When railroads were first proposed in the mid nineteenth century, many feared their impact. Some were frightened of the power and danger of locomotives which they believed would run down women and children, scare livestock, and set fire to fields.
Others feared the power that a monopolistic railroad system would have to control the economy. Their fears were realized as railroad companies grew in numbers and strength. One example of the control over the economy can be seen in Sedalia in the 1870s, when the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Katy Railroad in Sedalia refused to pay their employees for several months, pushing their employees into poverty. The railroads’ action prompted a strike that stopped rail service but did not fully resolve the pay issue. Workers struck again in the 1880s even less successfully than in the decade before.
The railroads controlled the economy in other ways. They charged different rates for long and short trips, causing economic difficulties for farmers. The railroads attempted to influence government by giving year-long free passes to local and state officials, a practice that seems remarkably like bribery.
As farmers organized into the Patrons of Husbandry, commonly called the Grange, they became able to exert some influence on the federal government, which responded in 1887 by creating the Interstate Commerce Commission, an independent body that could regulate the railroads. However, its power was limited by Supreme Court decisions that generally ruled in favor of the railroads.
Regulations included limits on discrepancies in rates for short and long trips and passage in 1893 of the Railroad Safety Appliance Act, which required that by 1900, all trains used for interstate commerce be equipped with air brakes and automatic couplers. This act reduced the number of on the job injuries and deaths of railroad employees.
By the early 20th century, the Interstate Commerce Commission required that accident investigations be conducted and reports of railroad accidents be filed. These accident reports from 1911 through 1995 are available on the Internet at the Department of Transportation website. The reports are arranged by year and then by the name of the railroad.
In hopes of finding more information about the train-automobile crash near Dresden in 1938 that killed five people, I researched the accident reports. Accidents involving four Missouri Pacific trains occurred in 1938. The reports are quite thorough, identifying the date, place, train route, weather conditions, track conditions, and names of the employees involved. All of these involved damage to the train itself, either by derailment or by collision of two trains. Only one of the four accidents involved an automobile, but in this particular crash, the train derailed, killing and injuring railroad employees but not harming those in the automobile.
The Pettis County accident was not included in the reports. Relatives of the families of those killed point out that the Anderson family received a settlement from the Missouri Pacific, which they used to relocate in the Springfield area. According to their descendants, the Fisher, Taylor, and Faulconer families remained in western Pettis County.
I apologize to the Faulconer family for misspelling their family name, and will keep trying to research the aftermath of the accident.
