The February 6, 1871 Train Crash in New Hamburg, New York

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: New Hamburg, Dutchess, New York, United States
Surname/tag: New_Hamburg_Train_Crash

Remembering those who perished on a bitterly cold night on February 6, 1871 in a fiery crash between a freight train with oil-filled tank cars and another train with sleeper cars.

Known victims of this catastrophe

• George Stone Benedict

• William C. Curry

• Agnes Stoddard Fowler

• Mary Prudence (Stoddard) Fowler

• Rev. Morelle Worthington Fowler

• Morelle Worthington Fowler (Jr.)

• Robert Hallam Fowler

• Walter H. Forbush

• Rollin Germain

• Albert A. Gillet

• James Humphreys -- 25 Feb 1871 Buffalo Reflex

• Capt. Harry R. Lovell or R. Harry Lovell

• Edward Lawrence Mooney

• Dr. Samuel Joseph Guerard Nancrede

• Arthur Walter Pease

• Julia (Watson) Pease

• Lucius A. Root

• Edward H. "Doc" Simmons

• James Stafford -- The Sun 8 Feb 1871 -- assistant baggage man at Thirtieth Street depot -- of New York -- Richmond Dispatch 10 Feb 1871 -- inquest "upon the body of James Stafford" -- brother Walter testified at the inquest New York Daiy Herald 9 Feb 1871 -- summoned to Albany as a witness in the case of Filkins, the express robber -- The Port Chester Journal 16 Feb 1871 -- some say Walter Stafford

• George Robinson Thompson

• Peter Vosburgh

• Robert Vosburgh (The New York Times 23 Feb 1871 page 1) coroner's verdict

The Grisly Details

WARNING: descriptions of the train crash and of the bodies are grisly and disturbing

Previously the engine had been called the 'Constitution,' but recently it had been known only as No. 58,^[1]

On that fateful Monday, Walter A. Lyon, a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, purchased a ticket for Buffalo and secured berth no. 10 in the Buffalo sleeping car. He arrived at the depot just before the train was about to leave. Upon presenting his ticket to Mr. Vosburgh, the conductor, he was informed "that owing to his having arrived so late some one had gone to bed in that berth, but [the conductor] could give him berth eight in the next car behind, which was quite as good as the Buffalo car." Mr. Lyon proceeded to the other car, took off his clothes, and went to sleep. Subsequently, he was awakened by "two rather severe shocks ... which threw him all in a heap at the head of his berth." Everyone else in the car immediately left through the door at the rear end of the car. "[S]upposing the car had only run off the track and would soon be replaced," and not wanting to "get out in the cold air," Mr. Lyon prepared to go back to sleep. Luckily for him, someone re-entered the car and, seizing his arm, implored him to save himself because the car was on fire. At the same time that [h]e looked up and saw the check rope which ran through the top of the car on fire," "thick volumes of black smoke rushed in through the far end of the car from him. Picking up what clothes he could, he quickly exited the car. Mr. Lyon "dressed himself on the track outside. All his other clothes and luggage were destroyed.... Had he been a second or two later he himself [would] have perished, as the flames seized his car almost instantly.^[2]

The express train was scheduled to leave New York City at 8:00 Monday evening, but it left six minutes late.^[3]

By 9 February 1871 the bridge had been repaired and the "first train over the Hudson Road since the accident arrived here [New York City] at nine o'clock... Large crowds [were] already assembling in City Hall park to receive the remains."^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Newspapers.com, images (https://www.newspapers.com/image/465711592 : accessed 4 February 2023), imaged article, "'Doc' Simmons", The Chicago [Illinois] Tribune, 25 February 1871, p. 2, col. 8.
2. ↑ Newspapers.com, images (https://www.newspapers.com/image/329399155 : accessed 24 March 2023), imaged article, "'Story of A Passenger," The New York [New York] Herald, 9 February 1871, p. 3, col. 1 - 3.
3. ↑ Newspapers.com, images (https://www.newspapers.com/image/734938450 : accessed 25 March 2023), imaged article, "'The Hudson River Railroad Disaster," Boston [Massachusetts] Daily Evening Transcript , 9 February 1871, p. 4, col. 1 - 2.
4. ↑ Newspapers.com, images (https://www.newspapers.com/image/734938434 : accessed 25 March 2023), imaged article, "'Probability that more Bodies will be Recovered at New Hamburgh," Boston [Massachusetts] Daily Evening Transcript , 9 February 1871, p. 2, col. 4.