1867 — Dec 18, Lake Shore and Mich. Southern Derailment and Fire, Angola, NY –39-50

–39-50 Blanchard estimate.
— 50 New York Times. “The Old Year. Chronology of 1867,” Jan 1, 1868, p. 2.
— 50 Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”
— 49 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 434.
–42 Burned to death in last car of the train which fell from the bridge into creek bed.
— 7 Turning over of another train car.
— 49 Holbrook, Stewart H. The Story of American Railroads (5th printing). 1959, 277.
— 42 Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. Notes on Railroad Accidents. 1879, pp. 13-14.
— 42 Aldrich. Death Rode the Rails. 2006, p. 20.
— 43 Nash. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters. 1977, p. 736.
— 41 Willsey & Lewis. “Memorable Railroad Accidents,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 674.
— 40 New York Times. “The Angola Disaster—Cause of the Accident,” Jan 1, 1868, p. 1.
— 39 New York Times. “The Dead by the Angola Disaster,” Jan 2, 1868, p. 3.

Narrative Information

Adams: “On the day of the Angola accident the eastern bound express train over the Lake Shore road, as it was then called, consisted of a locomotive, four baggage, express and mail cars, an emigrant and three first-class passenger coaches. It was timed to pass Angola, a small way station in the extreme western part of New York, at 1.30 P.M., without stopping; but on the day in question it was two hours and forty-five minutes late, and was con¬sequently running rapidly.

“A third of a mile east of the station there is a shallow stream, known as Big Sister creek, flowing in the bottom of a ravine the western side of which rises abruptly to the level of the track, while on the eastern side there is a gradual ascent of some forty or fifty rods. This ravine was spanned by a deck bridge of 160 feet in length, at the east end of which was an abutment of mason work some fifty feet long connecting with an embankment beyond.

“It subsequently appeared that the forward axle in the rear truck of the rear car was slightly bent. The defect was not percep¬tible to the eye, but in turning round the space be¬tween the flanges of the wheels of that axle varied by three-fourths of an inch. As long as the car was travelling on an unbroken track, or as long as the wheels did not strike any break in the track at their narrowest point, this slight bend in the axle was of no consequence. There was a frog in the track, however, at a distance of 600 feet east of the An¬gola station, and it so happened that a wheel of the defective axle struck this frog in such a way as to make it jump the track. The rear car was instantly derailed. From the frog to the bridge was some 1200 feet. With the appliances then in use the train could not be stopped in this space, and the car was dragged along over the ties, swaying vio¬lently from side to side. Just before the bridge was reached the car next to the last was also thrown from the track, and in this way, and still moving at considerable speed, the train went onto the bridge. It was nearly across when the last car toppled off and fell on the north side close to the abutment. The car next to the rear, more fortunate, was dragged some 270 feet further, so that when it broke loose it simply slid some thirty feet down the embankment. Though this car was badly wrecked, but a single person in it was killed. His death was a very singular one. Before the car separated from the train, its roof broke in two transversely; through the fissure thus made this unfortunate passenger was partly flung, and it then instantly closed upon him.

“The other car had fallen fifty feet, and remained resting on its side against the abutment with one end inclined sharply downward. It was mid-winter and cold, and, as was the custom then, the car was heated by two iron stoves, placed one at each end, in which wood was burned. It was nearly full of passengers. Naturally they all sprang from their seats in terror and confusion as their car left the rails, so that when it fell from the bridge and vio¬lently struck on one of its ends, they were precipi¬tated in an inextricable mass upon one of the over¬turned stoves, while the other fell upon them from above. A position more horrible could hardly be imagined. Few, if any, were probably killed out¬right. Some probably were suffocated ; the great¬est number were undoubtedly burned to death. Of those in that car three only escaped; forty-one are supposed to have perished….

“Before it finally stood still the locomotive was half a mile from the frog and 1,500 feet from the bridge. Thus, when the rear cars were off the track, the speed and distance they were dragged gave them a lateral and violently swinging motion, which led to the final result….

“The passenger coaches used on this side of the Atlantic, with their light wood-work heavily covered with paint and varnish, are at best but tinder-boxes. The presence in them of stoves, hardly fastened to the floor and filled with burning wood and coal, involves a degree of risk which no one would believe ever could willingly be incurred, but for the fact that it is….

“…the fearful possibility which now hangs over the head of every traveler by rail, that he may suddenly find himself doomed without possibility of escape to be roasted alive…hardly admits of question….” (Adams 1879, 12-15)

“While thus referring, however, to this instance of British railroad conservatism [omitted here], which with a stolid indifference seems to ignore the teachings of everyday life and to meet constantly recurring experi¬ence with a calm defiance, it will not do for the American railroad manager to pride himself too much on his own greater ingenuity and more amen¬able disposition. The Angola disaster has been re¬ferred to, as well as that at Shipton. If the absence of the bell-cord had indeed any part in the fatality of the latter, the presence in cars crowded with passen¬gers of iron pots full of living fire lent horrors before almost unheard of to the former. The methods of accomplishing needed results which are usual to any people are never easily changed, whether in Europe or in America; but certainly the disasters which have first and last ensued from the failure to devise any safe means of heating passenger coaches in this country are out of all proportion to those which can be attributed in England to the absence of means of communication between the passengers on trains and those in charge of them. There is an American conservatism as well as an English ; and when it comes to a question of running risks it would be strange indeed if the greater margin of security were found west of the Atlantic. The security afforded by the bell-cord assuredly has not as yet in this country off-set the danger incident to red-hot stoves.” (Adams 1879, 41-42)

Aldrich: “…it was a defective axle that caused a derailment on a bridge near Angola, New York, on the Lake Shore on December 18, 1867. The resulting wreck and fire killed forty-two individuals.” (Aldrich. Death Rode the Rails. 2006, p. 20.)

Holbrook: “….There was much other testimony, too, and it resulted in a moral if not an official agreement that the derailment had been caused by the use of an extremely dangerous makeshift known as ‘compromise cars.’ Compromise cars were occasioned by the fact that the gage of the New York Central was 4 feet 8½ inches; the gage of the Lake shore was 4 feet 10 inches. To obviate a change in one or the other of the gages, the connecting and cooperating lines hit on the compromise cars, the wheels of which were wide enough to run on and cover completely the rails of the Central, but would not cover the Lake Shore rails by three-quarters of an inch. In other words, any lateral motion that threw the wheels three-quarters of an inch off center, while running on Lake Shore track, would be sufficient to derail a compromise car. The rear car of the derailed train was a compromise car. The rails were of the Lake Shore. The imperfect frog on the switch at Angola station showed how shoddy a thing was a compromise car. Presently they were relegated to the bone-yard.” (Holbrook, Stewart H. The Story of American Railroads (5th printing). 1959, p. 277-278.)

Wikipedia: “The Angola Horror – The Buffalo-bound New York Express of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern derails its last coach, due to poor track maintenance, and it plunges forty feet off a truss bridge into Big Sister Creek just after departing Angola. The next car is also pulled from the track and rolls down the far embankment. Stoves set both coaches afire and fifty are killed – three manage to crawl from the wreckage. Forty more are injured. The train actually continues for some distance before the crew realizes an accident has happened.” (Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”)

Newspapers

Dec 31, NYT: “Buffalo, Tuesday, Dec. 31. The Coroner’s inquest into the cause of the late railroad disaster at Angola, after eleven days’ investigation, concluded their labors this evening. The jury was composed of some of the most intelligent business men of the city. A thorough and searching investigation was made. Forty-two witnesses were examined, and the result of their inquiries is that the accident was caused by a bent axle at Cleveland and Toledo car No. 21, the car that was burned, causing the wheel on that truck to drop into the wing rail, thus throwing the wheels off that track, and subsequently the whole car off the track, and that there were forty persons in all killed thereby. The jury also recommended the adoption and enforcement of a more thorough system of gauging wheels of cars so as to prevent an imperfect axle or wheel being made in the future.” (New York Times. “The Angola Disaster—Cause of the Accident,” Jan 1, 1868, p. 1.)

Jan 2, NYT: “The sexton of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, has furnished the following list of persons killed at the late railroad disaster, and of the disposition made of their bodies, and also of the unrecognized bodies still remaining in the vault under the Cathedral, subject to the inspection of friends” [21 fatalities identified]

“There are also eighteen boxes of charred remains in the vault unrecognized. Of these, box No. 4 contains a female; box No. 5, the body of a small person, sex unknown; box No. 6, the remains of a large man, supposed to be Mr. Gibbs of Galveston, Texas; box No. 8 contains a body that has a gold chain and skirt fastener attached to it; in box No. 12 are the remains of a female; box No. 56 has a gold ring with the body, supposed to be John W. Chapman, of Boston. The charred body of Joseph S. Lewis, of Buffalo, George D. Kent, and wife, of Lockport, and David Quackenbush, of Syracuse, are also supposed to be in the vault….” (New York Times. “The Dead by the Angola Disaster,” Jan 2, 1868, p. 3.)

Jan 2, NYT: “The following extracts re from the testimony taken on Monday by the Coroner in his investigation into the causes of the recent railroad accident at Angola:

“Myron E. Brown testified

…am master mechanic on the Buffalo and Northwestern Divisions of the Erie Railway;

examined the track at Angola the next day after the accident; the wing rail had been removed; I examined the rail at Angola; found a slight bend in the rail about twenty inches from the point of the frog, which showed that some heavy power had bent it; saw marks on the rail which were caused by a wheel dropping down inside of the rail; I have made an examination myself, and found the axle bent in the longest part, so that it was impossible to have it run at any speed without being discovered at once by passengers riding in the car;

there were indications that the axle was bent prior to the accident; on the back side of the flange of one of the wheels it is worn off on one piece more than it is on any other part of the wheel; there is no chill on the back side of the flange of the wheel; I found that the wheel at this point was undoubtedly worn considerably by frequently coming in contact with guard rails at frogs before reaching this frog; the wheel would not rub against the track; wheels may run out of true for months before being discovered; I have taken bent wheels out of cars myself;

the inside of the south wheel did not wear on the rail until it reached the bridge; the wheel has been worn on one side more than on another, and has been wearing so evidently a long while;

the wheel could not have touched the side of the track more than ten or twelve times before it reached the bridge; the mark where the wheel went down at the side of the rail at the frog, is shown on the rail and not on the wheel;

the wheel in question is a thirty-three-inch wheel; the leverage of the wheel would be sixteen and a half inches; the rail is four inches above the tie; we found the wheel had thus dropped down on the side of the wing rail, wedging inside the wing rail;

had the wing rail not been strongly spiked as it was, in good oak ties, it would have thrown the wing rail out and sent the truck to the south side instead of the north side; but the rail being so firmly fastened, it bent the four and a half inch axle in the largest part, forcing the truck upon the north rail, giving the truck the opposite motion to what it would have had, had the wing rail been poorly fastened;

I am positive that the accident happened on account of an axle being slightly bent before coming to the wing rail; this bend in the axle could not been seen by an inspector while the car was standing still; it might be seen while the car was running; a close inspection would show the bend of the axle as it is at present;

the gauge of the track is 4 feet 10 inches; I think the frog is half an inch in breadth at the point; there is two inches space between the point and wing rail; half an inch or more out of true would allow the rounded part of the wheel to drop down in the frog; the Buffalo and Erie wheel gauge is the same as that on the car which went off the track; I saw the gauge tried on those wheels and it corresponded with that of the Cleveland and Toledo gauge; have examined the wheel that went into the frog, and am convinced that if it had not been of the best Washburn pattern it would have broken, it would have gone to pieces;

have noticed wheels that have wobbled on a straight axle, and have taken them out to prevent such accidents; a wheel improperly bored would just as likely be put on a passenger car as any other; a gauge applied at three or four points of an imperfect wheel would show it out of true; this wheel, which, in my opinion, caused the accident, may have been running for months; had not, as a mere chance, the narrowest point of this imperfect wheel came, at that particular time, at the point of this frog, the wheel might have run for months after and not have been discovered;

have made three examinations of the axle and wheel, and went three times to Angola to find out the cause of the accident; when I looked at the wheel, after I had been told that the axle had been bent, I could not discover, from the position I stood in, and the position of the wheel, that it did not stand true; I could not, nor can I now, discover any mark or indentation on the bent axle to show that it had received any injury in coming in collision with the stone abutment or other substance;

I believe it would be impossible for the axle to be bent to its present shaped by any pressure that could be put on after its arrival at the car-shop in this city;

am confident, beyond any doubt, that it was the fore wheel of the hind truck of the rear car that dropped into the frog;

had all the brakes been applied on the train I think it could have been stopped within a quarter of a mile; I think the train was stopped within a good distance after the first signal was given; we do not take one signal as indicating danger; as it is always customary, in case of danger, to give another signal immediately after; if we wish to stop a train, we, in all cases, get the signal from the conductor, and we give it to the brakesmen, and notify them to use extra exertion; it is only under such circumstances that brakesmen are allowed to slide wheels; we never reverse until we get our second signal for fear of danger, for with one ring of a bell we may understand that the train might have broken in two or some passenger pulled the bell, particularly at stations, but on getting a second signal we know our train is all there, we understand there is danger, and reverse at once, which every good engineer would do;

it was not possible to stop the train at Angola before dragging the rear car on the bridge;

all engineers should shut off steam when they get the first signal; it is customary to do so upon all railroads;

am somewhat acquainted with the Creamer brake; no brake could have stopped the train within 400 feet at the time the signal was given; it is not safe with the Creamer brake to put down brakes at the first signal; the conductor, if on the rear car, could not have put down the Creamer brake if they had been on the car; do not think the Creamer brakes would have been of utility on the rear truck, owing to the defective axle;

have known Chas Carscadin, the engineer; he has been in my employ on the New-York and Erie Railway; I consider him a fist-class engineer; he is safe and trusty in cases of danger; his personal habits are good; never knew him to be intoxicated either on or off duty; he left our employ to get better pay than we were giving at the time, and I gave him a good recommend;

had the speed of the train been twelve miles an hour and the second signal been given 600 feet west of the bridge, the train could not have stopped at the bridge;

thirty miles an hour is not too fast a rate of speed to run by Angola and the bridge;

I have no interest of any kind in the Buffalo and Erie Railroad.”

(New York Times. “The Angola Disaster,” Jan 2, 1868, p. 1.)

Jan 3, NYT: “The inquest into the cause of the recent rail-road disaster at Angola was concluded about 5:30 o’clock on Tuesday evening, and the case was given to the jury. At 8 o’clock, after consultation, they returned their verdict, which in full was as follows:

The testimony being concluded, the jury retire about 7 o’clock to consult upon their verdict, which was, that the victims of the recent disaster ‘came to their death from injuries received while passengers in the cars of the New-York express train from the West, on the Buffalo and Erie Railroad, at Angola, N.Y., on the 18th day of December, 1867, which injuries were caused by the last two cars of the said train being thrown from the track of said railroad, at or near the Creek bridge, about 1,800 feet east of Angola Station.

And we do further say that the immediate cause of said cars being thrown from the track, was a bent axle in the forward wheels of the rear truck of car No. 21, (belonging to the Cleveland & Toledo Railroad Company,) it being the rear car of the train, and the axle being so bent (by causes which we have been unable to discover) that the wheel dropped from the end of the frog, inside iv, and did not lap on the wing rail; thereby forcing the opposite wheels of that truck off the rail and the cars off the track.

And we further say that the said car had been subjected on that trip, at Erie and at Dunkirk, to inspection in the customary manner by experienced inspectors, and that such bent axle was not discovered on such inspection, and could only have been discovered by the application of some mechanical test applied for that purpose.

The jury are of opinion that some system of inspection ought to be immediately adopted and enforced by which such defects can be detected with certainty.

(New York Times. “The Disaster at Angola—Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury,” Jan 3, 1868, p. 5.)

Sources

Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. Notes on Railroad Accidents. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1879, 300 pages. Accessed at: http://www.archive.org/details/notesonrailroada00adamrich

Aldrich, Mark. Death Rode the Rails: American Railroad Accidents and Safety, 1828-1965. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2006, 446 pages. Partially digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=W83OY7j-oaEC

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Holbrook, Stewart H. The Story of American Railroads (5th printing). New York: Crown Publishers, 1959.

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

New York Times. “The Angola Disaster,” Jan 2, 1868, p. 1. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9402E3DB1630EE34BC4A53DFB7668383679FDE

New York Times. “The Angola Disaster—Cause of the Accident,” Jan 1, 1868, p. 1. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02E4DB1630EE34BC4953DFB7668383679FDE

New York Times. “The Dead by the Angola Disaster,” Jan 2, 1868, p. 3. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950CE3DB1630EE34BC4A53DFB7668383679FDE

New York Times. “The Disaster at Angola—Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury,” Jan 3, 1868, p. 5. At: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07E1DB1630EE34BC4B53DFB7668383679FDE

New York Times. “The Old Year. Chronology of 1867.” 1-1-1868, p. 2. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E0CE4DB1630EE34BC4953DFB7668383679FDE

Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-1950_rail_accidents

Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false