Columns
Texas History: Thousands gather to watch the Crash at Crush
By Bartee Haile
On Sept. 6, 1896 the Katy Railroad put two-dollar tickets on sale for seats on excursion trains that would carry buyers to the sight of the century – a staged collision of two locomotives.
The unique publicity stunt was the pet project of an imaginative passenger agent with the unlikely name of William George Crush. A rail mishap several years earlier had gotten him to thinking.
Even though the accident happened miles from the nearest town, in a matter of minutes the scene was...