Salisbury Wabash Depot
Judge Salisbury spearheaded the work to get the railroad at Salisbury in the latter part of the 1800s. The construction of which afforded employment across the state and county. Being on the Wabash “gang” (crewman) was a high-risk job, and the instances of injury and even death are in the dozens, if not more.
Mr. Deveran had his leg badly mashed, while unloading bridge irons at the Salisbury Depot in 1903. Also in 1903, a brakeman on freight train No. 68 knocked from the side of a cattle car, broke his arm and his face was badly mashed in. Mr. John Mitchell was found dead in the rail yards early one July morning in 1913 – it was presumed he had been caught under one of the cars. In the Spring of 1918, Bernard Smith, the son of Salisbury citizen Bernard Smith, Sr. was run over by a train car. Those on site initially believed Bernard to have been killed in the accident as his injuries appeared so severe. Bernard’s head was run over, breaking both jaw bones, lacerating his face and neck, and otherwise bruising and scratching him about the neck and head. By grace or luck, Bernard soon returned to work.
It wasn’t just railroad employees who suffered injuries and tragedies on the trains and tracks. In the early days of the railroad at Salisbury in 1879, a young 21-year-old man by the name of William Evans met his death in the most of unfortunate of circumstances. After work on a Saturday in September, William made his way to town, and it wasn’t very long after he was intoxicated. He continued to drink into the late hours when, according to reports, he began making his way home. However, in his “stupefied” state he fell on the tracks just east of the depot. William’s mangled body was found around 3 am that following morning. His right arm was completely severed at the shoulder joint, he sustained numerous puncture wounds to his skull and was bruised entirely. Inquest showed he had been run over by the eastbound passenger train.
In the summer of 1906, there was a passenger train to freight train head on collision. Both engines were badly damaged, though only minor injuries were sustained by the crew and passengers. In 1913, a Wabash freight train ran off the tracks just 2 miles east of Salisbury resulting in a 10-boxcar pileup.
Trains in the early days were also often targets for criminals – especially robbers. One such robbery took place in 1909, when teenage brothers James and Bud Anderson, along with Fred Mickel stormed into the depot at this very spot, brandishing pistols -a real life “hold-up!” They took the ill-gotten cash and made their getaway. They were finally apprehended in Higbee, but they didn’t go without a fight. Fred pulled a pistol and shot and killed the City Marshall Elmer Magruder. Fred fired another shot that pierced City Marshall Cain through the right lung. Cain did manage to fire a shot, wounding Fred in the arm, but Fred escaped capture. Fred was captured again in Mexico Missouri, only to make yet another escape! It was only when Fred, acting alone, robbed the Wabash depot in Centralia and was finally apprehended for good. Fred later pled guilty to manslaughter was sentenced to 10 years in the penitentiary. During the court proceedings for all 3 boys, numerous claims were made that the boys were influenced to become criminals by reading train robbery and bandit story books.
The very first troop train of men heading off to World War One departed from this depot, with Clarence Brummall in charge. The men would travel from Salisbury all the way to New York City where they set sail for France. Many of those men did not come home, and those who did rarely returned without injury.
Train stations were at one time what airports are for us today. A place of greeting and also saying farewell to loved ones. A place of excitement and sorrow. The depot sat where the current railroad office stands in front of you. Sadly, it burned to the ground in August of 1974.
Clue
History lives on within the walls of stop 19. All you have heard and seen today and so much more comes to life as decades of treasures call this location home.