 The impetus to produce this film appears to have been the ability of the Thanhouser crew to capture a disaster on film . Film historian Q. David Bowers writes , " What was one company 's misfortune was another 's gain , and from time to time during the next few years Thanhouser cameramen hurried to film scenes of disasters so that they could be featured as film episodes in scenarios which were written after the fact . " It is unknown what particular rail disaster was filmed , but a possible that the accident depicted was in the Bronx on the night of June 1 , 1910 . That night one stalled train , concealed in smoke from a fire , was struck by another train near the Mott Avenue subway station . One of the composite cars was shredded by the steel cars behind it ; there were no fatalities in the accident . Other accidents prior to the film debut occurred in January and February . 
