Charles Collins, After the Ashtabula Bridge Collapse 1876, Did He Commit Suicide or Was It Murder?

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Illustration of the bridge collapse. Collins brooded over the accident.

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Hello! I'm Mr. Ed

Blog Created: 3-20-2024

Charles Collins was in charge of the maintenance of the railroad tracks in Ashtabula, Ohio for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. He had told friends that he was concerned about the 154 foot long iron bridge over the Ashtabula River. He didn't think it was safe because it was so long. But there had not been a train accident at the bridge up to that time. That all changed on December 30, 1876. As the Pacific Express train, bound for Chicago, ran over the bridge, it collapsed sending 11 passenger cars, one of the two locomotives and over 100 people 76-feet to the icy waters below. Collins died in 1877. Many have stated that he committed suicide over the memories of the train disaster. But other historians have claimed that he died of natural causes.

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Letter I Received:

HELLO ED,

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIAL FOR CHARLES COLLINS. HE WAS FOUND DEAD FROM A GUNSHOT WOUND TO THE HEAD, WHICH CERTAINLY DOES NOT SOUND LIKE A DEMISE DUE TO NATURAL CAUSES. WHILE SOME SURMISED THAT HE MAY HAVE TAKEN HIS OWN LIFE, THE POLICE WERE OF THE OPINION THAT THE GUNSHOT WOUND WAS NOT SELF-INFLICTED.

KIND REGARDS, NEIL

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Another letter dated 6-28-2011:

Mr. Ed;

First of all, thank you for putting up the memorial to Charles Collins. A few notes:

In Mr Collins bedroom where he died, a second bullet was found in the wall near his bed, hence the homicide ruling in his death. Collinwood is named for him, done so during his tenure as Chief Engineer of the LS & MS. Collins never inspected the bridge, btw, he delegated that as he wanted nothing to do with it. There was no real search for Collins' murderer, feelings ran far too high after the disaster. The suicide myth was the creation of Victorian morality, essentially. He was born in 1826, attended and graduated from Rennsalear Polytechnic Institute.

Sent by Women in Technology-19th Century

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Letter dated 10-16-2014:

His biography that was published in a book of famous men of Ohio gives his birth date as Oct 31, 1821 in Brunswick, Renssalaer, New York.

Dawna

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Submitted by Julie/Graves-Birkhimer:

DEATH RECORD:

Name Charles Collins

Event Type Death

Event Date 18 Jan 1877

Event Place Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States

Address 3rd Ward

Gender Male

Age 56

Marital Status Married

Race white

Race (Original) white

Occupation Civil Engineer

Birth Year (Estimated) 1821

Birthplace Brunswick, Rensl., N. Y.

Father's Name Dr Robert Collins

Mother's Name Amelia

Cause of death: Suicide by pistol

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NOTE:

Charles Collins' story is featured in Chapter One of Unsolved Murders & Disappearances in Northeast Ohio by Jane Ann Turzillo.

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Personally, I believe that Mr. Collins did NOT commit suicide. It's my belief that, possibly, a family member of one of the train accident victims murdered him in revenge. It's also my opinion that they killed the wrong man. Mr. Collins did not design or build that bridge. There is proof that he warned others that an accident could happen but no one listened to him.

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The iron bridge before collapse.

Illustration of the bridge collapse.

Postcard photo of the wreck. The view is toward the west abutment; the locomotive 'Columbia' can be seen in the wreckage at left.

One design for a half-angle block. The attached chord puts immense downward (shear) stress on one side of the block only, for which the block is not designed.