Baker Bridge Train Wreck of 1905 Lincoln MA

Imagine an algebra problem with potentially fatal consequences: a train leaves the station going 35 mph, with stops. Thirty minutes later an express train departs on the same track going 35 mph, no stops. Will the first train reach an exit at mile 25 before the second train catches up?

On Sunday evening, November 26, 1905, the answer was "No."

Although trains had been around for more than fifty years, train safety was still an evolving process. At the time of this accident some systems had electric-powered signals - semaphore arms by day and lights by night - to signify that another train was ahead. Additionally, if operators on a leading train thought there was a chance a following train might catch up, a flagman on the rear car (not always a caboose) would periodically throw red 'fusees' (flares) off the back. These were designed to burn for about ten minutes. And that's it for preventing rear-end collisions. No real-time train tracking, no radio communications between trains, and no collision avoidance automated braking.

The players: Boston & Maine Railroad ran local-stop passenger trains between Boston and Marlborough, using the main line to south Acton, where the trains would switch to tracks serving Maynard, Stow, Hudson and Marlborough. The night of the accident, the train, comprised of an engine, a tender and four coaches, left Union Station (same site as current North Station) at 7:16 p.m., making stops all along the way. Scores of people were returning to Maynard after Sunday excursions in Boston. Most were on the last car, as it was designated to be left behind at Maynard before the rest of the train continued onward. Behind it, the overnight Montreal Express - two engines, two milk cars, two baggage cars, a mail car, a Pullman car, a smoker and two coaches - left Union Station at 7:45 p.m.

The local was running late and the operators were aware of what was chasing them from behind. At the evidentiary hearing the flagman reported he had dropped fusees east of the Lincoln station, west of the Lincoln station, and again a goodly distance before the Baker Bridge station in western Lincoln.

According to the report from the Board of Railroad Commissioners, Horace  Lyon, the engineer of the lead engine of the express stated that he had seen the fusees, and had cut back power, but at most only lightly applied brakes. The night was in general clear, but there may have been some obscuring night fog in Lincoln, near the Sudbury River. Regardless, Lyon testified that he did not see the rear lights of the stopped train until within 100 yards, and even with emergency brakes, could not stop in time.

Burned railroad car from the Baker Bridge Station, Lincoln, MA
train wreck of Nov 26, 1905 (courtesy Maynard Historical Society)

The conclusion was operator error on the part of Mr. Lyons. There was discussion about him doing a night shift when he had just completed a day shift, but the major fault was identified as lack of experience. Lyons had only recently been promoted from fireman. Prior to the night of the accident his experience was a few weeks in the switching yard, a week driving freight trains, and this only his second day in charge of a passenger train. Although he had experience as a fireman on the Montreal Express, he may not have been aware that the local had an optional stop at Baker Bridge, 1.5 miles after the Lincoln Station stop. Lyons was only slightly injured in the accident, and fled the scene immediately after the accident, and when located later, was described as being in a state of mental collapse.  

Newspaper reports of the time reported the accident as occurring at 8:15 p.m., and resulting in 17 dead and 25-30 seriously injured. Two of the dead were fireman on the Montreal-bound engines. The others were passengers on the rear two cars of the local, either killed in the accident or from the resulting fire, set by the lead engine of the express. The death toll would have been higher except for railroad employees and passengers from both trains braving the smoke and fire and risk of a boiler explosion to extract the trapped and wounded.   

The Maynard dead, and their ages:
  William J. Barris 29
  Irving H. Barris 3
  Mary Campbell 27
  Andrew Carlson 28
  Josephine Carlson 22
  Thomas Crowley 56
  George Czujko 49
  Hannah Desmond 40
  Vladyslav Matisliewicz 26 

The Barris's were father and son; the Carlson's husband and wife. Albert and Elfrida (Collins) Batley, married just two years, were among the injured. Mrs. Batley lost part of a leg. The couple were later owners of Batley & Son Florists, with more than 7,000 square feet of greenhouse buildings on Acton Street, behind the Fowler funeral home.

One question the Commissioners asked - if the train was stopped - why not send the rear flagman back on the tracks to flag the oncoming train?  Or at least put some torpedoes* on the rails? This would have been the approved practice if the local train had broken down and could not proceed. But that was not the case. The local had just dropped off passengers, and was expected to be underway again within minutes. Being off the train would have separated the flagman from his train.

Not in the newspaper article:

This account draws on reporting published in the Boston Globe and New York Times at the time of the accident, the collections of the Lincoln, MA public library and the Maynard Historical Society, and the railroad investigation of the incident. Source sites:

http://www.lincolnpl.org/Documents/baker%20bridge%20train%20accident.pdf

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/56928697/

http://www3.gendisasters.com/massachusetts/6135/baker039s-bridge-station-ma-train-wreck-nov-1905

https://books.google.com/books?id=P_4WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=baker+bridge+station+train+accident&source=bl&ots=_vaUGlYnbM&sig=T7ZOAcSepgm-JlfqAh9MV0LotPo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VlysUpS_L9LesATykoKQCg#v=onepage&q=baker%20bridge%20station%20train%20accident&f=false

Interestingly, a 1922 report on medical causes of railroad accidents due to operator error specifically mentioned the Baker Bridge station accident as likely caused by undiagnosed and untreated neurosyphilis! Train operators and crew were known to have a much higher prevalence of syphilis compared to the population as a whole - thought to be a consequence of frequent travel away from family and access to prostitutes. [Chace AE, Hays GA. Railway Age. 1922;73(24):1103-05]  

On a different note, a U.S. report circa 1905 - meaning before the era of cars and trucks and buses, there was an estimate that train and trolley accidents were responsible for approximately 10,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries each year. Currently, rail-related fatalities average around 1,000 per year, the great majority being a combination of people walking along or crossing tracks and vehicles hit while crossing tracks.  

Wikipeida image of torpedo on a rail
Click on photo to enlarge

*A "torpedo" was a small metal packet, about half the size of a business card, filled with gunpowder. When a train's front wheels hit one, it would explode, thus warning the engineer of danger down the track. The torpedo was attached to a strip of lead four inches long. When the torpedo was set on the rail the lead would be bent down on either side in order to hold it in place. Several of these might have been placed on a rail to make sure the following train got the warning. Railroad workers being railroad workers, torpedoes were central to various practical jokes.  

Maynard Post Office

Back of Post Office truck, showing logo and
website address (click to enlarge photos)

For nearly one-third of its existence as an institution, Maynard's U.S. Post Office has resided in its current building at 143 Main Street. At a recent visit the people in line in front of me were: 1) stopping home delivery for a vacation, 2) dropping off wedding invitations, 3) getting a passport photo taken, and 4) shipping a large box to a person in Russia. I was there for stamps.

Two sets of stamps are issued each year for the winter holidays season, usually one with a religious theme and one winterish. This year the choices are Geometric Snowflakes and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Both available now.

There are some interesting stamps that fall outside the first class postage rate. Wedding invitations, what with RSVP envelopes inside, tend to be too heavy for the standard rate, so the post office creates Two Ounce stamps for this special need. And for those who want to think outside the government stamps, USPS recommends Zazzle (http://www.zazzle.com/stamps), a non-government entity that has hundreds of love/wedding themed postage stamps, and can also create a custom stamp from a photo of the engaged couple. Zazzle also does divorce themed stamps. (Example: silver lettered "I Do Not" on a black background.)

Prior to finding its long-term home on Main Street the Post Office was somewhat peripatetic. The first location, circa 1850, shortly after the woolen mill opened, was next to the railroad station. Amory Maynard served as first Postmaster. Subsequent sites included inside the Riverside Block building (long before it became Gruber Bros. Furniture), the corner of the building currently occupied by Boston Bean House, another site on Main Street, then up at the corner of Nason and Summer Streets before settling in its current Main Street location. Just inside the door is a plaque: This building dedicated to public service 1963, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, J. Edward Day, Postmaster General.

Historical descriptions tell of immigrants arriving from Finland and other European countries with Post Office box number of their Maynard relatives written on a tag attached to their clothing. Supposedly, the PO workers 'delivered' the arrivers to their families. The truth may not have been as dramatic. Immigrants at Ellis Island, in New York's harbor, was required to display a "Landing Card" on their outer clothing with information including their name, name of ship and that they had passed daily health inspections, but not their destination address.

Once cleared to leave the island there were immigrant aid societies which would help get tickets for the right trains, and also provide a card to facilitate travel: "To the conductor: This person is going to this address. Please show bearer where to change trains and where to get off, as this person does not speak English." The train station was the gateway to arriving in Maynard, not the Post Office.

Little-known fact: Only immigrants in steerage, i.e., third class, went through Ellis Island. Those who had enough money to travel first or second class were subjected to a cursory medical examination while still on board, then dropped off at Manhattan.

Upgrades of post office services reached Maynard in an odd order. Rural free delivery was implemented nationally and locally in 1902. Long before then, most cities already had in-town delivery direct to homes (Boston started in 1864), but Maynard did not start home delivery until 1920. Until then, people picked up their mail at the post office. Nationally, home delivery was twice a day until the Federal Post Office scaled down to once a day in 1950.    

Mail boxes in front of building (for after-hours)

Today, the Maynard Post Office serves a population of about 10,100 people. According to Postmaster Mike Welch, employees number 18, 6 at the building and 12 carriers for home delivery. All are federal employees. The building itself is privately owned by Mass Postal Holdings LLC. The Post Office pays rent. This is not unusual - nationally, the Postal Service owns only ten percent of its buildings.

In addition to the mail boxes at the Post Office there are nine mail boxes scattered about town, the majority found at senior housing centers and condominium complexes. Neighboring Stow, serving a population of 7,100, has a post office next to the Shaw's shopping plaza and only two mail boxes elsewhere in town.    

History of Maynard Library

Carnegie is a name oft-associated with public libraries. Steel industry tycoon Andrew Carnegie decided to use his wealth for the public good in his lifetime. He established a system by which municipalities could apply to him for funds to build a library if the city or town promised to buy the land and commit to an annual budget greater than ten percent of his gift toward construction costs. By the time of his death in 1919 he had gifted over $350 million dollars ($13 billion in today’s value) to many causes, including more than 2,500 libraries, two-thirds in the United States. A Carnegie gift led to construction of the public library in Hudson in 1905.

Local benefactors were often instrumental in start-ups of local libraries. William Wilde of Acton paid for construction of a library in memory of the Acton citizens who had fought in the Civil War (hence Acton Memorial Library). William Munroe paid for the Concord Free Public Library. In Stow, John Witt Randall donated a collection of 700 books to start a town library in 1851, and later bequeathed the money used to build the original parts of the present-day Randall Library in 1894. Similarly, in Sudbury, John Goodnow II, who died in 1851, left land and funds to build the Goodnow Library.

The 1851 date is important. In May of that year the state of Massachusetts passed an Act to authorize cities and towns the right to tax occupants one dollar per year to create a public library and twenty-five cents per year in subsequent years for operation expenses. Personal and business bequests and donations were allowed. By 1870 there were eighty free public libraries in the state, all pre-dating Carnegie's impetus.   

In Maynard there was no significant benefactor. The Town appropriated $1,000 in 1881 to start a library, located in a room in the Acton Street School. Subsequent annual budgets were in range of $500-600 per year, mostly for more books. The library was open two evenings per week. A few years later it was relocated to rooms in the Riverside Cooperative Building, at the site of what is now the Knights of Columbus building, then in 1918 to second floor rooms in another building on Nason Street. Only in 1962 did the Maynard Public Library get its own building, next to town hall.

Library entrance dates to school that opened in 1892

Forty years later the demands for library services called for a much larger facility than could be provided at the Main Street site. After consideration of many options a decision was made to utilize the Roosevelt School building at 77 Nason Street. This elementary school opened in 1918, built on the 1892 stone foundation of what had been the wood-framed Nason Street High School, completely destroyed by fire in 1916. Roosevelt School existed from 1918 through 1988. The building then stood empty, deteriorating, until a combination of state grant, town tax funding and private donations - the last accomplished by efforts of the Friends of the Maynard Public Library - combined to total the $5.7 million needed for this project. Middlesex Savings Bank was a major contributor with a gift of $100,000.

The plan from the architectural firm Lerner | Ladds + Bartels was to retain the entrances and brick walls of the school building but construct an entirely new structure within the exterior shell. The result is a three story, 24,000 square foot building with an open core and stairwell, naturally lit from above via skylight.  

Maynard Library - looking up at skylight from first floor
Click on any photo to enlarge

An anecdote: during the empty years, the Town of Maynard used the building to store all lost bicycles that went unclaimed by owners. Some towns have annual auctions of unclaimed bicycles - sold "as is." Not here. When the building was being cleared prior to start of construction, an open topped waste container 6x8x22 feet (30 cubic yards) was filled with bicycles.

Twenty-first century libraries are so much more than books. Over time, libraries added adult reading rooms, newspapers and magazines, children's rooms, story time, meeting rooms, used book sales, use of computers, access to internet, movie nights, guest speakers, education programs, museum passes, loaning out e-books, movies and music, and so on. Inter-library book transfers allow libraries to have smaller collections on site, yet still provide access to the larger world of books.

The brick facade dates to Roosevelt School, which
opened in 1918 and operated for 70 years

Maynard's library also uses the first floor meeting room for art displays and a glassed cabinet on the second floor for historical displays. The third floor is for children's programs. To the left of the entrance is a red cicycle rack that spells out the word "BOOKS." Between in and the door is one of Maynard's fire alarm call boxes. Visit http://www.maynardpubliclibrary.org/ to learn more about what this library provides.

Annual reports mention 1,893 books in 1885 and 3,416 books in 1891.

YEARS            LOCATION

1881-1885       Acton Street School (now Jarmo's Auto Repair site)

1885-1918       Riverside Cooperative Society, Nason Street (now Knights of Columbus site)

1918-1962       2nd floor, Naylor Block, Nason Street (now dentist's office)

1962-2006       Town Building Annex, Main Street (now Maynard Police station

2006-present    former Roosevelt School, Nason Street

Fifty of David Mark’s 2012-2014 columns were published in book "Hidden History of Maynard" available at The Paper Store, on-line, and as an e-book. And at the Maynard Public Library!

Boy Scouts of Maynard: Trail Work

Through decades, Maynard's Boy Scout Troop #130 has conducted numerous Eagle Scout Service Projects to improve outdoor recreational opportunities in Maynard. These include creating and improving the town's Summer Hill and Assabet River Walk Trails, work at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge and on the Assabet River Rail Trail, and clearing the Marble Farm historic site.

To earn the Eagle Scout rank, the highest advancement rank in Scouting, a Boy Scout must fulfill requirements in the areas of leadership, service, and outdoor skills. Although many options are available to demonstrate proficiency in these areas, a number of specific skills are required to advance through the ranks: Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle. Scouts must pass specific tests that are organized by requirements and merit badges. The top three ranks require community service projects. Approximately five percent of Boy Scouts reach Eagle Scout.

Jason installing plaque on fence post
(Click on any photo to enlarge)

On April 4, 2009, Maynard Boy Scout Troop 130 spent the better part of a damp spring day cutting down trees and clearing brush from the Marble Farm site, next to Rockland Avenue, and erecting a post and chain fence bordering two sides of the foundation. This was an Eagle Scout project by Jason Schomacker. A plaque on one of the fence posts shows a photo of the house, with barns and other outbuildings seen in the background.

The Marble family had moved to this site circa 1710. Their descendants (Marble, then Whitney, then Parmenter) owned it through 1924, when the house was destroyed by fire. The site has the potential for being an interesting addition to Maynard’s history, but without periodic maintenance it gets rapidly overgrown.

Boy Scouts on completed bridge. Jakob Dickson at left end.

This year, on September 19, 2015, the Troop spent a warm fall morning under the aegis of Eagle Scout candidate Jakob Dickson, carrying lumber a quarter mile into the woods and then building a bridge over a creek. Funding was provided by the Town of Maynard, courtesy of the Conservation Commission. All the pressure-treated lumber was pre-cut and delivered to the trail head by Butler Lumber. The finished bridge spans sixteen feet and is 3.5 feet wide. The two beams are each three 2x8 by 16 foot long, nailed together.

The Assabet River Walk Trail has signed entrances from the cul-de-sac at the end of Colbert Avenue and on Concord Street. From Colbert, the Trail can be very wet, and is also too root-ridden, root-riven and root-rampant to be managed on an off-road bicycle. From Concord Street the first half of the trail is walkable and rideable, then progressively wilder after the bridge crossing. Just before the bridge there is an option to head farther east. This alternative route leads to good views of the Assabet River. The river here is still water (not moving) because it is backed up behind a dam next to Route 62, in Acton. All parts of trial are marked with white blazed painted on trees.

New bridge viewed approaching from north side

Not in the newspaper article: The land is shown on town maps as town land, designated either Lemoine Land or Colbert Hill. There was a Fred Lemoine who served in World War I and an Edward Lemoine listed as donating to the Collection at St. Bridget's Church, November 1907. One end of the Trail is to Colbert Avenue, named for Eugene Colbert's family who lived nearby on Glendale Street starting around 1879. His son Daniel Colbert identified as a founding member of the Twilight Club (1904) a social organization that had a cottage on Lake Boon. But there are no Historical Society details on why these two names are associated with this plot of land. There are remnants of stone walls and drainage ditches crossed by the Trail, suggesting this was pasture.

Recent wildlife sightings in the area include several deer and a rafter of turkeys. (Venery, the proper naming of animal groups, declares that turkeys in plural are a rafter in the same way that geese grouped are a gaggle if on the ground but a skein if aflight.)  The River Walk also introduces visitors to native and invasive plant species. Natives includes numerous beech trees, identified by smooth grey bark, and also poison ivy. Invasives include Japanese knotweed at the Colbert end, Japanese barberry at the Concord end, garlic mustard, burning bush, multiflora rose and Oriental bittersweet throughout. These dominate the forest understory because they are all plants deer disdain to eat.     

Whitetail fawn with spots

Anyone interested in learning more about Troop #130's activities should visit http://web.maynard.ma.us/troop130. This website provides a description and history of the Troop, including past Eagle Scout projects. The Troop is chartered with the Boy Scouts of America and sponsored by the Union Congregational Church. Scouting in Maynard dates back to 1927. Going forward, there were years with no troop, one troop or two troops (#1 and #30). The two merged at the close of 1984 to form Troop #130, which continues to this day.

Girl Scouts also have an active presence in Maynard, as part of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. Earlier this year Rachel Hahn earned her Girl Scout Gold Award - the highest level, requiring 80 hours of toward a community service project - for creating a website, informational brochure and events about autism inclusion resources. 

Sidewalks of Maynard

According to the Town of Maynard, MA, population 10,000, the town maintains roughly 50 miles roads and 30 miles of sidewalks. The latter includes wide sidewalks on both sides of streets in the downtown district, 3-5 foot wide sidewalks on both or only one side of some of the other roads, and no sidewalks on less traveled roads.

The first mention of sidewalks is in an Annual Report from 1880 as a comment that $150 was spent on labor and gravel. Back then an unskilled laborer was paid about $1.25 per day. Subsequent reports had budgets covering highways, bridges and sidewalks that gradually increased from $1,000 per year to $2,500 per year. The report for 1893 mentioned concrete sidewalk for Nason Street, but most years described sidewalk expenditures as for labor and crushed stone. Starting with 1902 there were budget breakouts just for sidewalk work: $500 per year for the early years, increasing to $2,000 to $2,500 per year by 1925.  

Without a curb, a grassy strip was needed to separate the
sidewalk from the street. This has different names in
different parts of the country: parkway, citygrass, tree lawn
(if wide enough to include trees), etc. The city owns it
but the homeowner is responsible for upkeep.

As noted, sidewalk materials in the early years were typically gravel, crushed stone, stone dust or cinders. Roads were often of the same composition, so to distinguish road from sidewalk there was either curbstone or a grassy strip separating one from the other. Road surface science progressed from macadam to tarmac to tarvia, to present-day asphalt or concrete. The town's 1921 report mentioned that streets were graded and oiled, bridges replanked, and sidewalks repaired with cinders, gravel and stone dust. Same year, sidewalks were upgraded to asphalt on Walnut, Thompson, Nason and Summer Streets.

The primary purpose of sidewalks is to provide pedestrians with a safe means of getting from one place to another. Today, that means not sharing space with cars, but circa 1900, Maynard had nearly one horse for every ten people, so sidewalks kept people away from horse-drawn wagons. One reason etiquette called for a man to walk on the street side of a woman was to protect her clothing from horse manure spattered by passing vehicles.

Sidewalks have other purposes - places to meet people one knows and see people one does not, to peer into store windows, sit at cafes, for children to jump rope or learn to ride a bicycle, and just to be outdoors when indoors is too crowded or confining. A double plus for Maynard is that sidewalks actually go somewhere (downtown), and by walking, residents avoid the need to find parking and get exercise, too!

Texting while walking creates problems. People are more likely to walk into traffic when distracted. Even when away from street corners, texting-distracted walkers are 10-25 percent slower than people trying to get somewhere, and more likely to drift to one side or the other. Some urban sites are putting padding on light posts and telephone poles.          

Back to Maynard: In parts of town sidewalk replacements are overdue to the point that people consider it safer to walk in the street. This year saw new or rebuilt sidewalks and curbing on portions of Concord, Thompson, Parker and Acton Streets. Next year will see beginning of paving of the Assabet River Rail Trail, which in effect will be a wide sidewalk and bicycle and skateboard path bisecting the town.

The mystery of bumpy yellow (sometimes orange)
metal plates at street crossings is solved.

 A note about sidewalk upgrades: The American Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that when sidewalks meet streets there be no curb, and instead a ramp that will accommodate a wheelchair. However, for blind and severely visually impaired people, the lack of a curb took away the cue for a street crossing. The solution was to install a bright-colored steel plate with bumps, so as to provide a visual and tactile signal.

With sidewalks come responsibilities. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that property owners are responsible for keeping all sidewalks along their property clear of snow and ice. For an apartment building, that means the landlord. The Town clears snow in business districts and along major streets. Additionally, all building owners are obligated to remove plants, tree branches, construction materials or debris that infringe on sidewalks from either side, and maintain clearance to a height of eight feet.

The grassy strip between street and sidewalk is also a place to pile snow

Maynard residents are to refrain from parking on sidewalks, including parking in their own driveway so as to block the sidewalk. From the town by-laws: "This can create a dangerous situation when people, particularly children or parents with baby carriages, are forced into the street to get around an illegally parked vehicle. There is a $15 fine for parking on the sidewalk and it will be strictly enforced."

Another town regulation, more often in abeyance than observed, is that every building shall have displayed a street number at least four inches in height, visible from street, and be of a contrasting color to the surface to which it is applied - either the building or a roadside mailbox. If the latter, on both sides.