Presque Isle recalls
100th anniversary of Grindstone train wreck
By Tom Clark
Special to The Star-Herald
For members of the Presque Isle High School band and their friends and families July 28, 1911 started unusually early.
Star-Herald file photo
PIHS BAND — Members of the 1911 Presque Isle High School band, along with family and friends, had enjoyed the day at the recreational park near Kidder’s Point on Penobscot Bay. As the Bangor and Aroostook excursion train carrying the happy group back to Presque Isle reached Millinocket, the train’s conductor made a fatal judgment error which would shortly result in a head-on collision further down the line.
A 5:57 a.m. excursion train was scheduled to take the group 200 miles south to the Penobscot Amusement Park, near Searsport.
Shortly after 6 a.m. the No. 7 train pulled away from the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad station in Presque Isle and steamed with purpose toward the Maine seashore.
Beach Day
Later when the Aroostook County group arrived at the park they headed to the many attractions including a dance pavilion, merry-go-round and athletic fields. The ocean would prove to be a welcomed change from the toil of the hay and potato fields back home.
After the day’s events concluded, the revelers piled back into No. 7.
They were late leaving so they did not expect to arrive home until after dark. But no matter — they found themselves in no particular hurry to get home. Outside a vicious storm had kicked up so all agreed that warm and dry aboard the northbound excursion train was the safest place to be.
But little did anyone realize that this halcyon summer day would soon be interrupted with an accident that would forever alter the remainder of their days on earth.
Final Approach
In the engineer’s cab of No. 7, a more sober scene had evolved. Conductor Dibblee and Engineer Garcelon were discussing their options for negotiating the next expanse of rails. It was 8:58 p.m. and the train was located just to the north of Millinocket exchange.
Both men knew a southbound train from Van Buren was due to depart Grindstone station at 9:09 p.m., about 10 miles to their north. They also begrudgingly realized the regularly scheduled southbound train had right of way over No. 7. Both men were tired and they wanted to shave some time off the remainder of the trip.
After considering the distance, weather and terrain, the two men agreed that reaching the Grindstone siding was just possible. They just needed to bust it.
So with the decision made, the locomotive was fired up and charged into the tempest. For the next several minutes, both men silently counted off the seconds while a car-length behind, unwitting passengers went about readying themselves for arriving home.
With seven of the nine miles now behind it, the train passed over the Penobscot River bridge as it made the long turn less than a mile short of the Grindstone siding. Both men checked their watches: 9:09 and 36 seconds. If southbound No. 8 was on schedule it was now just leaving the station.
Head-on!
The official investigation that followed the incident concluded the deadly collision occurred roughly two fifths of a mile from the Grindstone station. Dibblee and Garcelon’s locomotive was traveling over 60 mph and the southbound train at 20 mph when they met.
Photo courtesy of Jerry Angier, Portland
DEADLY TRAIN CRASH — Two Bangor & Aroostook trains, one carrying members of the PIHS band and their family and friends, collided head-on near a desolate stretch of tracks north of Millinocket. The terrible 1911 accident left nine dead, of which four were from Presque Isle and one was from Washburn.
According to the August 3, 1911 edition of the Star-Herald, the force of the impact was borne to a greater extent by the excursion train which had its engine telescoped into a combination baggage/smoking car immediately behind it. It was in that car, just at the moment of the impact, Chas Palmer, the band leader, had raised his hand to start the band. Many of the band members had lifted their instruments to their lips at the precise moment of impact.
The young Presque Isle men killed in the collision were Dr. Hugh Pipes, 24, who had just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania dental school; Frank Seeley, 17, an only son who had just graduated from PIHS; Vergne Harris, 23, also an only son who after school had taken charge of the home in Maysville; and Harry Clark, 40, a member of the blacksmith and wheelright firm of Monny and Clark.
Washburn resident Claude Loomer, the leader of the Washburn band and a member of the PIHS band, also lost his life.
The remaining dead included the engineer, the firemen on both trains and the baggage master.
Sixteen were seriously injured and their suffering was compounded by the remoteness of the accident and the violent weather. The only good stroke of luck was that Dr Foster of Bangor was aboard the southbound train and was able to administer aid to the many injured.
How could such a thing happen? That determination was left to a joint commission from the State of Maine Railroad Commission and the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission.
The proceedings determined that the case of the accident “was the attempt on the part of Conductor Dibblee and Engineer Garcelon … to make Grindstone siding, in violation of the speed restrictions … and without sufficient time to make the 8.9 miles”.
Postscript
Penobscot Park closed in 1916, reopened briefly in 1920 and closed for good several years later.
As to Conductor Dibblee, the Bangor newspapers cast him as a tragic figure. No record of Conductor Dibblee’s life after the accident has turned up.
Perhaps the Roman philosopher Seneca said it best: “Haste trips its own heels, and fetters and stops itself.”
Unfortunately this lesson from the 1st century was learned at a cost of nine lives, 100 years ago in Grindstone, Maine.
Tom Clark is a freelance writer from Ho-Ho-kus, New Jersey who writes about local historical events. In the last two years he has published dozens of newspaper articles throughout the United States and Canada. More of his work can be found at http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/869626/thomas_clark.html.
