Railway accident on the Bostian Bridge
The Bostian Bridge railroad accident occurred on August 27, 1891, west of Statesville , North Carolina, and killed 23 and an undisclosed number of injuries. On the 119th anniversary of the accident, another railway accident with a fatality occurred at the same location .
Starting position
The scene of the accident was in the area of the Bostian Bridge, an 18 meter (60 foot ) high, five-arched natural and brick bridge over Third Creek. In the area of the bridge, nails that held the rails in position on the sleepers had been removed.
The train left Statesville at around 2:30 a.m. on August 27, 1891. The steam locomotive No. 9 of the Richmond & Danville Railroad (R&D) pulled five cars in addition to the tender : a baggage car , a first and second class car , a Pullman sleeping car and the R & D superintendent's saloon car . The train was 34 minutes late and traveling at around 55 to 65 km / h (35 to 40 miles per hour) to make up for the delay.
the accident
Less than five minutes after the train left Statesville, it derailed and fell off the Bostian Bridge. The sleeper hit the ground 153 feet (47 m) from where it left the bridge.
Rescue work
Several slightly injured survivors ran back to Statesville to report the disaster, whereupon rescue operations were initiated. The injured were taken to Statesville, which did not have a hospital, so they had to be housed and cared for in private homes. The dead were taken to a tobacco warehouse for identification.
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After the rescue operation, thousands of onlookers came. Photographers William Stimson from Statesville and JH Van Ness from Charlotte took photos and sold hundreds of them in the weeks that followed. A description of the accident, illustrated with drawings based on the Van Ness photos, appeared in Frank Leslie's Weekly, an illustrated newspaper.
examination
Four days after the accident, a judicial investigation came to the conclusion that the accident was caused by unknown persons who had removed rail nails from the tracks, which were believed to be in a neglected condition. With R&D struggling financially, employees, fearing large damages orders, worked feverishly to find the suspected saboteurs. Railway detectives swarmed through the area for months. Several people were arrested and interviewed, but were eventually released. In 1897, two men who had already been in a state penal institution were identified as guilty based on statements made to other inmates.
Folklore and its consequences
According to legend, on the anniversary of the accident, the screeching of the wheels and the screams of the passengers can still be heard. On the 119th anniversary of the accident, shortly before 3 a.m. on August 27, 2010, ten to twelve self-proclaimed ghost hunters were forbidden on the bridge in the hope of hearing the sounds of the accident and seeing something. Instead, a Norfolk-Southern train came with three locomotives and one car. The frightened ghost train watchers ran back 50 m towards Statesville to get to safety. All but two made it. A ghost hunter was caught by the train and killed. A woman fell from the bridge. She fell about ten to twelve meters and was seriously injured.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Bill Moose: Bostian Bridge Train Wreck. In: Encyclopedia of North Carolina, edited by William S. Powell, 2006. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
- ↑ Tony Reevy: The Ghost Train of Bostian's Bridge. Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History, Fall 2008. Published by the Government & Heritage Library, December 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
- ↑ Phil Gast: 'Ghost train' hunter killed by train in North Carolina. CNN, August 28, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
- ^ Family: Man killed by train saved girlfriend. Winston-Salem Journal. August 30, 2010. Accessed August 21, 2020.
Coordinates: 35 ° 45 ′ 50.4 ″ N , 80 ° 55 ′ 18 ″ W.