OBIT: John A. LUCAS, 1905, Altoona, Blair County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Patty Millich Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ Engine Blows Up Altoona, August 10 The big freight engine No. 2445 of the middle district of the Pennsylvania railroad blew up this morning at Bellwood at 6:55 a.m. as it was hauling a [word faded] train of coal and merchandize to Harrisburg. The explosion came without warning and as a result two men were killed and one injured while 14 cars were piled up and wrecked. The explosion is said to have been the result of the too little water in the boiler though no official cause has been assigned by the railroad officials. The dead are: Nicholas Murphy, engineer, aged 47 years of Altoona. J. A. Lucas, fireman, aged 25 years of Altoona. The injured are: J. R. Halligan, conductor of Harrisburg, sprain of the left leg. George R. Barnhart, conductor of Altoona, [bruises, words faded] The freight which left Altoona shortly before [faded] o'clock in charge of conductor George R. Barnhart and crew and was hauled by Engine No. 2245 with Engineer Nicholas Murphy at the throttle, with J. A. Lucas, as the fireman. In making up the train in the Altoona Yard, Engineer Murphy had engine No. 1994 put in a collision with a draft of cars, it was damaged and engine No. 2245 was substituted. Before they left the yard on the strip east, the cabin was derailed and after it had been replaced on the rails, the train pulled away from the city. It was running along at the rate of 15 miles an hour and when about 200 yards west of the tower at Bellwood, Engineer Murphy tried to put on the injector but there was too little water in the boiler so then came a roar followed by a loud report and the big boiler exploded. It rose to the air and fell a distance of 200 feet on the track. Engineer Murphy was thrown to the side of the tracks while his Fireman Lucas was hurled clear across the tracks into a field. They were both living when picked up and were quickly placed on a train and hurried to the Altoona hospital. Lucas died enroute while Murphy reached the institution and lingered until 9:00 when he passed away. Conductor Barnhart was in the cabin and he was knocked down by the force of the explosion and received a number of body bruises. He was brought back to his home in this city. The explosion caused the wreckage of 14 cars of the train. Extra No. 2163 Eastbound ran into the wreckage on an adjoining track with but little damage. Conductor J. R. Halligan of Harrisburg, to escape injury, jumped and sustained a sprain of the left leg and body bruises. He was taken to his home in Harrisburg. John H. Parsons, a Pittsburg division engineer, had a narrow escape from death by the explosion. He was riding to his home in Tyrone on Murphy's engine and just before it blew up he started back over the train to the cabin. He had only gone over a dozen cars when the engine went up. He was slightly hurt by being struck by several pieces of wood from the engine cab. The officials stated that the only cause they can assign for the blowing up of the engine was low water in the boiler. An investigation is to be made to determine the exact cause. Engineer Murphy was aged 47 years and had been employed by the company for the past 20 years. He ran first out of Huntingdon but came to this city several years ago and has since run over the middle division. He is survived by his wife and five children. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Red Men and the Presbyterian church. John A. Lucas, the dead fireman, was a native of Centre county and was aged 25 years. He came to Altoona 12 years ago and had since resided here and for several years had been in the employ of the company. He is survived by his wife and one child, also by his parents and several brothers and sisters. Cambria Freeman, Ebensburg, Pa., Volume 39, Number 31, Friday, August 11, 1905