Fatal Initiation: Pledge Tied to Railway Tracks (1905)

https://www.facebook.com/historianofthestrange/photos/pcb.1043933415801190/1043932125801319/?type=3&theater

Historian of the Strange [Robert Damon Schneck]

20 July 2019

It sounds like the beginning of an urban legend, but it happened. No one was indicted and the only result was passing more anti-hazing laws and shutting down the Kenyon College chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. ("The Herald-Ledger", Russellville, Kentucky, 10 Nov 1905.)

[“Stuart L. Pierson…was killed by a train…while waiting to be initiated into the Delta Kappa Epsilon society of Kenyon college….Pierson was tied to the railroad by fellow students and left to test his nerve.”]

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The complete Testimony before the Coroner in regard to the death of Stuart L. Pierson which occurred at Gambier, Ohio, Saturday evening, October 26th, 1905, along with the coroner’s finding (“Stuart Pierson was either tied fast to the railroad track or railroad ties…and while so tied…was run over by an engine”) and various dissenting opinions, can be found here. An overview of the case (Mark Ellis, “Death on the Tracks,” Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 3, Spring/Summer 2011) can be found here.

Included in the testimony of Dr. William Foster Pierce, President of Kenyon College, is a rumor about a fraternity pledge tied near a railroad track and temporarily forgotten (p. 102).

Legends of pledges tied to railways tracks and dying of fright are common (Simon Bronner, Campus Traditions, 318). Here’s an example posted to the Snopes message board in 2002:

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=99;t=000107;p=1

Comment: I heard of this many years ago and have no doubt that it is only a "legend". However, I have never found anyone else who has heard of it.

This involves a college hazing ritual. A pledging student is told that his bravery and trust of his fellow "brothers" is being tested. The pledge will be tied to a train track and left until the train is closing in. The brothers will then untie the pledge who must jump up and run to avoid being crushed by the train. The pledge is lead blindfolded until the proper location on the train track is found. He is tied down to the track and all wait for the scheduled train. Soon enough, the ground begins to shake and it is obvious a train is approaching. As the locomotive closes in, a brother suggests that it is close enough and to untie the pledge.  The more senior members insist they must wait. This just increases the fear in the pledging brother. As the train is nearly on them, the senior brother screams to the others to untie the pledge. The brothers begin to untie the rope, then stop. They shout that the rope is tied too tightly and can not be removed! Other brothers are yelling and clearly everyone is in a full panic. The ground is shaking and the sound of the train horn is deafening. What the pledge does not know is that there is a parallel set of train tracks and that the train is NOT on the set of tracks where the pledge is tied. As it is obvious to the pledge that he is about to die, his "brothers" scream in a state of faked panic! Once the train goes by, the brothers go to untie their new member. However, he is dead from fright.

Train Kills Girls Playing "Ghost Train" Game

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-missouri-girls-playing-ghost-train-game-die-when-train/article_205ca220-af06-11e1-b3dd-001a4bcf6878.html

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

5 June 2012

Two Missouri girls playing 'Ghost Train' game die when train hits Jeep

BY KIM BELL

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Five teens inside a Jeep were playing a game, based on ghost legends, when they parked on railroad tracks just after midnight Tuesday morning.

"They were playing a stupid game called 'Ghost Train,' and the object is to get scared, kind of like telling stories on Halloween," said Butler County Coroner Jim Akers. "The game was to park on the tracks, let the windows fog up inside and let your mind play tricks on you."

But the game took a deadly turn when a real Amtrak train approached and the driver couldn't restart her vehicle, Akers said. Three of the teens got out safely, but two girls in a panic couldn't unbuckle their seatbelts in time. [...]

Sunken Locomotive in Burnaby Lake

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/burnabynewsleader/news/93729669.html

Burnaby News-Leader [BC, Canada]
13 May 2010

Sunken locomotive in Burnaby Lake just a myth, officials say

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader

The urban legend of a steam locomotive buried in Burnaby Lake is alive and well.

But the closest things to artifacts dredging crews have found so far are pop cans and plastic bags. [...]

The Wrong Portmanteau

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31395/31395-h/31395-h.htm

PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK

Richard Pike, ed., Railway Adventures and Anecdotes, third edition (London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1888), p. 130.

HIS PORTMANTEAU.

An English traveller in Germany entered a first-class carriage in which there was only one seat vacant, a middle one. A corner seat was occupied by a German, who evidently had placed his portmanteau on the opposite one — at least the traveller suspected that this was the case. The latter asked, “Is this seat engaged?” “Yes,” was the reply. When the time for the departure of the train had almost arrived, the Englishman said, “Your friend is going to miss the train, if he is not quick.” “Oh, that is all right. I’ll keep it for him.” Soon the signal came and the train started, when the passenger seized the portmanteau, and threw it out of the window, exclaiming, “He’s missed his train but he mustn’t lose his baggage!” That portmanteau was the German’s.

Train Tunnel Stories

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31395/31395-h/31395-h.htm

PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK

Richard Pike, ed., Railway Adventures and Anecdotes, third edition (London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1888).

ADVANTAGES OF RAILWAY-TUNNELS.

We cannot help repeating a narrative which we heard on one occasion, told with infinite gravity by a clergyman whose name we at once inquired about, and of whom we shall only say, that he is one of the worthiest and best sons of the kirk, and knows when to be serious as well as when to jest. “Don’t tell me,” said he to a simple-looking Highland brother, who had apparently made his first trial of railway travelling in coming up to the Assembly — “don’t tell me that tunnels on railways are an unmitigated evil: they serve high moral and æsthetical purposes. Only the other day I got into a railway carriage, and I had hardly taken my seat, when the train started. On looking up, I saw sitting opposite to me two of the most rabid dissenters in Scotland. I felt at once that there could be no pleasure for me in that journey, and with gloomy heart and countenance I leaned back in my corner. But all at once we plunged into a deep tunnel, black as night, and when we emerged at the other end, my brow was clear and my ill-humour was entirely dissipated. Shall I tell you how this came to be? All the way through the tunnel I was shaking my fists in the dissenters’ faces, and making horrible mouths at them, and that relieved me, and set me all right. Don’t speak against tunnels again, my dear friend.” — Fraser’s Magazine. [Pp. 126-7]

A KISS IN THE DARK.

On one of the seats in a railway train was a married lady with a little daughter; opposite, facing them, was another child, a son, and a coloured “lady” with a baby. The mother of these children was a beautiful matron with sparkling eyes, in exuberant health and vivacious spirits. Near her sat a young lieutenant, dressed to kill and seeking a victim. He scraped up an acquaintance with the mother by attentions to the children. It was not long before he was essaying to make himself very agreeable to her, and by the time the sun began to decline, one would have thought they were old familiar friends. The lieutenant felt that he had made an impression — his elation manifested it. The lady, dreaming of no wrong, suspecting no evil, was apparently pleased with her casual acquaintance. By-and-by the train approached a tunnel. The gay lieutenant leaned over and whispered something in the lady’s ear. It was noticed that she appeared as thunderstruck, and her eyes immediately flamed with indignation. A moment more and a smile lighted up her features. What changes? That smile was not one of pleasure, but was sinister. It was unperceived by the lieutenant. She made him a reply which apparently rejoiced him very much. For the understanding properly this narrative, we must tell the reader what was whispered and what was replied. “I mean to kiss you when we get into the tunnel!” whispered the lieutenant. “It will be dark; who will see it?” replied the lady. Into earth’s bowels — into the tunnel ran the train. Lady and coloured nurse quickly change seats. Gay lieutenant threw his arms around the lady sable, pressed her cheek to his, and fast and furious rained kisses on her lips. In a few moments the train came out into broad daylight. White lady looked amazed — coloured lady, bashful, blushing — gay lieutenant befogged. “Jane,” said the white lady, “what have you been doing?” “Nothing!” responded the coloured lady. “Yes, you have,” said the white lady, not in an undertone, but in a voice that attracted the attention of all in the carriage. “See how your collar is rumpled and your bonnet smashed.” Jane, poor coloured beauty, hung her head for a moment, the “observed of all observers,” and then, turning round to the lieutenant, replied: “This man kissed me in the tunnel!” Loud and long was the laugh that followed among the passengers. The white lady enjoyed the joke amazingly. Lieutenant looked like a sheep-stealing dog, left the carriage at the next station, and was seen no more. — Cape Argus. [Pp. 256-7]

[Thomas Edison's one-minute film What Happened in the Tunnel (1903) is similarly racist. -- bc]

DRINKING FROM THE WRONG BOTTLE.

An incident has occurred on one of the suburban lines which will certainly be supposed by many to be only ben trovato, but it is a real fact. A lady, who seemed perfectly well before the train entered a tunnel, suddenly alarmed her fellow-passengers during the temporary darkness by exclaiming, “I am poisoned!” On re-emerging into daylight, an awkward explanation ensued. The lady carried with her two bottles, one of methylated spirit, the other of cognac. Wishing, presumably, for a refresher on the sly, she took advantage of the gloom; but she applied the wrong bottle to her lips. Time pressed, and she took a good drain. The consequence was she was nearly poisoned, and had to apply herself honestly and openly to the brandy bottle as a corrective, amidst the ironical condolence of the passengers she had previously alarmed. -- Once a Week. [P. 262]