Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area



1913, March 27 - Derailment at Maxville, Alexandria subdivision Grand Trunk.




This picture appeared in the March 28 edition of the Evening Citizen showing the locomotive as it was thrown partly across the rails with the tender turned over on its side.


Ottawa Citizen 28 March 1913

PASSENGERS HAVE MIRACULOUS ESCAPES IN DERAILMENT OF GRAND TRUNK EXPRESS WASHOUT CAUSE OF ACCIDENT AT MAXVILLE
Montreal to Ottawa Train Leaves Rails Shortly Before Noon Yesterday, and a Number of Passengers Sustain Injuries in Being Thrown From Their Seats as Cars Toppled Over Slight Embankment. Several Parliamentarians and Others Have Narrow Escapes From Serious Injury. Exceptional Coolness Shown by Conductor Leamy, Who Though Badly Cut About the Head, Rendered Immediate Assistance to Those in His Charge.

LIST OF INJURED. Paul Raymond, Restigouchc, N.B., fractured arm and scalp wounds; seriously injured.
C Ferguson, corner Slater and Lyon streets, Ottawa, probably serious internal injuries.
Ned Laurin, Gatineau Point, wound in groin; seriously injured.
Senator Charles Prowse, Charlottetown, N.B., abdominal injuries, probably not serious.
Mrs. W. G. Parley, 275 McLaren street, Ottawa, back badly strained.
P. B. Mignault, K.C., Montreal, ligaments right leg and side strained, cut head.
W. C. Smith, Montreal, lelt eye bruised.
Conductor A. J. Leamy 128 Hinton avenue, Ottawa, wounds on head and sprained hand.
Rev. F. J. Singleton, Montreal, bruised and shaken up.
Mr. M. Saunders, Montreal, bruised . and shaken up
Captain Leduc of Valleyficld, Que., scalp wounds.
G. J. Laurendeau, K.C, of Valleyfield, Que., bruised and shaken up.

In a derailment which fortunately caused no loss of life, but in which scores of passengers had miraculous escapes, not a few of them, however, with serious injuries, Grand Trunk train No. 23, Montreal to Ottawa, was wrecked about a mile east of Maxville station, at 11.45 yesterday morning.
Stopping dead in a distance of about twenty yards when at a speed of about thirty miles an hour, the wrecked train tore up the rails at the scene of the accident, one of them piercing the second car along its full length. The three passenger coaches and baggage car and tender left the right of way and turned over on their sides, but the engine, though turned almost at right angles to its course, did not leave the track.
HOW INJURIES WERE CAUSED
Of the dozen or so injuries, practically all were caused by passengers being thrown from their seats by the sudden stoppage of the train. On account of the position of the coaches it was to many cases extremely difficult for them to extricate themselves, but exceptional coolness is reported to have been shown, together with a considerable degree of chivalry on the part of the male passengers toward the six women who were on board.
HOW WOMEN WERE RESCUED.
The accident occurred when the train was running at considerable speed. According to stories told it stopped dead almost as soon as it left the tracks. The coaches ran along for only a few lengths and then stopped and turned slowly over on their sides in a ditch. The cars, fortunately, did not buckle, and only in a few case were the seats loosened, although Senator Prowse's injury was due to the impact of a parlor car chair, which was hurted across the car at him. Immediately those passengers who could get free lent assistance to others who were caueht or were too seriously injured to help themselves. One car had to be partially chopped open before some women would be rescued.
DOCTORS RUSHED TO THE WRECK.
Conductor Leamy, although so badly cut up as to present an awe inspiring sight, to quote some of the passengers, immediately started across the fields to a farmhouse, from which he was able to phone to Maxvllle. the nearest station. Dr. McLennan and Hope, of Alexandria, and McDermott and McEwan, of Maxville, were sent in special trains, and did all they could for the injured. From Ottawa a special train was sent at 12.10, in charge of Superintendent Coleman. It proceeded to the scene of the wreck and took on the injured, their fellow passengers who were more fortunate, and those of another Montreal train which was held up by the accident to its predecessor.
THREE TAKEN TO ST. LUKE'S.
A large number of friends and relatives of those expected on the Montreal train were down at the Centra! station to meet the relief train, which arrived here at 4.05, and there were many scenes of anxiety as the injured were helped into cabs and taxis, to be taken to their hotels or  homes. Three of them - C. Ferguson, of Ottawa; Paul Raymond, of Restigouche; and Ned Laurin, of Gatineau Point were taken to St. Luke's hospital, where they are still confined.
The wrecked train was in charge of Conductor A. J. Leamy. Engineer John King, and Brakeman Olmstead, of Ottawa. The cause of the wreck is supposed to have been the washing away of the ballast by recent wet weather, and was investigated by Mr. A. J. Nixon, chief operating expert, and Mr. G. A. Mountain, chief engineer of the railway commission.
In the light of later events the most remarkable feature is that nobodv was killed. It was about fifteen seconds after the cars left the track up to the time they were lying on their sides at the bottom of the five foot embankment.
Senator Dr. Murphy, of Prince Edward Island; L. J. Tarte. proprietor of La Patrie, Montreal: his brother Eugene Tarte, Senator A. A. Thibaudeau. of De la Valliere, Que., were sitting in the smoking compartment of the parlor car when the accident happened. When the car began to sway they made a rush for the door leading from the corridor to the main body of the car. but found the door wedged tight. Senator Murphy threw his whole weight against the folding door and succeeded in breaking it down and he and his companions climbed over it and then out through a window to the ground.
Mr. Eugene Tarte says that none of the occupants of the smoking compartment were injured in anyway, though they were somewhat shaken up.
MR. MIGNAULT INJURED.
Mr. P. B. Mignault, K.C.,of Montreal received cuts about his head and the muscles and ligaments in his right leg and side were severely strained, causing him considerable pain. It was a painful walk from the station to the Chateau Laurier. On arrival at the hotel he at once went to bed and wired tor his wife to come to Ottawa.
Just before the accident happened Mr. Mignault was quietly dozing In his chair in the parlor car. He was wakened when It began to jolt and jar and he quickly realized that It had left the track. , The next moment he was hurled from his seat and what happened In the following few minutes he does not know. When he regained consciousness he was wedged against the side of the overturned car by one of the armchairs. Blood was trickling down his face and his right leg and side harbored a great deal of pain.
Fellow passengers, who had escaped injury assisted him through the side window of the car to the ground and shortly after one of the doctors at the scene of the wreckbandaged his head. Mr. Migault said that he was not seriously hurt, but he felt considerably shaken up.
HURLED AGAINST HEATER. Mr. W. C. Smith, of 6S Manse St., Montreal, received a souvenir of the accident in the shape of a black eye. He was in the coach next to the baggage car. The first Intimation he had that something unusual had occurred was when he heard the emergency brakes thrown on with unusual force. A few seconds later an irregular bump. bump. bump, told plainly what had happened. Then quicker than it takes to tell the car turned over sideways. "I was thrown from my seat violently against a heater opposite to where I sat, but beyond getting this black eye I was not otherwise hurt. I crawled out of the car to the ground through a window. The train crew behaved splendidly under the circumstances. How some of us escaped being killed is a wonder to me," said Mr. Smith.
WOMEN FIRST SAID THE MEN
Mr. Gordon Perley. son of Hon. G. H Perley, minister without portfolio, says that all the men on the train showed splendid consideration for the women. Some who were injured refused assistance until they were assured that the women had been taken out of the wreckage and had received every attention. He says that he was sitting beside his grandmother in the parlor car when it left the rails. She was thrown roughly to the floor and received a badly strained back, but no other injuries. He got off without anything worse than a mild shaking up.
The crew of the train also behaved with coolness and courage says Mr. Perley. They quickly cut a hole in the roof through which the four ladies in the parlor car were assisted to the ground. Mrs. Perley and her grandson were returning from a visit to friends in Boston.
DR. McDIARMlD'S GOOD WORK Dr. McDiarmid, of Maxville, is worthy of special mention, say all the passengers. He worked like a Trojan attending to those who were injured and he was on the scene twenty minutes after the accident took place.
"I was in the second car," said Mr. Thomas Essery, of Montreal. "After the crash ' occurred the car stopped almost dead and slowly turned on its side. I looked down through the window, near where I had been sitting, and saw the water of a wayside ditch, from which I concluded we had gone over a bridge. A woman, Mrs. Pepin, of Arthabaskaville, had become wedged under a seat, and we had some trouble getting her out. I must say, however, that she and another woman who was also in the car, displayed the utmost courage."
NAMES OF PASSENGERS. The seven senators aboard the wrecked train, all of whom were in the parlor car, were: P. A. Choquette, Grandville, Que.; L. O. David. Mille Isle, Que.; A. E. Forget, Banff, Alta.; D. Gilmor, St. George, N.B.; B. C. Prowse (slightly injured), Charlotte-town, P.E.I. ; Dr. Murphy, of P.E.I., and A. A. Thibaudeau, De la Valliere, Que.
Among other prominent people In the accident were: P. B. Mignault, K.C, of Montreal; L. J. Tarte, proprietor of La Patrie, Montreal; Miss C. Campbell, of Montreal, niece of P. D. Ross, proprietor of the Ottawa Evening Journal; Oswald Soullere and L. R. Souliere, Of Montreal: D. R. McCuaig, of Alexandria; Madame Pepin, of Arthabaskaville, Que.; Mrs. W. G. Perley, of Ottawa, mother of Hon. George H. Perley; Captain Leduc, of Valleyfield. Que.; M. Saunders, manager of the Jewish Times, Montreal; E. P. Gordon, of Montreal; Rev. F. J. Singleton, of Montreal.


Ottawa Journal 28 March 1913
Twelve Injured  When G.T.R. Train Left Rails
Many Passengers Had Narrow Escape Near Maxville
Seven Senators Were Severely Shaken Up - Washout Was Cause of Derailment - Several Coaches Turned Over at Foot of Embankment

It is little short of miraculous that no one was killed when Gtand Trunk train No. 23 from Montreal to Ottawa left the track a mile east of Maxville at 11.45 yesterday morning, say passengers who were brought into the Central station on the relief train at 4.05 yesterday afternoon.
Three passenger coaches, the baggage car and the tender left the right of way, turned over and stopped at the foot of the 5-foot embankment.
The engine did not leave the track.
The cause of the wreck is supposed to have been the washing away of the ballast by recent rains. Some of those who were in the wreck state that the train, then going at a speed of 30 miles an hour, stopped dead in a distance of about 20 yards.

Twelve Were Injured

Details given

Seven Senators
Seven Senators were in the parlor car of the wrecked train, and one of them, Senator Prowse, was slightly injured . The seven were (details given)

Door Wedged
"I was sitting in the smoking compartment of the parlor car with Mr. D.J. Tarte of Montreal and Senator Thibaudeau," said Senator Dr. Murphy. "When the car began to sway we made a rush for the door leading from the corridor to the main body of the car, but found the door wedged tight. We threw our weight against the folding door and succeeded in breaking it down . For many it was a narrow escape."
All passengers agree that Dr. McDiarmid of Maxville, deserves special praise for his work in attending the many injured who demanded his attention. He was on the scene 20 minutes after the accident took place.
Some graphic pictures of the chaotic scene a few moments after the derailment were given by passengers on their arrival at Cental station yesterday afternoon, and a large number of sympathetic friends and relatives had assembled to hear their stories.

Thrown Against Heater
"The first intimation I had of anything unusual was when I heard the emergency brakes thrown on with unusual force," said Mr. W.C. Smith of 65 Mance Street, Montreal.  "A few seconds later an irregular bump, bumop, bump told plainly what had happened. Then, quicker than it takes to tell, I was thrown from my seat violently against the heater opposite to where I sat, but beyond getting this black eye I was not otherwise hurt. I crawled out of the car to the ground through a window. The train crew behaved splendidly under the circumstances. How some of us escaped being killed is a wonder to me".

Plucky Actions
Mr. Gordon Perley, who is related to Hon. George H. Perley, minister without portfolio, said "there was much heroism manifested. Some who were injured refused assistance until they were assured that the women had been taken out of the wreckage. The crew of the train, Conductor A.J. Leamy, Engineer John King and Brakeman Olmstead of Ottawa, behaved with great coolness and courage," he said.
Other passengers gave different accounts of the accident. When the cars toppled over, some were calmly observing the scenery, reading newspapers or eating early lunches. In 15 seconds, with no preparation whatever, they found themselves jammed under seats or rolling towards the ceiling. Only with the greatest difficulty was a Mrs. Pepin or Arthabascaville, extricated from beneath one of the seats.
A few of those who came in one the relief train are: (details given)



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 Updated 17 October 2018