THE WRECK OF THE "COLUMBUS" - Timothy Crowley

Readers of this blog know that I enjoy reading books/magazines/etc. about life (and death) in the old days - especially in the Chicago area.  I recently found a copy of a magazine called "First and Fastest," from the Shore Line Interurban Historical Society.  The issue from Winter 1989-1990 had a section called "Evanston Revisited" with this photo:

The caption of the photo said:  "The wreck of Chicago and Northwestern's Columbus on Sept. 1, 1896 proved to be quite an attraction for Evanston residents.  Reportedly, the accident was caused by a six-year-old boy placing a spike on the rail to see what would happen when it was struck by a train."

Well, that certainly sounded interesting.  Everyone has put pennies on a railroad track to see what a train would do to them, but a spike?  I wouldn't try that.  I wondered if the newspapers of the day repeated that tale.

First I looked at the Chicago Tribune from the next day, September 2, 1896:

As can be seen above, the story headlines with "Huge Engine Christopher Columbus Responsible for an Accident."  According to the Tribune "the heavy engine caused the tracks to spread, and the locomotive and tender were thrown down an embankment."  Nothing about anyone putting a spike on the train tracks.  

Then I checked one of the "other" Chicago paper of the time, the Chicago Inter-Ocean (which by the way is my favorite name for a Chicago newspaper).  The Inter-Ocean had nothing on September 2, but did have an item a week later, from September 6, 1896:

The details of the accident were included, but nothing was said about the cause.  Lastly, I decided to get the scoop from the local paper, the Evanston Index from September 5, 1896:

So, the rumor turned out to be true - the horrible train wreck was caused by a boy placing a spike on the track to see what would happen when the train ran over it.  

The Aftermath

As the article said, the site of the accident was cleaned up and trains were running again by the next evening.

There were four victims of the crash:

Engineer Timothy Crowley

Fireman Frank Anderson

Frank Smith

Edward Sweet

It turns out there was only one death: that of Engineer Timothy W. Crowley.  The newspaper erroneously listed his name as Timothy J. Crowley.  Crowley is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Block 13, Row 28S:

Photos courtesy of Find a Grave Volunteer Nadeen Sabottka

And what about the young lad who caused the whole mess?  His name was Thomas Turskey.  He was born in Evanston, Illinois on December 12, 1890, the son of Frank and Catherine (Remus) Turskey.  His fascination with trains carried over into his adult life.  When he registered for the draft in 1917 he reported his job as "Switchman for the Grand Trunk Railroad."  Ironically, he also worked for a while for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, the same railroad that was running the Columbus the day of the crash.

Ultimately, Thomas Turskey moved to Algonquin, Illinois and died there March 20, 1972.  here is his obituary from the Crystal Lake (IL) Herald, 28 Mar 1972:

He is buried in the Village of Algonquin Cemetery in Algonquin, Illinois:

Photo courtesy of Find a Grave Volunteer Six Feet Under

No newspaper reported any punishment for six-year-old Thomas Turskey, either at the time of the accident or later.  Apparently it was written off as a childhood prank, albeit one with deadly consequences.  I wonder if Thomas Turskey ever told anyone what he had done to the mighty engine the Columbus.  

A childhood prank for Thomas Turskey.  A horrible death for Timothy Crowley and a long and painful recuperation for Frank Anderson.  

May they all rest in peace.