September 27, 1903: The Wreck of the Old 97

September 27, 1903: "The Wreck of the Old 97" takes place in Danville, Virginia. It is one of the most infamous railway disasters in American history.

"The Old 97" was The Fast Mail, a mail and baggage train with no passengers, given the right of way over all others to allow for more speed, on the Pennsylvania Railroad from Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City (after taking on mail from a ferry in Manhattan, as New York's Pennsylvania Station wouldn't open until 1910) to the Baltimore and Potomac Station in Washington. From there, the crew and the locomotive would be changed, and it would take the Southern Railway to Atlanta, Birmingham, and ending at Union Station in New Orleans.

The line was known for always being on time, much like the one Casey Jones ran in Mississippi when he saved his passengers at the cost of his own life 3 years earlier. But when Southern Railway locomotive 1102 was hooked up at Washington on September 27, 1903, it was already behind schedule. By the time it got to Monroe, Virginia, it was already an hour late.

It left Monroe with a crew of 17, including engineer Steve Broady at the controls. An 18th crewman would be picked up in Lynchburg. At Monroe, Broady was told to get the train to Spencer on time. This would require an average speed of 51 miles per hour, and the usual average speed on that 166-mile run was 39. But if the train didn't get there on time, the railroad would be penalized by the U.S. Postal Service, as per their contract.

There was a curve on the Dan River and a downgrade leading into the Stillhouse Trestle at Danville, Virginia, and Broady was unable to reduce his speed enough. The train derailed, fell into a ravine, and burst into flame. Of the 18 men on board, 11 died, including Broady, who was 33 years old. The other 7 survived because they saw what was happening, and jumped. They were all injured, but survived.

The cargo wasn't so lucky: Most of the mail was burned in the crash. One survivor was a large case filled with canaries. The birds managed to escape and fly away unharmed. Apparently, canaries are safer in a train derailment than they are in a coal mine.

That would seem to be the end of the story. But, as Danville is in the Appalachian Mountains, often called the birthplace of country music, songs were written about the wreck. In 1924, one such ballad, "The Wreck of the Old 97," was written and recorded by fiddler G.B. Grayson and guitarist Henry Whitter.

In 1929, they were the 1st act to record the folk song "Tom Dooley," based on the 1868 capture of North Carolina murder suspect Tom Dula -- by G.B.'s uncle, James Grayson. The song is usually introduced as being about "the eternal triangle," so it sounds like "Mr. Grayson" is the other man seeking the woman's affections. But in real life, Grayson was a Union Army officer turned lawman, which made him none too popular in those parts. Making him even less so: The available evidence suggests that Dula was innocent. Today, we don't even remember his name right.

In 1865, Henry Clay Work, noted for his Civil War ballads, wrote "The Ship That Never Returned." Copyright laws being what they were in the 1920s, Grayson and Whitter took the melody and wrote lyrics, the latter apparently based on the eyewitness account of Fred Jackson Lewey, whose cousin, Albion Clapp, was one of the firemen (shovelers of coal into the engine) killed in the wreck. Regardless, the lyrics put the blame on the railroad, telling Broady, "This is not 38, this is Old 97, you must put her into Spencer on time!"

In 1927, the song was recorded by Vernon Dalhart, and it became the 1st country song to selling over 1 million copies. Until Johnny Cash (who, of course, recorded all 3, and many other train songs) came out with "Folsom Prison Blues" in 1956, it rivaled "Casey Jones" and "The Wabash Cannonball" as the most famous train song ever recorded.

The melody would be used for another train song in 1948, and, like "Tom Dooley," become a hit for The Kingston Trio in the late 1950s: "M.T.A.," about a man who gets on the Boston subway and refuses to pay the newly-installed exit fare: "He's the man who never returned!"

Ironically, while the Wreck of the Old 97 is remembered, because of the song, it was not the worst railway disaster in America in the Autumn of 1903. Just 34 days later, on Halloween, a train crash in Indianapolis would kill 17 people, including 14 players on the Purdue University football team. But "the Purdue Wreck" didn't get a song written about it.

When Amtrak took over passenger rail service in America in 1971, it included a train it named the Fast Mail. The name is still in use today, although, with airmail service, carrying mail by trains is now obsolete.

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September 27, 1903 was a Sunday. This was before the NFL, so baseball was still the only major sport playing on Sundays. Even then, not every team played, because some States still had "blue laws" against Sunday baseball. Nevertheless:

* The Brooklyn Superbas, who became the Dodgers in 1911, were the only one of New York City's 3 teams in action that day. They split a doubleheader with the Cincinnati Reds, at the Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. That ballpark would be torn down in the 1911-12 off-season, and Crosley Field built in its place. Brooklyn won the opener, 14-7. Cincinnati won the nightcap, 7-6, in a game shortened to 5 innings due to the Sunday night curfew.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Beaneaters, 10-3 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. After a few name changes, the Beaneaters became the Braves in 1912.

* A doubleheader was split at Robison Field in St. Louis. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 1st game, 6-3. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 5-3.

All taking a day off due to blue laws: The New York Highlanders (they became the Yankees in 1913) hosting the Detroit Tigers, the New York Giants at the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Browns at the Boston Americans (they became the Red Sox in 1908), the Cleveland Naps (they became the Indians in 1915, and the Guardians in 2022) at the Philadelphia Athletics, and the Chicago White Sox at the Washington Senators.