1884 Gun Battle With Burglars Ransacking the Pelham Manor Depot

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At 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 9, 1884, a massive snowstorm was bearing down on the New York region.  The storm eventually dumped up to three feet of snow on Pelham and the surrounding region.  The night was not fit for men but, apparently, it was fit for beasts.  

With the storm raging, a pair of burglars had been working the New Rochelle and Pelham Manor region.  At about 2:30 a.m. the pair forced their way though a small window into the ticket office of the Pelham Manor Depot.  

The burglars, described only as a "tall man" and a "short man," did not realize that the local "Vigilance Committee" known as the "Pelham Manor Protective Club" was on the case.  There previously had been so many burglaries, safe-crackings, and break-ins at the Pelham Manor Depot that the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club had authorized installation of an electric burglar alarm with a "wire" running from the Depot to the nearby home of the Station Manager, Joseph English.

At 2:30 a.m., a "gong" in the home of Station Manager Joseph English rang, alerting him that the station had been entered.  Though the storm raged outside, English ran to two nearby homes for help, including the home of Thomas D. De Witt, a member of the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club.  De Witt grabbed his loaded five-shot revolver and he, English, and another unidentified Pelhamite ran to the Depot, ready for a gunfight, if necessary, and to arrest the burglars.

I have written before about the burglary that night.  For examples, see:

Mon., Jan. 28, 2008:  1884 Burglary and Gunfight at the Pelham Manor Depot.

Mon., Sep. 15, 2014:  1884 Gunfight in Pelham Manor Pits Local Residents Against Pelham Manor Depot Burglars. 

Detail from 1881 Map Showing Pelham Manor Depot and Surrounding

Area Not Long Before the January, 1884 Burglary.  Source:  "Town of

Pelham. (With) Pelham-Manor. (From Actual Surveys and Official

Records by G. W. Bromley & Co., Civil Engineers" in Bromley, George

W., Atlas of Westchester County, New York from Actual Surveys and Official

Records by G. W. Bromley & Co., Civil Engineers, pp. 56-57 (Washington, D.C.,

G. W. Bromley & Co., 1881).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

When De Witt arrived at the Pelham Manor Depot, he saw two burglars:  one tall, one short.  Disappointingly, the burglars saw him and ran from the Depot across vacant lots.  As they ran into the stormy darkness, De Witt shouted for them to stop, then leveled his revolver and began firing in their direction.  As he emptied his five-shot revolver, the burglars returned fire, all to no effect.

The three Pelham Manor men searched the Depot and discovered that only a "few cents" was missing from the ticket office.  Though the thieves had escaped, they left behind a hat, a key, and a blanket.  It turned out that the blanket had been stolen earlier that night from Mrs. Condon of New Rochelle.  The blanket was returned to Mrs. Condon.

The burglars, it turned out, were busy that night.  They had tried to burglarize Jacob Holweg's store in New Rochelle by cutting a panel out of a shutter and breaking a pane of glass.  They failed, however, to gain entry to the Holweg store.  They then broke into the Wars & Sheffield store in New Rochelle where they stole "some jewelry."  Finally, they burglarized Trinity Episcopal Church where they stole all the carpets, some valuable vases, "and other articles."

With the gunfight, burglars, thieves, and vagabonds, it seems, were beginning to learn that the Vigilance Committee known as the Pelham Manor Protective Club was making it much harder to prey on Pelhamites and the little Pelham Manor Depot. . . .

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Below is the text of the report of the Pelham Manor Protective Club on the January 9, 1884 burglary as well as a number of news stories about the burglary.  Each is followed by a citation to its source and, where available, a link to its source.

"A meeting of the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club was held at the residence of Mr. W. E. Barnett, on February 2nd 1884.

Present Mess. Reynolds, Black, Barnett, De Witt and Johnson.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.

On motion the letter of Dr. Buck was referred to the committee on pamphlet of instructions.

D. M. Johnson reported that he had audited the accounts of the late Treasurer, Mr. De Witt, and found them to be correct.  Balance transferred to the new Treasurer, $151.62, uncollected dues $7.00.

Mr. De Witt reported that the Depot at Pelham Manor was broken into at about 2.30 A.M. January 9th, that he and others were aroused, went to the Station and endeavored to arrest the burglars, but they were well armed and escaped by jumping through a window, after exchanging several shots with Mr. De Witt.  One of them was a tall man and the other a short man.  They left behind, a Hat, a Key and a Blanket.  The blanket was returned to Mrs. Condon of New Rochelle, from whom it was stolen that same night.  No clue could be found by which the burglars could be traced or identified.

On motion the Town election matters were referred to Messrs. Reynolds and Black as a committee -- Adjourned -- 

D. M. Johnson
Clerk"

Source:  RECORDS -- PELHAM MANOR PROTECTIVE CLUB [1881-1892], pp. 68-69 (original leather-bound journal in the collections of the Westchester County Historical Society).  

"SOME VERY PERSISTENT THIEVES.

Burglars forced an entrance into the railroad station at Pelham Manor, on the New-York and New-Haven Railroad, at an early hour yesterday morning.  R. C. De Witt, the agent, was warned of it by a burglar alarm, and he got up, taking his revolver with him.  He found two men in the ticket office, but at his approach they made off.  He fired several shots at them and they returned the fire.  They escaped, but they had succeeded in securing only a small amount of money.  At a later hour an effort was made by the thieves to get into Jacob Holweg's store, at New-Rochelle, by cutting a panel out of a shutter and breaking a pane of glass.  They were not able to make their way into the store however and they went to Trinity Episcopal Church, in the same place where they stole all the carpets, some vases, and other articles."

Source:  SOME VERY PERSISTENT THIEVES, N.Y. Times, Jan. 10, 1884, p. 3, col. 3 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

"Burglars at Work.

NEW ROCHELLE, Jan. 9.  --  Burglars attempted to rob the railroad depot at Pelham Manor yesterday morning but were driven off by Mr. Dewitt.  An hour after an unsuccessful attempt was made on the residence of Mr. Holloways here and then the robbers went to the Episcopal church, which they entered, stripping the edifice of all carpets which they carried off together with some vases of value."

Source:  Burglars at Work, Democrat and Chronicle [Rochester, NY], Jan. 10, 1884, Vol. 52, No. 10, p. 1, col. 5 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"WESTCHESTER COUNTY. . . .

PELHAM MANOR.  --  About one a.m. yesterday Mr. R. C. DeWitt, of Pelham Manor, was aroused by the ringing of his burglar alarm, which indicated that the depot of the New-York, New-Haven and Hartford Railroad Company on the Harlem River Branch had been entered by burglars.  Mr. De Witt went to the station, armed with his revolver.  Then he discovered that a couple of burglars had forced their way though a small window into the ticket office.  He fired at them five times, and the robbers in return fired shot for shot, without effect.  They made their escape from the building, followed by Mr. De Witt and some of his neighbors; but owing to the storm and darkness of the night all trace of them was soon lost.  They obtained only a small amount of money."

Source:  WESTCHESTER COUNTY. . . . PELHAM MANOR, New-York Tribune, Jan. 10, 1884, p. 8 col. 4.

"ELECTRIC SPARKS. . . .

NEW ROCHELLE, Jan. 9.  --  Burglars attempted to rob the depot at Pelham Manor yesterday morning, but were driven off by Mr. Dewitt.  An hour after an unsuccessful attempt was made on the residence of Mr. Holloway here, and then the robbers went to the Episcopal church, which they entered, stripping the edifice of all the carpets, which they carried off, together with some vases of value."

Source:  ELECTRIC SPARKS. . . NEW ROCHELLE, The Buffalo Daily Courier [Buffalo, NY], Jan. 10, 1884, Vol. XLIX, No. 10, p. 1, col. 8.  

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND. . . .

On Tuesday night last, the station at Pelham Manor was broken into by thieves, entrance being gained by breaking out a window on the side facing the railroad track.  The depot is supplied with a burglar alarm, the wire of which runs to the residence of the station agent, Mr. Joseph English.  When he was aroused by the ringing, he notified Mr. Thomas D. DeWitt and another gentleman, and the three went to the depot.  On their approach, the burglars, of whom there were two, ran out and across the lots.  Mr. Dewitt called to them to stop, and fired several shots from a revolver, but the burglars returned the fire with compound interest, and made good their escape.  They only succeeded in getting a few cents from the depot.  On the same night, Hollweg's store, at New Rochelle. was broken open but nothing was stolen, and the night before, Ware & Sheffield's store and the Presbyterian Church were robbed."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Jan. 11, 1884, Vol. XV, No. 747, p. 3, cols. 3-4.  

"WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

NEW-ROCHELLE.  --  The Episcopal Church was entered yesterday morning by burglars and stripped of all the carpet.  Some vases of value were also taken.

PELHAM MANOR.  --  About one a.m. yesterday Mr. R. C. DeWitt, of Pelham Manor, was aroused by the ringing of his burglar alarm, which indicated that the depot of the New-York New-Haven and Hartford Railroad Company on the Harlem River Branch had been entered by burglars.  Mr. De Witt went to the station, armed with his revolver.  Then he discovered that a couple of burglars had forced their way through a small window into the ticket office.  He fired at them five times, and the robbers in returned fired shot for shot, without effect.  They made their escape from the building, followed by Mr. De Witt and some of his neighbors; but owing to the storm and darkness of the night all trace of them was soon lost.  They obtained only a small amount of money."

Source:  WESTCHESTER COUNTY, New-York Tribune, Jan. 10, 1884, Vol. XLIII, No. 13,570, p. 8, col. 4.  

"SERIES OF BURGLARIES. -- R. C. DeWitt, the station agent at the Pelham Manor station, on the Harlem River branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, was awakened from his sleep at about 1:30 o'clock Wednesday morning, by hearing his burglar alarm go off.  He ascertained at once that some one had entered the ticket office of the station.  Seizing his revolver, he went there and found two men in the ticket office.  When they saw him they ran.  He fired several shots after them, and with some neighbors, gave chase.  They returned shot for shot, and, aided by the darkness, succeeded in getting away.  About an hour later, burglars, probably the same fellows, tried to force an entrance into Jacob Holway's store, at New Rochelle, by cutting out a panel in a shutter and breaking a pane of glass, but had to desist.  They then broke into Wars & Sheffield's store, and stole some jewelry.  They next attacked Trinity Episcopal Church, stripped it of its carpets, and also carried away two valuable vases.  The people of New Rochelle are very much alarmed at these repeated burglaries."

Source:  SERIES OF BURGLARIES, The Yonkers Statesman [Yonkers, NY], Jan. 10, 1884, Vol. I, No. 50, p. 1, col. 4.

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Sketch Published with Story of Gruesome Suicide in 1902 May Contain Only Known Depiction of the Original Pelham Manor Train Station

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He was a well-liked, athletic, and young Harvard-educated lawyer who was quite popular in Newport, Rhode Island and in New York City.  He was 32 years old.  His name was George Griswold 2d, only son of Mr. and Mrs. John N. A. Griswold of Newport, Rhode Island.  His uncle was W. J. Emmett, a member of the family that owned the famed "Kemble House" located at 145 Shore Road in Pelham Manor.   The original portion of the Kemble House was built before the Revolutionary War, likely in about 1750.  It still stands, with the original section now forming the left (southern) wing of the home when viewing it from Shore Road.

In the autumn of 1902, something changed about George Griswold 2d.  Mrs. Griswold arrived in New York City with her son and rented a studio apartment for herself and another for her son in Carnegie Hall.  In November, Mrs. Griswold quietly sent her son to a "retreat" in Bay Ridge, then arranged for her and her son to board in the Kemble House at 145 Shore Road in Pelham.  By the time she and her son moved into the Kemble House, George was suffering from severe mental illness.  He constantly attempted to harm himself and spoke frequently of suicide.  His condition was so bad that in addition to servants, Mrs. Griswold hired two burly male nurses to stay with them in the Kemble House so that at least one male nurse was with George every minute of the day.  Their names were Charles Hill and A. A. Walters.

Young George Griswold 2d was no longer permitted to have a razor to shave.  Soon his hair was quite long and he had sprouted a beard.  The nurses "guarded him" constantly in the Kemble House to keep him from harming himself.  

Late in the evening on Monday, December 22, 1902, it was Charles Hill's turn to watch Griswold during the overnight shift.  Griswold seemed agitated most of that night and paced the floor of his room, smoking a pipe and muttering.  About 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 23, the whistle of a train traveling on the Branch Line that passed the Pelham Manor Train Station about a mile away blew its whistle.  Hill heard Griswold mutter "Oh, those trains, those trains.  How can I live with their rattle always in my ears?"  Griswold then became quiet.

Once Griswold grew quiet, Charles Hill stepped into his own room in the house for a moment.  When Hill returned, Griswold's room was empty.  An open window revealed how Griswold had made his escape.

Hill sounded the alarm.  He and A. A. Walters began a search of the neighborhood which, at the time contained only a handful of homes between Shore Road and the Branch Line railroad tracks.  They were still searching when word arrived that a man had just been killed on the Branch Line railroad tracks near the Pelham Manor Station. 

Hill and Walters raced to the scene.  What they found was gruesome.  George Griswold 2d, tormented by his own demons, had cast aside his hat, kneeled next to the train tracks, and laid his neck on one rail.  A passing train decapitated the young man.  

The nurses and the family tried to keep the matter private.  The body was taken to the distant Village of Westchester where the nurses informed the Coroner that they knew the deceased and his name was "G. G. Martin."  Although local police knew it was the body of George Griswold 2d, the Coroner issued a permit for removal of the body under the name of G. G. Martin to a funeral home even more distant on West Farms Road in preparation to have the body shipped to Newport, Rhode Island for burial.

Given the gruesome nature of the death, sensationalized newspaper accounts appeared in many newspapers throughout the region.  One such report appeared in the New York Herald on December 24, 1902.  Significantly, the newspaper report included not only photographs of Griswold, the Kemble House, and the two male nurses, but also a sketch of the area from a "bird's eye view" that included a depiction of the Pelham Manor Station near the spot where the body was found.

The published sketch appears below, with an additional detail of the station taken from the sketch.  The sketch may be significant because there do not appear to be any extant images of the Pelham Manor Train Station that was replaced with a station designed by noted architect Cass Gilbert that opened in 1908, six years after the suicide of George Griswold 2d.

Images Published with the News Article Published by the New York Herald

That is Quoted and Cited in Full Below.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail Showing the Pelham Manor Station as Depicted in the

Sketch Above Published by the New York Herald.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

The sketch must be taken with a grain of salt.  It does not appear to be a true-to-life depiction of a bird's-eye-view of the region at the time.  Clearly it is not intended to be to scale.  Additionally, there were more structures actually present in the neighborhood than depicted in the sketch.  For example, though the sketch includes a fairly accurate depiction of the Christ Church sanctuary building, it does not show associated church structures that existed at the time.  Likewise, the sketch only shows two residences located in the Manor Circle area, though several more existed (and the ones shown are generalized views of homes in that area).  Nevertheless, the sketch does purport to depict the train station.  Moreover, a comparison of the sketch of the station is at least consistent with a map published in 1899 that depicts the footprint of the same station.  

Moreover, there are elements of the sketch of the station that seem to ring true.  The structure is depicted as a long "shotgun style" station adjacent to the tracks.  A map of the area published by John Fairchild in 1899, only three years before Griswold's suicide, indicates that the Pelham Manor Station was a long "shotgun style" structure adjacent to the tracks, as the detail from the Fairchild Map shows immediately below.  

Detail of John Fairchild Map Published in 1899 Showing

the Pelham Manor Train Station and Surrounding Region.

Source:  Fairchild, John F., Atlas of the City of Mount Vernon

and the Town of Pelham.  Compiled from Official Records,

Personal Surveys and Other Private Plans and Surveys,

Plate 24 (Mount Vernon, NY:  John F. Fairchild, 1899).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

As the detail of the station from the sketch suggests, there may have been an "eyebrow" style roof dormer facing the plaza side of the station.  There appears to be an entrance door flanked by a single row of windows on each side of the door on the plaza side as well.  On the side of the building facing the New York City boundary (the side depicted above the words "PELHAM MANOR STATION" in the sketch) there appears to have been a door flanked by a single window on each side.  It looks as though there is a wooden walkway outside that door and that the walkway extended around to the side of the station facing the railroad tracks as a wooden station platform.  It is very difficult to tell from the sketch, but there is at least a suggestion that a portion of the platform along the tracks was covered by an extension from the roof.  Interestingly, in 1902 there were three tracks adjacent to the station -- just as the sketch seems to depict.  

Although the station appears to have been a single story, the existence of the eyebrow-style dormer in the roof and a small window visible above the side door facing the New York City boundary both suggest that there was an attic above the ground floor of the station.  

Though the grisly death by suicide of George Griswold 2d in the early hours of December 22, 1902 was a terrible tragedy, it is possible that as a consequence of his tragic demise we have one of the only known images of the Pelham Manor Station that preceded the one designed by Cass Gilbert built in about 1908. 

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Below is the text of the New York Herald article that forms the basis of today's article.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"George Griswold 2d Ends His Life While Demented; Eludes His Nurses and Throws Himself Under a Train
-----
Had Been Cared For in a Cottage by His Mother and the Two Attendants.
-----
FLED BY AN OPEN WINDOW
-----
Body Found Later on Tracks and is Identified by Men Who Sought Him.
-----
KNOWN BY AN ASSUMED NAME
-----
Scion of Wealthy and Socially Prominent Family Lost Reason Just as Career Opened.
-----

In an undertaker's establishment in West Farms road lies the body of George Griswold 2d, scion of a prominent family.  Demented, he had escaped the nurses who had guarded him in a cottage, where his mother lived with him,  and after a wild scurry in the biting cold and over the frozen country, he had placed his head on a railroad track and had been decapitated by a train.  

But as far as is known officially he was in life G. G. Martin.  As such his death is recorded on the blotter in the police station in West Chester village.  This is the name by which he is known to the undertaker, and under this same name the Coroner granted a permit for the removal of the body.  Yet there are policemen who knew he was George Griswold 2d; the undertaker has heard this was his name, and the nurse who reported the death to Coroner Williams says he told that official the true name of the dead man and his family history.

MYSTERY IN HIS CASE.

That such mystery should be observed, it is admitted, was to conceal the fact that he was the only son of John N. A. Griswold, an octogenarian, who makes his home in Newport, R. I.; that his uncle is W. J. Emmett, of New Rochelle; that his cousin is George Griswold, of Tuxedo Park, and last that he had lived with his aged mother and two men nurses in a cottage in Pelham road for the last three weeks, the restraint of the nurses being necessary because in his mania he had developed suicidal tendencies.

Thirty-two years old, a graduate of Harvard and the University of Oxford and recently admitted to the Bar, young Mr. Griswold was as well and favorably known in this city, as he was in Newport.  When in that city he lived with his father in his handsome residence in Bellevue avenue, opposite Touro Park.  Every summer he was there, and, with an inclination to athletics, he took part in the lawn tennis tournaments in the Casino.  For some years his mother had resided in Colorado.

About three months ago Mrs. Griswold took a studio in Carnegie Hall and soon thereafter her son took a studio in the same building.  There was nothing in his manner there to show he was erratic, but about a month ago he went to a retreat in Bay Ridge.  A week later his mother closed her studio, and a few days afterward she and her son took possession of a cottage in Pelham road, Pelham Manor.  With them were several servants and two nurses -- Charles Hill and A. A. Walters.

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN.

These men soon saw the young man's mind was affected -- in fact, this was not hidden from them by Mrs. Griswold.  His one idea was to kill himself, and so one of the nurses was constantly by his side.  He was not permitted to shave, because it was feared he might use the razor to take his life, and his hair grew long and his beard sprouted.  A dull silver knife was given to him at meal time, and whenever he went out for a walk one of the nurses was by his side.  

It was Hill's turn to watch him between midnight on Monday and six o'clock yesterday morning, and as the family deemed it best for the nurses not to be in the same room, at times Hill was in an adjoining room.  He noticed Mr. Griswold did not sleep; he walked about his room constantly, talking to himself and smoking a pipe.  About five o'clock he heard a freight train on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad rattle along the tracks, almost half a mile distant, and he said: --

'Oh, those trains, those trains.  How can I live with their rattle always in my ears.'

Going to his room for a minute the nurse did not hurry back, as all was quiet in Mr. Griswold's room.  But when he did re-enter, it was to find it empty.  An open window showed how the young man had made his exit.

JUMPED UNDER TRAIN.

Alarming his fellow nurse, Hill ran from the house without delay.  But the country is wild there; the ground was frozen; no one is abroad at that time of the morning and there are few watchmen to guard the half dozen houses between the home of the Griswolds and the railroad station.

They were still searching when it was learned that a man who had been killed on the railroad track had been found where the tracks pass over Prospect Hill road, just above Bartow, and almost three miles from Mrs. Griswold's cottage.  When the nurses went there they saw the body was that of their patient.  It was taken to the police station in West Chester village, where Hill said he recognized it as that of G. G. Martin.  The Coroner O'Gorman was called and he made out a permit for the removal of the body, as that of Martin, to the establishment of Bernard J. Lavan, in West Farms road.

No attempt was made to deny the young man had been irrational.  That he must have deliberately placed his head on the rail and awaited the approach of a train was shown by the fact that his only other injury was a broken arm.  He had even thrown aside his hat before he threw himself on the track.

It was decided to keep the body in the undertaker's until Friday, when it will be taken to Newport for burial.  Young Griswold's other sister is the wife of Colonel H. R. O. Cross, of the British army, and she lives in England."

Source:  George Griswold 2d Ends His Life While Demented; Eludes His Nurses and Throws Himself Under a Train, New York Herald, Dec. 24, 1902, p. 5, col. 1.  

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Another Account of The Great Blizzard of 1888 that Raged in Pelham 129 Years Ago Yesterday and Today

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As Pelham awaits Stella, the Nor'easter threatening to overrun the region tonight and tomorrow, it seems appropriate to remember that one hundred twenty nine years ago yesterday and today, Pelham was overrun by "The Great White Hurricane," also known as the "Blizzard of 1888."  As one Pelham resident wrote more than fifty years later, it "became one of the times from which things were dated.'  The blizzard's fury reached its height on March 12, 1888.

One of the most colorful stories about Pelham residents during The Blizzard of 1888 is one that could have ended in tragedy but, happily, did not.  Like thousands of other working men and women who awoke to nearly 10 inches of snow early in the morning on Monday, March 12, two Pelham residents failed to grasp the magnitude of the massive storm and tried to reach the City for work early that day.  

The two residents, Henry W. Taft and Alfred L. Hammett, clambered aboard the tiny little Harlem River Branch Line train that left Pelham Manor Depot at 7:37 a.m. Monday morning.  Little did they know the life-threatening risk they were taking. 

The tiny little train on which they traveled was so small it was called “the little peanut train”.  It consisted of a steam locomotive, a fire tender and two passenger cars.  At that early date there reportedly was no steam heating system for the passenger cars, so “the cars were heated by a stove at the end of each car.” 

After leaving Pelham Manor, the little train passed Bartow Station and Baychester Station (and its bridge) and made it to Westchester Station.  Just past Westchester Station, however, the tracks passed through a “cut” that had filled with drifting snow.  The train plowed into the deep snow drift until it began "to labor" and after a few "convulsive" thrusts, stopped dead in its tracks, unable to proceed.  Shovels were quickly deployed to attempt to remove snow from the front of the train, but the effort was futile.  The train was hopelessly stuck just as the storm entered its most furious phase, stranding the crew and the few passengers on board like those of so many other trains in the region. 

The furious winds blew tiny particles of through every crack around every window where the snow melted inside and dampened everything.  Soon the passengers and crew had depleted all available fuel for the little stoves that heated the cars.  Next they began to break up and burn the seats of the cars for additional warmth. 

The poor engineer of the train began to suffer "an agony of rheumatic pain" as the terrible hours slowly passed.  According to one account, his groans of pain began to mingle with the whistling of the wind.  As the day wore on and it became devastatingly clear that the storm was not subsiding and no help was coming, the passengers and crew were faced with a terrible conundrum.  Should the exit the train and head into the storm on foot to find shelter, or should they remain on board the little peanut train?  Either choice risked freezing to death.

Late in the day on Monday, March 12, it became apparent that they were on their own.   Messrs. Taft and Hammett of Pelham Manor decided to take matters into their own hands, concluding that “their only escape lay in an attempt to get back on foot through the drifts.”  They decided to exit the train and attempt to make their way in the blinding snow and high snow drifts back to Pelham Manor.  

Only Known Image of The Little Peanut Train on the Branch

Line Stuck in the Snow Near Westchester Station.  Photograph

Taken Several Days After the March 12-13, 1888 Blizzard.

Photo Courtesy of The Office of The Historian of The Town of

Pelham.  Note:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

At about 4:00 in the afternoon, Taft and Hammett pried open the door of the train car and climbed into the snow.  The pair began trying to follow the train tracks hidden beneath snow and drifts that stood face-high in some places.  They had to push through banks of snow and, occasionally, could not make out where the train tracks were, so they found the barb wire fences that stood along the tracks and used the wire to guide themselves along.  

After hours of effort, the pair reached the railroad bridge over Eastchester Bay at the mouth of the Hutchinson River.  There the railroad tracks rested on short pilings across the waters of the Bay.  Completely exposed to the elements, the howling wind and piercing pellets of ice and snow had the "impact of shot from a gun."  The high winds risked blowing the pair into the water below to certain death.  All the men could do was to hold onto the planking and the railroad cross-ties and crawl across the trestle, holding on for dear life.  During any lull in the wind, the men would spring to their feet and try to sprint along the cross-ties to "make the best use of that always short interval."

After exhausting efforts, the pair made it across Eastchester Bay and bulled their way along the tracks through the snow to Bartow Station.  Night had fallen and an ink-black darkness descended.  

At Bartow residents helped the men warm up and offered a horse to help.  Recognizing that a horse would be useless in the high snow banks and drifts, Taft and Hammett declined.  The two men were anxious to return to their families to allay worries and to help them pass through the remainder of the storm safely.  The two never even removed their outer garments at Bartow.  They simply warmed themselves, then plunged back outside along the railroad tracks to return to Pelham Manor.  

According to one account, as the men made their way between Bartow Station and Pelham Manor:

"The snow was deep all along and the drifts frequent and formidable.  The darkness was so nearly utter and total that these would not be discovered until all of a sudden a white wall, apparently sheer and insurmountable, would rise within a few inches of their faces.  How best to flank or surmount them was then the question.  Sometimes there was resort to the fence, and a hand over hand progress was made through them despite the wounding of the iron barbs.  Again those constantly recurring barriers were overcome by lying down and rolling over them!"

Late that evening, Taft and Hammett noticed a light in the distance.  That guiding light came from within the Pelham Manor Station along the railroad tracks near their homes.  They quickened their pace and stumbled to the station, onto the station platform, and toward their homes near the station.  Taft left Hammett in front of Hammett's home and, luckily, did not depart immediately.  Hammett stumbled and fell in the snow in front of his home and did not get up.  Taft helped him up and into the home before continuing to his house.  Hammett insisted for years thereafter that had Taft not helped him at that moment, he would have frozen to death in front of his own home after nearly completing his ordeal.

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I have written about The Great White Hurricane of 1888 and its effects on Pelham.  See:

Tues., Apr. 22, 2014:  Another Story of the "Great White Hurricane" that Struck Pelham and Surrounding Regions in 1888.

Thu., Mar. 13, 2014:  The Great Blizzard of 1888 in Pelham: 126 Years Ago Yesterday and Today.

Tue., Feb. 14, 2006:  An Account of the Blizzard of 1888 by Pelham Manor Resident Henry W. Taft. 

Thu., February 20, 2014:  Pelham Manor in 1883 and in its Early Years - Recollections of An Early Pelham Manor Resident.

Bell, Blake A., The Blizzard of 1888: Pelham in the Midst Of the "Great White Hurricane," The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 34, Aug. 27, 2004, p. 9, col. 1.

Below is yet another account of the travails of Messrs. Taft and Hammett as they fled the little peanut train for their homes at the height of the Blizzard of 1888.  The account is reprinted from The New York Evangelist.  This strongly suggests that the account was written by John Henry Dey, a Pelham Manor resident and close friend of Messrs. Taft and Hammett, who served as Associate Editor of The New York Evangelist at the time.  The text appears immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.

"A TALE OF THE BLIZZARD.
-----
A Graphic Account of the New York Snow Storm.

The following is taken from the New York Evangelist concerning the snow storm.  In speaking of being caught out the writer says:  

The writer only escaped a similar or worse experience by missing a train on the branch road extending from New Rochelle to the Harlem river, and which was quite out of time on that furious morning.  Three of his neighbors were at the station, however, and as in the case of the early bird, caught the passing worm.  And this was a subject of much felicitati on, as we are assured, for the next fifteen minutes or so.  But just on the hither, side of the Westchester station, their train and themselves encountered 'the unkindest cut of all.'  They left that station on time and cheerful, but ere they were fairly under way the locomotive began to labor, and presently after a convulsive effort or two, there was no more progress.  Shovels were used for a little, thereby enacting Mrs. Partington's broom against the tide; but even the track made in coming, was quickly obliterated, and the snow banked behind as well as before the train.  There were only a few passengers, but several of these spent two nights just there.  And miserable nights just there.  And miserable nights they were -- as miserable nights they were -- as miserable as deficient warmth and covering and food and a temperature without close to zero, could make them.  The fine snow particles sifted in at every window, so that at last there was not a dry seat in the single car to which they were confined in order to economize the fuel.  The engineer of the train was of the number, and poor fellow, he was in an agony of rheumatic pain all those terrible hours.  His groans mingled constantly the last night with the whistling of the wind.

Several soon became impatient to learn how their wives and little ones were faring in the waxing storm.  With such preparation as they could make, which was but little, they crowed open the door of their car, and sallied forth a little after four o'clock, resolved to make the four or five miles they had traversed so speedily and gaily in the morning, and over the same route, as on the whole, the best and safest.  It was a struggle from the start.  A hat blew off, and was secured with difficulty.  Their course was nearly in the teeth of the storm, and they could only average about a mile an hour.  They were not very long in coming to a stage of their journey entirely exposed to the force of the wind, and it seemed to come down upon them at times with a full fifty-mile an hour sweep and momentum.  We refer to the salt meadows section between Timberson's and Bay Chester stations, the level reach of which extends well toward Mount Vernon on the west, and on the east to the Sound, which it finds between the uplands of Westchester on the south and Fort Schuyler on the north.  This great level area is, at intervals of perhaps two or three years, and under pressure of a long prevalent and powerful wind in the right quarter, quite overflowed from the piled-up waters of the Sound, and turbulent as an arm of the sea.  The railroad track hence rests upon short piles, and one needs to walk with some circumspection upon it at any time.  On this terrible day the wind and snow played upon this bare scaffolding with something of the impact of shot from a gun, and there was nothing for it but for our two friends to seize the planking or crossties [sic] and cling for dear life until the lull came, and then to spring to their feet and make the best use of that always short interval.  Had it not been that nature herself seemed to require a moment to recover her spent breath, their case would have been hopeless.

Arrived at Bartow a short halt was made, and there were offers of a horse or any other assistance of avail.  But the only progress possible was by foot and so the last half of the journey was begun, with a little rest, but without removing outer garments.  Fairly on the rails again, or rather over them, this was found to be the most 'laborious and dangerous' part of the adventure.  The stations here are far apart and the grade steadily rises, so that the charged wind -- as sometimes the engineers on this best stretch of the road -- rejoiced to run a race.  Toiling on for an hour, the situation grew forlorn and desperate.  The cold increased, also the wind and snow, and it became very dark.  There was not a star or friendly light to guide, and but for the wire fencing on either hand, and the driving snow which impinged constantly on the ice-laded [sic] face and ear, when progress was being made in the right direction, our friends would inevitably have lost their way.  

The snow was deep all along and the drifts frequent and formidable.  The darkness was so nearly utter and total that these would not be discovered until all of a sudden a white wall, apparently sheer and insurmountable, would rise within a few inches of their faces.  How best to flank or surmount them was then the question.  Sometimes there was resort to the fence, and a hand over hand progress was made through them despite the wounding of the iron barbs.  Again those constantly recurring barriers were overcome by lying down and rolling over them!  A blessed suggestion from the contrasted sunny days of youth coming to the rescue!  Finally, after long hours of this work, and when strength and resolution were sorely tried, if not quite spent, the welcome, thrice welcome light of the Pelham Manor station was discerned at only a little distance off!  

That such a genuine Dakotan adventure as we have here sketched could have occurred on the afternoon and evening of Monday week and within the bounds for the most part of one of our projected city parks, who would have believed possible."

Source:  A TALE OF THE BLIZZARD -- A Graphic Account of the New York Snow Storm, Randolph Register [Randolph, NY], Mar. 29, 1888, Vol. XXIII, No. 45, p. 8, cols. 1-2.  

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Notable 1903 and 1904 Cross-Country Championships Were Run on a Course Between Travers Island and Pelham Manor Station

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In 1903 and 1904, the large area of Pelham Manor bounded by Shore Road, the boundary with Pelham Bay Park in New York City, Pelhamdale Avenue and the railroad tracks along which Pelham Manor Station once stood looked very different than it does today.  The area was virtually undeveloped with heavy woods.  Indeed, before the area was developed it was widely used as a picnic ground.  According to Lockwood Barr in his history of Pelham published in 1946: 

“The groves of trees between the Harlem Branch and the Sound were once a favorite picnic ground. The old trees bear the scars of amateurs who carved their initials--and worse--in the bark.”

Source:  Lockwood Barr, A BRIEF, BUT MOST COMPLETE & TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ANCIENT TOWN OF PELHAM WESTCHESTER COUNTY, STATE OF NEW YORK KNOWN ONE TIME WELL & FAVOURABLY AS THE LORDSHIPP & MANOUR OF PELHAM ALSO THE STORY OF THE THREE MODERN VILLAGES CALLED THE PELHAMS, p. 125 (The Dietz Press 1946)

Today the region today is fully developed with lovely neighborhoods and virtually no vacant land.  In 1903 and 1904, however, the area was bucolic and undeveloped.  There were a handful of homes on Manor Circle.  One home, the William B. Randall home known as "Hermitage," stood between today's Beech Tree Lane and Park Lane near the boundary with New York City.  The Bolton Priory and its carriage house, cottage, and outbuildings stood near Christ Church and its little one-room school house.  That was it.  There was no Beech Tree Lane, Park Lane, Forest Road, Elm Tree Lane, Bolton Road, Roosevelt Avenue, Priory Lane, or Shoreview Circle.  Instead, there were rolling hills, a large wooded area, and small creeks.  In short, the area was perfect for a cross-country course.  That is exactly what the New York Athletic Club created.

Detail from Plate 24 of the John F. Fairchild

Atlas of the City of Mount Vernon and the

Town of Pelham Published in 1899 Showing the

Area of the NYAC Cross-Country Course.  NOTE:

Click Image to Enlarge.

The New York Athletic Club created an ambling two-mile cross-country course between the Pelham Manor Station on the old branch line train tracks and Travers Island, site of the New York Athletic Club summer clubhouse.  For six mile races, cross-country runners made three laps of the two-mile course.  On each lap the runners would emerge from the woods into the sight of race officials and cheering spectators and leap across a thrilling water jump before either heading off for the next lap or, at the final lap, crossing the finish line at Travers Island.

In 1903 and 1904, the cross-country course was the site of very significant competitions.  On November 4, 1903, the "Cross-Country Championship of America" was held on the course.  John Joyce of the Pastime Athletic Club ran the six-mile course with a time of 32:23-4/5ths.

Only three weeks later on November 25, 1903, the "Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship" was run on the course with teams from Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.  W. E. Schutt of Cornell won the six-mile race with a time of 53:15.  Cornell finished first among the six teams that competed.

The following year, on November 23, 1904, the Intercollegiate Cross-Country Championship" was run again on the same course.  Unlike the previous year, this championship was for eastern teams with a separate championship scheduled for western teams.  E. T. Newman of Cornell won the six-mile race with a time of 32:52.  Once again, Cornell finished first among the five teams that qualified and competed.

It may be difficult today to image young men running, leaping, and scrambling across hill and dale in an almost rural setting in this part of Pelham Manor.  The fact that the New York Athletic Club made its cross-country course in this area, however, reminds us of simpler times when much of Pelham Manor retained a more rural character.

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Below is the text of three articles describing the cross-country races run in Pelham Manor in 1903 and 1904.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPION.
-----
John Joyce, Former Cornell Student, Defeats Fast Field.

New York, Nov. 4. -- John Joyce of the Pastime Athletic club, this city, has won the senior cross-country championship of America in a contest at Travers' Island, the country home of the New York Athletic club.

By defeating the field, Joyce took down the numbers of such men as Newton, Grant, Schutt and Valentine, each of whom occupies a prominent place for championships won over long distances.

Schutt is a Cornell student, who spread-eagled the field of two-milers in the intercollegiate contest last spring, while Grant but recently took the measure of the two-mile amateur record, which stood for many years.  The course covered about two miles and was run over three times.  Joyce's time was 32:23 4-5."

Source:  CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPION -- John Joyce, Former Cornell Student, Defeats Fast Field, The Salt Lake Herald, Nov. 5, 1903, p. 7, col. 1 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link.)

"CORNELL WON THE CROSS COUNTRY RUN
-----
Her Seven Representatives Finished in the First Dozen, With Schutt and Woodward Fighting It Out to the Tape -- Harvard Second, Yale Third.
-----

New York, Nov. 25. -- Cornell scored an easy victory in the fifth renewal of the Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship, six miles over the Travers Island course and through adjacent woods to-day.  Thirty-nine athletes started and of these thirty-four finished, but H. M. Frank of Princeton, who was the twenty-fifth man to get home, was disqualified for failing to take the water jump.

Cornell had five representatives in the first six.  W. E. Schutt, the intercollegiate two-mile champion, was first to cross the line, his time being 53:15, which is 52 seconds behind the time made by John Joyce, winner of the national championship over the same course three weeks ago.

Cornell had seven representatives in the contest and they all finished in the first dozen.  W. J. Hall, of Yale, finished third, and King, of Harvard, bleeding freely from the effects of a bad fall, got home in seventh position.  Cornell not alone took the team honors but all of her men crossed the tape before any of the representatives of Columbia, Princeton or Pennsylvania.

The start was made at nine minutes past 4 o'clock with Jacobus, of Yale, in the lead.  As they disappeared into the woods, Schutt was running second to Jacobus, with Hall, of Yale, and Woodward, of Cornell, close up.

At the end of the first lap Schutt was in front by a narrow margin, the time being 11:23, with Woodward about a yard behind, Hall being third, and the rest of the Cornellians well bunched only a few yards back.

There was little change in the relative positions of the runners in the second lap, at the end of which Schutt was about twenty yards ahead of Woodward, his time being 21:22.  In the final run into the Travers Island grounds Schutt led Woodward by about twenty-five yards and cleared the water jump in fine style, sprinting to the finish with Woodward, Hall, Foster and Magoffin in the order named.

The team scores were counted for each college in the positions that their first four representatives finished, Cornell winning with twelve points, the lowest score on record.  Harvard was second with thirty-seven, Yale third with forty-six, Princeton fourth with seventy-six.  Pennsylvania fifth with 100 and Columbia sixth with 112.

Following is the order at the finish with the time made of the first ten men:  W. E. Schutt, Cornell, 33:15; K. W. Woodward, Cornell, 33:18; W. J. Hall, Yale, 33:26; T. M. Foster, Cornell, 33:42; C. F. Magoffin, Cornell, 33:48; E. T. Newman, Cornell, 33:56; A. King, Harvard, 34:00; D. C. Munson, Cornell, 34:05; W. A. Colwell, Harvard, 34:04; S. Curtis, Harvard, 34:22."

Source:  CORNELL WON THE CROSS COUNTRY RUN -- Her Seven Representatives Finished in the First Dozen, With Schutt and Woodward Fighting It Out to the Tape -- Harvard Second, Yale Third, Democrat and Chronicle [Rochester, NY], Nov. 26, 1903, p. 13, col. 4 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"CORNELL TEAM IS FIRST.
-----
WINS THE ANNUAL CROSS COUNTRY RACE IN THE EAST.
-----
Ithaca Men Furnish Four of the First Five Men at the Finish, Pennsylvania Being Second, Yale Third, Harvard Fourth, and Columbia Last -- Western Colleges Are to Have Their First Contest of the Kind This Afternoon at the Midway.
-----

New York, Nov. 23. -- Cornell's sturdy athletes once more captured the intercollegiate cross country championship in the run today over the course between Pelham Manor station and the home of the New York Athletic club on Travers Island.  

Five teams made up of thirty-four runners representing Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania took part in the contest, and of the seven men who carried the Ithacan colors, four finished in the first five places, winning the honor, with a total of twelve points.

E.T. Newman of Cornell led the big field during the greater part of the journey and finished fully fifty yards in front of his teammate, C. F. Magoffin, who in turn was a like distance ahead of W. J. Hall of Yale.  Nearly 100 yards back of these leaders  were D. C. Munson and A. Starr, both of Cornell.  The sixth place was won by C. D. Macdonald of Columbia, while W. G. Howard of Harvard was seventh and C. R. Major of the University of Pennsylvania eighth.

Newman's time, 32:52, is twenty-three seconds faster than the time of his college mate, Schutt, made on the same course, a little over six miles, a year ago.  Today's contest was the sixth of its kind which has taken place under the auspices of the Intercollegiate Cross Country association of the Amateur Athletes of America, and Cornell has won five times.

Following is the result by points:  Cornell, first with 12; Pennsylvania, second with 41; Yale, third, with 51; Harvard, fourth, with 52; and Columbia, last, with 73."

Source:  CORNELL TEAM IS FIRST -- WINS THE ANNUAL CROSS COUNTRY RACE IN THE EAST -- Ithaca Men Furnish Four of the First Five Men at the Finish, Pennsylvania Being Second, Yale Third, Harvard Fourth, and Columbia Last -- Western Colleges Are to Have Their First Contest of the Kind This Afternoon at the Midway, The Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 24, 1904, p. 11, col. 4 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

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