Tragedy in Marquand: The 1911 Belmont Branch Train Collision

We tend to forget about the dangers of early rail travel in light of improved safety in recent times. However, the history of railroad crashes in Missouri is a long one, beginning with the Gasconade River Bridge disaster November 1, 1855. In that instance, the bridge fell under the weight of the locomotive O’Sullivan, pulling the inaugural train for the Pacific Railroad route from Kirkwood to Jefferson City. The train carried around 600 dignitaries and guests, and 43 passengers either died in the crash or from injuries.

One local rail disaster in 1911 had an ironic twist. The Iron Mountain Railroad had seen established in the 1850s to deliver iron ore from Iron Mountain to St. Louis. Brothers Henry G. and Frederick Marquand owned the line after the Civil War, and a town platted in 1869 in Madison County bears their name—Marquand. Railroad baron Jay Gould forced them out, and the Iron Mountain became part of Gould’s empire in 1883. The Belmont Branch ran from Bismarck in St. Francois County to Belmont in Mississippi County.

This 1911 disaster involved the collision of a passenger train and a freight train. The passenger train, engineered by W. A. Paul of Bismark, was the regular southbound local on the route. Paul was an experienced engineer who had worked at his occupation for 30 years. The train made its usual departure from St. Louis on January 11, 1911, leaving Union Station at 7:30 a.m. It stopped in Bismarck, where it divided, with the part engineered by Paul going over the Belmont Branch. This route took it through Marquand.

The engineer of the freight train was, ironically, the son of Mr. Paul, George E. “Ed” Paul. The freight train ran late, and hurried to get onto the siding at Marquand before the passenger train arrived at 4 p.m. Unfortunately, the freight missed the attempt by about three minutes, and the two trains collided just outside town. The impact demolished both engines, and the mail, baggage, and chair cars of the passenger train derailed and tumbled down the railroad bed embankment. Both Ed Paul and his fireman leapt from the cab prior to the crash.

Two people died instantly: the elder Paul and William Holmes, a stockman from Fredericktown. Thirty-two were injured. D. Rhoades of Bismarck, a fireman on one of the trains, suffered severe back injuries. Others required hospitalization, including Frank Ushot of St. Louis, baggageman; J. D. Powell of St. Louis, train auditor; Abe McLaney and George Brown of St. Louis, mail clerks; and passengers T. J. Haling of St. Louis, Frank D. Baldwin of Bismarck and Earl Cross of Doe Run. Nearly all of those on the trains suffered at least cuts and bruises. The railroad transported those most several injured to Bismarck, where a special train took them on to St. Louis for treatment.

The aftermath of the accident had a profound effect on the younger Paul. After the wreck, Paul asked the fireman, “Did you see my father?”

“Yes,” was the reply. “He’s among the dead.”

Ed Paul reportedly collapsed upon hearing that. He was later taken to the hospital after accompanying his father’s body back to Bismarck, where his stepmother and two sisters awaited. However, he failed to shut out a mental picture of the wreck for some time and had to remain in the hospital to recover. Happily, he did recover well enough to resume his life and lived for many years thereafter.