New Market Wreck (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "The Southern Railway had a wreck at ten o'clock one morn, Near Hodge's and New Market ground...." A conductor misreads his orders, and two trains collide. The singer hopes the other conductor is in heaven, and adds other details
AUTHOR: Robert Hugh Brooks
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 24, 1904 -- the New Market Wreck. The conductor of the #15 train admitted to misreading his orders and causing the wreck; reports say that at least 56 people died
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cohen-LongSteelRail, pp. 227-231, "The New Market Wreck" (1 text plus an early sheet music print, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 276-277, "The New Market Wreck" (1 text plus part of the sheet music)
Lyle-ScaldedToDeathByTheSteam, pp. 57-67, "The New Market Wreck" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a text of an unrelated song with no known author)
Roud #4904
RECORDINGS:
Mr. & Mrs. J. W. Baker, "The Newmarket Wreck" (Victor 20863, 1927)
George Reneau, "The New Market Wreck" (Vocalion 14930, 1924)
Mike Seeger, "The New Market Wreck" (on MSeeger02, ClassRR)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "New Market Wreck (II)" (subject)
NOTES [94 words]: According to Cohen, there is a second song about this event, "The Southern Railroad Wreck," by Charles O. Oaks. It seems to be rarely encountered; it is clearly not traditional. Lyle reports another song, "The New Market Wreck," perhaps by Josiah Adams, also poor and also not traditional. I'm not sure how traditional this song is, either, although there are a couple of reported collections.
There is at least one more book about the wreck, John P. Ascher, The New Market Wreck, America's Most Deadly Train Disaster, Family Railroad Organization, Inc, 2004. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: LSRa228

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