North Adams, Massachusetts, USA
1882 - DEATH ON THE RAIL. RAILROAD WORKMEN KILLED AND INJURED IN MASSACHUSETTS.

North Adams, Mass., Oct. 21. - A terrible accident to a caboose containing working men belonging to the North Adams freight yard occurred this morning in which 27 men were injured, several of them fatally. About 6:30 o'clock this morning Engineer CHARLES WELLS and Fireman JOSEPH BOSLEY left the North Adams depot on the engine Deerfield, of the State Road, pushing a caboose loaded with 25 men, who were going to work at different places near Zoar and Charlemont. The parties in the car included the section gang, JOHN FLYNN, foreman; the gang of masons, JOHN C. MADDEN, foreman; the stone-crushers, PETER BARRY, foreman; the track-layers, THOMAS QUINN, foreman, and the carpenters, J. J. PEEKHAM, foreman. The engine and caboose, with its human freight, started for the tunnel, and had gone about half way when the caboose, which was in front, collided with a Troy and Boston engine, smashing the head-light of the engine of the Deerfield and driving the 15-foot flues straight through the furnace door. The caboose was raised from its trucks anc carried to the cow-catcher of the engine Deerfield. The front of the engine was torn into and steam and hot water flew into the caboose, and the men who were not hurt in the collision were burned badly, and few escaped without injury. None would have been seriously hurt but for the explosion of the Deerfield's boiler. Three doctors arrived on the scene and made an examination of the men injured, who are CHARLES WELLS, engineer of the Deerfield, hurt badly and burned, condition precarious; JOSEPH BOSLEY, fireman on the Deerfield, fatally scalded and bruised badly; C.H. VAN HOSEN, telegraph operator, scalded, swallowed hot water and steam, will die; DANIEL CONNELL, laborer, arms and legs scalded; CHARLES PATTERSON, JOHN FLYNN, foreman, and JOHN C. MADDEN, mason, all scalded and cut; JOHN MADDEN, scalded and bruised; THOMAS QUINN, side, back, and arms scalded; JAMES WALL, THOMAS DEMPSEY, and JOHN YOUNG, carpenters; AMASA CAMPBELL, JAMES CRAFTS, flagmen in the tunnel, all burned, some seriously; Conductor HEYWOOD, scalded about the head; JAMES ENWOOD, THOMAS FLAVIN, scalded; JOHN WELSH, legs broken and scalded; JAMES BOLGER, scalp wound and face cut and scalded; JAMES HALL, PATRICK MURRAY, THOMAS DRISCOLL, JOSEPH BARRELOW, M. KIELY, CORNELIUS SHAY, all injured, not seriously.

As JOHN HOGAN was crossing the railroad track, to see the scene of the accident, he was struck by the Pittsfield and North Adams train, and will not recover.

LATER. - It is now certain that eight of the men injured in the accident will not live. PETER BARRY, foreman of the gang of laborers, is suffering terrible agony from internal scalds, and his head is badly cut. He probably will die. C. B.

VAN HOUSEN, of Valatie, N.Y., a telegraph operator, is also internally scalded and cannot live. He sat in the engine, Operator HAYWOOD, sitting with him, escaped by jumping from the engine. CHARLES HOLLAHAN, THOMAS FLAVIUS, PATRICK MURRAY, and THOMAS DRISCOLL and under the influence of morphine. The skin on the front of FLAVIN'S body came off with his clothes. PATRICK MURRAY had his head cut severely and scalded so that he will not recover.

DRISCOLL and HOLLAHAN are young men. Both are severely hurt and will probably not recover. JOHN MALLOY, aged 45, had his shoulder broken and his head hurt, and his body was burned. His recovery is doubtful. JOSEPH BOSTLEY lost both of his eyes and cannot recover. The doctors have nearly completed the examination of the injured men, and find that 33 received injuries. All were scalded, and many suffered cuts, bruises and broken bones. JOSEPH BOSTLEY, fireman of the engine Deerfield, who had his eyes burned out and his face, arms, and body scalded, died tonight in terrible agony. He leaves a wife and three small children.

The explosion of the engine was caused by the drawbar of the caboose bursting in the plate of the flue sheet of the engine Deerfield. The steam blew open the door of the caboose and filled the car, in which there were 35 men crowded closely together. Many of them were unable to reach the doors, and in the stampede many bones were broken. The boiling water and steam burning off the men's clothes in a moment, they were fearfully scalded. All the injured were carried to houses. All day long the doctors' offices have been crowded with anxious friends beseeching them to attend their injured first. As nearly as can be learned the dead and injured are as follows:

DIED: JOSEPH BOSTLEY, fireman.
INJURED: CHARLES WELLS, engineer of the Deerfield, slightly burned, will recover; JOHN FLYNN, foreman of the gan of laborers, burned about the limbs and cut in several places, will probably recover; JOHN C. MADDEN, aged 22, burned on the back and sides, dangerous; JOHN MADDEN, severely scalded and thought to have internal injuries, may recover; PETER BARRY, aged 45, another foreman, badly cut about the face and head in the collision, and fearfully scalded, his face is not recognizable -- will probably die, he has a wife and 10 children; THOMAS QUINN; scalded about the face, arms, and neck, and has a scalp wound -- will live; J.J. PEEKHAM, master bridge builder, not seriously hurt, but badly scalded about the shoulders and face; C. L. VAN HOUSEN, aged 22, telegraph operator, of Valatie, N.Y., skin on whole body badly burned, and flesh on limbs burned off, will die; DANIEL CORNELL, scalp wound and face and neck burned, not dangerously injured; CHARLES S. PATTERSON, burned about limbs and breast, will probably recover; JOHN MALLOY badly burned about the head and abdomen; THOMAS DEMPSEY, not dangerously injured; JOHN YOUNG, scalded and otherwise injured, he was carried home and kept under the influence of opiates, condition doubtful; AMASA CAMPBELL, JAMES ENWOOD, JOHN WELSH, JAMES DOLGER, JAMES WALL, CORNELIUS SHEA, JACOB BASELLON, EDMUND BASELLON, THOMAS CONNOR, JOHN PITT, THEODORE PITT, WILLIAM McDONALD, HUGH CONNELL, and TIMOTHY COWLEY are all burned to about the same extent, none of them seriously. THOMAS FLAVIUS, PATRIC MURRAY, JAMES HOULIHAN, and THOMAS DRISCOLL, young men who were employed on the road as repairmen, are badly hurt and are huddled together in a small boarding house here. They have been attended by several physicians and some say FLAVIUS will die. He is badly burned and, it is feared, internally scalded. Other physicians say these four men will die. Telegraph Operator HEYWOOD, who sat in the engine cab, was thrown through the window, but escaped injury.

Manager Locke states that the accident was caused by engine No. 20 becoming uncoupled from its cars and coming back into the yard by the eastern main track, which it should not have done. It was very foggy, and the engineers were unable to see each other's locomotives. The locomotive was pushing the caboose to the switch to get the cars behind the engine, and the collision, which was very light, hemmed the caboose in between the two engines. The drawbar of the caboose, as previously stated, jammed a hole through the front plate of the cylinder. The railroad's instructions are, that when an employee backs a car into the yard, he must go around by the west track and flag himself property. A Troy and Boston engineer has no right to bring his engine round by the east track. Hence, in this case it was done in direct violation of the rules. This act of Engineer WATTSON, of the Troy and Boston Railroad, is primarily the cause of the accident. It is not known that an engine was ever taken round that way before.

The New York Times
New York, New York
October 22, 1882

Visit North Adams, Massachusetts, USA
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.