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Disastrous Train Wreck at
Blackshear Occurred in 1888
27 LIVES LOST IN COLLAPSE
OF ALABAMA RIVER TRESTLE
By Dean Broome
On St. Patrick’s Day in 1888.
there occurred in Blackshear a
train wreck which brought the
town into prominence as the
scene of one of the greatest rail
road disasters in history.
No. 27, a fast mail and pas
senger train of the Savannah,
Florida and Western railroad, was
due in Blackshear about 9:30 A.
M. that March 17 on its regular
run from Savannah to Jackson
ville. It was travelling in two
sections, 1& miniites apart
The firs£ section of the train
was on,Schedule and as it passed
Owens between Patterson and
Blackshear, the engineer sounded
his whistle in a routine signal
that No. 27 would soon be along.
In Blackshear, H. J. Clark, depot
agent, readied baggage to -tndet
the train. 4A native .of Ways
Station, n<^' Savannah, he lived
until recently in Birmingham,
Ala.)
As the engine of the first sec
tion started across the 37-feet
bigh trestle over the Alabaha
River one mile east of Black
shear, the engineer had the first
warning that tragedy was about
to strike. He reported later that
he “felt something give” under
the wheels of his locomotive.
Something was wrong, but by
that time the engine was half
way across the trestle. The en
gineer made a quick decision. He
gave the locomotive full throttle,
hoping that the train would
reach the other side safely.
The engine did reach safety,
but just as it cleared the edge of
the trestle, the entire structure,
which was made of wood, seemed
to give way. The engineer felt a
tiemendous jerk. He turned, hor
ror stricken, to see that the en
tile train (five or six cars) and
even the locomotive tender had
collapsed into the Alabaha River
bed.
The engineer slowed his en
gine, quickly ordered his fireman
to drive on to Blackshear and
get help, and then he himself
leaped from the locomotive and
ran back. A good railroad man,
his first thought, after the im
pact of the tragedy dawned on
him, was of the oncoming second
se’^ion of Train No. 27, which
nftght plunge in a few minutes
iHto the river run if not stopped,
did not hesitate at the
scene of the wreck, but made his
way across the almost dry river
bed and up to the top of the fill
on the other side. He ran ap
proximately two miles and flag
ged the second section near
Owens.
Meanwhile, in Blackshear, the
engine, dragging a fragment of
the tender, and with only the
fireman in the cab, was seen ap
proaching the station. The fire
man was in a dazed condition
and seemed unable to stop the
engine. He finally did.so by leap
ing out and putting a piece of
timber under the wheel.
A crowd quickly gathered. The
fireman could tell them nothing
except that he supposed the
train was in the creek. Instantly,
the people who gathered began
to hurry toward the trestle.
One of the first men in Black
shear to hear of the disaster was
John B. O’Neal, then a youth of
20 years, clerking for his father
in-law, Allen N. Smith, in a gen
eral store located approximately
at the Oden Drug Store corner.
Another was John T. Brantley,
also then a young man, who was
in Brantley’s store across the
street on the site of the present
Pierce Trading Company dry
goods store.
Mr. Brantley and Mr. O’Neal
ran as fast as they could to the
wreck and were among the first
from Blackshear to arrive. A few
people from homes nearby the
trestle crossing, were already at
the scene. They were attempting
to give some first aid to the
wounded and dying but with lit
tle success since they had no
medical supplies. Someone then
thought of the cotton batting,
used in the Brantley turpentine
still in Blackshear. So young John
B. O’Neal and John T. Brantley
ran again to town, loaded batting
under each arm from the tjir
pe^ti**e still stock ream, and ran
back to the scene cf the train
wreck.
The old turpentine still, from
which this batting came, was 10--
cated across the railroad from the
present C. C. O’Neal store. Sam
T. Memory operated the still for
the A. P. Brantley Company.
When the first people from
Blackshear arrived, they met the
engineer who had made his way
back to the scene from near
Owens.
“Can we do anything for you?”
one of the crowd enquired of him.
“Yes, you can go down there
and help the wounded and dy
ing’^ he said, pointing tp the
broken bridge.
A heart-rending scene met the
eyes of those arriving. Debris
was scattered about the river
bed. Some of the injured had
crawled from the cars and were
sitting up. Others reclined in the
arms of friends. Still others lay
on the seat cushions, sleeper
matresses, etc. “The groans of the
suffering were distressing beyond
the powe r of language to des
cribe,” an eyewitness later re
ported.
Mr. O’Neal, Mr. Brantley and
Tracy Acosta were among the
younger men of Blackshear who
went to work to assist the in
jured and dying. Buckets of wa
ter had to be brought to put out
fires started by the wreck. Mr.
O’Neal recalls that he helped
saw off a corner of one car in
order to remove some of the
wounded. Same of the injured
could not be reached in time and
died while rescuers fought to re
move the wreckage which cover
ed them. In removing one dead
body to get at a man who was
calling for help, a small dog was
found unhurt.
There were four doctors in
Blackshear in 1888 and all went
immediately to the scene and
began to administer to the wreck
victims. They were Dr. A. M.
Moore, Dr. H. J. Smith, Dr. H.
Lamar Whatley and Dr. R. W.
Fuller. All worked tirelessly and
later refused to accept any pay
for their services.
Several famous personages
were among passengers on the
train. One of these was George
Gould, son of the famous finan
cier, Jay Gould, whose attempt
to corner gold brought on the
‘ Black Friday” of 1869 and dis
rupted the nation’s whole credit
structure.
George Gould was traveling
with his wife, who was expecting
a baby. Realizing her situation,
and she being injured, rescue
workers erected a tent of sheets
so that Mrs. Gould could lie in
privacy from the other injured
persons.
Mrs. Gould was later brought
to the Browm House along with
some of the other wounded and
she apparently suffered no ser
ious injuries, leaving several days
later with her husband in a spec
ial railroad car. She praised the
workers at the wreck, particul
arly the women of Blackshear,
saying;
“I neve r saw such gallant and
brave ladies in my life.”
Another famous person involv
ed in the disaster was Elisha P.
Wilbur, president of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad of Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania. He was traveling
with his invalid son, M. A. Wil
bur, in a private railroad car.
The youth was said to have been
deaf and dumb. With them were
three other relatives, W. A. Wil
bur, P. H. Wilbur, Miss Isabella
Cox, and a Mr. A. G. Boyle, all
of Bethlehem.
The invalid, M. A. Wilbur, wore
braces, and he was severely in
jured in the train wreck. As he
lay dying at the scene, whiskey
was being offered to the injured
as a stimulant and someone sug
gested that a swallow of the al
coholic beverage might help to
revive him.
Miss Cox, believed to have
been an aunt of the injured
young man, is reported to have
said, “He came into the world
without strong drink in him. Let
him go out the same way.” Young
Wilbur died before he could be
removed for treatment.
Many cases of whiskey, wine
and other alcoholic beverages
were found in the wreck of the
baggage car and the special pri
vate car.
After working all day on the
17th and into the night, Mr. O’-
Neal recalls that he fainted with
fatigue. When he came to, some
" The Brantley Enterprise
of the ladies assisting in rescue
work were rubbing his arms with
whiskey. He got up, he says, and
felt better and continued to work
all that night at the disaster site,
•even reporting for work at the
store next day.
The ladies of Blackshear were
credited with great -courage and
coolness in assisting the injured
at the wreck. Newspaper ac
counts of the day said most of
the Blackshear women, “young
ladies, married ladies, grand
mothers,” walked to the scene of
the tragedy and despite the hor
rible scene and nerve-shattering
events, worked “through the heat
of the sun” in assisting all who
needed help.
Special mention is made of the
good work done by Mrs. R. S.
Middleton, Mrs. J. A. Harper,
Miss Eva Acosta, Miss Meta Mc-
Kinney, Mrs. Dr. A. M. Moore
and others.
The dead from the wreck were
laid out in the old wooden depot
station (which later burned) in
Blackshear. The injured were
sent on immediately to hospitals
by train. The scene at the depot
aS relatives arrived to identify
their kin was heart-rending.
One wealthy man from Florida
came up to find his wife, who
had been on Train 27. Being un
able to find her body immediate
ly, he said, “Thank God, she
must be on the other section!”
Then he noticed a familiar
dress wrapped about one of the
bodies, injured beyond recogni
tion. It was his wife.
Mr. O’Neal was put in charge
of collecting the valuables of
those hurt and killed in the
wreck, the reason being that Al
len Smith’s store where he work
ed had the biggest safe in town
other than that of the Brantley
Company. He wrapped the
watches, rings, jewelry and other
items in a sheet and brought
them to town, later issuing them
to the owners or to relatives u
pon identification.
Some pilfering took place at
the wreck scene, according to a
dispatch from the Savannah cor
respondent of the Atlanta Con
stitution, whose story said:
: “Those who have returned
from the wreck say the bodies of
the dead were heartlessly robbed
by ghoulish thieves.”
Editor A. A. Ellenwood of the
Pierce County Journal, however,
branded this charge as “unquali
fiedly false.”
A Blackshear man, W. E. Lock
hart, on a trip to Savannah two
days later, also upheld the good
name of Blackshear citizens, giv
ing the Morning News this re
port:
“One man (at the wreck) was
discovered in the act of removing
a ring from the finger of Mr.
Smith, the Pullman conductor,
and he was promptly halted, and
being foiled he hastily left the
ground. Thre was talk of swing
ing him to a limb at the time, and
the citizens of Blackshear propose
to investigate the matter fur
ther.”
The great Biackshear train
wreck of 1888 was believed to
have been caused by a brake
mechanism which fell from its
place, riping cross ties from the
track. When it hit the wooden
trestle, it literally tore the bridge
from under the .rain.
Mr. O’Neal says that the old
ten&r, which held fuel and water
for the locomotive, is still at the
bottom of the Hurricane Creek
bed where the wreck took place.
He says he has fished about it
many times.
The train wreck had some hu
morous and human interest after
maths.
Nearly all stores in Blackshear
were closed the day of the wreck
and everyone who could went to
the scene. One of the few who
made any attempt to keep his
business open was a Mr. Morris
Cohen who operated a general
store approximately at the site
of the present J. F. Ratliff & Son
corner. However, at the end of
the day, Mr. Cohen told someone
he might as well have closed as
he sold only one axe handle all
day.
One concerned mt. George
Gould’s tophat which was com
pletely crushed in the accident.
He went about Blackshear trying
to find one to replace it, and
was disappointed that none was
available.
, Before leaving Blackshear, Mr.
.Gould went to the local bank
arid had some of his bills ex
changed for coins in nickel, dime
Nahunfe, Georgia Thursday, May 21, 1953
and quarter denominations. As
his special car pulled away from
the railroad station on the day
he departed, he reached in his
pocket and grabbed handfuls of
coins, tossing them among the
crowd standing by. There was a
scramble. It was said that young
sters found nickels, dimes and
quarters in the sand at the depot
for months afterwards.
“Captain” H. G. Fleming, sup
erintendent of the Savannah,
Florida and Westren railroad,
came personally from Savannah
to settle claims against the rail
road because of the accident. He
wrote checks for many thousands
of dollars for damages from the
wreck at Blackshear.
One of these checks was in
compensation to the family of
John T. Ray of Blackshear, the
only local man killed in the
wreck. His daughter, Miss Mat
tie Ray, also on the train, was
injured.
All those who assisted at the
scene refused to take pay for
their services, though it was of
fered. Many, however, were giv
en free passes on the railroad
line.
“Captain” Fleming offered to
pay Mr. O’Neal or issue him a
pass. Although he had never been
to Jacksonville, the young man
surmised that he might possibly
want to go some day. So he ac
cepted a pass, good for one trip
and return, from Blackshear to
Jacksonville.
Mr. O’Neal says he still has the
pass at home, 65 years later.
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