A Railway Collision 1900
The scene is a railroad track on the side of a steep mountain, with a tunnel in the background, toward which a train is running at a high rate of speed. At this instant the audience is appalled at the sight of a second train rushing out of the tunnel. Both trains are on the same track and traveling toward each other at a high rate of speed. They collide. Cars and engines are smashed into fragments and thrown down the steep incline. (Edison Catalog)
United Kingdom · 4.1/10
Searching Ruins on Broadway, Galveston, for Dead Bodies 1900
This shows the heart of one of the tremendous drifts in the east end of Galveston. Hundreds of dead bodies are concealed in these immense masses, and at the time the picture was taken the odor given out could be detected for miles. The subject shows a gang of laborers clearing away the debris in the search for corpses, one of which was discovered while the picture was being taken. (Edison film catalog)
United States · 4.5/10
San Francisco: Aftermath of Earthquake 1906
Footage shot not long after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco is edited together so that more than one scene and more than one vantage are included. We see fire raging. We see burned-out buildings, piles of rubble, and buildings with only one wall standing. People stand and watch; others walk purposely through the debris. A carriage passes; the camera pans the desolation. A horse-drawn cart is laden with a family's remaining possessions. A sign hangs outside one building: "A little disfigured but still in business. Men Wanted.
United States · 5.4/10