1903 — Dec 26, Passenger trains collide head-on, East Paris near Grand Rapids, MI– 22

–22  Advertiser-Courier, Hermann, MO. “Twenty-Two Dead in Train Wreck,” 12-30-1903, p. 1.

–22  Ogdensburg Advance, NY. “Twenty-Two Killed,” Jan 1, 1904.

–22  New York Times. “More Victims of Wreck,” Dec 28, 1903, p. 3.

–21  Evening Record, Traverse City, MI. “One More Dead.” 12-29-1903, p. 1.

–21  Ellison. “21 Christmas travelers were killed in 1903 Kentwood train wreck,” mlive, 12-26-2011.

–18  Michigan Dept. of Transportation. Michigan’s Railroad History. 2014, p. 16.

–18  Sunday Review, Decatur, IL. “Orders Confused and Two Trains Crash,” 12-27-1903, p. 1.

 

Narrative Information

 

Ellison: “….the trains hit about 5:40 p.m. The westbound bound No. 5 train was traveling down grade about 60 mph, while the Detroit-bound No. 6 train was climbing the hill at about 40 miles mph. They slammed into each other in the middle of a long, sweeping curve.

 

“The collision immediately reduced the baggage and smoking cars behind each locomotive to a pile of wood. One engine turned over and lay facing the opposite direction, the other climbed the wreckage, its boiler torn from the running gear and stood erect in the center of a heaping debris pile.

 

“Between them, the trains carried 120 passengers total. The collision caused the instant death of 19. Two others died later….

 

“Pere Marquette officials blamed the weather and a mix-up in orders for the accident. The No. 6 train was directed to meet the No. 5 at a different site, farther east than usual.

 

“Running in heavy snow and darkness, the engineer on No. 5 blew past McCords, never seeing the stop signal, which the operator didn’t realize was blown out until too late. Dispatchers managed to phone a farmer nearby, but were not in time to flag down the eastbound train….

 

“The engineer of No. 5 survived the wreck, cleared his name following a coroner’s inquest, but later left his family and disappeared, still feeling the guilt. Today, the track is still in use, although the Pere Marquette company was folded into CSX Transportation long ago….” (Ellison, Garret. “21 Christmas travelers were killed in 1903 Kentwood train wreck,” mlive (Michigan Live), Grand Rapids News, 12-26-2011.)

 

Michigan Dept. of Transportation: “Dec. 26, 1903. Pere Marquette Railroad passenger train accident at East Paris[1] killed 18 persons.”

 

Public Opinion: “….The official explanation of the Michigan wreck is that the wind blew out a signal set to prevent the two trains running toward each other on the same track from coming together. The Chicago News declares that such explanations will not do:

 

The public is expected to believe that in these cases no blame can be placed upon any of the officials or employees of the roads. Even if it were true that under present methods of railroading such catastrophes could not be foreseen or prevented, what should be said of the system or lack of system which fails to provide for such prevention? Is the science of railway management still so primitive that collisions can not be guarded against?  It is the business of railways to transport passengers safely, and it is the prime requisite of that business that they supply every conceivable precaution necessary to prevent killing people. Accidents can not be explained away. It is the fact that they occur and not the reason for their occurring that constitutes proof of inefficiency. If they are not due to gross negligence that fact only emphasizes the innate and essential faultiness of the system. The railroads must stop this slaughter of their passengers, and it is the duty of congress, of the state legislatures, and of the courts to compel tem to stop it.

 

“The Michigan papers agree in saying that the wreck in that state shows that our signal system is inadequate. We must, says the Detroit Free Press, have a system that ‘can be absolutely depended upon whatever the atmospheric conditions.’ The News says that ‘the risk of such a signal system is too great.’  A lantern, in the opinion of the News, is not a sufficient safeguard for 200 lives. The Detroit Tribune comments very severely upon the relatively flimsy construction of day coaches, to which it attributes part of the loss of life in the Grand Rapids wreck, adding that ‘It is a most atrocious system that enables railroads to use the possibility of a hideous fate as a means to oblige a traveler to pay the extra fee to ride in a car that will preserve his life, in case of an accident.’

 

“In the opinion of the Chicago Post, ‘the real cause of wrecks,’ or of most of them, is that the safety of passengers and trainmen is sacrificed to a desire to ‘make time’:

 

Back of any system, automatic or otherwise, which the railroads may install must ever remain the competency of the railroad operatives and the urgency of railroad travelers. So long as there is this public demand to be taken rapidly from one point to another the trainmen will be required by their superiors to ‘make time.’ And the more of this urging there is, the more accidents will there be to chronicle. When the public refuses to travel on railroads which have built a reputation for ‘making time,’ no matter what the cost, there will be more careful running; and when the railroad managements cease crowding their employees to the point of nervous and physical collapse in order to maintain schedules, there will be fewer accidents. The chief cause of these fatalities is the insane American rush, and human skill can not devise any mechanism that will offset this and wholly prevent accidents and the seeming recklessness of life.

 

“There is in most of the comment on this subject no such disposition as the Post displays to divide the responsibility between the railways and the public. As the Columbus Press says –

 

“Somebody blundered” is regarded as the most inexcusable of all excuses that could be offered for such a misfortune. And in most instances the “somebody” who must bear the brunt of the blunder is a martyr for the real “somebody” who is to blame and ought to be held responsible. In the Michigan instance the imprecation falls upon the head of the train dispatcher. It seems nat­ural and conclusive, so nobody waits to hear the dispatch­er’s story and nobody seems to care. It appeases public vengeance to hold any miserable mortal responsible, and survivors await the next horror with the same wide lati­tude for jumping at conclusions.

 

“The comment which follows shows that the feeling is widespread that something must be done to lessen the loss of life through railway catastrophes. No less attention is paid to the subject on the Pacific coast than in eastern papers, the San Francisco Call saying:

 

The crowding of business on American railroads, which is steadily increasing, is adding to the perils of their operation. Railroad managements are employing all kinds of devices and methods for the insurance of greater safety to life and property in handling the traffic. They appear, however, to be entirely inadequate. The list of fatalities is increasing yearly. While the British railroads are be­ing operated with comparatively little loss of life to passengers and a minimum of casualties to operatives, the proportion of fatalities and other casualties on the rail­roads of the United States is increasing at an alarming rate. Increased density in the population is evidently cre­ating conditions in this country which railroad managers have apparently been unable to meet with suitable provi­sions for safety to the traveling public and their own em­ployees. The last quarterly bulletin of the interstate com­merce commission shows that during the fiscal year end­ing June 30, 1903, 3,554 passengers and railroad employees were killed outright on the railroads of the United States and 45,977 injured, the mortality being 735 and the in­jured 6,177 more than in the previous fiscal year. These figures are big enough to make everyone thoughtful and to call loudly for the adoption of improvements in methods of operation for greater security to life and property.

 

“Room for Great Improvement

 

“Another evidence that the agitation of this subject ex­tends to every part of the country is found in this edito­rial in the Spokane Spokesman-Review:

 

For this long list of disasters many causes have been assigned, but no satisfactory reasons are given why, in these days of modern railroad management, wreck should follow wreck so regularly. For many of the train dis­asters train dispatchers and other negligent employees have been at fault. The list of collisions has been unusu­ally large, and these, almost without exception, are due to the carelessness of employees. Other catastrophes have occurred, the blame for which could be thrown upon no particular individual. In this class the causes have been obstructions, such as that which resulted in the recent holocaust in Pennsylvania; rail-spreading, broken wheels and axles, failure of air brakes to work, and other irregu­larities that often could not be overcome with the closest attention. There is no doubt that the American railroad managers are the ablest in the world, and they are ever in search of new devices that will make train operation easier and insure greater safety to life and property in transit. But there is still room for great improvement, as the wreck story of this year proves, and the railroad men must make this improvement, both for the reputation of their lines and in order to escape from immense damage payments.

 

(Public Opinion. “The Loss of Life on Our Railways,” V. XXXVI, No. 1, Jan 7, 1904, pp. 4-5.)

 

Public Opinion: “A disaster in which 600 people are killed in a few minutes makes a deeper impression upon the sympathies and imagination of the public, but this is a very favorable moment to call attention to the fact that more than ten times six hundred people were killed on railways in 1903. The exact number is 6,973.”  (Public Opinion, “The Week,” Vol. XXXVI, No. 1, Jan 7, 1904, p. 1)

 

Newspapers at the time

 

Dec 26: “Grand Rapids, Mich., Dec 26.–Two passenger trains on the Pere Marquette railroad met in a headon collision six miles east of this city this evening. Eighteen persons are known to be dead and it is expected several more bodies will be found under the wreckage. More than thirty people were injured, some of whom will probably die.

 

“The two trains were running at full speed and the engines were reduced to a tangled mass of wreckage. The first cars were also demolished, and the entire trains left the track, except the last coach on each, so great was the force of the collision.

 

“The eastbound train was due to leave here at 5:20 bound for Detroit, but was a little late. The westbound train due from Detroit at 5:15 was also late. The latter, on account of being late, was sent out before the other arrived. The wreck is said to be due to a misunderstanding of orders.

 

“The eastbound train was crowded with passengers when it left Grand Rapids. It carried scores of Christmas visitors, returning to their homes along the Pere Marquette line after spending the holiday here.

 

“The incoming train also bore a holiday crowd, as well as the regular Saturday rush of passengers. The wreck occurred half a mile west of East Paris, where there is a curve and a long grade.

The Casualties

 

“This is the identified list of the dead:

 

Engineer Charles A Stoddard, Detroit.

Baggageman William Helmrich, Grand Rapids.

Charles A Devine, Grand Rapids.

William Smith, farmer, near Saranac, Mich.

Allen H. Wells, Big Rapids, Mich.

Peter W. Wierengo, Grand Rapids.

Lester Williams, Boston, died in hospital.

Fireman Ed Burns, missing, supposed to be under the wreck.

[Gerrit Motman; Advertiser-Courier, MO. “Twenty-Two Dead…” 12-30-1903, 1.]

 

 

“It is also reported several more bodies have been taken from the wreck since the special train came from the scene, including two women….

 

Eight More Bodies

 

“Grand Rapids, Dec. 26.–It is now stated that eight more bodies have been recovered from the wreck, five men, two women and a boy, making the total bodies recovered seventeen. The missing fireman is thought to be one of the last four….” (Sunday Review, Decatur, IL. “Orders Confused and Two Trains Crash,” 12-27-1903, p. 1.)

 

Dec 27, NYT: “Grand Rapids, Mich., Dec. 27.–The death list resulting from the head-on collision between two Pere Marquette Rail road passenger trains near East Paris early yesterday evening stands to-night twenty-two, four of whom are unidentified. Twenty-nine persons were injured, several of them probably fatally.

 

“It was the most disastrous wreck in the history of the Pere Marquette system, and as already stated, is charged to the high wind which extinguished the red signal light in the order board at McCord’s Station, where the west-bound train was expected to stop and receive new orders.

 

“Two minutes before the train rushed by McCord’s the light was burning, according to the operator there, but in that brief interval the blizzard that was raging extinguished it, and train No. 5 flashed by the station to crash into east-bound train No. 6, near East Paris. The trains, which were two of the finest on the system, were reduced to a pile of broken and twisted timber and metal, with dead and injured pinned down and crushed by the fragments of the heavy cars. Five cars and two locomotives were jammed into a space ordinarily occupied by three coaches, and the wreckage was strewn across the railroad’s right of way from fence to fence.

 

“When Train No. 5, bound west, whizzed by McCord’s the frightened operator notified the dispatcher, and then found that his red light had been extinguished. He reported this fact, but the collision was inevitable. The dispatcher’s office called for medical aid and gave orders to get the

wrecking outfit under steam. They then waited for the word they knew must come.

 

“There was no chance for the flying trains to see each other through the driving blizzard even in time to slow down, and in a few minutes word came from the conductor of No. 5 that they had crashed together and that there was an awful loss of life.

 

“The west-bound engine. No. 397, drove through No. O’s engine like a wedge, separating the gear from the boiler and standing the latter on end like a broken, twisted shell. The running gear was crumpled up like so much twine. Great steel side-rods were bent Into many shapes, and even the big driving wheels spilt and sprung, landing in some cases ten feet from the engine. The boiler of engine No. 397 turned over several times, and the very force of the twisting impact seems to have been the means of saving the life of Engineer Waterman. He was flung forty feet over the fence at the edge of the right of way…his fireman, was sitting on the opposite side of the cab, and he, too, was thrown clear of the pile of wreckage.

 

“No. 6, east bound, was composed of a mall and baggage car, combination smoker, buffet parlor car, day coach, and diner.  The baggage coach, caught between the engine and heavy train, crumpled up like pasteboard, only the roof remaining partially broken. The big mail coach, heavily bulk-headed, took the brunt of the blow, but withstood the crash and communicated it to the smoker next in the rear. The smoker in turn crashed several feet into the parlor car. And it was at the rear end of the smoker and forward end of the buffet where most of the passengers were killed and injured. From a space six feet square the bodies of two women, a boy, and a man were taken out.

 

“The west-bound flyer with its heavy bulk-headed cars remained on the rails, back of the baggage and mail cars, and the passengers in this train escaped serious injury.  As one man they rushed out of the train to assist the less fortunate ones on the train from this city. According to statements made by officials of the Pere Marquette, the west-bound train was traveling down grade at the rate of sixty miles an hour. The east-bound train was climbing the hill at a speed of forty miles an hour.  The former carried probably 75 passengers, while the latter Is- believed to have been carrying at least 125 persons….

 

“General Superintendent Smith interviewed Booth, the operator at McCord’s last night and said to-day: ‘I have reason to doubt the statement of Booth that his light was burning two minutes before No. 6 passed McCord’s, and that the wind extinguished it.  He is an old operator, and has been in the employ of the road several years.” (NYT. “More Victims of Wreck,” Dec 28, 1903, 3)

 

Dec 28: “Grand Rapids, Mich., Dec. 28.–The death list Sunday night resulting from the head-on collision between two Pere Marquette railroad passenger trains near East Paris Saturday evening stands at 22, with 38 persons injured, several of them probably fatally….” (Advertiser-Courier, Hermann, MO. “Twenty-Two Dead in Train Wreck,” 12-30-1903, p. 1.)

 

Dec 28: “Record of the Dead.

 

Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Baldwin and son George of Mulliken.

Lester Williams, Lansing.

Mrs. Daisy Giles, Lowell.

Burt Meyers, Lake Odessa.

Walter B. Jordan, Clarksville.

Jasper Hullum (colored), Windsor, Ont.

Austin I. Wager, Detroit, baggageman.

Charles A. Stoddard, Detroit, engineer No. 6.

Charles A Devine, Grand Rapids, parents line in Dexter, Mich.

William Helmerich, Detroit, baggageman.

William J. Burns, Detroit, fireman No. 6.

George T. Palmer, Detroit, American Express Co.’s agent on train No. 6.

1. Frank May.

William G. Smith, Portland.

William Smith, Saranac.

1. F. Coykendall, Lake Odessa.

Peter W. Wierngo, Grand Rapids.

1. Wells, Big Rapids.

Unknown man, aged about 25, with initials “A. J. K.” marked on cuffs.”

 

(Evening Record, Traverse City, MI. “Frightful Death List. Awful Wreck on Pere Marquette Near Grand Rapids.” 12-28-1903, p. 1.)

 

Dec 29: “By Wire to the Evening Record. Grand Rapids, Mich., Dec. 29.–Gerrit Motman died this morning at the Union Benevolent Association hospital of injuries sustained in the Pere Marquette wreck. Motman leaves a widow and five children, who live in Grand Rapids. This makes a total death list, as a result of the wreck, of 21. It is believed none of the others injured will die.” (Evening Record, Traverse City, MI. “One More Dead.” 12-29-1903, p. 1.)

 

Jan 1: “….The two trains collided at about the middle of a long, sweeping curve three-quarters of a mile west of East Paris. On the inner side of the curve is a high embankment, preventing a view of the track ahead. When the engines met one turned completely over and lay with its nose in a direction opposite to that in which it had been traveling. The other climbed the wreckage of the first, its boiler, torn from the trucks, standing erect in the center of the debris.

 

“Investigation by the Pere Marquette officials into the cause of the wreck has brought out some conflicting statements. Operator F. M. Booth at McCord’s states most emphatically that when he received orders to hold the westbound train at McCord’s he immediately displayed the red light and set the board against the approaching train.

 

“Engineer Waterman, his fireman and Conductor Neil all state that the signal lamp was burning, but that instead of a red light it displayed a white light.” (Ogdensburg Advance, NY. “Twenty-Two Killed,” Jan 1, 1904.)

 

Recap of Fatalities (22) Noted in Sources Above

 

Baldwin, Mr. S. A.

Baldwin, Mrs. S. A.

Baldwin, George, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Baldwin, Mulliken, MI

Burns, William J. (Ed.). Fireman (No. 6), Detroit, MI.

Coykendall, E. F. Lake Odessa, MI.

Devine, Charles A. Grand Rapids.

Giles, Mrs. Daisy, Lowell, MI

Helmrich (or Heimerich), William. Baggageman, Grand Rapids, MI.

Hullum, Jasper (African American), Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Jordan, Walter B. Clarksville, MI.

May, A. Frank.

Meyers, Burt. Lake Odessa, MI.

Motman, Gerrit.

Palmer, George T. (American Express Co.’s agent on train No. 6.), Detroit, MI.

Smith, William. Farmer, near Saranac, MI.

Smith, William G. Portland, MI.

Stoddard, Charles A. Engineer (No. 6), Detroit, MI.

Wager, Austin I. Baggageman, Detroit, MI.

Wells, Allen H. Big Rapids, Mich.

Wierengo (or Wierngo), Peter W. Grand Rapids, MI.

Williams, Lester. Lansing, MI, died in hospital.

Unknown man, aged about 25, with initials A. J. K. marked on his cuffs.

 

Sources

 

Advertiser-Courier, Hermann, MO. “Twenty-Two Dead in Train Wreck,” 12-30-1903, p. 1. Accessed 7-17-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hermann-advertiser-and-advertiser-courier-dec-30-1903-p-1/

 

Evening Record, Traverse City, MI. “Frightful Death List. Awful Wreck on Pere Marquette Near Grand Rapids.” 12-28-1903, p. 1. Accessed 7-18-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/traverse-city-evening-record-dec-28-1903-p-1/

 

Evening Record, Traverse City, MI. “One More Dead. Gerrit Motman Succumbed to His Injuries Today. This Makes a List of Twenty-One Deaths Due to the Pere Marquette Wreck.” 12-29-1903, p. 1. Accessed 7-17-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/traverse-city-evening-record-dec-29-1903-p-1/

 

Ellison, Garret. “21 Christmas travelers were killed in 1903 Kentwood train wreck,” mlive (Michigan Live), Grand Rapids News, 12-26-2011. Accessed 7-17-2018 at: https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/12/21_christmas_travelers_were_ki.html

 

Ogdensburg Advance, NY. “Twenty-Two Killed. Results of Pere Marquette Disaster Exceed First Report,” 1-1-1904. At: http://www.gendisasters.com/data1/mi/trains/eastparis-trainwreck-dec1903.htm

 

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

 

New York Times. “More Victims of Wreck. Michigan Disaster’s Death Roll Now Numbers Twenty-two,” Dec 28, 1903, p. 3. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=52187379

 

Sunday Review, Decatur, IL. “Orders Confused and Two Trains Crash,” 12-27-1903, p. 1. Accessed 7-18-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/decatur-daily-review-dec-27-1903-p-1/

 

[1] As Ellison notes, East Paris was “a tiny country village in eastern Paris Township, later to become the city of Kentwood.”