Results for ‘Train Wrecks’
[Welland Telegraph February 27, 1903]
A rear end collision occurred on the Air Line division of the Grand Trunk about a half mile west of the village here at 6.15 a.m. Wednesday morning, as a result of which the brakeman in the van that was crushed into a pretty badly shaken up, all the others escaping uninjured. Two empty coal cars and a large car loaded with potatoes, were totally destroyed the potatoes being mostly smashed or burned, and the van in which the brakeman was sitting was smashed into match wood, and how he escaped without being killed is a mystery. The engine was not very badly smashed, the staving-in of the end of the boiler. It seems that two Grand Trunk freights were running close together from Welland Junction both to take the siding at Stevensville, the first train was entering and the second No 426 was waiting to get in when a fast Wabash light freight, No 1059, came tearing along also from Welland Junc. And thinking that the train directly in front was going through to Fort Erie, did not slacken speed until it was too late. The force of the collision drove the trucks of the four smashed cars under the fifth car, which however,did not leave the track. The auxilaries from Niagara Falls and Fort Erie got to work on the wreck about 9 o’clock and by noon the trains were running again.
Just where the blame is to be placed is difficult to find out, as all the railroad men refuse any information when questioned on the subject.
[Welland Telegraph February 20, 1903]
John Davis, a driver from Hagersville, was killed on the Michigan Central Railway at Perry Station, west of Welland, about twelve o’clock Tuesday night. Mr Davis was in charge of a car of horses on a west bound freight, and when at Perry a light engine ran into the end of the train. The caboose was badly broken up, and Davis who was in the caboose at the time had just come out of the van when the crash came. The damage to the rolling stock was not serious and traffic was not delayed long.
An inquest was held there yesterday when H.W. Macoomb representing the Crown attorney was in attendance. The Michigan Central have for a long time claimed that they have never killed a passenger on the Canadian Division since the road has been in their possession.
[Welland Telegraph May 22, 1903]
A shocking accident occurred last Friday evening about 7.45 in the G.T.R. yards, when Charles Vince, a brakeman, lost his life by being crushed under the wheels of a tender. The fast freight, No. 85 was just making ready to start the run to the Tunnel. It was Chas. Vince’s duty to couple the engine to the cars. He was walking with his back to the engine, when the tender hit him and knocked him down across the rails.. The four wheels of the tender passed over him, killing him almost instantly. The fireman noticed the body of the prostrate brakeman, and the engine stopped before the huge driving wheels had come in contact with the fallen man. The crushed and mangled form was tenderly taken from under the wheels and laid on a stretcher in the station. Drs Wilson and Emes were hastily summoned, but it was useless.
Undertaker Butler removed the body to his rooms. The decease’s brother, Arthur Vince, a G.T.R engineer, came from York and the body was taken home to Sarnia, about 7.20 Saturday morning. Charles Vince was 48 years of age. He is survived by a wife and three children. He belonged to the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and was a member of the I.O.F. and Masonic lodges. Deceased was very popular on the road, and was quiet, industrious and sober.
[Welland Telegraph October 29, 1903]
Brakeman McGillivray of Hamilton killed in rear end smash at Amigari
Another fatal smash occurred on the G.T,R. Early yesterday morning at the entrance to the north Amagari yards. It was a rear end collision. Both trains were east bound, and about six o’clock, when the accident happened, the first train was lying on the main line waiting to get into the yard. A new big mogul engine came crashing along with a heavy train, and jammed into the rear end of the first train.
The van and the last car on the train were smashed and caught fire. Brakeman Donald McGillivray, of the first train, was caught underneath, and was burned to a crisp before his remains were recovered. All the other men of the first train were off the train.
On the second train one man was injured, The engine was thrown across the track and badly wrecked. No other cars were damaged. The track is now clear.
McGillivray lived in Hamilton and leaves a wife and five children.
Suburban Train Jumps the Track on Saturday Afternoon
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 7 June 1921]
(Special To The Tribune Telegraph)
Bridgeburg, June 5-When the Buffalo-Port Colborne Grand Trunk suburban train leaving here on Saturday afternoon at 1.10 standard time, jumped the track just this side of Sherkston about 2 p.m. Saturday, standard time. Fireman Frank Allan of Bridgeburg, aged 29 years, was killed instantly. He was crushed under the engine as it ploughed over the track-bed on its side. Engineer Fred Clark of Bridgeburg was badly scalded and is now in Buffalo hospital. An investigation will be conducted into the accident immediately. A derailment occurred near this station earlier in the week. None of the passengers were injured. Allan is a married man, with several children. It is believed that a rail spread, caused by the heavy traffic on this section of the Buffalo and Goderich division. Traffic was tied up for a considerable time, owing to the pile-up. Engineer Clark’s condition while serious is not regarded as dangerous. Brakeman Milway suffered a wretched shoulder.
A thorough investigation into the wreck will be held at Ridgeway Wednesday evening. Coroner Stackhouse of Ridgeway will conduct the investigation.
This is the third wreck to have occurred within a radius of a few miles of Port Colborne on the Grand Trunk Railway during the past few days. In one of the other wrecks twelve freight cars were derailed. The line here is again open for traffic wrecking crews have cleared the tracks early this morning.
The frequency with which wrecks have occurred caused rumors to be circulated today that the spreading of the rails, which is believed to have been responsible for the wreck, was brought about by the heavy traffic on light rails.
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 30 June 1921]
An inquest was held by Dr. E. Nixon Davis, Coroner, at the Crowland Police Station on Monday night last on the body of Annie Czoblij, the four year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Czoblij of 8th Avenue, who was struck by the express passenger train 34 on the crossing on the east side of the Michigan Central railway on Sunday afternoon June 19th. Several witnesses were called. The coroner’s jury after a short deliberation returned a verdict of “Death by Accident.”
The first witness to be called was Duncan Dewar, engineer on the M.C.R. He slowed down for the bridge. He first saw the girl when she was about 124 feet from the engine. It was impossible to stop the engine. The child was on the side of the track about three rail lengths west of the bridge. He did not see the child after engine struck her as he had to attend to the engine.
Chief Jones of Crowland was then called. He said at about one o’clock on the 19th he was called to the phone and told of the accident. He went over to the place and there found the child lying on the south side of the track and west of the draw-bridge about 15 feet from the road crossing the track west of the bridge. The body was lying clear of the track. He saw the child had been struck on the right side of the forehead.
The next witness to be called was Hiram Western, Section foreman. He said that he was off duty at the time of the accident, but happened to be going across the bridge. The child was on the feeder bridge when he saw her first. She was running in the centre of the track straight toward the engine. She then got on the outside of the track till the train hit her. He saw her struck. She was thrown he would say 12 or 15 feet east of the crossing and must have been instantly killed. He only saw a little boy with her. He was ahead of her. She was on the road crossing when struck.
Fred Taylor, bridge-tender, deposed that he was on duty when the accident happened. He saw the girl who was just west of the bridge on the east bound track. He only saw a little boy with her. When he first saw the girl he had not heard the train coming. He heard the whistle for the crossing and then he heard a second whistle which was to attract the child. When the second whistle went the girl was going west on the east bound track. It appeared to him that the child was trying to make the cross-road. She ran straight into the engine. The train was slowing down as fast as it possibly could. He ran to the spot, but found the child was dead when he got there. Replying to Mr. Cowper as to whether there was any way of protecting the crossing, he said there was not. He further said that anyone taking the short cut by walking along the tracks over the canal bridge did so at their own risk. No one was really allowed on the track.
Dr. Allison of Welland was then called and said that he first saw the child in Pattison’s Undertaking Rooms. He examined the body and found that the skull was fractured and the neck broken. Death would be instantaneous. Being struck by the engine would account for the skull being fractured and the neck being broken.
The last witness to be called was Josif Czoblij, the father of the deceased. As his knowledge of English is very limited, his evidence had to be taken through an interrupter. In reply to the Crown Attorney, he said he lives about 60 feet from the track. The girl who was killed was his daughter. She was 4 years and 2 months old. He was not at home when the accident actually occurred.
The evidence of the witnesses being finished the Crown Attorney made his remarks to the jurors. He said that so far as he could see, the only verdict which it was possible to return was “killed by accident.” No one was to blame for the lamentable affair. However, it was a matter for the jurors to decide themselves.
The jurors then conferred and returned the verdict as above. The jury consisted of the following:- San G. Gurney, Foreman; Horace Ward, Joseph Hughey, Wm. La Fortune, Horace Gray, Geo. Hill, W.G. Minaker and Herbert Bayne. The interests of the Michigan Central Railway were watched by Mr. Rinch.
Was Attempting to Cross Michigan Central Bridge
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 21 June 1921]
Annie Shablij, aged 8 years, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Shablij, 8th Avenue, was struck by a fast passenger train on the crossing on the east side of the Michigan Central Bridge on Sunday afternoon at 1.30 and was instantly killed.
She, in company with a playmate, started up the bank to the tracks to cross the bridge over the canal. Her little chum, when the accident happened, apparently panic-stricken, hastened away at the approach of the train and the accident was not discovered until word was phoned back by the enginer of the train.
Mr. Western, the road master said he saw the train hit the girl, who, as if fascinated, ran straight towards it.
It has been a long been the habit for many of the residents of the south, instead of walking south to the public bridge, to take a short cut across the railway bridge. This is one of the fatalities resulting. One official of the bridge says it is only a miracle that there isn’t an accident there every day.
An inquest has been ordered by Coroner Davis.
[Welland Tribune July 1917]
Ten Dead, Six to Ten Missing and Many are Injured
GORGE ROUTE TRAGEDY
Niagara Falls, July 1 A trolley car on the Great Gorge route left the rails, plunged down a twenty-foot embankment and turned over in ten feet of water on the edge of the Whirlpool rapids at 3.30 o’clock this afternoon.
The toll of the tragedy may never be known. Ten bodies are now in local morgues and identified. There are about 36 known survivors and three are known to be missing. It is estimated today that there are from six to ten persons missing. All are Americans from a distance.
A washout due to recent heavy rains, was the cause of the disaster, which occurred just below the cantilever bridge and 60 feet below the point where the smooth water of the upper reaches of the Niagara river breaks into the turbulent waters of the Whirlpool rapids.
There were more than 50 passengers on board according to general estimates. The car was one of the open kind, the seats extending from side to side, with steps on both sides the full length of the car.
The car was running about twenty miles an hour when it struck the weak spot in the roadbed. Less than half a minute elapsed from the time the motorman felt the first jarring sway until the car was bottom side the edge of the rushing rapids.
As it slipped down the twenty-foot line from the tracks to the edge of the river, men and women fought to escape and some of them were able to get free, but were unable to get a footing on the steep bank.
There was a mad scramble in the shallow water between the wrecked car and the river bank and from the river side the bodies of at least two of the passengers were seen to be caught in the swifter waters and were carried down to the Whirlpool.
Members of the 74th regiment of Buffalo who were on guard at the cantilever bridge saw the accident and were the first to the rescue.
Warning of the weak spot in the roadbed had been telephoned but the company claims it was too late.
[Welland Tribune August 14, 1917]
Percy Elsie and Frank Pollard
Hit by Train, Driving over M.C.R.
INQUEST OPENED
A shocking tragedy occurred Friday afternoon between 4 and 5 o’clock when Percy Elsie, aged 17, son of Wm. Elsie and Frank Pollard, aged 10, son of Linc Pollard, were killed on a level crossing over the Michigan Central between Lincoln street and Industrial Park, just east of the city.
Elsie was driving a one horse wagon loaded with lumber, for S.L. Lambert and the younger boy, Pollard, was taking a ride with him. They were trying to get across the track ahead of No 37 fast passenger train bound from Niagara Falls to Detroit, or else they failed to see the train, though there is a clear view of the track at this point. The train hit the wagon squarily demolishing it completely and strewing the track for a long distance with lumber and parts of the wagon. The train stopped and backed up to the scene of the accident.
A horrible sight met the view of those who alighted from the train. Elsie had been thrown against the fence. He was still living but his throat was horribly injured. He expired a few minutes later. Pollard had been driven through the board fence and had been instantly killed. The back of his head was crushed in and his neck and limbs broken.
A man was left in charge of the bodies nd the accident was reported at the depot. No 37 is due at Welland ….but was running late and after the delay caused by the accident did not report at the depot until 5.05. Engineer Meighen was in charge of the train.
The bodies were removed to Sutherland and Son’s Morgue where coroner Dr. McKenzie of Port Colborne opened an inquest at 7.30. After the jury had viewed the remains the inquest was adjourned until Thursday next at 1.30 p.m. to hear the evidence.
The funerals took place yesterday afternoon. The service for Percy Elsie was at his late home, Mill St at 2 o’clock and was conducted by Rev Thos. Cowan. The funeral of Frank Pollard took from the residence of his uncle Chief Laing, Division St at 4 o’clock. Service was conducted by Rev Thos Cowan and interment is Woodlawn cemetery. The pall bearers were a brother, Earl Pollard, a cousin Wilfred Laing and two playmates Percy Boyle and Edgar Kramer.
[Welland Tribune, 14 May 1897]
Windsor, May 10th-William Scofield of Belle River was struck by a Grand Trunk train at the Puce, 13 miles from Windsor, yesterday and killed. His body was discovered by Conductor Freeman in the ditch near the track, and taken to Belle River. He leaves a widow and five children.
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