The Ninth Avenue derailment, on the Ninth Avenue Elevated in Manhattan on September 11, 1905, was the worst accident on the New York City elevated railways, resulting in 13 deaths and 48 serious injuries.
Context Trains of the Ninth Avenue and Sixth Avenue elevated lines shared the same track above West 53rd Street, where the Sixth Avenue line branched off. Downtown-bound trains displayed disks indicating to the towerman at the junction whether he should set the switch for the train to enter the curve or proceed straight on to the 50th Street station.
Accident During the morning rush hour on September 11, 1905, a Ninth Avenue train following a Sixth Avenue train was mistakenly switched onto the curve. The train was traveling at when it entered the sharp curve, for which was the company-mandated limit. The motorman, Paul Kelly, realizing the error, braked quickly. The lead car remained on the tracks but the second was thrown right off the trestle and down to the street, coming to rest with one end on the ground and the other across the third rail on the trestle, which sparked an electrical fire.Reed says the car somersaulted in the air and also that the front end was on the ground; the account in Railway and Locomotive Engineering is that it "turned completely over sidewise" but that it was the rear end that fell to the street.
The roof was torn off and some passengers were crushed under the car by a falling truck and motor equipment from the third car, which came to rest hanging off the edge of the trestle against the front of an apartment building, into which some passengers were able to escape through a window. The rest of the train also derailed but continued down the trestle along Ninth Avenue. The death toll was 13, and 48 serious injuries in the second car. A police officer who had been standing in the street was also injured.
List of casualties Name Status Notes Jacob Anspach Deceased Joseph Bach Deceased Policeman, was a pedestrian at street level hit by the falling train John Corcoran Deceased Emma Couenhoven Deceased James Cooper Deceased Louis Eberle Deceased William Lees Deceased Theodore Morris Deceased Cornelius McCathy Deceased Soloman Neugass Deceased Ernest P. Scheibl Deceased Albert Weilster Deceased Henry Aiken Injured 'Will die'. Fractured ribs, dislocated right leg Lincoln Accstall Injured Critical Condition. Legs crushed Rose Armstead Injured Taken home. Bruised and back sprained J. Black Injured Contusions and bruises Paul Blake Injured Contusions of face and body William Beatty Injured Fractured Skull, numerous bruises and contusions William Butler Injured Fractured arm and lacerated head James T. Brown Injured Attended at home. Broken nose Barbara Crell Injured Sent home. Suffered from shock John J. Donohue Injured Contusions of back and body Charles Dobson Injured Scalp wounds and injuries to back Thomas Donnellen Injured Contusions of back William Engel Injured 'Will die'. Right leg amputated Matthew Fitzgerald Injured Critical condition. Internal injuries and scalp wounds John Fowler Injured Critical condition. Left arm amputated Martin Gill Injured Taken home. Contusions of body Jennie Guire Injured Went home. Injuries to left side Patrick J. Gilligan Injured Left side crushed John Gencet Injured Critical condition. Left arm and both legs fractured Hattie Gellert Injured Critical condition. Internal injuries Lindsley Harricon Injured Sent home. Right side injured Walter Johnson Injured Leg injured and scalp wounds O. Krunanquer Injured Bridget McMahon Injured Critical condition. Internal injuries and injuries to the head John P. McKenna Injured Left shoulder dislocated and right leg injured Eliza Miner Injured 'Will die'. Internal injuries, fractured skull, amputated leg May Mooney Injured Contusions of back Michael Morris Injured Contusions of back and body Michael Mulligan Injured Sent home. Contusions of body William F. Niebur Injured 'Will die'. Skull fractured Emil Nies Injured Lacerations of side and head Henrietta Oesterling Injured Attended and went home. Right arm fractured Rose Elmstell Injured Attended and went home. Scalp wounds and contusions Fritz Pesmier Injured Attended and sent home. Scalp wounds Arthur Quinn Injured Critical condition. Internal injuries and nervous shock Seymour Roe Injured Critical condition. Fractured skull ? Rourke Injured Attended and went home Thomas Swan Injured Both arms broken Gertrude Speck Injured Critical condition. Injuries to head and back Fred Wister Injured Both arms fractured George Weber Injured Contusions of back John Williams Injured Internal injuries, contusions of right leg
Aftermath
On September 23, the report of the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners laid most of the blame for the accident on motorman Kelly, but some on the towerman, Cornelius Jackson, who was said to have been away from his post at the time of the accident. On October 2, the coroner's jury held both responsible.
Kelly claimed the train had been displaying the correct disks for Ninth Avenue; Jackson claimed it had not. The train's conductor, J.W. Johnson, who had the job of setting the disks on the train, backed Kelly, and so did the company, since station guards had identified the train as Ninth Avenue at every stop it had made before the accident.
However, the coroner's jury found that Kelly should have seen that the signal indicated the switch was set for Sixth Avenue, and that he was driving recklessly fast. Nevertheless, Kelly, who went missing after the accident, told a fellow motorman immediately afterwards that Jackson had been "trying to do him," accusing Jackson of having previously changed disks on the signal tower at the last second, forcing Kelly to back onto the other tracks, thus losing time and getting in trouble with the railway company.
Kelly could not back onto the other tracks this time because of his speed, which he explained had been due to the guards at 59th Street having called out 42nd Street as the next stop. Kelly was making up lost time on what he thought would be a straightaway to 42nd Street, not realizing until it was too late that the switch had actually been set for the curve to Sixth Avenue.
Jackson was convicted of second degree manslaughter but his conviction was later overturned. Kelly was arrested in San Francisco in June 1907, almost two years after the accident. He was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree and was sentenced to 18 to 30 months in prison. In February 1909, Kelly escaped from Sing Sing prison with another inmate he met while building a new prison at Bear Mountain, due to the bad food and brutal treatment. At the time Kelly had only six months left of his sentence as he was a model inmate. When the other inmate became ill, Kelly refused to continue on alone, and the two were subsequently captured.
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