Career
- Engineer — Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad
Biography
Thomas J. Bradley was at the throttle of Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad locomotive No. 9 on February 10, 1870, when its boiler suddenly exploded.
The blast sent Bradley “whizzing through the air for some distance” into a telegraph wire, nearly severing his body in half.
Bradley, who was also the master mechanic at the railroad’s shops in Clarksville, left behind a wife.