The 1905 IRT wreck occurred just a few minutes after seven in the morning.

September 11 was an ominous date in NYC history even before 2001, if on a smaller scale. Due to a switching error, a horrendous 1905 train wreck killed 12 and seriously injured another 48 in Manhattan on the erstwhile IRT Ninth Avenue line at West 53rd Street. As this astounding (and anonymous) photo illustrates, it was a horrifying calamity of Hollywood blockbuster proportions long before movies were capable of simulating such disasters. The motorman, Paul Kelly, faced criminal charges for the crash because police suspected the incident was a willful act connected to an imminent strike by the motormen. Kelly went on the lam and eluded capture for nearly two years. The July 1, 1907 New York Times reported on his arrest in San Francisco. An excerpt:

“Paul Kelly, wanted by the New York police on a criminal charge growing out of the death of twelve persons in an elevated railroad wreck on Sept. 11, 1905, was arrested here last night by local detectives and detained pending orders from New York. Kelly admitted his identity.

The day before the strike of the elevated railroad men in New York, Kelly, who was a union motorman, was in charge of the train which was wrecked. It was charged that Kelly willfully disobeyed orders. He disappeared, and the Police Commissioner of New York offered a reward of $500 for his arrest.

Kelly has been here for a year, and has been in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad in a local freight yard.”