Re: (erielack) Erie Train Wreck at Ravenna, OH. 1891

[rjflei_@_aol.com]

Thanks, Steve,
 
I was hoping that the list members would enjoy these and find  them 
interesting. It takes us back in history. 
Rick
 
 
In a message dated 12/21/2009 10:22:46 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
stwarogowski_@_windstream.net writes:

"20  Crisp Bodies"... I'm sure management loved seeing that headline.

These  are very interesting Rick.  Thanks for posting the  reports.

Steve

- -----Original Message-----
From:  rjflei_@_aol.com [mailto:rjflei@aol.com] 
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009  9:58 AM
To: erielack_@_lists.railfan.net
Subject: (erielack) Erie Train  Wreck at Ravenna, OH. 1891



Ravenna, OH Terrible Train  Collision, July 1891
Posted  February 13th, 2008 by _Stu Beitler_  
(http://www3.gendisasters.com/users/stu-beitler)    

TWENTY CRISP BODIES. 
ANOTHER HORRIBLE CALAMITY OCCURS IN OHIO --  SCENES AT THE WRECK ON THE 
ERIE 
RAILROAD. 
Cleveland, Ohio, July 3 -- A  freight train rain into a passenger train on 
the  Erie road at  Ravenna, at 3 o'clock this morning, the passenger train 
being at a   stand-still. Several cars were torn to pieces and set on fire. 
Twenty  bodies,  most of them burned to a crisp, have been taken from  the
wreck. 
Twenty-three  injured passengers have been  rescued.
Ravenna, Ohio, July 3 -- The worst  railroad accident ever  occurring in 
this vicinity happened at 3 o'clock this  morning. The  horrible calamity 
has

fairly appalled the town and nieghborhood.   Twenty people were killed and 
their bodies burned to a crisp. More than  that  number were injured. The
charred 
remains of the dead were  taken from the ruins  of a demolished passenger 
train as fast as  flames could be subdued by the towns  people, who rallied
to 
the  rescue. Such terrible sights as were witnessed in the  early morning  
hours made the people almost sick. An express, loaded with  sleeping  
passengers, was run into by a freight train while the express was at  a
stand-still in 
this city. The wreck of the passenger train was  terrible and  complete.
To add to the condition of the unfortunate  passengers who were  imprisoned 
in the debris, the train caught fire  and was consumed. In this way  death 
fairly swept through the wrecked  train. By daylight twenty bodies, nearly
all 
of them charred in a  horrible manner, were taken out. Twenty three injured 
 
passengers had  also been rescued. A large number of the killed were glass  
blowers,  who were on their way east from Findlay.
Youngstown, Ohio, July 3 --   At 3 o'clock this morning a frightful wreck 
occurred at Ravenna on the New  York,  Lake Erie and Western railroad. 
Train 
No. 8, fast express,  bound for New York,  while standing at the depot
waiting 
for  orders, was crashed into from the rear  by a freight train. A day 
coach  
on the rear of the train was completely  telescoped and two sleepers  
forward

took fire and were burned up. Nineteen  passengers were  killed and 
thirty-eight badly injured. Many of the victims were  so  badly burned that
they are 
almost unrecognizable. A special train  conveying  surgeons was sent from 
this place. The freight train that  telescoped the express  in the dressed
meat 
express from Chicago  and was running at about thirty miles  an hour when 
it 
struck the  passenger train. The accident was due to carlessness  in 
leaving 
a  switch open. It is rumored that three of the members of the  Pittsburg  
base ball team were killed in the wreck.
Pittsburg, Pa., July 3  --  Director DERR, of the Pittsburg ball club, said 
it is possible  that KING, GALVIN  and MILLER were on the wrecked train.
New York,  July 3 -- The following has  been received by the Erie officials 
 
here:
Cleveland, Ohio, July 3,  1891.
E. B. Thomas, First Vice  President:
No. 82 ran into the rear end of  No. 8 at Ravenna station  at 2:32 a.m. 
Engineer of No. 8 was doing some work on  his engine. He  had been standing
still 
about eight minutes. Had flag out   thirty-five car lengths on a straight 
line. Engine No. 679 and two  sleepers  burned up. As near as I can learn 
at 
present there are  senen killed and about  ten injured.
[Signed] A. M. Tucker, General  Manager.
Cleveland, Ohio, July  3 -- General Superintendent TUCKER, of  the Erie 
railroad, nervously paced back  and forth in his office all  this morning
waiting 
anxiously for a dispatch from  Ravenna.
"I  have received as yet only meagre reports," he said, "and am  waiting  
anxiiously for full accounts from officials. There is nothing to  conceal
about 
the wreck. It was caused by an employe's negligence.  Train No. 8, a fast  
night express going east, left Kent all right  with a long line of coaches
and 
sleepers. A few minutes later fast  freight No. 82 followed the regulation  
distance behind. At Ravenna,  the next stop, the engineer found something 
wrong  with his machine  and delayed a few moments to fix it. Knowing that
the 
freight  was  following, a flagman was sent back to stop it. The failure of 
this man  to  properly perform his duty caused the disaster. I am not yet  
exactly informed  that he did not do so, but suppose that he failed  to go
back 
far enough. He  evidently thought that the passenger  would go on before 
the 
freight came along  and so shirked his work.  The express train had been at 
Ravenna just eight  minutes when the  freight dashed up too close to be
stopped 
by the flagman. It   crashed into the rear of the passenger train and 
scattered death on all  sides.  To add to the horror fire broke out and
consumed 
many of  the dead and injured  who were held fast in the ruins. Such 
fearful  
sights had better be left to the  imagination than any attempt to  depict 
in 
words. I do not know how many were  killed, or who they  were, but reports
will 
soon tell the story. It was 5 o'clock  this  morning when I first received 
word, and since then I have been  endeavoring  to obtain definite news, but 
everything is so confused  that as yet I have  received little."
A Later Account.
Ravenna,  Ohio, July 3 -- Four years ago  this town received the greatest 
shock  ever experienced by it, and one that was  never expected to  be
equalled. 
This shock was the attack upon Detective Hulligan  by  members of the 
Blinkey Morgan gang; the killing of Hulligan and the rescue  of  a 
prisioner.
This 
morning at 3 o'clock the express train on  the New York,  Pennsylvania and 
Ohio road was run into by a fast  freight train and nineteen or  twenty
people 
were killed and their  bodies charred by flames that soon broke out  in the 
wreck. The  Morgan attack was eclipsed and the whole nieghborhood shocked   
as

it never expected to be again. The cause of the terrible catastrophe  is  
loudly given. Two miles from Ravenna the New York, Pennsylvania  and Ohio 
and

Cleveland and Pittsburg cross. When the New York,  Pennsylvania and Ohio 
express  reached this crossing this morning, it  was delayed there for a 
considerable  length of time. Behind the  express and thundering along at a
rapid rate 
was a  refrigerator  train, used to transport meat and accustomed to cover 
the distance   it had to run at a speed little less than that of an 
ordinary 
passenger  train.  After the half at the C. and P. crossing was ended, the  
express hurried on to  Ravenna and pulled up at the depot. But the  time 
that

the train was held at the  C. and P. road was sufficient  to permit the 
meat 
train to come up, and hardly  had the wheels of  the express ceased to
revolve 
when the engine of the freight   crashed into the rear end of the express 
almost at full speed.
The  scene that  ensued was terrible in the extreme. The engine plowed its  
way, pushed on by the  wright and momentum of the heavy cars behind  it, 
through the coaches as if they  were made of thin boards. Above  the 
horrible

grinding and crunching of the cars  could be heard  the agonized shrieks of
the 
maimed passengers, who but a second   before were sound asleep. There were
two 
or three sleepers in the train  and  these were well filled. There was also 
a car of excursionists  bound east. Many  glass blowers from Findlay were 
on 
board the train  going to New York state. A  dozen people from Akron 
composed

an  excursion party on the ill-fated train. When  the collision occurred  
those in the rear cars were either instantly killed,  wounded or  pinned 
down
by 
the portions of the demolished cars. The latter  could  not escape unaided, 
and in the terrible fright and confusion  that followed, and  before the 
citizens of the town could reach the  scene of the disaster, fire  broke out
in 
the wreck and spread  with frightful rapidity. If the accident had  been
awful 
before,  it was now an unequalled horror. The flames rushed through  the  
debris and the shrieks of the maimed or pinioned could be plainly heard  in
the 
night air. Forward the wounded and unharmed passengers were  getting  
themselves out of the cars that were still intact. They at  once did all 
they

could to stay the flames and rescue the imperilled.  But before this was 
done

nineteen people were sacrificed, that many  bodies being taken out 
afterward.

Most of these mangled corpses were  blackened and burned in a manner 
sickening to  look upon, some of the  being roasted into unrecognizable
masses. As 
the work of  taking  out the dead bodies progressed, the full extent of the 
calamity  dawned  upon the workers from the town and those of the passengers
who  
escaped alive. By  daylight nineteen bodies had been carried out. How  many 
more met death is not  known. Those wounded to a considerable  extent 
numbered twenty-three. Many others  were bruised and  scratched, in fact
nearly 
everybody on the train was hurt to  some  extent. Of the Akron party none 
was

killed. A number of Cincinnatians  and  several of the Findlay people met
death. 
The work of  identifying the dead is now  in progress.
Cincinnati, Ohio, July 3 --  A telephone message from Manager  HANLON, of 
the Pittsburg Base Ball  club, at 10 o'clock states that GALVIN,  MILLER 
and 
KING, of that  club, were not on the wrecked train. They are still in  this 
 
city.
The Engineer Talks.
GEORGE HOLMAN, engineer of the  freight,  said to a reporter: "I cannot see 
that I am to blame. Oh,  my God! If I could  have got sand I could have 
stopped the train, but  the rails were wet and the  sand would not take. I
was not 
warned  in time and could not see the lights on  the rear of the pasenger  
owing to the darkness and fog. I reversed the lever as  quickly as  
possible,

and the fireman jumped from the train, sustaining  severe  fracture of the 
righthand." MR. HOLMAN seems to think the  brakeman of the  passenger 
train, 
FRED BOYNTON, could have flagged  from a greater  distance.
Manager TUCKER Talks.
"There is no use  trying to shift the  responsibility," said TUCKER. "Our 
road always  tries to use the utmost  precautions for safety, but here is a 
case  where a man failed to do his duty. I  do not know yet who he is or  
how
he 
feels, but I should think he would be  contemplating  shooting himself by 
this time. On all our passenger trains there  is  a flagman, whose especial
duty 
it is to flag approaching trains in just  such  an emergency as this. The 
flagman is selected generally from  among the best  brakemen and is paid
extra 
for his work. He is  provided with a lantern and track  torpedoes, and is 
expected to  guard the train from others approaching from other  directions.
The  
flagman is instructed to not only wave his lantern but place   torpedoes on 
the track. In this way the approaching train is given warning  to  stop. 
Freight train No. 82 left Kent five minutes behind the  passenger, and the  
latter had stopped at the station eight minutes  when the crash came. In 
that

time the flagman could have gone back a  mile, if necessary, but he did not
do  
so. Engineer PENDERGAST and  Conductor BOYNTON, two of the oldest and most  
trusted employes on  the road, were in charge of the passenger train. I do
not 
know who the  freight crew were nor whether any of them were hurt. It is 
slow  work  obtaining reliable information."
An Eye Witness.
Captain WALLACE,  one  of Warren's best known citizens, was in the third 
coach from the  rear of the  train asleep in his berth when the shock came.
His  
story of the awful affair is  as follows:
"The train was composed  of vestibuled sleepers. It was, as near  as I can 
tell, about 3 a.m.,  when a crash unlike anything I ever before  
experienced,

came. I  was thrown from my berth and nearly knocked senseless, but  
finally  
crawled from under a pile of debris and found myself comparatively   
uninjured. I looked about me and the sight that met my gaze I will  never
forget.  
The three rear coaches, including the one I was in,  were piled up in an  
indescribable mass and flames shot up from two  of them like from a huge bon

fire. The air was filled with the moans  and shrieks of the imprisoned
passengers 
and strong men stood helpless  with the knowledge that before their eyes 
human  beings were being  burned or crushed to death. My first thought was
for 
the  people  in the rear coach. When I boarded the train my attention was 
called  to  them by some one remarking that there was a party of  
fifty-three
men 
in the rear  car. When the freight crashed into us  it crushed this car 
into 
a thousand pieces  and flames broke out  almost immediately. How any of the 
passengers in that car  escaped,  if they did, is a mystery. I saw them 
take 
some eighteen or twenty   bodies from the wreck, but I do not think that 
that

is half of those  who will be  found to be missing when the reports are in. 
I am of the  opinion that every man  in the rear coach was killed. The 
sight 
of  the corpses as they were taken from  under the debris was sickening.  
Pieces of flesh, an arm or a leg were found and  in this way it  was
impossible 
to tell how many were killed. Every piece that was   taken out was burned to
a 
crisp, so that identification was impossible.  When I  left the scene the 
wreck was still smouldering and the air  was fairly thick with  the odor of 
burning bodies."
The  Dead.
The following is the list of the  dead so far as  identified:
THOMAS VINHILL, Corning, N. Y.
DAVID RELITAN,  Corning,  N. Y.
WILLIAM KANE, Brooklyn, N. Y.
ALBERT GANTRAP, Corning, N.   Y.
HENRY GILDAY, Corning, N. Y.
The Wounded.
The following is a list  of  those wounded and missing:
FRED HUFF, Corning, N. Y.
FRED  BURNS, Corning,  N. Y.
JAMES GRIFFIN, Boston.
A. HARDEMAN, Corning,  N. Y.
LEWIS KIMBALL,  Corning, N. Y.
WM. NEWCOMB, Corning, N.  Y.
JOHN CADIGAN.
JOSEPH  MADIGAN.
THOMAS HANLEY.
JAMES  DWYICKIN.
GEORGE SMITH.
DENNIS  RYAN. 
The Fort Wayne Sentinel  Indiana 1891-07-03  
- ---------------------------------------------------------- 
The  following is an accurate and complete list of the dead in the   wreck:
JOHN COYLE.
DAVID RELATIN.
FRANK BURNS.
JOHN  GRIFFIN.
FRED  DUFF.
OWEN HARDMAN.
DENNIS RYAN.
PATRICK  RYAN.
DENNIS  CASSIDY.
ALBERT GUNTHERUP.
JOHN DENNE.
HENRY  GILDE.
T. A.  NOTAN.
THOMAS KIEVELLE.
WILLIAM NEWCOMBE.
All  of the above named are  from Corning, N. Y.
WILLIAM KANE, aged 14, of  Brooklyn.
JOHN KIMBALL, of  Findlay.
MRS. MAMIE KENNAN and Child,  of Chicago. 
The Weekly News Mansfield Ohio   1891-07-09



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