Wreck at Jug Neck curve

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On Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 10:02 PM, Peter wrote:

> I am looking for the date of a wreck that my great-grandfather included in
> his autobiography. The following is a quote from same.
>
> "On another occasion I was riding in the left side of the cab of passenger
> engine No. 72 with Charlie Akers, engineer, and Dick Moran, fireman. Going
> up to Bluefield from New River as we were rounding Jug Neck curve, I saw
> ahead a rock slide across the track.
>
Does anyone recognize that wreck? Unfortunately I can only narrow it down
> to 1882-1900, the years he worked for the Shenandoah Valley Railroad and
> the N & W. I would be very grateful for any assistance. I actually have
> three or four more wrecks I am trying to date but thought I would start
> with one. Of course, I already have the date for the wreck at Thaxton.
>
A search of the digital newspaper archives in the Library of Virginia (
http://virginiachronicle.com/) turns up a clue (and an interesting report
of another wreck near Glade Spring). Note the third paragraph of the April
18, 1891, story in the Roanoke Times with news items out of Radford:

The Roanoke Times, Volume 9, Number 183, Saturday, 18 April 1891, pg. 3

RADFORD.

Radford, April 17. -- [Special] -- A serious wreck occurred at the east end
of the Norfolk & Western yard here last night, in which an engine and seven
empty coal cars were piled up on the track, delaying No. 3 one hour. The
wrecking crew from Pulaski was sent down to clear away the debris.

Mr. S. Y. Sampson, time clerk for the Western division of the Norfolk and
Western Railroad, received serious injuries while attempting to board a
moving train between Randolph street and East Radford. His head was cut
open and he is said to have received serious wounds beside.

Sixteen cars and three engines were wrecked at Ada a few days ago. Two men
were seriously, but not fatally, hurt. Captain Rushe, the wrecking master,
is still at the scene of the disaster, but is expected back to-day.

Capt. Ed. Davis, the popular passenger conductor, who has been sick for the
past two months, is out again, much to the pleasure of his friends and the
traveling public.

THE TIMES is rapidly gaining in favor here. It is justly considered "The
best daily in the Southwest."

Messrs. Heth, Preston and Stranges, have returned from a trip to Big Stone
Gap, where they went on a prospecting tour. Captain Heth has recently been
offered a $15,000 advance on the farm he purchased near Blacksburg a few
weeks ago. He speaks of running a railroad toward his mineral possessions
in this county.


Perhaps that wreck at Ada is the one your great-grandfather is referring to.

Also found while searching the archives was this detailed report of a wreck
of a passenger train near Glade Spring, a story from the Lynchburg Advance
carried in the Shenandoah Herald:

Shenandoah Herald, Volume 70, Number 1, 14 February 1890, pg. 2

ANOTHER WRECK.

ON THE NORFOLK AND WESTERN --
ONE MAN KILLED AND SEVENTEEN INJURED.

A serious accident occurred on the Norfolk & Western Railroad Saturday
night, which resulted in the wrecking of six coaches, the death of one
person, and injury, more or less seriously to seventeen others.

The scene of the accident was near Hutton's about one mile east of Glade
Spring, where the train was due at 10:40 o'clock, but on this occasion was
thirty minutes behind schedule time.

Before the tank is reached, there is a culvert with an embankment twenty
feet high. The first intimation of an accident to the passengers was when
within a few hundred feet of this culvert a heavy shock was felt followed
by a horrible grating sound. The next moment the entire train with the
exception of the engine and the last sleeper had plunged down the
embankment, the mail car, which was next the tender, being broken into a
thousand fragments, scattering debris in every direction, the express,
baggage and two passenger cars smashed and badly damaged. The engine has
passed safely over the bridge and was standing on the track, though the
tender had become separated and was lying at the foot of the embankment on
the east side of the culvert. The last sleeper also remained on the track
uninjured.

Those who recovered at once from the confusion and the panic which
followed, hastened to discover the injured and render whatever assistance
they could. In the mail car which lay next the small stream at the bottom
of the embankment were found mail agents, B. W. Bocock and A. B. Burton.
Mr. Bocock was found wedged in between the broken timbers of the car, his
head hanging out over the water, and his legs imprisoned. He was badly
bruised about his head, his right shoulder dislocated, bruises in and about
the middle of the spine, and a number of minor injuries. Mr. Barton was
also found wedged in between the fragments of the car, bruised in various
places, but receiving his worst injuries about the hip. It is feared he is
seriously injured internally. Agents Burton and Bocock live in this city.

In the express car was found the already inanimate body of express
messenger George Kerr, of Petersburg. He had evidently fallen forward at
the shock, and upon his body had fallen a heavy box, no doubt killing him
instantly. His body was removed to the sleeper.

Captain Barnes, the conductor, who at the time of the accident was on the
second class coach, was badly hurt, though he had abundant opportunity to
escape without more than a slight bruise. His chief injury was received by
falling forward on the heater when the train made the plunge. It was
reported by the train men this morning that he was in a very critical
condition.

Little Gladys McCuliom, of Charlottesville, a beautiful little child, is
suffering from several severe bruises on the hip and a wound in the head;
J. C. McClelland, brakeman, cuts on the back and leg, and J. R. Kent,
flagman, are among the more seriously injured.

The engineer and fireman were unhurt, going over on the engine in safety.
There were fifteen passengers on board the train that were unhurt. They
assisted bravely with many citizens who came down from Glade Spring, in the
work of rescuing and caring for the injured.

The railroad men state that the accident was due to a broken side rod which
connects the driving wheels of the engine. This rod, it is said, suddenly
broke and was driven into the ground, checking the train suddenly, and
causing the weight and arrested force of the engine to be thrown on one
side, which produced a spreading of the rails. The engine passed over this,
but the wheels of the tender refused to do so, giving way and throwing the
train from the track. The concussion and overturning of the entire train
followed. Though this is the statement made by many who know the facts,
some of the passengers state that numbers of the cross-ties at this place
were decayed, showing that the track was loosened so as to render it
dangerous.

Some of the wounded passengers remained at Glade Spring under the care of
the locaI physicians, who did all in their power to alleviate their
suffering and render them comfortable. The trainmen also deserve the
highest praise for their presence of mind and dispatch in relieving the
wounded.

It was a subject of wonder to all who saw the wreck that the two mail
agents were not instantly killed. The top and sides of the car were broken
into small fragments. It was the floor, which remained almost intact, that
saved them. Fortunately for all on board, the first shock of the train was
not followed for some moments in the plunge, and many had time to grasp
seats and prepare themselves as best they could for what followed. It is a
great wonder that at least half of the passengers was not killed. Owing to
the quick attention of the trainmen, no halocaust, which usually follows
such accidents, resulted. As soon as they were able to recover themselves
the fires in the stoves were extinguished. All of the cars which left the
track were found lying on their sides. -- Lynchburg Advance


--------
Bruce in Blacksburg
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