The Strittmatter Tunnel and the Ghost Train of Carrolltown

 

Were it not for the famous Lizzie Borden murder trial taking place five hundred miles away in Fall River, Massachusetts, the story of the phantom train of Cambria County might have become well-known outside of Carrolltown. This tiny borough sits twenty miles west of Altoona, and, in 1892, became a stop on the newly-formed Cambria & Clearfied Railroad, which was part of the Susquehanna Branch (Altoona Division) of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The focal point of this rail line was a tunnel constructed through Strittmatter Hill, just south of Carrolltown. And it was near this spot where one of the strangest events in Pennsylvania history took place.

On August of 1892, the nation's attention was turned to a courthouse in New England, where witnesses took the stand in what would become our nation's most famous murder trial. Meanwhile, in Cambria County, the citizens of Carrolltown were excited over the coming of the railroad. Over the previous year, hundreds of locals excitedly watched the construction crews working along Plank Road, where scores of Italian laborers hustled to complete their task.

However, not everyone was preoccupied with the coming of the railroad. One night in early August, two men named Suef (or Sueffert, in other accounts), along with their wives, were driving their wagons along Plank Road over Strittmatter Hill at around eleven o'clock when their horses suddenly grew agitated and excited. The Suefs, who were from out of town and hampered by the darkness, had no idea they were standing atop the railroad tunnel. But then a shrill blast from a steam whistle pierced the night. Since the sound seemed to be coming from beneath their feet, it soon became clear they were standing on top of the new 900-foot tunnel that all of Carrollstown had been talking about. There was just one tiny little problem-- the opening of the Cambria & Clearfield Railroad was still several days away. In fact, the tunnel project still hadn't been completed. Strange, they thought, but the shrill cry of the whistle was just the beginning of the strangeness on that dark night.

A Harbinger of Death

Just seconds after hearing the mysterious whistle, the Suef family observed a puff of smoke, mingled with flame, from a passenger train which emerged from the tunnel. The Suefs, being practical people, immediately concluded the new railroad had opened early to travel, and they watched as the passenger train chugged rapidly northward. Moments later they heard the loudest and ghastliest noise they had ever encountered, an otherworldly screaming that left them covering their ears and trembling in terror. Just when they recovered their senses, things got worse; following the ear-piercing wail came the sound of a tremendous crash. The Suefs watched in horror as a carriage carrying a man and a woman was tossed high into the air in the distance as the train rounded the Eckenrode Mills curve and disappeared into nothingness.

In a story about the bizarre event appearing in the Pittsburgh Daily Post on August 31, 1892, it is stated: Residents of that vicinity, among them being Mr. Tinesmith, say that each night about 11 o'clock the phantom train may be heard, but nothing is visible. Those who witnessed this strange affair are firm in the belief that this demonstration was but a premonition of a catastrophe which will occur on the road.

Of course, the problem with tales of premonitions and omens is that we often hear about them after the tragedy has already taken place. Many of us recall hearing after-the-fact claims of premonitions following 9/11 and the space shuttle Challenger disaster, for instance. Most of the time, this causes us to raise a skeptical brow and say, "Well, that information would have been useful before the catastrophe." In this manner we can weed out dubious claims. What makes the Carrolltown incident unique, however, is that newspaper stories about the impending crash-- which occurred in September of that year-- began circulating days before the first train passed over the Cambria & Clearfield tracks. At least four persons saw the phantom train, and dozens more heard the ghostly whistles and wails.

Cursed From the Beginning

At 12:01 on the morning of August 22, 1892, the Cambria & Clearfield Railroad was formally opened to passenger and freight traffic by Superintendent W.N. Bannard. Appointed to the position of trainmaster was W.C. Snyder, and filling the positions of freight conductors were Rutter and Brown, and passenger conductors McDermitt and Rush. This new rail line, totaling 70 miles, would bring to market the coal from the fields of Punxsatawney and the lumber from the vast timber tracts of Clearfield County. The sleepy borough of Carrolltown was sure to experience an economic boom, it was believed, and plans were made to build a passenger station in town. 

The Cambria & Clearfield was comprised of several branches: The Cush Creek branch, the Hastings branch, the Ebensburg branch, and the Susquehanna branch, which passed through Carrolltown and was the site of the Strittmatter Tunnel. While the other branches were opened on August 22, the Susquehanna branch would not be opened until September, when the tunnel would be finished and the passenger station complete. The reason for the delay was because of the complexity of building the 900-foot-long tunnel. Under the supervision of Superintendent J.D. Lasher the project pushed forward rapidly, but Lasher, who was known to be a heavy drinker, was either fired or resigned from his position, necessitating the finding of his replacement, thereby causing delays to the tunnel project. 

On September 19, 1891, Lasher died at the Blair County poorhouse, where he had been brought five days earlier after a drinking binge. It was reported that Lasher had lost $10,000 in a failed tunnel project in the South shortly before his death. Construction of the tunnel progressed rapidly under Lasher's successor, resulting in several fatal accidents to workers. In February of 1892, several immigrant workers were injured, one fatally, by an accidental dynamite explosion. This was the second fatal construction accident in as many weeks. 

 

Strittmatter Tunnel as it appears today, from a YouTube video by Stuff That's Gone

 

The Wreck at Link's Cut

Shortly after six o'clock on the evening of Thursday, September 8, 1892, a train carrying one hundred railroad workers, most of them Italian immigrants, was traveling to a point on the recently-completed Susquehanna branch of Cambria & Clearfield Railroad where repairs were needed. At the curve at the Link farm near Eckenrode Mills-- the spot where the phantom passenger train had disappeared a month earlier-- the southbound work train, consisting of engine, tender and three cars, collided headfirst with a northbound passenger train, which, only moments before, had emerged from the Strittmatter Tunnel.

Wreckage filled the deep, narrow cut near Eckenrode Mills, and survivors immediately began searching the steaming hot mass of tangled metal for fellow passengers and workmen. Nine bodies were pulled from the wreckage, including those of engineer C.W. Ferry and fireman Raymond Parrish of the passenger train, timekeeper W.S. Rowland, Edward Ahles, Samuel Rich, Alex Godolly, and Italian laborers Guiseppe Martino, Martin Martino and Anton DiNelle. Joseph Cochios and Tony Franco were transported to a hospital in Altoona for severe steam burns. The death toll would continue to rise over the next several hours, as additional victims, all of them Italians, succumbed to their injuries.

It was soon discovered that the cause of the crash had been insubordination; G.S. Yoder, the engineer of the work train, had disobeyed orders after he was told to lay over on the side track at Patton to allow the passenger train to pass. A search was made for Yoder and the conductor of the work train, G.E. Dunne, both of whom had apparently decided to run away from the scene to avoid the wrath of the survivors (this was probably a smart idea; as a fellow Italian, I can attest that, much like opera, cooking, sculpting and lovemaking, we consider revenge to be an art form). A few days later Yoder and Dunne emerged from hiding and were both present at the coroner's inquest.

According to witness statements, the two trains didn't see each other until the moment before impact, due to the Link's Cut curve. The engineer and foreman of the work train saved themselves by jumping from the cab. The others weren't so lucky; of the 14 who would eventually die from the crash, seven were roasted alive by escaping steam and killed instantly.

On Tuesday, September 13, a jury empaneled by Coroner McGough concluded that, "C.W. Ferry and others came to their death by the collision of a construction train and a passenger train on the Cambria & Clearfield Railroad, in Carroll Township, Cambria County, on the 8th day of September, and that said collision was caused by the gross negligence and disobedience of rules and regulations covering the operation of the said railroad, by G.E.E. Dunne, conductor of the construction train, and G.S. Yoder, engineer of the construction train."

 

 
The Aftermath

Today, the Strittmatter Tunnel is abandoned, and the footprint of the tracks left by the old Cambria & Clearfield Railroad paved over or reclaimed by nature. Shortly after the crash at Link's Cut, the railroad was shaken up by a change in management after its detachment from the Altoona Division, with H.D. Lovell taking over as superintendent. In 1905, in order to improve safety, the Pennsylvania Railroad decided to reroute its passenger tracks around the tunnel and the dangerous curve near the Link farm. The PRR continued to use the tunnel for coal trains until 1960, when a cave-in injured three railroad workers.

Because of the September 1892 crash, Carrolltown never became a thriving hub of business and commerce; when the passenger station was robbed in December of 1893, the Altoona Tribune reported that the bandits made off with just thirty-eight cents.