1890 — Sep 19, Three Train Collision, Shoemakersville (~Reading), Berks Co., PA — 22
–22 Adams and Seibold. Great Train Wrecks of Eastern Pennsylvania. 1992, p. 91.
–22 Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia…of the Year 1890 (Vol. 15). “Disasters in 1890, p. 255.
–22 Bradford Era, PA. “Scenes at the Wreck. Twenty-Two Persons Lost…” 9-22-1890, p. 1.
Narrative Information
Adams and Seibold: “At precisely 5:42 p.m., on that fateful Saturday, the Pottsville Express was dispatched out of Reading. Aboard were hundreds of men, women and children who had converged on the city from such events as the State Firemen’s Convention in Chester and the Berks County Fair in Reading….John White was at the throttle, with fireman James Templin and conductor Harry Logan. All were from Pottsville. The baggage master was E.W. Logan, of Shenandoah.
“The train was building up speed as it approached the Perry Straightaway, about two miles north of the Shoemakersville station. The main line hugged the shores of the Schuylkill River, rising some 20 feet above the river at what was known as Mervine’s Hill….
“Earlier, two southbound coal trains had left the Perry station, just a bit farther north. The first, pulled by engine No. 347 and engineer A. B. Gehry, split as a coupling broke. Gehry backed up to retrieve the wayward cars.
“Another coal train was dispatched from Perry twelve minutes after No. 347. That train, behind engine No. 921, continued down with no knowledge that the 347 was occupying the track. Engineer Gehry had his train just about underway when James Vail, at the controls of the 921, rolled into the rear of the first coal train, knocking an eight-wheeler coal car off the tracks, spilling much of its cargo on the other tracks.
“As the passenger train completed the curve, and built speed to what one expert felt must have been close to 65 miles per hour, White doubtlessly looked up in horror as the wreckage of the two trains could be seen, far too close ahead to avert yet another collision. Later, it was determined that only about 90 seconds had transpired between the collision and the approach of the express. There was no time, it was felt, to place torpedo-style signals on the track as a warning, alerting engine crews with a loud, sharp, BANG!
“Along that remote track, on the dark side of dusk, the Pottsville Express plowed into the timbers and coals which had spilled from the previous wreck. The force sent the engine of the passenger train reeling down the embankment and another 150 feet or so into he river.
“Behind it, the tender, baggage car, mail car and three passenger cars struck the wrecked coal cars and followed in fatal plunges. “The horrors of the scene of disaster are simply indescribable,” was the testimony of one of the rescuers at the scent. “It will take the daylight of tomorrow to fully reveal the awful wreck and ruin wrought. The engine lies in the bottom of the river, whose waters are about five feet deep and the baggage, mail and passenger cars are also in the water.”
“Steam hissed and rose from the water as the estimated 150 passengers fought for their lives as the lights of the train were doused and all were forced to struggle in nearly pitch darkness. Some managed to scramble from the wreck and find their way to Shoemakersville to summon help. Rescue crews in Reading were called, and by 10 o’clock, 300 workers were at the scene to render assistance. A man who lived close to the site of the wreck said the sound of the collision could be heard for miles, and was as loud as the report of a cannon.
“The full extent of the tragedy was not known for quite some time, since most of the dead were trapped beneath the cars, on the muddy, grassy floor of the river….
“There was no saving Engineer White or the other members of the crew. White was one of the most experienced engineers on the Reading, and his body was found beneath the firebox of the engine. The corpse of mail agent George Greenawald was found well after midnight, floating downstream in the Schuylkill. The discovery of several empty mail bags from the river several hours later confirmed that Greenawald was in the midst of doing his job when the collision took place.
“The recovery of the engineer’s body was not without the grisly details which often accompanied accounts of nineteenth-century railroad accidents. White’s was the 22nd, and last body taken out of the wreck of the express. A worker saw the engineer’s arm extending from beneath the locomotive. He grabbed the limb, and as the newspaper article stated, “to his horror, it came off, having been crushed and severed at the shoulder.” White had also been decapitated, and his head was not found for another hour, wedged in the truck of the smoking car, several yards downstream.
“The search for the bodies and aid to the injured continued throughout the night. Volunteers even manned rowboats in the river to search amid the debris for any signs of life.
“The railroad’s new “traveling electric light plant” was brought to the scene to aid in the salvage and rescue efforts, and by midnight, Berks County Coroner Dr. John J. Hoffman arrived to start his grim tasks. He told a reporter at the scene there was no doubt that the wreck was the most devastating ever on the Reading. That reporter, in turn, commented in the Reading Eagle the next day, “It is universally regretted here because that road has made a record for itself in not having a serious accident in all its history.”
“Something called tragic irony was riding that train that night. One of the passengers on the express was George R. Kaercher, general counsel for the railroad. He had been one of the prime forces in the company’s prosecution of the Molly Maguires several years before. After its discovery around sunrise, his body was taken by special train to his waiting survivors in Pottsville.
“As daylight broke, the full impact of the wreck and its human toll was sickening. Passenger cars were hoisted from the water and up the embankment. In them were clusters of corpses. Some were crushed and disfigured, others were untouched. In the latter cases, the victims had apparently drowned…. In addition to the 22 killed, more than 30 others were injured in the wreck….
“A battery of inquiries and some revealing testimony followed what had been the most deadly wreck ever on the Reading. Railroad observers and experts immediately rose to criticize the conduct of the crews on the coal trains. Based on documents submitted to probers, it was determined that a flagman would have had a good four minutes to dash only 200 yards to warn the oncoming express as it entered the site of the wreck.
“The engineer of the first coal train, Gehry, said the crash which caused the coal cars to roll over was not at all violent, and his locomotive had proceeded all the way to the Shoemakersville station, where the express engine seemed to pass by his locomotive safely. The fatal wreck occurred beyond the distant curve, and Gehry said he didn’t know about it until brakeman Henry Kemp told him, “The express train is in the Schuylkill.” Vail, the engineer of the second downbound coal train, said his train was nearly stopped when it hit the caboose of the first train. There was little damage, but the force was just enough to upset the coal cars.
“After several days of hearing testimony from survivors, crewmen and witnesses, the Coroner’s Jury determined that Kemp, the brakeman of the first train, was negligent when he did not deal swiftly with the collision of the coal trains and the oncoming express. The 32-year old resident of Reynolds, Schuylkill County, was served with a warrant on September 26, and while he maintained his innocence, the blame for the wreck of the express was placed on his shoulders. He said there was not much he could have done, considering the timing and geography involved in the complex chain reaction. In addition, the crews of both coal trains were suspended….” (Adams and Seibold. Great Train Wrecks of Eastern Pennsylvania. 1992, pp. 85-94.)
Newspapers
Sep 20: “Reading, Pa., Sept. 20. – A wreck occurred on the Reading railroad, seventeen miles above this place, at about 6:45 last night. If everything is borne out by subsequent developments it is the worst wreck that has ever occurred in this section in the history of the railroad company. The train which met with disaster left this city at 6:25, ten minutes late. It is known as the Pottsville express and running at the rate of at least forty-five miles an hour.
“It had on board between 125 and 150 passengers, and consisted of engine, mail and express cars, and three passenger cars. Above Shoemakersville, about fifteen miles above the city, there is a curve where the railroad is about eighteen to twenty feet higher than the Schuylkill river. Here, shortly before 6 o’clock, a freight train ran into a coal train, throwing several cars of the latter on the opposite track.
“Before the train hands had time to go back to warn any approaching train of the danger, the Pottsville express came around the curve and ran into the wrecked coal cars on its track. The engine went down the embankment, followed by the entire train with its human freight. The scene was one of great horror, and can be better imagined than described….
“Physicians and surgeons and a force of 300 workmen were taken to the spot and, with the aid of a traveling electric light plant, the work of clearing away the wreck was at once proceeded with. The work was slow and the dead and drying were taken out with great difficulty. Up to 10 o’clock six dead and some thirty wounded had been taken out of the latter. Some were brought here and others taken to the miners’ hospital at Ashland. The dead taken from the wreck are still on the ground….
“Direct communication has just been had with the scene of the wreck, and it is reported that the number of killed will reach forty or fifty. It is rumored that George R. Kaercher, the famous lawyer, of Rending, is among the killed. The wrecked train is still lying at the bottom of the river. The actual number of the passengers is not known, and it is believed that there are still twenty-five or thirty bodies underneath the wreck or were carried away by the current.” (Lebanon Daily News, PA. “A Terrible Wreck on the Reading Railroad at Shoemakersville.” 9-20-1890, p. 1.)
Sep 21: “Reading, Pa., Sept. 21. – When daylight dawned on the scene of Friday night’s wreck, Saturday morning, on the Philadelphia & Reading railroad, near Shoemakersville, the full realization of the indescribable horrors of the night was first fully realized, and the sickening spectacle of the wrecked train and its victims was presented in a startling picture. There lay the engine in four and a half feet of water, while the body of the engineer, John White, was still pinned underneath the heavy iron work, his arms extended in an appealing manner above the water. The engine is battered out of shape, and its ponderous machinery bent and twisted like a plaything.
“Next lay the tender on its side and then the baggage and mail cars and passenger coaches in the succession in which they left the track, the timbers broken and the cars overturned, pinning the un-rescued victims in a death embrace at the bottom of the river. The speed at which the train was running can be imagined when it is stated that the distance from the point where the engine left the track going down the steep 25 foot embankment and then dashing over the rocky bed of the river is fully 150 feet.
“The work of searching for bodies continued all night and up to 8 o’clock this forenoon a number more had been taken out, now making the total number recovered about 21. There is no longer any doubt as to the fate of George R. Kaercher, general counsel of the Reading railroad. His body was taken out of the wrecked parlor car almost unrecognizable and badly disfigured….
“Thousands have flocked to the scene of disaster, and while they are willing to assist their aid is of very little service, where experienced men are required.
“The wreck occurred this way: A down coal train separated above Shoemakersville. Another coal train following after ran into the rear section. Two loaded coal cars were thrown over on the other track just as the passenger train came dashing past, and the engine striking this obstruction the wreck of the passenger train followed. It is claimed the passenger train followed so soon after the crash of the two coal trains that the employes had no time to go back to warn the approaching passenger train, which crashed into the wreck while going at the rate of 65 miles an hour….
“The body of an unknown man who was among the last to be taken from the wreck, was identified as George Lambert, of Tamauqua. This places the number of killed at 22. It is now believed that there are no bodies in the water and that this ends the death list. All the cars were taken out of the river to-night. A jury has been subpoenaed and will hold an inquest early next week….” (Bradford Era, PA. “Scenes at the Wreck. Twenty-Two Persons Lost Their Lives in the Terrible Reading Collision.” 9-22-1890, p. 1.)
Sources
Adams, Charles J. III and David J. Seibold. Great Train Wrecks of Eastern Pennsylvania. Reading, PA: Exeter House Books, 1992.
Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1890 (Vol. 15). New York: D. Appleton and CO., 1891. Google digital preview accessed 9-7-2017 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=nls0AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Bradford Era, PA. “Scenes at the Wreck. Twenty-Two Persons Lost Their Lives in the Terrible Reading Collision.” 9-22-1890, p. 1. http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=140111430
Lebanon Daily News, PA. “A Terrible Wreck on th Reading Railroad at Shoemakersville.” 9-20-1890, p. 1. Accessed 10-19-2012: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=126718863