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Webmaster's
Note: The following
article is taken verbatim from the Meridian Star dated May 15th,
1900
because of the age of the original document, some words were
unreadable on the copy. These words and passages are
marked [Illegible]. Additional biographical/genealogy
information follows below this article.
“HELL FIRED JACK”
Reminiscence of the Early Days of
the M. & O. R.R.
Jack Woodrick and Engine 45
The difficulties and thrilling
experiences of the primitive engineer.
The body of a fireman used for fuel.
By J. J. Hayne
In Railroading, more than perhaps
any other line of business, time has brought its changes so far
as improvement of track equipment and machinery is concerned and
yet strange to say that the engineer of the present time would
find himself lost, totally unfit for the position if the old
fashioned engine that first did service on the M & O [Mobile and
Ohio Railroad] were brought back in use and the rules governing
railroading in the early days had to be conformed with.
It is the days of the early fifties
[1850s] of which I speak. In those days such a thing as railroad
telegraph service was unknown and trains were run by printed
schedules, each engineer being provided with one which was
framed and hung in the cab before him, showing the time for
arrival at and departure from each station on the line.
There were no coal burners then; no
air brakes; no patent couplers; no sleepers; no vestibule
coaches and to... [illegible] ...freight train... [illegible]
...was running... [illegible] ...of 20 miles an hour to a stand
still of 3/4 of a mile with every man at his brake with all his
strength. Pine wood in four
foot lengths was the fuel used and in distances of ten miles the
entire length of the road there were wood yards kept by citizens
living contiguous. It was
the rule then when freight trains lost their schedules by
accident or otherwise that they had to take the first side track
and lie over until the schedule hour the next day, and when
there were bad accidents delaying traffic for 12 hours or more
the accumulation of the trains going in either direction would
exhaust the supply of wood at the platforms, the capacity of
each of them being about 6 cords, and this brings me to the
thrilling and perilous run in which Jack Woodrick, of Meridian,
now 70 years of age figured.
It was spring of 1854 that a
terrible washout occurred at Narkeeta [Narkeeta was formerly
located in Kemper County, Mississippi. It is now said to
be extinct.], then know as Gainsville Junction, for there was a
branch road running out to Gainsville. It required several days
to repair the break and of course the trains in either direction
failing to meet coming trains at the stations designated as
meeting points on the charts would take the side track, and the
accumulation when the line was opened would exhaust the wood
yards and it often became necessary for the train crews to have
to stop and cut wood sufficient to carry them on to the next
yard. For three days there
had not been a train going north to pass Shuqualak [Shuqualak is
located on U.S. Highway 45, about midway between Columbus and
Meridian.], where I then resided. Finally about noon of the
third day a distant roaring could be heard coming from the
south; closer and closer it came until the... [illegible]
...came At Shuqualak it was
found necessary to do a lot of switching, and yet at Macon the
passenger train (which had the right of way at all times) had to
be met. There was just 25 minutes left for switching and getting
to Macon, ten miles north. Jack had passed the wood yard at
Wahalak [Wahalak was originally located a few miles east of its'
present location approximately 1/3 of the way between Shuqualak
and Scooba on the M&O road], trusting to the one at Dry Creek,
near Macon to carry him through and pulling out with 12 minutes
to his credit, he reached the wood yard to find the platform was
empty and the hand of his steam gauge fast lowering. Something
had to be done and quickly. There was no time to stop and cut
wood, for to have remained there would have caused the wrecking
of both trains and the loss of many precious lives, so the first
thought that struck him was to pitch his fireman in the furnace,
pull the throttles wide open and trust to luck and take the
consequences, and in this way he reached the Macon switch just
in the nick of time, for the passenger train had started.
This was the fastest time ever made
by a heavy freight train over the M&O R.R. It was 10 miles in
11 minutes and with one stop. So reckless was the speed over the
then new and uneven track that the ponderous box cars appeared
to the brakemen who were at their brakes on top as dancing upon
their ends and every minute seemed their last, and one of them
had his nerves so wrought up that his hair turned white within
less than a year there after and for the balance of his days he
appeared as one with a full fledged case of the palsy. “Jack”
himself, however, appeared as cool and unconcerned as though
nothing out of the ordinary had been done.
A Negro slave who was being carried
to Macon by his master to be sold upon the block described the
thrilling ride thus: “Fo de Lawd, de train run so fas’ dat de
trees ‘long de road look’ lack er solid bode fence and de rails
on de fence look’ lack toof picks.”
But even before this memorable
incident Jack Woodrick enjoyed distinction of being the most
reckless, daring engineer that ever pulled the throttle. He had
rules of his own not put down in the laws of the company he
served, and one of them was to never blow on the brakes when
such a small obstacle as a cow or an ox was on the track ahead,
but pull the throttle wide open and strike the beast with such
force as would throw it from the track rather than down and
under the wheels, and it is said that in this way he never had a
“run off” in encountering a cow or horse.
But this rule, while satisfactory to
him, kept the stock claim agent busy adjusting with owners, for
“Jack’s” licks in nearly every case proved fatal, and it is said
the road had more stock to pay for on his account than all the
rest of the engineers combined, but this was offset by the
saving to machinery by preventing “run offs” in such cases.
Nor did Jack’s self will stop here,
for upon another occasion when the south bound crews, seeing
that he... [illegible] ...loaded wood yard was reached, an in
this way he reached the wood supply on time.
And when desperate time had to be
made, the officers, though ordinarily prejudiced against Jack
because of his daring disposition and trying to dissuade him by
being rather uncouth in their conversations with him never
failed to select him for they knew he would carry out their
orders; and on one occasion it was necessary, in order to get a
letter through to headquarters in time to have a distance of 208
miles made within four hours, “Hell Fired Jack” was selected to
pull the engine. It is needless to say he reached the “landing”
on time, and I learn with four minutes to his credit.
Some idea of how long ago this has
been can be formed when it is known that the road had just been
completed to Corinth; but Jack’s connection with the road dated
back to the first locomotive that went over the line, and he
continued with it in the highest standing, until the “color
blind” test was inaugurated a few years back, “sidetracked” him.
But his career was a brilliant one
and he rests from his perilous labors full of honors, for it is
a cherished portion of his reputation that he never had a
collision or killed a member of his train crew or a passenger,
but “Kings have but their titles for their glory, an outward
horror for an inward toll” and we find Jack today an humble
citizen of our city, pursuing the even tenor of his way, and
though past the three score and ten mark in age, earning a
livelihood by his own exertions, cheerful, healthy and happy and
still gracefully wearing the cool, independent air that
characterized him in the days when he fairly “split the wind”
with his engine, the old “45” and when he made daring and
perilous fly with a heavy train from Shuqualak to Macon in
eleven minutes. He is the
link connecting the present with the famous generation of
railroad men that are gone and I revere him for the noble part
he played in the days of my childhood when every moment was full
of hope and every passing hour a blissful, happy dream.
During these primitive days of the
Mobile & Ohio railroad, the following named officers were in
charge: Milton Brown of Tennessee, President; L.J. Fleming,
Chief Engineer and general superintendent; P. Frecmius,
assistant superintendent; John W. Goodwin, engineer and
superintendent.
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