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About The Wreck Of The Old 97
Product Description With Fast Mail train No. 97 an hour behind schedule, locomotive engineer Steve Broady, according to legend, swore to "put her in Spencer on time" or "put her in Hell." Through eyewitness reports and court testimonies, historian Larry Aaron expertly pieces together the events of September 27, 1903, at Danville, Virginia, when the Old 97 plummeted off a forty-five-foot trestle into the ravine below. With more twists and turns than the railroad tracks on which the Old 97 ran, this book chronicles the story of one of the most famous train wrecks in American history, as well as the controversy surrounding "The Wreck of the Old 97," that most famous ballad, which secured the Old 97 a place within the annals of American folklore. Review The story of Danville s Wreck of the Old 97 just keeps on rolling. On the last weekend of May, Larry Aaron, author of Wreck of the Old 97, gave a presentation on the subject at the 29th Annual International Country Music Conference at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Aaron is a local writer, historian and teacher in the Pittsylvania County School system. "Wreck of the Old 97" was published in 2010 with The History Press and includes previously unpublished information and pictures of the 1903 wreck. "My book is now in its third printing and was nominated for the Non Fiction Prize at the 2011 Library of Virginia's Literary Awards," Aaron said. "And at least two college professors are using my book in their classes." The famous train wreck occurred when the No. 97 Southern Railway mail train, going too fast, plummeted off a 45-foot trestle in North Danville. Ten people died that day in the accident, including engineer Steve Broady, who has been always been blamed for the wreck for driving too fast to make up for lost time. Aaron's book treats Broady more kindly. The wreck also inspired a famous ballad, "The Wreck of the Old 97," which began country music in the U.S. --GoDanRiver.com About the Author Larry Aaron is associate editor of Evince newsmagazine and a published historian from Danville, Virginia. He has received first-place awards for his writing from the Virginia Press Association and also edited the award-winning book Danville in the Civil War by Lawrence McFall. Among his published works are Aaron Ancestors of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, a genealogical study; Keppy's War, the memoirs of Captain John Kepchar in World War II; The Race to the Dan, a history of events in the southern campaign during the American Revolution; and Pittsylvania County: A Brief History, published by The History Press.
