AUSTIN, Texas — A craze swept America around the beginning of the 20th century: Inviting spectators to watch two steam locomotives running at high speeds crash into each other head-on.
And it likely was curiosity that brought thousands of people to Central Texas on a warm September afternoon in 1896. They were there to witness the collision between two fast-moving steam locomotives, an event that would prove so infamous, that the great American composer Scott Joplin would write a song about it called The Great Crush Collision.
Crush was named after W. G. Crush, a railroad executive who dreamed up the idea of promoting the new Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad – known as The Katy – by inviting people to come watch the locomotives collide a few miles outside the town of West, Texas, not far from Waco.
The Katy ran special trains to deliver Texans from across the state for a ticket price of two dollars. Around 40,000 people showed up for the big event.
The steam locomotives were backed up, aimed at each other, the throttles were opened all the way and the engineers jumped off.
The engines approached each other at a combined speed of 100 mph, and it was all over in a matter of seconds.
And as people neared the wreckage, the worst happened.
“The boilers on the trains exploded,” said railroad historian Dave Garland. “Two people were killed and six were critically injured. You simply can’t imagine the power steam when boilers explode, and both exploded.”
Crush was subsequently fired.
But despite the disaster, other promoters began staging similar crashes across the country that lasted into the 1930’s, though none were as disastrous as the one in Texas.
Because of the publicity from “The Crash at Crush,” the Katy railroad became a household name, and it made money. And despite the deaths and injuries, W.G. Crush got his job back and was even handed a promotion.
This month, a new musical comedy version of the train crash is being premiered at Austin’s Daugherty Arts Center. “The Crash at Crush” is being staged by Austin Comedies and will be presented with a live band through Feb. 15.