1886 — Sep 14, freight/excursion trains collide headon, Nickel-Plate RR, Silver Creek, NY–16-20

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 12-4-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–16-20  Blanchard estimated death toll range. In attempt to confirm death tolls noted below ranging from 18 to 20, by searching through newspaper archives, we have only been able to identify sixteen deaths through September 17 in the Silver Creek Local. This paper, and others, note a number of hospitalized injured. Though we sought to locate articles on the deaths of injured survivors, we were unsuccessful. We speculate that one or more of the injured died afterwards, thus explaining the death toll estimates of 18-20. However, since we cannot verify, we choose to employ a death toll range of 16 (which is certain) to 20.

 

—  20  Reed, R.C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line. 1968, 111.

—  20  Willsey and Lewis. “Memorable Railroad Accidents,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 674.

—  19  Philadelphia Record Almanac 1885. “General and Local Events, September, 1886,” p. 94.

—  19  Railroad Stories. “September in Railroad History.” September 1935, p. 63.

—  18  Public Ledger Almanac 1887.  1888, p. 63.

—  16  Silver Creek Local, NY. “A Nickel Plate Horror.” 9-17-1886, p. 1.

Narrative Information

 Harper’s: “Collision on Nickel Plate railroad at Silver Creek, N.Y.; 13 killed, 20 injured (7 fatally)…14 Sept. 1886.” (Willsey and Lewis. 1895, 674.)

 

Public Ledger Almanac 1887: “Eighteen persons killed and 13 injured by the collision of trains on the Nickel-Plate Railroad, in a cut near Silver Creek, N.Y.”  (Public Ledger Almanac 1887.  1888, p. 63.)

 

Railroad Stories:  “September 14….1886. Head-on collision on Nickel Plate Road at Silver Creek, N.Y., between Niagara Falls excursion and a westbound freight; 19 killed (See article by H. R. Edwards, Nov., ’34.” (Railroad Stories. “September in Railroad History.” September 1935, p. 63.)

 

Reed: “Telescoping of passenger cars caused great loss of life in 1886 when a Nickle Plate excursion train headed for Niagara Falls rammed a freight near Silver Creek, N.Y.  Twenty men were crushed to jelly in the smoking car.”  (Reed 1968, 111.)

 

Newspapers

 

Sep 14, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY: “Buffalo, September 14. A report was in circulation here this morning that an eastbound passenger train on the Nickel Plate road, with several hundred people on board, had gone over the high trestle near Silver Creek, N.Y., and that many lives had been lost. This rumor was followed by numerous wild stories of the wreck, none of which could be traced to any reliable source. Finally, shortly before noon, a report, apparently authentic, reached here that the accident at Silver Creek was caused by a collision between a west-bound express train and an excursion train from Erie, Pa. Twelve persons were reported to have been killed and fourteen seriously injured.

Later.

 

“At 9:45 o’clock this morning a special excursion train over the Nickel Plate road from Ashtabula, O., bound to Niagara Falls, collided with a local freight train between Irving and Silver Creek, N.Y., within twenty rods of a steep embankment. Both trains were going at a lively rate of speed, and the shock threw a number of cars from the track. There were about 300 passengers on the excursion train, and many of them were hurled from their seats and several were killed and injured. A special wrecking train with a number of physicians left this city at noon for the scene of the accident. The exact number killed and injured or their names not yet obtainable.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY. “Twelve Killed. A Fatal Accident on the Nickel Plate Road.” 9-14-1886, p. 7.)

 

Sep 14, New York Tribune: “Buffalo, Sept. 14. – A railroad murder of the worst description occurred at 11 o’clock this morning as the Nickel Plate of New-York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, between Silver Creek and Irving, thirty miles west of here. The Niagara Falls excursion train, which left Ashtabula, Ohio, at 8 a.m., stopped at all the stations to Silver Creek, and left there on time with the eleven passenger coaches well filled with Ohio, Erie and Dunkirk people. There was a baggage car ahead and next to it was the smoker, half filled with men. Three quarters of a mile east of Silvert Creek, just as the train was leaving a big trestle to round a curve, Engineer Lewis Brewer was horrified to see the engine of a freight train plunging [?] toward him on the same track at a high rate of speed. Brewer whistled, put on the air brakes nd reversed his engine. Then he and his fireman jumped. The freight engineer whistled and jumped just as the engines came together with a terrible crash.

 

“The baggage car was instantly telescoped into the smoking car, but the other cars were not badly hurt. A moment after the crash the air was filled with the groans of the dying and the hiss of the escaping steam….The engines were almost demolished, and the baggage car was found to have ploughed to within five feet of the rear of the smoker….” (New York Tribune. “Death on the Nickel Plate. Sixteen Lives Lost by Carelessness.” 9-15-1886, p. 1.)

 

Sep 14, The Republican, Westfield, NY: “(Special to the Republican.) Silver Creek, Sept. 14th. – The special excursion train on the Nickle Plate Road which left Erie this morning at 6:45 o’clock, met with a serious accident about one-half mile east of this station, at about noon. At that point there is a short curve which completely shuts out an approaching train. The engineer had orders to meet a special freight at Summit and either disregarded orders or there was a mistake in giving them to the other train….” (The Republican, Westfield, NY. “Socking! Frightful Accident to the Nickel Plate Excursion Train.” 9-15-1886, p. 3.)

 

Sep 17, Silver Creek Local, NY: “Silver Creek and vicinity for the past ten years has been the scene of quite a number f individual accidents, and in them all a number of lives have been lost, but never in its history, since the burning of the steamer Erie in 1842, has anything happened, approaching in horror the terrible accident which occurred on the Nickle Plate road, Tuesday. The accident occurred on the curve in the cut one mile east of the station….

 

“Tuesday morning an excursion train from Erie, Pa., to Niagara Falls, consisting of eleven coaches, a dining car, baggage and smoking cars, passed the station at about 11 o’clock. J. W. Butler, the excursion manager, was in charge, with W. H. Harrison as conductor and Louis Brewer as engineer. It appears that they had orders to meet and pass the way freight at this place, but instead of obeying orders the train pulled out and met the way freight with most terrible results.

 

“After taking on quite a number of passengers from here to the Falls, the conductor inquired of the operator for orders and was told there were none for him. He signaled the engineer to pull out and the train started. While the trestle is undergoing repairs trains are not allowed to run more than six miles an hour over it. This circumstance fortunately saved many lives. After going slowly over the bridge, the train increased its speed to ten miles an hour, and when just about a train’s length from the trestle, the way freight for which the excursion should have waited here, came around the curve. There was no time to stop and both engineers and firemen jumped to the ground and saved themselves.

 

“The engines went together with a terrific crash, pilots, cylinder heads and all the front parts of the engines being so broken and swept away that the ends of the flues of each boiler were  together. The scene at the baggage and smoking cars was most terrible to behold. The two cars were completely telescoped. The end of the baggage car went through the smoker as clean almost as a telescope would close, the bottom of the baggage car going through the smoking car, and the roofing of the latter going through the former. The bottom of the baggage car seemed to take an upward direction, at firs striking the passengers in the legs and breaking them and gradually going higher until when it stopped it crushed its victims more about the chests and heads. In its passage through the ill-fated car the seats and passengers were crushed together like sandwiches, and those first struck in the front of the car were turned over and over and literally rolled and ground into shapeless and almost unrecognizable masses. People present who had seen many similar wrecks say this was the most shocking sight they ever saw.

 

“Henry Shafer, train master of the road happened to be on the train with his family and under his guidance the work of rescuing the wounded and dead was soon begun.

 

“Workmen on the trestle, and people from the village were soon on hand who with the tools on the train and those brought with them began cutting away the wreck to get out the wounded. The men worked like heroes, nerved by the cries of the wounded and their sufferings. Trees were cut in the adjacent grove and used as pries, the sides of the cars cut away, and the unfortunate victims were taken from the wreck.

 

“Dr. E. R. Hopkins happened to be the only surgeon in town at the time. He was on hand, and with marvelous rapidity and skill was able to care for the wounded as fast as they could be taken from the cars. As it took but about an hour to get them all out, some idea of the amount of work he had to perform to care for the 13 injured ones can be imagined. Other physicians say that the amount of work he did in that time was wonderful….

 

“The injured were removed to the station, where they were made as comfortable as possible. One car was turned into a hospital and as many as could be were returned to their homes….

 

Killed. [We arrange in alphabetical order and number.]

 

  1. Stephen Culbertson, Mayor of Waterford, Pa.
  2. Henry G. Gebhart, Allegheny City, Pa.
  3. John Gebhart, Allegheny City, Pa.
  4. P. Harrington, Erie, foreman, Erie Forge Works, died next day at Erie.
  5. Adriel Heidler, Eris.
  6. Hersch, Erie.
  7. Henry Huyck, 20, Steritina, Pa. [Legs amputated on the train; died on way to Erie.]
  8. Louis Lindsey, Erie, Pa., 38, both legs broken below knees, internal injuries; died at home.
  9. W. Loomis, Erie.
  10. John Meyers, Erie.
  11. Orrin Parkhurst, Mayville.
  12. Jacob Rastatter, Erie.
  13. P. Reynolds, ex-Deputy United States Marshal, Dunkirk.
  14. David Scharp, Erie.
  15. John Seifert, Erie, 17.
  16. John Seider, Pittsburg.

“….

(Silver Creek Local, NY. “A Nickel Plate Horror.” 9-17-1886, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY. “Twelve Killed. A Fatal Accident on the Nickel Plate Road.” 9-14-1886, p. 7. Accessed 12-4-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/brooklyn-daily-eagle-sep-14-1886-p-7/

 

New York Tribune. “Death on the Nickel Plate. Sixteen Lives Lost by Carelessness.” 9-15-1886, p. 1. Accessed 12-4-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-tribune-sep-15-1886-p-1/

 

Philadelphia Record Almanac 1885. “General and Local Events.” The Philadelphia Record, 1886.  Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=wCoXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=true

 

Public Ledger Almanac 1887.  Philadelphia, PA:  George W. Childs Publisher, 1888, p. 7.  Digitized by Google.  Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=jF4TAAAAYAAJ

 

Railroad Stories. “September in Railroad History.” September 1935, pp. 61-65.

 

Reed, Robert C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line. New York: Bonanza Books, 1968.

 

Silver Creek Local, NY. “A Nickel Plate Horror.” 9-17-1886, p. 1. Accessed 12-4-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/silver-creek-local-sep-17-1886-p-1/

 

The Republican, Westfield, NY. “Socking! Frightful Accident to the Nickel Plate Excursion Train.” 9-15-1886, p. 3. Accessed 12-4-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/westfield-republican-sep-15-1886-p-3/

 

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