Poster #30 Old 97 Train Engine RAILROAD $5.00 plus shipping. Poster #30.  "Old 97 Fast Mail Train - Washington to Atlanta" poster showing with a photo of the engine with the factory specifications.  7,413 Horsepower, Top speed 90 miles an hour, wheel configuration 4-6-0 with six drivers and four truck wheels, Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Shops in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and much more on semi glossy thick paper.  A great gift for the railroad collector.  The ballard became the first million seller in the 1920s.   On September 27, 1903, Southern Railway’s new ‘fast mail train” engine number 1102 jumped the tracks in Danville, Virginia.                     Of the 18 aboard the train, eleven were killed including: (1) Postal Clerk Paul M. Argenbright age 23 of Mount Clinton, Va., was emloyed with the railroad on November 29, 1902. (2) Postal Clerk W. Scott Chambers age 24 of Midland, Va., Chambers had began employment with the railroad on July 21, 1903. (3) Postal Clerk Daniel P. Flory 25 of Nokesville, Va., had been with the railroad since January 22, 1900. (4) Postal Clerk Lewis W. Spies age 34 of Manassas who died Oct. 6, 1903), Va., had worked for the railroad since July 16, 1892. (5) Postal Clerk John L. Thompson 34 of Washington, D.C. (6) Engineer Joseph Andrew “Steve” Broady age 33 of Saltville, Va. Stever wa killed instantly, "scalded to death by the steam" as the song goes.   (7) Fireman Albion G. Clapp age 33 of Whitsett, N.C. Clapp, who was killed instantly, was engaged to Miss Mary Stanley, who was principal at White Oak School in Greensboro, N.C.   She never married. (8) Student Fireman John Madison Hodge age 21 of Raleigh, N.C.  A cash settlement to the estate of Hodge was in the amount of $3,600.  Early reports were that he was Black, but as the song "Black and greasy fireman" goes, it was from the coal dust and grease. (9) Conductor John Thomas Blair age 37 who is the only one buried in Danville, Va. Blair was dug out of the wreckage alive, but died ont he way to the hospital.  He left a youong wife Harriett Louise Bunger (b 1871) and four daughters, two of which were twins.  When he died the twins were five, a third child two and the baby only three weeks old.  His widow Louise later remarried and lived in a nice brick house on Jefferson Street near Green Hill Cemetery where John Thomas was buried in 1903. (10) Flagman James Robert Moody age 30 of Raleigh, N.C. and (11) Safe Locker Wentworth Armstead age 17 of Lynchburg, Va.  Wentworth went on the train at Lynchburg as a safe locker after the express mail was loaded.  He was supposed to get off, but the train left trying to make up time after leaving Washington late.  His body, the last to be recovered, was dug out of the wreckage the next day.   The injured were:   (12) Napoleon Cloren Maupin 23 of Charlottesville, Va. Maupin was a postal clerk who suffered a broken collar bone, but it was the blood poisoning that kept him out of work for months.  A bolt penetrated a finger and was holding him at the wreck.  There was some fire so some were about to cut off his finger, but they managed to set him free without taking his finger.   (13) Frank F. brooks, age 44 postal clerk of Manassas, Va. had worked for the railroad since March 24, 1891. (14) Jennings J. Dunlap age 23 postal clerk of Norwood, N.C. was offered first aid tradtment and limped to the bank where he "sat down on a blanket and with paper and pen given him by my sister Miss Maggie Lester wrote a letter to his mother.  Then he wrote out his resignation, saying hat one trip down White Oak Mountain on a run-a-way train would do him for a lifetime."  Quoting J. E. Lester, a long-time Rural Letter Carrier.   (15) Perecival Indermaster age 27 of Washington, D.C. began working with the railroad on July 25, 1901. (16) Charles E. Reams age 38 postal clerk of Culpepper, Va. began service with the railroad on October 29, 1894 and retired on February 1, 1930. (17) John Harris Thompson age 24 of St Luke, Va. "I was standing iat the back door of the rear car.  The train rolled on to the curved, five decker trestle and left the rail at 2:42 pm.  I can hear that glass from the windows shattering over me yet s the train plunged into the ravine.  I crawled out on top of the car and Dunlap pulled me away from the wreck.  I could see fire startingup in the wreckage.  I lay on a matress on the hill from a little after 3 pm until 5 pm before they tried to move me.  a thing like that leaves you with a mental photograph you merer lose"  Thompson's clothes were torn to shreds and his hip was dislocated.  He lost narly a year from work.  He went on to work for the railroad for a total of 39 years and retired on April 30,. 1941.  When he was interviewed in 1953, only he, Maupin an Dunlap were alive.  John Harris died in 1963 and was believe to be the last survivor of the wreck.   (18) Express Messenger W. R. Pinckney of Charlottesville, Va. was not injured.   The engine was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and delivered to Southern on August 21, 1903.  The locomotive was only 36 days old when it jumped the tracks in Danville, Virginia on September 27, 1903.  Shortly before my mother Annie Marie Jones Ricketts was born on November 12, 1903, my grandfather Mark Daniel Jones (1878-1946) heard the constant steam whistle of the Old 97 (like a flight number, 97 was the designation for this mail run) and knew something was wrong.  He left his house up on the hill at 301 Middle Street and was crossing Claiborne Street when he heard the loud noise and saw a cloud of smoke and dust go up.  He told his children that he was the third person to arrive at the scene.  He always told about the skin pealing off the bones of the dead as they pulled out some of the bodies.   The Baldwin Company built their fist locomotive in 1832 and christened it  “Old Ironsides.”  It was a four wheeler and weighed over five tons.  By 1883, they produced 557 locomotives in that year.  In an article in 1907, Baldwin reported that in the last year they produced 2,666 locomotives which averaged 9 per working day or one locomotive every two hours.  By 1907, there were 19,000 men working in the factory.  There were 47 buildings over 63 acres.   After the 1903 wreck, engine number 1102 (note the number on the light in this photograph) was towed to the shops in Spencer in three separate sections.  The engine which weighed 160.000 pounds or 80 tons probably had to be partially dismantled to tow it out of the mud below Stillhouse Trestle.  The trestle around a sharp curve was 45 feet high.  A nearby spur line already existed to the buildings of Riverside Cotton Mill (now Dan River, Inc) so that workmen removed the engine within a few days.  The engine was repaired and placed back into service until 1930 when it was scrapped in Indiana.  The tracked were damaged very little and repairmen restored service about 9 am the next morning only 18 hours after the incident.   Being sold here is a 16” x 20” print on thick glossy photographic type paper.  The Baldwin kept good records on the specifications of their locomotives.  The statistics have been superimposed by Danny Ricketts on a photograph of engine 1102 after it was restored. See the detail for the quality of the photo.  Shipping is by U. S. priority mail with the poster loosely rolled in a large triangular tube or the poster may be picked up in Danville, Va.   Additional posters may be sent in the same shipment for  only 25 cents each.   The Old 97 was made famous by a 1920s recording by Vernon Dalhart about the wreck.   The Ballard of the Wreck of the Old 97 became the first record to sell a million copies and is still a popular song today.  A commemoration of the event is scheduled in Danville, Virginia for September 24, 2005 with tours to the site.