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.

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

New Information About Efforts to Comfort the Dying Fireman Eugene Blake After the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885


On December 27, 1885, the mail express train out of Boston known as the late night "Owl Train" reached Pelhamville during a major windstorm.  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 onto the tracks. 

 Engineer Riley Phillips saw the obstruction ahead, cut the steam, and braked.  It did not help.  The locomotive engine smashed into the overturned platform, 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.  

 Engineer Phillips and his fireman, recently-married Eugene Blake, were thrown out of the cab 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.  

All 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.  

 Only a contemporary account can truly convey the sense of the sad moments that followed.  A local newspaper reported at the time: 

 "[A] slight woman, clad in mourning, with a face as white as snow, crept through to the cot.  ‘Stand back every one of you and give him air,’ she shouted as she placed his head on her lap and gently stroked his pallid forehead.  ‘Poor fellow,’ said the engineer.  ‘He was only married four months ago, and . . . talked all night on this trip about the happy Christmas he had passed with his wife.’  The sufferer’s white face was as of dead for a while, when he became delirious.  ‘We’ll make it, we’ll make it, Ira,’ he cried suddenly, sitting up and staring wildly around. ‘What makes you look at me so? Oh! jump, jump for your life. It’s all right, Jenny, it’s all right.’ His voice sank into a whisper with the last words, and his head fell back on the little woman’s lap. ‘He is dead,’ she said softly, placing her lace handkerchief over his face. . . ."

 Source:  THROWN OFF THE RAIL. Accident on the New York and New Haven Railroad., Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Supplement, Jan. 2, 1886.

 The "slight woman" who took charge, laid Eugene Blake's head in her lap, and placed her lace handkerchief over his face after he died, it turns out, was well known.  She was Emma Cecilia Thursby, an American singer who traveled the nation giving concerts.  Overnight on the evening of December 26-27, 1885, she was returning from a concert as a passenger on the Owl Train when the accident occurred.

Thursby's biographer later wrote about her involvement in the Pelhamville Train Wreck.  He misplaced the time of the event, however, as late January, 1886 rather than late December, 1885.  Thursby's biographer wrote: 

 "The new year, 1886, promised little change in the status.  Without a manager in whom she could place complete confidence -- and she could not seem to find one --, although she was still in splendid voice, there seemed to be no escape from the inertia into which her career had fallen.  In late January she journeyed to Rochester, New York, for her first concert of the year.  Upon the return journey, she met with a serious railroad accident at Pelhamville.  Fortunately escaping injury herself, she had the presence of mind, the courage, and the sympathy to go to the aid of the mortally injured fireman of the train, Eugene Blake.  'God will surely reward you,' wrote his widow to her a few days later, 'and may God be with you in all your travels throughout this world.  I was married 6 short months when my Husband was torn from me and we were so Happy.  Although I could not be with him myself when he breathed his last I feel thankful there was one of my sex who felt for him [Page 350 / Page 351] and stepped forward and administered such wants as would soothe a dying man.'"

 Source:  Gipson, Richard McCandless, The Life of Emma Thursby 1845-1931, pp. 350-51 (NY, NY:  The New-York Historical Society, 1940).  

 A depiction of Emma Cecilia Thursby helping the dying fireman Eugene Blake appeared on the cover of the January 16, 1886 issue of The National Police Gazette published barely two weeks after the accident.  Though likely an artist's rendering of what it was like that sad night, the fact remains that the image is the only known effort by anyone to depict the interior of the tiny wooden Pelhamville Station that once served Pelham commuters.  It shows troubled and concerned men and women hovering as Thursby uses her handkerchief to dab the face of Eugene Blake -- the same handkerchief that she reportedly placed over Blake's face after he died in her lap.


January 16, 1886 Cover of the National Police Gazette
Depicting Famed American Singer Emma Cecilia Thursby
as She Ministered to a Dying New Haven Line Fireman
Eugene Blake Following the Pelhamville Train Wreck of
December 27, 1885.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.


Emma Cecilia Thursby was born February 21, 1845, a daughter of rope manufacturer John Barnes Thursby and Jane Ann (Bennett) Thursby.  She began singing in church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a young girl.  She received vocal training while attending Bethlehem Female Seminary (now known as Moravian College) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  By her late twenties, Thursby was singing in concert with established performers such as "Ole Bull" and Theodore Thomas.  

Thursby's career began to take off.  In 1875, she performed with Hans von Bülow and, within a year she appeared with a touring Mark Twain in a series of programs.  She supposedly signed a $100,000 contract (worth roughly $3 million in 2016 dollars) to tour throughout North America not long afterward.  

By 1885, when Thursby was involved in the Pelhamville train wreck, her performing career was on the wane as she performed less frequently.  She later served as a Professor of Music at the Institute of Musical Art in New York City (now known as the Juilliard School) from 1905 until 1911.  She died at her home in Gramercy Park in New York City on July 4, 1931.  Her papers, on which the biography that includes the quote set forth earlier in this article is based, are held by the New-York Historical Society.  For more, see "Emma Cecilia Thursby" in WIKIPEDIA - The Free Encyclopedia (visited Mar. 27, 2016).  


American Singer Emma Cecilia Thursby Who Ministered to
Dying New Haven Line Fireman Eugene Blake Following the
Pelhamville Train Wreck on December 27, 1885.  Source:
Wikipedia (Citing Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph
File, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Billy
Rose Theatre Division Catalog Call Number *T PHO A Digital
ID th-57964 Record ID 558532).  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.


 *          *          *          *          *
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 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).
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."  

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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

More on the Findings of the Coroner's Inquest That Followed the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885


On December 27, 1885, the mail express train out of Boston known as the "Owl Train" (because it traveled overnight between Boston and New York City) reached Pelhamville during a major windstorm just as a gale lifted the wooden station platform into the air and flipped it onto the tracks. Engineer Riley Phillips cut the steam and braked, but the engine smashed into the overturned platform, left the rails and tumbled end-over-end down the 60-foot embankment dragging the fire tender and a large mail car with it. Phillips and his fireman, recently-married Eugene Blake, were thrown out of the cab. Phillips was bruised, but lived. Eugene Blake was crushed in the incident and was carried into the Pelhamville train station where he died forty minutes later.






Images and Front Cover 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.

 Hundreds and hundreds of articles appeared in newspapers throughout the United States regarding the Pelhamville Train Wreck.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes two more brief articles regarding the Coroner's Inquest that followed the accident.  As I have noted before and as one of the articles below reports, following the coroner's inquest, the coroner's jury found the New Haven Railroad criminally negligent in connection with the accident, rendering a verdict, "That the said Eugene Blake came to his death by a railroad accident at Pelhamville, Dec. 27, 1885, through the criminal negligence of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company in failing to secure the platform of the above station."  

 Each account below is followed by a citation to its source.

 "THE PELHAMVILLE ACCIDENT.--Coroner Tice, on Monday morning, went to Pelhamville for the purpose of holding his inquest touching the death of Eugene Blake, the fireman, who was the only victim of the accident Sunday morning.  The body had been removed on Sunday to his late home in New Haven, where he had a wife to whom he had been married only five months.  The testimony of half a dozen witnesses was taken.  They were all employes [sic] of the railroad company, and, of course, made it as favorable as possible, but, as it was plainly an unavoidable accident, they had not much to gloss over.  They described their sensations on the train when the crash came, how they hurried out and found the wreck as has already been described in these columns.  The water-boy found the unfortunate fireman wedged in the cab of the locomotive with his feet against the door of the fire box.  He was conscious and said he thought he was 'done for' and a brakeman carried him to the station, where he died in forty minutes.  The inquest was then adjourned for a week in order to take the testimony of the engineer and the builder of the platform, the latter to describe how it had been constructed and whether it had been spiked down, of which there is a good deal of doubt.  Trains were running regularly on time on Monday."

 Source:  THE PELHAMVILLE ACCIDENT, The Yonkers Statesman, Dec. 29, 1885, Vol. III, No. 654, p. 1, col. 4.  

"The Pelhamville Accident.

Last Saturday evening Coroner Tice concluded his inquest relative to the death of Fireman Eugene Blake in the railroad accident at Pelhamville, on Dec. 27.  Riley Phillips, the engineer, testified that as he neared the station the air was full of flying sand raised by the storm.  When he struck the platform, he shut off steam and then went with his engine down the embankment.  There were no flanges on the forward driving wheels, but he believed that flanges would not have saved the engine.  John Heeney, Jr. superintendent of motive power for the road, testified that two-thirds of the engines were similarly constructed to enable them to round curves with the least possible strain of the axles.  The other witness could not discover that the old platform had been securely spiked down.  The jury then rendered a verdict, 'That the said Eugene Blake came to his death by a railroad accident at Pelhamville, Dec. 27, 1885, through the criminal negligence of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company in failing to secure the platform of the above station.' ----
Yonkers Statesman.'"

Source:  [Untitled], The Eastern State Journal, Jan. 23, 1886, p. 2, col. 5.  

 *          *          *          *          *
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 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).
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."  

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Coroner's Inquest Jury Found Railroad "Criminally Negligent" in the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885


On December 27, 1885, the mail express train out of Boston known as the "Owl Train" because it traveled overnight between Boston and New York City reached Pelhamville during a major windstorm just as a gale lifted the wooden station platform into the air and flipped it onto the tracks.  Engineer Riley Phillips cut the steam and braked, but the engine smashed into the overturned platform, left the rails and tumbled end-over-end down the 60-foot embankment dragging the fire tender and a large mail car with it.  Phillips and his fireman, recently-married Eugene Blake, were thrown out of the cab.  Phillips was bruised, but lived.  Eugene Blake was crushed in the incident and died a short time later.

 A coroner's inquest was held the following week to determine the cause of the death of Eugene Blake.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes a brief article from a White Plains newspaper describing the findings of the coroner's inquest jury.  The jury concluded that "Eugene Blake came to his death by a railroad accident at Pelhamville, Dec. 27, 1885, through the criminal negligence of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company in failing to secure the platform of the above station."

 I have written about the 1885 Pelhamville Train Wreck on numerous occasions, and have published the only known photograph of the wreck as it was being cleared a few days later, as well as images of engravings published in Scientific American showing several depictions of aspects of the wreckage after the accident.  At the end of today's posting, I have republished these images and have included a list of links to earlier articles about the incident.

 "COUNTY ITEMS.
-----

 *          *           *

 Last Saturday evening Coroner Tice concluded his inquest relative to the death of fireman Eugene Blake in the railroad accident, at Pelhamville, on Dec. 27.  Riley Phillips, the engineer, testified that as he neared the station the air was full of flying sand raised by the storm.  When he struck the platform, he shut off steam and then went with his engine down the embankment.  There were no flanges on the forward driving wheels, but he believed that flanges would not have saved the engine.  John Heeney Jr. superintendent of motive power for the road, testified that two-thirds of the engine were similarly constructed to enable them to round curves with the least possible strain of the axles.  The other witnesses could not discover that the old platform had been securely spiked down.  The jury then rendered a verdict, 'That the said Eugene Blake came to his death by a railroad accident at Pelhamville, Dec. 27, 1885, through the criminal negligence of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company in failing to secure the platform of the above station."

 Source:  COUNTY ITEMS, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Jan. 2, 1886, Vol. XLI, No. 42, p. 2, cols. 4-5.

 *          *          *          *          *

 I have written extensively about this tragic Pelhamville train wreck.  For some of the many examples, see:  

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. 

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

Thu., Apr. 02, 2009:  Biographical Data and Photo of the Engineer of the Train that Wrecked in Pelhamville on December 27, 1885. 

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

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

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

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).

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.


Source:  A Remarkable Railroad Accident, Scientific American,
Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3, cover and pp. 31-32.


Source:  A Remarkable Railroad Accident, Scientific American,
Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3, cover and pp. 31-32.


Source:  A Remarkable Railroad Accident, Scientific American,
Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3, cover and pp. 31-32.


Source:  A Remarkable Railroad Accident, Scientific American,
Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3, cover and pp. 31-32.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Postscript To the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 - Settlement of the Widow's Lawsuit Against the Railroad


For at least a decade I have suspected that one or more lawsuits likely were brought against the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company after the December 28, 1885 wreck of the New York City bound Boston Express train in front of the Pelhamville train station.  Readers of the Historic Pelham Blog will recall that as the train approached the station racing to make up time on its way to New York City, it passed through a dust cloud that obscured the engineer's view and smashed into a massive wooden station platform that a windstorm had just flipped over onto the tracks.  The locomotive, tender and a mail car filled with mail clerks tumbled down an embankment that was sixty or seventy feet high.  Passenger cars left the tracks but miraculously hung over the edge of the embankment without tumbling down.  The train's fireman, Eugene Blake, died at the scene.  The engineer, several mail clerks, and many passengers were injured.

 Although I long suspected that lawsuits followed, I never have found evidence of such suits.  Recently, however, while performing unrelated research in local newspapers, I ran across a brief reference indicating that, indeed, the widow of the deceased train fireman, Eugene Blake, filed a lawsuit against the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company following the accident.  About fourteen months later, in February, 1887, a local newspaper reported that the widow of fireman Blake settled her lawsuit against the railroad in exchange for a payment of $4,000.  The brief report stated as follows:

 "--The N.Y.N.H. & R.R. Co. have settled a suit began [sic] against them by Mrs. Blake, the widow of Fireman Eugene Blake, who was killed in the accident at Pelhamville, in December, 1885.  They paid her $4,000."

 Source:  LOCAL INTELLIGENCE, New Rochelle Pioneer, Feb. 12, 1887, p. 3, col. 1.  

Scene of the Pelhamville Train Wreck Where Fireman Eugene Blake Died.
Source:  A Remarkable Railroad Accident, Scientific American, 
Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3, cover and pp. 31-32.

I have written extensively about this tragic Pelhamville train wreck.  For some of the many examples, see:  

 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. 

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

 Thu., Apr. 02, 2009:  Biographical Data and Photo of the Engineer of the Train that Wrecked in Pelhamville on December 27, 1885. 

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

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

 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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Thursday, September 27, 2007

Findings of the Coroner's Inquest That Followed the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

Today I am continuing a series of postings that transcribe news articles that appeared following the train wreck that occurred in Pelhamville in late December 1885. 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 . . . .

Today's posting transcribes a news story that appeared in The New York Times on January 17, 1886. That item detailed the findings of the coroner's inquest that followed the accident. It read as follows:

"THE COMPANY CENSURED.

FINDING OF THE CORORNER'S JURY AS TO THE ACCIDENT AT PELHAMVILLE.

The inquest before Coroner Tice relative to the death of Fireman Eugene Blake, in the railroad accident at Pelhamville on Dec. 27, was resumed in the station at that place yesterday afternoon. The first witness was Riley Phillips the engineer, who testified that his train reached the Pelhamville station at 5:55 in the morning, and was running at the rate of 35 miles an hour. It was dark as pitch and the air was full of sand raised by the storm. As soon as he felt the shock of the platform in the track he shut off steam, and the next moment was hurled down the embankment with his engine. It had no flanges on the forward driving wheels, but he believed that flanges would not have saved the engine.

John Heeney, Jr., Superintendent of Motive Power on the New-York and New-Haven Railroad, testified that two -thirds of this engines ran without flanges on the forward driving wheels to enable them to round curves with the least possible strain on the axles. Flanges on all the wheels could not have kept the engine on the track after striking the overturned platform. S. E. Lyon, a Pelhamville carpenter, who had examined the platform posts after the accident, could not swear that there were nail holes in them, and was sure they were not securely spiked to the platform. William Barry, a Road Commissioner of the town, found no other evidence that the platform was fastened down than a spike in one of the uprights. William E. Barnett, counsel for the railroad, admitted that the station property belonged to the company.

Coroner Tice then turned the evidence over to the jury, and in half an hour they found a verdict' That the said Eugene Blake came to his death by a railroad accident at Pelhamville Dec. 27, 1885, through the criminal negligence of the New-York, New-Haven and Hartford Railroad Company in failing to secure the platform of the above station."

Source: The Company Censured, N. Y. Times, Jan. 17, 1886, p. 7.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 Continued . . .


Those who read the Historic Pelham Blog know that I recently began a series of postings that transcribe news articles that appeared following the train wreck that occurred in Pelhamville in late December 1885. See:

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

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

Today's posting transcribes a brief item that appeared in The New York Times on January 6, 1886. That item reads as follows:

"WESTCHESTER COUNTY. . . .

Engineer Riley Phillips had not sufficiently recovered from his injuries to be present last night at the inquest touching the death of Fireman Eugene Blake in the accident at Pelhamville on the New-York, New-Haven and Hartford Railroad on Dec. 27. Coroner Tice and his eight jurors listened to the evidence of John E. Fuller and Franklin M. Cogill, Supervisors of Bridges, in the employ of the railroad, who testified that the platform which was blown by the gale across the track had been firmly built on poles, and that the sleepers had been pinned down by five-inch iron spikes. The planking had been repaired in February, 1885, and the posts were then found in good condition. A colored coachman, John T. Kiar, told how he passed the station just before the accident, and saw the obstruction on the track. The inquest will be continued on Jan. 16 at 5 o'clock P.M."

Source: Westchester, N. Y. Times, Jan. 6, 1886, p. 8.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

More About the 1885 Train Wreck in Pelhamville


Yesterday I began a series of postings to the Historic Pelham Blog in which I am transcribing news articles about the fatal train wreck that occurred on the New Haven main line in Pelhamville in late 1885. See Monday, September 24, 2007: The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885. Below is a transcription of another article about the accident, followed by a citation to its source.

"THE ACCIDENT AT PELHAMVILLE.

TERRIFIC FORCE OF THE GALE THAT BLEW THE PLATFORM ON THE TRACK.

There were a good many visitors yesterday to the scene of the railroad accident at Pelhamville, on the New-York, New-Haven and Hartford Railroad, on Sunday morning. New tracks had been laid, however, the splintered ties had been replaced, and trains were running regularly and on time. Down the bank, on the north side of the rails, still lay the mail car on its side, devoid of trucks and all running gear, and near it the wrecked locomotive, No. 127. The demolished tender, what there was left of it, lay near by, and its appearance told of the terrible plunge it had taken down the sixty-foot embankment. A large gang of men were at work with ropes and pulleys, tugging at the locomotive, trying to get it on to the level spot at the foot of the embankment. It will be necessary to lay a temporary track around the embankment in order to get the locomotive and mail car up on the main track.

Coroner Tice, of Mount Vernon, was on the ground at 11 o'clock, and in a house near the station commenced his inquest as to the death of the fireman, Eugene Blake, whose body was forwarded on Sunday to his home in New-Haven. Conductor Erskin C. Holcomb, the first witness, told how the accident occurred. John C. Platt, the water boy of the train, found the fireman in the cab lying upon his stomach with his feet against the furnace door. He answered a question put to him and said he was 'done for.' He was carried to the station, where he died in about 40 minutes. When first found he was conscious, but said nothing about how the accident occurred.

Charles H. Merritt, the station agent, testified that the platform which was blown on to the track, causing the accident, was built about seven years ago, under the direction of John E. Fuller, of Bridgeport. He did not know whether the platform was spiked or anchored down, but thought that there were some spikes in it. The same platform was repaired and partly replanked last Spring under the supervision of F. M. Coghill, of Harlem, now Supervisor of this section of the road. The inquest was then adjourned in order to take the testimony of the engineer and Mr. Fuller. The loss to the company by the accident is estimated at $50,000.

Superintendent Stevenson said yesterday that the idea that the station platform at Pelhamville was insecurely fastened was all nonsense. It was as securely fastened as any platform could be when one-half of it rested on posts. The trouble was the gale which blew the platform over on the track was one of the most terrific that had been known in that locality for years. The wind sweeping through the ravine struck the under side of the platform, and of course something had to give way. The same gale blew the top of a freight car completely off while the train which left Harlem early on Sunday morning was passing a point opposite Pelhamville. When the freight train reached New Rochelle a telegram recounting the accident was sent to Superintendent Stevenson, and he directed that a search be made for the missing car roof. Subsequently a train on its way to this city came upon the roof, which was lying across the up track. The train was stopped and the obstruction was removed."

Source: The Accident at Pelhamville, N. Y. Times, Dec. 29, 1885, p. 8.

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Monday, September 24, 2007

The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885


I have written about an unusual train wreck that occurred in late 1885 in Pelhamville. See 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). For the next several days I will provide transcriptions of news articles about the wreck that appeared in local newspapers. The first, provided below, appeared on the first page of the December 28, 1885 issue of The New York Times.

"THE PLATFORM DISPLACED

A BOSTON EXPRESS TRAIN DERAILED AT PELHAMVILLE.

LOCOMOTIVE AND MAIL CAR PLUNGE DOWN AN EMBANKMENT -- THE FIREMAN KILLED AND SEVERAL PERSONS HURT.

The mail express train out of Boston known as the 'owl train,' due in this city at 6:25 o'clock yesterday morning, was running at a high rate of speed when it approached Pelhamville Station, 15 miles out from New-York, on the New-York, New-Haven and Hartford Railroad. It was nearly 6 o'clock and the train was a few minutes late. As it neared the station Engineer Riley Phillips saw that the track was strewn with timbers and planks. He had just time to shut off steam and apply the brakes when his engine struck the loose lumber, left the rails, plowed through the ties and frozen roadbed and finally rolled down a 60-foot embankment to the right of the track, followed by the Southern and Western mail car. The engineer and his fireman, Eugene Blake, were thrown out of the cab. The former landed in a ditch at the foot of the embankment, and escaped with some bruises and an internal injury which is not considered serious. The fireman was crushed beneath the wreck of the locomotive, and held fast. He was so badly hurt that he died on the ground a short time after the accident.

In the Southern and Western mail car, which pitched end over end down the embankment, were the head clerk, F. S. McCausland and his assistants, W. S. Hart, C. P. Turner, E. E. Clark, J. F. McCoy, Charles Mitchell, and Peter Conaty. Clark, Hart, and Turner were badly bruised about their bodies. Their wounds were dressed, and they were made as comfortable as possible. The rest of the train, which was in charge of Conductor E. Holcombe, consisted of a mail car, of the Boston and Albany line; a baggage car, the coach Martha, of the Mann Boudoir Car Company; two sleeping cars, in charge of Conductor Crane; a smoking car, and two ordinary passenger coaches. All of these cars were derailed, and the sixty or seventy passengers were thrown out of their berths or seats and received a severe shaking up, but no serious injuries. They were badly frightened by the sudden stopping of the train. One of the sleeping cars halted on the very edge of the embankment. Its heavy trucks and the coupling attaching it to the next car kept it on the roadbed. The wheels of the forward truck had sunk deeply into the ground.

F. S. McCausland, the chief mail clerk, said after getting out of his car, which was badly wrecked, that this was the fourth railroad accident he had been in, and he had been fortunate enough to escape every time with nothing more serious than some slight bruises. When he found the car going down the embankment he concluded the best thing to do was to brace himself as well as possible. This he did, and when the car landed he called out to the clerks: "Are any of you dead, boys?' To this inquiry he received answer that they were all right excepting a bad shaking up and some bruises received while they were alternately standing on their feet and their heads. The car was heated by a safety stove, which was riveted to the floor and the doors of which were locked. Not a coal escaped, and thus the horror of a fire was spared to the men.

The passengers in the sleeping cars found themselves in darkness as they were awakened and thrown from their berths, as all the lights had been extinguished. One only received a slight cut from a broken pane of glass. The men hurriedly dressed and joined Conductor Holcombe, Station Agent Merritt, and the train hands in the work of releasing the mail agent and rescuing the fireman from the wreck of the locomotive. Drs. Nutting and Carlisle, of Mount Vernon, were sent for in haste and they rendered such service as was possible to the dying man and attended to the wants of the engineer and others who had sustained injuries.

Some time after the accident the Adams Express train came down from New Rochelle, and took on board the passengers of the wrecked train and brought them to this city. At 10 o'clock a wrecking train arrived from New-Haven, and a large gang of men began the work of clearing away the wreck. The timbers and planks, which caused the accident, were a part of the station platform, which the high wind had torn from its place and piled upon the track. It is said that this platform was never permanently anchored to the ground. The planks were nailed to the timbers, which simply rested on the tops of posts driven into the ground. The rails along the platform were badly twisted and the ties were torn up and crushed, but Supt. William H. Stevenson, who was on the ground at an early hour, said that the line would be clear for trains this morning. He also said that the accident was an unforeseen and unavoidable one, as it could not be anticipated that the platform would be blown upon the track.

Eugene Blake, the unfortunate fireman, lived in New-Haven. He was 35 years old, and had been married only about five months. He was conscious but a short time after the accident, but during that time he called repeatedly for his wife. He appeared to be in great agony, and begged that the wight on his abdomen, which oppressed him, might be removed. His body was taken to the residence of W. A. McGalliord, at Pelhamville, and Coroner Tice was notified. He will hold an inquest at 11 o'clock to-day.

The news of the accident spread rapidly over the surrounding country. Pelhamville is not a village, but simply a station for the accommodation of passengers living along the line of the New-Haven Railroad between Mount Vernon on the west and New-Rochelle on the east. In a very short time people began to flock to the scene of the accident, and a crowd remained there all day viewing the wreck and watching the gangs of men engaged in clearing and repairing the track."

Source: The Platform Displaced, N. Y. Times, Dec. 28, 1885, p. 1.

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