April 10, 1907 was a somber day for Dr. George Lucian Gates of Morrisville. His close friend, Dr. William Walter Genge, had died early that morning. Forty-four-year-old Genge had been a skilled surgeon, head of the Morrisville Orchestra, and had only been ill with the effects of pneumonia for a few days before he took a shocking turn for the worse. Dr. Gates had been at his deathbed.
Heading back home that morning, Gates boarded the train to Hardwick, along with 33 other passengers and crew members. The train was also carrying mail and was due to arrive at its destination at 7:25 a.m. Fifty-four-year-old engineer Frank Miner had taken his place in the locomotive along with the line’s fireman, a 53-year-old Swede named Charles Johnson.
Seventeen individuals boarded the passenger car, including 21-year-old Harvey Antoin Gravlin and his wife, the former Julia Essie Emerson. Mr. Gravlin, who worked as a moulder at E. & T. Fairbanks & Co., had exchanged vows with his bride only seven months earlier.
Thirty-seven-year-old Albert John Gale, who was employed as a finisher at the Jones & Shield Furniture Shop, also took a seat on the passenger car with his wife of four years, the 33-year-old former Emily Corey. Forty-one-year-old Swedish piano salesman Edward Peterson and 41-year-old machine shop employee Justin Lord also climbed on to the passenger car in addition to the train’s conductor, Charles Ranney.
The combination car carried 15 individuals, with six of them seated in the smoking compartment. These included Fred Carter of St. Johnsbury, J.F. Johnson of Boston and William Silas Bailey of East Hardwick – who was traveling with his 16-year-old son Ralph Wilson Bailey, a student at Hardwick Academy. William was well-known as a high-end horse breeder and race judge. The 50-year-old had once managed his own stock farm and served as president of the Vermont Horse Breeders Association. When not in school, his son Ralph worked as a packer in Fairbanks’ scale shop. The crew members sharing the car with them included 26-year-old express agent George Alex Campbell, 46-year-old mail clerk Prentice Wright Carlton, and baggage master Orlando Cogswell.
About two miles east of Hardwick, as the train nearly completed the sharp curve at Cape Horn, the rails suddenly spread and the coupling pin between two cars broke. Fireman Johnson felt a strong jolt and turned to see the derailed passenger car rolling down the 25-foot embankment toward the Lamoille River. Halfway down, it turned completely over and then righted itself at the river’s edge 30 feet from the track.
The combination car plowed forward behind it, dragging the tender with the train’s fuel supply down the embankment. As it proceeded down the slope, it temporarily stumbled onto its side before coming to a stop, right side up. The father of William Montague, a section hand who was aboard the train, was across the river with his team of horses and stood helplessly watching the nightmare unfold.
In the smoking compartment, Fred Carter had been having a discussion with William Bailey just before the accident. The two men were sitting directly across from each other during the journey, and when the window shattered, the broken glass flew against Carter, causing a deep wound in his scalp that bled profusely. J.F. Johnson had been violently thrown over Bailey when the car began to tip. He escaped, however, with nothing more than slight bruises and cuts, as did Ralph Bailey. As the car tipped, William Bailey was thrown against the lamps, which shattered on impact. Aside from the massive bleeding that occurred from the lacerations on his body, he suffered a concussion and a dislocation of the vertebrae in his spine. The damage to the spine quickly proved fatal. He left his wife, Flora, and three children to mourn the tragic loss and became the railroad’s first fatality.
Those who were lucky enough to sustain very minor injuries included Victor Young and James Day, 38-year-old granite cutter Henry Rollins, 31-year-old granite loader Bert Russell, and 48-year-old traveling leather goods merchant Henry Prentice Ayer of Boston. A small number, even luckier, walked away completely unhurt, including Mr. H.H. Woodward.
In 1973, the state of Vermont bought the railroad and renamed it the Lamoille Valley Railroad. The industry puttered along until 1995 when, at last, it ceased operation after 118 years of service. In 2006, plans were laid for a multi-use, four-season trail to be established over the old railway route. In 2022, the 93-mile long Lamoille Valley Rail Trail was completed – the longest rail trail in all of New England.
The trail connects 18 towns, offering snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, dogsledding and snowmobiling in the winter; walking, hiking, cycling and horseback riding in the milder months. The trail contains a memorial plaque for three men killed on the railroad during a 1949 accident – 42 years after William Bailey lost his life on the line.
