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TRAIN WRECK ON THE TEHACHAPI LINE, 1907

by Gilbert Gia

Copyright © Gilbert Gia, 2009

I
n early fall 1907 Southern Pacific freight train No. 6253 left Tehachapi at

about 6:00 PM to begin the 3,800-feet descent of switch-backs, turns,

and tunnels to Bakersfield. At the same moment Extra Train No. 2936, car-

rying a track crew, entered Tunnel 17 and was slowly making its way up the

mountain. 1 At the work train's front was a caboose carrying a dozen or so

men. Behind it were two flatcars, each carrying a load of of loose rails with

about 40 Greek workmen resting on top. In the back was a pusher driven by

engineer J.F. Frembling assisted by fireman Benjamin I. Crew and Conduct-

or Peter E. Carnes. The freight's orders said that engineer Frank L. Woody

and conductor Albert S. Marshall should see a work train sided at Cabal

station.2

1
Data used in this paper came from the Sep 27, 1907 Los Angeles Times and in Sep 27,
1907 - Oct 1, 1907 Bakersfield Californian and Bakersfield Morning Echo.
2
Starting from the town of Caliente at the bottom of the grade, SP sidings to Tehachapi are
Allard, Bealville, Cliff, Rowen, Woodford, Walong, Marcel, and Cable (spelled Cabal in
1907). The crash occurred about one-half mile below Cabal siding

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 The Extra was under orders to protect itself, that is, it would keep

flags in both front and in back as warning. The flags were in place. As Extra

2936 emerged from Tunnel 17, Frembling saw the freight coming, and he

brought the Extra to a stop. But the freight train was too heavy. The ca-

boose road up over the top of the freight engine, and the engine ground

into the flat cars, pushing one them over the side of the mountain. Most of

the workmen jumped, but a dozen were trapped under broken lumber, met-

al, and jumbled rails.

When the work crew regained its senses, the men attacked the

freight train. Frank Woody and Al Marshall retreated to the engine for the

revolver and held off the Greeks long enough to make a dash for Te-

hachapi. Meanwhile, enraged men turned their wraith on the engine, pound-

ing it with rocks and pieces of iron, smashing the gauges, and breaking out

the windows. The Los Angeles Times wrote,

"Crazed at the sight of the blood of their comrades, the Greeks

who remained alive and uninjured, formed a mob which started

in swift pursuit of the crew of the freight train which brought

death to their friends. An hour later, after a long chase over the

rough hill sides of the mountain county, a little group of white-

faced breathless railroaders gained the retreat of the mountain

town of Tehachapi and appealed to the officers of the law for

protection, while below, stalwart officers of the law calmed the

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 angry foreigners who were crying for blood to be shed to

avenge that of their countrymen already spilled."

News of the disaster arrived at Kern City at 9:00 PM via the telegraph

at Cabal siding. Within 30-minutes a special train pulled out of Kern carry-

ing SP Superintendent Frank M. Worthington; Doctors Kellogg, West, and

Owens; Nurses Day and McElroy; Assistant Kern County Coroner WA Mc-

Ginn; and former City Marshal Ham Ferris. The SP was confident that when

the special train reached the wreck, telephone communications would be

established. But by 2:00 AM there was still no news.

1907 locomotive

McGinn said he would hold the coroner's inquest that morning, but

no one could find Engineer Woody, Fireman Sullivan, or Conductor Mar-

shall. On Monday evening McGinn did hold the inquest, and all witnesses

on hand except for Conductor J. E. Carnes, who had been injured. He sub-

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mitted a deposition. L.T. Roberts of Los Angeles, one of two brakemen on

Extra 2936, gave the following testimony:

" On the day of the wreck we had been engaged in picking up

rails between Marcel and Tehachapi. At 5:30 P.M. when we quit

work several cars of rails were set off at Marcel. There we got

orders to pass freight No. 6253 at Cabal, and accordingly star-

ted on our way for Cabal. The caboose was in front, then two

flat cars carrying Greeks and steel rails, and then the engine.

We proceeded slowly. I was standing on the front end of the

caboose carrying a red fusée [flare] to aid our white lights and

for signaling in front. As we came out of the east portal of Tun-

nel 17, I saw the freight train coming. It was 10 or 12 car

lengths ahead. My first thought was of "number 1" and after

calling for Conductor Carnes who was inside to throw on the

air [brakes], and signaling the freight, I jumped with the other

brakeman, and we got away. No warning was given to the

Greeks, although several of them saw the freight and got off.

Our train was going about one or two miles an hour, and when

the air set, the train stopped. I think the freight was coming

about six or eight miles an hour. The engine hit the caboose

about 75 feet from the portal."

Flagman A. F. Kenny corroborated Roberts' account.

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 The proceedings showed that language problems figured in the

deaths. Will Harmon of Rosedale was foremen of the track-laying crew, and

he was inside the caboose just before the crash. When he heard the brake-

man holler to the conductor to throw on the air, Harmon looked out the win-

dow and saw the freight engine's headlight. He opened the back door of the

caboose, jumped, and yelled out to the Greeks to do the same. There was

an instant before the crew understood.

Brakeman J. M. Johnson of Los Angeles, who was also riding on Ex-

tra 2936, told much the same version. When Coroner's juror Martin Gund-

lach asked Johnson about the block system [signaling system], Johnson

testified that because work was being done to the tracks, the blocks had

been "yellow boarded, " meaning their signals were not reliable. With that

new information, the burden on Engineer Woody 3 lessened.

More lives certainly would have been lost if the freight had been

moving faster, or if if the crash had occurred inside Tunnel 17. Did the tun-

nel itself also enter into the equation? During the previous winter, moun-

tain slides at the entrances caused millions of dollars in delays, and in the

first weeks of September the SP had concreted its walls.

Gus Vagenas was a straw boss riding Extra 2936. He said that the 26

men in Work Gang 171 were sitting along the rear of the caboose, on top

the flatcars, and around the edges. He saw the flatcars with the steel rails

and human freight jam underneath the caboose.

3
brother of Kern County Supervisor Woody

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 A relief train from Tehachapi arrived long before the medical train

from Bakersfield. Aboard were SP Trainmaster Coy; Resident Engineer

Burkhalter; Tehachapi Constable Williams; Dr. Van Voorhees and Nurse

Anderson. After much careful work, all 11 men wedged under the debris

were rescued.

Three dead were also removed, but not until after midnight did the

wrecker from Kern City arrive and move the flatcars so three more dead

could be removed. Said the Bakersfield Californian, "It was hard for their

companions to recognize them..."

Bakersfield Californian, September 27, 1907

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 Two hours later, more than 200 Greeks had made their way down the

dark mountain from Tehachapi. A bonfire lit the sky, pow-wows were held,

and the mood turned hostile. If not for the cool-headedness of Greek fore-

men like Jim Paulos, the men might have attacked the medical train from

Tehachapi. As the doctors placed the injured inside a boxcar, "several ex-

citable spirits got to jabbing hysterically to their comrades, but it was ex-

plained to them that the injured would be well cared for." Strawboss Jim

Paulos acted as as an interpreter for Corner McGinn and helped him identi-

fy the dead. As McGinn reached to touch the first body, the Greeks began

shouting at him, but they quieted after Paulos' spoke, and they allowed Mc-

Ginn to continue his grim work.

The wrecker that left Kern City at 8:00 PM was delayed for an hour by

a broken rail at Keene and did not reach the wreck until nearly 1:00 AM.

Considering the violent mood at the site at 9:00 PM, it was probably a good

thing that the wrecker did not arrive earlier because at Caliente officials

had received news of mob violence, and Officer Ham Ferris and deputies

Mort Bell, Charlie Whittaker, and CP Badger secured additional firearms.

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 Terrain at Tehachapi at Loop
Zelda Mackay Collection of Stereographic Views, U of Californian, Image 15105

Rail traffic was delayed nine hours. At 3:00 AM, Kern and Mojave

wreckers cleared the track, and the first train by was the southbound Owl

from Bakersfield. Nurse Mrs. McElroy got on with six injured and accom-

panied them to the SP Hospital at Los Angeles. The next train was the

northbound Overland, and that was followed by northbound Freight No.

107. It stopped to receive the dead and transport them to Bakersfield.

Deputy District Attorney Irwin was at the coroner's inquest, but he

was not called upon to speak. McGinn questioned engineer Woody, "Mr.

Woody, what omission, or omissions, do you considered occurred at

Cabal?" He replied, "That is a pretty hard question to answer." McGinn re-

peated the question, and Woody answered, "Well, we omitted getting the

number of the work train. " Woody was frank and straightforward and did

not try to avoid his responsibility in the tragedy.

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 There was no doubt that he had failed to notice that the work train at

Cabal siding was not Extra 2936. But there were other facts that lifted some

of the blame from him. The first was Woody's position in the cab: From his

vantage point on the right side of the engine he could not see the numbers

on the work train. The other was the signal equipment at Cabal. It had not

warned Woody. In fact, Cabal station was closed, and the order board, or

block signals, had been set red-boarded, meaning Stop. Woody slowed to

four miles an hour and looked for a "yellow board.” That would have indic-

ated that the signs at Cabal were not current and not to be trusted.

As Woody waffled between going on or stopping, conductor George

Burns from the sided work train swung up onto Woody's engine and asked,

"What are you going to stop for? " The question distracted Woody enough

that he assumed he was passing the work train named in his orders.

Woody said to Burns, "We're not going to stop. " But less than a minute

later he turned to Sullivan and asked, "Did you get the number of that en-

gine we passed?" The fireman replied, "I think it was 2602." Woody uttered

an expletive and reached for his orders, but then he saw a red flair and a

caboose emerging from Tunnel 17. Woody could not stop the freight.

Southern Pacific policies also contributed to the wreck. When Coron-

er McGinn asked the crew how long they had been on duty before the acci-

dent, engineer Woody said he was called to work at Bakersfield at 11:45 PM

Wednesday night. He was at Mojave at 3:15 AM Thursday, checked out of

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the station, cleaned-up and ate. He spent seven hours in Mojave but got

only about an hour's sleep before his wake-up call came for the 3:30 PM de-

parture for Bakersfield.

Another failed SP policy was the work load. The company required

all crew members to understand the work order, not just the conductor and

engineer. But in practice the rule was not observed. When the coroner's

jury asked the crew about the SP rule, they insisted that honoring it would

cost them more time than the company allowed for stops. Their statements

astonished Juror M. T. Kean.

Panagia Prousiotissa Icon

(www.panagiaprousiotissa.org/)

On Sunday September 29, 1907, Bakersfield streets filled with

mourners, and it seemed as though the entire Greek population along this

part of the Southern Pacific line would attend the funeral on Monday. Greek

Consul J. Kapsimalak and attache John D. Volicretis arrived from San Fran-

cisco, and between 9:00 and 1:00 Father Poshkoosky conducted two funer-

al services. In the afternoon, hearses from Morton & Connolly drove to to

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Union Cemetery with coffins inscribed with white crosses and the names of

the dead. During the solemn burial rites, grief-stricken Greeks held burning

tapers and wept. Laid to rest, side-by-side, were Tom Carigag, 25; Jim

Christos, 30; George Louis, 38; Gus Nicklos, 35; Nick Patros, 35; and Nick

Paulas, 34.

On the day of the wreck a $176-roll of brand-new, First National Bank

of Bakersfield greenbacks were found in George Lewis' pocket. He was

saving the money for a trip back to his wife and children in Greece.

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