Second Lieutenant Morell Smith

The bulk of this post is the work of Mike Donovan and John Guy, from a presentation they did for the Newtown Historic Association and American Legion Post 440.

Dr. Charles B. Smith

Dr. Charles B. Smith was born in Newtown in 1864, son of Dr. Elias Smith. He attended Jefferson Medical College, graduating in 1884. He was president of the Bucks County Medical Society, 1909-1910, and Newtown's family physician.

M. Anna Stackhouse

Maria Anna Stackhouse, known as Anna, was born in Penn's Manor in 1861. She attended the New Haven School of Medicine, class of 1884. With her sister, Martha, she was one of the first two Registered Nurses in Pennsylvania. She led a project to clear Newtown Creek and mark the original Newtown Commons in the 1930's. Anna and Charles were both well-known and respected citizens of Newtown.

Charles and Anna married in 1887, and on September 3, 1888 had a son they named Morell. The Smiths lived and raised their only child at the corner of Washington and State Streets. 

Smith Home 1 S State Street, Morell Smith age 10 in doorway

Morell attended Newtown Public Schools, graduating from George School in 1907. He then graduated from Penn State, class of 1911. After college, he was the superintendent at Pulitzer/Whitney "Kiluna Farm" in Long Island. 

Morell Smith age 7

Morell's love interest was named Sarah Platt. Born in Milford, Connecticut in 1898, the pair met while she was visiting her father in 1913. Morell attended her high school graduation in 1917. Sarah attended Skidmore College for one semester, being suspended for ignoring the dean and visiting Morell's farewell party. She was caught when the dean was on the same train to New York. 

April 1906, age 17

Until 1917, America had tried to remain neutral during the Great War. That year Germany's attacks on ships en route to Britain and France resulted in the loss of American lives. On April 6, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war. 

Lieutenant Morell Smith 1918

The 6'1" 198 lb Morell Smith volunteered for service in 1917, at 29 years old. Due to his education and voluntary status, Morell entered the Army as an officer candidate, assigned to the 306th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division, which consisted of mostly New York immigrants. He was promoted to First Sergeant and was head of his squad of officer trainees. Morell's unit shipped off to France in April 1918. 

From the time they arrived in theatre in April until July 1918, Morell's unit was assigned a quiet sector and trained by British units. At this time Morell was given a commission to Second Lieutenant and reassigned as a platoon leader in Company C, 310th Infantry, 78th Division, mostly immigrants from New Jersey. 

Correspondence from Morell Smith to Sarah Platt, September 25, 1918 below, gives an interesting insight into the mindset of the American Soldier. 

You, the women of the world are looking for us to end the war with Victory. We must settle this war with a peace and league of nations that will make it forever impossible for a nation or group of nations to arm to the teeth, and, seeking the domination of the world, break its pledges to its unsuspicious neighbors, and slaughter their men, their women and their children. The pages of history must not be turned backward. This war of itself is the greatest of arguments for peace and we must insist on a peace that will protect the generations to come from the suffering this generation has endured. We are bound to win and we are going to win because we are in the right. The torch of civilization, undimmed by “Kultur”, will blaze forth in greater brilliance, and out of it will come the world newborn.

Following a successful operation at St. Mihiel in September 1918, General Pershing formulated a plan of attack to drive the Germans off of the Hindenburg Line towards Sedan. This is known as the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, as it was launched to assault the rough terrain between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. The 78th Division, Morell's unit, was in reserve until October 16th, when they relieved the 77th Division.

Morell's unit's mission was to keep the momentum of the attack past the Hindenburg Line. The 77th incorrectly stated that it had taken Grandpre, which put the 78th at great risk as they advanced towards the lines. Morell Smith, the last officer in his company, entered the Bois des Loges with his platoon on October 17th, and desperate fighting ensued throughout the night and into the morning. 

Morell Smith's final letter to his parents was written on October 14th, 1918. Some of his words were.

Mud was very deep, country and roads rough, exposed to long-range gunfire by day, bombing raids by night. Food conditions were bad; kitchens were in the rear, unable to be brought forward. Immediately before action on the front line, many of the men were ill.

On October 18th, 1918 Second Lieutenant Morell Smith went missing. It was reported that he was "slightly wounded early on the morning of that day. He was last seen in the Bois des Loges as he started back for the Battalion Aid Station, accompanied by his orderly. Neither he nor his orderly ever reached the aid station, and have been carried as "missing" since that date. The Lieutenant and his orderly are believed to have been again wounded or possibly killed outright and their bodies never recovered."

27 Court Street

In late 1919, the returning veterans of Newtown resolved to for a chapter of the American Legion. The group was assigned the designation "Post 440", and in honor of the only Newtownian to die in the Great War, named it the Morell Smith Post. After WW2 the Legion was housed at 27 Court Street until the new facility on Linden Avenue was dedicated in 1959. 

Dr. Charles Smith never gave up on trying to locate his son's remains. In 1920 he made a trip to Rome, N. Y., seeking precise information on the manner and place of Morell's death. He was able to locate a survivor who helped him obtain the information. He had to wait four more years to hear from the US Graves Registration Service, who never gave up on positively identifying all remains found in Meuse-Argonne.

The remains of Morell Smith and his orderly, Private Augustino Ruggiero, were finally discovered in 1924, as identified by their ID tags. The bodies were likely covered up by dirt from artillery blasts, but were agonizingly close to where the original search had been conducted. Morell's remains were shipped home, and Ruggerio was buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.

In October 18, 1924 Newtown Enterprise reported that

Newtown's largest military funeral and one of the most impressive funerals which the town can recall was held Wednesday afternoon, when Lieutenant Morell Smith of Company C, 310 Infantry, 78th Division, who was killed in action in the Argonne near the close of the world war, was laid at rest in Newtown Cemetery.

This didn't dull the pain caused by the loss of his son. Dr. Charles B. Smith, 63 years old, left his home on December 11th 1927, telling his wife he was going to visit local undertaker and friend Stacy B. Brown. Mrs. Smith found a troubling note and phoned Brown, who said that Charles had never called upon him. Brown immediately drove to the cemetery and saw Dr. Smith's car parked next to the family plot. He found a blanket spread over the grave of Morell Smith and the dead body of Dr. Smith, with five bullet holes in his body, in and around his heart. 

Prominent local citizen, J. Herman Barnsley, wrote a diary entry for both the suicide and the funeral, at which he was a pallbearer.

J. Herman Barnsley's diary entry the day of the suicide

Dr. Charles B Smith committed suicide by shooting himself (5 shots in the breast) at the cemetery over the grave of his son at about 3 o'clock PM. We all are in deep sorrow. His poor wife is prostrated. He must have been crazy to do such a thing. Age 63 years last month.

J. Herman Barnsley's diary entry the day of the funeral

We attended Dr. Charles B Smith's funeral. I was one of the pallbearers. So went to Philadelphia to the crematory where we placed my dear old friend and he was cremated. A sad-sad ending. I pity his widow the memory will haunt her always. -Suicide-

Widow and mother M. Anna Stackhouse died in November of 1945.

In 2006, a letter and package with photos and letters was sent to Post 440 from one of Sarah Platt's daughters. She explained that Sarah married in 1921 but never forgot Morell Smith. She kept his picture on her bureau until her death. She returned at least fifteen times to Newtown to place red roses on the graves of Morell and his parents. 

Sarah Platt

You Beautiful Jerkinhead

The Heston House

See that strange, stubby looking dormer? That's a jerkinhead roof on a wonderful old Newtown house.

The Heston House stood on South State Street near where the liquor store is today. John's Barber Shop was a carriage house on the same property and is shown on the 1886 atlas. The rear portion was built in 1723, as evidenced by a date stone found when the house was demolished. The two-story front portion of the house was built in 1798 by Aaron Phillips, blacksmith, who tore down the old log house and blacksmith shop. The log house was rumored to be the home of one of Newtown's first settlers, James Yates. Another possible location for Yates' home is this.

1886 Atlas Dr. George Heston

Date stone from original portion of house

John Atkinson, whose involvement with the Doans of Plumstead is well known, lived in the house during the Revolution and carried out blacksmithing from his stand on the property. 

Atkinson's Doan connection

Atkinson Property for Sale

Heston House RPPC

A story goes Thomas Ross, an early owner of the home, and his wife didn't live the happiest of lives together, so the wife lived in the front and the husband stayed in the rear of the house. At the time there was no connection between the front and rear of the house. 

Rear, original portion of house circa 1723

Unfortunately the house was razed in 1967 to expand the parking lot of Stockburger Chevrolet. Another beautiful Newtown house gone too soon.

Dominick Kay - Bootlegger

Dominick Klucznick, aka. Dominick Kay was a contractor, garbage man and sand and gravel dealer in Morrisville who got in a bit of trouble in the year after Prohibition was repealed. 

Kay started out with petty crime. In 1920 he was fined for driving without a license, and accused of stealing tools from Miss Daisy M. Hall.

...She alleged that Kay stole some tools, piping and a forge, valued at $500...McGovern said that he located ths stolen goods on Kay's property in Morrisville. Oct 17, 1920 Trenton Times

Kay advertised many times in the Trenton Times his Sand and Gravel business, looking for laborers, selling mules, lumber and machinery. In 1924 he advertises 2 farms for sale, saying "need money."

Sep 27, 1924 Trenton Times

In 1930 Dominick Kay was awarded a 5 year garbage contract for Morrisville. He had been the garbage collector for the past 3 years, when collection first started. Before this contract would run its course, he would be jailed for liquor violations.

Morrisville Man Held After Raids - July 26, 1934 Trenton Times

Federal agents and officers of the State Liquor Control Board raided two farms of Dominick Kay, Morrisville contractor, early yesterday, alleged liquor being seized in both places.

The first fair was conducted by control board officers at a farm in Wrightstown Township, near Newtown, where, police said, equipment for the manufacture of liquor was found, together with a quantity of the finished product.

As a result of this raid, Kay was released in $1,000 bail for a further hearing before Justice of the Peace W. Carlisle Hobensack, at Doylestown. William D. Mock, said to reside on the farm was also arrested.

The Federal agents conducted the second raid at Kay's other farm on West Trenton Avenue, Morrisville, on the old Lincoln Highway. A man, who said his name was Tito Bono, of Hudson Street, Trenton, was held in $3,000 bail at a hearing before United States Commissioner Walker in Philadelphia. Agents said they found a 1,000-gallon still, 350 gallons of alleged alcohol and 1,000 gallons of supposed wine.

Kay denied all knowledge of the still being on the Wrightstown farm.

Liquor operation at Kay's Morrisville farm

Dominick Kay was held on $11,000 bail to await Federal Grand Jury action. Kay admitted that he knew the stills were on his property, but said that he had leased the building to "a red-headed man."

A few months later, Kay pled guilty and received the heaviest penalty imposed in a Philadelphia court since prohibition repeal. He was sentenced to serve two years in the Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg and to pay a $3,000 fine. Federal agents testified that Kay owned 16 farms in Pennsylvania and 3 in New Jersey and had purchased $100,000 worth of real estate in the last 2 years.

In December, Kay's friends made a plea to have him paroled by the Federal court. They argued that his garbage contract wasn't worth what they said it was, and that he didn't own nearly the amount of real estate that they claimed. It is unclear whether or not the plea worked, but by 1936 he was back on the streets.

Dominick Kay seemed to change his ways, as in 1943 we see him offer up a 30-acre tract for a "Victory Garden", which were promoted by the government during World War II.

Dominick Kay, building material dealer and contracting wrecker, today offered a tract of about 30 acres on his property on West Trenton Avenue at the Morrisville boundary line for use as Victory Gardens

His Invitation was extended to anyone in Morrisville, or in the general Trenton area, for that matter, who chose to work the land. He can be reached for arrangements by a visit to his establishment or by telephone. Apr 28, 1943 Trenton Times

 

If there were any ill feelings towards Kay they must have subsided, because by 1945 he once again had the garbage contract for Morrisville. This time he had a new method of collection and requested that all refuse be placed in metal covered containers. It was the first time unwrapped garbage would be collected in Morrisville. 

Dominick Kay died in April of 1947, aged 59. He was born in Poland and lived in Morrisville for 36 years. An old timer in my neighborhood said that Dominick Kay was involved with the Booze Truck Bridge Collapse, that I wrote about previously. 

The Saddest Event Newtown Has Ever Experienced

Henry M. Pownall was a well-known harness maker in Newtown at the turn of the century. He had a shop on Washington Avenue that also sold and serviced bicycles, sleighs and horse goods. He was a Prohibitionist, and an integral member of the M.E. Church who donated the lot for a new church and parsonage. He served in the Civil War for twenty two months, was a member of the local G.A.R. and was highly involved with Memorial Day services. He was a valuable member of Newtown, with a good family consisting of himself, his son Henry and his two daughters, Helen and Estella. Their mother, Amanda T Hellings, got sick and passed away in 1902.

Young Henry M. Pownall

1868 Pownall Ad

Pownall's Store on the corner of Washington and Court

In August of 1911, Henry and two of his daughters, Estella and Helen, went by train to Rochester, NY for the annual encampment of the National G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic). Henry was 64, Estella 29 and Helen 31. Their return trip was met with disaster, which led to what the papers called the saddest event Newtown has ever experienced.

September 2, 1911 Newtown Enterprise

The awful disaster on the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Manchester, N.Y., last Friday, but which twenty-eight persons were killed is brought closely home to Newtown by three of its well-known and highly-respected residents being among the victims.

Henry M. Pownall and his two daughters left Newtown on Saturday morning, August 19th, for Rochester, New York, there to attend the annual encampment of the National G.A.R. They went by way of Trenton, New York, by boat to Albany, and then westward to Rochester. It appears they visited Niagara Falls from Rochester, and it was there that they boarded the ill-fated train for their homeward journey. They were all in the first car that was thrown from the bridge down into the gulley, and it is probable that all three were instantly killed.

The papers of Saturday morning gave the name of Helen E. Pownall among the identified dead, and descriptions of two of the unidentified left little room to doubt that her father and sister were also dead and their bodies in the Shortsville morgue. Wesley J. Pownall, son and brother, and his cousin, Dr. E. E. Pownall, of Richboro, started for Western New York. Saturday morning and arrived at Shortsville in the evening. They had no difficulty in identifying all three bodies and arranged for their shipment to Newtown where they arrived on the 10:33 train Monday morning. The two men returned on Sunday. 

The triple funeral on Tuesday afternoon was the saddest event that Newtown has ever experienced. People came pouring into town all the morning, and by two o'clock in the afternoon Washington avenue was practically crowded with people notwithstanding the rain. The scene at their late home was one long to be remembered and the services were truly impressive...

Henry Pownall Trade Card

...Henry M. Pownall was nearly 65 years of age. Bown in Lumberville, this county, he had lived in Newtown since he was ten years of age. He had long been engaged in the harness making business in connection with which he kept a store for the sale of horse goods and other merchandise. He was a veteran soldier, having served in the Civil War for some twenty-two months, enlisting when he was only 17 years old, being a member of Company I, 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was always proud of his connection with the army. He was a member of the T.H. Wynkoop Post, G.A.R., and was greatly interested in Memorial Day services. The boys of the town will always remember him for his generosity in procuring for them flags and banners for the line of march out to the cemetery. For many years Mr. Pownall had been a prominent member and officer in the M.E. Church, where he will be greatly missed. He was librarian in the Sunday school for a long time, but a few years ago resigned his other offices in the organization. Fraternally he was a member of Knights of Pythias and of the P.O.S. of A...

The worst wreck in the history of the Lehigh Valley Railroad occurred at 12:35 o'clock, P. M., on Friday last, the 25th, at Manchester, Ontario county, N.Y., some twenty miles east of Rochester.

Crowded with passengers, many of whom were war veterans and excursionists from the G.A.R. Encampment at Rochester, the train, made up of fourteen cars, drawn by two big engines, came from the West via Niagara Falls, which was forty minutes late when it reached Rochester Junction, and from there sped eastward to make up time before reaching Geneva.

Post 427 G.A.R. Ribbon

The engines and two day coaches had just passed the centre of a 400-foot trestle over Canandaigua Outlet, 150 yards east of the station at Manchester at 12:35 o'clock, when the Pullman car, Austin, the third of a long train, left the rails. It dragged the dining car with it and two day coaches and two Pullmans, in this order, followed.

All bumped over the ties a short distance, when the coupling between day coach No. 237 and the rear end of the diner broke. The forward end of the train dragged the derailed Pullman, Austin, and the diner over safely, after which they both plunged down the south embankment and rolled over.

The free end of the ill-fated Lehigh Valley day coach, No. 237, in which most of the victims were riding, shoved out over the gulf and followed by a Grand Trunk day coach, stripped the rear guard of the south side of the trestle and plunged into the shallow river bed more than forty feet below, some accounts give the distance of the fall at fifty and even as much as sixty feet.

The end of the first day coach that went over struck the east embankment with of solid masonry, an, with the other sixty-foot car behind it, both shot against the wall with terrific force. Both cars were filled with passengers.

Wreckage from the derailment

The cars lay a mass of crumbled wood, metal and glass, under which 100 men, women and children, many of whom were killed instantly, were buried. The greatest destruction occurred in the first day coach and a dozen persons were taken later dead from the second day coach, which, after following the first over the trestle, snapped its rear coupling and thus saved the rest of the train from being dragged along. 

The second day coach struck on the bottom and stood end up, the rear end projecting a few feet above the top of the trestle. All of the passengers in this car were piled in a tangled mess of broken seats at the bottom of the car.

Indescribable pandemonium followed. The Pullman car, Emelyn, which remained on the bridge with one end projecting over the gulch, and several cars behind it, derailed and in immediate danger of going over on the mass of wreckage below, were soon emptied of all their passengers, who, aided by gangs of railroad employees from the big freight yards at Manchester, a short distance away, rushed to aid. It was several minutes, however, before anybody reached the cars at the bottom to help the victims. The cars did not catch fire, and so that horror was spared.

Axes were secured and body after body was removed and carried by the rescuers knee-deep in the river bef to the bank on the west side of the trestle. There the dead and injured were laid out on the ground while planks and timber were requisitioned and a field hospital established. 

It was more than an hour before many of the injured could be removed, and special trains from both Rochester and Geneva brought physicians, nurses and medical supplies. A large number awaited treatment, and the railroad station at Manchester, a cider mill and an ice house were used to give temporary shelter and treatment to the sufferers.

It was necessary to chop through the sides and bottom of the day coach at the bottom and the work of removing the victims moved with painful slowness. Death had come swiftly to some of them, numerous of the dead having had their skulls crushed in when they were thrown against the car seats and projections. The mortality was high among the older passengers, most of whom were veterans of the Civil War and their wives.

The dead taken from the wreck were removed to a morgue at Shortsville, a small place on the railroad, east of Manchester. By 9 o'clock that night twenty-three bodies had been taken there. The morgue was the basement of a country furniture store and was illy adapted for the purpose. The wounded, some of them mortally, so were taken to hospitals at Rochester, Canandaigua and Geneva and to the sanitarium at Clifton Springs.

Including those who died in hospitals from their injuries, the number of dead, up to Sunday night was twenty-eight, and it seemed probable that several of the seventy-four injured in the above-mentioned institutions would succumb to their injuries...

Partial List of the Dead

..."The screams and shrieks of the dying and the grinding crash of splintering wood and twisted steel, as the great weight of the cars slowly settled was the most terrible thing I have ever listened to. I heard the grinding of the car ahead as it left the tracks, and was violently thrown against the seat. Somehow the passengers on our car were calm, and it seemed as through they had been trained for the occasion. The men stood courteously aside and allowed the women to pass out first, and when it is realized that all knew that our car was balanced in a dangerous position on the end of the Pullman it will be seen just what courage meant. Several  moments after we had all gotten out of the car I found myself with a Miss Hewitt, who told me she came from Germantown, working alongside one of the coaches which lay at the bottom of the stream. A young man was running about in circles, hardly knowing what do do. He had an ax which he had carried with him from one of the coaches in which he was riding and which did not leave the trestle. I directed him to climb to the top of the coach and start to chop through. Several moments later he succeeded in helping out a few of the injured, but most of those who had been riding in the car were dead. When all the doctors and nurses on the relief train arrived the confusion was such that could devote no time to removing the mangled bodies of the dead. It was necessary to walk over them to reach the suffering injured, whose cries filled the air. Miss Hewitt and I tore up our skirts and waists to give the physicians bandages. Then we went to the end of the trestle bridge, where a number of women were standing helplessly and made them do likewise. Most of the women who tried to help had to be carried back to the embankment, as the horribly-mangled bodies proved too much for their nerves and they fainted."...

...The Lehigh valley Railroad Company issued a statement Saturday which said that the accident was caused by a broken rail. It was broken into ten pieces, some authorities say seventeen pieces. A veteran who examined this rail said that he found an old fracture in it. The company's statement says that from information received the train was not exceeding the speed limit of 25 miles an hour at the time of the wreck.

I have a postcard that was mailed to Estella Pownall in 1906. Of her and her sister, the papers say.

Helen E. Pownall was a graduate of the Newtown High School and of the West Chester State Normal School, class of 1901, three member of which preceded her in death. She first taught in Pocopson township, Chester county, afterward in the Newtown borough schools, at Oxford, Chester County, and at Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery county. During the past year she had substituted in Girard College and at Oxford. Miss Pownall was a member of the M.E. Church, being assistant organist, and took much interest in its affairs. She was first vice president of the Epworth League and an officer in the Home Missionary Society.

Her sister, Estella was two years younger, and since their mother's death, more than nine years ago, had been her father's housekeeper, and was also his bookkeeper. She was a member of the M.E. Church and a teacher of the infant class in the Sunday school. Both were most estimable young women, whose sudden and untimely deaths are much lamented. 

After the accident, Wesley, son and brother of the deceased, moved into his father's home and picked up his business.

The Pownall parents and daughters are buried together in Newtown Cemetery. The mother was interred in Doylestown, and moved to Newtown when the family was buried. 

Another strong contender for the saddest event in Newtown is the story of Morell Smith.

Local Railroad Accidents

Did you know that there was once a rail line that paralleled the Delaware and Raritan canal on the NJ side? The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad, later the Pennsylvania Railroad, ran along the eastern shore of the Delaware River. It ran north from Trenton, through Phillipsburg, to Manunka Chunk, NJ. There were local stations in Washington's Crossing (note the 's) and Titusville, NJ. 

Washington's Crossing, NJ Station

The train tracks ran on the western side of the canal, which is today's walking trail. The white bridge in the picture rotated so canal barges could get through. In the distance is the Johnson Ferry House. Behind the train station is the Nelson House Hotel, which was demolished in the 1930s, leaving only a small portion of the building which remains today. The train tracks were removed by 1982.

Nelson House Demolition

Ice on the Delaware with the train leaving the station across the river, showing the shadow of the covered bridge. Pre-October 1903.

A half-mile up-river was the scene of two major deadly train accidents, mere months apart. The first occurred on the morning of October 17th, 1903, a week after the "Pumpkin Flood" that washed out several bridges on the Delaware, so called because of the number of pumpkins that were swept into the river. 

October 18, 1903 Trenton Evening Times

Seventeen men were killed and thirty-two injured in a rear-end collision between two work trains on the Belvidere division of the Pennsylvania railroad, less than one-half mile this side of Washington's Crossing, at 6:30 yesterday morning.

How it Happened - The men were en route to the washed out tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad just above Washington's Crossing, in charge of Trainmaster James Gordon. Every available man in Trenton had been engaged for this work, and it so happened that all the men on the trains were in the employ of Contractor Robert A. Montgomery. They had been loaned to the Pennsylvania railroad to hurry along the work of filling embankments and ballasting track. Two sections of the train carried them to work yesterday morning.

Construction on the canal and railroad

When the first section was less than a half mile from Washington's Crossing it was stopped, and the engine went ahead alone to pick up some sand cars. This left a flat car, a tool car and a work car stalled on the track. In the work car were 193 men. To protect these lived Flagman Jacob W. Saums of 116 Rose street was sent back to flag the second section, bearing other workmen, should this train come in sight. Being six minutes behind the first section, there seemed little chance of the train coming up.

Conductor H. C. Conover of the first section believed there was sufficient time to pick up the sand cars; so did Engineer Elwood Fenton. The sand cars were gotten and backed to the first section, coupled up, and Engineer Fenton commenced to move his train ahead. Flagman Saums had been recalled. 

Suddenly there was a screeching whistle heard and Andrew Burroughs called to his brother, H. Bertram Burroughs, to jump for his life. The warning was not heeded by the man, but others heard it and jumped into the canal. 

Then came the crash and the awful screams of dying men, the grinding together of wood, iron and human flesh. Scream after scream rent the air as the injured fought for freedom from the awful crush. 

An Awful Scene - The engine of the second section had plowed through a flat car and hurled the tool car preceding it through the work car in which so many men were crowded. Fifty men on the flat car saw the engine coming and jumped at the warning of Trainmaster James Gordon, who was also on this carl. These men jumped into the canal. There was but a foot of water there and escape was easy.

Image Courtesy of Newtown Historic Association

As quick as it takes to write it the men who escaped from the flat car made a bee line for Trainmaster Gordon and Engineer Reed of the second section and chased them down the track. The men were infuriated as the groans of their comrades met their ears and they seemed bent on wreaking vengeance on the train crew. From Washington's Crossing a call was sent in to the First precinct police station here, and Sergeant Mullen sent twelve policemen in the patrol wagon to the scene of trouble. 

All this while the dead were being pulled out from the wreck by their friends and fellow workmen and the injured cared for as well as possible. Badly maimed men would crawl out from the wreck, and as brother would recognize brother there would go up heart-rending cries.

In the wrecked car the scene was one of awful carnage, a regular charnel-house. Blood was everywhere, and when the wounded were all taken out, ten men were found a mass with their heads battered out of shape and their bodies rent asunder, one almost cut in two.

This was the scene which met the eyes of Drs. R. R. Rogers, Jr. and G. H. J. Sommer of this city as they alighted from the special relief train sent from here. 

A second train brought Coroners Rue, Rogers and Disbrow and Constable Applegate. In the meantime there had come down from Lambertville Drs. Williams, Salmon, Larison, Closson, Romine and McGill and Turner of Titusville. On this train was Superintendent Gest and Father Lynch and as many laborers as could be crowded into two extra coaches. 

The doctors hurried to their work, Father Lynch administered to the dying alone until Father Gilfillan came on the second train from Trenton. Dr. M. M. Reddan of this city also came then.

Superintendent Gest hurried the work of rescue and dispatched twenty-seven wounded to Trenton and at once on a special train. The second train, carrying most of the dead and the remainder of the wounded, came into the Warren street station, it being nearer the morgue.

When the dying were looked after, the wounded sent to hospitals, and the dead removed to Trenton, the work of cleaning up the wreckage commended. In three hours the job was done and traffic resumed. The work car was so badly damaged that it was dumped into the river.

The property loss is comparatively light, the colliding engine sustaining hardly any injury and the work car was old and nearly worn out. Trenton Evening Times Oct 18, 1903

This accident was the deadliest in the railroad's history, with two dozen men eventually dying from their injuries. The majority of the dead were black and Italian laborers, on their way to work on the flood damage to the tracks. In the image of the wreck we see how low the canal was, which enabled some of the riders to escape to its waters. It also shows the dense fog that enveloped the Delaware that day, as well as the awful carnage that occurred. 

Just 4 months later there was another accident in almost the exact same location.

Another accident on the Belvidere Railroad - two men reported killed, but details have not yet reached us. Two cars are lying on the river bank. It was a head-on collision of two freight trains near Washington's Crossing, about the same place where the recent accident occurred, with such terrible results. Orders were given to hold the train for the other to get out of the way, but the engineer thought he could make the next switch. A little caution is sometimes better than too much speed. Feb 2, 1904 Newtown Enterprise

Image Courtesy of Newtown Historic Association

What's remarkable about this photograph of the second accident is that in the background we see the piers of the Washington Crossing Bridge, which was lost in the Pumpkin Flood 4 months earlier. The river is also completely iced up.

Piers of the Washington Crossing Bridge

Image Courtesy of Newtown Historic Association

The blame for the second wreck was placed on the engineer of the northbound train, Charles Herbert, who failed to take a siding as his orders commanded.

Both of these deadly accidents occurred within 4 months of each other at nearly the same location. The causes of each crash were different, but the effect was the same. Many people lost their lives in this spot, some sort of memorial or marker would be appropriate. 

The Many Schools of Upper Makefield

Today, Sol Feinstone Elementary School serves all of Upper Makefield Township. Over the years, there have been at least 15 different schoolhouses in Upper Makefield that served the grade school children. Most of these old schoolhouses still exist. 

Betts School - 466 Woodhill Rd. Built in 1827, the property was conveyed by William Lownes to the trustees of his neighborhood on February 21, 1798. Used as a school until the Taylorsville School was built, about a mile away, in 1854. After it's disuse as a school, the local Methodists conducted church services and sunday school in the building until the Taylorsville church was built. Today, it is a private residence.

Betts School Today

Betts School 1850 Map

Brookside School - 204 Thompson Mill Rd. Built and deeded to the school directors by Stephen Betts, Jr. in 1869. The school was discontinued due to low enrollment in 1929 and the property was purchased by Howard Walker. The schoolhouse was sold and some of the public weren't happy about it, as it was still in good repair. Currently a private residence. When you look at the 1937 aerial, you can tell why it was named Brookside, as Jericho Creek runs nearby.

Brookside School 2013

Brookside School 1937 Aerial

Sep 18, 1930 Newtown Enterprise

Brownsburg School - 1440 River Rd. Deeded to the trustees from Joseph Thornton April 1, 1834. Due to lower than required enrollment, the school closed in 1944. Neglected and disused, the building fell to ruins and was demolished to make way for housing in the 1980s.

Brownsburg School

Aug 24, 1944 Newtown Enterprise

Brownsburg School Stove

Brownsburg School 1980

Brownsburg School Rubble

Buckmanville School - 200 Lurgan Rd. From Joshua Smith to the school directors April 1, 1850. Built by William Starkey, the original foundations of the 1850 schoolhouse are still visible and the datestone bears his initials. The schoolhouse was rebuilt by Frank Heston in 1892. In 1930 a 1 1/2 story masonry and stucco addition was built onto the facade, the datestone was moved and incorporated into the addition. Disused as a school in 1946, but reopened from 1952 to 1954 for fourth grade. It was then sold to residents who formed a group to save it. It is currently used as the headquarters for the Jericho Valley Community Association.

Early Picture of Buckmanville School House

Buckmanville School

Buckmanville School as Community Center

Buckmanville School Today

September 9, 1948 Newtown Enterprise

Dolington School - 825 Dolington Rd. Deeded to the school directors by Cornelius Slack on Jan 6, 1860. This schoolhouse is two stories high and replaced a school on the Makefield Friends' meeting house grounds, a short distance up the road. Grade school was taught on the first floor, and high school on the second. The schoolhouse was sold in April of 1954, when Woodhill Elementary was completed. There was no longer a use for Dolington School. It is currently a private residence. 

Dolington School as residence

Dolington School

April 25, 1954 Newtown Enterprise

Ad for Antique Store in Dolington School

Fairfield School - 1083 Eagle Rd. Deeded from William Burroughs Heston to the school directors. Built in 1872, it replaced the old schoolhouse known as Hayhurst which stands a few hundred yards up Eagle Rd. It became disused as a school when Woodhill Elementary was built in 1954. Presbyterians later held Sunday school in the schoolhouse. After The Eagle, it was the polling place for Upper Makefield Township. Sold by the school directors in 1964, today it is a private residence.

Fairfield School

Fairfield School with addition

Fairfield School Today

Hayhurst - 1091 Eagle Rd. Built 1804 and leased to the trustees of the neighborhood by Benjah Hayhurst, November 12, 1805. Also known as the Eagle. Later uses included a shed for cattle salt, which gave it the nickname the "Salt Box". Still standing, well-restored, on the lane to Hayhurst's. 

Hayhurst School 1948 Pre-Restoration

Hayhurst/Eagle/Salt Box

Salt Box Today

First Highland School - 1599 Wrightstown Rd. The first Highland School was held in the John Reeder House. Reeder conveyed the property to the school directors June 7, 1851. School was held there until it was moved to a location a mile down the road in 1856.

John Reeder House - First Highland School

Locations of the Highland Schools

Second Highland School - 1699 Wrightstown Rd. Land from Kinsey Harvey to the school directors March 21, 1856. Replaced the Reeder School, about a mile away. Originally a frame building that was moved to the site, later removed off the side by Asa McNeal. Replaced by the stone building in 1879. School discontinued in 1921, sold in 1927 and is currently a (badly) remodeled dwelling. The students were bussed to Fairfield School.

Second Highland School 1926

August 12, 1922 Newtown Enterprise

Second Highland School Today

Lurgan School - Lurgan Rd. and Old Ln. In 1755 a school was erected at Lurgan that had a dual use as a Quaker Meeting House. It lasted until 1850, was later used as a dwelling and torn down around 1913. Nothing remains today. Oliver H. Smith, member of Legislature and Congress once remarked that he graduated from "Lurgan College." Of Lurgan School, Davis says in 1876:        

At the southern base of Bowman's hill, is a small hamlet called Lurgan, after the birth-place of James Logan. In a little one-story building, now used as a dwelling, was kept a day-school half a century ago, where were educated several prominent men. Among the scholars were the late Judge John Ross, Oliver H. Smith, Senator in Congress from Indiana, Dr. John Chapman, Edward Smith, a learned man, Seth Chapman, son of Dr. John Chapman, lawyer and judge, Dr. Seth Cattell, a student of and who succeeded, Dr. John Wilson, but died early, and others of note. Amongst those who taught at this primitive seminary, were Moses Smith, afterward a distinguished physician of Philadelphia, Mr. McLean, a noted teacher, fine Latin scholar and mathematician, Enos, the father of Hiram Scarborough, of New Hope, celebrated for his penmanship, and Joseph Fell, of Buckingham. The glory of Lurgan is departed, and most of her scholars, statesmen, and jurists have gone to the "undiscovered country."

Lurgan School House 1850

Lurgan School Location

Makefield Meeting School - 877 Dolington Rd. Prior to the erection of the Dolington School, there was a school on the grounds of the Makefield Meeting Property. Erected in 1755 it remained until it was torn down in 1830. After that it was replaced by a two-story building with classes on the first floor and the Dolington Library on the second floor from 1839-1840. The library was then discontinued and the books sold. The building was demolished in 1883.

Makefield Meeting

Sol Feinstone/Woodhill Elementary - 1090 Eagle Rd. Opened on September 20, 1954, on land donated by Sol Feinstone, this elementary school initially serviced the students in the vicinity of Woodhill, later the entire township. The name was changed from Woodhill School when Sol Feinstone built the school a library in 1963. Currently an elementary school, grades kindergarten to 6th and is the polling place for Upper Makefield Township. For more on the schools of Woodhill see this post. 

Woodhill Elementary School

Sol Feinstone Today

Taylorsville School - 1102 Taylorsville Rd. Deeded from Mahlon K. Taylor, prominent local merchant, to the school directors November 1st, 1854. Opened in the spring of 1855. Replaced the Betts School, about a mile away. The schoolhouse was condemned and school was discontinued on December 1, 1926. Students were moved to the new Washington Crossing School. Sold, along with the Highland School in 1927. Later a general store and currently a bank. It is said that many participants of the Civil War attended school there. 

Taylorsville School Class Pic

Taylorsville School

Taylorsville School as a General Store

April 22, 1927 Newtown Enterprise

Washington Crossing School - 1260 Lord Sterling Rd. On land deeded from A. P. Townsend, built in 1926 to replace the condemned Taylorsville School. Four room schoolhouse, closed in 1966. By that time Woodhill School had expanded and could accommodate all the pupils from the one-room schoolhouses in the township. Currently a nursery school. 

Washington Crossing Elementary

Washington Crossing Elementary Today

Wiggins School - 355 Pineville Rd. This springhouse was built in two sections, with the datestones 1798 and 1824. According to D. W. Atkinson, Benjamin Wiggins' daughter taught school in this springhouse. It is still extant, now separated from the other outbuildings by Pineville Rd. It has recently been restored.

Wiggins Springhouse

Other Schools - During the time when schools were being closed and students transferred, third grade classes were held in the home of Lester Minkel, Taylorsville Rd, from 1952-1953. The next school year the classes were transferred to the Township Building.  There certainly could be other, yet undiscovered school locations.