Olean, NY Train Wreck and Explosion, Mar 1903

KILLED BY OIL EXPLOSIONS

Horrible Disaster Follows a Collision Near Olean, N.Y.

FIFTEEN PERSONS LOSE LIVES

A Burning Railroad Wreck Attracts Hundreds When the Tank Cars Burst – The Sheets of Flame Instantly Envelope the Spectators – The Bodies of the Victims Burned Beyond Recognition.

Olean, N. Y. -- Fifteen were killed and forty persons were burned or bruised by an explosion of oil following a wreck of the Erie Railroad north of this city. Some of the bodies were incinerated and some were blown into the creek by the explosion.
The following are dead: JOHN STEMLINGER, aged seventeen years; NORMAN BROWIF [sic], aged eighteen years; JOHN TOBIN, aged sixteen years; JOHN McCREADY, aged eighteen years; JOHN McMAHON, aged nineteen years; WALTER SWIFT, aged nineteen years; MICHAEL BRICCOIL, aged twenty-two years; WALTER JACKSON, aged thirteen years; WALTER ROTH, aged sixteen years; RICHARD CONNELL, aged nineteen years; HERMAN BOLLMAN, aged fifteen years; ROFELO QUARINTO, CARMEN STIELIANO and MARTIN GALLAGHER, all of Olean; HENRY GODDEN, aged eighteen years, of Boardmanville.
At the General Hospital one of the patients said a young boy was blown into the creek near him.
It was about 9 o'clock p. m. when an Erie freight train west-bound broke in two on the hill two miles north of the city. At first the forward part of the train sprang forward with increased speed. Brakes were applied and the front portion was brought almost to a standstill at the iron bridge across Olean Creek. The rear cars, gathering momentum as they came down the hill, crashed into the front end of the train. Most of the cars were tank cars filled with refined oil or gasoline. One of the tanks caught fire soon after the collision. The exact cause of the fire is not known, but it is supposed to have started from a spark struck from the grinding pieces of iron in the wreckage. In a few minutes another car of gasoline caught fire and burst into flames with a terrific report. Portions of the iron domes of the cars were hurled a distance of several hundred feet. The flames shot high up in the air, presenting a brilliant spectacle.
In this early accident, so far as can be learned, no one was injured. A large crown quickly gathered. For two hours the people stood massed together, fascinated by the bright white flames that shot hundreds of feet into the air. As the heat became less intense the crowd began to edge closer to the wreckage, until about 11 o'clock some venturesome boys approached to within a few hundred feet of the burning debris.
Suddenly there was a terrific explosion. Great masses of white flames shot hundreds of feet into the air and literally rolled down the banked sides of the track into the gully where the spectators were standing. Men and boys fell before the wave of white light to rise no more. Huge pieces of iron were hurled through the air with lightning velocity, mowing down human beings by the score. Some managed to scramble to their feet and get away from the flames, but others lay still in death. The scene of agony and horror at that moment was beyond description.
A veritable rain of fire came down upon the crowd. Men and boys with their clothing a mass of flames ran down the track, shrieking in their agony, some of them falling to the ground unconscious, while others grovelled in the ditch or jumped into the creek in mad endeavor to put out the fire that was consuming them. Many of those overwhelmed by the flames probably never knew what happened. They dropped where they stood and never again moved. The groans and cries of those maimed or burned were frightful to hear.
As soon as the telephone could be reached all the doctors in the city were summoned and the ambulances were called out. Express wagons and other vehicles were pressed into service. In the meantime those in the vicinity of the wreckage who escaped injury made valiant efforts to rescue the wounded who were still lying with reach of the withering flames.
Nothing could be done to check the flames. They began to die out about midnight. A short distance west of the iron bridge a dead line was established, beyond which no one was permitted to pass, as one of the burning cars was still thought to be in danger of exploding.
It was about 1 o'clock in the morning when Deputy Sheriff OSTERBOUT came forward and called, for twenty volunteers to carry stretchers on which the dead and injured were to be borne to the ambulances and wagons. Three times as many as were called for stepped forward. It was a gruesome trip. A strong light was shining down the track, but instead of serving to illuminate, it seemed to blind the sight with its dazzling whiteness.
In all fifteen bodies were recovered and lad out beside the track. When the last body had been rescued the stretcher bearers formed a procession and started down the track toward the ambulances and carriages. The crowd fell back and the only sound that broke the stillness was an occasional sob or a shuddering “oh.”
The remains of the dead arrived in the city about 3 o'clock, and were taken to undertaking establishments. It will be impossible to identify some of the dead.

The Cranbury Press New Jersey 1903-03-13
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!