Another piece of America --- scrapped

Back in September of 2015, I wrote about the great scrap metal drive of 1942 --- part of the World War II defense effort --- that claimed Chariton's two Civil War-era bronze cannon as well as artillery pieces that once flanked the entrance to Yocom Park.

Another footnote to Lucas County history --- this mighty locomotive --- also fell victim to a World War II scrap drive, but in Ames, where "Old Ironsides" had been displayed since 1907 on the Iowa State University campus. The photo is from the Lucas County Historical Society collection.

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The vintage locomotive had belonged to Chariton's Smith H. Mallory, whose companies were major players in the building of America's rail network across Iowa, then Kansas and finally in Colorado and other western and southwestern states from 1867 until the 1890s, when he retired, more or less, to his mansion, Ilion. It probably was the major component of the "railroad grading" outfit listed with a value of $1,000 on the 1903 inventory of his estate.

Mallory's heirs, wife Annie and daughter Jessie Mallory Thayer, faced a considerable challenge in disposing of what was in effect a giant iron white elephant. But then Jessie was able to interest faculty of the engineering department at what then was the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in the beast. She had it transported to the Ames campus and installed near the engineering building where a corrugated iron shed was constructed to protect it.

Here's how the Iowa State College "Bulletin" of May, 1907, acknowledged the gift: "The estate of S.H. Mallory, of Chariton, Iowa, has presented a narrow gauge locomotive, one of the first in service on the mountain roads of Colorado. The valve mechanism is of the Waelschert type and the drivers and leading wheels are on a truck with the cylinders entirely separate from the boilers. The engine is a very interesting machine and will be the nucleus for a museum of railroad engineering."

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Any interest that may have existed in developing a museum of railroad engineering waned, however, and by 1916 the locomotive's shed had vanished and it was sitting unprotected from the elements as a curiosity on the Ames campus. During that year, money was allocated to do some restoration work on it and that attracted the interest of The Des Moines Sunday Register, which featured the old iron horse in an article published during early December. The article then was duly reprinted under the headline, "Oldest Locomotive in Iowa," as follows in The Chariton Herald-Patriot of Dec. 26, 1916:

Sunday's issue of the Des Moines Register contained the following interesting article from Ames:

"In contrast with the modern type of locomotive engines, there now stands back of one of the engineering buildings at Iowa State College "Old Ironsides," reputed to be probably the first locomotive to cross the state of Iowa. If things other than human beings could talk, this remnant of the early type of engineering construction could unfold many interesting chapters of railroad building and pioneering in Iowa.

"Since 'Old Ironsides' became the property of the college it has been the subject of considerable interest for hundreds of curious freshmen as well as visitors to the college grounds. Since it has been on the campus the old locomotive has been in the open exposed to the elements, setting on its three-foot narrow gauge track, with never a belch of smoke puffing from its enormous funnel stack, nor even so much as a ray of light peering out from its huge oil-burning headlight. With students the old engine has become commonplace and unattended, save for its occasional use as the background for snapshots.

"But the relic is to be reclaimed and given a place in the college hall of fame, which is rightly deserved by the initial 'good injun.' The state board of education recently set aside $600 for the repair and overhauling of 'Old Ironsides' that it may be preserved for the future generations to look upon as the early type of railroad motor power.

"The engine is so old that even college authorities have no exact record as to its date of christening. Mrs. Jessie Mallory Thayer, of Chariton, Iowa, is the donor of the locomotive. For a time the engine was owned by Mrs. Thayer's father, S.H. Mallory, a pioneer railroad builder in Iowa. Upon the death of Mr. Mallory the engine passed out of service. After its days of usefulness were over, and the engine was leaning toward the dump heap, Mrs. Thayer conceived the idea of donating the veteran rail horse to the department of mechanical engineering at Iowa State College as a relic for educational purposes.

"Under the direction of Prof. W.H. Meeker of the mechanical engineering department, 'Old Ironsides' will be thoroughly renovated. The cabin and other wooden parts about its construction will be replaced, as will many of the metal portions. New glass will be refitted in its window-appearing headlight. The engine will be mounted on a two-foot mound, and with new rails for it to rest upon.

"From the records which are available the veteran locomotive probably was last used upon the Burlington system at Red Oak, Iowa. Castings which yet remain on the forward trucks indicate that once the engine was the property of the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf railroad, while other castings show the mark of Denver and Southern Park railroad. Initials on the front tender read Denver and Rio Grand railroad.

"The placement of most every part of the mechanism is contrary to the modern type of construction. In addition to having a narrow gauge, it has a side valve motion, while the drive wheels and cylinders are on a truck separate from the boiler. For 'Old Ironsides, when it was in its prime, six to eight loaded cars constituted a heavy pull on a moderate grade, while the monster locomotives of today make an easy task of drawing from fifty to sixty loaded cars."

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The United States entered World War I during April of 1917, three months after The Register article was published, then republished, and there's no way of knowing if the projected restoration ever was carried out. If it were, interest waned again during the post-war and Depression years. By the early 1940s, "Old Ironsides" probably was among the biggest and perhaps least-lamented candidates for war effort recycling on the ISU campus.

It's highly unlikely that this was one of the earliest locomotives to cross Iowa --- the trans-Iowa rail lines all were standard gauge, not narrow.

Most likely, the Mallory companies acquired the locomotive when it began to build narrow-gauge lines in the West and elsewhere, including Illinois. But it's unlikely now that we'll ever know for sure. 

A little more about "Old Ironsides" & Red Oak

Bernard G. Corbin

A piece of correspondence dated Jan. 23, 1969, turned up at the museum on Friday as brave historical society board and staff members were restoring order to the Stephens House basement, one of our few storage areas. The old letter had literally fallen through the cracks 50 years ago, then resurfaced to tell us a little more about the locomotive (above) known as "Old Ironsides," shown in a photograph also from the museum collection.

I've written about the locomotive before (you'll can find that post by following this link). The magnificent beast stood on the Iowa State University campus in Ames from 1907 until sometime during the early 1940s when university officials who once had been interested in developing a railroading museum decided instead to send it off to be recycled during a World War II-related scrap drive.

The locomotive had been part of the railroad building equipment used by Chariton's Smith H. Mallory, a major post-Civil War rail contractor in the Midwest and Plains states, then given by his daughter, Jessie (Mallory) Thayer, to Iowa State after his death during 1903.

Here's how the Iowa State College "Bulletin" of May, 1907, acknowledged the gift: "The estate of S.H. Mallory, of Chariton, Iowa, has presented a narrow gauge locomotive, one of the first in service on the mountain roads of Colorado. The valve mechanism is of the Waelschert type and the drivers and leading wheels are on a truck with the cylinders entirely separate from the boilers. The engine is a very interesting machine and will be the nucleus for a museum of railroad engineering."

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The letter was written by Bernard G. Corbin (1907-1988), at the time plant superintendent of the Murphy Calendar Co. in Red Oak, in response to a query from Don Fuller, of Chariton, freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, who had become acquainted with Corbin during five years in a similar position in Red Oak.

Corbin was (and remains posthumously) a noted expert on Burlington Route history and equipment, author of "Steam Locomotives of the Burlington Route" (1960), "Burlington in Transition" (1967) and "Across Iowa on the Keokuk & Western and Humeston & Shenandoah Railroads" (1996). Here's the text of the letter that relates to the locomotive:

"Dear Don,

"The engine in question did help build the grades through here (Red Oak). It was narrow gauge and from the rack on the tender appears to have been for wood. I once saw a photo of a work train west of the depot with an engine on it that I believe to be this engine. They built a spider-web trestle from the depot west to the hill --- about one and a half miles --- from cottonwood poles.  This train was on the trestle with dirt dumps filling it in. As you probably know, these poles rotted out and about 1948 or 1950, they came in and did grouting work across the fill, pumping concrete into the cavities.

"The engine, I understand, stood over at Creston for some time awaiting sale. You probably know that the grade was built through here in 1902. I don't know just how long it awaited sale, but I am believing it was near five years.

"It was then donated to the college rather than letting it be scrapped. The do-gooders let it be scrapped during World War II. Too bad."

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There's no point in crying over spilled milk, as Granny used to say --- the locomotive is long gone. But it's still interesting to know more about it and to gain a little insight into some of the engineering techniques used to build what still is one of the busiest rail lines across Iowa, now Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe. The letter now is filed with the photograph and we'll not lose track of it again.

Books, a preacher & a rail disaster

Books from the library of the Rev. Marcus L. Evans, donated to the LCHS by his granddaughter, Alice (Mrs. Lloyd) Cottingham.

I've been moving family Bibles and some books this summer from cases in Otterbein Church to the museum library, both to increase their accessibility and give them a break from extremes esperienced in a building that is neither heated during the winter nor air conditioned in the summer.

In doing that, I've handled (carefully) items acquired and used by Lucas Countyans long dead and remembered, when they're thought of at all, in vague and abstract ways. The Bible Fergus Holmes brought from England during the early 19th century, for example; and this set of books, "Clarke's Commentary," from the library of the Rev. Marcus L. Evans, a pioneer circuit-riding Methodist preacher who died 135 years ago, during June of 1875, in Chariton's most deadly rail crash.

I've come across the Rev. Mr. Evans (left) several times before in part because he and his wife, Elizabeth (Hetser) Evans, are buried at Salem, my family cemetery.

Evans, born Nov. 12, 1822, in Bath County, Kentucky, married Elizabeth as his second wife on Jan. 24, 1850, in Owens County, Indiana. They came to Lucas County with their three eldest children during May of 1856 in an ox-drawn wagon and lived, according to tradition, at first in a tent on their claim three miles due south of what now is Russell.

Located on wide open prairie, the claim also was alongside a Mormon Trail shortcut that had allowed LDS pioneers some years earlier to travel a little more directly from Greenville to the current site of Salem Cemetery before rejoining the main trail and continuing on to Chariton Point.

Russell had not been dreamed of when the Evans family arrived in Washington Township (it didn't come along until 1866), so the little ghost settlement of Ragtown and the larger town of Chariton, a few miles beyond, would have been the nearest settlements. Evans' preaching career hasn't been researched, but he probably was instrumental in the founding of the Salem Methodist Episcopal congregation, midway between Ragtown and Chariton.

The Evans had eight children, five born after their arrival in Washington Township --- Wilbur Wesley, Marcus Asbury, Thomas Melville, Olin Hetser, Jason Lee, Sarah Margaret (Jason's twin; married Francis M. Thompson), Mary Matilda and Alice Amelia.  

Olin H., known as "Hets," and his youngest sisters, Mary and Alice, did not marry and continued to occupy the old homestead until after the death of Hets in 1926. Alice, a missionary to India until her retirement during 1920, and Mary then lived together in Russell where they became mildly legendary as the "gold dust twins."

Marcus Evans' preaching career was cut short, however, on June 16, 1875, when he died of injuries sustained the night before in a fatal train crash near the C.B.&Q. Depot in Chariton. Here's an account of that accident taken from The Chariton Patriot of June 23, 1875:

A Night of Death!

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT!

On C.B. & Q. R.R.

A Freight Train Runs into another at Chariton

SCENE OF HORROR

Thunder! Lightning! Wind! Rain! Death!

Five Persons Killed and Eight Seriously Wounded

A Leap for Life - Narrow Escapes! &c., &c.

(From the Patriot Extra of June 17th)

A terrible accident occurred last night between 11 and 12 o'clock near the C.B. & Q. depot, in Chariton, wherein five persons were killed, and eight others very seriously injured, two or three dangerously.

Two freight trains due here at 9:45 were about two hours late. The leading train, known as Sec. 2 of No. 12, had stopped to coal just at the beginning of the heavy wind and thunder storm that commenced just before midnight. The train that followed --- Sec. 3 of No. 12 --- approached the standing train, urged forward by the strong wind. The red signal lights were seen by the engineer and fireman of the incoming train, and the whistle sounded for "down brakes." The brake was applied on the locomotive tender, and the engine reversed, but of no avail. The sweeping wind, and driving rain, rendered it seemingly impossible to prevent the collision. The fireman, Lewis, jumped just before the engine struck the caboose, violently striking the ground, severely bruising his face and shoulder. The engineer, Nelson Best, of Ottumwa, remained at his post and was but slightly injured.

LIST OF KILLED AND INJURED

The following is a correct list of the killed and injured:

J.J. Echert, of Council Bluffs, killed. He was a freight conductor on the Chicago & Northwestern R.R. His body was found on top of the locomotive. His head and face were mangled horribly, pieces of skull and brain being found scattered along the track.

Irwin Severn, a stock man and resident of Illinois City, Ill., killed. His body was badly bruised.

J.W. Houston, of Maryville, Mo., killed. He was a stock man.

Also one unknown man, supposed to be from Bridgewater, Mo., was killed. His face and upper part of the body were frightfully discolored.

Martiin Rhine, a stock man of Falls City, Neb., seriously but not dangerously bruised.

David Woods, of Kenzers, Lancaster County, Penn., dangerously injured in upper portion of the spine. His whole body, except the head, completely paralyzed. Seemingly comfortable when seen by reporter, Woods was an uncle of Prof. Perry, of this place.

James Dick, who lives on the Fulkerson farm, a few miles south of Russell, bruised inwardly but not seriously. He is an uncle of Prof. Sim(p)son, of this place.

W.J. Mendenhall, of Quitman, Nodaway county, Mo. Severe scalp wound and otherwise bruised.

G.W. Cooper, Mo., feet and head severely bruised; thinks he escaped very fortunately; was awake at the time, and saw the car door open, and heard the shrieks of horror from passengers, and then knew nothing more until he became conscious, lying on the ground where he had been removed.

N.J. Allen, Lenox, Iowa, seriously injured in spine and back and somewhat paralyzed.

F.P. Lewis, of Creston, Fireman on incoming train, severely bruised on head and shoulders.

Nelson Best, of Ottumwa, engineer, slightly bruised.

Marcus L. Evans, an old and respected citizen of this county, who has lived a few miles south of Russell for near 20 years and who is well known throughout the county, was so injured that he died at the Chariton House about 9 o'clock this morning. He was returning from a Methodist meeting of some sort at Osceola, and took the freight in preference to the night express, simply because the latter does not stop at Russell. We called at the Chariton House just in time to see him breathe his last breath, and hear the wailings of his wife and some other members of the family, who had arrived.

The greatest damage, as might be expected, was done to the rear cars of the standing train, but the front of the engine of the incoming train was badly smashed, and the terrible force of the collision was strikingly shown by the breaking of the large bars of iron, two inches in diameter, supporting the cow catcher. The engine passed under the caboose car, containing the passengers, and the mangling of human bodies was occasioned by the next car, which was loaded with hogs, in front of the caboose, which passed entirely through or over it, crushing it to splinters.

NARROW ESCAPES

Prof. J.B. Ferguson, was on the train returning from Osceola, and accidentally stepped to the rear platform of the car just in time to make a leap for life over the fence, running close by the track, and enclosing the reservoir. His feet had barely left the platform when the terrible crash came, and he owes his narrow escape from a terrible death to the impulse that prompted him to open the door. Rev. H.H. O'Neal of this place, also Rev. Bartholemew of Corydon, bro. of the Col. of this place, and Rev. Austin of Russell who were at Osceola, all went to the depot to take this train, but after a parley decided to wait for the express, which would soon be due, and thus escaped the terrors of the collision.

On the whole, this was one of the most dreadful accidents that has ever occurred on the B. & M. and altogether, the worst that ever shocked our town. And nothing more was needed to convince any one of the horrors of a railroad disaster, than a walk among the dead and mangled victims of this accident. At 9 A.M., the time of our visit, the four who were killed outright, were lying in the depot building and the Coroner was preparing to hold an inquest, and take evidence concerning the casualty.

T.J. Potter, Superintendent, J.W. Backworth, road master and Dr. Ranson, reached here on a special train at 9 o'clock this morning.

Nearly all the killed and wounded were in bunks, and most of them stock men, and asleep at the time. Part of the injured are quartered at the Clinton and part at the Sherman House, and all are receiving the very best of attention from local physicians, and those in the employ of the company.

We are not prepared to speak definitively in regard to the question of carelessness as contributing to the accident, but as we get the facts nothing appears to justify any (illegible) any of the employees of the company. Whether the raging of the storm and high wind will fully exonerate them remains yet to be determined. But the storm was terrible, as was evidenced by the fact of a freight car being driven from about the depot here, with brakes down, almost to Russell, about the same time the accident occurred.

THE DISASTER

n the first page of this paper will be found a copy of our extra published on the morning after the recent railroad disaster at this place, giving a full account of the calamity. And we simply add the following items of additional interest in regard to the killed, injured, &c.

Coroner Millan impaneled a jury composed of Messrs. H.H. Day, S.H. Mallory and W.L. Alexander, who, after an investigation, decided no blame was attached to the employees of the company for the accident.

The company took charge of the dead bodies and after providing coffins for them, sent them to their friends at different points.

Messrs. Martin Rhine and David Woods, two of the injured, are still at the Sherman House and doing well, and each have relatives with them and good care. Mr. Woods was not expected to survive the injury to his spine, but we are glad to learn that there is a prospect for his recovery. James Dick has returned to his home near Russell, while Messrs. Mendenhall, Allen and Cooper, who were at the Clinton House, were all sent home on Monday, of this week. They were each doing reasonably well. We called on Messrs. Mendenhall and Cooper, at their request, and they wished that we should mention especially their physicians, Messrs. Heed & Baird, as having been unusually attentive and kind to them, and we think that as much could be said of all in any way engaged in waiting on the various unfortunate strangers, who were left temporarily in the care of our people.

Mr. Marcus L. Evans, of this county, was taken to Russell on a special train soon after his death, and buried at the Salem Cemetery in Benton tp. on Friday, an unusually large procession of his friends and neighbors following him to his grave. He was in comfortable circumstances and leaves a wife and eleven (actually eight) children.

By this accident the B. & M. accounts for the first passengers ever killed upon its road. This speaks well for the safety and management of the great trunk line of the West, over which hundreds of thousands of people have traveled. Employees have been killed, but never before a passenger.

The old C.B.&Q. Depot and Hotel in Chariton.