The Loss of a Young Engineer

311 Westview Avenue, Bristol, Pennsylvania 19007

 I am going to make an effort to write a story of a fatal
accident which resulted in the death of a fine young man in the
days when ‘Steam was King.’ I have found in past efforts
that this is sometimes difficult or impossible after 50 years or
more have passed. My last effort consumed seven years of part time
research. However, in this case, thanks mainly to the cooperation
of one man, I had a wealth of information available. This man was
Mr. Granville Bly of Strasburg, Virginia, whose father was the
owner of both engines involved at one time or another.

This story takes place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and
must begin with a history of both engines involved, as this is an
important part of the story. There were two engines involved, a
Case and a Frick, both bought new by a Mr. Ide Moore, of Kernstown,
Virginia. The Case, a 15 HP, #18798, bought new in 1907, was later
equipped with special wheels with special spokes and extra cleats
spaced closer together. This was so it could be used to haul apples
over the roads into the town of Winchester, Virginia from the apple
orchards of the Shenandoah Valley. The city was very strict on the
type of iron wheels allowed in town. Due to the cleats being so
close together, the engine was poorly suited to climbing the rocky,
limestone roads found in this area. The second engine was a double
cylinder Frick, 7 x 10, #15795, purchased by Mr. Moore in 1912.
This engine was also specially equipped for the same hauling job as
the Case. It had a jacketed boiler, extra side tanks, and heavy
duty freighting wheels with filler blocks between the cleats so it
could enter Winchester and operate on the city streets. The jacket
was removed by Mr. Moore, and the filler blocks removed by Mr. Bly,
at which time the cleats were reversed, after Mr. Bly bought it
from Mr. Moore. Mr. Bly also replaced the front wheels, the
original ones having only 20 spokes, with heavier ones having 30
spokes. Mr. Bly also purchased the Case engine, but from a man in
Winchester who had bought it from Mr. Moore previously. Mr. Bly
sold the Frick to his brother-in-law, Mr. Alvon Strosnider in May,
1922, who was living with and working for Mr. Bly. Mr. Strosnider
was a well thought of young man, 24 years old, who owned a car, had
paid cash for a new hay bailer, and had money enough in the bank to
pay off the note on the engine, and was to be married the next
month. At the time Mr. Bly had bought the Frick from Mr. Moore, he
was not told of a defect in the engine thus neither were aware of a
fault in the operation of the engine. Mr. Bly was to die in 1929,
seven years after the accident which was to cost Mr. Strosnider his
life without ever knowing the true cause. Several people were aware
of it, it showing in two ways, first the engine could not be timed
to exhaust evenly on boty cylinders, and second, when under heavy
load with full throttle the engine would suddenly reverse. This was
to lead to the tragedy which would cost Mr. Strosnider’s life.
These faults were later confirmed by several men who had operated
the engine, including Mr. Hale Moore, the son of the original
owner. Mr. Hale Moore stated that he had almost been killed once by
the sudden reversing of the engine. According to him his father had
a factory man come look at the engine when it was new. The factory
representative informed Mr. Moore that the trouble was caused by a
defect in the casting of the block, that this had been discovered
and corrected in later engines, and nothing could be done about it
in this case. This could well have been the cause of Mr.
Moore’s selling the engine.

In September of 1922, Mr. Bly had taken the job of supplying
steam for the steam drills on a construction job, the side of a new
bridge at Fisher’s Hill on the Winchester Pike. As Mr. Bly
attempted to move up a side road to the bridge site with the Case
engine, the left wheel slipped on the limestone of the roadside
several times, stripping the countershaft pinion gear on the left
side. This slipping was caused by the close cleats, which would not
allow the wheel to grip properly. As the engine was not blocking
the road, he left it until he could get his brother-in-law to pull
it the remainder of the way. On Thursday they returned, and Mr.
Strosnider, not trusting a bridge on the side road forded a stream
and went to the top of the hill, and backed down to the Case. They
coupled up, but with a short chain, this was the one thing that was
to bother Mr. Bly the remainder of his life. He always felt
afterwards that they should have waited until they could get a
longer chain. When the hook-up was made, the pull up the hill was
begun. Part way up the hill Mr. Bly suddenly realized that he was
being pushed backwards, looked ahead and saw that the Frick had
come backwards into the front of the Case. He jumped off the Case,
ran ahead and jumped up and shut off the throttle of the Frick, it
being wide open. As he did so he saw his brother-in-law lying in
the road in front of the Frick. Mr. Bly ran forward and asked his
brother-in-law if he was hurt bad, to which he replied, ‘Oh, I
am afraid so.’ He had attempted to jump to avoid being crushed
between the engines, but had fallen and the rear wheel had passed
over both his legs. The tool box had been broken off by the smoke
box of the Case, the smoke stack had penetrated the roof of the
Frick about 6′, and the Frick platform was against the front
wheels of the Case. According to one newspaper account, he would
have been crushed much worse but for a Mr. Walter Good, the only
eye witness, who pulled him partly clear. The combination tool box
and seat of the Frick had been the cause of his having to jump, as
the front of the Case was pushing it in on him, otherwise he would
have had room to clear the smoke box of the Case. Mr. Strosnider
also had on a new pair of shoes, and some thought these may have
slipped on a small rock on the side of the road as he attempted to
jump to his right. It was also suggested that his coat may have
hung on the tool box according to one newspaper account.

First aid was rendered and a doctor was summoned to treat his
badly crushed legs, and he was transported to Memorial Hospital in
Winchester. It was thought that he might recover, and when members
of his family called about 10:00 that night they were told that he
was sleeping, so he was not disturbed. However, the strain proved
too much, and he passed away about 1:00 A.M. Friday morning,
September 29, 1922, the day after the accident. According to
newspaper clippings, the funeral was one of the largest ever held
in the area up to that time. The sermon was brief but earnest and
taken from the text ‘Let him that think he stand the take heed
lest he fall.’ It was estimated that about 1,000 to 1,500
mourners formed a procession almost a mile long. Over an hour was
consumed as people filed by the casket. A large granite marker
bearing his likeness was erected over his grave in the nearby
cemetary.

Mrs. Bly, Mr. Strosnider’s sister settled the estate and Mr.
Bly suggested that since the engine would be no good to his elderly
parents he should offer to re-buy the engine. This Mr. Bly did, and
being grief stricken over the accident, decided that all of his
machinery must be sold and by the spring of 1923 all of Mr.
Bly’s machinery was indeed sold. The Case engine was sold to a
friend, and the Frick to a Mr. Braithwaite. Mr. Bly then went into
the poultry business, but returned to custom baling with a gas
tractor before passing away in 1929.