On this day back in 1903, a Southern Railway mail train, officially known as the Fast Mail, was running late.

Also known by its train car number (97), the Fast Mail was already behind schedule when it left Washington, D.C., and was hour late when it arrived at its first scheduled stop in Monroe, Virginia. There, engineer Joseph Andrew (“Steve”) Broady was instructed to make up for lost time; he was to arrive at the next stop, Spencer, Virginia, on time, no matter what it took. The Fast Mail had a reputation for never being later, his bosses reminded him, and today would not be the day its good name would be besmirched. Besides, as part of Southern Railways’s contract with the U.S. Post Office, the company was penalized for each minute the train was late into Spencer.

The traveling time to Spencer, which was located approximately 166 miles away, was normally four hours, fifteen minutes to when the train maintained an average speed of approximately 39 mph. However, in order to make up the one hour delay, the train’s average speed would have to be at least 51 mph.

The trouble was that the route between the two towns was not meant to be traveled at that speed. The tracks traversed rolling terrain, and there were numerous danger points due to the combination of grades and tight radius curves. Signs were posted to warn engineers to watch their speed. However, in his quest to stay on time, Broady rapidly descended a heavy grade that ended at the 45-foot-high Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, a little over halfway through the journey. As he approached the curve leading to the trestle, the engineer was unable to slow enough to make the turn, and the entire train derailed, plunging into the ravine below. Of the 18 people onboard, 11 died, including Broady, either from the initial impact or the resulting fire that engulfed the cars. The other 7 were severely injured.

The Southern Railway Company placed the blame for the wreck solely on Broady. They denied ever telling him to increase speed to maintain the schedule.

Although tragic, the incidence may have faded into history along with the hundreds of other railway accidents of the era, were it not for a song whose history became almost as messy as the accident itself.

In 1924, a man by the name of Vernon Dalhart released a song about the incident called “Wreck of the Old 97.” The tune was wildly popular. Since then, the song has been recorded by numerous artists, including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams III, and John Mellencamp.

The ballad was sung to the tune of “The Ship That Never Returned”, written by Henry Clay Work in 1865. Originally, the lyrics were attributed to Fred Jackson Lewey and co-author Charles Weston Noell. Lewey claimed to have written the song the day after the accident, in which his cousin was one of the two firemen killed. Lewey worked in a cotton mill that was at the base of the trestle, and also claimed to be on the scene of the accident pulling the victims from the wreckage.

However, in 1927, local resident David Graves George claimed he had written the song. George was a brakeman and telegraph operator who also claimed to be one of the first on the scene after the accident. After the 1924 recording was released, George filed a claim for ownership. On March 11, 1933, Judge John Boyd proclaimed that George was the author of the ballad. Victor Talking Machine Company, the company that had released the single, was forced to pay David $65,000 of the profits from about five million records sold. Victor appealed three times. The first two times, the courts ruled in favor of George. The third time the court of appeals ruled in favor of Victor Talking Machines. George appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, but the court ruled that George had filed his appeal too late and dismissed it, thereby granting Victor ownership of the ballad.

Regardless of where it came from, the song remains a staple of the country music world. It is sometimes cited as the first million-selling country music release in the American record industry. You can listen to Johnny Cash’s version here.