Deadly 1907 Railroad Crash in Bellaire Ohio
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Deadly 1907 Railroad Crash in Bellaire Ohio
A deadly train crash occurred 28 Sep 1907 in Bellaire, Ohio, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. It was reported in newspapers nationwide and beyond.
A photo of the scene was taken by Earl Max of Quaker City and used on a postcard.
Saturday 28 Sep 1907 - The Dayton Herald - Page 7
(By United Press.) -- (BULLETIN.) Wheeling, W. Va. Sept. 28 -- As result of a head-on collision between a passenger and freight train on the B. & O four miles below this city on the Ohio side, five to ten persons are reported killed and a number injured. A call for physicians and nurses has just been received here.
An unconfirmed telephone message Just received says it is now reported that twenty-five are dead. Every physician In Wheeling, Bellaire, Bridgeport and Martins Ferry have been summoned.
Sunday 29 Sep 1907 - Bisbee Arizona Daily Review - Page 1
Wheeling, W. Va., Sept. 28. -- Eighteen were killed and a score injured some fatally, at Bellaire Ohio, this afternoon, when a B. & O. train crashed into a freight train which was moving slowly on a siding.
The wreck was due to the failure of an operator to throw a switch. The west bound freight received orders to met the passenger at the limits of Bellaire yard and was moving slowly along the siding. Where the wreck occurred is a sharp curve which prevents the engineer of eastbound trains from seeing more than a few feet ahead. The passenger train swung around the curve rapidly and should have gone safely to the main line. but the switch to the siding had not been turned. The train shot into the siding
The damage was done to the smoker, which was telescoped by the baggage car. Every occupant of the smoker was injured or killed. Engineer Galbraith was burned to a crisp by escaping steam,
Sunday 29 Sep 1907 - The Pittsburgh Press - Page 1
Coaches Torn to Bits as Trains Crash on B. & O.
Chicago Fast Express, Running at High Speed, Dashes Into Freight and Scenes of Horror Follow
Eight Already Dead, More to Die
Four Pittsburgers Among the Injured, Who Number Over Thirty -- Scenes of Horror Witnessed at Place of Disaster -- Operator's Mistake Said to Have Caused Wreck(Special to the Sunday Press.)
Wheeling. W. Va. September 28. -- Passenger train No. 14. eastbound, the fast Chicago express on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, collided head-on with the second section of No. 27, a freight heavily loaded with coal, from Benwood to Newkirk, at Indian Run Bend, near the east end of the Bellaire yards, at 3 o'clock this afternoon, instantly killing four trainmen and three passengers, fatally injuring six or eight others and badly maiming 30 more. The passenger was running 75 miles. an hour to make up for lost time. The freight was running 30 miles an hour.
- CARL BERTRAM, passenger, No. 185 Thirty-seventh street, Milwaukee, Wis. [Find A Grave: Memorial #160019721]
- ELWARD HINES, passenger, Fourteenth street. Wheeling, W. Va. [Find A Grave: Memorial #132242779] | FamilySearch
- WILLIAM SHAW, passenger, No. 2311 Market street. Wheeling, W. Va.
- L. N. GILBRAITH, passenger, engineer, of Newark, O.
- F E. MOTZ, freight conductor, Newark, O.
- H.A. LIPSCOMB, freight engineer, Newark, O.
- HAROLD SEITZ, newsboy. Wheeling, W. Va. [Find A Grave: Memorial #93363613]
- F. A. DUNLAP, passenger, Flushing, O., died at Boone hospital.
- T. A DUNLAP, Newark, O., Fireman of passenger engine; right shoulder, left arm and four ribs broken; will die: in Boone hospital, Bellaire.
- W. C. BESANT, chief of mail clerks, Zanesville, O., cut about head and body; will die; in Boone Hospital.
- C. E. KNER, Mt Vernon, O., mail clerk; ribs broken, back and head injured; in Boone Hospital.
- E. G. BLUBLUGH, Mt Vernon, O., head injured and arm bruised: In Boone Hospital.
- WILLIAM FARRELL, of Albany, N. Y., passenger; cut and bruised about head, face and body in Boone Hospital.
- CLARENCE JOHNSON, of Cambridge; cut and bruised about head, face and body; in Boone Hospital.
- HANS PETERSON, Hoboken, N. J., passenger; left leg broken in two places, head badly cut; in serious condition; in Boone Hospital.
- FRANK WILSON, of Wheeling, passenger; cut about head and face.
- PATRICK ELWOOD, passenger, of Wheeling, cut and bruised.
- EDWARD PARKER, passenger, of Wheeling, cut about face, legs; injured.
- JOHN HARTI, of Wheeling, passenger, back and legs injured.
- PHILIP YOCUBUS, Pittsburg, cut and bruised seriously.
- C. A. LOTUS, Cambridge, O., back sprained and bruised over body.
- BARNEY DAILEY, Pittsburg, passenger, right leg cut off at knee, and head badly crushed, in serious condition.
- JAMES GRIFFIN, of Bayon City, N. J., injured about hips.
- WILLIAM ZIMMERMAN, Cambridge, O., head crushed and chest badly injured, in serious condition.
- PERCY LEASURE, passenger, of Weston W. Va., back hurt, hand mangled.
- HARRY ENGLISH, Connellsville, O., back sprained, cut and bruised all over body.
- C. A. LODIS, of Cambridge, O., cut and bruised about head, face and body.
- PETER RODANO, of Pittsburg, passenger, cut and bruised, back badly injured.
- JOHN HAWK, Pittsburg.
- AUGUST MEDER, New York, body crushed, lungs injured.
- FRANK BROWN, New York, passenger; legs and back injured.
- FOREST JACKSON, Cambridge, O., neck badly hurt, legs injured.
- CLARENCE JOHNSON, Cambridge, O., back and hips injured.
- HAWES PETERSON, No. 704 Melvin avenue, Hoboken, N. J.; crushed about chest.
- SAM BARDONI, passenger; St Clairsville, O., legs crushed and head cut.
- LEO RALPH, Quaker City, O., head and back crushed.
- D. E. CLOVER, Klee, O., crushed about chest and lungs.
- AUGUST METIER, Newark, O., passenger, cut about head and internally injured.
- NOYCE ADDISON, Cambridge, O., cut and bruised about head and body.
- WILLIAM BOKOVICK, Benwood, W. Va, hips crushed, one leg amputated: at hospital.
- WILLIAM ANDERSON, of Mississippi, may be internally injured, cut about head.
- ALFRED DELBY, No. 419 West One Hundred and Twenty-first street, New York, passenger; cut about head; leg broken.
The signal operator at the Bellaire yard office, whose name is McGann, gave the freight the eastbound track, instead of the west-bound as he should, and the trains crashed together without warning. Both engines reared straight up in the air and came down with a crash. They were demolished and a portion of one rolled over a 40-foot embankment. The baggage car and smoker of the passenger train were torn into bits.
Nearly all of the injured were in the smoker. The Richard Carie "Spring Chicken" theatrical company occupied a parlor car on the rear of the train. It was demolished but none of the company was injured. The dead and injured were pinioned under the wreckage, which caught fire, adding terror to the situation.
Engineer Lipscomb was caught under the wreckage of his engine. "Chop my leg off, will you?" he yelled to members the yard force. An axe was secured and while the steam was pouring in upon him he saw them hack off the limb just above the knee. He was scalded all over the body, and died at the Boone Hospital an hour later. He was conscious to the last.
General Manager Fitzgerald's train was at Benwood Junction when the news of the wreck was received. It was converted into a relief train and crowded with doctors and nurses, was rushed to the scene of the wreck. The dead were removed to undertaking parlors in Bellaire, Ohio, and the injured were taken to the Boone Hospital, in Bellaire, and the Glendale Hospital, at Moundsville. General Manager Fitzgerald and members of his staff assisted the nurses and crew in caring for the wounded. A search was made tonight for the operator whose blunder said to have caused the wreck, but he could not be found.
---
John Hawk, who was injured in the wreck, lives at No. 1724 Cliff street.
Bernard Daily, another of the injured, lives in the Thirty-fifth ward, on Well street, near Sweetbriar street.
The names of Philip Yocubus and Peter Rodana, who are among thelist of injured and reported to be residents of Pittsburg, do not appear in the city directory and efforts to locate their homes last night were unavailing.
Monday 30 Sep 1907 - The Buffalo Enquirer - Page 6
(By Hearst Special Wire to The Enquirer) Wheeling, W. Va., Sept. 30 -- Prosecuting Attorney Shepard of St. Clairsville will complete his investigation into the disastrous wreck on the B. & O. Railroad at Bellaire. Ohio, some time today.
He said last night that a warrant would be issued for Tom Buckhannon, operator at Block Signal Station No 6, at the end of the double track whose blunder, it is said, caused the death of ten persons and injury to
over thirty others. It was said last night that Buckhannon had been on duty thirty-six hours before he made the fatal mistake. "God knows I am sorry I did it, but I absolutely could not keep my eyes open." Buckhannon is reported to have said to one of the trainmen.
The operator is quietly waiting to be called by the authorities when the investigation begins. He states that a short time before the Chicago train was due he saw a number of foreigners working with the switch to the track the freight was on, while at the same time he called up Bellaire by phone and was told the freight had left. Just as he hung up the receiver he heard the crash.
Coroner Diven of Martins Ferry said that a Coroner's investigation was unnecessary as the cause of the wreck was explained by the officials. There was no blunder on the part of either crew. Both had orders for the same track.
Six of the victims were taken from the wreckage dead. Three died in the Boone Hospital at Bellaire shortly after their removal there, and another, an unidentified man, died later. He gained consciousness shortly before he died, and when asked his name he murmured "Woodsfield." He is believed to be from Woodsfield, Ohio.
Monday 30 Sep 1907 - The Moline Illinois Dispatch - Page 1
Bellaire, O., Sept. 30. - Among the passengers on the B & O express train that was wrecked near here Saturday, when fifteen men were killed and a score injured, were the members of Richard Carle's "Spring Chicken" comic opera company. All of them with the exception of Alfred Dalby, the musical director, escaped serious injury. It was found necessary to amputate Mr. Dalby's right arm, thus ending his musical career.
Monday 30 Sep 1907 - The Province (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - Page 1
Wheeling, West Va.. Sept. 30 - Fifteen were killed and a score fatally inJured at Bellaire Ohio, on Saturday afternoon when the Chicago Wheeling express train on the B. & O. crashed into a freight train which was moving slowly on a siding.
The wreck was due, it is said, to the failure of a operator to throw a switch. There was scarcely time to apply the brakes, and no time for the engine men to jump. The big engines were reduced to Junk by the Impact.
Engineer Galbraith was scalded to death by escaping steam. At the office of Superintendent Loree to-day it was said that the company was not certain who to blame for the accident. but a thorough investigation was under way. The property damaged will amount to about $60.000,
Engineer H. A. Lipscomb of the passenger train underwent probably the most heroic surgical operation in modern times. Caught beneath his engine, it was found impossible to remove the broken iron from his body on account of the way in watch one of his legs was entangled, escaping steam across his face made it impossible to administer anaesthetic, and as a result his physicians amputated his leg as he lay there conscious. Despite the burning steam and the pain of the operation, he bore it bravely, it is feared, however, that the man will die.
Monday 30 Sep 1907 - The Pittsburgh Press - Page 6
An overworked operator is blamed for the disastrous wreck on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at Bellaire. The officials of the B. & O. should take notice that the vice president of the New York Central road has been held to answer on a charge of murder growing out of a wreck. Where employees are worked longer than a reasonable time there should be no trouble holding their employers responsible for criminal negligence. However, maybe the B. & O. is safe this time. Tom Buckhannon, the operator, had been on duty only 36 hours.
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