Today, August 25, in Rochester History: Railroad Disaster Claims 29; Injures 62

This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published August 25, 2011 and can be found here.

   One of the deadliest accidents* in our area's history took place exactly 100 years ago today. 29 people were killed and 62 injured when a Lehigh Valley Railroad train derailed about 20 miles east of Rochester. According to investigators at the time, it was a defective rail on a 400 foot bridge in Manchester, NY that shattered into seventeen pieces and sent at least 3 of the cars into Canandaigua Outlet. Newspaper reports described the scene as a "twisted and splintered mass of wreckage."

An     engineering report

by the Bureau of Standards detailed the events leading up to the accident...

"Train No. 4, east-bound, left Buffalo, N. Y. at 10:35 A. M., 40 minutes late. It consisted of twelve cars, and was hauled by engines Nos. 2476 and 1804. At     Rochester Junction

, a station 20 miles west of the point of accident, two additional cars were picked up, so that at the time of the accident there were fourteen cars in the train, in the following order: One express car, one mail car, one baggage car, four coaches, Pullman sleeper     Austin    , dining car, two coaches, parlor car     Emelyn    , and two coaches.

On approaching the west end of Manchester Yard, train No. 4 found the signals at caution, and, being required by rule not to exceed a speed of twenty-five miles per hour through this yard, the speed was reduced accordingly.

On arriving at the east end of the yard, all of the blocks being clear, the enginemen of both engines began to use steam in order to increase the speed of the train, so that at the time of the accident the train was probably not exceeding a speed of about 25 miles per hour."

"The train was derailed by a broken rail, 247 feet west of a steel girder deck bridge spanning Canandaigua Outlet, causing the death of 27 passsengers and 1 employee, and injuries to 59 passengers and 4 employees. One of the injured passengers died afterwards, making a total of 29 persons killed and 62 injured."

"The two engines and the first five cars were not derailed. Grand Trunk coach No. 2187, the sixth car in the train, had one truck derailed, while all of the following cars were derailed. The Pullman sleeping car     Austin    was leaning over to the right; the dining car was down the embankment on its side, just east of the bridge; Lehigh Valley coach No. 237, the 10th car in the train, was resting on its side in the bed of the Outlet, 40 feet below; Lehigh Valley coach No. 293, the 11th car, was standing on one end in the bed of the Outlet, the rear end of it extending about 15 feet above the top of the bridge and resting against the corner of the parlor car     Emelyn    , which remained on the bridge. The majority of the fatalities were in coaches Nos. 237 and 293, both of which were of wooden construction."

An article printed in the     Syracuse Herald    on August 26, 1911, made public the following list of the 29 individuals who perished:

In Rochester morgue:
    Unknown Woman, died at Hahnemann hospital this morning.
    W.P. RUNDLE, Easton, Pa., died this morning.
    HARRY BEAKER, trainman, Waverly, N.Y.
    E.M. Bell, veteran, Los Angeles, Cal.

In morgue at Shortsville:
    MRS. [BARBARA ZUDECK], Buffalo.
    T.C. MADDEN, No. 628 North Olden Avenue, Trenton, N.J.
    MRS. C.F. JOHNSON, Cleveland, O.
    CHARLES HICKS, Newark, N.J.
    MRS. I.S. UNCLE, Smithfield, N.J.
    JOSEPH HICKEY, Philadelphia, Pa.
    ELLEN E. BROWNELL, Newton, Pa.
    C.P. JOHNSON, Philadelphia.
    A.M. HUNSICKER, Vineland, Ont.
    E. PANGBURN, Brooklyn.
    HELEN E. POWALL, address unknown.
    Unknown woman, about 30, blonde hair, blue eyes, blue serge suit.
    Unknown woman, initials "E.H." on clothing.
    Unknown woman, 30, initials "C.H." on stickpin.
    Unknown woman, initials "E.T.P." on clothing.
    Unknown woman, gold band ring engraved "Minnie, November 28th, '83."
    MRS. FREDERICK A. WINKLER, 55, Philadelphia.
    REBECCA A. DANERLITT, 55, Niagara Falls.
    EDGAR B. ANDERSON, 62 Brooklyn, N. Y.
    Unknown woman, 35 or 40 years old.
    Unknown woman, dark hair, about 175 pounds in weight.
    Unknown woman, 40, dark hair.
    Unknown boy, about 12 years old.
    MRS. EMILY HILL was the unknown woman who died at the Hahnemann hospital this morning.
    WILLIS RUNDELL, mail clerk, 49, died at Homcopathic hospital, Easton, Pa.
    MISS RANDALL, Niagara Falls, at the General hospital, is dying.
    MR. DRAPER at the General hospital, is dying.
    MRS. ESTHER or MABEL LAWRENCE, is unconscious at Hanneman hospital and will die.

*OTHER NOTABLE U.S. RAIL ACCIDENTS:
   In July of 1918, 101 people were killed in a 2-train collision near Nashville, TN. Four months later a derailment of a NYC subway train left 92 dead in Brooklyn.     More...