This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: CHERRY Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/TcI.2ACIB/743 Message Board Post: http://www.aths.com/page195.htm Bullitt - Nelson County: Kentucky USA A Christmas Tragedy 51 Die In The Shepherdsville Train Wreck of December 1917 Submitted by: Gertrude V. Morris ATHS MEMBER 1077 EMAIL ADDRESS: GMORRISV@aol.com The headlines shouted, 47 Die in Fatal Crash When Fast Mail Train Crashes Into Springfield Accomodation! Supplimental headlines stated, Local Train Heavily Laden With Bardstown People Who Were Returning From Louisville – All Killed Or Seriously Injured. These were the tragic headlines of the Kentucky Standard of December 24, 1917. No issue of The Standard in its 60 years has been filled with news of so much tragedy. Recently, another chapter was written. The "woman with the brilliant red hair" died at the age of 92 – her heroic role in the tragic train wreck at Shepherdsville all but forgotten. Miss Margaret Woods of Lexington, a trained nurse, was aboard a Louisville & Nashville Railroad’s Cincinnati – to – New Orleans flyer December 20, 1917. A second passenger train was parked in the heart of Shepherdsville, preparing to switch off the main track to allow the flyer to pass. At 5 p.m. the flyer whistled toward town. Its engineer spotted the local, but he was going too fast to stop. The woman who worked all night aiding the injured and dying was described in newspaper accounts only as "the woman with the brilliant red hair." She was not identified as Margaret Woods until several days later. "Smiles were changed to tears, and laughter gave way to sobs when the news was received here that the Springfield Accomodation train had been wrecked at Shepherdsville and that every Bardstown person on the train had either been killed or dangerously injured." That was the way the lead story in the Standard of December 24, 1917 read. The accommodation was loaded with Bardstown people who had spent the day in Louisville doing their Christmas shopping. 19 Bodies Brought Home Family after family was struck with tragedy – county office holders, business and professional men and their wives. Fathers, mothers and children were tragic victims. Private sorrow turned into public grief when a special train arrived at Bardstown the night after the wreck bringing "our dead." The bodies of 19 persons were unloaded. It was nearly midnight the night before when the last of the mangled bodies was taken from the two coaches, some beyond recognition. The injured were moved either to Louisville hospitals or to homes in Shepherdsville, where some of them died. Fortunately, all Shepherdsville passengers had already gotten off the train. Otherwise the wreck’s toll would have been much greater. The Baptist Church at Shepherdsville was turned into a morgue where relatives came in their distress seeking to identify bodies. The Bardstown accommodation No. 41 was due at Shepherdsville at 5:19 p.m. Thursday December 17. It was six minutes late arriving. The order to take the siding so the fast train could pass was being carried out. The accommodation pulled up to the head of the switch, 200 feet beyond the depot, and was preparing to back in when No. 7, two hours late (due at Shepherdsville at 3:30 o’clock) plowed into it and split it wide open. The two rear coaches of the accommodation were crumbled like cheese leaving a twisted mass of twisted steel and wooden splinters. The Dead: 1 - Nat W. Muir, 65 years old; Bardstown banker, president of Wilson & Muir bankers. 2 - Mrs. Nat W. Muir, 50 years old. 3 - George S. Muir, 16 years old, their son. 4 - Redford C. Cherry, Sr. 38 years old, practicing attorney at Bardstown former County Attorney of Nelson County. 5 - Mrs. Redford C. Cherry, 38 years old. 6 - Redford C. Cherry, Jr. 5 years old, their son, all of Bardstown. 7 - Mrs. Joseph Hurst, 20 years old, of Bardstown. 8 - Joseph Raoul Losson Hurst, 7 months old, son of Mrs. Hurst above. 9 - Mrs. Hurst had taken her baby to Louisville to be examined by a specialist. 10 - W. Mack Miller, 33 years old, prominent farmer of Bardstown. 11 - Mrs. Mack Miller, 33 years old. (newspaper accounts of the day do not list Mrs. Miller, she may have died later as a result of injuries) 12 - John Philips, 65 listed as Town Marshal of Bardstown (in original accounts, 1960 article states he was Chief of Police). 13 - Mrs. John Philips, 55 years old. 14 - Mrs R.H. Miller, 38 years old, wife of Dr. R.H. Miller of Bardstown. 15 - Mrs. Tom Moore, Sr, wife of former president of the Mattingly & Moore distillery. 16 - James Thompson, 50 years old, deputy revenue agent of Bardstown, nephew of T Scott Mayes of Louisville. 17 - Ben Talbott, 60 years old, deputy revenue agent, Bardstown. 18 - Miss Josie Bridges, 20 years old of Samuels, Ky. 19 - Hollis Bridges, 18 years old, her brother. 20 - W.C. Johnson, farmer of Samuels, Ky. 21 - Emory Samuels, of Deatsville, Ky. 22 - Miss Maggie Mae Overall,30 years of age, of Cox’s Creek, Ky. 23 - Forrest Overall, 19 years old of High Grove, Ky. (original newspaper account torn, looks like Forrest was the son of DA Overall.) 24 - N.H. Thompson, of New Hope, Ky. (don’t see him listed on original accounts, may have died later as a result of injuries) 25 - Lawrence Greenwell, 40 years of age, of New Haven, flagman on Local No. 41. 26 - Mrs. Althea Simms, of Springfield, Ky.( original newspaper accounts state Miss Simms was 18 years old and a resident of South Bend Indiana) 27 - Rev. E.A. Bertello, Catholic priest of Chapeze, Ky. (listed in original newspaper accounts as Father Eugene A. Bertillo) Others from Bardstown Junction and Springfield. Among the injured: Frank E. Daughtery, practicing attorney from Bardstown, Ky. J.E. Bowles, prominent farmer from Bardstown, Ky. (later died see below) Lee Roby of Bardstown, Ky. Miss Natalie Halstead of Bardstown Miss Ella Philips, daughter of Mr. And Mrs. John Phillips (deceased, see above) J.E. Smith of Bardstown, Ky. Harry Samuels of Samuels, Ky. ATHS Note: The newspaper article above appears to be from a Bardstown newspaper published about 1960. It focuses on the Nelson County deaths. The only Margaret Woods, aged 92 listed in the Kentucky Death Index was: Margaret Woods, 92, who died on February 29, 1960 in Fayette, County, Kentucky. The article was not credited as to author. According to the last item in the article Lee Roby, one of the injured, was then employed at Flaget Hospital at the time of its publication. Additional Ancestral News Information: As our headline states, 51 was the actual death count according to contemporary accounts. In an effort to make this report as complete as possible the following additional deaths were gathered from original newspaper accounts published in January 1918. 28 – David Maraman, 38, son of Charles Maraman, farmer Shepherdsville, Ky. 29 – M.H. Campbell, of Louisville, Ky., conductor on train No. 41, the Bardstown Local. 30 – Raymond Thomas Cravens, 2, son of Mr and Mrs Thomas Cravens of Taylor Blvd., Louisville, Ky. Died at St Mary and Elizabeth Hospital. 31 – George C. Duke, railroad agent, Bardstown Junction. 32 – Virginia Duke, 12, daughter of George C. Duke. 33 – Mrs Mattie C. Harmon, 65, residing near Shepherdsville, died at St Mary and Elizabeth Hospital. 34 – Kate Ice, 35, of Bardstown Junction. 35 – Lucas Moore, 60, field agent of the United States Bureau of Crop Statistics, Louisville, Ky. 36 – Tom Spaulding, 22, Notre Dame University, Springfield. 37 – Miss Elizabeth McElroy, 16, student , Bardstown. 38 – James Morrison,12, son of Jackson Morrison. 39 - Mrs. Carrie Mae Simmons, 45, widow of William Simmons, former president of People’s Bank, Shepherdsville. 40 – Frank Nunn, 28, L & N ticket agent. 41 – Mrs. Daniel Nutt, 38, Leaches, Ky. 42 – Mrs. Arch Pullman, Bardstown. 43 – Thomas Schaffer, 18, Chapeze. 44 – J.W. Stansberry, Jr., 40, farmer Bardstown Junction. 45 – J. W. Thompson, New Hope, Ky. 46 – David Phillips, 50, farmer, New Haven, Ky. 47 - Henry Hardaway, Shepherdsville, Ky. 48 – Sid Lawrence, stock dealer, Springfield, Ky. 49 – Mrs. Thomas Miller, 30, New Hope, Ky. #50 J.E. Bowles, 53 years old, prominent farmer from Bardstown, Ky.- Article in January 1918 Shepherdsville newspaper states, J.E. Bowles, horseman, of Bardstown, the fiftieth victim of the disastrous wreck at Shepherdsville, died of blood poisoning early Friday morning at St Mary and Elizabeth Hospital. Mr. Bowles suffered internal injuries and a severe injury to one of his ankles. The latter injury became infected and blood poison resulted. According to the article on file at the Ancestral Trails Research Library in Vine Grove, Ky., Mr. Bowles was born in Paris France and several years ago he was noted as a breeder of fine race horses, but in recent years devoted his land to raising Holstein cattle. 51 – Mrs. H.H. Mashburn, 40, wife of the Rev. H.H. Mashburn, pastor of the Bardstown Baptist Church. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Damage Suits Filed Amounting To $370,000 (REPUBLISHED FROM 1918 BULLITT COUNTY NEWSPAPER ARTICLE) Several suits have been filed in the Circuit Court here in the last few days, by administrators or victims of the wreck here, December 20, 1917 against the L.N.R.R. which will be called at the March term of court. Following are a list which have been brought and the amount sued for. Henry Bowman, $10,000 John Bowman, $50,000 C.L. Croan, adm of Katie Ice $40,000 Elizabeth Campbell, adm. $50,000 Jeunie Greenwell, adm, $4500 J.D. Gregory, $35,000 Chas. Jessie, $15,000 John McClure, $20,000 Susie Sireckels, $10,000 Will Shelton, $25,000 John Showalters, $25,000 Ethel Thornton, $10,000 Mary Stansberry adm, $50,000 Several suits have been filed in nelson county for damage in the same wreck, the largest one was of the three Muirs, which was $170,000. We have been informed that the R.R. Co has settled with most all who have sued. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many Valuables Still Missing: While many valuables have been located and returned to the owner, friends or relatives, everyday inquiries have been coming in to the News office in regard to money, watches and all kinds of jewelry, overcoats, etc., lost on the night of the wreck. Anyone in this vicinity locating or finding valuables will please report or leave same at this office, and they will be returned to the rightful owner. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: Bullitt Circuit Court. Honorable D.A. McCandless, Judge Tenth, Judicial District. The Grand Jury of Bullitt county, Kentucky, after being in session five days for the special purpose of investigating and inquiring into the cause of the collision of two passenger trains on the Louisville & Nashville railroad inside the corporate limits of Shepherdsville, Dec 20, 1917, where by forty-eight passengers were killed and as many seriously injured, desire to make the following report: We have examined about thirty-five witnesses and according to their testimony find that the wreck was caused and brought about by a failure on the part of many of the officers, agents and employees of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, to promulgate such rules and perform such service in the operation of the trains of said company as would make them safe to the traveling public. ATHS Note: the railroad was also cited for using, "old styled wooden passenger coaches and pulled by an engine of the old type." And declared them unsafe when used on a trunk line where many modern trains of steel coaches pulled by the largest and heaviest type passenger engines are operated at a rapid and dangerous speed. "Therefore use of such old wooden passenger coaches and old type engines should not be tolerated by the public."