Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

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


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.
-----
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.
-----
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.
-----

 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:






Mon., Sep. 24, 2007:  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.

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:44 AM 0 comments

Thursday, October 25, 2018

The Ghostly Lantern-Bearer of Baychester and Pelham Bridge


All Hallows' Eve will be celebrated in Pelham next Wednesday evening.  The following day will begin the dark half of the year.

 As noted previously in these digital pages, perhaps no other town the size of our little Pelham (population about 12,000) has more ghost stories, more haunted territory, or more ghoulish legends. 

 This should come as no surprise.  Pelham is an ancient hamlet, with European settlement as early as 1654 and Native American settlement extending back thousands of years earlier.  More than four dozen different ghost stories arising from the old Manor of Pelham have been documented so far, with many more, undoubtedly, yet to be uncovered.  

 Today and on each of the following four business days including Halloween, Historic Pelham will document five additional ghost stories beginning with today's story:  "The Ghostly Lantern-Bearer of Baychester and Pelham Bridge."  This story involves the ghost of a man who can be identified and documented in 19th century records.

 For much of his career, no one expected Andrew J. Parker to live a long life.  Over the years he worked as the "chief manager" of a number of dynamite manufacturing facilities in the Town of Pelham near the settlement of Bartow and also in the Baychester section near Pelham Bridge.  Indeed, over the years a number of workers were blown to smithereens during accidents while manufacturing blasting powder or working with the nitroglycerin that was made on the premises in Pelham and Baychester.  

 Early in his career, during the 1870s, Parker was a chemist who lived in Bridgeport but worked at such a facility in Pelham.  The facility, named the "Neptune Powder Mill," was blown to bits on October 9, 1878 while workers were making nitroglycerin for use in the powder manufacturing process.  Parker was not on site at the time but two workers who were making the nitroglycerin observed it catch fire.  As they fled, the resultant explosion leveled the facility though both escaped with their lives.  

 Yes, no one expected Andrew J. Parker to live a long life.

 Parker, however, seems to have defied the odds.  By 1885 he had left the world of dynamite manufacturing and settled in a home with his wife in the Baychester section near Pelham Bridge not far from the Dittmar Powder Works.  

 On September 26, 1885, however, Andrew J. Parker died "suddenly" and unexpectedly in his home.  Only days after Halloween a few weeks later, all of Baychester was abuzz.  Indeed, local newspapers reported that all of Baychester was "alarmed" and "much exercised" over the appearance of the ghost of Andrew J. Parker.

 James Montgomery, an employee of the nearby Dittmar Powder Works, reportedly was the first to see the spirit.  The New York Herald of New York City reported that Montgomery had "obtained a fair and unobstructed view" of the ghost standing in the doorway of the house where Andrew J. Parker died a few weeks before.  

 James Montgomery frequented the bar of a little nearby hotel called the "Baychester House" kept by William Jacobs.  William Jacobs seemed to have his own interest in the world of spirits and ghosts, perhaps because he had lost his own wife, Mary, who had died unexpectedly in her sleep in her bed in the Baychester House only a few months before.

 James Montgomery was dumbfounded by the apparition he saw and told his story to his friends and acquaintances in the bar of the Baychester House.  He quickly found himself the butt of their jokes and mockery.  Indeed, any time he tried to describe what he had seen, everyone in the hotel would begin to whistle loudly to drown out his words and insult him.

 Montgomery became so furious that he offered a $50 reward to anyone willing to stay in the Parker House all night on any night from 11:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m.  According to one account, Montgomery placed the promised $50 reward in escrow in the possession of William Jacobs of the Baychester House with instructions that Jacobs pay over the money to the first person who successfully stayed in the Parker house overnight, subject to various conditions.  Jacobs readily agreed to the arrangement.

 Within a short time, the people of Baychester were being frightened frequently by the spirit of Andrew J. Parker.  The apparition was beginning to expand its range from the Parker home throughout the Baychester section all the way to Pelham Bridge and, as one report suggested, nearby City Island.  The people of Baychester became alarmed and even "much exercised."

 Different witnesses in the region observed different things when they saw the apparition of Andrew J. Parker during those weeks in late 1885.  Some reportedly saw an apparition carrying what appeared to be a lantern while wandering at night "with no apparent purpose, and frightening those who see him out of their wits."  

 As alarm spread, more and more people in the region saw the apparition.  Soon local residents were reporting that sometimes they saw the ghost "in the shape of a man with a lantern" while others saw the apparition in the shape of a woman.  

 Some said that the ghost was "a production of Jacob's whiskey" at the Baychester House bar.  Others claimed the alarming spirit that wandered the region aimlessly was simply "flesh and blood, and so will be found when captured."  

 Two things are certain, however.  First, James Montgomery knew what he saw in the doorway of the Parker house:  Andrew J. Parker weeks after he died.  Second, not one person ever took Montgomery up on his offer to pay $50 to the first person willing to stay overnight in the haunted Parker house for only five terrifying hours. . . . . . .

 As you drive from Pelham toward the Bronx along Shore Road and cross the Pelham Bridge at night, look along the bridge.  Once across, look to your right into the distance.  If you can make out the shadowy outline of a man or a woman carrying a lantern and wandering aimlessly, say a silent prayer for the soul of poor Andrew J. Parker -- but whatever you do, don't stop or get out of your vehicle.  


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 Below are news accounts about Andrew J. Parker, his death, and his ghost that appeared in local newspapers in late 1885.  Andrew J. Parker is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn (Lot 5908, Section 9).  His will, dated January 17, 1885, left all his real and personal property to his son, Andrew D. Parker, and was proved through testimony provided by his wife, Helen, and another of his sons (Charles F. Parker) on February 2, 1888.  

 "DIED. . . . 

 PARKER. -- Suddenly, at Baychester, N. Y., September 26, 1885, ANDREW J. PARKER, in the 63d year of his age.

 Funeral private.  Will be interred in Greenwood Cemetery."

 Source:  DIED, N.Y. Herald, Sep. 27, 1885, No. 17,933, p. 15, cols. 1-2.  

 "BAYCHESTER ALARMED. -- The people of this place are alarmed over the stories told of a 'spook' appearing in the vicinity of a building near the depot in which Andrew J. Parker formerly proprietor of the dynamite works, died.  His death had been very sudden.  The 'spook' is said to appear with a lantern, and wanders about at night with no apparent purpose, and frightening those who see him out of their wits.  After dark now the people of this place go to and from the depot by a roundabout way."

 Source:  BAYCHESTER ALARMED, The Yonkers Statesman, Nov. 13, 1885, Vol. III, No. 617, p. 1, col. 4.  

 "LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. . . . 

 -- The people of Baychester are much exercised over the reported appearance of an apparition in the neighborhood of a house in which Andrew J. Parker died recently.  Some persons saw it in the shape of a man with a lantern, and others maintain that it is a woman."

 Source:  LOCAL INTELLIGENCE, New Rochelle Pioneer, Nov. 14, 1885, p. 3, cols. 1-2.  See also [Untitled], The Recorder [Mount Kisco, NY], Nov. 13, 1885, Vol. XII, No. 32, p. 8, col. 2 (same text).  

"THE GHOST AND THE DYNAMITER.
-----

 Considerable mirth has been occasioned in the vicinity of Baychester recently on account of the presence of an alleged ghost, said to have made his appearance in the doorway of the house where A. J. Parker died a few weeks ago.  James Montgomery, an employé of a dynamite manufactory, is the only man who has obtained a fair and unobstructed view of his ghostship, but whenever Montgomery commences to talk about the ghost in the little Baychester hotel kept by Mr. Jacobs all hands commence to whistle.  This has so angered Mr. Montgomery that he has offered $50 reward for anybody who will stay in the house from eleven o'clock until four in the morning.  There are plenty of young men ready to earn the money, but Mr. Montgomery, it is said, places such restrictions upon them that they do not care to accept.  It is not likely that much more will be said about the ghost."

 Source:  THE GHOST AND THE DYNAMITER, N. Y. Herald, Nov. 18, 1885, No. 17, 985, p. 8, col. 6.  

 "THEY DO NOT WANT TO SEE IT. -- The 'spook' stories continue to interest the people of Baychester and City Island, and in order to test the spunk of the community James Montgomery has deposited $50 with Mr. Jacobs, the proprietor of the Baychester House, to be paid to any one who will submit to being locked in the house in which A. J. Parker died, and which is said to be haunted by his ghost, from 11 o'clock p. m. till 4 a. m.  Thus far there are no callers for the prize."

 Source:  THEY DO NOT WANT TO SEE IT, The Yonkers Statesman, Nov. 18, 1885, Vol. III, No. 621, p. 1, col. 4.  

 "WESTCHESTER.

 The Baychester ghost is one of flesh and blood, and so will be found when captured. . . . 

 It is currently reported that Mr. Montgomery Howe has deposited with Mr. Jacobs, of the Baychester House, near Pelham Bridge, $50 to be paid to anyone who will submit to being locked in the house said to be haunted by the spirit of the late A. J. Parker.  The party accepting must consent to be locked in from 11 P. M. till 4 A. M.  At present there doesn't appear to be any takers, and probably won't be.  It is the general impression that the ghost is a production of Jacob's whiskey, and the only wonder is that devils have not been seen instead of ghosts.

 Source:  WESTCHESTER, Chronicle Supplement, Nov. 20, 1885, p. 1, cols. 2-3 (one-page supplement to the November 20, 1885 issue of The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Vol. XVII, No. 844).  

 "COUNTY ITEMS. . . . 

 -- Mrs. Mary Jacobs, wife of William Jacobs, who keeps the Baychester House, on the Sound, was found dead in bed Sunday morning.  She is supposed to have died of neuralgia of the heart, from which she had been suffering for some time.  She was fifty-five years old.  Coroner Tice held an inquest."

 Source:  COUNTY ITEMS, Supplement to Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], June 5, 1885, p. 1, col. 3.

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 I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for two decades.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see: 

 Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

 Thu., Oct. 25, 2018:  The Ghostly Lantern-Bearer of Baychester and Pelham Bridge.

 Tue., Oct. 31, 2017:  An Eyewitness Account of the Headless Apparitions of the Haunted Cedar Knoll in Pelham.

 Mon., Oct. 30, 2017:  The Ghost of Captain Kidd Guards His Treasure on an Island Off Pelham.

 Fri., Oct. 27, 2017:  An Unusual Account of the Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

 Thu., Oct. 26, 2017:  The Cow Rustler Ghosts of Pelham Road.

 Mon., Oct. 31, 2016:  Pelham Was Overrun by Ghosts for a Few Months in the Winter of 1887-1888.

Fri., Oct. 28, 2016:  The Old Stone House Has At Least One More Ghost -- The Ghost of Mrs. Parrish is Not Alone.

Thu., Oct. 27, 2016:  Did Google Maps Camera Capture the Ghost of the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue?

Wed., Oct. 26, 2016:  The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds.

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.
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."

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:56 AM 0 comments

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Did the Westchester County Region Experience Yet More Earthquakes in Early 1885 or Not?


We don't have earthquakes in Pelham.  Or, do we?  

 According to the United States Geological Survey, our region has experienced nineteen small earthquakes of magnitude 2.6 or smaller in the last three years (since May 10, 2015).  See United States Geological Survey, Earthquakes:  Earthquakes Hazards Program (visited May 5, 2018).

 While most such earthquakes are not even felt by the majority of Pelhamites, over the last two hundred years there have been quite a number of more significant earthquakes that have caused damage in Pelham and about which I have written before.  See, e.g.:

 Tue., Sep. 19, 2017:  Another Account of the Earthquake that Shook Pelham in 1872.

 Mon., Feb. 20, 2017:  Brief Account of Damage in Pelham During the Earthquake of August 10, 1884.

 Mon., Aug. 25, 2014:  Earthquake! Is Pelham on Shaky Ground?

 Tue., Sep. 15, 2009:  An Earthquake in Pelham and Surrounding Areas on Sunday, August 10, 1884.

 Mon., Aug. 08, 2005: The Day the Earth Shook in Pelham: July 11, 1872. 

 I have written before about earthquakes in the Westchester County region in 1850, 1868, 1872, and 1884.  Today's Historic Pelham Blog article, provides information about two days the earth shook in Pelham in what may -- or may NOT -- have been a series of earthquakes about which I never have written:  small ones that rattled our region on Sunday, January 4, 1885.  

 How could there be any question?  Either there was or was not a series of earthquakes in our region those two days, right?  Well, not so fast. . . . . . 

 Newspapers throughout New York were abuzz in early January, 1885, with earthquake reports.  People were feeling temblors.  As one New York City newspaper put it:  "Rumors of earthquakes are ripe in Westchester county."  Some reports indicated there was a single earthquake that seemed to be centered in the Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill region and struck at about 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 4.  Other reports suggest there were two earthquakes in the region that day, both centered near the same region.  The other reportedly occurred first, at about 6:06 a.m. on Sunday, January 4.  

 According to one news report:  "about half-past five o'clock last evening [Sunday, January 4] a very slight, but quite unmistakable trembling of the earth was felt throughout Westchester county, along the line of the New York Central and the New York City and Northern railroads, an only then in the towns furthest north.  It was most perceptible, it is said, in Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill."

 Though the above-quoted account described the earthquake as "very slight," the shaking was sufficiently violent to rattle houses and even to break "many window-panes" in Sing Sing according to a different account that also stated there was a "considerable . . . shake-up" there.

 One newspaper found a single resident of Tarrytown who claimed he had experienced another earthquake earlier that day at 6:06 a.m.  The New York Herald provided the following eyewitness account:

 "On Sunday Mayor Marshall H. Bright, of Tarrytown, felt a shock, he believes.  He says:  --  'It was Sunday morning at six minutes past six o'clock.  I was awake at the time, and, as I have observed earthquakes before, immediately recognized the nature of the shock, and seized my watch to time its duration.  It last four seconds.  It was a distinct, continuous vibration, like the jar produced in a horse-car when it is stopped by a sudden application of the brakes.  This shock was accompanied by a low, rumbling noise, not louder than would be caused by a heavy cart.  The house was shaken and the windows rattled.  Other inmates of the house, who were asleep at the time and were not awakened, laughed when I told them at the breakfast table about the earthquake.  When, however, I attended the First Reformed Church in the morning, and spoke of the occurrence to the sexton, John Cowe, he exclaimed that he now understood what before had puzzled him.  Not thinking of an earthquake, he had wondered what the shock was which he had observed while he was attending to the furnace in the church.  He said that the building was shaken.  On conversing with other persons whom I met at the church I found that some had observed the shock distinctly.  One lady was awakened by it.  Undoubtedly the occurrence would have attracted much more general attention if it had not taken place at an hour on Sunday morning when most of the persons were asleep.  Mr. Simons, of Sing Sing, told me that the shock was perceptible there.'"

 A number of news reports suggested that Westchester residents were particularly skittish due to the larger earthquake that had occurred a few months earlier on August 10, 1884 that had done some serious damage in the region.  In any event, an alternative explanation for some of the shaking soon arose.

 At about the time many people felt the "earthquake" late in the day on January 4, 1885, representatives of the West Shore Railway Company were working hard near Storm King Mountain, about sixteen miles away from Peekskill where residents felt the quake.  The railroad had recently experienced a landslide disaster and was working to reduce the risk of future landslides that might endanger its trains or damage its tracks.  Near Storm King Mountain, the company was trying to remove a massive rock ledge that overhung its tracks.  Rather than cart away removal debris, the company had the novel idea of attempting to blast the massive ledge off the side of the mountain and into the deep channel of the Hudson River.  

 The company began blasting with dynamite late in the day.  The job was thought to be a small one at first "and that no trouble would be experienced in blowing it out into the deep channel of the river."  Initial efforts failed, however, and they found the job to be a "big undertaking."  According to one report, "They kept up blasting until midnight, and the neighborhood shook as if numerous powder mills had exploded.  Many persons who were not aware of what was going on did not know what to make of it.  Ten miles away the windows in the houses and the houses themselves were shaken.  Over one hundred and fifty tons of rock were blown out of the base of the rugged mountain."

 Newspapers later reported that there never had been an earthquake at all.  Instead, according to such accounts, residents perceived the shock of the blasting as though an earthquake occurred.  Yet, no one could explain the claim that a separate temblor had been experienced at 6:06 a.m. the same day.  Nor was there any explanation as to why, if blasting continued from late in the day until midnight only a single "earthquake" was felt as far away as 26 miles or more.  

 Was there or was there not yet another earthquake that day? . . . . . . 

*          *          *          *          *

"REPORTED EARTHQUAKES.
-----
SHOCKS SAID TO HAVE BEEN FELT SUNDAY AND YESTERDAY IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

 Rumors of earthquakes are ripe in Westchester county.  The Westchester News Association is authority for the latest.  The statement is that about half-past five o'clock last evening a very slight, but quite unmistakable trembling of the earth was felt throughout Westchester county, along the line of the New York Central and the New York City and Northern railroads, an only then in the towns furthest north.  It was most perceptible, it is said, in Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill.  From Tarrytown south not the slightest shock was apparent.  A clock in the Sing Sing Hotel Hotel, it is stated, stopped.

 At Yorktown it was felt, but, as at all other points it was so slight that it attracted but little attention.  At White Plains, Mount Vernon, Port Chester and towns along the line of the Harlem division of the New York Central, as well as along the New York, New Haven and Hartford line, it was not felt at all.  No shock was felt in the city.  The sensation and noise are described as similar to those produced by distant thunder.

 ANOTHER SHOCK REPORTED.

 On Sunday Mayor Marshall H. Bright, of Tarrytown, felt a shock, he believes.  He says:  --  'It was Sunday morning at six minutes past six o'clock.  I was awake at the time, and, as I have observed earthquakes before, immediately recognized the nature of the shock, and seized my watch to time its duration.  It last four seconds.  It was a distinct, continuous vibration, like the jar produced in a horse-car when it is stopped by a sudden application of the brakes.  This shock was accompanied by a low, rumbling noise, not louder than would be caused by a heavy cart.  The house was shaken and the windows rattled.  Other inmates of the house, who were asleep at the time and were not awakened, laughed when I told them at the breakfast table about the earthquake.  When, however, I attended the First Reformed Church in the morning, and spoke of the occurrence to the sexton, John Cowe, he exclaimed that he now understood what before had puzzled him.  Not thinking of an earthquake, he had wondered what the shock was which he had observed while he was attending to the furnace in the church.  He said that the building was shaken.  On conversing with other persons whom I met at the church I found that some had observed the shock distinctly.  One lady was awakened by it.  Undoubtedly the occurrence would have attracted much more general attention if it had not taken place at an hour on Sunday morning when most of the persons were asleep.  Mr. Simons, of Sing Sing, told me that the shock was perceptible there.'

 NOT FELT AT POUGHKEEPSIE.

 A special despatch to the HERALD from Poughkeepsie says:  --  'We have had no shocks of earthquake here, and we have no reports of any along the Hudson.'"

 Source:  REPORTED EARTHQUAKES -- SHOCKS SAID TO HAVE BEEN FELT SUNDAY AND YESTERDAY IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. Herald, Jan. 6, 1885, p. 10, col. 2.

 "WAS THIS THE EARTHQUAKE?
-----

 CORNWALL, N. Y., Jan. 5, 1885.  --  The West Shore Railway Company have since their disaster at Highland taken unusual precaution against land slides.  At the foot of of Storm King Mountain there has long been a big rock overhanging the tracks, and it has been carefully watched until yesterday, when the company determined to remove it.  They sent all their trains around over the Erie Railway to Newburgh and commenced early to blast it away.  It was a first thought to be a small job and that no trouble would be experienced in blowing it out into the deep channel of the river at that point, but as they progressed they found it a big undertaking.  They kept up blasting until midnight, and the neighborhood shook as if numerous powder mills had exploded.  Many persons who were not aware of what was going on did not know what to make of it.  Ten miles away the windows in the houses and the houses themselves were shaken.  Over one hundred and fifty tons of rock were blown out of the base of the rugged mountain.  To-day trains were running regularly over the road."

 Source:  WAS THIS THE EARTHQUAKE?, N.Y. Herald, Jan. 6, 1885, p. 10, col. 2. 

 "--  The towns of Sing Sing and Tarrytown were visited by an earthquake last week.  It was also slightly felt in White Plains.  In Sing Sing a considerable of a shake-up was experienced and many window-panes were broken."

 Source:  [Untitled], Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Jan. 16, 1885, Vol. XL, No. 41, p. 3, col. 4.  

 "Not an Earthquake.

 Early risers in Peekskill felt a shock on Sunday morning last about six o'clock, that was thought to be an earthquake.  It was a low, rumbling sound similar to the earthquake shock felt in this section last summer.  The sensation was felt at Sing Sing and Tarrytown and the New York papers reported it as an earthquake shock.  It has since developed that it was not an earthquake shock but was caused by some heavy blasting done on the West Shore railroad, near Storm King Mountain, where it was desirable to remove some rocks.  The charges put in to remove the rocks were heavy dynamite ones and the explosion was consequently a terrific one."

 Source:  Not an Earthquake, The Highland Democrat [Peekskill, NY], Jan. 10, 1885, Vol. XL, No. 25, p. 3, col. 3.  

 "EARTHQUAKES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST.
-----
Shocks Felt in the District of Columbia and in New Hampshire.
-----
Washington, January 3.

 A considerable number of persons are reporting today that they felt an earthquake shock about half past 9 o'clock last night.  Most of these reports came from that section of Washington south Pennsylvania avenue, and from the suburb of Brightwood.  Farmers coming to market from adjoining counties in Maryland and Virginia report having felt a tremor and rumbling of the earth lasting about fifteen seconds at the time stated.  At Warrenton, Va., the disturbance was very distinct and the direction of the vibrations were observed to be from east to west.

 LACONIA, N. H., January 3.
A shock of earthquake lasting half a minute was felt in Laconia Friday night.  It passed from north to south and was accompanied by a rumbling sound."

 Source:   EARTHQUAKES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST -- Shocks Felt in the District of Columbia and in New Hampshire, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jan. 4, 1885, p. 5, col. 3.

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