1942 — Dec 22, 1,200-ton Rockslide Crushes Passenger Bus, near Aliquippa, PA — 22
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-26-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 25 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 643. (There were 25 on bus; 22 were killed.)
— 22 New Castle News, PA. “Aliquippa Bus Disaster Toll Now 22.” 12-23-1942, 1.
— 22 Piroli. “Columnist remembers…bus crash in Aliquippa.” Beaver County Times, 5-9-2012.
— 22 Piroli. “Questions come in about rock slide.” Beaver County Times, Beaver, PA. 2-8-2010.
— 22 Titusville Herald, PA. “Eye-Witnesses Describe Slide; Death List 22.” 12-24-1942, 1.
— 22 Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. “22 Die in Pennsylvania Bus Disaster.” 12-23-1942, 1.
Narrative Information
Piroli: “….News reports described a 40-foot, 1,200-ton avalanche of rock, loosened by the freezing and thawing of the ground, falling 75 feet down the hillside and crushing the bus like an eggshell. The accident killed 22 passengers and injured three. One passenger, John Manko of Pittsburgh, escaped uninjured through a back window….” (Piroli, Gino. “Columnist remembers deadly bus crash in Aliquippa.” Beaver County Times, Beaver, PA. 2-1-2010.)
Piroli: “I received a number of responses to last week’s column about the rock slide in 1942 that destroyed a bus and killed 22 people onboard while it was traveling on the former Constitution Boulevard, now Route 51, in Aliquippa….
“In going over the stories about the tragedy I found that last week I mistakenly named the state highway department as owning the road, but it was the borough of Aliquippa that was involved in the transfer of the road to the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp.
“McCartney[1] filed suit against the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, Jones and Laughlin Steel and Aliquippa Borough. In the court case, the presiding judge ruled out any responsibility by the borough and the P&LE railroad.
“J&L lawyers tried to present the case that they didn’t have title to the hillside, that it belonged to the Woodlawn Land Company; but it was determined that the land company was owned by the steel company.
“In reviewing the case, most of the county’s legal minds praised the work of McCartney’s lawyer, Thomas Bradshaw of Beaver. The historical background of the area involved was thoroughly and expertly presented by Bradshaw.
“The court transcript notes that “meandering through the plant site and roughly paralleling the Ohio River was originally an old country road known as the Phillipsburg Road, which ran from the former village of Phillipsburg, now Monaca, to Shannopin, now South Heights. ‘There were two railroad crossings, one in each town. The P&LE’s desire to eliminate the crossings and J&L wanting to rid itself of the interference of the road running through the heart of its plant eventually led to the transfer of the road’s ownership.’
“J&L and P&LE reached an agreement in 1925 to have Constitution Boulevard constructed and turned over to the borough in return for Aliquippa giving the mill road to J&L. The road opened in 1928 and ran along the hillside running some 8,000 feet from Station Street to the new Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge. Aliquippa had owned the mill road from the tunnel entrance to the J&L South Mill works. Street cars used that route to transport workers to the South Mill and residents went by bus and auto to the West Economy ferry to reach Ambridge and others continued on to Pittsburgh via South Heights.
“Although the court decision originally awarded McCartney $35,000, after many appeals he received $20,000 in 1947. He was 26 at the time of the accident and spent five months in the hospital.
“Ironically the new owners of the old plant site recently gave the mill road back to the city.” (Piroli, Gino. “Questions come in about rock slide.” Beaver County Times, Beaver, PA. 2-8-2010.)
Newspapers at the Time
Dec 23, New Castle News, PA: “International News Service. Aliquippa, Dec. 23. – Rescue parties, toiling through the night, today accounted for 22 victims, crushed to death when the bus they were riding was shattered beneath 2,000 tons of rock and mud on Constitution Boulevard near Aliquippa.
“Three other occupants of the Ohio River Motor Coach Line bus, enroute to Pittsburgh from Aliquippa, also were injured, two seriously, and a fourth man, one of the rescue party was given medical attention when he slipped while helping to extricate the dead.
Virtually Bury Bus
“The accident occurred early last night when two huge boulders caused a landslide and virtually buried the bus loaded with war workers from the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation’s huge Aliquippa plant, located in Beaver county about 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
“Only one man Joseph Manko, of Pittsburgh, a metallurgist in the J & L plant, was able to tell the story today and that sketchily. Manko. Sitting in a rear seat at the time of the rock fall, was battered and bruised by the accident but managed to escape from the vehicle through a broken rear window. ‘There was no warning,’ said Manko, ‘just the crash — not so loud either. After that, just silence and darkness. I didn’t hear a cry or a moan. Then I heard voices outside. I was pinned down by broken seats but managed to get loose. I got to my feet and started to push through a broken window when men pulled me out.’
Rescue workers, digging feverishly to extricate the victims, said the front end of the bus looked like it ‘had been run through a shredding machine.’ Others said it was ‘flattened like a pancake.’
A driver of a Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines bus. Which was following the doomed vehicle, said the driver of the Ohio Lines Coach Dymptro ‘’Dan’ Karapin, 27. of Fair Oaks, apparently noticed the descending rock and made desperate efforts to swerve his machine out of danger. The “jockeying” plus the landslide carried the bus to the edge of a 60-foot precipice overlooking the tracks of the P. & L. E. Railroad. Then the main slide struck the coach, tearing it into shreds. Only the extreme rear of the vehicle was untouched.
“The accident occurred about two miles from Aliquippa. The bus left the Beaver County community at 5:03 p. m. yesterday and a watch found on Charles Hoffman, Leetsdale, one of the victims, stopped at 5:10 p. m.
“Rescuers hurried to the scene and J. & L. sent two cranes to raise the bus. When removed, from the highway the vehicle was in two pieces.” (New Castle News, PA. “Aliquippa Bus Disaster Toll Now 22.” 12-23-1942, 1.)
Dec 23, New Castle News, PA: “Aliquippa, Pa., Dec 23. – The following 22 persons were listed as dead today in the bus accident near Aliquippa.
Dymptro “Dan” Karapin, 27, Fair Oaks, bus driver.
Clyde White, 45, Glenfield.
Philip J. Tormey Jr., Dormont.
Charles Hoffman, Leetsdale.
Percy McCallister, Edgeworth.
James J. Burger, Pittsburgh
Ben Watkins…Aliquippa.
Luigi M. Tucci, 55, Sewickley.
Samuel Stafford, Edgeworth.
John Hawes, 17, Glenfield.
Ralph J. White, Sewickley.
Lucas Mikedas, Pittsburgh.
Mariano Bruno, Sewickley .
Miss Martha L. Gearing, Pittsburgh.
- E. Saylor, Fair Oaks.
Rev. William Booze…Pittsburgh.
Clifton Pou, 30…Pittsburgh.
Osborne W. Hair, Sewickley.
David N. Kirk, Avalon.
John McIlvain, Aliquippa.
Stephen Cherup, Ben Avon.
Victor Slvika, 33, Sewickley.
“The injured are:
Helen Phillips, 22, Aliquippa, in Rochester hospital in serious condition.
John McCarthy, 26, Monaca, left foot amputated. Serious condition….”
(New Castle News, PA. “Death Toll in Bus Crash at Aliquippa, Pa.” 12-23-1942, 1.)
Dec 23, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: “Aliquippa, Pa. — (AP) — Twenty-two persons perished last night when two boulders, one weighing more than 100 tons, crashed down upon a big yellow Ohio Paver Motor Coach bus crowded with home-going war workers. Only three passengers escaped, two of them with critical injuries. The pre-Christmas tragedy occurred a mile east of here as the bus threaded its way around a treacherous ‘S’ curve on a narrow, slippery road. Three other busses were just ahead of it and two were trailing.
Boulders Drop 100 Feet
“The boulders toppled down from a 100-foot high perch with little warning, although the driver of the bus said Dymptro (Dan) Karapan, 27, piloting the ill-fated machine swerved sharply to the left as if trying to escape the falling, death-dealing mass.
“This swerve saved four persons in the rear of the bus, although one of these died later in a hospital….
“`There was no warning,’ said Joseph M. Manko, the lone passenger able to go home after the accident….`I was pinned by broken seats on top of me but managed to pull out my legs. Men kept calling to me to climb out. They were from the bus behind. I got my legs through a broken window and they pulled me out. Outside I saw that huge rock resting where the front of the bus should have been.’
Pal Dies in Hospital
“Manko, who is 30, is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. His pal, James Burger, 29, also a Pitt man, who was riding beside him on the rear seat, died after being taken to a hospital. Both were metallurgists for the Jones and Laughlin Steel corporation.
“John A. McCarthy, 27, of Monaca, regaining consciousness, asked the undertaker driving him from the wreckage to the hospital: ‘Oh, where am I? What happened?’ McCarthy’s left leg had to be amputated.
Bus Smashed in Two
“The bus, smashed in two, rested against a steel guard-rail, which prevented its rolling down a 35-foot embankment upon tracks of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroad. One of the passengers, Ben Watkins, was hurtled to his death on the tracks.
“Here in Aliquippa, 19 miles west of Pittsburgh, two Negro women were jubilant at their luck in having failed to flag the bus at the station, although they ran half a block trying to do so. ‘Glory! Glory!’ Roslyn Colbert and Mary Glover joined in saying when they learned of the bus’ tragic ending.
Horrifying Scene
“Passengers in a bus following the ill-fated one said they were unnerved by the horrible scene of death and mangled human bodies. The bus was crumbled like paper. Two victims were decapitated; many arms and legs were severed. One boulder pinned four bodies to a hillside.” (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. “22 Die in Pennsylvania Bus Disaster.” 12-23-1942, 1.)
Dec 23, Titusville Herald, PA: “Aliquippa, Dec. 23. – (AP) – Shuddering eye-witnesses described today the horrible scene of death and mangled human bodies caused by a rockslide which killed 22 war production workers and Christmas shoppers riding in a bus near here yesterday.
“Only three passengers escaped with their lives when several hundred tons of boulders dropped 30 feet from a hillside and crushed the Aliquippa-Pittsburgh bus like an eggshell….
“Karapan [the bus driver], originally scheduled to be off duty yesterday, was subbing for another driver who wanted to complete his Christmas shopping….” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Eye-Witnesses Describe Slide; Death List 22.” 12-24-1942, 1.)
Sources
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 Castle News, PA. “Aliquippa Bus Disaster Toll Now 22,” 12-23-1942, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=57587769
Piroli, Gino. “Columnist remembers deadly bus crash in Aliquippa.” Beaver County Times, Beaver, PA. 2-1-2010. Accessed 5-9-2012 at: http://www.timesonline.com/columnists/gino_piroli/columnist-remembers-deadly-bus-crash-in-aliquippa/article_1a14940c-0ffe-5591-a460-3d53000930c8.html
Piroli, Gino. “Questions come in about rock slide.” Beaver County Times, Beaver, PA. 2-8-2010. Accessed 5-9-2012 at: http://www.timesonline.com/columnists/gino_piroli/questions-come-in-about-rock-slide/article_35d4dfae-cfa1-529b-87af-405de7e11fc8.html
Titusville Herald, PA. “Eye-Witnesses Describe Slide; Death List 22.” 12-24-1942, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=106025918
Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, WI. “22 Die in Pennsylvania Bus Disaster.” 12-23-1942, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=10412439
[1] John McCartney, one of three survivors, who had his left foot or leg amputated (depending upon the account).