The Day the Whistles Cried: The Great Cornfield Meet at Dutchman's Cuve

by Betsy Thorpe

People are drawn to legendary disaster stories such as that of the Titanic, seeking hope and heroism among the wreckage. The Day The Whistles Cried is a true disaster tale, filled with real people and their lives. Reading about America's worst train wreck is opening a window into Time. Two steam locomotives collide head-on in a cornfield at the edge of Nashville on July 9, 1918, taking the lives of more than a hundred people and injuring at least 300 others. This tragic tale, set against a backdrop of wartime urgency and human error, unfolds in the midst of the racial and societal divisions of the early twentieth century. Segregation and cultural mores helped decide who would perish and who would survive this cataclysmic event, resulting in a book that is more than a riveting story of decided historical impact. The Day the Whistles Cried reveals the railroad system in action in its heyday. Romance and adventure, systems and rules, architecture and machinery. Its sub-culture was intrinsic to America's economy and people.

278 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2014

Reviews

[Carl Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Narrative nonfiction retelling of the 1918 train collision at Dutchman's Curve in Nashville, considered the deadliest train accident in American history. The first half of the volume is a rich retelling of the morning of the collision, with a well-crafted capsule of the time and the people on the train. The second half is a nearly verbatim recounting of court proceedings two years later, as the family of the engineer of the outbound train attempted to clear his name through a trial. This part was far less gripping, both because it presented full detail of the legal minutiae and because the only conclusion I could reach was that the engineer indeed bore primary responsibility for the outbound train's failure to yield to the inbound train.

One of the real tragedies of the collision is how the wooden Jim Crow car at the front of the outbound train contributed to the much higher death toll among African Americans than the whites who rode in steel Pullman cars. I wish the author had spent more time exploring the toll extracted by segregation on the passengers; the lack of detail (while likely due to the lack of a historical record among the African American community rather than an oversight by the author) leaves a void in the story.

Numerous pictures through the first half enrich the narrative.

[Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third time I’ve read this. 5 stars because I’m consumed by this train wreck. It haunts me daily….

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should be subtitled "The story of the trial of the train wreck at Dutchmans Curve." Yeah, most of the book is about the trial. There is only a short and not too detailed account of the crash. Mostly concentrated on one engineer. Very little info on the number 1 train or the people aboard. I was a bit disappointed. It's not a bad read but I was hoping for A LOT more info on the wreck itself and the after math on site, not in the courtroom. Hoping there is another book that concentrates more on the wreck. And the trial part of this book is about the widow of one of the engineers trying to clear his name. Not very exciting for courtroom reading. Especially for a person like me that has little interest in court proceedings.