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Race Street was scene of 1907 tragedy
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Published: September 13, 2009
Monday was Labor Day and most of us looked at it as a day off from work. We tend to forget its original purpose, that of highlighting the importance of Labor, and those who perform it.
The American Labor Movement is responsible for our having a minimum wage, overtime pay, the abolition of child labor, safe working conditions, workers' compensation, collective bargaining and other benefits we take for granted.
And we sometimes forget the importance of following common sense safety practices in the work place, that is, until someone is injured. In the old days they could have used some safety guidelines, as the old local newspapers contain many accounts of horrific, avoidable accidents.
One particularly grim accident occurred in Statesville on the afternoon of March 11, 1907, as a group of black workmen were excavating a ditch for a sewer line on Race Street. The men were working 17 feet below ground level when the tragedy occurred.
As you read this, consider for a moment how the actual digging would have been done differently and of how things would have been handled differently today following the tragedy.
The accident's location was described as being in front of the residences of Messrs. B. H. Adams and W. F. Hall on the part of Race Street between West End Avenue and Alexander Street.
The Landmark reported that City Engineer Herbert Clarke, assisted by other workmen, was at work putting braces in the ditch when the accident happened:
"While the braces were being put in, suddenly and without warning a section of the old sewer line 30 to 50 feet long and eight to ten feet deep, caved from the east side of the old sewer, carrying with it the intervening section between the old and the new sewer lines and crashed into the ditch on the workers below. The section of earth was 40 to 50 feet long, eight to ten feet deep and four to five feet wide. The great weight went into the ditch on the helpless victims with so little noise that it attracted little attention.
"It was 9:30 that night before the last of the bodies was recovered. The paper reported that physicians called to the scene "were of the opinion that death was instantaneous.
The workmen were: Arthur Grant, leaves a wife; Dillard Stockton, leaves a wife; John Wood, leaves a wife and three children; Riley Howard, leaves a wife and four children; Lee Moser, and Belvin Williams.
Grant, Stockton, Wood and Howard were local men, while Moser and Williams were described as being from Yadkin County.
The Landmark reported, "There was no necessity for an inquest and none was held. No attempt is made to place responsibility for the accident, if any can be placed. It occurred and cannot be helped now."
Continuing, the article stated, "There will probably be claims for damages on account of the death of the men and how the settlement will be made is to be determined. The Landmark believes that it speaks the sentiment of the community in saying that the white people want what is proper and right done for the families of the victims, this to be determined in whatever way will be mutually agreeable."
As the bodies of the victims were removed from the ditch they were placed in coffins furnished by the town.
"The relatives of the victims quickly gathered on Race Street Friday soon after the accident occurred," said the paper, "and when the dead bodies were removed, the wails of the women and the frantic cries of the children were indeed pitiful."
The coffins were sent to the homes of the men and the town also paid for funeral expenses.
There were rumors that there had been another unrecovered body, that of a worker named John Brachett, but the paper reported that "John turned up alive and well." John, however, with a wife and three children, said that he had not felt safe to "work so far under ground."
"Another story is that one of the workers in the ditch became overheated just before the accident - so warm that he was compelled to get out for fresh air. He got out and the cave-in occurred and his life was saved.
"Some of the men at work in the ditch when the cave-in occurred, and a little way from it, were almost paralyzed by the shock when they found what had happened and realized their escape. Scott Allison, a large, strong man, was almost helpless from the nervous shock."
Whether this was the worst accident ever to have taken place within the city limits is not known, but if not, it surely it has to have been among the worst.
The August, 1891 Bostian Bridge Train Wreck was more deadly, but that accident happened outside the Statesville city limits.
On Sunday afternoon following the accident a funeral service for the men was held at what the newspaper at the time described as the "colored" Methodist church.
The paper reported that a large number of white men attended the service, including Mayor J. C. Steele, who presided. Ministers of both races made appropriate talks and gave appropriate prayers.
The part of Race Street between Alexander and West End now is a peaceful, tree-lined street with a number of attractive, turn-of-the-century houses. Just driving through, you would never know it was once the scene of a tragedy.
The 2009 Haunted Statesville Tours are scheduled for the last three weekends in October. If ghosts are indeed the spirits of those taken too soon, of those who died in anguish, then I think the site of the death of the six workers should be added to the tour. If this site is not haunted, it certainly should be.
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