Nashville Retrospect

The deadliest train wreck in U.S. history occurred at Dutchman's Curve in West Nashville. Host Allen Forkum (editor of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper) interviews historian Betsy Thorpe about the July 9, 1918, tragedy. Thorpe discusses why there was a disproportionately high number of African-Americans killed, who was ultimately blamed for the accident, and how she became interested enough to write a book, The Day the Whistles Cried. (Segment begins at 03:40)

Two Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis passenger trains collided in West Nashville on July 9, 1918, killing 101 people. Crowds can be seen gathering in the surrounding cornfields. A wreck train can be seen in the background. This photo was taken from a bridge over the track that is today part of the Richland Creek Greenway, near White Bridge Road and Harding Road. (Image: Betsy Thorpe, H.C. Hill III Collection, photo by H.C. Hill)

In this photo of the wreck, rescuers work to remove survivors from some of the telescoped cars. Spectators can be seen standing on what later became known as White Bridge Road and is today part of Richland Creek Greenway, near today's Belle Meade. A newspaper reported that 50,000 flocked to the scene of the accident. (Image: Betsy Thorpe, H.C. Hill III Collection, photo by H.C. Hill)

Also in Episode 04, hear excerpts from the album “Down to Earth, with Elmer Hinton.” Hinton was a popular columnist for The Nashville Tennessean for nearly 30 years. Known for his folksy humor and nostalgia for country life, Hinton recorded an album in 1968 that also featured music by Gary and Randy Scruggs and the Rudy Sisters, among others. (Segment begins at 28:00)

The front cover of Elmer Hinton’s 1968 album.

And finally, Allen Forkum reviews some of the stories in the July 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect, including: the dedication of Hadley Park, the county’s first municipal park for African-Americans (1912); the early 1800s settlement in Mexican Texas called Nashville-on-the-Brazos; the discovery of a comet by local astronomer E.E. Barnard (1884), and an army baseball tournament held in Nashville for the entertainment of soldiers stationed there during WWII (1943). (Segment begins at 01:35)

SHOW NOTES

A list of articles relating to this episode contained in archive issues of The Nashville Retrospect (archive issues can be ordered by clicking here or on the issue links below):

• “Passenger Trains Collide at Dutchman’s Curve,” Nashville Tennessean, July 10, 1918 (The Nashville Retrospect, July 2010)

• “Massive Walls of City Reservoir Crumble Without Warning,” Nashville Banner, Nov. 5, 1912 (The Nashville Retrospect, November 2009)

• “Avalanche of Flames in East Nashville,” Nashville Banner, March 22, 1916 (The Nashville Retrospect, March 2016)

• “Flu Cases Exceeded 100,000 in Tennessee,” Nashville Tennessean and Nashville American, Nov. 1, 1918 (The Nashville Retrospect, November 2014)

• “1918 Flu Epidemic ‘Horrible,’” Nashville Banner, March 26, 1976 (The Nashville Retrospect, March 2018)

• See the July 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect for other stories referenced on this episode, such as Hadley Park.

Other related articles:

• “The New Elmer Hinton—Even Better On Tape?!” The Nashville Tennessean Sunday Showcase, June 2, 1968

• “Death at the Throttle on Dutchman’s Curve,” The Nashville Tennessean Magazine, July 10, 1960

Links relating to this episode:

The Day the Whistles Cried by Betsy Thorpe

Dutchman’s Curve 100th Anniversary Event

“Great Train Wreck of 1918” at Wikipedia

“Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis R...

Violent protests by white supremacists, a school bombing, and courage in the face of racial hatred all helped define 1957, the year Nashville's public schools began desegregation. Host Allen Forkum (editor of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper) talks to Dr. Bobby Lovett about the significance of the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and its effect on the civil rights movement in Nashville.

Lajuanda Street Harley, a Glenn School student who was one of the first black first-graders to be integrated, recalls the tumultuous times, along with her 90-year-old mother, Sorena Street. The two also discuss downtown shopping, white vs. black schools, and dealing with racism. Debie Oeser Cox, a first-grader in 1958, recalls her time at Glenn School, as well as race relations and life in North East Nashville.

Former police officer Joe Casey and former news reporter Larry Brinton remember events relating to pro-segregationist protesters and the Hattie Cotton School bombing.

Also hear audio excerpts from the January 1957 hearings before the Tennessee State Legislature on the merits of Governor Frank Clement’s “moderate” segregation plan. (All of the above is part of one segment, which begins at 03:50)

Lajuanda Street (back turned) and Jackie Griffith (right) meet white fellow students on registration day at Glenn School, on Aug. 28, 1957. It was the first day blacks were allowed to register for white schools in Nashville. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room, photo by Bob Ray)

Original caption from the Sept. 10, 1957, Nashville Banner: “A large rock is hurled at the windshield of a car carrying two Negroes during an unruly demonstration Monday night against desegregation at Fehr School. Arrows show the rock and a soft drink bottle, cocked in the hand of a young boy and ready to be tossed at the vehicle. Five hundred adults, as well as youngsters, many not yet in their teens, tossed debris at passing cars which contained Negroes. Police finally broke up the crowd. No injuries were reported.” (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room, photo by Dale Ernsberger)

On Sept. 9, 1957, large groups of jeering whites gathered outside of Glenn School and other elementary schools to protest black first-graders being integrated into the previously all-white schools. At the far right, Harold Street escorts his daughter Lajuanda (not seen), who thought the crowd was part of a first-day-of-school parade. In front of him, Mary Griffith holds the hands of her daughter, Jacquelyn Faye, and son, Stevie; Mary Griffith had been fired from her job at Pet Milk Company for participating in integration. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room)

Segregationist and white supremacist John Kasper, of Camden, N.J., speaks to protesters at Glenn School. The Nashville Tennessean reported he called upon his supporters "to boycott the schools, warning them of violence if desegregation continues, urging them to attend his rally last night on the steps of War Memorial auditorium.” At that rally, Kasper would urge the picketing of Hattie Cotton School, which was bombed later that same night. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room)

Lajuanda Street (left) begins her first day of school at Glenn with an unidentified fellow student. Lajuanda Street Harley’s recollections of that day are featured in this podcast. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room)

Original caption from the Sept. 10, 1957, Nashville Banner: “East wall of Hattie Cotton School is left in shambles from an early morning dynamite blast. The school, located at 1010 West Greenwood Ave., enrolled one Negro student Monday.” (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room, photo by Rob Ray)

And finally, Allen Forkum briefly reviews some of the contents of the September 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect, including: the 1978 robbery of the Country Music Hall of Fame; the 1941 fire at Woolworth downtown; 1868 articles about Market Street drunkenness and velocipedes; and a 1970 advertisement for the famous Nashville stripper Heaven Lee. (Segment begins at 01:25)

SHOW NOTES

A list of articles relating to this episode contained in archive issues of The Nashville Retrospect (archive issues can be ordered by clicking here or on the issue links below):

• “18 Negroes Play On City [Golf] Courses,” Nashville Tennessean, Feb. 14, 1956 (The Nashville Retrospect, February 2010)

• “Parents Corner Supt. Bass At Glenn School As Negro, White Pupils Talk,” ...

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, we take a look at artifacts and monuments of The Great War found throughout the city. Host Allen Forkum (editor of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper) interviews Dr. Lisa Budreau, senior curator of military history at the Tennessee State Museum, about relics and souvenirs collected from Tennessee soldiers after World War I, including a German cannon and Sergeant Alvin C. York’s war medals. Dan Pomeroy, senior curator and director of the state museum, relates the history of the Military Branch Museum, located in the War Memorial Building. And Allison Griffey of the Tennessee State Library and Archives discusses stories from the Gold Star Records, including soldier’s letters, as well as women factory workers, the influenza epidemic, and the Mexican village at the Old Hickory gun powder plant. (Segment begins at 03:22)

Some of the uniforms featured in the new Tennessee State Museum temporary exhibition titled “Tennessee and the Great War: A Centennial Exhibition” (left to right): aviator Lieutenant Charles McGhee Tyson of Knoxville (the boots belonged to his father, General Lawrence Tyson), Rebekah Dodson Senter of the Army Nurse Corps, and Captain Albert Harris Jr. of Davidson County and part of the Vanderbilt Medical Unit in France.

The German breastplate armor discussed by Dr. Budreau in the podcast can be seen in the upper left. Beside it is a gas mask case. At the bottom is a Colt-Vickers water-cooled .303 caliber British machine gun, which were used by many countries during WWI, including the U.S. 30th Division troops attached to the British army.

This German field cannon can be seen in the new Tennessee State Museum temporary exhibition about WWI. The 7.7 cm, Model 1896 cannon by Krupp was likely captured by the U.S. 30th Division near the German Hindenburg line in 1918. It took over two and a half years to restore it to operational condition.

This Sergeant Alvin C. York collection is part of a permanent WWI display at the new Tennessee State Museum. York's Medal of Honor and Croix de Guerre with palm can be seen in the middle right of the picture.

The gold star flag of Nashvillian Johnny Overton, held in the Gold Star Records at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, features the popular WWI phrase “Over There.” Overton was killed on the battlefield in France on July 18, 1918, at the age of 24. You can read more about Johnny Overton in the November 2018 issue, in the article "A Nashville Soldier of the Great War Remembered," by John P. Williams. (Image: Tennessee State Library and Archives)

At left is Cecil Calvert Bain, whose items in the Gold Star Records include a letter home about influenza in his camp. Like many soldiers in World War I, he would ultimately die of the disease at age 27 in Camp Gordon. At right is Private Luther Gilbert, Company B, 804th Pioneer Infantry, United States Army. Pvt. Gilbert was a member of one of the 14 African-American Pioneer Infantry units in World War I. Men in these units were often given dangerous maintenance and engineering tasks on the front lines. He died of pneumonia at 22 years old in France and was most likely a victim of the Influenza Epidemic of 1918.(Images: Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Sue Howell (Mrs. A.C. Adams) is pictured with her seven sons, all of whom were involved in World War I and survived. She displayed seven blue stars on her service flag. The photo appears in the book Davidson County Women in the World War, 1917–1919, published in 1923, which you can read more about in the October 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect in the "Artifacts" column by Clinton J. Holloway. (Image: Clinton Holloway)

The Old Hickory DuPont gun powder plant is shown circa 1918. (Image: Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Also hear the song “Over There” from World War I and lines from patriotic songs written by two Nashville women for the war. (Segment begins at 54:40)

The cover of the sheet music for “Over There” credits the Nora Bayes version of the song with introducing it to the country. A recording of Bayes singing the song can be heard at the end of the podcast. “Over there” became a common phrase during WWI, indicating where American troops were fighting. (Image: Library of Congress)

The cover illustration for the sheet music of “Over the Top” dramatically captures the meaning of the title. Nashvillian Marian Phelps wrote the lyrics for the patriotic song. (Image: Washington University)

And finally, Allen Forkum reviews some of the contents of the November 2018 issue, including such stories as: the toll of the 1918 influenza epidemic on Nashvillians; the city’s joyous reaction to news of the end of...

On Christmas Eve, 1956, a woman jumped off the Shelby Street Bridge into the Cumberland River with a baby in her arms. Host Allen Forkum (editor of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper) revisits this tragic and heroic story through interviews with people who were there, including Harold Hogue, Anne Knox, and Judy Hunt Charest. Also learn about the aftermath of the event during the decades since. (Segment begins at 04:45)

(Special thanks to Mike Hudgins and Sheri Hogue for their assistance with this story.)

Original caption from the Dec. 24, 1956, Nashville Banner: “Muddy waters of the Cumberland River swirl around Mrs. Milton Hunt (arrow No. 1), who clings to a steel retaining beam, and her three-and-a-half months old daughter, Judy (arrow No. 2).” In the podcast, Anne Knox mentions the two objects floating in the water. (Image: Tennessee State Library and Archives, photo by Vic Cooley)

Original caption: “Jack Knox [III], 25-year-old drafting department employe of Nashville Bridge Co. holds Mrs. Hunt above the water after he had rescued the baby and then swam to where the mother was hanging on near exhaustion.” (Image: Anne Knox, Mike Hudgins, photo by Vic Cooley)

Original caption: “Mrs. Hunt is pulled ashore from the Bridge Company boat. A first aid team worked on her until she could be taken to General Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition.” The man in the foreground wearing a watch is Harold Hogue, who is interviewed in the podcast. Virgil Johnson is piloting the boat. (Image: Anne Knox, Mike Hudgins)

Original caption: “Gilbert M. Dorland, vice-president of Nashville Bridge Co., hold three-and-a-half months old Judy Hunt after the tot was pulled form the icy waters of Cumberland River below the firm’s building.” (Image: Anne Knox, Mike Hudgins)

Original caption: “Dressed in the only available dry clothes, a bridge company baseball uniform, Knox warms up after his plunge into the icy waters shorty after 10 a.m. today. He is a former West End High School and Citadel athlete.” (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room)

The Hunt family (Marguerite, Milton and Judy) is pictured in 1957. (Image: Judy Hunt Charest)

Judy and her mother, Marguerite. (Image: Judy Hunt Charest)

Jack Knox (right) receives the Arland D. Williams Society award at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 12, 2005. He died ten days later. (Image: Anne Knox, Mike Hudgins)

Judy Hunt Charest and Harold Hogue at the reunion at the site of the rescue on Sept. 16, 2015. The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge (formerly the Shelby Street Bridge), the Nashville Bridge Building (formerly the Nashville Bridge Company), and the pier mentioned in the story, can all be seen in the background. (Image: Allen Forkum)

Harold Hogue shows the watch given to him by Judy Hunt Charest, which she had engraved with: “Everyone needs a HERO. Thanks for being mine. 12/24/56 Love, Baby.” (Image: Allen Forkum)

UPDATE: Harold Hogue died on Dec. 28, 2020.

UDPATE: Judy Hunt Charest died on March 11, 2022.

Also hear folk singers Dee and Delta Hicks of Fentress County, Tenn., discuss the lost tradition of Old Christmas in a 1981 interview by Bob Fulcher (assisted by Sharon Celsor-Hughes). Old Christmas was traditionally observed in some rural and mountainous areas of the south on Jan. 6 and included tales of farm animals kneeling to pray at midnight on Christmas Day. The interview was part of Cumberland Trail Park Manger Bob Fulcher's Tennessee State Parks Folklife Project. (Segment begins at 48:40)

(Special thanks to Bob Fulcher of Cumberland Trail, and to Lori Lockhart and Zach Keith at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.)

Dee and Delta Hicks of Fentress County, Tenn. (Image: Bob Fulcher)

And finally, Allen Forkum reviews some of the contents of the December 2018 issue, including children’s letters to Santa Claus in 1907 and Johnny Cash’s 1976 Christmas TV special. Also hear calls from readers about bygone Christmases in Nashville. (Segment begins at 01:30)

SHOW NOTES

A list of articles relating to this episode that you can find in archive issues of The Nashville Retrospect (archive issues can be ordered by clicking here or on the issue links below):

• “Dives In River With Baby; Rescued,” Nashville Banner, Dec. 24, 1956 (The Nashville Retrospect, December 2011)

• ...

Ghost stories, TV horror hosts, and cemeteries are visited in this Halloween-themed episode. Host Allen Forkum (editor of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper) interviews historian Fletch Coke about the history of Nashville City Cemetery and about the stories of people interred there, including Confederate generals, a mysterious woman buried under a boulder, a U.S. president, the man who named Old Glory, and notable Nashville historical figures. The cemetery is the city's oldest public grave yard, established in 1822. (Segment begins at 04:50)

The Captain William Driver monument is pictured in 1959. Driver is known for originating the name “Old Glory” for the American flag. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room)

This Nashville Banner photo shows the neglected state of City Cemetery in 1937. It accompanied an article headlined “Patriots Rest in Weeds” (see the July 2015 Nashville Retrospect). (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room, photo by John E. Hood)

In 1959, Mayor Ben West headed a major restoration of Nashville City Cemetery. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room, photo by Bill Goodman)

The Steele boulder monument is pictured in 1984. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room)

The 1908 survey map of Nashville City Cemetery has been crucial for locating graves at the site. Burial records up to 1846 were lost during the Civil War. (Image: Nashville City Cemetery Association, Metro Archives)

Also hear audio clips of Nashville’s legendary TV horror hosts, Dr. Lucifur and Sir Cecil Creape. Experts Jeff Thompson and Larry Underwood (Dr. Gangrene) relate the history of these local TV personalities who, from the ‘50s to the ‘80s, hosted late-night showings of monster movies. (Segment begins at 40:10)

Dr. Lucifur (Ken Bramming) as he appeared in the intro to his TV program “Shock Theater” of the 1950s and ’60s. Notice the “mystic circle” effect. (Image: Jeff Thompson)

Ken Bramming on the “Shock Theater” set called the Purple Grotto, which featured a door stained with bloody handprints. (Image: Jeff Thompson)

Original caption from the Nov. 1, 1976, Nashville Banner: “Resident Opryland spook Sir Cecil Creape greets 4-year-old twins Keith and Kevin Tidwell.” (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room, photo by Bob Ray)

This cut-out mask of Sir Cecil Creape’s face was used to promote the Channel 4 show “Creature Feature” in the early '70s. The show was hosted by the ghoulish Sir Cecil, played Russ McCown. (Image: Stanley Hime)

Dr. Gangrene (Larry Underwood) is an award-winning Nashville horror host who has been performing for almost 20 years, carrying on the tradition of Dr. Lucifur and Sir Cecil Creape. (Image: Larry Underwood)

Larry Underwood (right) and his brother, Jimmy, are pictured in Ben Cooper brand Halloween costumes in 1972. (Image: Larry Underwood)

And finally, Allen Forkum reviews some of the “creepier” stories in the October 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper, including: the auction of Jacob Schnell’s “haunted house” in 1974; the 1926 Nashville Banner editorial about Halloween vandalism; a 1976 Banner story about Morris Levine and his popular Halloween parties; and an 1868 article about the strange fate of a young woman buried with a valuable diamond ring. (Segment begins at 01:50)

SHOW NOTES

A list of articles relating to this episode contained in archive issues of The Nashville Retrospect (archive issues can be ordered by clicking here or on the issue links below):

• "Beautify Historic Cemetery,” Nashville Banner, Oct. 8, 1959 (The Nashville Retrospect, October 2013)

• "Polk’s First Grave In City Cemetery,” Nashville Banner, Nov. 2, 1925 (The Nashville Retrospect, November 2012)

• “The Forgotten Brave,” Republican Banner, Dec. 11, 1867 (The Nashville Banner, December 2017)

• “Army Officer Here To Explore ‘Bob’s Hole’ For Bodies,” Nashville Tennessean and Nashville American, Dec. 4, 1911 (The Nashville Retrospect, December 2017)

• “Patriots Rest In Weeds,” Nashville Bann...