August
10, 1887.
Three
things happened on this day, and one thing didn’t. The first two seemingly
unconnected.
Grass
fires were set by section men along the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway.
An
excursion train left Peoria between 7.00pm and 8.00pm stopping at stations on
the way for passengers who had paid $7.50 for the round trip to Niagara Falls.
It
was summer, the grass was dry and the weather warm and windy.
Now
here is the thing that did NOT happen: nobody checked the fires – the foreman although
he had been instructed to do so, did not.
The excursion to Niagara Falls was very popular and the train was at maximum capacity. Many
passengers had come from Iowa to take the trip and some planned to go on to
Canada and New York. Emma Duckett, wife of the local doctor in Forrest and her
sister Eliza Cording were just two of the hundreds of ticket holders, and boarded the
train in Forrest. Reports say it was speeding along at about 35-40 miles per
hour as it crossed the Livingston county line, trying to make up for lost time.
The
train was due to arrive at Chatsworth at 10.23pm but was running late and it
was about 11.45pm when it finally got there, stopping for a few minutes before
carrying on into the night.
Between
Chatsworth and Piper City there was a shallow ditch, about 12 feet wide and 6
feet deep. The railroad crossed this via wooden trestle bridge. The ditch, a
dry stream bed, was filled with dry timber and leaves.
Remember
the unchecked fires ?
By
the time the driver saw the burning trestle it was too late. The first engine crossed
the bridge, but its weight caused the bridge to collapse behind it. The second
engine rammed into the bank, cars crashed into each other piling thirty feet
high. The sleeping cars at the rear were not as badly damaged. The second engineer’s
watch stopped at 11.54pm.
Emma
was one of the 80 passengers who were killed outright. A further 120, including
her sister, were injured. Initially estimations of the loss of life were far greater and it was reported that Eliza was also among the dead. The
first relief train arrived from Forrest about an hour later, Dr Daniel Duckett
was amongst the group on board. One of the first bodies he came upon was that
of his wife.
Others
had run from Chatsworth and Piper City to help. Women bought linen and bandages
for the wounded and assisted where they could. It started to rain at about 3.30am
and rained until dawn almost two hours later. Some of the wounded and some bodies
were taken by train to Chatsworth early in the morning. People arrived at the
scene through the night and into the next day, searching and hoping to find
their loved ones.
That
other not so endearing side of human nature was evident at the crash site too.
Opportunists stealing from the dead and wounded; in some cases leaving nothing
to identify the person by. Photographers from the newspapers turned their backs
on the suffering and turned their cameras on the ruins. I am often shocked at the invasiveness of today's media, of the relentless pursuit
of paparazzi to get the “money” shot. Seems things weren’t so different 150 or
so years ago.
Emma
Venn Norman was born about September 1847 in Luxborough, Somerset England. Her
father was the youngest brother of my 3 times great grandfather; she was a first
cousin of my 2 times great grandmother. Emma emigrated with her parents and
siblings between 1851 and 1859 to Canada and later to Michigan and Illinois. On
10 July 1869 she married Daniel Duckett in Livingston county Illinois and they
had two (possibly three) children. Daniel died a few short years later in 1890.
Their son went on to study medicine and followed in his father’s footsteps.
There
are many accounts in newspapers all over the US of the trainwreck, even in New
Zealand papers (albeit in October). I wonder if my great great grandmother saw
the reports. Did anybody write back to England telling the cousins they barely
remembered of their devastation ? Did anyone pass on that sad news to her
cousin Sarah in New Zealand ? Perhaps Sarah never knew what fate delivered to
her kin that day.
