Thunderous Crash Jarred Buildings

Residents of railroad towns know two things. First, the presence of the track running through their towns, particularly in the early days of the 20th century when most of the nation's commerce was carried on by rail, means just a little extra measure of prosperity for their communities. But, they also know that the trains passing through their town each day bring with them the potential for disaster. Kingstree is no exception. Once upon a time the depot was the hub of the community, shipping cotton, tobacco, green beans, grapes, and other agricultural products to the cities up north. And November seems to have been a magnet for train disasters at or near the Main Street Crossing.

The curious observe the cab of a truck cut in half by a train in November 1950.

The most recent of these disasters occurred on November 12, 1950. Early that Sunday morning, a Kingstree Police officer observed a truck, part of a convoy of trucks bringing the Ross Carnival from Georgetown to its winter headquarters in Kingstree, approaching the Main Street crossing. He recounted to a reporter from the News & Courier that none of the other trucks in the convoy was in sight when Martin (or Marvin) L. Williams approached the tracks. Williams was driving slowly and was about midway the track when he was struck by a fast, southbound passenger train.

The train struck the truck just behind the cab, ejecting Williams on the west side of the tracks. He was thrown some distance, striking a utility pole, which killed him instantly, according to Coroner T.M. Kellahan.

The truck was carrying a disassembled merry-go-round, and splintered carousel horses and other mangled parts lay scattered for yards along the east side of the track.

At 1 a.m. on Friday, November 29, 1918, Atlantic Coast Line train #86, the through train from Jacksonville, FL, to Washington, DC, derailed just south of the Kingstree depot at what was known as Nelson's Crossing, where Ashton Avenue dead ends at the tracks today. Daylight showed debris from the engine and eight cars scattered about the railroad right-of-way. Two ACL employees, Engineer Henry J. Jaeger and Fireman Sam Butler, were killed in the accident. Jaeger's body was not discovered until almost noon the next day, buried under the end of the first passenger coach, concealed by about four feet of dirt and mud. Butler's body, found in the train's cab, was badly scalded from escaping steam. It was noted that the Express Messenger was injured only slightly because he had left the express car to go back into the train to get a drink of water. Only one passenger, an African-American woman, was injured seriously enough to be taken to the hospital in Sumter for treatment. She was cut by flying glass. Thirty-seven servicemen were on the train, all escaping injury, except for one who was slightly cut by glass when he was thrown through a window. Later in the day, railroad men engaged in clearing the debris said they considered the low casualty count miraculous, considering the seriousness of the wreck.

Jaeger, who was considered an excellent engineer and was well-known in Florence where he lived, left Lane at 12:50 that morning. It was estimated that he was running 60-70 miles an hour when the train derailed at exactly 1 a.m. The throttle was found not closed, indicating that Jaeger had not had time to attempt to slow the train down before he was thrown from the engine. ACL officials blamed a split rail for the accident.

All passengers not requiring medical treatment were transferred to another train shortly after daylight and sent to Florence. Mail and express items that could be salvaged were also removed and sent on. All perishable foodstuffs the train was carrying were sold in Kingstree that morning.

These photos are undated. They may be from the 1918 derailment, but

given the damage to the depot shed, they are more likely from November 1913.

At 4 a.m., Tuesday, November 17, 1913, many residents in the vicinity of the depot were "aroused from their early morning slumbers by a thunderous crash that seemed to jar the very foundations of the nearby buildings." The cause was the wreck of a through-freight train, running about 35 miles per hour. One of the cars near the engine derailed when its truck bar broke, catching and pulling up a heavy timber near the crossing at the southern end of the depot platform. Twelve other cars behind it, some heavily loaded, crashed into the derailed car. Railcars were piled three deep at the southern end of the platform. Rails were ripped from the cross ties, trucks were torn from cars, and wreckage was strewn in all directions. About 50 feet of the shed over the depot platform was torn away as the wrecked cars piled one on top of the other fell against the stanchions of the shed.

Five cars were completely demolished. Lumber, phosphate rock, shingles, building materials, and kaolin were scattered for 100 yards. Sumter's Watchman & Southron reported that a hobo was asleep in one of the cars deposited at the top of the heap of wreckage. As it happened, the car he was in was the least damaged of any of the cars involved in the accident. "When he awoke and crawled out, he could survey the whole town from his vantage point. Sedately picking a few splinters from his wool hat, he climbed down and called down dire fate upon a railroad system that would allow a gentlemen's rest to be this disturbed."

A wrecking crew from Florence arrived at daylight to clear away the debris and repair the track. Around 10 a.m. a second wrecking crew arrived from Charleston. Practically all business was suspended in Kingstree that Tuesday as people from miles around came to view the wreck. Children from the graded and high school were brought the two blocks by their teachers to watch the clean-up.

Trains throughout the day detoured through Lane and Sumter, but two local trains came to transport passengers and luggage both north and south. By 6 p.m. the track was repaired and enough wreckage cleared that the regular passenger trains were able to pass through on time. No injuries were reported, but damage was estimated at $30,000 to $40,000. Crews would need several more days, however, to completely clear the wreckage from the right-of-way.

All photos courtesy Williamsburgh Historical Museum

This wreck occurred almost in the exact spot as the last major train wreck which happened in 1905, but in March, instead of November. There was much excitement in town that Saturday, March 4, when an extra freight train ran an open switch, just below the Main Street crossing. The monster "copperhead" engine and nine of the 21 cars derailed, piling debris 15 to 20 feet high. The cargo, mainly fertilizer and lumber, was scattered along both sides of the track.

The engineer was thrown from the cab, but suffered only facial cuts, bruises, and a broken nose. The fireman, Pres Stevenson, however, had his foot and ankle crushed between the locomotive's driving wheel and the tender. He was forced to hang there for three hours until the wrecking train arrived with the equipment necessary to free him. Local doctors present at the scene did everything in their power to relieve as much pain as possible until he could be freed. Once his foot was extricated, it became evident that amputation was the only means of treating it.

The accident happened about 7 p.m. The local passenger train had come through safely at 6:30, so most residents believed that someone had deliberately opened the switch in the few minutes between trains. Crowds gathered all day Sunday to watch the wreckage cleared.