1937 - Death of a Railroad Engineer
The brief unpublished memoir of Dr. Paul B. Hall, which appeared in part in the Paintsville Herald January 1, 1985, is a treasure trove of information, anecdotes and insights into an era which is no more.
Dr. Hall was the surgeon of record for the C & O Railroad for almost 35 years. In the course of those three and a half decades, the Paintsville physician encountered numerous railroad accidents and tragedies. Among them was an accident on August 25, 1937, near Auxier.
It had rained throughout Tuesday through the early hours of Wednesday. Engineer Walter Burke, 46, and a crew of two others, E. T. "Doke" Sherman, head brakeman, and Dave Corder, fireman, were in the engine when it was derailed by a landslide near Auxier. The engine plunged about forty feet over an embankment near what was known as Honeycutt Curve. Seven cars were derailed.
Paintsville Yard Master Hannibal Wheeler was informed of the derailment by the train's conductor who had walked two miles to a telephone. Wheeler immediately informed Dr. Hall and the two sped to the scene of the accident.
While Sherman and Corder were severely crushed and burned in the accident, it was Burke who was mortally injured.
Burke was crushed under the engine and steam burned his lower body. He remained conscious, however.
Dr. Hall's memoir picks up the story...
"The (man) was pinned in, gradually being burned to death by live steam. I rushed down there and saw him. He knew me and I knew him. I quickly loaded half a grain of morphine in my syringe. The other railroaders there insisted that I not go in - that I would be burned up with steam, but I didn't think so. I jumped into the cab and gave him that half grain of morphine and sat there with him for 4 or 5 minutes until he expired. I could not have done otherwise."
Since the railroad arrived in Paintsville in 1904 there have been numerous accidents on the Big Sandy Division of the C & O (now the Chessie System), a few deaths and several acts of heroism. Few have been so vividly and candidly recounted, however, as that which occurred on a rain drenched, pitch black morning in August, 1937.
