“To the people of the Purdue community, it was a calamity on the order of the World Trade Center attacks,” assistant athletics director and long-time Purdue historian Jay Cooperider said. “The tragedy of 17 people associated with the football program perishing as a result of the horrific train crash on that day in Indianapolis devastated the local community much in the same way September 11 did.”

Cooperider made the bold statement not to minimize Sept. 11, 2001, but to put into perspective the toll the Indy disaster had on those involved in the train disaster that took place 100 years ago Oct. 31, 1903, in Indianapolis.

“There was so much buildup and fanfare leading up to the event (the Purdue-Indiana football game),” Cooperider said. “When you consider there were only 1,100 students at Purdue at the time, losing that many people in such a catastrophic event touched the lives of everyone associated with Purdue.”

Many Purdue historians call the burning of Heavilon Hall in 1894, where no one was killed but a building four days old was destroyed, the worst disaster in school history, but Cooperider believes the Halloween tragedy had far greater impact.

“There were nearly 2,000 people that traveled to the game from Lafayette alone,” Cooperider said. “Purdue was a strong football program at that time and this was to be the greatest sporting event in the history of the state up to that point.”

Purdue had lost three out of four games to IU after winning the first six games in the series. The Boilermaker faithful couldn’t wait for the game as a solid opportunity of revenge on the football field.

The Big Four Railroad decided to run two special trains to the game in addition to extra cars attached to the first train which transported the team that left at 8:15 the morning of the game. The headline of the Lafayette Morning Journal put the euphoria surrounding the contest in perspective. The phrase “Rah, Rah, Rah!” was repeated three times in its headline.

The team train, which consisted of 14 coaches, was buzzing along at about 50 miles per hour when it came over the White River just a mile from its destination. As the train began to slow down, engineer W.H. Schumaker noticed much to his horror that 400 feet in front of him there were heavily loaded steel coal cars. After applying the emergency brake, and just before the trains collided, Schumaker jumped from the train and survived the accident.

The front car of the doomed train, which was filled with the official party, which included the football team, wasn’t so fortunate. The passenger engine and the first three coaches were almost totally destroyed upon impact. The car with the Purdue players in it had the roof separated from the floor.

All 17 fatalities were people connected to the team and were in the first car with the exception of one person in the third car. Nearly 50 people were injured. Many considered it a miracle more were not killed. The second car hit an embankment and rolled on its side and avoided a direct collision.

The people in the back 11 cars were shaken up, but someone had the presence of mind to think that there was another large train about 10 minutes behind the wrecked locomotive. A group, probably on foot, high-tailed it north on the tracks to flag the other trains down, warning them of the disaster ahead.

Later, it was determined that a clerk somewhere between Lebanon and Indianapolis forgot or was unable to telegraph the message that these special trains were coming to the Indianapolis yard.

One of the great stories of survival of the crash was that of Harry “Skillet” Leslie. The captain (or manager) of the 1903 team was sitting in the coach occupied by the band, had just left his seat and went into the players’ car when the fatal crash came. Leslie was left for dead when the undertakers at the morgue realized his heart was still beating. For weeks he was in the hospital. But he survived to become Governor of Indiana from 1929-33. He also was student body president for two years before and the two years after the accident.

Though the rest of the 1903 season was cancelled for Purdue, the Boilermakers rebounded in 1904 with an amazing 9-3 record and were an impressive 6-1-1 the following year.

“I do not want Purdue or its entire family to forget what happened that cold and windy day back in 1903,” said Chris Pate, who lives in Bedford, Ind., and is long-time Boilermaker fan who has one of the few copies of the Purdue game ticket still in existence. “It is important that we honor those who sacrificed their lives while proudly wearing the Old Gold and Black.”

Purdue is going to do just that prior to tomorrow's game with Northwestern. A video tribute to the victims of the train wreck of 1903 and a commemoration of the disaster will be shown on the Jumbotron after the pre-game marching band show. The video, narrated by Dale Miller of the Purdue Theatre Department, traces the monumental disaster and the recovery of Leslie and the campus. The presentation provides background on the fact that Memorial Gymnasium was built to honor the dead, and announces that the tunnel the team passes through will be dedicated to the victims of the wreck.

A permanent plaque will also be installed in the tunnel at either the Oct. 16 or Oct. 23, 2004, games.

“Many people consider the Heavilon Hall disaster a low-point in the history of the University,” Cooperider said. “But this tragedy exceeds that one in loss of life and the magnitude of the event. And, most importantly, the story of the resiliency of the people that were involved in the catastrophe serves to this day as in inspiration to people in and around the Purdue community.”

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