1893 — Oct 13, NY Excursion Train rear-ended by second train, depot, Jackson, MI –12-14

12-14  Blanchard estimated range.[1]

 

–14  Michigan Dept. of Transportation. Michigan’s Railroad History 1825-2014. 2014, p. 15.

–13  National Car and Locomotive Builder. “Train Wrecks,” November 1893, p. 179.

–13  Railroad Stories. “October in Rail History,” October, 1935, p. 50.

–13  Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 96.

–12  Bloomington Leader, IL. “Jackson’s Horror. Details of the Crash…” 10-14-1893, p. 1.[2]

–12  Wyatt. “Peek Through Time: Horrific wrecks…” Jackson Citizen Patriot, MI. 9-20-2012.

 

Narrative Information

 

Michigan Dept. of Transportation: “Oct. 13, 1893. Michigan Central Railroad special passenger train stopped in the Jackson Station rear-ended by another Michigan Central Railroad special train, killing 14 persons and injuring 70 others.” (Michigan Dept. of Transportation. Michigan’s Railroad History 1825-2014. 2014, p. 15.)

 

Railroad Stories: “1893 – Second section of N.Y.C. excursion train bound for Chicago World’s Fair from Watertown, N.Y., crashes into rear of first section in front of depot at Jackson, Mich., while passengers for first section are getting breakfast; 13 killed, 50 injured.[3]  Engineer Wm. Whalen and Fireman Joe Kimling, both of second section, leap in time to save their lives.  Defective air brakes blamed.” (Railroad Stories. “October in Rail History,” Oct, 1935, p. 50.)

 

Wyatt: “….Another large-scale wreck occurred Friday, Oct. 13, 1893 and involved two sections of an excursion train that had left Watertown, N.Y. the day before. The train was bound for the Chicago World’s Fair, and all was well until the two sections reached Jackson….

 

“The first section arrived in Jackson about 9 a.m. and passengers got off to have breakfast at the depot diner. As they ate, the train’s second section, under engineer William Whalen, ‘came tearing through the yards at a fast but not extremely rapid rate.’

 

“Whalen shut off steam and applied the air brakes. They didn’t work. He whistled twice for brakes, to no effect. He and his fireman then leaped from the locomotive just before it plowed into the rear of the earlier train….

 

“Twelve people were killed and 50 more injured.

 

“At the coroner’s inquest, a jury found the Michigan Central Railroad guilty of gross negligence in violating a city ordinance limiting speeds within its limits. Whalen was found guilty of gross negligence in not ensuring that his air brakes were working prior to reaching Jackson….” (Wyatt, Ken. “Peek Through Time: Horrific wrecks, injuries and deaths part of Jackson’s railroad history,” Jackson Citizen Patriot, MI. 9-20-2012.)

 

Newspaper at the time

 

Oct 14: “Jackson, Mich., Oct. 14.–The second greatest accident in the history of the Michigan Central railway occurred here within 100 yards of the place where almost fourteen years ago to a day the Pacific express crashed into a freight engine in Oct., 1879, and eighteen people were killed. The disaster has so far a record of twelve dead, five probably fatally injured and fifteen others more or less hurt. At 8:49 o’clock in the morning an excursion train originating at Owego, N.Y., which had been turned over by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western to the Michigan Central at Buffalo, was standing on the track at Jackson station, when a second special, also laden with excursionists from the east, crashed into it from the rear and telescoped the three last cars of the Owego special.

Several Hundred Saw the Crash.

 

“Many of the passengers of this latter train had been out to breakfast; some had returned and were in the coaches; others were on the platform. Their train was about ready to pull out when the second special came into the yards and in sight of the station under check. When within a few hundred feet of the standing train Engineer William Whelan, of the second special, put on the brakes, but found to his alarm that they did not work. The speed of the train did not diminish, and reversing his engine Engineer Whelan and his fireman, Joseph P. Kimbling, jumped from the locomotive. The train kept on and in full view of the several hundred people in and about the station dashed into the rear coach of the first train, passing nearly to the other end.

 

None Escaped in Three Cars.

 

“There were eight cars in the train, all New York Central cars except one which was put in at a station on the Canada Southern division to replace one disabled. The cars are much lighter than those on the Michigan Central, and the seventh and sixth cars from the first engine were completely telescoped, the one being fitted into the other snugly. The fifth car was overturned, and thrown across a side track about fifty feet east of the station. The Michigan Central car was next, and it was badly smashed on both ends, the platforms being carried away and the windows all smashed. The passengers on this car were few and none of them was seriously injured. It was in the sixth, seventh and eighth cars where the slaughter took place and not a single occupant of either of these cars appears to have escaped death or injury.

 

Dead, Dying, and Mangled in the Debris.

 

“The scene that followed the collision was horrible in the extreme. In a moment the air was filled with the shrieks of the dying and dead and mangled bodies could be seen in the debris. The people on the platform and from the surrounding streets rushed in every direction to give what help could be effected. Physicians were on the scene almost instantly, and the work of removing the dead and injured was facilitated by impressing carriages and hearses into immediate service. Jackson being a division station on the line a wrecking train was speedily at hand. The dead were conveyed to the local undertaking rooms and the injured to hotels and to the city hospital, where the division surgeon of the road, Dr. Gibson, and two priests, Fathers Mullany and Buise, took charge of the work of attending to the hurt.

 

Names of Ten of the Dead.

 

“The officers of the road give out the following list of the killed and injured: Killed–Mrs. Charles Starr, Elmira, N.Y.; Miss Maggie McMaster, Penn Yan, N.Y.; Miss Harriet Breeze, Pine City, NY.; George Hoffman, Saranac, N.Y.; Mrs. J. A. Beardslee, East Canton, Pa.; Mrs. J. H. Keeler, Hammondsport, N.Y.; Mrs. Lloyd Woodbury, Bath, N.Y., Mrs. D. J. Gibbs, Wheeler, N.Y.; infant child of Mrs. Anson Harrison, Elmira, N.Y.; Jas. Woodbury, Bath, N.Y. Two have not yet been identified. Of these one is a dark-skinned man with a flowing gray beard, about 60 years of age….” (Bloomington Leader, IL. “Jackson’s Horror.” 10-14-1893, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Bloomington Leader, IL. “Jackson’s Horror. Details of the Crash on the Michigan Central. Twelve Souls Sent to Eternity. Five Others Perhaps Fatally Hurt…” 10-14-1893, p. 1. Accessed 7-16-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bloomington-leader-oct-14-1893-p-2/

 

Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Michigan’s Railroad History 1825-2014. Lansing, MI: MDOT, 2014. Accessed 7-16-2018 at: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/Michigan_Railroad_History_506899_7.pdf

 

National Car and Locomotive Builder. “Train Wrecks,” November 1893, p. 179. Accessed 7-16-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=ccssAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Railroad Stories. “October in Rail History,” October, 1935, pp. 48-53.

 

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

 

Wyatt, Ken. “Peek Through Time: Horrific wrecks, injuries and deaths part of Jackson’s railroad history,” Jackson Citizen Patriot, MI. 9-20-2012. Accessed 7-16-2018 at: https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2012/09/peek_through_time_horrific_wre.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Early reporting was of twelve deaths, though it was noted that several people had quite serious to critical injuries and might not survive. Then there are reports of thirteen deaths, though without provision of names of fatalities. Finally there is the Michigan Dept. of Transportation report of 14 fatalities. We generally think of State government reports as authoritative, and in that we know there were several critically injured survivors. Thus, not being able to rule out twelve, thirteen, or fourteen as the number of fatalities, we resort to a range of 12-14.

[2] Notes twelve dad and “Five Others Perhaps Fatally Hurt…”

[3] Simonds notes 40 injured.