It was just after 8 p.m. when the Flamingo, a Louisville & Nashville passenger train, approached Bartow. The spot was well known to railroaders, just south of Cartersville and not far from Emerson, Georgia.
This stretch of track had seen trouble before. In 1905, less than thirty years earlier, a head-on collision here nearly claimed the life of a respected engineer.
The train had left Atlanta about an hour and a half earlier. Suddenly, at 8:03 p.m., the engine, its tender, the first five cars, and part of a sixth car left the rails, according to an Interstate Commerce Commission report.
Among those killed were the engineer, George W. Evans, 52, of Atlanta, who had spent three decades with the railroad, and the fireman, Denny A. Giles, 42, of Etowah, Tennessee, a veteran of 23 years. Both men were scalded to death, according to contemporary newspaper reports.
Two trespassers or hobos, A.H. Perry of Atlanta and Clifford Decker, also died. Perry died instantly, crushed between the locomotive tender and the mail car, while Decker, also riding “in the blinds,” died a few days later at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta. A federal safety report released in June 1933 said 11 others were hurt, including six passengers and five dining-car workers.
At least one contemporary report indicated something nefarious was at play.
The Night of the Wreck
The wreck happened on the historic Western & Atlantic Railroad, a state-owned line between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. By 1933, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway had leased the line from the state and operated it as a part of its network.
The Louisville & Nashville, which owned the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis, also ran trains on this part of the Western & Atlantic.
Train No. 18 had nine cars: mail and express cars, a coach, Pullman sleepers, a dining car, and an observation car, all pulled by engine No. 421. It left Atlanta running behind schedule and was told to keep to a late timetable. As it approached Bartow, the train was traveling at about 40 miles per hour, heading into a downhill curve on a clear evening.
The derailment was swift and severe. The engine, tender, and first two cars rolled over on the left side, coming to rest near a cut. The other cars stayed upright or partly upright.
Crew members and inspectors reported nothing out of the ordinary before the wreck. The air brakes had passed inspection in Atlanta, and later checks found no defects in the engine or cars that could explain what happened.
After the wreck, the train’s four Pullman cars, which remained on the track, ferried passengers back to Atlanta.
The Inquiry
The ICC inquiry focused on the track. Investigators found worn rails and angle bars on the curve, to the extent that wheel flanges had been contacting the angle bars.
Several rails in the wreckage were broken, but examiners did not find proof that they broke before the derailment. The track south of the wreck seemed to be in good shape, and investigators said there was no clear sign that speed was to blame.
Ultimately, the ICC’s Bureau of Safety said the derailment probably happened because the track failed under the train. However, the report noted that the exact cause could not be found because the track was so badly damaged in the wreck.
Was There More to the Wreck?
In the days after the derailment, investigators also examined whether the wreck had been caused deliberately in an attempt to rob an express car believed to be carrying gold.
According to a report in The Atlanta Constitution, authorities said three well-dressed white men were found trying to break into the sealed car shortly after the derailment, but they fled before they could be apprehended. The theory was investigated.
However, if the ICC report is to be believed, the derailment was caused by the track under the train failing. Was the true story lost to history?
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