Locust Gap Disaster –May 5, 1888

     Shortly after 10 o’clock Saturday evening, May 5, 1888, the people of Locust Gap and Mount Carmel were startled by what was first thought to be an explosion of the powder in the storage house at Alaska, but which proved on investigation to be a car loaded with powder and dynamite in a mixed train a short distance to the north of Locust Gap.   The houses in the neighborhood were completely wrecked and the following persons were killed and injured:

John Quinn, 40; Kate Quinn, 8; Willie Kavanaugh, 15; Mary Kvanaugh, 9; Alice Kerwick, 4; Daniel Kerwick, 6; infant child of Simon Kerwick born during the afternoon.

Wounded- Mrs. Alice Dormer, injured about the leg; James Dormer, injured at knee; Mrs. Mary Doughter, leg broken; Agnes Dougherty, cut about face; Anne Dougherty, cut about head and breast, her condition being dangerous; Andrew McElwee, head and face badly cut and loss of one eye;  Mrs. Andrew McElwee, injured internally; James Rafferty, cut about the head, and bruised; Mrs. Annie Mathews, leg broken, and otherwise injured; Frank McManus, cut about face; Mrs. Bridget Need cut about neck and breast; James Need, cut about face and injured internally; William Need, cut about the head; Mrs. Patrick Rafferty, cut in head; Mrs. Thomas Rafferty, cut in head; John Donlan, two fingers cut off and head cut; Christopher McGinn, cut in head; Mrs. Christopher McGinn, cut in leg; Simon Kerwick, injured about the body; Dennis Reardon, badly cut about body and face. 

    Of these, Anthony McElwee, James Need and John Donlan were taken to the Miners’ Hospital.  At the point where the accident occurred, the road runs due north and south with a wagon road parallel to and about 100 yards west of the railroad track.  On the east side of this road and directly west from the point where the accident occurred, was the home of John Quinn.  It was occupied by Quinn and his six children, the eldest boy of 15.  On Sunday morning a smoldering pile of ruins with the blackened trunks of the father and daughter in the midst of it, was the point of interest.  When the explosion occurred, a boy of seven had the presence of mind to pick up a two-year-old child and carry her to the home of Mr. Rafferty, several hundred yards distant.  As he was leaving the house, his sister cried out to him to release her, as she was fast among the fragments of shattered timbers.  The boy did not heed her cries and she was burned to death.  The other members of the family, with the exception of the father as above related, escaped in a destitute condition.  Across the road from the Quinn home were three blocks of houses occupied by Christ McGinn, wife and two children; James Need, mother and brother; Jacob Haffee, wife, three children and mother.  In the block to the north, John Donlan, wife and two children Samuel Kerwick, wife and three children of his own and two children of his uncle, Cavanaugh, who was killed at the Locust Gap colliery about four years before; and Mrs. Regnary, a widow with three children, occupied the center house, and Mrs. James Dormer, a widow with three children; Joseph Keefer, wife and two children, and Hugh Donnelly, wife and one child, occupied the southern block.

     It was in the center block that the fatality occurred.  Mr. Kerwick was blown out of his home into the yard by the explosion.  When he recovered he entered the house, then wrapped in flames, seized his wife and carried her to a place of safety.   During the afternoon she had been confined and the baby, together with two of his own and two of his uncle’s children, perished in the flames.  The remains of the five dead from the house were gathered up and deposited in a pan to await the arrival of the coroner.

     The flames spread to the other houses north and south, and they were quickly consumed.  About 150 yards west of the railroad track, four blocks of double houses were totally wrecked.  The whole fronts were demolished and the roofs caved in.  It is difficult to conceive how any of the occupants escaped death.  In one case, the axle and wheels of one of the cars traveled through the air a distance of 150 feet and dropped through the roof of one of the houses, made its way through a bedroom and buried itself in the ground.  The houses, as well as the furniture they contained, were absolutely ruined.  In one case a sideboard had one of its doors blown off, but otherwise it appeared uninjured.  On closer inspection it was discovered that the contents of crockery and glassware was broken into fragments.

     South of these homes was a long row of houses which were badly shaken.  The windows were all broken, sashes blown in, doors demolished, and chimneys thrown down.  This row stood back on a line with the block of four which was wrecked, but was about 200 yards farther from the scene of the explosion.  On the main road leading into Locust Gap another house was badly shaken up, glass broken and plaster torn from the walls.  In Locust Gap there was a tremendous wreckage of window glass, not a single pane being left in some of the houses.

    At the time there were many conflicting reports as to the cause of the accident and, as usual, the railroad men were close-mouthed.  One report was that the train broke in twain, and that in slacking up the front section with the engine attached collided with the cars with such force that a number of them were thrown from the tracks, that there was a rebound and second collision, at which time the explosion occurred.  Another account is that the train was cut in two parts for the purpose of placing cars on the Alaska siding.  There was not sufficient power in the engine to get the cars out of the way of the rear cars cut off, and they collided and caused the explosion.  It was later stated that there was not a full complement of brakemen to handle it properly.

    A carload of flour was scattered about; a carload of window glass was scattered about the mountainside, while another car of Singer sewing machines was completely demolished.