HARDING SURVIVES CLOSE CALL AS RR CAR GOES OFF RAILS
Millwood, West Virginia* (JFK+50) At 11:20 a.m. on September 29, 1920, Republican presidential nominee Warren G. Harding survived a close call when the railroad car in which he was riding left the rails and ran 990 feet on the ties.
What made this particularly dangerous was that it happened as the train was crossing a bridge 80 feet high.
A reporter on the train said...
"A few more feet of ... rocking and the car would have toppled over into the gulch."
The Senator had given a speech at Sisterville** and was on his way to Kentucky.
*Millwood is located in northwest Jackson County, West Virginia along the Ohio River & at the mouth of Mill Creek.
**Sisterville is located in Tyler County, West Virginia along the Ohio River. The town, laid out in 1815, was named after two sisters who inherited the land from their pioneer father.
Warren G. Harding
Campaign for President (1920)
Library of Congress Photo
