1896 Crash at Crush Texas
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2023
- There are many thousands of videos online that begin with the line “hold my beer.” In fact, people often deliberately do dangerous things and pull truly mind-numbingly ill-conceived pranks just to get those all important “clicks” and become internet famous. But if you think that is all a trend of the digital age, well, no it isn’t. In fact, perhaps one of the most ambitious stunts held just to get attention occurred all the way back in 1896, and, as is often the case, it didn’t exactly go as planned.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #Texas
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For me, this episode was doubly informative. I live in Australia and have long enjoyed the movie "The Blues Brothers." Now I know where the song "She caught the Katy" has its origins.
He said it and now the song is in my head!😂
Hits pretty close to home. I live a bit east of where Buckeye Park was. My grandparents had their first date there. And the Blues Brothers is pretty much the best movie ever made.
And I'm realizing it's probably the namesake of the city of Katy, Texas as well
@@jvleasureThe soundtrack album for that movie is one of my favorite things to play during housework.
@@MonkeyJedi99, Long before The Blues Brothers movie, my friends and I were listening to "She Caught the Katy" on the great Taj Mahal double album "Giant Steps/De Ole Folks At Home", which showed the evolution of country blues and folk to urban electric blues styling. A fantastic record.
These poor steam engines were forced to fight each other to the death for our entertainment. Locomotive abuse is a very real problem in the railway industry.
Superb.
In your typical steel cage death match, it’s “two men walk in; one man walk out”. In the case steamers butting heads, “two locos walk in; no one walk out”. There is no last train standing in this game! But selling the remainders for scrap is less torching and more gathering so there’s that. 🤠💥💨💯❗️✅
@@joeromanak8797 The first rule of Fight Club is... 🙂
I agree! I get all steamed up just thinking about it!
🤣@@RonGreeneComedian
The crash at Crush inspired the rag time composer, Scott Joplin to write the "Crush Collision March". It isn't known whether Joplin was present at the event or not.
...you best me to making this observation...
Very good. Thanks.
He was not there. This should have been the music playing in the video, shame on you historyguy.
I played this piece as a kid and knew it was about a train wreck, but never learned the details.
th-cam.com/video/7YRnrZiAlgE/w-d-xo.html
We're proud of the Katy trail in MO. Some 240 miles of former railway miles converted into hiking and biking trail for use by the public. I was disappointed when more unused railway beds were just removed rather than converted to trails. I think we missed an opportunity to encourage small town Missouri businesses into supporting the trail system. Most of these Mid Mo towns were railroad fuel and water stops during the middle to late 1800s. I would have loved to ride my bike as a kid from town to town, having no worries about 70 plus mph automotive traffic. And so it goes.
Here in New England we have the East Coast Greenway, a network of former railroad routes that is still being regraded and tied together in places (pedestrian bridges replacing decrepit railroad bridges, old railroad ties removed etc) but which when finished will run from the Appalachias all the way up into Maine. Local sections of the trail run very close to my house and are extremely popular with hikers, bicyclists, and dig walkers; we walk our dogs on them almost every day.
Rode the Katy Trail two years ago and can confirm that it is one of America's great bike routes. Well maintained and very friendly towns along the way.
I live in the Town of Katy outside of Houston. A proud moment hearing the origins of my home town's name explained and seeing everyone in the comments who also band together around this old railroad.
🤔 never would have guessed that M.K.& T. railroad was the namesake of the city of Katy.
Another one of my Texas questions answered.
This story has been in my family since 1896 since William Crush was my great great great grandfather. Pretty cool to see the story getting put out there like this!
THG saying "Hold my beer" just made my day 😁
I am a major railfan and the Katy is one of my favorite roads. The irony is that the MKT RR was renowned for the care which they gave their steam locomotives.
And that, children, is why television was invented. Right up there with the Oregon Exploding Whale of 1970.
A friend of mine grew up in west Texas. He said the local joke was that someone's famous last words were " hey fellas, watch this "
As a side note, it's quite likely that the biggest reason that staged train crashes fell out of favor as entertainment at county fairs and the like was because the rise of the automobile meant that promoters could now draw the same sort of crowds at a lower cost through demolition derbies and other destructive *car* stunts.
As a proud resident of Lancaster, Ohio, I appreciate the shout out, History guy!
I just moved from Lancaster, not a proud resident after what they did to Miller park 😢
@@jimmiwoltz6416 I understand that. It is shameful. I'm waiting to see if it yields the same smell as the one on the east side. If it does, it will destroy what's left of this town.
Hello, fellow Lancaster folks!
Visitors to Waco still buy postcards of this wreck - over a hundred years later (though I doubt Mr. Crush's estate receives any royalties these days).
Here in Missouri, part of the railroad was removed and the right of way was converted into a biking/hiking trail called the Katy Trail. Runs north of the Missouri River, roughly between St Charles and Boonville.
When I hear about the number of people that showed up to an event back then , all I think is “Where did they all go poop?”
They didn't ---- they all kept the cheeks of their cabooses tightly clenched, until the trains actually crashed, at which point they could no longer contain themselves! 😳😖🤫💩💩💩💩💩💩
They used the very same porta-cans we find at festivals today, still waiting to be cleaned as we speak.
Today, Illinois would not only allow it, they'd tax and regulate the hell out of it.
and once the Democrats destroyed it they would then steal your money to subsidize it, for a 10% cut for the Big Guy.
And a permit ....,lol
Illinois would ban ownership of trains but let those who crash them off without bail
Aren't you clever.
Oddly enough I witnessed the aftermath of what railroaders call a "prairie meet" in the early 60's near Alhambra Illinois. It wasn't done for show, and one man who jumped from the engine was killed by a falling box car. I will never forget the carnage of that afternoon with box cars and otherr frieght cars flipped over, ripped open, and spilling their goods all over the area. Looters and souvenier hunters were everywhere and the police coulld do nothing to stop them.
Before the expansion of I 35 through the town of West, Texas the historical marker for this event was located there.
I have yet to find the new location.
There is a song written by a Texas music artist named Brian Burns called The Crash at Crush.
I live in the area and a several years ago a woman had a letter from her great uncle to another family member at the time describing the event.
It was very cool to hear a first hand account.
When I lived in Waco this was one of MANY bizarre history events I found out about. It’s a very strange place.
They even misspell "Wacko".
@@nedludd7622It stands for “We Ain’t Coming Out”
Waco is a strange place for sure!
It didn't happen in Waco. I think there is a museum in the town of West, TX about 15 miles North of Waco where there is an exhibit on it. This is interesting I never knew how much they built for the event.
@@robertcagle6156 the really important question is Czech Stop or Slovacek’s?
This video could have been a real train wreck, but THG crushed it! 😂👍
dad, i know its you with jokes like that. please we need that milk c'mon home dad.....
thb you comment gave me a good chuckle. have a great day buddy
This incident inspired Scott Joplin to write a piano gag called "The Great Crush Collision March"....complete with a train wreck in the 3rd theme.....
Just because you could, don’t mean you should.
Just because I shouldn't, doesn't mean I won't.
Thank you for sharing this, I worked 30 years on the railroad. I started on the Katy railroad at Waco,TX and then in 1988 the Union Pacific railroad merged with the MKT (Katy). I was able to retire from the railroad. I have worked in that area many times, this brings back so many memories. I was astonished to see that the "History Guy" is sharing a story that I know some about. This was awesome and thank you so much.
Willian George Crush was just an alias for Gomez Addams!
Good morning History Guy and everyone watching...
Texas singer and songwriter, Brian Burns, has a song about the Crash at Crush. Great song.
I grew up in West, Texas. Every kid in school learned about the time West was renamed Crush for one day, and what happened. It was disappointing that West was not mentioned.
I've found that "Hey y'all watch this" is probably better than "Hold my beer" for the prelude to something very stupid about to happen.
I’ve heard about this, but not in detail. Thank you
Stunt dreamed up by Ozzy Osborne: "I'm running off the rails on a Crazy Train!"
Spent much of my life around the Hocking Valley railroad. This was new History to me. Good night
"Back in the old days, people didn't engage in reckless stunts like the brainless kids today do!"
Old Days: "well........"
Well.... Hold my beer!
But back in the old days, kids didn't learn *instantaneously* about stupid stunts pulled by other kids their age, hundreds or thousands of miles away. Most of that stuff probably didn't make it into the newspaper except locally and even then kids only heard about it if they and their friends read their dad's paper, or dad told you about it.
Makes "Jackass" look tame. 🙂
People have always been people. That being said. While their preparation was insufficient, at least they took a decent number of precautions to make the event safe. There's far too many people these days who do dangerous and stupid stuff with absolutely no attempt at safety what so ever. They often don't even know where the nearest hospital is much less have anyone with even a first aid kit on hand.
I Could See ... Today... Countless Thousands, Would come to Such an Event.
I used to deliver the Eagle-Gazette back in the 1970s.
I remember that.
The Joplin sheet music states "Dedicated to the MK&T Railroad" on the cover
I’d pay to see that.
FINALLY! I suggested this years ago. Glad to see it finally happened.
Can't believe my man said...."Hold my beer"!!!! LoL
My Dad worked construction and on a job in a warehouse they found a crate of fireworks. The kind you see on the 4th of July. They brought them back to their lot and my dad thought that it would be cool to launch one. He lit it and stuck it into a tube but the tube fell over. About 15 guys ran for cover and the thing went off, skipped across the dirt lot like a rock on a pond.. shout into an open cargo carrier and procesded to blow up about 50 buckets of drywall compound.
And that is why I have had to put together six “site specific safety programs” for my job this summer.
Never underestimate the distructive power of stupid
I would pay to watch IIHS auto crash testing live.
For more information, see the book "The Man Who Wrecked 146 Locomotives; The Story of "Head-On Joe" Connolly" by James J. Reisdorff in 2009. That fellow made a job out of wrecking locos this way.
Absolutely-he was staging crashes, all over the country, up to 1932!
A Texas singer/songwriter history buff named Brian Burns wrote a great song about this event.
Having been born in 1971 i heart yearns to have seen our amazing nation before my time.
Thank you for bringing history I would never have know without THG back to life in such superb vernacular detail that I can see it happening in my minds eye.
Interesting to realize how many relatively modern songs include train themes: from "I've Been Workin' On the Railroad" to "Midnight Special", "Crazy Train", "I Heard the Lonesome Whistle Blow", "Folsom Prison Blues", and "She Caught the Katy" (I like Taj Mahal's version better than the later one from the Blues Brothers) to lesser known gems like "The L&N Don't Stop Here Any More" (Michelle Shocked); "Pain Train", (the Guess Who), "Night Train" (Bruce Cockburn), "Train Train" (Blackfoot? or some other southern rock band, with a killer harmonica intro), and songs about building railroads like"Tamp 'Em Up Solid" (I've only heard Ry Cooder's version) and of course "John Henry" where a railroad spike-driver duels against a steam hammer and wins, only to have a heart attack and die. I can't even imagine what harmonica players would sound like if we had never had trains!
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band version of Mystery Train (1965) is another great one. Mike Bloomfield makes whistle sounds on slide guitar at the end.
@@emilyadams3228 , there's also "Train in Vain" by the
Clash, Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh (it takes a train to cry)", and Tull's "Locomotive Breath"........
I knew this story but you of course tell it better.
Great job Lance! I really appreciate your channel. History does deserve to be remembered and shared continuously
There is a song by country artist Brian Burns called “The Crash at Crush” that talks about this historical event. It’s a cool song if you get a chance to listen to it. Also met him years ago when he was performing in West Texas. He put on a heck of a show
Yes he does. Saw him a few times in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Thanks for this bit of Texas history
Thank you THG for this "explosive" video of the first Great Train wreck.
Now you know what happened to all the older 19th century steam locomotives.
REALLY enjoyed this episode! As Jim Bob Billy Bob ( John Candy said) " blowed up really good."
How did you fail to have music in this video, like maybe, Scott Joplin's "Great Crush Collision March?"
I've always wanted to know more about this event. Thanks history guy.
I always eagerly await your latest videos, Mr. Geiger. I've noticed a slightly irritating trend in your recent videos, however. That is, there seems to be trouble with your audio output; The vocal track of the stories no longer matching the volume and tone of your introductions or "narration inserts". This gives the overall production a "patched together" quality. A good example would be to go to about 13:10, then notice the volume spike about 3 seconds later when the inserted narration comes in... the drops again when the narration insert finishes at 13:21. The simple solution would be to assign an assistant to watch each video in its entirety to look for these inconsistencies. They would be easy enough to fix. Did you recently hire a new technical editor? You might want to have a little chat with her/him. 😉
Yes, I've noticed that recently too. Even in this video, it happens again a couple of seconds after 15:23. This audio issue seems to have just started "a few videos ago". What's up with that?
@7:57 Actually, it was more between Ausin and DFW just outside West Tx.
The "bump of originalty" I'm pretty sure refers to phrenology, a dubious method of analysis based on the shape of a person's skull...
Well, he may have had a bump on the head of some sort…
My great grandfather James Sanford Deer from Falls County Texas, 1872 to 1959, was one of the insanely ill crowd at the crash. He was injured by flying debris and the wound bothered him his entire life. Crazy stuff!
Amazing!!! Thank you for this bit of history ❤
I appreciate you and thank you for making content.
Cool video.
I was hoping you would've included one of the videos of two locomotives crashing into each other, Probably from the 1930's.
There's a channel called Todd In The Shadows with music reviews. One series is Trainwreckords, videos about the worst albums ever made. For example, on the one for Allman And Woman (the wonderfully disastrous 1977 album by Gregg Allman and Cher), after a short intro, Todd says "Good Lord, I feel like I'm dying. This is Trainwreckords", then there's a film of two engines smacking into each other. It's probably from the 20's, judging by the look of the film, and the engines look to be about the right vintage to be retired then. Plus, the only movie cameras in 1893 were in Edison's lab in New Jersey, and the studio of the Lumiere Brothers in France.
People use to picnic at executions…not sure we’ve changed much.
People rubber-neck at car accidents; I've never seen a crushed body under a car, or a huge human blood & brains smear on a windshield or on the pavement, and I hope I never do. I don't know how state police deal with seeing that stuff on a regular basis, but I had a acquaintance with a weak stomach who saw an accident scene like that once and barfed all over the place ---- inside somebody else's car that he was riding in.
Excellent episode as always. Thank you!
Women screamed and some men fainted 😂 Guess that's better than the other way around 🤪
I noticed that too. 🙂
Reminds me of the line in Blazing Saddles: "Women stampeded, catte raped".
@@simongleaden2864 Top ten movie.
What a train wreck of an episode...😸😸😸
Nice job once again!
LOVE YOUR VIDS BRO!!! ❤🇨🇦
My father told me of this when I was a child. Nice to have the story filled out. 👏👏👏
Remains today in every math book word problem 😅
I honestly would be interested to see such a thing but I’m not entirely sure what the definition of a “Safe Distance” would actually be.😳 Steam boilers are one of the most hazardous types of explosions. Heated water under pressure first expands violently and then condenses causing horrific burns. The underestimated danger of the event should not really have been a surprise.
I recommended this subject about a year ago! So glad to see you made an episode on it! I’m from the Waco area and this is an interesting piece of local history
What an amazing story, thanks.
Wow. A crazy bit of history. Thanks.
What incredible history.
What were Bubba's last words? "Hey everybody, watch THIS"
"Hold my Beer and watch This"...
Lancaster, Ohio is my hometown and has so much history! Thank you for talking about it!
THG's goal here was to build up a head of steam and put this off-the-rails story to bed!
lol this is an awesome one. I have loved all your snippets over the last several years I have watched them. Now if I can only get my granddaughter hooked on History...
When people have more money than sense. You couldn’t make this up. A train crash wouldn’t be a train crash without casualties.
“What about the boilers, are you sure they won’t explode?”
“Nah they’ll be fine.”
What can possibly go wrong?
I'm so glad you posted this! Everyone who drives from Austin to Dallas passes through West, Texas, stops at the famous Czech Stop, which is what modern West, Texas is known for. Delicious kolaches. But I knew this occurred in the same town in history and now when I pass through and grab some kolaches, I think of this stupid act of humanity.
I thought the name "Crush, TX" simply because a collision was being staged there with equipment being crushed. Now that I know the truth, how ironic!
I live near Crush
I was familiar with this story through Texas singer/songwriter Brian Burns' song Crash at Crush which retells the story musically. Check it out
I have a crush on a crash course on the Crush crash, of course.
Well told sir!!!
Sounds like the MKTRR totally crushed it. Neat piece of railway history, locomotive explains becoming a spectacle rather than just a tragedy.
“What folly! That crush is a rapscallion!” I suppose they probably would have said an exclamation such as this in 1896.
Thanks. Very interesting
THG you rock! Peace
Nice phrenology reference, in that line about Crush's (or was it Streeter's?) "bump of originality". 😹
Even in t he 70s and 80s ,im surprised we survived 😅
You should do a video on the music festival "Woodstock"
Enjoyed your "1896 Crash at Crush Texas"! I have included some information regarding the "Crash at Crush" published in "A History of the Texas Railroads" authored by S. G. Reed and copyrighted in 1941. Thirty special trains were run to Crush that day to bring spectators which were estimated to number 30,000. Also, this was the year William Jennings Bryan made his first run for president. Many in the country had an increased awareness of political issues, so the railroad invited political candidates to speak at the gathering prior to the staged crash. Many candidates accepted this offer. A man from New York with a "kinetescope" is believed to have made the first filming of a news reel in Texas. Some time after his "rehiring" Mr. Crush was promoted to Passenger Traffic Manager of the Katy Railroad. The book further advised that Mr. Crush retired in 1939 and is living in Highland Park, a suburb of Dallas, populated by a well to do class of people who still do a lot of train traveling. Mr. Crush had made Highland Park a stopping point for Katy trains with the erection of a suburban depot with attractive grounds. Since retirement, Mr. Crush has made it part of his daily exercises to "meet all trains there".
Awesome video as always! I still think you should do a video on the 1979 Daytona 500, or you should do a video on DeWayne “Tiny” Lund and the story of the 1963 Daytona 500!!! Seriously the 1963 Daytona 500 is one of the coolest stories of motorsports!!!
Well that was just one wild story. Thank you for sharing I live here in Texas. There are a lot of old signs around that have the Katy station emblem or logo on them. They are worth a little bit of money. I guess people have been crazy. And crave Xtreme entertainment. All throughout history. As everyone is aware of the Roman Colosseum. Love your channel keep up the good work.
Off topic, but can you do a video (or series) on the Willow Run Liberator Plant?
A tractor pull or drag race is just as dangerous when engine explodes with too much boost
I love trains. I love the history of trains, even when it is an intentional train wreck.
I grew up in Fairfield County, Ohio, and the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette was our daily paper when I was growing up. We learned about the train collision in Ohio History.
thanks
Enjoyed the video and also the comments from different folks along the MK&T line. Is it a coincidence that the cities along the old Katy are also great Western-style barbecue cities? St. Louis, Kansas City, on down to Dallas & Fort Worth and Houston, and lots of places along the way. Great, now I'm hungry...