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.

Friday, August 25, 2017

Pelham Remembered in 1922 the Remarkable 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 Ellsworth 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. 

 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.

 Periodically over the years, local newspapers have carried accounts of the Pelhamville Train Wreck.  One that seems to be one of the earliest such accounts appeared in the December 15, 1922 issue of The Pelham Sun.  In addition to describing the wreck based on a famous account of it that appeared in the January 16, 1886 issue of Scientific American, the article contained a host of interesting information.

 It described Pelhamville and its homes, structures, farms, and wooded hillsides as they existed at the time of the wreck.  It noted that old-timers still remembered the accident, including old-timer John T. Logan who had kept a copy of the January 16, 1886 Scientific American with engravings of the wreck and surrounding area.  Logan provided his copy of the Scientific American to The Pelham Sun in 1922 for use of the images and description of the wreck in the story.  

 Additionally, the story noted that when the Pelhamville Train Station eventually was torn down (after a fire damaged it rather badly, though the story does not mention that fact) timbers used in the structure and in the massive wooden passenger platform that stood adjacent to the tracks were used to build a nearby garage located on First Street.  The article states:

"Interesting, too, is the fact that many of the timbers which were contained in the old station house and platform were used in the construction of the building on First Street, which is now used as a garage by Terence Mackel."

 The text of the 1922 article appears immediately below.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.

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 "Railroad Wreck Featured Christmas In The Pelhams Thirty-Seven Years Ago
-----
Remarkable Happening Caused Derailment of Train at Fifth Avenue Station of New Haven R. R.

 THE PELHAMS have been remarkably free from disasters of any consequence, seemingly being favored by the Goddess of Fortune in this respect.  Last summer when the whirlwind and thunderstorm cut a wide swath through this section of Westchester County leaving death and destruction in its wake, and strewing the shores of the Sound with the wreckage of hundreds of pleasure boats which were victims of its unexpected onslaught, the Pelhams escaped practically scatheless.

Thirty-seven years ago -- December 26, 1885 [sic; Dec. 27]-- Pelham (then known as Pelhamville), was the scene of a remarkable railroad accident when part of the Boston Flyer en route for New York, left the rails and plunged down the embankment at the Pelhamville station of the New Haven Railroad.  The train left Boston Christmas night at 10:30 and had a full complement of passengers.  It consisted of engine and tender, mail coach, and five passenger cars, the mail coach being next to the engine.

 'Christmas, of 1885, was a raw, blustery winter day, and as night approached the wind increased in velocity until it blew a gale, and at 6 o'clock on the morning of the 26th it was still whirling the snow around in huge flurries.

 In those days, the main line station of the New Haven was west of its present site, being located on the other side of Fifth Avenue, extending from where is now the Burke Stone, Inc. real estate office down to the taxi barn of Terence Mackel, on First Street.  At that time Fifth Avenue was a mudhole of a road, which wound its way along the wooded hillside on which now is located the fine residential district of Pelhamwood.  It was little more than a wagon track which led from the surrounding farms to the little wayside railroad station of Pelhamville, with a plank sidewalk from Fourth Street to the depot.

 The depot itself was built of brick with a tower to give grace to the structure, and the platform outside the the waiting room was of solid oak planks spiked down to heavy uprights driven into the ground.  Fifth Avenue of those days crossed the track at grade and it was not until six years afterward that the track was tunneled under and the bridge built so that traffic could go on undisturbed and trains would not have to slow down at the crossing.  The track was raised too, to make the grade of the tunnel [sic] less.

 As the train approached at top speed, a terrific gust of wind got underneath the platform, tore it from its fastenings and turned it completely over on to the tracks directly in the path of the oncoming train.  The engineer saw the danger and applied the brakes, but too lat to save crashing into the timbers.  It ploughed [sic] through the obstruction with a terrific tearing sound, smashing it to kindling wood.  Then the engine, tender and mail car left the track and plunged down the embankment, but the rest of the train containing a large number of passengers fortunately remained on top, although entirely derailed, with the exception of the forward truck of the baggage car at the rear.  The fireman was killed, the engineer and three of the seven mail clerks were seriously injured, while a number of the passengers sustained a severe shaking up.

 There was little aid to be gotten nearer than New Rochelle, for the Pelhamville of thad day consisted of four houses on what is now Fifth Avenue and a few scattered farms in the vicinity.  The nearest house to the depot was the building now owned by Earl Shanks and housing his druggist business.  That can be seen in one of the accompanying illustrations.  Up Fifth Ave. within 50 feet of Peter Ceders' real estate once stood a house owned by John Case, and on the other side of the street where Caffrey's gasoline station is now was the home of Mr. Straly.  One other building, the store of Jacob Heisser at Fourth Street [today's Lincoln Avenue] and Fifth Avenue, now occupied by the Progressive Grocery Company, completed 'Main Street, Pelhamville.'

 The news of the train wreck caused a number of people to come from New Rochelle and Mount Vernon to visit the scene.  A large body of workmen were sent to Pelhamville by the railroad company, and for several days they worked constructing a track up the bank.  The engine, tender and mail car were righted, placed on the auxiliary track and pulled up to the place on the main line.  The work occupied over a week.

 The train wreck is well remembered by some of the older inhabitants of Pelham, and particularly by John T. Logan of Second Avenue.  Mr. Logan carefully preserved the account of the accident and the accompanying pictures which appeared in the Scientific American of January 16, 1886, and to him The Pelham Sun is indebted for loan of the pictures and the story of the wreck.

 Interesting, too, is the fact that many of the timbers which were contained in the old station house and platform were used in the construction of the building on First Street, which is now used as a garage by Terence Mackel.

How great a change has been wrought in this locality since that time can be imagined from the statements of Mr. Logan.  Pelhamwood and Pelham Heights were then wooded hillside.  The Boston and Westchester Railroad had not been built, paved streets were unknown, as were street lights.  The inhabitants of Pelhamville found their way at night by the aid of lanterns, and these used to be taken to the country store of Jacob Heisser at Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue to be filled and trimmed."

 Source:  Railroad Wreck Featured Christmas In The Pelhams Thirty-Seven Years Ago -- Remarkable Happening Caused Derailment of Train at Fifth Avenue Station of New Haven R. R., The Pelham Sun, Dec. 15, 1922, Vol. 13, No. 42, p. 7, cols. 1-3.

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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 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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Thursday, July 20, 2017

Three More Pelham Train Wrecks


Pelham has been the scene of many train wrecks in the last 170 years since the first railroad tracks were laid through the town.  The most infamous such wreck, of course, was the Pelhamville Train Wreck on December 27, 1885.  (I have written extensively about that train wreck.  See the following article with links to additional articles about the incident, a full bibliography, and images of the aftermath:  Fri., Dec. 30, 2016:  Pelham Recalled the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 Upon Death of Riley Ellsworth Phillips in 1927.)  There have been a host of other train wrecks as well, many of which I have written about before as well.  See, e.g.:

 Bell, Blake A., Train Wrecks Near Depot Square in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 44, Nov. 5, 2004, p. 13, col. 1.

 Wed., Sep. 21, 2016:  Truck Smashed by Express Train Landed on Pelham Station Platform in 1925.  

 Fri., Feb. 26, 2016:  108 Years Ago Today: Freight Train Wreck on the Branch Line Between Pelham Manor and Bartow Station.

 Fri., Apr. 25, 2014:  Freight Train Wreck at Pelham Manor Station in 1896.

Detail from 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.

 Today's Historic Pelham article details three additional Pelham train wrecks.  The first was a major freight train wreck on the Branch Line near Pelham Manor Depot on June 25, 1899.  The second was a derailment of cars on a New Haven Main Line passenger train on March 10, 1905.  The third was a freight train wreck on the Branch Line near Pelham Manor Depot four days later on March 14, 1905.

 June 25, 1899 Freight Train Wreck

 At about 1:00 p.m. on June 25, 1899, a westbound freight train with sixty cars carrying merchandise, beef, and vehicles was traveling about thirty-five miles an hour between the Pelham Manor and Bartow stations on the Branch Line when a drawbar (a heavy bar helping to connect the railroad cars) either broke or was removed by a vagabond seen climbing aboard the train earlier.  As the front half of the train slowed near the base of a steep grade, the runaway rear half of the train smashed into it.  About twenty cars derailed and scattered their contents along the tracks.  

 The conductor was about to leave the caboose when the wreck occurred.  He was thrown about, knocked down, and "severely bruised."  The brakeman, William Cooney, was badly hurt.  He was in one of the cars that derailed.  He was caught in the wreckage.  His leg was crushed and he was cut badly about the face.

 After the accident, the vagabond was seen crawling from the wreck unhurt, though his coat and hat were missing.  Although a wrecking train was dispatched to the site immediately, it was several hours before the tracks could be cleared and traffic along the Branch Line could be resumed.

 March 10, 1905 Passenger Train Derailment

 At 7:35 a.m. on March 10, 1905, a passenger train traveling through Pelham reached an area where the Main New Haven Line rails had spread.  As the wheels of the train passed over the defective section of the track, five cars were derailed.  

 No one was hurt in the accident but, according to a brief newspaper account "six women on the train fainted."  Luckily, someone had the presence of mind to get down the tracks and flag down the express train that was bearing down on the scene from behind and flagged it to a stop in time to prevent a major collision with the derailed cars.

 June 14, 1905 Freight Train Pile Up

 On the afternoon of March 14, 1905, a westbound freight train passing the Pelham Manor Depot snapped an axle.  Four cars of the train derailed and piled up along the tracks in a terrible wreck.  

 Though there is no record of injuries, a brief reference to the accident indicates that the Branch Line tracks were blocked for two hours as a result of the wreck.

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 "FREIGHT STREWN ALONG TRACKS.
-----
SMASH ON THE NEW-YORK, NEW-HAVEN AND HARTFORD ROAD NEAR BARTOW CAUSES MUCH DAMAGE.

 A westbound freight train, consisting of sixty cars of merchandise, beef and vehicles, was badly wrecked about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon on the Harlem River branch of the New-York, New-Haven and Hartford Railroad.

 The accident was caused by the pulling out of a drawbar while the train was descending a steep grade between Bartow and Pelham Manor at a speed of about thirty-five miles an hour.  Before the locomotive and forward section could get out of the way the rear section could get out of the way the rear section overtook it and struck it with a crash, throwing about twenty cars off the rails and scattering their contents along the track.  Conductor Llewellyn was about to leave the caboose when the crash came, and was knocked down and severely bruised.  William Cooney, a brakeman, was standing on one of the cars that left the track.  He was caught in the wreckage and had his leg crushed, in addition to being cut about the face.

 Just before the accident one of the brakemen saw a tramp board the train and take refuge in an empty box car near the place where the train was broken in two.  After the wreck he was seen crawling out from under the car hatless and coatless, but unhurt.  The accident blocked all trains and delayed traffic on the road about six hours."

Source:  FREIGHT STREWN ALONG TRACKS -- SMASH ON THE NEW-YORK, NEW-HAVEN AND HARTFORD ROAD NEAR BARTOW CAUSES MUCH DAMAGE, New-York Tribune, Jun. 26, 1899, Vol. LIX, No. 19,216, p. 1, col. 5.  

 "A Wreck on the Branch Line.
-----

 Pelham Manor, June 26. -- The west-bound freight train on the Harlem River branch of the New Haven road at one o'clock Sunday noon, was badly wrecked at Pelham Manor.

 The accident was caused by the pulling out of a drawbar.  Several of the freight cars left the track and some of them were badly wreck.   

 A brakeman by the name of Cooney, had his leg crushed, and was otherwise badly bruised.

 The grade between Bartow and Pelham Manor is very steep, and when the drawbar pulled out, the forward cars, with the engine, moved away from the rear section, and [as] the engine slowed up, the broken section crashed into the cars ahead of it and a general smashup took place.

 The wrecking train was soon on the scene, and after a few hours delay the tracks were cleared for traffic."

 Source:  A Wreck on the Branch Line, Mount Vernon Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jun. 26, 1899, Vol. XXIX, No. 2,222, p. 1, col. 4.  

 "FREIGHT STREWN ALONG TRACKS.
-----
Smash on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Road Near Bartow Causes Much Damage.

 A west bound freight train, consisting of sixty cars of merchandise, beef and vehicles, was badly wrecked about one o'clock Sunday afternoon on the Harlem River branch of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.  

 The accident was caused by a broken flange while descending the grade between Bartow and Pelham Manor at a speed of about thirty-five miles an hour, throwing fifteen cars off the rails and scattering their contents along the track.  Conductor Llewellyn was about to leave the caboose when the crash came, and was knocked down and severely bruised.  William Cooney, a brakeman, was standing on one of the cars that left the track.  He was caught in the wreckage and had his leg crushed in addition to being cut about the face.  

 Just before the accident one of the brakemen saw a tramp board the train and take refuge in an empty box car near the place where the train was broken in two.  After the wreck he was seen crawling out from under the car hatless and coatless, but unhurt.  The accident blocked all trains and delayed traffic on the road about six hours.  The cars are still piled along the track, some of them standing on an end, and others with the wheels in the air.  The trucks of some of the cars are thirty feet away from the body."

 Source:  FREIGHT STREWN ALONG TRACKS, The New Rochelle Press, Jul. 1, 1899, p. 1, col. 2.  

 "NEW HAVEN TRAIN DERAILED.

 Mount Vernon, N. Y., March 10. -- The 7:35 a.m. westbound local was derailed at Pelham, on the New Haven Railroad by the spreading of the rails.  Five loaded cars were thrown from the track.  Six women on the train fainted but none was injured.  The express train was flagged in time to prevent a collision with the derailed cars."

 Source:  NEW HAVEN TRAIN DERAILED, The Daily Saratogian, Mar. 10, 1905, p. 2, col. 3.

"WRECK ON CONSOLIDATED.
-----
Four Cars of Westbound Freight Piled Up.

 New York, March 14. -- Four cars of a westbound freight train on the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, were wrecked by the breaking of an axle at the Pelham Manor Station this afternoon.  The suburban branch was blocked for two hours."

 Source:  WRECK ON CONSOLIDATED -- Four Cars of Westbound Freight Piled Up, The Daily Morning Journal and Courier, Mar. 15, 1905, p. 1, col. 3.  

 Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Fire Gutted the Old Pelhamville Train Station in 1895 Before Today's Pelham Train Station Was Completed


It was the lead story as an "EXTRA" on the front page of the December 14, 1895 issue of The Daily Argus of Mount Vernon.  The ancient Pelhamville train station had been "GUTTED BY FIRE" earlier that day.  Because the new Pelham Train Station (still in use today) was under construction nearby, for a time Pelham was without any train station.

 A prominent plaque at today's Pelham Train Station proudly proclaims "BUILT 1893." A second plaque states "PELHAM STATION ORIGINALLY CONSTRUCTED IN 1893 BY THE NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN AND HARTFORD RAIL ROAD. . . ."  Both plaques are wrong.  Construction of the station began on Friday, June 28, 1895 and still was underway on December 14, 1895 when the old station, still in use, was destroyed.  See Wed., Apr. 16, 2014:  Pelham's Train Station on the New Haven Line Was NOT Built in 1893 as Claimed.

Plaque on the Exterior Façade of the Pelham Train
Station: "BUILT 1893" Photograph by the Author.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.


Plaque Hanging Inside the Pelham Train Station.
Photograph by the Author.  NOTE:  Click on Image
to Enlarge.

 The fire in the old station was discovered at 1:30 a.m. on December 14, 1895.  Given the time of the fire, most suspected that a spark from the passing midnight train had ignited the flames.  Three alarms were sounded. 

 The station was still in use.  Thus, before the volunteer members of the new First Fire District responded and began battling the flames, the station baggage master, Fred Brickner, ran to the station and began removing tickets, books and other valuables from the burning structure.

 Because winds were high that night, the flames spread quickly and were difficult to fight.  As the battle raged, members of the Liberty Hose and Relief Hook & Ladder Company began to lose the fight.  Soon, all they could do was keep the flames from spreading to other buildings in the vicinity.  The fire gutted the building.

Only Known Depiction of the Pelhamville Station Replaced
by The Pelham Train Station that Stands Today. Source:
A Remarkable Railroad Accident, Scientific American,
Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3, cover and pp. 31-32.  NOTE:
Click on Image to Enlarge.


Detail from Image Above Showing a
Closer View of the Pelhamville Station in 1885.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

 The citizens of Pelhamville hated the old train station.  They considered it an eyesore.  Indeed, they had spent nearly eight years working to force the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company to replace the old building with a new brick train station.  With construction of the new train station underway at the time, the railroad decided not to rebuild the old station gutted by the fire.

 This was not the first fire at the old train station.  It was at least the third.  Most recently, earlier in the same year on Saturday, January 5, 1895, another spark from a passing train started a fire on the roof of the old station.  According to news accounts, the flames were quickly extinguished before they engulfed the building.  The following Monday, carpenters began repairing the damage and the station was returned to use.

 News accounts at the time made clear that many citizens of Pelham secretly yearned for the building to burn to the ground.  Some even suggested that recent fires at the station were not caused by sparks from passing trains but from "incendiaries" since so many hated the old station.  According to one report after the fire on January 5, 1895:  "Many were the sighs to be heard because the building did not burn down, as in that case Pelhamville would soon have a much desired improvement -- a new depot."  Another report after the same fire said:  "It was an old frame rookery, long an eye sore to Pelhamville people.  The building had been fired by incendiaries several times, but may have caught fire this time from a passing engine."

 The precise date that the new Pelham Train Station opened remains a Pelham history mystery.  As I recently wrote:  "Despite Herculean research efforts, I have yet to identify the date that construction of the station was completed or that it first opened to the public. Although I strongly suspect construction finished in early 1896 and the station opened shortly afterward, I cannot yet support that hypothesis with any meaningful evidence. I will continue my efforts, however."  Wed., Apr. 16, 2014:  Pelham's Train Station on the New Haven Line Was NOT Built in 1893 as Claimed.  Now it seems almost certain that the new station opened to the public some time in early 1896.  Only more research will solve this enduring Pelham history mystery.

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 Below is the text of a number of articles about the fire that destroyed the old Pelhamville train station as well as the January 5, 1895 fire at the station.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

 "EXTRA
-----
PELHAMVILLE'S STATION GUTTED BY FIRE.
-----
BROKE OUT AT 1.30 THIS MORNING.
-----
Started From Spark -- Thoroughly Gutted.
-----

 At 1.30 this morning the old station, at Pelhamville, was discovered to be on fire.  Three alarms were sent in and the local Fire Department responded promptly.  

 In the interval between the sending in of the alarms, and the arrival of the firemen, Baggage master Fred. Brickner, arrived and removed books, tickets and other valuables to a place of safety.  

 The flames spread rapidly and the high wind made it difficult to fight the flames.

 The firemen of Liberty Hose and Relief Hook & Ladder company worked like Trojans and succeeded in keeping the flames from spreading in the vicinity, but the station itself was gutted.  

 It is believed sparks from the engine of the 12.00 train, from New York, was the cause of the conflagration.  This is the third time the structure has been on fire.  It is believed the building will not be repaired but that a new station will take its place."

 Source:  EXTRA -- PELHAMVILLE'S STATION GUTTED BY FIRE -- BROKE OUT AT 1.30 THIS MORNING -- Started From Spark -- Thoroughly Gutted, Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Dec. 14, 1895, Vol. XV, No. 1131, p. 1, col. 6.  

 "Pelhamville Station Burned.

 PELHAMVILLE, N.Y., Dec. 14. -- The station for eastbound trains of the New York, New Haven & Hartford in this village, was burned this morning.  All the tickets, books and reports were burned.  Loss $7,500, insured."

 Source:  Pelhamville Station Burned, The Rome Daily Sentinel, Dec. 14, 1895, Vol. XIV, p. 3, col. 6.  

 "ALL THE NEWS OF A DAY.
-----
IMPORTANT HAPPENINGS OF YESTERDAY RECORDED. . . .

 Pelhamville, N. Y., Dec. 14. -- The station for the east bound trains of the New York, New Haven & Hartford road in this village, was burned this morning.  All the tickets and reports were burned.  Loss $7,500; insured. . . ."

 Source:  ALL THE NEWS OF A DAY -- IMPORTANT HAPPENINGS OF YESTERDAY RECORDED, Elmira Telegram [Elmira, NY], City Edition, Dec. 15, 1895, Vol. XVII, No. 33, p. 1, col. 1.

 "Briefs by Wire. . . . 

 -- The station for the east-bound trains of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, in Pelhamville, was burned this morning.  All the tickets, books and reports were burned.  Loss $7,500. . . ."

 Source:  Briefs by Wire, The Times-Union [Albany, NY], Last Edition, Dec. 14, 1895, p. 1, col. 7.  

 "STATION BURNT.  --  The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad station at Pelhamville burned Monday.  It was an old frame rookery, long an eye sore to Pelhamville people.  The building had been fired by incendiaries several times, but may have caught fire this time from a passing engine."

 Source:  STATION BURNT, New Rochelle Pioneer, Jan. 12, 1895, p. 5, col. 2.

 "OUR NEARBY NEIGHBORS.
-----
Pelhamville. . . .

 The fire alarm sounded last Saturday morning at 10.30 o'clock.  Upon investigation the blaze was found to be in the N.Y., N.H. & H.R.R. depot, which had been caused a spark from a passing engine falling on the roof.  The flames were extinguished however before they reached the first floor and the damage is not very great.  Many were the sighs to be heard because the building did not burn down, as in that case Pelhamville would soon have a much desired improvement -- a new depot.  Carpenters began repairing the damage last Monday. . . ."

 Source:  OUR NEARBY NEIGHBORS -- Pelhamville, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Jan. 10, 1895, p. 4, col. 2.  

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Friday, December 30, 2016

Pelham Recalled the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 Upon Death of Riley Ellsworth Phillips in 1927


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 Ellsworth 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.  

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.  

 I have written about Riley Ellsworth Phillips and the Pelhamville Train Wreck on a number of occasions.  See the bibliography with links at the end of today's article.  

 The Pelhamville Train Wreck was so significant and so affected Pelhamville residents that it was written about repeatedly in the local newspaper, The Pelham Sun, for many decades after the wreck.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes yet another article about the wreck in 1885.  The article appeared in The Pelham Sun the week following the death of Riley Ellsworth Phillips.  Its text is immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.

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 "DEATH OF ENGINEER RECALLS WRECK OF BANKERS EXPRESS AT PELHAMVILLE
-----
Riley Ellsworth Phillips, 80, Dies After Sixty-one Year Service, Was Seriously Injured When Locomotive Left Rails At Pelhamville in 1885
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 The death last Thursday of Riley Ellsworth Phillips, veteran locomotive engineer of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad recalls to many of the older residents of the Pelhams, the wreck of the 'Bankers' Express' at the old Pelhamville station, on the night of December 27, 1885.  That accident in which one man was killed and Phillips' locomotive and tender were hurled from the railroad embankment at what is now Pelham station, was the only wreck charged against the record of the veteran engineer.  

 Old timers can tell a vivid story of the wreck at Pelhamville.  To them it brings a living picture of the little town as it was in the old days.  The railroad embankment was crossed by a grade crossing at what is now Fifth avenue.  It was little more than a wagon track made by the carts of the farmers from the farm districts between the railroad and Long Island Sound.

 A brick station stood to the west of the grade crossing.  A platform of oak planking extended some distance past the station.  It was this platform that was responsible for the wreck of the crack 'Bankers' Express' with Phillips at the throttle.

 The high wind of a winter storm tore the platform from its moorings, and lifting it up turned it over onto the railroad tracks, shortly before the express was due to pass through Pelhamville.

 Making up time, Phillips had the big locomotive doing its best when the train approached Pelhamville station.  Suddenly he saw the wrecked platform lying right in the path of the train.  He endeavored to apply the brakes, but the danger was unavoidable.  The heavy locomotive crashed into the timbers, leaving the rails hurtled through the air to the foot of the embankment, carrying the tender and baggage car along with it.  Fortunately the passenger coaches did not leave the rails.

 Phillips crawled out of the wrecked locomotive, seriously injured.  The body of his fireman was later found in the wreck.  Three mail clerks were injured.  Removal of the wreck took more than a week with the inadequate wrecking machinery used in those days.  

 Phillips recovered and was absolved from all blame.  He continued in the service of the railroad and was one of the road's most trusted employees.  He would have completed his sixty-second year with the railroad in July.  

 He was eighty years old and was a veteran of the Civil War."

 Source:  DEATH OF ENGINEER RECALLS WRECK OF BANKERS EXPRESS AT PELHAMVILLE -- Riley Ellsworth Phillips, 80, Dies After Sixty-one Year Service, Was Seriously Injured When Locomotive Left Rails At Pelhamville in 1885, The Pelham Sun, Feb. 25, 1927, p. 10, cols. 1-2.  

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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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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).

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