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Re: (erielack) Erie Train Wreck at Ravenna, OH. 1891
Garrettsville and Ravenna are very close to one another. I do recall
seeing the Erie in Garrettsville as my grandparents lived there. I also
had relatives in Windham which I believe the Erie ran through, but not
the same line as Garrettsville. The station at Garrettsville was titled
Garrettsville-Hiram. A very curvy single track line.
Very interesting articles. Thanks for sharing.
Doug Volk
On 12/21/2009 12:01 PM, rjflei_@_aol.com wrote:
> 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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