Mud Run, a tributary entering on the east side of the Lehigh River, gave its name to the site where, on an October evening in 1888, two special passenger trains collided on the tracks across the river. One train smashed into the other from behind, causing wooden passenger cars to telescope and split apart, and the boiler of one locomotive burst open, spraying deadly steam over the wreckage. Sixty-four people died there, including twenty-nine from the small borough of Avoca, Pennsylvania, which had a population of 3000. Many were young boys who played in a drum and bugle corps and had performed earlier in the day, and a witness recalled broken musical instruments, smashed drums, and articles of wearing apparel scattered throughout the wreck.