Local Railroad Accidents

Did you know that there was once a rail line that paralleled the Delaware and Raritan canal on the NJ side? The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad, later the Pennsylvania Railroad, ran along the eastern shore of the Delaware River. It ran north from Trenton, through Phillipsburg, to Manunka Chunk, NJ. There were local stations in Washington's Crossing and Titusville, NJ. 

Washington's Crossing, NJ Station

The train tracks ran on the eastern side of the canal, which is today's walking trail. The white bridge in the picture rotated so canal barges could get through. In the distance is the Johnson Ferry House. Behind the train station is the Nelson House Hotel, which was demolished in the 1930s, leaving only a small portion of the building which remains today. The train tracks were removed by 1982.

Nelson House Demolition

Ice on the Delaware with the train leaving the station across the river, showing the shadow of the covered bridge. Pre-October 1903.

A half-mile up-river was the scene of two major deadly train accidents, mere months apart. The first occurred on the morning of October 17th, 1903, a week after the "Pumpkin Flood" that washed out several bridges on the Delaware, so called because of the number of pumpkins that were swept into the river. 

October 18, 1903 Trenton Evening Times

Seventeen men were killed and thirty-two injured in a rear-end collision between two work trains on the Belvidere division of the Pennsylvania railroad, less than one-half mile this side of Washington's Crossing, at 6:30 yesterday morning.

How it Happened - The men were en route to the washed out tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad just above Washington's Crossing, in charge of Trainmaster James Gordon. Every available man in Trenton had been engaged for this work, and it so happened that all the men on the trains were in the employ of Contractor Robert A. Montgomery. They had been loaned to the Pennsylvania railroad to hurry along the work of filling embankments and ballasting track. Two sections of the train carried them to work yesterday morning.

Construction on the canal and railroad

When the first section was less than a half mile from Washington's Crossing it was stopped, and the engine went ahead alone to pick up some sand cars. This left a flat car, a tool car and a work car stalled on the track. In the work car were 193 men. To protect these lived Flagman Jacob W. Saums of 116 Rose street was sent back to flag the second section, bearing other workmen, should this train come in sight. Being six minutes behind the first section, there seemed little chance of the train coming up.

Conductor H. C. Conover of the first section believed there was sufficient time to pick up the sand cars; so did Engineer Elwood Fenton. The sand cars were gotten and backed to the first section, coupled up, and Engineer Fenton commenced to move his train ahead. Flagman Saums had been recalled. 

Suddenly there was a screeching whistle heard and Andrew Burroughs called to his brother, H. Bertram Burroughs, to jump for his life. The warning was not heeded by the man, but others heard it and jumped into the canal. 

Then came the crash and the awful screams of dying men, the grinding together of wood, iron and human flesh. Scream after scream rent the air as the injured fought for freedom from the awful crush. 

An Awful Scene - The engine of the second section had plowed through a flat car and hurled the tool car preceding it through the work car in which so many men were crowded. Fifty men on the flat car saw the engine coming and jumped at the warning of Trainmaster James Gordon, who was also on this carl. These men jumped into the canal. There was but a foot of water there and escape was easy.

Image Courtesy of Newtown Historic Association

As quick as it takes to write it the men who escaped from the flat car made a bee line for Trainmaster Gordon and Engineer Reed of the second section and chased them down the track. The men were infuriated as the groans of their comrades met their ears and they seemed bent on wreaking vengeance on the train crew. From Washington's Crossing a call was sent in to the First precinct police station here, and Sergeant Mullen sent twelve policemen in the patrol wagon to the scene of trouble. 

All this while the dead were being pulled out from the wreck by their friends and fellow workmen and the injured cared for as well as possible. Badly maimed men would crawl out from the wreck, and as brother would recognize brother there would go up heart-rending cries.

In the wrecked car the scene was one of awful carnage, a regular charnel-house. Blood was everywhere, and when the wounded were all taken out, ten men were found a mass with their heads battered out of shape and their bodies rent asunder, one almost cut in two.

This was the scene which met the eyes of Drs. R. R. Rogers, Jr. and G. H. J. Sommer of this city as they alighted from the special relief train sent from here. 

A second train brought Coroners Rue, Rogers and Disbrow and Constable Applegate. In the meantime there had come down from Lambertville Drs. Williams, Salmon, Larison, Closson, Romine and McGill and Turner of Titusville. On this train was Superintendent Gest and Father Lynch and as many laborers as could be crowded into two extra coaches. 

The doctors hurried to their work, Father Lynch administered to the dying alone until Father Gilfillan came on the second train from Trenton. Dr. M. M. Reddan of this city also came then.

Superintendent Gest hurried the work of rescue and dispatched twenty-seven wounded to Trenton and at once on a special train. The second train, carrying most of the dead and the remainder of the wounded, came into the Warren street station, it being nearer the morgue.

When the dying were looked after, the wounded sent to hospitals, and the dead removed to Trenton, the work of cleaning up the wreckage commended. In three hours the job was done and traffic resumed. The work car was so badly damaged that it was dumped into the river.

The property loss is comparatively light, the colliding engine sustaining hardly any injury and the work car was old and nearly worn out. Trenton Evening Times Oct 18, 1903

This accident was the deadliest in the railroad's history, with two dozen men eventually dying from their injuries. The majority of the dead were black and Italian laborers, on their way to work on the flood damage to the tracks. In the image of the wreck we see how low the canal was, which enabled some of the riders to escape to its waters. It also shows the dense fog that enveloped the Delaware that day, as well as the awful carnage that occurred. 

Just 4 months later there was another accident in almost the exact same location.

Another accident on the Belvidere Railroad - two men reported killed, but details have not yet reached us. Two cars are lying on the river bank. It was a head-on collision of two freight trains near Washington's Crossing, about the same place where the recent accident occurred, with such terrible results. Orders were given to hold the train for the other to get out of the way, but the engineer thought he could make the next switch. A little caution is sometimes better than too much speed. Feb 2, 1904 Newtown Enterprise

Image Courtesy of Newtown Historic Association

What's remarkable about this photograph of the second accident is that in the background we see the piers of the Washington Crossing Bridge, which was lost in the Pumpkin Flood 4 months earlier. The river is also completely iced up.

Piers of the Washington Crossing Bridge

Image Courtesy of Newtown Historic Association

The blame for the second wreck was placed on the engineer of the northbound train, Charles Herbert, who failed to take a siding as his orders commanded.

Both of these deadly accidents occurred within 4 months of each other at nearly the same location. The causes of each crash were different, but the effect was the same. Many people lost their lives in this spot, some sort of memorial or marker would be appropriate. 

Booze Truck Bridge Collapse

Recently, a minivan hit the canal bridge on 532 and almost went into the water.

Image courtesy of UMPD FB Page

An accident occurred on the same bridge in 1931 when a truck loaded with booze collapsed the camel-back bridge and fell into the canal.

August 16, 1931 Trenton Times

Bridge at Crossing Collapsed Under Weight of Vehicle - Driver Flees - Meanwhile Ewing Police Make $6,000 Haul Near Their Headquarters

Shortly after sixty half-barrels of beer, camouflaged on a five-ton truck, went crashing through a "camel-back" bridge over the Pennsylvania Canal at Washington Crossing, Pa., yesterday afternoon. Ewing Township police seized a $6,000 cargo of the same beverage loaded on two high-powered trucks and trailers.

Plunged head first into the canal, the truck drive swam safely to shore, clambered up an embankment and escaped in a rakish roadster that had been following his truck. The vehicle was licensed under the name of Harry Milestone, 2933 Almond Street, Philadelphia. 

Drivers of the trucks and trailers in Ewing Township ran right into the hands of authorities.

Patrolman Clarence Morris, patrolling the Pennington Road about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, became suspicious of two cumbersome-looking trucks and trailers - an unusual sight on the thoroughfare during the day. As the vehicles came in sight of Police Headquarters at Hillwood Lakes, he whistled the drivers down.

The truckmen, Peter J. Yancer, of 3122 Weikel Avenue, Philadelphia and John Stafford, of Magnolia Heights, N. J., readily surrendered. Cached in the two trucks were 240 halves and 60 full barrels of beer.

Chief Harry W. Prince and Sergeant John Kider hurried to the assistance of Morris. Chief Prince placed Stafford and Yancer under arrest and arraigned them before Recorder John Boscarell on charges of illegal transportation. The were released on $1,000 bail each.

Sergeant Elder and Patrolman Morris then had the trucks driven to the Mercer County Garage, Brunswick Avenue, where the beer was unloaded. The trucks were released to the drivers in bond of $10,000 each.

The carriers were headed toward Trenton but the drivers refused to state the exact destination of the cargoes.

The ill-fated truck which plunged into the canal had been driven across the river Bridget from the New Jersey shore, closely followed, witnesses told Morrisville State Police, by a roadster containing two men.

One witness said he watched the progress of the truck and suddenly saw it disappear as a rending crash was heard at the bridge.

The venerable span would hold only three tons, a freshly-painted sign read. However, heedless of the fact that he was driving a five-ton vehicle with an extra-heavy load, the driver continued onto the bridge. As the truck neared the centre of the wooden span, it crashed to the water and turned on its side.

The driver was thrown from the cab and started to swim frantically for shore. As he was doing so, the roadster was turned around. He leaped into it and it roared away at breakneck speed down the River Road, toward Morrisville.

A huge crowd gathered at the scene as traffic became snarled. Crates labeled "Radios" floated downstream, after tie roles snapped. Then, one by one, several half barrels made their way out of the wreckage. The soon were rounded up, however, but Troopers Stewart and Christ, of Morrisville State Police, and Constable Thomas South, of Yardley.

Traffic was re-routed to bridges up and down the canal by the police. The Bucks County Commissioners were notified and arrangements were made to take over the truck and beer. Officials of the Lehigh Canal and Navigation Company declared last night a new span would be erected. 

The same bridge had collapsed previously, in 1925, when a truck loaded with milk owned by John S. Eastburn overloaded the span.

December 7, 1925 Trenton Times

Eastburn Truck in Canal

If you're going to be hauling a lot of liquids, I recommend staying away from that bridge.

A Remarkably Accurate Survey

Moses Moon was a surveyor for Bucks County in the late 18th century who made countless drafts of properties, many of which still survive. This beautiful survey is for the land just north of Taylorsville.

1777 Moses Moon Survey

And the 1937 aerial of the location.

1937 Aerial

And finally, a composite of the 2 images showing the remarkable accuracy of Moon. The property lines are almost dead on. We see that "River Side Road" is today's Taylorsville Rd. At the time of the survey, it was the closest road to the river, River Road wasn't yet laid out. Something similar happened in NJ where they called Bear Tavern Road River Road until a closer road was built.

Composite

I find it fascinating that someone with 18th century tools at their disposal could map out a property so precisely and artfully. 

Taylorsville Canning Factory

Bernard Taylor Brock and his daughter Gertrude resided in Germantown, presumably with Bernard’s wife, though references to her are scarce. Bernard operated a grocery store on Front St in Center City. Starting around 1901 they spent their summers in Taylorsville living in the the Delaware House.

Taylorsville Canning Factory

In 1902 Bernard proposed the opening of a tomato canning factory in Taylorsville. A meeting was held on March 22nd, 1902 for interested growers. This article from the August 9th, 1902 Newtown Enterprise gives good info on the opening of the factory, its general operations, and the impact on the community. The factory was situated on the canal, behind the house whey they summered and was originally a planing mill and sash factory.

August 9, 1902 Newtown Enterprise

The canning factory’s first season was from September to October, 1902. Each subsequent summer they advertised for help in the Enterprise, and the factory opened for similar spans of time over the next two years.

"SM" on the 1891 Atlas

Something occurred financially in 1904 that led to Bernard initiating bankruptcy proceedings and ultimately losing the canning factory, which never operated again. The factory seems to have only been open and operational for less than 6 months total over 3 years, though the business of growing and harvesting tomatoes wasn’t limited to those months.

After the factory closed, the father daughter duo continued to spend time boarding at the Delaware House for the next 8 years, while continuing to reside in Germantown. They were also noted as staying at the Temperance House and the Taylor Mansion House during various visits.

Store of J. E. Howell, later Bernard Brock

In 1908 Bernard Brock and Willis Hydes took over John E. Howell’s mercantile business, located next to the Mahlon Taylor mansion house. Howell resigned as postmaster at the same time, and Bernard took over the position. Bernard’s daughter Gertrude married William Gladstone Hydes, the son of his new business partner.

Bernard served as postmaster of Taylorsville until 1912, when he sold the store back to Howell and removed to Germantown. I’m not sure where he lived in Germantown, but I saw their house referred to as “The Colonial” multiple times, sounds cool. There was a public sale of his goods in March of that year at his residence in Taylorsville. 

After that the mentions of their visits drop off significantly then there’s nothing at all for a decade until Bernard died February 12th, 1936 at his home in Germantown from pneumonia. Oddly, I don’t believe I saw a single mention of his wife until his obituary said that she had died “a few years ago” and didn’t even mention her name. The obit also incorrectly said that the factory and his residency as postmaster were in Brownsburg.

I would absolutely love to get my hands on a label from the factory.

In the meantime, here's a label from the Newtown Canning Company with a good story behind it.

Newtown Brand Tomatoes fire-singed label.

Taylorsville Casino

Did you know that Washington Crossing was once the home of a casino?

I’m not talking about the craps table at the carnival in the 80s, a riverfront dancing casino!

Ad for Taylorsville Casino

Opened on Memorial Day 1916 by Charles R. Randall and David Ryan, the Taylorsville/Washington Crossing Casino was built of frame, large enough to accommodate 150 couples on the open-air dance floor. There was ample space for the orchestra, which furnished music for the dancing events. 

A wharf was built to accommodate motorboat parties from Trenton and the various camps along the river. There was a bathing beach, where swimming contests and canoe races were held. The casino held dance instruction and served ice cream and soft drinks to the guests.

The casino and wharf were located just south of the Washington Crossing bridge, where the George Washington Picnic Pavillion currently sits. The property belonged to Dr. Isidor P Strittmatter, of Philadelphia, who owned many tracts in the immediate area that would eventually become a part of the park. 

Accessible by train, trolley, auto and water, the casino was a popular spot for locals and the surrounding towns.  At the time, there were bungalow and camping communities scattered along the river and nearby islands. Trentonians often made the trip upriver, many of them making Washington Crossing their summer home. Local clubs and organizations often rented out the casino for private parties, carnivals, and benefits. The Hopewell High School seniors gave a dance there in 1919, and other schools held class reunions in the space. The Trenton trolley men rented the casino for a dance.

The casino was open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. By the fourth season it had become one of the most popular dancing pavilions in the vicinity. Large crowds filled the dance floors each week. It proved popular enough that the casino had to be enlarged by 42 feet. At this time the pavilion was equipped with electric lights, which could be seen across the river where a competing casino opened. Called the Delaware View Log Cabin, it was destroyed by fire 2 years later.

In 1918 Ryan and Randall dissolved their partnership, Ryan bought out Randall. Ryan went on to purchase the general store of J.E. Howell, named it “Washington Market” and became postmaster. Things were going well for him, but not everything on the river was as idyllic as it seemed.

In June of 1921, casino proprietor David Ryan was jailed, along with two of his employees, accused of breaking into bungalows and stealing various items such as furniture and electrical equipment. There were a rash of bungalow thefts attributed to the trio.

With Ryan out of the picture the casino went under the management of the Yardley Fire Company No. 2. The casino didn’t last long after the change and was closed for good after the 1921 season. However, the trouble was just getting started for David Ryan.

In September of 1921 Ryan and well-known local farmer Walter Buckman were arrested and charged with improprieties involving four young local girls. Buckman, a former school director, fled town briefly before surrendering and being jailed. A well-known Bucks County farmer, he had a large farm that attracted many children. Ryan was also charged with blackmail after an attempt at extorting money from Buckman. 

Uh-oh

Ill feeling running against Ryan and Buckman is running high here and the community is aroused to an angry pitch against the suspected men. 9/30/1921

The community turned on them, as expected. Ryan removed to Stewartsville, NJ. Unable to handle the heat, he fled further to Santa Fe, New Mexico. His brother, one of his bondsmen, turned him in when he wired for financial help. Ryan was brought back to face justice in Bucks County. 

Ultimately, Ryan was named in seven indictments, Buckman four. Ryan was charged with felonious entry, larceny, receiving stolen goods, burglary, rape, adultery, and attempted rape. Another co-conspirator in the burglaries, John Clark, received a six-month sentence for his role. Clark promised to testify against Ryan if he would be released. The third suspect, Watson Church, was let off with no charges.

Walter Buckman's House

Buckman was represented by former Judge Harman Yerkes, of Doylestown. Yerkes was a prominent lawyer, State Senator and married to Emma Buckman. He was also almost 80 years old. Three of the four charges against him were dropped, he stood trial for the one. He claimed that he was being framed and extorted on the remaining charge. Buckman was 69 at the time of the trial. He was found guilty, and his lawyers were denied appeal for a new trial. Walter Buckman was sentenced to two and a half to four years in the Eastern Penitentiary. 

Ryan, now 24 years old, pled guilty to the theft charges and was sentenced to eighteen months to three years. He served the beginning of his term in the Bucks County Prison and was to serve the remainder at the Eastern Penitentiary. He was also given four to six years for the other offenses.

Ryan’s property, which included eleven bungalows and the dance pavilion, was sold at Sherriff’s sale in 1922 to a lumber merchant who was owed money for the buildings by Ryan. Presumably, the buyer tore down the structure and reclaimed the wood. 

The story isn’t over yet. In May of 1923 David Ryan managed to escape the county prison by scaling the wall with a rope that had a hook attached. He was nine months into his term at the time of his escape. The state police were up in arms at the escape, claiming the jail antiquated and too lax in its handling of prisoners. A reward of $100 was offered for his capture. 

Walter Buckman was eventually granted a new trial which ended in a hung jury. He died in 1933 at age 76 after a brief illness. 

As far as I can tell, Ryan was never apprehended again. His wife divorced him and the trail ends there. 

The Rainbow Aviation Company - Washington Crossing, PA

Opening announcement

Today’s residents of Washington Crossing are accustomed to planes in the sky, making their way to and from the Mercer Airport across the river. Nearly one hundred years ago residents were used to planes landing in their back yards, if only for a brief period.

Rainbow Aviation, Rainbow Flying Service, Rainbow Air Field; however you call it was a short lived private air strip located between the Delaware Canal and Delaware River, just south of Washington Crossing, PA. The field was located on the property of Eugene L. Beans, ten acres adjacent to the Wilkes Manor development. 

George R. Zinn, Jr. was the son of Captain George Zinn of Philadelphia, wealthy manufacturer with relations to the du Pont family. George Jr. was the youngest aviation field operator in the country, just twenty years old when he founded Rainbow Aviation in 1928. Zinn was also the youngest entrant in the National Air Race from New York to Los Angeles, in which he placed tenth. The event was widely covered in the national newspapers.

Staff at the Rainbow consisted of two pilots, George Zinn and Champe Taliaferro (who went on to become a well-known pilot, living until 2004), and a mechanic. Other pilots flew out of the field as well. Services included lessons, rides, trips, air carnivals, and it was a useful spot for emergency landings. Or, one could have made a fine day of just going to the field and enjoying the action. One time a pet monkey named Firpo took to the skies with it’s owner, a doctor from Morrisville.

Zinn painted rainbows of three colors on the sides of his fleet of biplanes. In May 1929, he added a Pitcairn Mailwing biplane to the fleet, which was dedicated with a ceremony. The plane’s wings were painted orange, the fuselage blue and black, with the requisite rainbow on either side. The field included a hangar, which a lifetime local resident recalls playing in when he was young. Other local pilots made good use of the air field. 

Ray Kuser, son of Frederick Kuser, of Trenton and New York, has recently become an ardent devotee of the sport, and flies continuously at the Rainbow Flying Field on the Pennsylvania River Road near Washington Crossing. Both of these young men flew recently over the city in behalf of the Junior League show.

Arch Maddock and his sister, Miss Florence Maddock, son and daughter of Mrs. Alice Maddock of the River Road, are both expert pilots, although it is understood that Miss Maddock will give up the sport at the request of her aviator-fiancé, Amberse Monro Banks, dashing air mail pilot. Her brother, however, is still in the ranks of aviators, and is now with the William Penn Airport, on the Philadelphia Boulevard, carrying passengers on local flights. TT Dec 16, 1928

Image presumably from Rainbow Air Field

Amberse Banks, hailing from Oklahoma, went on to be a successful airmail pilot known for his willingness to take risks in the sky. He is known to have performed loop-de-loops at the Rainbow, and was said to have flown under the Washington Crossing Bridge. 

A letter to the editor of the Newtown Enterprise on November 8, 1928 recaps the first year of operation:

To the Editor of the Newtown Enterprise:

Summing up the passenger flying of this summer at the Rainbow Flying Field, on E. Lynn Beans’ property at Washington Crossing, Pa., we want to congratulate George Zinn, Jr., manager of the flying field, on the way he has conducted the fields in such an orderly manner and the care he has taken to protect his passengers. Mr. Zinn has kept both the field and his airplanes in A1 condition. Also employing pilots in whom prospective customers could trust. He has done a remarkable business, considering this was his first season. In fact the large parking space on the field, which is quite large, has been filled to overflowing and in consequence the highway has been filled with parked cars. Mr. Zinn has instructed quite a few students in the art of flying, also has had a number of long distance flights. He was entered in the cross-country flight from New York to Los Angeles, making a very good showing.

Air-mail pilots consider it a very good emergency field and have set down on it a number of times, because of fog, dropping flares which have caused quite a lot of excitement over the country.

Less than a week after the letter praising the operations at Rainbow, the field saw its first accident. On November 11, 1928 George Zinn’s plane was caught in a wind current while approaching the landing, striking a treetop. The landing gears gone; the plane was badly damaged, landing on its nose. The two young passengers, students at the New Jersey School for the Deaf, sustained minor injuries. Zinn received a deep cut above his eye which landed him in the hospital.  Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the only accident to occur on the air field; nor was it the lone accident of Zinn’s brief aviation career. 

By May of the next year, we see an advertisement for flights to Lakehurst and Washington, DC. These excursions wouldn’t last long, however, as a month later the air field experienced its worst accident.

June 13, 1929 Newtown Enterprise – Passenger Killed in Aeroplane Crash

Phila. Woman Victim at Washington Crossing – Pilot in Serious Condition.

Mrs. Hannah M. Jones, a passenger in a plane from the Washington Crossing aviation field was killed on Monday when the plane in which she was making an ascent crashed to the ground after raising thirty five feet in the air.

John Stevenson, the pilot, was also very badly injured and is in the Mercer Hospital with a fractured skull and all his ribs broken.

Those on the field watched the plane take off, but noticed that it failed to gain altitude, reaching only a height of about 35 or 40 feet in several hundred yards.

With the engine apparently gone Stevenson tried to turn the plane around for a return to the field, when the tail caught in some telegraph wires, tearing down a pole. Then the machine crashed into an embankment.

Mr. Jones, who watched his wife make the ascent, told authorities that his wife, whom he married only four years ago, was an ardent aviation fan. She had made several trips in passenger planes both in Philadelphia and Atlantic City.

An article from the June 11, 1929 Trenton Evening Times gives further details.

...The accident happened shortly after the take-off. The plane was seen to struggle for altitude after it left the field. About a quarter of a mile from the hanger, when the craft was above the Washington Memorial Boulevard, Stevenson attempted a landing. The body of the ship cleared the telegraph wires in its path, but the hooked tail skid caught on one of the wires and the plane turned on its nose. It crashed heavily, turning on its back.

...The woman’s husband, Frank M. Jones. Philadelphia mason contractor witnessed the accident, along with a group of friends. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick McGlynn and Mrs. Mary Shooter, of Philadelphia. The party had motored through Trenton to visit the memorial park at the Crossing. Mrs. Jones, an aviation enthusiast, saw the Rainbow planes flying about and decided to go aloft. Her husband wanted to accompany her, but Stevenson feared overloading and asked him to wait.

...The plane fell on a small embankment on the farm of Mrs. Fred Maust. Mrs. Lawrence Grimes, who lived opposite the Washington Crossing Hotel, saw the accident and sped to the spot in her automobile. Mrs. Jones was placed in her car by Deputy Sherriff Harry Simmons, of Brownsburg. An employee of the flying field took Stevenson to the hospital.

The accident made the national wire, appearing in newspapers from Sarasota to San Francisco.

The end of the Rainbow came shortly after the fatal accident when Zinn sold the firm to a man from Philadelphia.

July 16, 1929 Trenton Evening Times – Philadelphian Buys Rainbow Air Firm

George R. Zinn, operations manager of the Rainbow Aviation Company, Inc., of Washington Crossing, Pa., announced today that the company has sold out to Fred R. Breidenfield, of Philadelphia. Mr. Zinn has severed his connections with the Rainbow fliers and will take employment with another aviation firm.

The new company will take control at once. The new firm is known as the Rainbow Flying Service. The company will operate daily within two weeks.

It is uncertain whether the strip continued operations with the new ownership, no further information was found on the field, or its new owner.

George Zinn’s future in aviation didn’t last long. On October 18, 1930, while flying in front of 40,000 people at an event at the Mercer Airport, he met his demise in a mid-air crash. 

October 20, 1930 Trenton Evening Times – Air Disaster Called Accident

...Rounding the pylon in a wing-to-wing formation, with four ships in line, two of the planes met with a rending crash that tore the tail off one and sent the other to earth in flames. Both ships crashed to the ground at 100 mile speed.

...George Zinn, Jr. 23 years old, former operator of the Rainbow Flying Service at Washington Crossing, and R. W. Mackie, 36, instructor at Curtiss Airport, Valley Stream, L. I., were the victims.

Zinn’s ship curved upward after banking at the pylon and the propellor bored through the tail and rear of the fuselage of Mackie’s plane sending a shower of fragments into the air. Zinn was probably stunned by the impact. His plane wobbled, out of control, then curved over in a loop and hurtled to earth. It crashed nose first and burst into flames. Mackie’s plane sped over a knoll, out of view of the spectators, and hit the earth with an impact that ripped Mackie’s body asunder. His head was thrown 40 feet from the wreckage and parts of his body were strewn about.

 

...Zinn, at the time he directed the Rainbow Flying Service at Washington Crossing, was the youngest aviation field operator in the country. He discontinued the Rainbow outfit after a crash in which a woman passenger was killed.

George Zinn and R. W. Mackie

Days after the tragic accident, changes were proposed to pylon racing, the type of event that caused the crash. These changes covered using colored balloons and more regulatory oversight.  Thomas L. Hill, president of the American Society for Promotion of Aviation, sent a letter to the US Department of Commerce in protest of this type of racing.

I wish to publicly protest against a condition in aeronautics which permits such air races to be held as made possible the two fatalities at Trenton, New Jersey. Races of this type, with the necessity of close turns around pylons at tremendous speed during which time the contestants are jockeying for positions are invitations to disaster.

...Speeding around pylons near the ground at two miles a minute, too low to use a parachute, too crowded to do anything, they had no chance for their lives.

The Rainbow Air Field was a short-lived experiment in the early days of aviation. After getting off to a promising start, the field quickly met it’s demise. Unfortunately, the loss of life was a risk these early pilots knew all too well. 

Ida Borstein advertised the land for sale in 1950 as Formerly Rainbow Flying Field.