19 people were killed and 170 were injured when an incorrectly placed switch caused the derailment of an excursion train returning from a sporting event.

A special train had been prepared for spectators returning from the well-attended Reagan-Davis sculling race on October 8, 1878 on Silver Lake in Plympton, Massachusetts.

The train, which consisted of an engine and 15 freight cars, was short-staffed as one of the brakemen had gone home sick earlier that day.

It was against the rules of the road for the train to go out; however, the conductor, Charles H. Hartwell, incorrectly assumed that the Silver Lake special had already reached Boston and he was not informed to the contrary.

Hartwell claimed that he had received written orders from his superior to act in the manner he did when the accident occurred.

As for the excursion train, the investigating judge concluded that Charles Westgate should not have been engineer of the lead locomotive due to his inexperience with the road.

The Times also noted that "the public sympathy for Hartwell appears to be very general and the feeling that he is made a scapegoat is wide-spread".