Full Transcript for The Babs Switch School Fire: The Oklahoma Schoolhouse Fire That Turned Christmas Into a Funeral

00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:29.360 but she herself perished in the fire. When it was 68 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:33.600 all over, the fire had claimed thirty six lives, among 69 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:39.000 them several entire families. The dead and injured were transported 70 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:42.720 by car to Hobart, the nearest town of any size, 71 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:46.519 and a temporary morgue was set up in a downtown building. 72 00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:50.639 As the numbers of the dead and injured thirty seven 73 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:53.920 people were taken to the Hobart hospital were counted. There 74 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:57.000 seemed to be one child that was not accounted for. 75 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:01.600 The child, a little three year old girl named Mary Eden's, 76 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:07.639 was reported as missing, but her body was never found her. Aunt, 77 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.959 Alice Noah, who escaped from the school but died a 78 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:14.519 few days later, claimed that she carried Mary out of 79 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:17.759 the building but handed her to someone she did not know. 80 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:22.720 Mary had simply disappeared without a trace in the wake 81 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:27.319 of the fire. The Bab's Switch fire led to stricter 82 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:32.480 building codes in Oklahoma, especially for schools. It was also 83 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:36.480 one of the catalysts for modern fire precautions against inward 84 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:41.399 opening doors, open flames, locked screens over windows, and a 85 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:45.639 lack of running water near public buildings. Those who died 86 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.920 that night probably saved the lives of future generations of 87 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.160 Oklahoma school children. As it happened, there was a strange 88 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:59.279 twist to the Bab's Switch story. In nineteen fifty seven, 89 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:04.920 a California woman named Grace Reynolds came forward and claimed 90 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:09.759 that she was actually Mary Eden's, the little girl presumed 91 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:14.240 killed in the nineteen twenty four fire. Mary had been 92 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:16.959 a toddler at the time, and her body was never found. 93 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:20.560 Reynald's story was that she was handed out the window 94 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:24.199 by her real mother into the arms of a childless 95 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:28.279 couple who assumed that none of her relatives survived the fire, 96 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:31.839 and informally adopted her and raised her as their own. 97 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:36.639 Reynolds became a minor celebrity, reuniting on the air with 98 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:40.160 the Edens family on Art Linkletter's House Party television show, 99 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:44.639 and later wrote a book about her experiences entitled Mary 100

00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:47.959 Child of Tragedy, The Story of the Lost Child of 101 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:54.040 the nineteen twenty four Bab's Switch Fire. Sadly, though the 102 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:58.040 whole thing was a hoax, no one knows why Grace 103 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:01.759 Reynolds believed for Clay aimed to believe that she was 104 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:06.279 Mary Eden's. It's possible that she believed that she was adopted, 105 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.920 or that perhaps she learned of the fire and saw 106 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.519 a way to get attention by claiming to be the 107 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:18.120 missing little girl. Her motives remain a mystery in any case. 108 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:22.279 A local newspaper editor uncovered the hoax and informed Mary 109 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:26.560 Eden's father about what he had discovered. Mary's father asked 110 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.240 that the editor not publish his findings, as he believed 111 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:33.279 that his wife could not endure losing her child for 112 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.759 a second time. The editor respected his wishes and his 113 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:43.440 findings were not revealed until nineteen ninety nine. Even this 114 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:46.960 sad footnote to the fire was not the end of 115 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.679 the story. In nineteen twenty five, a new school was 116 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.519 built at the site, but closed in nineteen forty three 117 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:58.399 when the Babs Switch District was absorbed by the nearby 118 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.039 Hobart School District. A stone monument was placed at the scene, 119 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:06.480 bearing a short description of the fire and a list 120 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:10.440 of the dead. The dead that some say do not 121 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:13.960 rest in peace, but it's not the site of the 122 00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:18.519 school where ghosts of the past are reportedly restless. The 123 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:21.480 bodies that were taken from the site were brought to 124 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:25.200 Hobart and placed in a temporary morgue which is now 125 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:29.480 the fire station and the short Grass Playhouse. It is 126 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:32.600 rumored that the ghost of a little boy has been 127 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:36.279 seen throughout the building, running around the fire truck bays 128 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:40.159 and scampering down hallways. There is also the ghost of 129 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.039 a little girl who has been seen on the stage 130 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:48.399 of the playhouse. Who these spectral children may be is unknown. 131 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:52.279 Half of the dead from the fire were children, and 132 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:56.200 none of them were recognizable. They had to be identified 133 00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:00.120 by jewelry, dentures, and anything

that might be unique to 134 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:04.320 a person. Two little brothers were identified by a toy 135 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:07.759 gun found lying next to one boy, and the belt 136 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.960 buckle of the other. The identities of the boy and 137 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:13.519 girl who remain at the place where the bodies were 138 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:17.279 taken after the fire remain a mystery, but we can 139 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:20.519 only hope that they have found a little piece since 140 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:53.639 their terrible deaths. On December thirtieth, nineteen oh three, one 141 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:57.480 of the most devastating fires in American history occurred at 142 00:10:57.559 --> 00:11:02.080 Chicago's new Iroquois Theater during a standing room only matine 143 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:07.519 performance starring the popular comedian Eddie Foy. The fire claimed 144 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:11.480 the lives of more than six hundred people, including scores 145 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:13.840 of children who were packed into the place for the 146 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:19.399 afternoon show. The Iroquois Theater was much acclaimed even before 147 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:24.039 it opened. In addition to being absolutely fireproof, it was 148 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.399 a beautiful place, with an ornate lobby, grand staircases, and 149 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:32.720 a front facade that resembled a Greek temple with massive columns. 150 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.120 The theatre was designed to be safe. It had twenty 151 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:40.480 five exits that it was claimed could empty the building 152 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:43.919 in less than five minutes. The stage had also been 153 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:47.399 fitted with an asbestos curtain that could be quickly lowered 154 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:50.639 to protect the audience. All of this would have been 155 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:55.519 impressive if it had actually been installed, and if the 156 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:59.120 staff actually had any idea how to use the safety 157 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:04.559 devices that existed, and those were not even the worst problems. 158 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:07.720 Seats in the theater were wooden and stuffed with hemp 159 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:12.600 on attractive safety doors were hidden from sight, and gates 160 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:15.240 were locked across the entrance to the balcony during the 161 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:18.440 show so that those in the cheap seats wouldn't sneak 162 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:22.480 into the main theater. The building had no fire alarms, 163 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:25.919 and a myriad of other safety equipment had been forgotten 164 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:31.000 or simply ignored, leading to the ever popular Chicago payoffs 165 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:34.639 to officials who allowed the new theater to open on schedule. Anyway, 166 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.120 As crowds filled the theater on that cold December day 167 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.960 in nineteen o three, they had no idea how close 168 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:48.039 they were to meeting their deaths. The horrific events began 169 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:51.039 soon after the holiday crowd had packed into the theater 170 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:54.919 on that Wednesday afternoon to see a matinee performance of 171 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:59.080 the hit comedy Mister Bluebeard. The main floor and balcony 172 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:03.240 were packed. Dozens more were given standing room only tickets, 173 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:07.240 and they lined the rear walls of the theater around 174 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:10.639 the beginning of the second act, stage hands noticed a 175 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:14.440 spark descend from an overhead light and then watched some 176 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:19.159 scraps of burning paper fall down onto the stage. In moments, 177 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:23.120 flames began licking at the red velvet curtain, and while 178 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:26.519 a collective gasp went up from the audience, no one 179 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:30.399 rushed for the exits. It's believed the audience merely thought 180 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:34.559 the fire was part of the show. A few moments later, 181 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:39.000 a flaming set crashed down onto the stage, leaving little 182 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.320 doubt that something had gone wrong. A stage hand attempted 183 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:46.600 to lower the asbestos curtain that would protect the audience. 184 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:51.360 It snagged halfway down, sending a wall of flame out 185 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:55.840 into the audience. Actors on stage panicked and ran for 186 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:00.000 the doors. Chaos filled the auditorium as the audience became 187 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.039 began rushing for the theatre's Randolph Street entrance with children 188 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:07.519 in tow. The audience members immediately clogged the gallery and 189 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:11.279 upper balconies. The aisles had become impassable, and as the 190 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:15.080 lights went out, the crowd milled about in blind terror. 191 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:19.480 The auditorium began to fill with heat and smoke, and 192 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:23.639 screams echoed off the walls. And ceilings through it all, 193 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:27.240 the mass continued to move forward, but when the crowd 194 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:30.639 reached the doors, they could not open them. The doors 195 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:34.519 had been designed to swing inward rather than outward. The 196 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.840 crush of people prevented those in the front from opening 197 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:41.399 the doors. Many of those who died not only burned, 198 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:46.679 but suffocated from the smoke and the

crush of bodies. Later, 199 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:49.639 as the police removed the charred remains from the theater, 200 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:53.279 they discovered that a number of victims had been trampled 201 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:57.000 in the panic. One dead woman's face even bore the 202 00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:03.039 mark of a shoe heel. Backstage, theater employees and cast 203 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:06.639 members opened a rear set of double doors, which sucked 204 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:10.240 the wind inside and caused flames to fan out under 205 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:14.440 the asbestos curtain and into the auditorium. A second gust 206 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:17.720 of wind created a fireball that shot out into the 207 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:21.320 galleries and balconies that were filled with people. All of 208 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.759 the stage drops were now on fire, and as they burned, 209 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:29.639 they engulfed the supposedly non combustible asbestos curtain, and when 210 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:33.120 it collapsed, it plunged into the seats of the theater. 211 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:37.480 The fire burned for almost fifteen minutes, before an alarm 212 00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:40.720 was raised at a box down the street. From outside, 213 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:44.480 there appeared to be nothing wrong. It was so quiet 214 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.720 that the first fire fighters to arrive thought it was 215 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:51.440 a false alarm. This changed when they tried to open 216 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:55.279 the auditorium doors and found they could not there were 217 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.639 too many bodies stacked up against them. They were only 218 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:01.759 able to gain access by actually pulling the bodies out 219 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:05.360 of the way with pike poles, peeling them off one another, 220 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:09.519 and then climbing over the stacks of corpses. It took 221 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.799 only ten minutes to put out the blaze, as the 222 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:16.360 intense heat inside had already eaten up anything that would 223 00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:20.440 still burn. The firefighters made their way into the blackened 224 00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:24.759 auditorium and were met with only silence and the smell 225 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:29.600 of death. They called out for survivors, but no one 226 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:35.120 answered their cry. The gallery and upper balconies sustained the 227 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:38.519 greatest loss of life, as the patrons had been trapped 228 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:41.799 by locked doors. At the top of the stairways, the 229 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:46.080 firefighters found two hundred bodies stacked there, as many as 230 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:50.480 ten deep. Those who escaped had literally ripped the metal 231 00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:53.399 bars from the front of the balcony and had jumped 232 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:58.080 onto the crowds below. Even then, most of these met 233 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:01.480 their deaths at a lower level. A few who made 234 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:04.880 it to the fire escape door behind the top balcony 235 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:09.200 found that the iron staircase was missing. In its place 236 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:12.240 was a platform that plunged about one hundred feet to 237 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:16.720 the cobblestone alley below. Across the alley behind the theater, 238 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:21.119 painters were working on a building occupied by Northwestern Universities 239 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:24.759 Dental School. When they realized what was happening at the theater, 240 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.559 they quickly erected a makeshift bridge using ladders and wooden planks, 241 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:34.079 which they extended across the alley to the fire escape platform. 242 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:37.720 Reports vary as to how many they saved, but several 243 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:43.079 people managed to climb across the bridge. Several plunged to 244 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:46.039 their deaths as they tried to escape across the ladder, 245 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:49.880 but many times that number jumped from the ledge or 246 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:52.480 were pushed by the milling crowd that pressed through the 247 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:57.000 doors behind them. The passageway behind the theater is still 248 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:00.920 referred to as death Alley to day, after nearly one 249 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:05.240 hundred fifty victims were found there. When it was all 250 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:08.960 over five hundred seventy two people died in the fire, 251 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:13.400 and Moore died later, bringing the eventual death toll up 252 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:18.759 to six hundred two, including two hundred twelve children. For 253 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:23.640 nearly five hours, police officers, firemen, and even newspaper reporters 254 00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:28.559 carried out the dead. Anxious relatives sifted through the remains 255 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:33.000 searching for loved ones. Other bodies were taken away by 256 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:37.400 police wagons and ambulances and transported to a temporary morgue 257 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:42.240 at Marshall Fields on State Street. Medical examiners and investigators 258 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:46.359 worked all through the night. The city went into mourning. 259 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:51.200 Newspapers carried lists and photographs of the dead, and the 260 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:56.160 mayor banned all New Year's celebrations. An investigation into the 261 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:00.240 fire brought to light a number of troubling facts. The 262 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:05.680 investigation discovered that the supposedly fireproof asbestos curtain was really 263 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:10.279 made

from cotton and other combustible materials. It would have 264 00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:14.200 never saved any one at all. In addition to not 265 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:17.240 having any fire alarms in the building, the owners had 266 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:21.400 decided that sprinklers were two unsightly and too costly, and 267 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:25.960 had never had been installed. To make matters worse, the 268 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:30.039 management also established a policy to keep non paying customers 269 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:34.000 from slipping into the theater during a performance. They quietly 270 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.519 bolted nine pair of iron panels over the rear doors 271 00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:41.519 and installed padlocked accordion style gates at the top of 272 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:46.279 the interior, second and third floor stairway landings. And just 273 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:49.200 as tragic was the idea they came up with to 274 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:53.200 keep the audience from being distracted during a show, they 275 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.279 ordered all of the exit lights to be turned off. 276 00:19:57.559 --> 00:20:00.359 The investigation led to a cover up by a fiials 277 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:03.839 from the city and Fire department, who denied all knowledge 278 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:08.079 of fire code violations. They blamed the inspectors, who had 279 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:12.440 overlooked the problems in exchange for free theater passes. A 280 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:16.640 grand jury indicted a number of individuals, including the theater owners, 281 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:21.279 fire officials, and even the mayor. No one was ever 282 00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:25.920 charged with a criminal act. Families of the dead filed 283 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.759 nearly two hundred seventy five civil lawsuits against the theatre, 284 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:36.000 but no money was ever collected. The Iroquois fire still 285 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.880 ranks today as one of the deadliest in history. Nevertheless, 286 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.480 the building was repaired and reopened briefly in nineteen oh 287 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:48.160 four as hide in Beeman's Music Hall, and then in 288 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:52.880 nineteen oh five as the Colonial Theater. In nineteen twenty four, 289 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:56.119 the building was raised to make room for a new theater, 290 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.480 the Oriental, but the facade of the Iroquois was used 291 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:04.599 in its construction. The Oriental operated at what is now 292 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:08.160 twenty four West Randolph Street until the middle part of 293 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:12.200 nineteen eighty one, when it fell into disrepair and was 294 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:16.160 closed down. It opened again as the home to a 295 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:20.279 wholesale electronics dealer for a time, and then went dark

again. 296 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:24.119 The restored theater is now part of the Civic Tower 297 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:27.559 building and is next door to the restored Delaware Building. 298 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:31.440 It reopened as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts 299 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:35.640 in nineteen ninety eight, but this has not stopped the 300 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:40.119 tales of the old Iroquois Theater from being told, especially 301 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:45.279 in light of more recent and more ghostly events. According 302 00:21:45.319 --> 00:21:48.079 to recent accounts from people who live and work in 303 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:51.799 this area, Death Alley is not as empty as it 304 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:56.039 appears to be. The narrow passageway which runs behind the 305 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:00.720 Oriental Theatre is rarely used today, except for the occasional 306 00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:03.839 delivery truck or alone pedestrian who's in a hurry to 307 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:09.319 get somewhere else. It is largely deserted. But why? The 308 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:12.559 stories say that those few who do pass through the 309 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:18.079 alley often find themselves very uncomfortable and unsettled there. They 310 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:21.799 say that faint cries are sometimes heard in the shadows, 311 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:26.000 and that some have reported being touched by unseen hands 312 00:22:26.359 --> 00:22:29.759 and by eerie cold spots that seem to come from 313 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:34.960 nowhere and vanish just as quickly. Could the alleyway and 314 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:39.319 the surrounding area actually be haunted? And do the spirits 315 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:42.440 of those who met their tragic ends inside of the 316 00:22:42.440 --> 00:22:48.519 burning theater still linger there? Perhaps? Or perhaps the strange 317 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:53.240 sensations experienced here are ghosts of the past of another kind, 318 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:58.400 a chilling remembrance of a terrifying event that will never 319 00:22:58.759 --> 00:23:18.279 be completely forgot. The holiday season of eighteen seventy six 320 00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:21.680 should have been a joyous time for those in northern Ohio. 321 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:26.640 Christmas Day had just passed in America's centennial year was 322 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:29.720 coming to an end with a New Year's celebration there 323 00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:34.880 was only days away. However, on December twenty seven, the 324 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:39.039 region was blanketed by an intense winter storm that showed 325 00:23:39.079 --> 00:23:42.359 no signs of letting up. This could have been taken 326 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:47.079 for an ominous sign that dark days were ahead, but 327 00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:50.720 no one had any idea just how dark those days 328 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:55.400 would become. In the wake of that winter storm, the 329 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:59.839 small town of Ashtubula, located in the northeast corner of Ohio, 330 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:03.799 was a white waste land of snow and ice. A 331 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:06.960 blizzard had hammered the little town with more than twenty 332 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:09.880 inches of snow and wind that whipped along at more 333 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:14.359 than fifty miles an hour. Despite the weather, the town 334 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:18.920 train depot was bustling anxious passengers, many leaving town for 335 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.680 the holidays or waiting for trains to arrive. Crowded into 336 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.200 the station, many of them awaited the arrival of the 337 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:29.839 Number five Pacific Express that was running more than two 338 00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:34.319 hours late from Erie, Pennsylvania. Weather delays had kept it 339 00:24:34.440 --> 00:24:37.920 in the Erie station until after six p m. Many 340 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:40.720 of those waiting in the depot had friends and family 341 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:43.039 on the train or needed to make the connection to 342 00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:47.279 continue their own journey. While things may have been anxious 343 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:50.319 in the station, the scene was much more relaxed and 344 00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:54.119 festive aboard the Number five train. The warm and snug 345 00:24:54.200 --> 00:24:58.559 passengers were seemingly oblivious to the frigid conditions outside, as 346 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:03.160 two locomotives pulled two express cars, two baggage cars, one 347 00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:07.480 smoking car, two passenger cars, and three sleeping cars along 348 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:11.319 at a steady ten miles per hour. The passengers ate 349 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:15.519 and chatted, played cards, or slept peacefully in their berths. 350 00:25:16.519 --> 00:25:20.200 Others prepared to leave the train at Ashtabula or warmed 351 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:23.559 themselves near the coal fired heaters that provided heat for 352 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:26.599 all of the cars. Except for the smoking car, which 353 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.279 had an old fashioned wood stove, all of the cars 354 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:34.039 were cozily lit by oil lamps, providing the illusion of 355 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.960 being completely separated from the storm outside. The exact number 356 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:42.599 of passengers aboard the train remains a mystery to this day, 357 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:45.279 but it is believed that there were at least one 358 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:49.039 hundred twenty eight passengers and nineteen crew members on the 359 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:52.200 Number five. As it steamed onto the railway bridge that 360 00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:57.440 spanned a Stabula Creek. Daniel McGuire, the engineer of the 361 00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:01.759 first

locomotive, the Socrates, was the first to realize that 362 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:05.319 there was a problem. As the engine crossed onto the bridge, 363 00:26:05.559 --> 00:26:08.240 he pulled the throttle out and increased the speed of 364 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:11.720 the train. They needed the extra power to drive the 365 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:14.680 train through the two feet of snow on the tracks. 366 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:18.599 And to push against the gale force winds that buffeted 367 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.839 the train on the open bridge. But as the Socrates 368 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:25.720 approached the western abutment of the bridge, McGuire had the 369 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:30.960 sudden sensation that the engine was running uphill. He looked 370 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:33.720 back and was stunned with horror as he saw the 371 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:37.240 rest of the train, the second engine, the Columbia, and 372 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:41.119 eleven cars collapsing with the bridge as it plunged more 373 00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:45.680 than eighty feet downward to the creek below. McGuire pulled 374 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:49.279 the throttle out all the way and the Socrates surged ahead. 375 00:26:49.799 --> 00:26:52.799 He broke the coupling with the second engine, the Columbia, 376 00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:56.960 and somehow coaxed the locomotive to safety. As he pulled 377 00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:59.759 the brakes on the other side, McGuire heard the chilling 378 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:03.480 sound sounds of crashing and twisting steel coming from the 379 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:08.480 swirling darkness of the storm. The Estabula depot lay just 380 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:12.720 one thousand feet beyond the bridge, and William Alsell, a 381 00:27:12.759 --> 00:27:16.039 telegraph operator, was the first person at the station to 382 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:19.599 realize what had happened. He had hoped to hitch a 383 00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:22.440 ride through town on the train when it left the station, 384 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:24.799 as he had heard the whistle of the number five 385 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:28.519 as it approached the bridge. He was actually walking toward 386 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:31.839 it when it started across the bridge. When he caught 387 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:34.279 a glimpse of its lights. He turned to head back 388 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:36.839 to the depot and gather his belongings when he heard 389 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:41.240 the horrific crash. He spun around just in time to 390 00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:44.200 see the lights from the sleeping cars as they fell 391 00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:49.200 and then vanished into the darkness. He immediately began running 392 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:52.200 to the bridge, only to discover that the structure was 393 00:27:52.279 --> 00:27:57.519 no longer there. The experiences of the passengers and crew 394 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:02.279 aboard the train were even more horryle Miss Mary and Shepherd, 395 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:05.680 a survivor of the disaster, was in her sleeper berth 396 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:08.880 and later recalled that she knew something was wrong when 397 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:12.440 the bell rope snapped in two, with one piece smashing 398 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:15.599 an oil lamp, the other knocking over a burning candle. 399 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:18.839 A moment later, she heard a thudding noise that sounded 400 00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:21.440 as though the train wheels had jumped the track and 401 00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:25.039 were now riding on the wooden ties. This was followed 402 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:28.200 by a tremendous shattering sound, as if all of the 403 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:31.480 glass in the entire train had suddenly broken at once. 404 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:36.480 The train car plunged downward, and miss Shepherd distinctly remembered 405 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:38.880 the cry of someone in the car as he wailed, 406 00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:43.160 we're going down. The scream was followed by the sickening 407 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:48.240 sensation of falling, and she desperately braced herself outside the 408 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:51.559 sleeping berth. The air was filled with seats, lamps, and 409 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:55.839 human bodies as the car pitched into space. Seconds later, 410 00:28:55.880 --> 00:28:58.319 the sleeper hit the rest of the number five cars, 411 00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:01.559 and all of them crashed into the freezing waters of 412 00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:05.599 the creek. Surrounded by the broken bodies of those who 413 00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:08.960 did not survive the fall, Marian struggled to get out 414 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:12.000 of her berth and fight her way to safety. She 415 00:29:12.119 --> 00:29:14.799 was in shock and terrified by the screams of the 416 00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:18.079 injured around her in the darkness. Those who were alive 417 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:21.079 also tried to get out, and cries were mixed with 418 00:29:21.160 --> 00:29:25.079 the terror of drowning in the icy water. As it happened, 419 00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:27.720 the fear of drowning was second only to the danger 420 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:30.920 of being burned alive. The cars had fallen in an 421 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:35.119 upright position and were now stacked and smashed upon one another, 422 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:38.839 with the bottom layer below the surface of Astabula Creek 423 00:29:39.640 --> 00:29:42.359 within five minutes of the wreck, the last car, with 424 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:47.039 its heater still burning, caught on fire. People like Marion, 425 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:50.480 both dazed and bleeding, managed to stumble out of the 426 00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:54.279 cars and saw the winter night illuminated by flames as 427 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:58.160 the cars caught fire one at a time. Within just 428 00:29:58.200 -->

00:30:01.039 a few minutes, the remains of the cars and single 429 00:30:01.079 --> 00:30:05.920 locomotive had turned into a blazing inferno. The heaters, lamps, 430 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:09.599 and the heavily varnished woodwork of the cars combined to 431 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:13.039 engulf the mass of twisted wood and metal into a 432 00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:17.839 tower of flames. The survivors of the disaster would never 433 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:21.119 forget what they saw that night. Most of them worked 434 00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:24.680 frantically alongside a rescue crew from town as they tried 435 00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:29.200 to pull the wounded and the dead from the burning cars. Finally, 436 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.440 the heat grew so intense that they were driven back, 437 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.240 unaware that many of those who had already been rescued 438 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:39.640 were now sinking into the waters of the creek. As 439 00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:43.200 they cried for help, the cold water washed into the wreck, 440 00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:48.599 drowning many of those still trapped there, perhaps mercifully when 441 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:52.680 faced with burning to death. One woman, later recalled by 442 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:56.200 engineer Daniel MacGuire, was trapped in the wreckage as the 443 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:59.599 fire burned toward her, and she begged with someone to 444 00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:02.000 cut off for legs and pull her out before the 445 00:31:02.039 --> 00:31:05.839 flames reached her. Tragically, no one made it to her 446 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:09.680 in time, and McGuire could only watch helplessly as she 447 00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:15.720 burned to death. McGuire's friend, Columbia engineer Peter Levinborough, had 448 00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:19.119 been crushed in the engine when it fell. He died 449 00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:23.359 on the way to the hospital in Cleveland. William Alsill, 450 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:27.200 the telegraph operator, had fallen and stumbled down the snow 451 00:31:27.240 --> 00:31:30.400 covered hill to the wreck just moments after seeing the 452 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:34.759 train plunge to its doom, kicking out windows. He pulled 453 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:38.759 wounded and unconscious passengers to safety and fought bravely to 454 00:31:38.839 --> 00:31:43.359 keep them from the fire and icy waters. Meanwhile, Daniel McGuire, 455 00:31:43.559 --> 00:31:46.640 after bringing these socrates to a halt, sprinted to the 456 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:50.400 depot with the terrible news before returning to the scene. 457 00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:54.079 A minute later, Brakeman A l Stone, who had escaped 458 00:31:54.119 --> 00:31:57.839 from the last car, limped into the station. He was 459 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:00.960 badly hurt and bleeding, but managed to sent a telegraph 460 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:04.160 to Erie in case another train was following behind the

461 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:08.799 Number five. Within minutes, every bell in Astubula was sounding 462 00:32:08.839 --> 00:32:14.319 the alarm for firemen and volunteers. The situation surrounding the fire, 463 00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:17.640 which killed more people than the initial wreck, has been 464 00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:21.400 a subject of mystery and debate since eighteen seventy six. 465 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:26.160 Although the Astubula Fire Department managed to get one engine 466 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:30.000 down to the fire, no hoses were ever connected, and 467 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:33.160 no water, save for a few buckets of melted snow, 468 00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:37.519 was ever directed at the burning debris. It was rumored 469 00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:40.799 afterwards that officials from the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern 470 00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:45.440 Railroad forbade anyone to put out the fire. The reason, 471 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:50.039 according to rumors, was that the company's insurance liability would 472 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:53.319 be less if the passengers were not only dead, but 473 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:57.720 burned beyond recognition as well. There was no truth to this, 474 00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.920 but it added to the finger pointing in that followed. 475 00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:05.839 The less dramatic reasons were the confusing conditions at the scene. 476 00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:09.519 No one had ever seen anything like it before, and 477 00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:12.799 when Astubula Fire Chief Ga Knapp arrived on the scene 478 00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:17.680 forty five minutes after the crash, possibly intoxicated, he found 479 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.799 a scene of total pandemonium. There was no organized effort 480 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:26.039 to do anything passengers and rescuers were simply trying to 481 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:29.519 save anyone they could, and were hampered by the fire, 482 00:33:29.960 --> 00:33:35.240 the water, smoke, snow, and treacherous terrain. Efforts were further 483 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:38.559 impeded by the hundreds of spectators who had gathered, and 484 00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:42.559 by the activities of thieves who boldly robbed the wounded 485 00:33:42.599 --> 00:33:46.519 and helpless passengers. The terror at the scene was increased 486 00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:50.319 by the terrible snapping noise created by the paint on 487 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:54.839 the train cars as it ignited. Fire Chief Nap gazed 488 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:58.279 in bewilderment at the wreck and asked train station agent 489 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:01.559 George Strong which side of the burning mass he and 490 00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:05.480 his men should put water on. Strong, more concerned about 491 00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:09.079 the advancing flames killing people than where the fire department 492 00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:11.920 should direct their water, told him to worry about getting 493 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:16.440 the people out instead. This was likely the right decision, 494 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:20.159 but it never mattered, for no actual orders were given 495 00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:24.599 by Nap, Strong or any Astubula officials that night. The 496 00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:27.679 firemen simply pitched into the efforts of the rescue workers 497 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.920 and concentrated their efforts on pulling the wounded from their 498 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:35.719 fiery and watery fates. The fire eventually burned itself out 499 00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:39.199 and by daybreak the train was a blackened pile of 500 00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:45.639 burned metal, scorched debris, and roasted human flesh. It took 501 00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:49.079 more than a week to clean it all up. Although 502 00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:52.119 one hundred fifty men were eventually sent to the scene 503 00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:55.320 by the railroad, they never found all of those who 504 00:34:55.320 --> 00:34:58.960 were missing, nor did they identify all of the dead. 505 00:35:00.199 --> 00:35:03.159 The main problem was that no one had any idea 506 00:35:03.480 --> 00:35:06.719 just how many passengers had been on the train. The 507 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:11.119 conductor's records showed one hundred twenty eight passengers, but others 508 00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:13.920 claimed upwards of two hundred men were on board when 509 00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:17.840 the wreck occurred. The best estimate is that eighty nine 510 00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:21.760 were killed and sixty three were injured, five of whom 511 00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:26.679 died later. There were nineteen corpses or parts of corpses 512 00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:30.760 that were never identified. A temporary morgue was set up 513 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:33.920 in the Lake Shore and Michigan's Southern Freight Depot, and 514 00:35:34.039 --> 00:35:37.320 weeping loved ones searched through the boxes of remains for 515 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:42.039 weeks afterward. Many of them were identified only by jewelry 516 00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:45.199 that somehow managed to escape the notice of thieves at 517 00:35:45.239 --> 00:35:50.239 the disaster site. After funeral services at two Estabula churches 518 00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:55.119 were conducted on January nineteenth, eighteen seventy seven. The unidentified 519 00:35:55.159 --> 00:36:00.000 dead were buried in nearby Chestnut Grove Cemetery. A monument 520 00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:03.760 was created for them in the eighteen nineties, largely funded 521 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:08.039 by Governor William McKinley and Lucretia Garfield, widow of the 522 00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:13.559 late President. The investigations into the disaster began as the 523 00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:16.960 fires were still smouldering At nine a m. On the 524 00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:20.599 day after the accident. An inquest was convened under the 525 00:36:20.599 -->

00:36:24.280 authority of Justice of the Peace, Edward W. Richards. It 526 00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:28.320 lasted for sixty eight days and dozens of witnesses were heard. 527 00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:32.880 The jury in the case reached a series of eight verdicts, 528 00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:36.280 all highly critical of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern 529 00:36:36.360 --> 00:36:39.960 Railroad and the rescuers at the scene. The verdicts are 530 00:36:39.960 --> 00:36:44.679 still considered controversial today. They ruled that the railroad was 531 00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:48.360 entirely responsible for the accident and the deaths and injuries 532 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:52.320 resulting from it. The jury stated that the company had 533 00:36:52.360 --> 00:36:57.679 wilfully designed, constructed, and directed a fatally flawed bridge, and 534 00:36:57.800 --> 00:37:01.039 then had failed to adequately inspect it for the next 535 00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:05.639 eleven years leading up to the disaster. Additionally, they also 536 00:37:05.719 --> 00:37:09.440 found that the railroad, in violation of Ohio's law, had 537 00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:13.159 failed to warm the passenger's cars with a heating apparatus 538 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:16.000 so constructed that the fire in it will be immediately 539 00:37:16.039 --> 00:37:20.079 extinguished whenever the cars are thrown from the track. Finally, 540 00:37:20.119 --> 00:37:23.280 the jury blamed the fire department and the railroad officials 541 00:37:23.320 --> 00:37:26.440 at the disaster scene for many of the fire deaths, 542 00:37:26.920 --> 00:37:29.559 claiming that they should have put out the fire rather 543 00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:33.920 than try to rescue trapped victims. None of those accused 544 00:37:33.960 --> 00:37:37.280 by the jury took it lightly. The Lake Shore and 545 00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:41.599 Michigan Southern Railroad eventually paid off about five hundred thousand 546 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:46.079 dollars in damage claims with little dispute. However, the company 547 00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:50.480 refused to admit responsibility for the bridge failure, arguing that 548 00:37:50.519 --> 00:37:54.039 the wreck was caused by either the Columbia leaving the track, 549 00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:58.239 a broken rail, or incredibly, a tornado that swept down 550 00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:01.960 and wiped out the bridge. The most vocal in rejecting 551 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:06.719 blame was A. MESA. B. Stone Junior, a Cleveland millionaire 552 00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:10.239 and railroad mogul, who had designed and built the bridge 553 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:13.639 until the day he died. He insisted the bridge had 554 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.679 been sound and that it had been human error or 555 00:38:16.719 --> 00:38:21.159 an act of God that caused the disaster. Stone was wrong, 556 00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:24.239 but the truth was more complex than either side would 557 00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:28.519 have allowed. The original railroad bridge over a Stabula Creek 558 00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:32.639 had been a wooden one. In eighteen sixty three, A. 559 00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:35.679 Mesa Stone made plans to replace it with a design 560 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:38.960 of his own. The key section was the middle span, 561 00:38:39.559 --> 00:38:42.079 a one hundred fifty four foot piece that sat on 562 00:38:42.199 --> 00:38:45.800 two stone abutments that were put up after an extensive 563 00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:49.280 fill had narrowed the river valley. It was a variation 564 00:38:49.480 --> 00:38:53.039 on the long used wood and iron truss, but Stone's 565 00:38:53.039 --> 00:38:56.880 new design used an all iron structure, a type that 566 00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:59.880 had never been tried and as it turned out, would 567 00:38:59.880 --> 00:39:03.519 now be replicated. The new structure was installed in the 568 00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:06.559 fall of eighteen sixty five and was a series of 569 00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:10.480 fourteen panels that were protected against the force produced by 570 00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:15.000 the weight of the trains by enormous diagonal eyebeams. All 571 00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:17.360 of the steel in the bridge was produced at the 572 00:39:17.400 --> 00:39:22.599 Cleveland Rolling Mills, which was owned by Stone's brother andros. 573 00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:26.159 The crew installing the bridge ran into many problems, and 574 00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:29.039 at one point it had to be entirely taken down 575 00:39:29.480 --> 00:39:33.360 and then put back up again at great expense. When 576 00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:37.639 Joseph Tomlinson, an engineer on the project, warned Stone about 577 00:39:37.639 --> 00:39:42.360 the stress on the trusses, Stone fired him. When completed, 578 00:39:42.519 --> 00:39:45.559 the bridge was tested by the weight of six locomotives 579 00:39:45.599 --> 00:39:50.400 and pronounced safe. After the disaster, many would remark that 580 00:39:50.440 --> 00:39:53.280 it was not so surprising that the bridge fell, but 581 00:39:53.320 --> 00:39:56.079 that it managed to stay up for eleven years without 582 00:39:56.119 --> 00:40:01.000 mishapp It was inspected four times each year by railroad officials, 583 00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:05.679 who reported no problems, except for the suspicious snapping noise 584 00:40:06.039 --> 00:40:11.239 that trained engineers sometimes heard as they traveled over the bridge. 585 00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:15.000 Also among the details missed by inspectors was the fact 586 00:40:15.119 --> 00:40:17.320 that the metal on the ends of the beams had 587 00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:21.239 been crudely filed down to make them fit. If inspector 588 00:40:21.320 --> 00:40:24.400 Charles Collins, who looked at the bridge just ten days 589 00:40:24.400 --> 00:40:28.199 before the calamity and found no problems, had gotten down 590 00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:31.079 among the eye

beams and had seen what many others 591 00:40:31.199 --> 00:40:33.639 saw when the ruined bridge was on the ground two 592 00:40:33.679 --> 00:40:37.760 months later, he would have shut it down immediately. Several 593 00:40:37.840 --> 00:40:40.280 of the eye beams were as much as three inches 594 00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:43.400 out of alignment at their juncture with the bearing blocks. 595 00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:46.880 Given that the essence of the design was the connection 596 00:40:47.119 --> 00:40:49.760 of all of the parts. The displacement of the eye 597 00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:52.039 beams meant that it was just a matter of time 598 00:40:52.519 --> 00:40:58.400 before something horrible occurred. Amesa. Stone refused to admit guilt, though, 599 00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:02.880 and was especially eric when questioned by Special Investigative Committee 600 00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:07.400 of the Ohio Legislature on January eighteenth, eighteen seventy seven. 601 00:41:08.440 --> 00:41:11.559 Not only had the bridge been safe, he insisted, but 602 00:41:11.639 --> 00:41:14.199 it had been designed to be stronger than it needed 603 00:41:14.239 --> 00:41:17.639 to be. As for the stoves that set the cars 604 00:41:17.679 --> 00:41:21.320 on fire, he insisted that he had examined every other 605 00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:24.519 type of stove that was available and had dismissed them 606 00:41:24.599 --> 00:41:29.320 as unsuitable. The stoves that he had used, manufactured by Baker, 607 00:41:29.719 --> 00:41:33.559 had simply been the best. No stove could be designed 608 00:41:33.639 --> 00:41:37.239 to extinguish itself in case of an accident. In his 609 00:41:37.280 --> 00:41:39.920 final opinion, he stated that the train had jumped the 610 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:45.320 tracks and in turn had demolished the bridge. Inspector Charles 611 00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:49.239 Collins was the mirror opposite of Stone. The man who 612 00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.679 had recently inspected the bridge reportedly wept like a baby 613 00:41:53.119 --> 00:41:55.400 when he saw the wreckage and loss of life in 614 00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:59.679 the Estabula Valley. Although he testified in public that he 615 00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:02.880 all we thought the bridge was safe, there were whispers 616 00:42:02.960 --> 00:42:05.239 that he told a different story to those who were 617 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:08.920 close to him. Some maintained that he had been forced 618 00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:12.599 to give favorable reports about the bridge by the company, 619 00:42:12.880 --> 00:42:15.079 and that he often said he prayed it will be 620 00:42:15.119 --> 00:42:18.400 a freight and not a passenger train that fell when 621 00:42:18.440 --> 00:42:21.960 the bridge finally went down. Collins took most of the 622 00:42:21.960 --> 00:42:25.000 blame for the company after the disaster, and there was 623 00:42:25.039 --> 00:42:29.199 no question that he blamed himself for the accident. Three 624 00:42:29.280 --> 00:42:32.840 days after he testified to the Special Committee, he was 625 00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:35.960 found dead in his bed at his home on Seneca 626 00:42:35.960 --> 00:42:39.159 Street in Cleveland. He had blown his brains out with 627 00:42:39.199 --> 00:42:45.159 a pistol hours after he completed his testimony. Fate eventually 628 00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:48.239 caught up with a mesa stone as well. Although he 629 00:42:48.360 --> 00:42:52.599 never accepted any responsibility for the accident and avoided personal 630 00:42:52.679 --> 00:42:56.039 legal consequences for it, there's no question that he was 631 00:42:56.119 --> 00:43:00.360 hurt by the public perception of him as a murderer. Bubermot, 632 00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:04.159 never a happy one to begin with, became even darker 633 00:43:04.519 --> 00:43:07.760 after business reverses and then ill health followed in the 634 00:43:07.760 --> 00:43:11.719 wake of the Estabula disaster. His only son had drowned 635 00:43:11.760 --> 00:43:14.519 while he was a student at Yale, and Stone had 636 00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:18.360 been plagued with stomach pains and insomnia, sleeping as little 637 00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:22.159 as two hours a night. By eighteen eighty three he 638 00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:24.760 had endured all that he could stand, and on the 639 00:43:24.800 --> 00:43:28.039 afternoon of May eleventh, he locked himself in his bathroom 640 00:43:28.360 --> 00:43:31.880 and fired a bullet through his heart. When Stone's wife 641 00:43:31.920 --> 00:43:35.599 discovered the bathroom door locked and no response when she knocked, 642 00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:39.559 she had the butler climb through the transom. Stone was 643 00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:43.760 discovered lying in the bathtub, half dressed, a silver plated 644 00:43:43.800 --> 00:43:48.039 Smith and Wesson revolver by his side. There was little 645 00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:51.039 to be seen today where the terrible events of December 646 00:43:51.079 --> 00:43:55.159 eighteen seventy six took place. The river now flows beneath 647 00:43:55.159 --> 00:43:58.679 an ordinary viaduct, and it is impossible now to imagine 648 00:43:58.719 --> 00:44:03.079 the horror, fear, and death that took place there. In 649 00:44:03.159 --> 00:44:07.679 spite of this, some mysteries do remain. According to some, 650 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.840 the number five train was said to have been carrying 651 00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:13.840 as much as two million dollars in gold bullion on 652 00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:17.599 that cold December night. If it was, all of it 653 00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:20.559 was lost in the valley below, and remains there today, 654 00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:24.719 still waiting for someone to find it. Whether there is 655 00:44:24.800 --> 00:44:27.760 lost treasure in the valley or not, there are no 656 00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:31.760 ghosts there. Those who lost their lives have strangely not 657

00:44:31.840 --> 00:44:35.199 been found at the place where their lives ended so tragically, 658 00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:39.960 but rather at this dark granite obelisk that marks the 659 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:43.639 common grave, where visitors to the graveyard have reported seeing 660 00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:48.320 specters walk about. The wraiths, often seen in period warm 661 00:44:48.360 --> 00:44:54.039 weather clothing, wander about carrying carpet bags and baskets. Screams 662 00:44:54.079 --> 00:44:57.880 are sometimes heard in the darkness, and some claim a 663 00:44:57.960 --> 00:45:02.800 burning smell often sweeps through the air. Nearby, just a 664 00:45:02.840 --> 00:45:06.320 short distance away from the mass grave, is the ornate 665 00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:11.119 Gothic mausoleum of Charles Collins, the luckless inspector who had 666 00:45:11.119 --> 00:45:15.039 missed the fatal flaws in the Estabula Bridge. It is 667 00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:18.599 ironic that he would be entombed so close to the 668 00:45:18.599 --> 00:45:23.159 graves of those whose death he inadvertently caused, and not surprisingly, 669 00:45:23.639 --> 00:45:27.440 his ghost is said to haunt this place too. According 670 00:45:27.440 --> 00:45:30.400 to the stories, the spectral figure of a man has 671 00:45:30.440 --> 00:45:33.880 been seen near the tomb. He often appears with his 672 00:45:33.960 --> 00:45:39.039 face in his hands, weeping bitterly. I'm sorry, I'm so 673 00:45:39.400 --> 00:45:44.440 very sorry. He cries, wringing his hands in torment, and 674 00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:48.159 then he vanishes, never finding the forgiveness that he so 675 00:45:48.440 --> 00:46:22.519 desperately craves. The holidays are supposed to be a time 676 00:46:22.599 --> 00:46:27.000 of happiness and celebration, but instead, one of the most 677 00:46:27.039 --> 00:46:31.199 haunting mysteries to ever occur in West Virginia and perhaps 678 00:46:31.400 --> 00:46:35.119 even in America, began during the pre dawn hours of 679 00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:41.079 Christmas Day nineteen forty five. That day would mark a vanishing, 680 00:46:41.880 --> 00:46:45.599 perhaps even a mass murder, which has never been solved. 681 00:46:46.639 --> 00:46:50.880 On that cold Christmas night, five children seemed to have 682 00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:54.400 been lost in a mysterious fire that destroyed their home. 683 00:46:55.639 --> 00:46:59.559 But were they Their bodies were never found in the ruins, 684 00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:04.039 and the children were later sighted in various places, creating 685 00:47:04.079 --> 00:47:08.599 a puzzling, complex mystery that is as strange as anything 686 00:47:08.760 --> 00:47:13.559 that could be found in detective fiction. What happened to 687 00:47:13.639 --> 00:47:17.360 the Solder children? Did they die in the fire or 688 00:47:17.400 --> 00:47:21.360 were they kidnapped for unknown reasons? And if they were, 689 00:47:22.280 --> 00:47:26.440 why has no trace of them ever been found. The 690 00:47:26.480 --> 00:47:30.000 Sawters would continue their search for the missing children for 691 00:47:30.079 --> 00:47:34.039 nearly fifty years, going to their graves with the mystery 692 00:47:34.280 --> 00:47:38.800 still unsolved. It was the holiday season in the West 693 00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:43.360 Virginia countryside near Fayetteville. A light snow was on the ground, 694 00:47:43.360 --> 00:47:47.320 and all seemed right with the world. George Sowter Senior 695 00:47:47.480 --> 00:47:50.480 and his wife Jenny were the proud parents of ten 696 00:47:50.599 --> 00:47:55.119 children and lived in a new home outside of town. George, 697 00:47:55.159 --> 00:47:58.519 a fifty year old Italian emigrant, had recently started a 698 00:47:58.559 --> 00:48:01.480 new coal trucking firm from his home, and it was 699 00:48:01.519 --> 00:48:05.480 already prospering. One of the Sotter's sons was in the army, 700 00:48:05.599 --> 00:48:08.480 but because World War II had ended several months earlier, 701 00:48:08.840 --> 00:48:11.559 he was out of danger. The rest of the children 702 00:48:11.599 --> 00:48:15.400 were celebrating the season at home with their parents. The 703 00:48:15.440 --> 00:48:19.440 Solter children opened their presence on Christmas Eve, including toys 704 00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:22.440 that had been purchased by seventeen year old Marian from 705 00:48:22.440 --> 00:48:26.079 the dime store where she worked in Fayetteville. George went 706 00:48:26.119 --> 00:48:28.639 to bed early that night, and so did the two 707 00:48:28.679 --> 00:48:31.960 older boys who worked for him in the coal hauling business, 708 00:48:32.559 --> 00:48:37.760 John aged twenty three and George Junior, aged sixteen. The 709 00:48:37.840 --> 00:48:43.599 other children, Maurice fourteen, Martha twelve, Lewis ten, Jennie eight, 710 00:48:43.719 --> 00:48:47.440 and Betty five, all said they were too excited to sleep, 711 00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:51.760 but finally turned in around ten p m. Jenny took 712 00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:54.360 two year old Sylvia to bed with her soon after, 713 00:48:54.760 --> 00:48:58.079 looking forward to a good night's sleep before the holiday 714 00:48:58.119 --> 00:49:02.559 festivities of the next day. But Jenny was not going 715 00:49:02.639 --> 00:49:07.039 to get a good night's sleep, not that night, not 716 00:49:07.400 --> 00:49:10.920 for the rest of her life. In the account that follows, 717 00:49:11.119 --> 00:49:13.760 I have attempted to chronicle everything that I know that 718 00:49:13.880 --> 00:49:17.960 happened to the Sodders over the course of the next hours, days, 719 00:49:18.039 --> 00:49:22.440 and even years, No matter how insignificant or strange that 720 00:49:22.480 --> 00:49:26.679 it seems, there was something very unusual at work in 721 00:49:26.719 --> 00:49:29.920 their lives, and what it may have been, no one 722 00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.800 can

or is willing to say. Jenny was roused from 723 00:49:34.800 --> 00:49:38.480 her sleep the first time shortly after midnight by a 724 00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:42.960 ringing telephone in George's home office downstairs. It was very 725 00:49:43.039 --> 00:49:46.000 unusual for anyone to call the office line at such 726 00:49:46.039 --> 00:49:49.480 a late hour, so Jenny got up and answered it. 727 00:49:50.519 --> 00:49:53.239 The caller was a woman who apologized for dialing a 728 00:49:53.280 --> 00:49:57.559 wrong number. Jenny accepted her apology and returned to bed. 729 00:49:58.480 --> 00:50:02.559 Soon she drifted back off, but only a half hour 730 00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:06.760 passed before she was awakened again. This time, she heard 731 00:50:06.800 --> 00:50:09.679 a sound like a heavy object landing on the roof 732 00:50:09.719 --> 00:50:12.639 of the house. There was a loud thud, and then 733 00:50:12.679 --> 00:50:15.360 it bumped and jostled its way from the highest pitch 734 00:50:15.360 --> 00:50:18.639 of the roof to the gutter. She waited for the 735 00:50:18.679 --> 00:50:22.239 sound to be repeated, but when it wasn't, she went 736 00:50:22.320 --> 00:50:26.760 back to sleep. About thirty minutes later, she woke again. 737 00:50:27.519 --> 00:50:31.719 She wasn't sure what was wrong, and then she smelled smoke. 738 00:50:32.719 --> 00:50:36.280 Leaving her bedroom to investigate, Jenny found that flames were 739 00:50:36.360 --> 00:50:40.320 already spreading through George's office. She rushed back to the 740 00:50:40.360 --> 00:50:43.519 master bedroom, where her husband was sleeping, and they shouted 741 00:50:43.599 --> 00:50:47.199 upstairs to rouse John and George Junior, who shared a 742 00:50:47.280 --> 00:50:50.559 room in the attic. George also shouted toward the other 743 00:50:50.599 --> 00:50:53.599 bedrooms on the second floor and thought that he heard 744 00:50:53.639 --> 00:50:57.039 all of the children answering. John and George Junior bade 745 00:50:57.039 --> 00:50:59.519 it downstairs and out of the house with their parents, 746 00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:03.800 may Anne and little Sylvia, but the other five children 747 00:51:04.440 --> 00:51:09.239 never came out. Now frantic, George rushed back into the 748 00:51:09.239 --> 00:51:12.760 burning house and found that the only staircase was completely 749 00:51:12.800 --> 00:51:16.880 engulfed in flames. The blaze was swiftly spreading through the 750 00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:20.239 rest of the house. He yelled loudly up the stairs 751 00:51:20.480 --> 00:51:23.800 but there was no reply. If the children were up there, 752 00:51:23.960 --> 00:51:27.440 he realized they would have been screaming and crying by now, 753 00:51:28.079 --> 00:51:30.920 so he assumed that they had somehow made it out. 754 00:51:31.760 --> 00:51:36.000 He raced outside, but they were not there. Instantly he 755 00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:38.519 made the decision to use a ladder and to get 756 00:51:38.559 --> 00:51:41.880 the children out of the upper windows. He ran around 757 00:51:41.880 --> 00:51:44.159 the house to retrieve the ladder that he kept there, 758 00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:48.119 but it was gone. The ladder was later found to 759 00:51:48.199 --> 00:51:51.719 have been thrown down an embankment seventy five feet from 760 00:51:51.800 --> 00:51:54.920 the house, which is not where it had been left 761 00:51:54.960 --> 00:51:59.480 the evening before. George then seized on another idea. He 762 00:51:59.519 --> 00:52:01.519 would draw one of his coal trucks up to the 763 00:52:01.559 --> 00:52:04.559 house and stand on top of it to reach the windows, 764 00:52:05.079 --> 00:52:08.360 but both trucks, each of which had run perfectly a 765 00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:13.559 few hours before, refused to start. Mary and Sowter ran 766 00:52:13.679 --> 00:52:16.679 to a neighbor's house to telephone the Fayetteville Fire Department, 767 00:52:17.239 --> 00:52:19.880 but the neighbor could not get an operator to assist her. 768 00:52:20.719 --> 00:52:23.480 Direct calls could not be made in the area at 769 00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:26.400 the time, all of them had to be operator connected. 770 00:52:27.119 --> 00:52:30.760 At one am, another neighbor drove past the scene, saw 771 00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:33.440 the blaze and hurried down the road to use a 772 00:52:33.480 --> 00:52:40.079 telephone at a nearby tavern, but again no operator responded. Finally, 773 00:52:40.119 --> 00:52:42.960 he drove into town and got Chief F. J. Morris 774 00:52:42.960 --> 00:52:45.880 on the line, informing him that the solder house was 775 00:52:45.920 --> 00:52:50.639 burning and children were inside. But even after this call, 776 00:52:51.239 --> 00:52:54.320 the fire department did not arrive until eight a m. 777 00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:59.000 Seven hours after they learned of the blaze. The lapse 778 00:52:59.079 --> 00:53:02.119 was explained by the department's lack of man power during 779 00:53:02.119 --> 00:53:05.679 the war and by the chief's inability to drive Fayetteville's 780 00:53:05.719 --> 00:53:08.880 fire truck. Morris had to wait until he could track 781 00:53:08.960 --> 00:53:12.719 down a qualified driver, and Fayetteville didn't have a fire 782 00:53:12.840 --> 00:53:15.800 siren in nineteen forty five, so they had to rely 783 00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:19.800 on a phone tree. An operator would call one firefighter, 784 00:53:20.039 --> 00:53:24.519 then another, and another, but with no operators seemingly on duty, 785 00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:28.639 the calls took hours to complete. By the time the 786 00:53:28.679 --> 00:53:32.800 firefighters arrived, the sold home had been reduced to a 787 00:53:32.840 --> 00:53:38.519 crumble of ruins over a smoking, ash filled basement. George 788 00:53:38.559 --> 00:53:43.159 and Jenny were heartbroken, assuming that their five missing children 789 00:53:43.199 --> 00:53:47.360 had died in the

fire, but evidence soon emerged to 790 00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:51.559 point in other directions. A brief search of the ruins 791 00:53:51.719 --> 00:53:55.079 ended at ten a m. On Christmas Day, with Chief 792 00:53:55.079 --> 00:53:58.079 Morris telling the Solers that no trace of the children 793 00:53:58.320 --> 00:54:01.760 could be found. He suggested that the fire was hot 794 00:54:01.840 --> 00:54:05.880 enough to completely cremate their remains, and he instructed the 795 00:54:05.920 --> 00:54:09.119 family to leave the site as it was pending a 796 00:54:09.199 --> 00:54:14.800 more thorough search. George waited for four days, then obtained 797 00:54:14.840 --> 00:54:18.280 a bulldozer and covered the basement with five feet of dirt, 798 00:54:18.880 --> 00:54:22.159 explaining that he planned to plant flowers and preserve the 799 00:54:22.199 --> 00:54:26.280 site as a memorial to the children. A coroner's inquest 800 00:54:26.360 --> 00:54:29.719 stated that the fire was accidental and blamed it on 801 00:54:29.800 --> 00:54:33.880 faulty wiring. Death certificates were issued for the Solder children 802 00:54:34.039 --> 00:54:40.440 on December thirty, but were they actually dead? Today we 803 00:54:40.559 --> 00:54:43.639 know that the fire, which leveled the Solder home in 804 00:54:43.679 --> 00:54:47.360 about half an hour, never reached the temperature required for 805 00:54:47.400 --> 00:54:51.119 the total cremation of human remains. That would have taken 806 00:54:51.199 --> 00:54:54.360 two to three hours and would have required a temperature 807 00:54:54.400 --> 00:54:58.480 of fourteen hundred to eighteen hundred degrees. In fact, various 808 00:54:58.519 --> 00:55:02.840 household appliances found in the burned out basement were still recognizable. 809 00:55:03.880 --> 00:55:08.039 Strangers still a telephone lineman summoned to the Solder home 810 00:55:08.119 --> 00:55:11.920 site reported that the telephone line had not been burned through, 811 00:55:12.119 --> 00:55:15.800 but rather had been cut fourteen feet off the ground 812 00:55:16.119 --> 00:55:20.239 and two feet from the nearest utility pole. Neighbors directed 813 00:55:20.280 --> 00:55:22.119 the police to a man whom they saw at the 814 00:55:22.159 --> 00:55:25.559 scene of the fire stealing an automotive block and tackle. 815 00:55:26.280 --> 00:55:29.320 He pled guilty to the theft, but denied any role 816 00:55:29.360 --> 00:55:31.960 in the fire, although he did admit to cutting the 817 00:55:31.960 --> 00:55:36.320 telephone wire, allegedly mistaking it for the power line. His 818 00:55:36.440 --> 00:55:39.079 identity and motives for cutting any of the lines at 819 00:55:39.079 --> 00:55:43.039 the scene remain a mystery, and what the man was 820 00:55:43.119 --> 00:55:47.360 really doing there was just the start of the unanswered questions. 821 00:55:48.639 --> 00:55:51.679 A late night bus driver disputed the coroner's verdict of 822 00:55:51.719 --> 00:55:55.440 an accidental blaze at the Solder house, reporting that he 823 00:55:55.519 --> 00:55:59.239 had seen unknown persons throwing balls of fire onto the 824 00:55:59.280 --> 00:56:04.400 Solter's roof. In March nineteen forty six, Sylvia Sowter found 825 00:56:04.400 --> 00:56:08.320 a green, hard rubber object near the ruins, which some 826 00:56:08.400 --> 00:56:12.960 believed was some sort of firebomb. The Sowters later claimed 827 00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:16.199 that the house had burned from the roof downward rather 828 00:56:16.280 --> 00:56:19.719 than from the ground floor up, but no evidence remained 829 00:56:19.840 --> 00:56:23.800 to prove their story. However, the idea of firebombs being 830 00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:27.639 thrown onto the roof might explain the strange noise that 831 00:56:27.760 --> 00:56:30.519 Jenny heard when she was awakened a short time before 832 00:56:30.559 --> 00:56:37.079 the fire started. And then the sightings began. First, the 833 00:56:37.119 --> 00:56:40.960 manager of a motel that was located halfway between Fayetteville 834 00:56:41.000 --> 00:56:44.760 and Charleston, West Virginia, claimed that he saw the five 835 00:56:44.880 --> 00:56:49.039 Solder children there on Christmas Day. A resident of Charleston 836 00:56:49.360 --> 00:56:53.440 later said that he saw four of the children, Martha, Lewis, Jenny, 837 00:56:53.480 --> 00:56:57.639 and Betty, with four unknown adults about one week after 838 00:56:57.679 --> 00:57:02.039 the fire. The adults spoke Italian and were never identified. 839 00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:06.639 Suspecting that the children had been kidnapped, George and Jenny 840 00:57:06.719 --> 00:57:11.400 hired C. C. Tinsley, a private investigator from nearby gully Bridge, 841 00:57:11.440 --> 00:57:15.840 to look into the sidings and pursue the case. Tinsley 842 00:57:15.880 --> 00:57:18.800 went to work not only trying to run down information 843 00:57:18.880 --> 00:57:21.880 about the children, but also looking to see who might 844 00:57:21.920 --> 00:57:25.480 have hard feelings against the Sowters and if any possible 845 00:57:25.599 --> 00:57:28.360 enemies might have had something to do with the fire 846 00:57:28.679 --> 00:57:32.400 or with kidnapping the children. He discovered that the Swters 847 00:57:32.679 --> 00:57:36.519 had been threatened in October nineteen forty five by a 848 00:57:36.559 --> 00:57:40.480 Fayetteville resident who tried to sell them life insurance. When 849 00:57:40.480 --> 00:57:43.519 they told him that they weren't interested in his sales pitch, 850 00:57:44.039 --> 00:57:46.760 he warned them that their house would go up and 851 00:57:46.840 --> 00:57:50.960 smoke and their children would be destroyed over dirty remarks 852 00:57:50.960 --> 00:57:55.480 that George had made about Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator, 853 00:57:55.760 --> 00:58:00.360 who had been lynched in April nineteen forty five. Interactly 854

00:58:00.480 --> 00:58:03.320 the same insurance salesman had been a member of the 855 00:58:03.400 --> 00:58:06.800 coroner's jury that decided that the fire at the Solder 856 00:58:06.840 --> 00:58:12.079 House was accidental in nineteen forty seven. A church minister 857 00:58:12.199 --> 00:58:17.079 from Fayetteville told the solders a strange story. While Chief 858 00:58:17.119 --> 00:58:20.159 Miller had claimed that no remains were found at the 859 00:58:20.159 --> 00:58:24.719 fire scene in nineteen forty five, he privately claimed to 860 00:58:24.800 --> 00:58:28.280 have found a heart in the ashes, which he placed 861 00:58:28.280 --> 00:58:31.760 in an empty dynamite box and buried the scene without 862 00:58:31.800 --> 00:58:36.800 reporting the discovery. Tinsley and George Junior persuaded Chief Miller 863 00:58:36.840 --> 00:58:40.119 to show them where he had buried the box. They 864 00:58:40.199 --> 00:58:42.679 dug it up, took it to a funeral home, and 865 00:58:42.760 --> 00:58:46.079 asked the director to open the box and examine the contents. 866 00:58:47.440 --> 00:58:51.639 Inside was what looked like a decayed beef liver. It 867 00:58:51.760 --> 00:58:54.840 was untouched by the fire, meaning that it had been 868 00:58:54.880 --> 00:58:59.440 placed there after the blaze, but for what purpose no 869 00:58:59.480 --> 00:59:05.079 one knows. Later, in nineteen forty seven, George Sowterer saw 870 00:59:05.079 --> 00:59:08.559 a newspaper photo of several New York school children and 871 00:59:08.719 --> 00:59:11.559 insisted that one of the girls was his daughter Betty. 872 00:59:12.280 --> 00:59:15.199 He drove to Manhattan in search of the child, but 873 00:59:15.280 --> 00:59:18.800 her parents refused to let him see her. Unable to 874 00:59:18.800 --> 00:59:21.039 come up with a plan to get another look at her, 875 00:59:21.559 --> 00:59:26.760 he drove home disappointed. In nineteen forty nine, Tinsley and 876 00:59:26.800 --> 00:59:29.920 the Sowers started a new search of the fire scene, 877 00:59:30.360 --> 00:59:36.239 discovering four human vertebra. State authorities refused to examine the bones, 878 00:59:36.440 --> 00:59:40.119 so Tinsley sent them to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. 879 00:59:41.079 --> 00:59:44.840 Experts there determined that the vertebra belonged to a male 880 00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:48.440 between the ages of nineteen and twenty two, an age 881 00:59:48.559 --> 00:59:51.360 range that did not match any of the missing children. 882 00:59:52.280 --> 00:59:56.239 Published reports stated that Tinsley later traced the bones to 883 00:59:56.320 --> 00:59:59.960 a cemetery in Mount Hope, West Virginia, but no expert 884 01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.320 planation was available concerning their theft from the unidentified grave 885 01:00:04.800 --> 01:00:07.480 or how they managed to end up at the Solder 886 01:00:07.519 --> 01:00:12.119 fire scene. With the Smithsonian report in hand, the family 887 01:00:12.159 --> 01:00:14.960 persuaded the FBI to take an interest in the case. 888 01:00:15.920 --> 01:00:18.639 In nineteen fifty a file was opened on the Solder 889 01:00:18.719 --> 01:00:23.599 children as a possible interstate kidnapping, but FBI agents only 890 01:00:23.639 --> 01:00:28.119 pursued the case for two years with no results. Around 891 01:00:28.119 --> 01:00:31.400 that same time, the West Virginia State Police also looked 892 01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:34.719 into the case, but with the same amount of success 893 01:00:35.360 --> 01:00:39.559 or lack of it. In nineteen sixty five, the solders 894 01:00:39.599 --> 01:00:42.920 received a photograph of a young man in the male 895 01:00:42.960 --> 01:00:45.599 On the back of the photo, a handwritten note read 896 01:00:46.079 --> 01:00:52.960 Lewis Sotter I love brother fankee Illill boys A nine zero, one, three, 897 01:00:53.079 --> 01:00:57.800 two or thirty five. While George and Jenny were convinced 898 01:00:57.960 --> 01:01:00.440 that the photo was an older looking likeness of their 899 01:01:00.440 --> 01:01:04.360 missing son, they could not interpret the cryptic message on 900 01:01:04.440 --> 01:01:08.920 the back or trace the sender of the photograph. Even so, 901 01:01:09.559 --> 01:01:13.239 the family clung to hope. In nineteen fifty two, they 902 01:01:13.239 --> 01:01:17.840 erected a billboard near anstead, West Virginia that displayed photographs 903 01:01:17.960 --> 01:01:21.320 of the missing children and offered a five thousand dollars 904 01:01:21.360 --> 01:01:25.840 reward for information leading to their whereabouts. It brought no 905 01:01:26.199 --> 01:01:31.239 useful tips, but created a lot of speculation. Rumors abounded, 906 01:01:31.599 --> 01:01:36.599 including stories of Italian fascists, mafia gunmen, and orphanages that 907 01:01:36.679 --> 01:01:41.719 snatched children and sold them to childless couples. The Sowters 908 01:01:41.800 --> 01:01:45.159 spent the rest of their lives searching for the missing children. 909 01:01:46.239 --> 01:01:50.559 George Sotter died in nineteen sixty nine, still hoping for 910 01:01:50.599 --> 01:01:54.599 a break in the case. Ginny lived another twenty years, 911 01:01:54.800 --> 01:01:58.840 and she never gave up either. The billboard and anstead 912 01:01:58.920 --> 01:02:01.559 remained in place until or death, when it was finally 913 01:02:01.599 --> 01:02:08.000 taken down. Today, the youngest surviving family member, Sylvia Sodter Paxton, 914 01:02:08.599 --> 01:02:12.239 keeps the Famili's haunting story alive with help from her daughter, 915 01:02:12.880 --> 01:02:17.679 pursuing leads on the Internet or wherever information might come from. 916 01:02:18.920 --> 01:02:23.480 To this day, though the case remains open and unsolved. 917 01:02:31.760 --> 01:02:35.199 Thanks for listening to Weird Darkness. Do you have a 918 01:02:35.239 --> 01:02:38.480 story you'd like to share for a future episode? If 919 01:02:38.480 --> 01:02:41.119 you have a paranormal story that happened to you or 920 01:02:41.159 --> 01:02:43.800 a loved one that you'd like to share, or perhaps 921 01:02:43.800 --> 01:02:47.000 you found a link to something darkly, creepy and true 922 01:02:47.039 --> 01:02:48.920 on the web that you think would be good for 923 01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:51.440 the show, you can let me know about it at 924 01:02:51.480 --> 01:02:56.000 Weird Darkness dot Com featured in this episode when the 925 01:02:56.039 --> 01:03:00.039 show didn't go on. The Iroquois Theater fire from the 926 01:02:59.880 --> 01:03:03.400 book and Hell followed with it by Troy Taylor and 927 01:03:03.480 --> 01:03:08.679 Renee Cruse. A deadly Christmas Ghosts of the Babs Switch 928 01:03:08.800 --> 01:03:13.719 School fire is used by permission from Troy Taylor. Horror 929 01:03:13.760 --> 01:03:17.559 for the Holidays, Ghosts of the Estabula Bridge disaster is 930 01:03:17.559 --> 01:03:19.719 from the book and Hell followed with it by Troy 931 01:03:19.760 --> 01:03:24.440 Taylor and Renee Cruse. In a Christmas mystery, The Vanishing 932 01:03:24.599 --> 01:03:27.920 of the Solder Children is used by permission from Troy Taylor. 933 01:03:28.800 --> 01:03:32.280 Find links to this episode's stories or the authors in 934 01:03:32.360 --> 01:03:36.800 this show's description. I'm your creator and host, Darren Marler. 935 01:03:37.639 --> 01:03:41.199 Merry Christmas, and thank you for joining me in the 936 01:03:41.280 --> 01:03:46.840 Weird Darkness