September 1896, 40,000 people gathered in a small Texas town to witness two locomotives deliberately engineered to have a head-on crash. What should have been a crowd-pleasing spectacle turned into a massive, casualty-filled embarrassment whose history has been preserved in books and songs as a lesson in risk management.

The Katy Railroad

The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad (also known as the Katy Railroad) was expanding fast at the end of the 19th century. William George Crush was the passenger agent for the railroad. To gain publicity for the railroad, Crush proposed a spectacle of great proportions. His idea was for two locomotives to be rammed into each other head-on, at high speed in front of thousands of witnesses. The event he proposed would be free and open to the public1. The lure of free entertainment and the spectacle of the crash would bring in plenty of patrons and improve the reputation of the railroad.

Great care was taken to ensure the safety of the crowds. The tracks intended for the crash were disconnected from the main tracks to ensure that neither engine could accidentally head into the crowd. Cars connected to the engines were chained together to ensure that they could not come apart and fly out at the crowds. The biggest safety concern was the boilers on the locomotives. The boilers super-heated water to create high pressure steam which moved the engine’s pistons. This steam also created a very high pressure in the boiler, so if the boiler were to rupture, the resulting explosion would be a massive catastrophe. Such an event had already taken place in the recent past; in 1865 a steamship filled with Union soldiers returning from the war experienced a boiler explosion and over 1700 people were killed. (The picture on the left is of a boiler explosion in 1912.) Concerned, Crush consulted with the Katy engineers and was assured that such an explosion was impossible for the planned crash2.

The Set-up

The event was advertised for months. Flyers were passed out up and down the Katy railroad tracks. Newspapers ran daily reports of the preparations for the event. Crowds were promised that the Katy Railroad would personally transport them to and from the crash site for just $2. Water would be provided for everyone, and food and entertainment would be on hand1.

The event’s marketing was a wild success. One report claims that so many people paid for transportation to the event that people rode on the tops of trains because they were completely full inside1. A temporary town named Crush, Texas, was set up for the event. There were stands for viewing the grand finale of the two locomotives, plus restaurants, a carnival, and even a temporary jail1. It was a massive social event, with people arriving hours before the scheduled crash to enjoy the amenities and the crowd. On the day of the crash, Crush was the second-most populated city in the state of Texas3.

The Crash

At 5:00 PM, it was time for the main event. Men, women, and children pressed forward to get the best view possible. The two locomotives, engines 999 and 1001, were on the tracks and ready to go. Crush set off the signal, and the trains were off, quickly closing a combined speed of 90 miles per hour. At a pre-set point, the train engineers and firemen jumped from the locomotives to a supposedly safe distance while the crowd cheered4.

The trains met in the middle with a thunderous crash. Steam and smoke filled the air. Seconds after the first crash was heard, an explosion filled the night air. The unthinkable had happened: a boiler from one of the trains exploded1. Some reports claim that the boilers in both engines exploded2. What should have been a fun spectacle turned deadly as molten debris flew in to the air.

J.C. Deane, a photographer set apart from the crowd on a platform to enhance his photography, captured a photo of the crash. The collision would be the last thing he ever saw with both eyes. Debris from the train struck his head just as the picture was snapped, gouging out one of his eyes. Two men were killed. Ernest Darnall was sitting in a tree during the event when a hook from one of the trains slammed into his skull, killing him instantly. Another man, DeWitt Barnes, was struck and nearly decapitated by debris while neither of the women standing next to him were touched4. Hundreds were injured, and one Civil War veteran likened it to war, “with people falling all around him4.”

A local newspaper wrote,

“in a split second after the crash there is another deadening roar—the boilers of the locomotives have burst, tossing thousands of chunks of metal hundreds of feet in the air, to rain down on the helpless spectators. The crowd surges apart… a farmer’s wife suddenly drops to the ground and a 14-year-old boy behind her screams in pain as one bolt from an engine fells both of them…[another] farmer’s wife, riding along a public road half a mile away, is knocked out by a piece of timber thrown through the air by the mighty explosion5.”

Once the debris had settled, people quickly fled the scene of the disaster. The Katy Railroad cleared the larger wreckage, and smaller pieces were picked up by stunned onlookers as they left the scene. By the next morning, the town that had been the second-most populated city in Texas no longer existed. Humiliated, the Katy Railroad quickly fired William Crush3. He was rehired the next morning, presumably when the railroad realized the amount of publicity they were getting from the event5. He continued to work for the railroad until he retired.

Ragtime musician Scott Joplin immortalized the crash in his song, The Great Crush Collision. A roadside marker indicates the site of the crash today3.

Lessons Learned

William Crush and the Katy Railroad failed to fully analyze the hazards of the event. The main error was not in identifying the hazard, but in assuming that the worst cannot happen.  They identified the worst possible consequence of the event (a boiler explosion) but did not consider it a credible event and therefore did not have the proper safeguards in place. 

The lessons from The Crash at Crush are applicable across many industries:

  • Do not underestimate risk potential
    People often assume that a hazardous event with a severe consequence will not occur, simply because the frequency is considered very low. However, it is important to take all hazards under consideration and avoid underestimating the risks by assuming the worst will not happen.
  • Take all precautions that are reasonably practicable
    If the risk of a boiler explosion had been taken seriously, the grandstands at Crush, Texas would have been placed at a sufficiently far distance to minimize the risk to spectators. This may have prevented some of the casualties. Precautions that are reasonably practicable should be undertaken in order to preserve life and assets as much as possible.
  • Consider the necessity of actions
    The Crash at Crush was a publicity stunt with a very high potential for danger. When deciding to undertake dangerous actions, it is important to weigh the risk against the value of what will be gained.

The Crash at Crush is an excellent lesson in fully considering the hazards and risks associated with an action or process. The Katy Railroad was forced to settle with victims and their families over the event, costing them a lot of money1. Such a loss could have been prevented if William Crush and the Katy Railroad had fully realized the hazards associated with their actions.

References

1.       Allen Lee Hamilton. “Crash at Crush.” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Web. Accessed 29 July 2011. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/llc01

2.       Krystek, Lee. “The Great Texas Train Crash at Crush.” The Museum of UnNatural History, 2003. Web. Accessed 1 August 2011. http://www.unmuseum.org/crash.htm

3.       “The Crash at Crush--1896.” Lone Star Junction. Web. Accessed 29 July 2011. http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm

4.       KCC Big Country. “The Crash at Crush—The Staged Train Wreck of 1896.” HubPages. Web. Accessed 29 July 2011. http://kccbigcountry.hubpages.com/hub/Crush--Texas-The-Train-Crash-of-1896

5.       Masterson, V.V. “The Katy Railroad the Last Frontier.” The University of Oklahoma Press, 1978. P 256-257. Web. Accessed 29 July 2011. http://books.google.com/books?id=DRGGMyVpSR4C&pg=PA267&ots=4B6M28_qZF&dq=%22William+G.+Crush%22&sig=q32mWWzYhoDXjmJSG8ZJEjUeStw#v=onepage&q=%22William%20G.%20Crush%22&f=false

Photo References

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