The Crash at Crush by Bea Tifton

 

A publicity stunt in Texas went terribly wrong on September 15, 1896. The general passenger agent for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, William Crush, had a brainstorm to increase ticket sales. He proposed that the company stage a train wreck. The railroad had recently replaced its 30 ton engines with newer 60 ton engines. Two of the surplus 30 ton engines could be used in the crash. 

A similar stunt had been executed near Columbus, Ohio on May 30, 1896 with great success.

 Even though the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad didn’t charge an admission fee, passengers buying tickets to and from the crash site resulted in a big profit for the railroad. 

The event took place 14 miles north of Waco and three miles south of the town of West.  In preparation, the railroad had two water wells drilled and erected a Ringling Brothers Circus tent. They built a grandstand, three speakers’ stands, a platform for reporters, two telegraph offices, and a train depot with a huge sign that designated the spot as Crush, Texas.  So that there was no chance of a collision on the main tracks, four miles of a separate track were built for the collision. 

As a safety precaution, the railroad engineers conducted a speed test to determine the point

of collision. The engineers told Crush that his idea was safe because the train boilers on the steam engines were not likely to explode even on a high speed crash because they were specifically designed to resist ruptures.

At 5:00 p.m. the trains rolled out for photographs. Crush gave the signal and the engineers and crew started the trains and then jumped off. The engines rumbled toward each other emitting whistles as they went. Torpedos had been placed on the track so they exploded constantly as the trains rode over them. Each train was going 45 miles per hour when the engines collided. 

There was a large explosion and debris flew everywhere. The crowd panicked as people began to run in every direction. Some people ran to grab the wooden remains on the track as souvenirs. One photographer from Waco lost his eye and two people were killed while six others were seriously injured. 

Stories of the collision and subsequent explosion made headlines all over the country. Crush was fired and rehired the next day. He went on to work for the railroad before he retired after sixty years with the company. The railroad settled lawsuits  filed by the victims’ families and the photographer. Several train collisions by other railroads were conducted for years to come. 

The Texas born ragtime musician Scott Joplin was performing near Crush at the time of the collision and was so struck by the event that he composed the “Great Crush Collision March” and dedicated it to the Missouri-Kansas-Railroad.

To listen to the composition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp_k5Li3C-Y

Source:

Wikipedia "Crash at Crush"

Review of Kristin Hannah's The Four Winds by Bea Tifton

The Dust Bowl was one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the Great Plains. Farmers had plowed the topsoil of the Great Plains and plowed up the grasses that trapped soil and moisture.  When terrible droughts plagued the Great Plains, the soil became dust and blew across the Plains as dust storms, or “black blizzards.”  Many people were forced to leave their homes and travel west, where they were treated as an unwelcome pestilence by many of the locals and exploited by the landowners as cheap labor.  Fortunately, the government finally convinced farmers in the Great Plains to use new farming techniques that did not strip the land bare, but many of the Dust Bowl refugees were never able to return to their previous farms.

Kristin Hannah’s new book, The Four Winds, offers a glimpse into the lives of one Texas family as they struggle to remain alive during the Dust Bowl.

In the 1930s, Elsa is unloved and unappreciated by her family. When she meets sweet talking Rafe Martinelli, she welcomes the affection he gives her. As the encounter results in a pregnancy, Elsa’s father deposits her on the Martinelli family’s doorstep.  After a shotgun marriage, the Martinellis grow to love Elsa and she finds the family she always wanted. The Dust Bowl hits her family farm hard in 1934, and Elsa must do whatever she can for her two children as they are forced to migrate to California to find some way of making a living. Elsa finds a strength she never knew she possessed.

Kristin Hannah has written another excellent book. I was captivated by Elsa and her struggles immediately. As her character grows and adapts, I was stuck by Elsa’s resilience. All of the characters are well constructed. The imagery and the story telling are top notch and it was fascinating to read a book about the Dust Bowl partially set in Texas.  Hannah’s book is well researched and the time period is well depicted. The way the Dust Bowl refugees are treated is brutally realistic. The book was heart breaking and heartwarming. I love reading about strong women, and the women in the book are all fierce survivors. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical novels.