As our researchers investigated the history of the Millionaires Express story, we found several articles about a terrible rail accident involving the Millionaires Express on June 5, 1908. We’re sharing a few stories/articles from the era and are working to expand the coverage to include other major rail accidents, starting with our home base area of Somerset and Morris Counties. If you have a story to share, we’d be glad to expand the story as we discover more historic railroad accident history across New Jersey.
1908 – Many Are Hurt as Lackawanna Rich Men’s Flyer Jumps Track
Millington, NJ, June 5. A dramatic railroad accident occurred near Millington when the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad’s Millionaires’ Limited left the rails while negotiating a sharp curve at high speed. The train, known for carrying prominent and wealthy business people between New York and the Somerset Hills estates around Bernardsville, struck a steep embankment and piled against it. The embankment likely prevented the cars from plunging down the opposite side of the track, where a steep drop could have caused far greater loss of life.
The train consisted of five cars, including baggage, smoker, day coaches, a parlor car, and the Bernardsville Club car (also known as the Gladstone Club Car), a coach largely occupied by affluent commuters who lived near Bernardsville. As the train approached Millington shortly after departing Bernardsville at about 8:18 am, it was reportedly traveling close to 50 miles per hour. Just west of the Millington station by the stone Quarry at Millington, a switch had been left open while baggage cars were being shifted. The locomotive passed safely over the switch, but the rear cars struck it and began to bump violently before leaving the rails. Within seconds, the cars crashed together and slid into the earth embankment, tipping at about 45 degrees as the train buckled in two. The Millionaire’s Express was carrying 300 passengers who were tossed about as the cars derailed from the tracks.
Henry Dalrymple of Gladstone, the engineer-driver, blamed the spreading of the rails for the mishap in which two people were hurt. The rear trucks of the first car were torn off by the car that broke the train in half. The rear cars jumped the track and rolled over. Track repairs were underway at the time, and railroad officials, after a formal investigation, concluded that the wrecking spikes of the switch rail had caused the accident.
Many suffered injuries ranging from bruises and cuts to broken bones. Richard V. Lindabury, chief counsel of the Prudential Life Insurance Company of Newark and a passenger in the club car, had his hip and leg badly wrenched. Despite the injury, he insisted on continuing to Newark for a scheduled meeting. When he reached the Prudential building, he was limping badly and said he had been thrown against a seat during the crash.
Among the other injured were Frederick P. Olcott, vice president of the Central Trust Company of New York, who suffered cuts and shock, and Frederick E. Ballantine of Bernardsville, who was bruised by shattered glass. George Ballantine, a Newark millionaire, received a severe cut on his head. Leon Emmons, a brakeman, suffered a fractured skull and was taken to Hoboken’s YMCA. Judge A. F. Dillon of New York, chief counsel for the Western Union Telegraph Company, was bruised and cut. William Prout, a Newark lawyer, injured his hip. Fred Schweickhardt, a butcher from Bernardsville, broke a rib, and A. W. Howell of Bernardsville likely fractured his ankle. Two Italian laborers working nearby were struck by flying debris and badly injured. Several others were treated for shock and minor injuries.
Many of the passengers in the club car were well-known figures in business and finance, including Colonel George B. Post, engineer Henry J. Hardenbergh, Percy R. Pyne, Frederick and Seymour Webb, Clarence Blair Mitchell, Charles W. Chapin of the New York and Hartford Railroad, and drug manufacturer William Jamison. Assemblyman Henry Young and several other prominent men were also aboard.
Lindabury later described the frightening moment when the train left the rails. He said the car suddenly tilted and stopped so abruptly that passengers were thrown forward in a heap. With the cars leaning at a steep angle, passengers climbed along the seat rails and ceiling fixtures to reach the doors. When they finally exited, many feared the forward cars had been destroyed and that passengers had been killed. Fortunately, no one lost their life in the accident.
The engineer, Henry Darymple, leaped from his cab when he shut off the steam and applied the emergency brakes. Meanwhile, chaos surrounded the wreck site. Railroad officials quickly seized telegraph wires to summon help, and automobiles rushed doctors and clergy to the scene. The baggage cars had telescoped, and the two day coaches were blocking the track. Railroad officials worked to clear the wreckage while the Lackawanna dispatched relief trains from New York to Millington to transport passengers and injured men back to the city.
Doctors who happened to be passengers on the train assisted immediately. Dr. J. C. Jones of Basking Ridge treated Frederick Olcott’s shoulder wound and called for Olcott’s automobile to take him home to Bernardsville.
One remarkable circumstance likely prevented a catastrophe. The steep embankment beside the track stopped the derailing cars from plunging a nearby decline. Assemblyman Henry Young later said that if the train had left the rails only a short distance further along the curve, the entire train could have gone down the slope, and many passengers would almost certainly have been killed.
Former Senator John F. Dryden, president of Prudential, and his son Forrest Dryden were regular passengers on the train but happened to miss it that morning. Senator Dryden had intended to travel but stayed home at the last moment after his wife expressed concern about the trip.
Within hours, the scene around Millington was crowded with officials, doctors, and curious onlookers. Several of the injured were taken home to Bernardsville and Newark for treatment while railroad crews began the long work of clearing the wreckage and restoring service.
Though many passengers were hurt, the accident ended without fatalities. For a train carrying some of the most prominent businesspeople from Newark and New York, the outcome was widely regarded as a near-disaster narrowly avoided.
Newark Evening News – Tuesday, June 9, 1908
The Newark Evening News reported on June 9 that the New Jersey State Railroad Commission ordered a formal investigation into the derailment of the Lackawanna Railroad’s “Millionaires Express” near Millington. The decision followed testimony from Inspector James Maybury, who explained that the accident occurred while railroad workers were replacing lighter 67-pound rails with heavier 80-pound rails at a switch. Several bolts had been removed, and the track had only been temporarily secured when the express train approached at about 45 miles per hour. The track’s temporary condition during the rail replacement work was believed to have contributed to the derailment.
Because of the seriousness of the incident and the prominence of the train’s passengers, the commission asked New Jersey Attorney General Robert H. McCarter to conduct a formal inquiry. The investigation was expected to include testimony from railroad officials, maintenance supervisors, track workers, and the train’s engineer to determine exactly how the accident occurred and whether safety procedures had been followed.
Millionaires Express in the News – June 6, 1908:
CLUB TRAIN WRECKED ON D. L. & W. BRANCH
New York Times – June 7, 1908
On June 5, 1908, the Bernardsville Express of the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad, popularly known as the Millionaires Express because it carried wealthy commuters between Bernardsville and New York, derailed about 3 miles east of Bernardsville when the rails buckled on a curve,e and the locomotive overturned against a bank. Passengers riding in the rear club cars were unharmed, and many quickly telephoned for their automobiles, which soon arrived from nearby towns to take them home. At the same time,e the only serious injuries were suffered by the brakeman and 2 Italian track laborers who had been working near the track when the wreck occurred.
CLUB TRAIN WRECKED ON D. L. & W. BRANCH
Bernardsville Express, with Many New Yorkers Aboard, Jumps the Track.
UPSETS AGAINST A BANK
Passengers Unhurt. Telephone for Their Autos. Brakeman and Two Workmen Injured.
BERNARDSVILLE, N. J., June 5. The Bernardsville Express of the Passaic & Delaware branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, known as the “Millionaires’ Express,” because of the number of wealthy men who use it to reach their offices in New York, was derailed about three miles east of here early this evening. None of the passengers was seriously injured, although two Italian track laborers and the brakeman were hurt.
The passengers in the two club cars attached to the train were unhurt. Word of the mishap quickly reached the men around the vicinity of the wreck near the parking space on the Vanderbilt Auto Cup course, as many of the people telephoned to their homes for their automobiles, which raced to the scene of the wreck from nearby towns.
Altogether, about 100 cars reached the wreck with their owners, and then, for an hour, the wrecking crew, working on the derailment, drew a big cro wd. Among the passengers were Judge J. M. Deen of Rutherford, N. J.; J. M. Stewart, W. L. Heywood, Treasurer of the New Jersey Zinc Company; Dr. Bowker Black Wheeler, President of the Cromwell Company; T. P. Stokes, President of Central Trust Company; Frederick Cromwell; Seymour Cromwell; Percy E. Fiske; and John H. Hanna.
The train consisted of the locomotive, four coaches, and one baggage car. The train ran into a curve where the rails were buckled, and the engine left the track, dragging the forward coaches partly off the track. The two club cars, which were attached to the rear, did not leave the rails. The engine toppled over on its side, breaking up badly and blocking the track.
When the train finally came to a halt, several women passengers ran to the rear platform of the last car and telephoned for automobiles. A few of the passengers walked back to the village. Brakeman Edward Higgins of Bernardsville was seriously hurt and was taken to the Memorial Hospital in Morristown. Two Italian laborers, who had been working near the track and were struck by flying debris, were also injured and taken to the hospital.
Far Hill – August 3, 1908 – Another Railroad Accident
We found this photo in the 1960 Bernards Township 200th Anniversary photo album, but have yet to find any reporting about the 7:42 pm train derailment noted on August 3, 1908, in Far Hills, New Jersey, which at the time was still part of Bernards Township. But we did find this:
Morris County Chronicle on August 18, 1908, after being involved in the Millionaires Express train crash, Richard V. Lindabury, of Bernardsville, has sent a remonstrance to the Lackawanna Railroad against what he characterizes as the “demoralized conditions” existing on the Passaic and Delaware branch of the road. His complaint was called forth by the derailment of a passenger train near Far Hills and the wrecking of an express train near Millington. Mr. Lindabury was somewhat injured in the wreck of the express. That no one was killed, Mr. Lindabury says, was miraculous. In the mishap near Millington, improper spiking of the rails was held responsible by the State Railroad Commission for the derailing of the train.”
March 28, 1916 – Second Car of Bernardsville Train Derailed, but Club Car Passengers Ignorant of the Fact
Newark Evening News
March 28, 1916
BUMPS OVER TIES FULLY HALF MILE
Second Car of Bernardsville Train Derailed, but Club Car Passengers Ignorant of the Fact
DAMAGE IS HEAVY, DELAY FOR AN HOUR
NEW PROVIDENCE, March 28. For half a mile, the Lackawanna’s Bernardsville express, eastbound on the Passaic and Delaware branch, ran with the front truck of its second coach derailed and tearing up the ties. Passengers in the partially derailed car were shaken up, but none were seriously injured. Those in the club car, which is coupled to the rear of the train at Bernardsville, did not know that anything had gone wrong until the train was braked to a standstill.
The truck left the track when a rail broke just west of Murray Hill. The jolting of the car caused a broken rail to signal for a stop, but when the train reached the station, the truck had run off the track. From the time the truck jumped until the train was stopped,d the rails split cleanly in the middle, and the train ran over the destroyed ties almost faster than a person can walk.
The crew of the train tried to get the derailed truck back on the track, but not until the train was sent. The westbound mail train was delayed an hour and a half, and the train due here at 9:36 was held up several minutes. The wrecked truck, which is scheduled to pass through Murray Hill at 8:30, is made up at Gladstone of three coaches and stops at Peapack and Far Hills. After picking up the club car at Bernardsville, it does not stop again until reaching Newark.
Gladstone Rail Accident – November 10, 1961
On the evening of November 10, 1961, one of the most unusual railroad accidents in the Somerset Hills occurred at the very end of the Gladstone Branch in Peapack Gladstone. A 2-car Erie Lackawanna train arriving from Summit failed to stop at the terminal and smashed through the end of the line, ultimately crashing into a nearby house.
The train was scheduled to arrive in Gladstone at about 6:25 pm. As it approached the end of the track, the brakes reportedly failed to hold. The train continued forward, rammed through the wooden bumping blocks at the end of the station track, and slid roughly 20 feet beyond the rails. The cars passed through a hedge and across a lawn before slamming into a 7-room, 2-story house located just beyond the end of the line. The impact was so strong that the building was pushed about 20 feet off its foundation.
Source: David Hill – In the Somerset Hills.
Inside the home at the time were several people who had just finished a Jehovah’s Witness Bible meeting. Mr. and Mrs. Austin Conover, who rented the house, were in the kitchen along with Mrs. Theodore Smart of Pluckemin and Richmond L Eble of Savannah. As they refreshed themselves with grape juice and cookies, a tremendous roar suddenly filled the room.
One witness later recalled that the lights went out and the wall began to crumble as the train crashed into the structure. The group quickly made their way through the wreckage and escaped through a doorway. Despite the dramatic collision, injuries were relatively minor.Mrs.s Conover suffered a concussion, her husband received cuts to the head, and Mrs. Smart sustained a shoulder injury, while her husband suffered a scratched leg.
The occupants were treated by the Peapack Gladstone First Aid Squad and spent the night with friends in the area. Even the Conovers’ dog, Sammy, managed to escape the crash unharmed. At the time of the accident, the train carried only a small crew and a few passengers. The crew consisted of engineer Harry Stool, conductor Edward T Fox, and brakeman Russell Kent. Passengers included Frank Townley of Willow Avenue, Barbara Herden of Main Street, and a man from Califon. None were injured.
The train itself caused extensive structural damage to the house, leaving much of it reduced to splinters. When the train cars were removed the following day, the damaged section of the building collapsed, leaving only the kitchen portion standing. The accident also knocked down power lines along Main Street, leaving 110-volt wires scattered across the pavement. Utility crews repaired the damage within about 3 hours. Authorities attributed the crash to a power failure in the train’s braking system. Peapack Gladstone Police Chief Frank Gall conducted the investigation. Remarkably, this was not the first time a train had overshot the end of the Gladstone line. The 1966 crash marked the 3rd such incident in 5 years.
Ironically, the house struck by the train had been built 71 years earlier, long before the railroad tracks were extended to that location. The heavily damaged structure was eventually demolished after the accident, bringing an end to the unusual house at the end of the Gladstone tracks. Today, the event remains one of the most memorable railroad mishaps in the history of the Peapack Gladstone line and a reminder that even quiet terminal stations could experience dramatic moments in New Jersey railroad history.
Know of another Rail Accident on the Gladstone Line?
While we’ve scanned and dug, there have to be more railroad derailments or major accidents along the famed Summit to Gladstone Line. If you remember hearing about one, please post something in the comments, and our researchers will take over.
