham).  Mr. Ruderman states, in part:

"Colom's sea chart is a landmark in the mapping of the region, depicting in a large scale the regions extending from the Dutch New Netherlands and New England in the north to South Carolina. 

Called by Koeman "the first sea chart of the New Netherlands," Colom's chart is both highly important and exceptionally rare. Along with Theunis Jacobsz' circa 1650 sea chart of the area from Nova Scotia to the Outer Banks, it is one of the two earliest sea charts showing the significant improvements resulting from the Dutch exploration and occupation of the region. Colom's map, which is the more focused of the two maps and constructed on a much larger scale than the Theunisz, is by far the more accurate of the two charts, drawing on Visscher's highly important Novii Begli, first published circa 1655. Burden observes that the Colom draws information from both Janssonius's Belgii Novi . . . map of 1651 and the first state of Visscher's significantly updated map, noting that: 

"The Delaware Bay and River and much improved . . . as is the area between Chesapeake Bay and the Outer Banks. Curiously two Jamestowns are depicted, one at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. Remnants of [information Burden believes to have been derived from Jacobsz] survives such as the use of Bloemers kil on the west bank of Delaware Bay. There is no recognition of the Dutch victory over the Swedish colonies here. Long Island is one unified island,as Janssonius had depicted it, although like other areas of the map, it shows independent sources. A few English settlements are noted, such as Stamfoort and Nieuwer haven, but none appear in the Connecticut River Valley, only the Dutch fort of De Hoop. One large improvement . . . is the recognition of Boston as one of the three most important towns on that coast. It is not present on the Jacobsz, Janssonius or Visscher maps. 

The dating of the map has always been a mystery. In his monumental catalog of 1887, the legendary Dutch book and map seller, Frederik Muller & Cie, identified the Colom's map had being published in 1640 (item 902), while Stokes in The Iconography of Manhattan Island dated the charts as "before 1653?." Burden identifies 3 states of the map, each of which is extremely rare. Burden describes the map dated 1656 as the first state of the map, with subsequent states lacking the date. The second state includes the page number 13 in the bottom right corner, whereas the third state is number page 13."

Source:  Ruderman, Barry Lawrence, "The First Sea Chart of the New Netherlands" in Antique Maps Inc.:  Colom, Arnold, “Pascaarte van Nieu Nederlandt uytgegeven door” (Amsterdam, ca. 1656) (25.5 x 22 inches; hand-colored; Stock # 46535) (visited 24 Apr 2019).

Today's Historic Pelham article is another in a series intended to analyze 17th century maps that depict the Pelham region.  For examples of earlier such analyses, see:

Tue., Aug. 28, 2018: Seventeenth Century Maps that Depict the Pelham Region.

Thu., Apr. 18, 2019:  More Seventeenth Century Maps that Depict the Pelham Region and Local Native Americans.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "The Haunted History of Pelham, New York"
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."