A survival miracle, pt. 1

 Among the documents my sister sent me was a poor photocopy of an article from the Chicago American, dated Sept. 4, 1909, about a train wreck that occurred in Pennsylvania. She sent it because two of the people involved were from Chicago and were related to my maternal grandfather, William G. Kayler. 

I investigated the relationship and ran into an anomaly. The passengers were William's wife and son, but the woman is not my grandmother, and the son is not either of the men I know as my uncles. 

The cutline for the accompanying photo of the son, Harold, states that the duo were traveling to Chicago to a new home. Harold was 2 or 3 at the time -- available information on his birthdate doesn't line up with the age given in the story.

I can only conclude they are a family William had before he married my maternal grandmother, nine years after this incident. As no one who would know for certain still lives, I'll just live with the mystery.

Subsequent research turned up another newspaper article about the crash, which I'll publish as Part 2 of this post. 

Note the use of the term "train wrecker." I've no information on when the term gained currency, but it referred initially to criminals who intentionally caused derailments to rob trains. It was also used from the late 1890s to the 1930s for men who staged train wrecks at fairs and festivals, including one in Waco, Texas. Flying debris from that wreck killed two people and injured numerous others. 

And yes, people paid for the privilege of watching these events and placing themselves in harm's way. Go figure.

Here's the American's story:

Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 4 — Two men were killed, fifty persons, including several Chicagoans, were injured and more than 100 lives were periled by train wreckers who derailed the Royal Blue flyer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, bound from New York to Chicago, forty-six miles west of here, early today.

Loaded heavily with money and mail the train, which is one of the fastest on the road, ran into a displaced rail and its engine and three cars somersaulted over a steep embankment leaving two Pullmans standing upon the track.

While doctors and nurses are working for the lives of the victims in Newcastle hospitals, armed guards surround the wrecked baggage car and posses are searching for the train wreckers.

[Here follows a list of the dead, the engineer and a baggageman, and a list of the injured, including:] … 

MRS. KATE KAYLER, 1315 West Harrison Street; cut on right side of head and on right arm. Her three-year-old boy was uninjured, although sitting beside her …

Many of the less seriously injured were sent on to their destination after being attended by physician.

[The engineer’s] body was found in the wrecked cab. There had been no warning of the approaching wreck and he died in the cab.

[The baggageman] was crushed to death in the wreck of the baggage car, which plowed over the tender of the engine.

Bolts are unscrewed

On a lonely stretch of the road the wreckers selected their ground. They were supplied with instruments used in hardly any work but railroad construction, for they unscrewed the bolts fastening [unreadable] wreckers’ trap. The engine swerved off the rails and over a steep embankment alongside the track, pulling the baggage car and two day coaches over.

Couplings snapped, and two Pullman sleepers were left behind. Carried forward by their impetus, they left the rails but remained upright. Few passengers in these cars were hurt.

According to General Superintendent Finney, it was a deliberate case of train wrecking. The rail on the right side was cut at the point by some one, and the spikes pulled on both sides nearly the entire length of the rail. The approach [unreadable] was moved in far enough to clear the wheels.

The train tore the track and roadbed up for 100 yards. The wreckage covered both tracks and blocked trains both east and [west, presumably. Text of the story cuts off at this point.]