This newspaper account is contributed by Bob Erwin about his Great-grandfather Dock Adams. Bob is not sure what date it was published.

 News and Views About People You Know

 By Ella Cooper Garner

 Death Recalls A R. R. Wreck

Two men died recently. Not many days apart. Their names; Doc Adams; Luther Smith.

Those two men lived some 50 years longer than some or their former fellow workmen, all because Doc Adams refused to order his men, among whom was Luther Smith, into what he, Adams, deemed dire disaster. To the best of my recollection, and that of others contacted, this is the story; There was a terrible train wreck at Old North Broad cut, just this side of North Broad Fill. It was about the year 1913. Men who were there are uncertain of the year--but it is certain the wreck occurred on a Sunday morning "before day," One man recalls that a freight train, No. 76, turned over, blocking all Southern Railroad traffic on the single track running between Washington to Atlanta. Due to the single track--"not even a wheel-barrow could have gotten through until the wreck of turned-over cars could be cleared" in the words of one who remembers.

All section-forces and extra force crews anywhere near this area from Greenville, S. C., to Lula, were enlisted to aid in the track-clearing which required all of that hot summer Sunday. One derrick was called from Atlanta; one from Greenville.

Section crews of strong, hard-working men had been laboring since they were called, hoping to clear tracks for trains that had been rerouted or held up, for hours. It meant business to get the regular schedule of Railroad traffic going. Railway tracks of steel, warped and bent by the wreck, had to be replaced; and crossties brought in.

Then came the lifting of the over-turned cars back on the repaired tracks. Men were tired, but determined. Bosses were yelling orders. The hillsides were covered with curious onlookers. Sunday was a good day to go to a wreck back fifty years ago. Walking to view such a scene was no problem at all.

A tense moment arrived when the Greenville derrick hoisted one end of a low-sided gondola loaded with Railroad Car-wheels, anyone of which would have weighed 1,000 pounds, making a total weight of around 50,000 pounds.

One end of the gondola was suspended in mid-air, a chain hooked around the draw head in order that the trucks could be rolled back in place. It became necessary that men go under the suspended car to roll the trucks (or wheels) into their natural position.

The Road Master gave the order. He addressed the Section Foreman of all crews on the job. "Get under men and roll those wheels in place." (To the best of the memory of standers-by these were his words). When this order was given, some Foreman rushed to obey, ordering their men under, even going themselves.

But not so Doc Adams. He defied the Road Master's command. One of his crew, Luther Smith, asked Foreman Dock Adams - "Would you go under?" The answer came immediately from Adams; "No it isn't safe. That car should be blocked under each corner with cross-ties-so in case it tilts no one would be hurt." The Road Master did not want to waste the time for this, as trains were waiting to get on their way. Hearing Adams’ remark, advising his men not to go under, the Road Master is alleged to have said: "You don`t think much of your job do you, Doc?"

To this Doc Adams replied -- "I made a living before I worked for the Railroad, and I can do it again."

Other foremen had not been so wise in their judgment; they and their men had gone under.

Before another word was uttered there was a horrible moment, when horror-stricken people saw the wheel-laden tilted car turn almost completely up-side- down, with a deafening roar, spilling the :50,000 lbs. of steel wheels over the bodies of men. Killed were some of the loyal Railroad Section men and their bosses--some say 5, others believe 7 or 8. Many were injured.

Doc Adams' crew owed him their lives. It seems that a man who saved the lives of his crew, thereby certainly saving the Railroad many thousands of dollars in compensation, should have been handsomely rewarded. Perhaps he was, this writer does not know--but a few years ago this column carried a story of Doc Adams and his wife, and if my memory serves me .correctly, no mention was made by him of this heroic attitude of the wreck at North Broad. Incidentally, we are told that no more was ever said about Adams losing his job. He was a valued employee of the Southern Railway for almost 50 years, as was his fellow workman, Luther Smith).

The Silent Side of The Little House remembers clearly assisting in bringing out the Track Supervisor, Mr. Estes, who was crushed beneath the steel. They placed his body on a flat car to bring it to Toccoa. When my husband started for home, he was soaked with the victim’s blood.

Another interesting sidelight to the story is that Mr. Jeff Mills, now cashier for the Railroad office in Toccoa, and employed by this company the past 50 years, was "Call Boy" at the time of the famous North Broad wreck. Mr. Mills then a lad, remembers that he went to the home of Mr. Estes, (the Track Supervisor who was killed), to "Call" him to the job of supervising the removal of debris. Next week another wreck will be reviewed.

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