Wreck of the Ole '97
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889 - 1975)
Date1944
MediumLithograph
Dimensions13 x 17 1/4 in. (33 x 43.8 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineFrom the collection of Dr. August and L. Tommie Freundlich
Object number2010.44.6
DescriptionBlack and white print of a horse-drawn wagon driving into a train/locomotive on a damaged railroad. One man is near the train, two men are in the wagon, and one woman has fallen off the wagon. Illustration of a popular folk song that was inspired by the wreck of the Southern Railroad’s Train no. 97 in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in 1903. During a steep decline, the engineer lost control of the train causing an accident that claimed 13 lives.
