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Eugene Riley
Biography
Eugene Riley was the engineer on the No. 2 express train on July 28, 1869, when it crashed at Budds Creek near Clarksville, Tennessee.
In the locomotive, steam escaping from the damaged boiler claimed the lives of Riley and the fireman.
Riley, a Bowling Green resident, left behind a wife and a child. The engineer “was regarded as one of the most discreet engineers on the road he served and stood high in the estimation of all who knew him.”
He “was scrupulously circumspect with his locomotive, always complying with the rules by which engine-drivers are governed, especially as to slow running over bridges and trestles.”