Port
Jervis NY Train Wreck
April 1868
Frightful Railway Accident!!
The Corning Journal issued an extra last
Wednesday, giving the horrible particulars of an
accident to the Lightning Express on the Erie
Railway, going east, on the morning of that day
by which four cars, containing upward of 100
passengers, were precipitated down an embankment
200 feet. The accident occurred at Carr's Rock,
16 miles west of Port Jervis, at four o'clock.
The slaughter was frightful. The Journal
prints a list of upward of seventy killed and
hurt. Twenty dead bodies had been recovered but
the number will probably reach 35 or 40. If, as
is stated, there were 100 passengers in the
three sleeping cars, it can hardly be expected
that any of them escaped damage. The rear car
took fire and was consumed. Among the killed we
notice the names of E. BLOSSOM, formerly
proprietor of the Brainard House, Elmira, and J.
S. DUNHAM, Binghamton. Among the wounded are S.
B. FAIRMAN, of the Elmira Advertiser, LEWIS
PARKER and A. E. BROWN, Bath, N. W. GOKEY,
Addison, J. B. FLOYD, Chemung, A. L. SMITH and
MRS. REYNOLDS, Hornellsville, D. D. RODGERS and
W. HADGER, Corning, W. B. DECKER, Waverly, J.
DECKER, and MRS. D. NOBLE, Elmira, the two
latter supposed to be fatally hurt.
Nearly all were seriously injured. It is
further stated that some villains robbed the
dead – something hardly credible. The cause of
the accident is said to have been a broken rail.
However, so long as trains are run at a speed of
30 miles an hour around a curve like that at
Carr's Rock, a broken rail will not be necessary
to ensure disaster, soon or late. We trust that
the affair may be fully investigated, and the
guilty, if any there be, severely punished.
The Tioga County Agitator Pennsylvania
1868-04-22
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
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