1896: A Staged Train Wreck. Two Steam Locomotives Crashing Head-on in Texas. Three Dead, Several Injured

"In 1896, William George Crush, general passenger agent of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (popularly known as the Katy), conceived the idea to demonstrate a train wreck as a spectacle", quoting from Wikipedia. Also from the article, Mr. Crush's last name was borrowed as a name for a spot in Texas to hold the exhibition. Taking advantage of bargain -priced $2 train tickets, 40,000 people traveled from all over Texas to view. the spectacle, "making the new town of Crush, Texas, temporarily the second-largest city in the state." The idea of witnessing two steam locomotives crashing head-on and the resultant boiler explosion held an irresistible appeal for many people. The Wikipedia article also shows photos of the trains before the wreck and of the actual explosion.

According to the article "Retired Katy Engineer Tells of Wreck at Crush", the railroad had 50 surplus engines of this type because they had been replaced with larger engines. Retired engineer Frank Barnes is quoted as saying, "I'll tell you, those were two flashy engines. Old 999 was painted green with red trim, and was headed south. Number 1001 was red, trimmed in green, and was headed north."

The engines had been taken on an extensive tour of Texas, to generate interest in the event.

Thirty Passenger Trains Carrying Spectators from All Over Texas

Quoting from the Texas Almanac, "Workmen also constructed a grandstand for officials, three speakers' stands, a platform for reporters and a bandstand. A big lunch stand was set up in a tent borrowed from Ringling Brothers circus, with food service supervised by the Katy's superintendent of eating-house service. A carnival midway sprang up, with medicine shows, game booths, cigar stands and lemonade and soft-drink stands to entertain the spectators as they waited for the show to begin." Also, it took 30, passenger trains to carry the spectators.

September 15, 1896: After photographs were taken of the two engines facing each other, each engine was slowly backed a distance of two miles to the starting position. Sources differ as to the distance, one stating the specially installed track was 4 miles long. At the signal, the throttles were opened to the maximum speed setting. The engineers jumped off the trains, as they rapidly accelerated. At impact, the engines had reached a combined speed of 90 to 100 miles per hour. .

The expectations were that the two steam boilers would not explode which does not seem reasonable. On impact, both boilers did explode instantly, hurling wreckage and shards of metal "hundreds of feet into the air", a lot of which dropped into the crowd. Photos of the crowd and the trains an instant before impact, from 'Perfessor' Bill Edwards.

Three People Killed. Several Injured

Three people were killed and several injured, but this did not kill the jubilation. People rushed to climb atop the wreckage for photographs and souvenirs.

I thought somewhat ignoring the loss of human life was very cold-hearted, and was maybe was an attitude prevalent in that age, but then I thought that the modern equivalent seems to be car racing, in which millions of people participate, expecting, even secretly hoping to experience the excitement of the wrecks, which commonly occur and enjoying themselves even when drivers are killed. It seems to be a universal characteristic of mankind.

Quoting The Texas Almanac "All that remained of the two engines and twelve cars was a smoking mass of fractured metal and kindling wood, except one car on the rear of each train, which had been left untouched."

They also state, "William Crush was fired the evening of the crash, but Katy rehired him the following day, and he worked for the company until he retired." Evidently, he was rehired because the expected public outrage did not materialize.

An interesting side note: Composer and pianist Scott Joplin may have been one of the spectators and was moved to compose "The Great Crush Collision March."

This was an age when public entertainment events were few and far between, especially in the wide-open spaces, unlike today, when entertainment is available at the touch of a button. Therefore, the public's appetite for events of this type was understandable.

Sources:

Photos: Trains the Instant Before the Crash and Crowd/'Perfessor' Bill Edwards

"Retired Katy Engineer Tells of Wreck at Crush"/Home.flash,net

"Crush, Texas"/Wikipedia

Mary G. Ramos/"The Crash at Crush"/Texas Almanac