Angola Horror

{{Infobox public transit accident

| name = The Angola Horror

| image = AngolaHorror.jpg

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| caption = The "Angola Horror" from Frank Leslie's Weekly, 1867

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| date = {{start date and age|1867|12|18}}

| time = 3:11 pm

| location = Angola, New York, U.S.

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| country = United States

| line = Lake Shore Railway

| operator = Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad

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| type = Derailment

| cause = Poor track condition

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| trains = 1

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| deaths = 49

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The Angola Horror{{refn|group=note|The accident became known by this name within weeks of its occurrence.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59765081/the-evening-telegraph/| title=Railroad Accident Near Poughkeepsie| newspaper=The Evening Telegraph| location=Pittsburgh, PA| date=December 26, 1867| page=1| quote=... a terrible repetition of the recent terrible Angola horror near Buffalo.| via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}}} train wreck occurred on December 18, 1867, just after 3 p.m. when the last coach of the Buffalo-bound New York Express of the Lake Shore Railway derailed at a bridge in Angola, New York, United States, slid down into a gorge, and caught fire, killing some 49 people. At the time, it was one of the deadliest train wrecks in American history.{{Cite web| url=https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/| title=The Angola Horror| last=Vogel| first=Charity| website=Three Hills| language=en-US| access-date=2019-08-09}}{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59764662/the-sunday-leader/| title=Railway Accidents: Some Historic Disasters Recalled by a Recent Horror| newspaper=The Sunday Leader| location=Wilkes-Barre, PA| date=July 30, 1893| page=3| via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}

Train

On the morning of December 18, 1867, the New York Express left Cleveland's Union Depot at 6:40 a.m. and was due to arrive in Buffalo, New York, at 1:30 p.m. John D. Rockefeller planned to make the journey, but arrived a few minutes late. His baggage made it onto the train; he did not. That day the train consisted of four baggage cars, one second-class car and three first-class cars. Each wooden passenger car had a pot-bellied stove at each end to provide heat, and kerosene lamps for light. The train lost time on the journey. By the time it passed Angola, it was running two hours and forty-five minutes late, traveling rapidly to try to make up lost time. Its last passenger stop before the accident was at Dunkirk; it also stopped at Silver Creek, but only to take on wood and water.{{cite magazine| url=http://www.historynet.com/the-Angola-train-wreck.htm |title=The Angola Train Wreck |last=Vogel |first=Charity |magazine=American History |date=November 30, 2007 |accessdate=December 17, 2015}}

Accident

The train was formed of so-called "compromise cars", which were designed to allow trains to run on both the {{track gauge|ussg|allk=on}} of the New York Central Railroad as well as the {{track gauge|4ft10in|allk=on}} of the Lake Shore Railroad.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59764420/the-sun-and-the-erie-county-independent/| title=Out of the Past: Erie Freight Station, Hamburg, c. 1955| first=Joseph| last=Streamer| newspaper=The Sun and Erie County Independent| location=Hamburg, NY| date=September 29, 1988| page=2| via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} This allowed {{convert|3/8|in}} lateral movement on the Ohio gauge and created instability. As the train neared the truss bridge over Big Sister Creek just east of Angola at 3:11, it ran over a frog (the crossing point of two rails). The front axle of the rear car was slightly bent, and the frog caused a wheel on the defective axle to jump off the track, derailing the rear car,{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59765918/the-weekly-marysville-tribune/| title=The Angola Horror - Some Further Particulars| newspaper=The Weekly Marysville Tribune| location=Marysville, OH| date=January 8, 1868| page=1| via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} which then swayed violently from side to side.{{cite web| url=http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/wkbkch02.Html |title=The Angola Horror |website=Catskill Archive |date=June 21, 2007 |accessdate=March 31, 2011}} The brakes were applied, but the train still traveled at considerable speed as it crossed the bridge. The last car uncoupled from the train and plunged down into the icy gorge. The second-to-last car also derailed, but made it to the other side of the gorge before sliding {{convert|30|ft|m|0}} down the embankment.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59765638/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle/| title=Parallel Disasters - The Angola Horror| newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle| location=Brooklyn, NY| date=December 30, 1876| page=4| via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} This car’s sole passenger was killed.{{cite book| title=Railroad Wrecks| first=Edgar A.| last=Haine| year=1993| pages=39–40| publisher=Associated University Presses| isbn=0-8453-4844-2}}

Deaths

The last car plunged {{convert|40|ft}} down the ice-covered slope to the gully bottom and came to a rest, at a 45-degree angle, with a crash. The passengers were thrown together at the end of the car onto the overturned stove. The stove from the other end of the car fell upon them and released hot coals. The carriage immediately caught fire, the fuel from the kerosene lamps fueling the flames. Only two people escaped alive from the carriage; some may have suffocated, but the majority were burned alive. Witnesses spoke of hearing the screams of those trapped inside lasting for five minutes.{{cite web |url=http://www.monroefordham.org/docs/Angola%20Horror.doc |title=The Angola Horror| first=Mitch| last=McCormick |date= |accessdate=March 31, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726225636/http://www.monroefordham.org/docs/Angola%20Horror.doc |archive-date=July 26, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Reporting

The accident, dubbed the "Angola Horror", gripped the imagination of the nation. Accounts of the tragedy, accompanied by grisly illustrations, filled the pages of newspapers for weeks and showed the tragedy of those trying to identify their loved ones among the charred remains that were pulled from the wreckage. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper carried five sketches of the scene{{cite web| url=http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/wkango.Html |title=Wrecks – Accidents – The "Angola Horror" | website=Catskill Archive|date=June 21, 2007 |accessdate=March 31, 2011}} and concluded, "This railroad disaster is accompanied by more horrible circumstances than ever before known in this country, and its results are truly sickening to contemplate".

Aftermath

The accident and the public outcry that arose from it influenced many railroad reforms that soon followed, including the replacement of loosely secured stoves with safer forms of heating, more effective braking systems and the standardization of track gauges.

Memorial

In 2008, the villagers of Angola reserved a {{convert|.03|acre|adj=mid}} parcel of land along Commercial Street{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59765409/the-sun-and-the-erie-county-independent/| title=Villagers of Angola Please Take Notice| newspaper=The Sun and Erie County Independent| location=Hamburg, NY| date=October 23, 2008| page=23| via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} and erected a sign to mark the site of the accident, dedicated to its victims. A second memorial to at least 17 unidentified victims buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo was planned{{cite web | url=http://www.villageofangola.org/Angola.Horror.Sign.pdf | title=Village memorializes victims of 1867 train disaster known as the Angola Horror | date= | accessdate=March 31, 2011 | archive-date=July 27, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727133853/http://www.villageofangola.org/Angola.Horror.Sign.pdf | url-status=dead }} and later erected in 2015.{{cite web| url=http://www.buffalorising.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Angola-Horror-Buffalo-NY-1.jpg| title=Photo of Monument to Victims of the "Angola Horror" Train Wreck| website=Buffalo Rising}}

Notes

References

External links

[https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/61933 Find a Grave memorial for 10 Angola Horror victims]
[http://www.gendisasters.com/new-york/9897/angola-ny-terrible-train-wreck-dec-1867 Angola, NY Terrible Train Wreck, Dec 1867] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508140840/https://gendisasters.com/new-york/9897/angola-ny-terrible-train-wreck-dec-1867 |date=May 8, 2021 }} GenDisasters.com

Category:Railway accidents in 1867

Category:Railway accidents and incidents in New York (state)

Category:Derailments in the United States

Category:Train and rapid transit fires

Category:Erie County, New York

Category:Bridge disasters in the United States

Category:Bridge disasters caused by maintenance error

Category:Accidents and incidents involving Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway

Category:1860s fires in the United States

Category:1867 disasters in the United States

Category:1867 fires

Category:1867 in New York (state)