Mud Run Disaster

Mud Run disaster

Telescoping of cars
Date	October 10, 1888
Time	8:02 p.m.
Location	Kidder Township, Carbon County, near Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Country	United States
Rail line	Lehigh Valley Railroad
Type of incident	Rear collision
Cause	Signal passed at danger
Statistics
Trains	2
Deaths	64
Injuries	50

The Mud Run disaster was a train wreck that occurred on October 10, 1888 at Mud Run station in Kidder Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. At 10 p.m., one train ran into the back of another, killing 64 people.

The trains were taking home members of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America from a 20,000 person rally in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Altogether, 10,000 were returning to Luzerne and Lackawanna counties via the railroad. To accommodate this many passengers, eight trains were provided ("laid on"), running at ten-minute intervals. Each train had between 8 and 12 cars and was headed by two engines to cope with the steep grades between Penn Haven and Hazle Creek Junctions through what is now the Lehigh Gorge State Park. Lookouts (the brakemen and firemen) were posted on each of the engines to watch ahead for signals.

The first five trains passed through the Mud Run station area without incident. As the sixth train passed through, it stopped 600 or 700 feet beyond the station as there was no 'All Clear' signal displayed ahead. There was a red light on the rear car of this train, indicating its presence and serving as a stop signal for any approaching train. Unfortunately, the station was on a curve making it difficult to see the idled train. The flagman, James Hannigan, of the idled train walked back along the track to warn the seventh train, which was then approaching Mud Run. During an inquest conducted by Coroner A. J. Horn of Carbon County on the morning after the accident, Hannigan stated that he had gone 400 feet from the rear of the idled train and that "he did not know about a rule requiring that he go back a distance of sixteen telegraph poles as required by LVRR regulations." That distance was lengthened to 1,900 feet at his trial. The seventh train, headed westbound, had passed an eastbound train, which would normally indicate that the single track area of the line ahead was now clear. The lookouts on the seventh train (Hugh Mulhearn and Joseph Pohl) failed to see the red signal at Mud Run station and by the time they noticed the light being waved frantically by the flagman of the sixth train, it was too late to avoid a collision.