1894 — Jan 15, fog, rear-end train collision, drawbridge, Hackensack Meadows, NJ  —     13

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-8-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–13  Jersey City News, NJ. “Thirteen Dead. Horrible Rear End Collision…” 1-15-1894, p. 1.

–13  State of New Jersey. Railroad and Canal Reports 1894. 1895, p. 170.

–13  Siegel. Disaster!: Stories of Destruction and Death in Nineteenth-Century New Jersey. 2014, p. 55.

–13  Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 96.

–13  Warren. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019.

–11  Brunswick Daily Times, NJ. “Fog and High Speed…at Hackensack…” 1-16-1894, p. 3.[1]

–11  Hamilton Daily Democrat, OH. “Events of the Year,” Dec 29, 1894, p. 6. 

–10  Jersey City News, NJ. “Shultz Dead. The Other Victims…Will Recover.” 1-17-1894, p. 1.[2]

—  9  New Jersey Courier, Toms River, NJ. “Near-by Notes.” 1-18-1894, p. 1.[3]

Narrative Information

State of New Jersey. Railroad and Canal Reports 1894, p. 170:

“January 15th. – Rear-end collision on meadows near Hackensack bridge. The following were killed: [We place names in separate lines and add numbering.]

 

  1. K. Purinton,
  2. William Ferguson,
  3. Edwin Morrell,
  4. John H. Rimmer,
  5. John Fish,
  6. J. Turner,
  7. Edmund Kinsey,
  8. Patrick J. Ryan,
  9. William R. Adams,
  10. Charles E. Minchner,
  11. Carl Schults, Jr.,
  12. William Barclift,
  13. M. Clark.

 

Siegel. “Hackensack Meadows – January 15, 1894,” pp. 55-65 in Disaster!:

“….The highly profitable Morris and Essex Division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad carried thousands of New  York-bound commuters to the Hoboken ferries and back home again for fifty-five years without a fatal accident. One of the last of Jew Jersey’s railroads to adopt a modern signaling system, the company relied on the tried and true (and far cheaper) method of the past – ‘sober and trustworthy employees’ who obeyed the rules of the road. That reliance came to an abrupt end on January 15, 1894, when the South Orange Accommodation (a short-line commuter train) rear-ended the Dover Express at a drawbridge in the Hackensack Meadows, killing thirteen and injuring more than fifty. Dense fog, faulty signaling, and human error were to blame….”

 

Warren. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019:

“Hackensack Meadows Crash – It was a foggy day on January 15, 1894, when the South Orange Accommodation rear-ended the Dover Express at a drawbridge in the Meadowlands. The crash killed 13 people and injured more than 50 others. Both trains were commuter routes operated by the Morris and Essex Division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The crash, as described by ‘Disaster!: Stories of Destruction and Death in Nineteenth-Century New Jersey,” forced the railroad to adopt a modern signal system.”

 

Newspapers

 

Jan 15: “The first fatal accident occurring on the D. L. & W. Railroad Company’s eastern section took place this morning a little to the west of the Hackensack River [thus in Hackensack], and up to this present twelve people are reported dead, while the injured will amount to nearly  twenty persons.

 

“It was caused by the South Orange accommodation train rushing into the Dover express, which had slowed up near the drawbridge on account of the fog.

 

“The Dover express left Dover at seven o’clock, stopping at Summit to take on two passenger cars of the Passaic and Delaware Railroad from Basking Ridge and Bernardsville. The South Orange accommodation left South Orange at eight o’clock. Just west of Hackensack bridge, the Dover express slowed up and at the time of the accident was going at the rate of nor more than six miles an hour. The fog was so heavy that the engineer could not see ten feet ahead of him.

 

“The brakeman, a man named Whiteman, got out to glad any trains coming towards the bridge.  He had scarcely turned toward the up line when he saw the headlight of the South Orange local, which was then running on time at a rate of about twenty miles an hour.

 

“The engine of the train was No. 85 [unclear] and was known as ‘ W. H. Lewis.’

 

“When Engineer Hoffman saw looming through the fog the red lights on the rear end of the car there were only twenty-feet between the trains. In a moment he closed the throttle, clapped on the air brakes and started the reversing gear, but the momentum of the train was terrific and the engine ploughed its way into the Dover cars.

 

“Before the crash came the brakeman on the rear car of the Dover express was getting ready to signal, when seeing the rapidly advancing headlights of the South Orange local, he rushed into the baggage car and through into the passenger compartment screaming as loud as he could, ‘a collision, a collision!’

 

“The passengers had not time to understand the significance of the cry when the fearful shock came.

 

“The last car of the Dover express, a combination smoker and baggage car, was crushed immediately into kindling wood, while the Orange locomotive rushed fully half its length into the next car from Basking Ridgea and Bernardsville.

 

“There were probably fifteen persons in these cars, and those, it is said, were instantly killed.

 

“The third car from the rear, with passengers from Summit, was entirely wrecked and no person in it escaped injuries, some of which are so serious that death may result.

 

“The forward cars of the Dover train were not wrecked, but the passengers were thrown from seats and a large number of them were bruised and otherwise injured.

 

“The scene was terrible in the extreme. Dead and injured were piled up along the high embankment and buried among the debris which lay scattered along the tracks. Confusion reigned everywhere…

 

“The Dead. [14]

 

_____Brown of Summit.

Ed. Morrell of Summit.           [Edward T. Morrell (Siegel, p. 57.)]

_____Timmons of Summit.

John Fish of Summit.

Patrick Ryan of Milburn.

Wm. Erickson of Summit.

  1. Roelf of Summit. [Mr. Rolliffe,? a clerk in the Garfield Nat. Bank (Siegel, 59)]
  2. J. Turner, Summit.

_____Kensey, Summit.

  1. H. Rimmer, Newark.

Donald Cameron, Newburg.

Dr. James Doty, Bucking Ridge.

There were two others whose bodies were not identified as yet….”

 

(Jersey City News, NJ. “Thirteen Dead. Horrible Rear End Collision on the D. L. & W. R.R. This Moring. Caused by the Fog. South Orange Accommodation Crashed into the Dover Express.” 1-15-1894, p. 1.)

 

Jan 16: “New York, Jan. 16…. The Dead. The list of the dead, as officially given, is as follows: [We number.]

 

  1. Edward Morrell, Summit, N.J., salesman for the Smith-Premier typewriter company.
  2. H. Ryan, Milburn.
  3. H. Rimmer, cashier…New York.
  4. James Doty, druggist, Basking Ridge, N.J.
  5. William R. Adams, fish dealer, Summit, leaves five children.
  6. John Fish, civil engineer, Summit.
  7. William Ferguson, Summit…
  8. Edward Kinsey, Bernardsville.
  9. John Parrington, Short Hills…
  10. J. Turner, Basking Ridge, book-keeper.
  11. Cameron [unclear], Summit.

 

(Brunswick Daily Times, NJ. “Fog and High Speed…at Hackensack…” 1-16-1894, p. 3.

 

Jan 19: “….Charles E. Mincher, of Summit, who sustained a severe scalp would, loss of one ear and injuries to the abdomen, besides other internal injuries, died today at half-past ten o’clock. He was twenty-seven years of age. When he was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital it was not thought his condition was so critical as it was.” (Jersey City News, NJ. “Another Victim Dead.” 1-19-1894, 4)

 

On Jan 15:  “11 deaths in a telescoping collision on the D., L. and W. at Hackensack Meadows, N.J.; 80 injured.”  (Hamilton Daily Democrat, OH. “Events of the Year,” Dec 29, 1894, p. 6.)

 

Sources

 

Brunswick Daily Times, NJ. “Fog and High Speed…at Hackensack…” 1-16-1894, p. 3. Accessed 5-8-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-brunswick-daily-times-jan-16-1894-p-3/

 

Hamilton Daily Democrat, OH.  “Events of the Year.” 12-29-1894, p. 6.  Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=71970899

 

Jersey City News, NJ. “Another Victim Dead.” 1-19-1894, p. 4. Accessed 5-8-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/jersey-city-news-jan-19-1894-p-7/

 

Jersey City News, NJ. “Shultz Dead. The Other Victims…Will Recover.” 1-17-1894, p. 1. Accessed 5-8-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/jersey-city-news-jan-17-1894-p-1/

 

Jersey City News, NJ. “Thirteen Dead. Horrible Rear End Collision on the D. L. & W. R.R. This Moring. Caused by the Fog. South Orange Accommodation Crashed into the Dover Express.” 1-15-1894, p. 1. Accessed 5-8-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/jersey-city-news-jan-15-1894-p-1/

 

New Jersey Courier, Toms River, NJ. “Near-by Notes.” 1-18-1894, p. 1. Accessed 5-8-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/toms-river-new-jersy-courier-jan-18-1894-p-1/

 

Siegel, Alan A. Disaster!: Stories of Destruction and Death in Nineteenth-Century New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 2014. Accessed 5-8-2025 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=viCcAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

 

State of New Jersey. Railroad and Canal Reports 1894. 1895, p. 170. Accessed 5-8-2025 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Statements_of_the_Railroad_and_Ca/oc0WAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=rear+end+train+collision+hackensack+meadows+january+15+1894&pg=PA170&printsec=frontcover

 

Warren, Michael Sol. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019. Accessed 5-8-2025 at:

https://www.nj.com/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/02/6c318b30e95860/the-worst-disaster-in-each-of-new-jerseys-21-counties-.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] My number gathered by counting the “officially given” named fatalities.

[2] “Carl H. Schultz, Jr., one of the victims of the railroad disaster died at half-past ten o’clock this morning at St. Mary’s Hospital, making the tenth death due to the awful accident.”

[3] “Nine were killed and 41 injured in a rear-end collision between a Dover express and a South Orange accommodation on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R.R., at the Hackensack meadows Monday morning.”