My dad worked as a licensed electrical engineer for the J. Livingston company, a prestigious electrical contractor. His office was on the eighth floor of the 333 N. Michigan building and his drafting board had a stunning view of the Michigan Avenue bridge, the Wrigley building, and the then Tribune Tower.
Dad was a creature of habit, and you could set your watch on the thousands of his evening commute home each week day. Precisely at 5 o’clock he would put on his overcoat and hat take the elevator down to Michigan Avenue, walking to the north – south CTA subway station at state and Lake. (Now the red line). He would board the northbound train for the 20-minute ride to the Bryn Mawr station and then the Peterson Avenue. Like clockwork he would arrive home for a 6 o’clock family dinner.
But on the evening of November 5, 1956, One day before the presidential election between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, all that changed.
On that cloudy Monday evening with a temperature of about 56°, the six-car Milwaukee Limited the ‘Liner Follower” with 300 passengers left the Adams and Wabash station at 5:06pm and arrived at the Wilson station on schedule at 5:28pm.
The North Shore crew had just finished loading and alighting passengers and was preparing to leave. One minute later my dad’s eight-car CTA “L” train crashed into the rear of the interurban at an estimated 15 mph.
The 6000 series lead “L” car, a converted “green hornet” streetcar in service only since April or May of 1954 , crushed into the rear of the heavier interurban. The front of the car was lifted about two inches off the rails. the lights failed throughout the train and passengers were thrown to the floors piled on top of each other.
The CTA motorman Michael J O’Driscoll was pinned in the compressed “L” cab in ‘til 10:47 PM, suffering broken bones, severe bleeding s and internal injuries. Workers from the Wilson Avenue CTA shops brought cutting torches and crowbars to the scene to help pry the motorman, who was losing blood rapidly. Firefighters worked with hydraulic jacks, chain hoists, power saws, pinch bars and acetylene torches attempting to free those others trapped inside the front car.
Meanwhile, they brought the approximately 160 “L” injured CTA passengers down from the train to ambulances waiting outside the CTA station. The injured were taken to Ravenswood , American , Edgewater , Weiss, Illinois Masonic and Cuneo hospitals.
And eight tragically died.
A Cook County coroner’s jury concluded that the accident was entirely the fault of the CTA motorman for not watching out for the stopped North Shore Line interurban. The elevated lines at this time were not equipped with any automatic block signals and motormen were expected to operate “on sight”. It is not entirely clear, however, whether he saw the North Shore Line train stopped at the station.
the motorman Michael J O’Driscoll born in Ireland, died July 24 1967 and was buried in All Saints Cemetery
My dad was riding in one of the cars more toward the rear of the train and did not admit to any injury. He left the scene quietly and somehow found his way home. He said very little about his experience that night
Dad continued to make that trip home each Weekday evening on the CTA until his death in May 1959 About three years later.
What we need to remember is that Life is both a gift and fragile. And it is all about family.
Chicago and Cook County Cemeteries 