I am an avid genealogist. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries photographing tombstones to upload on the website FindAGrave.
I enjoy recognizing long dead people by putting memorials to them online. However, every once and a while something grabs me about a specific grave. It could be the name, or the dates or a ceramic photo. In those cases, I feel compelled to dig a little deeper. That's what this series of blogs is about: The tales behind those graves. Some of my subjects will be heroes. Some will be villains. Some will be victims. And some will linger in between, like most of us. However, don't be surprised if the tales are inherently tragic. These are grave tales. They all end in death.
I find toppled monuments very depressing. Rightly or wrongly, it makes me feel that people lying beneath them are forgotten and unmourned. I nearly walked right past the grave of Hyman Greenberg at Knesseth Israel Anshe Kolk Wolyn Cemetery without notice. I'm glad I spotted it. And I'm glad I photographed the grave and researched him. The story of Hyman's death is worth retelling, and deals with one of most wistfully recalled institutions of Baltimore: The Streetcar. The last two streetcar lines were finally discontinued in 1963 in favor of buses. Old timers nostalgically recall the reliable electric trains and their steel rails which tracked throughout the city. Young urban planners would like to see them return in the name of environmental efficiency. Hyman's story, however, shows how things could go horribly awry with streetcars. Here it is:
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 1 January 1919, Wednesday:
CAR SMASHES TWO BUILDINGS; 2 DEAD, 8 HURT
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Big Trolley Jumps Track And Plows Into Saloon And Residence
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CHILDREN TUMBLED FROM BEDS UNHURT
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Motorman, Under Arrest, Is Said To Put Blame On Airbrakes.
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Two men were killed and eight persons -- six men and two women were injured when one of the heavy Bay Shore cars left the tracks at Fayette and Caroline streets, just as it was about to turn into Caroline, at 2:30 o'clock this morning.
The car crashed into a one-story saloon at the northwest corner, plowed through the brick walls as if they had been made of pasteboard, crossed a 15-foot space, smashed into the front of 1436 East Fayette street and stopped within a foot of the bed in which two brothers, one 6 and the other 8 years old, were sleeping.
Sleepers Thrown From Beds.
An elderly couple sleeping in the front second story of this house were thrown from their bed, as were the two boys, and they looked out of windows to find the car beneath them. If the vehicle had got two feet father than it did it would have crushed the sleeping boys, sons of Samuel L. Griebov.
The passengers, dead and injured, as well as the motorman and the conductor, were imprisoned inside the car by the jamming of the doors and, when help arrived, it was necessary to take them out of the windows.
The Dead.
Hyman Greenberg, 1122 East Lombard streeet. Dead when taken from under car. Body taken to morgue.
Harry Ditlow, 19 years old, 137 North Exeter street. Died at St. Joseph's Hospital at 3:45 this morning.
The Injured.
At St. Joseph's Hospital:
At Johns Hopkins Hospital:
Keith W. Dressell, 42 years old, 1214 Brentwood avenue; laceration of the scalp and fractured knee.
Elmer Schultz, 17 years old, 118 South Fulton avenue; laceration of scalp and face.
Lieut. Thomas Crowley, 25 years old, of the Quartermaster's Corps, Camp Meade; contusion of left hip.
At Mercy Hospital:
Mrs. Catherine Brown, 3701 Centre Place; laceration of forehead.
William C. Horsly, 22 years old, sailor, from Naval Hospital, Annapolis; bruises on legs and hands.
Harry Baughman, 46 years old, 3205 Ester Place, motorman of the car, was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital and treated for severe laceration of scalp. He was later arrested and is now held at the Northeastern Police Station on the charge of causing the death of Greenberg and Ditlow.
Lloyd Horner, 228 North Caroline street, conductor of the car, escaped any injury.
Says Brakes Failed To Work.
Harry Baughman, the motorman, says that the accident was due to the failure of the air brakes to work. The car, although of the Bay Shore type, was being operated on the Middle River line.
Witnessed Crash From Store.
Emanuel Menash, 18 years old, living at 48 North Caroline street, who witnessed the accident from the door of Moritz Grossman's store, at 1441 East Fayette street, just across the way from the saloon, which is conducted by Leonard Plaesser, describes the accident as follows:
"The car was coming down the incline on Fayette street toward Caroline at a rapid rate of speed. I stood in the door watching it as it came noisily down the street, with the lights all on.
"And then when it reached Caroline street, instead of turning up that street I saw it smash across the street, its lights out all of a sudden, and I saw it smash into the east wall of the saloon, tearing the front wall out, drive across the 15-foot vacant lot and crash into No. 1436. Two telephone poles that were in its way broke off like pipe stems, the poles and the wires on them being dragged along with the car.
Trapped Passengers Scream.
"Immediately there were frantic screams from the interior of the car. It was impossible for anyone to get out there because the car was jammed into No. 1436 with piles of brick and plaster on it and a couple of barrels which the car had picked up in the saloon. The back was closed by the telegraph poles which had fallen against it. I heard the conductor yelling, "Where's my motorman?" over and over again and I could see him running up and down the car in the darkness."
Patrolman Harbourne and Sergeant George Wolper, of the Northeastern district, also witnessed the accident and tell substantially the same story that Menash does, saying that at one minute the car was running west on the downgrade on Fayette street at a rapid rate of speed, and the next it was jammed under the walls of the buildings, with passengers screaming for assistance from the interior of the car and the occupants of the flat in No. 1436 East Fayette street rushing from the building in their night clothes.
Helped To Get Out People.
Menash says that he smashed a window in the car and climbed in. As he got his feet on the floor of the car a man who had been shaking plaster from his hat and his shoulders climbed out. A woman near him was shouting and Menash and the policeman got her through the window. He thinks that she was Mrs. Andrew McGiney, of 3406 Belair road, who was accompanied by her husband. Menash says that as soon as she found herself safe in the street she said she had lost a pocketbook containing $38 and a diamond ring. A man who was with her climbed back in the car and tried to find it, but could not do so.
Firemen Help To Free Victims.
Pressing to the front of the car and stepping on the body of one of the dead men as he did some. Menash found the motorman buried under the debris of the front platform and of the walls he had been through, with two full-sized barrels picked up in the saloon, on the crushed-in front, helping to hold him prisoner.
Sergeant Wolper and Policeman Harbourne were working busily getting the injured out. They had sent a call to No. 3 Truck Company, and it arrived on the scene. With searchlights to aid them, firemen and police continued the work of getting the passengers out of the windows. Greenberg was the last to be taken out. That was about 4 o'clock in the morning. His body was terribly mutilated. He wore a workman's badge, indicating that he had been employed at Sparrow's Point.
Although Mrs. McGiney's purse and ring were not found Capt. S.V. Wise, of No. 3 Truck Company, did find a purse of $52 and a $50 Liberty bond belonging to Ditlow in the ruins f the car. The purse was in a pocket, which had been ripped away from Ditlow's clothes in the impact of the accident.
Children Alone In Flat.
No one was in the saloon building. Plaesser lives at 2211 Federal street. A collie dog used as a watch dog, which was in the saloon, was killed.
The children of Grisbov, who escaped injury, were alone in their flat, the two boys who were sleeping in the first-floor room at the front, a boy of 12 and a girl of 1 years. The 12-year-old boy wa sitting up in the kitchen in the rear, with his sister sitting on his lap asleep, his arms around her. The mother is in a hospital ill and the father was at work.
This house has a wide hall. The car, in crashing into it, ground the east wall of the house and the hall into bits and bumped into the wall against which, on the other side, was the bed of the children. There it halted. The lads tumbled unceremoniously to the floor. The older brother and the sister were thrown to the floor. The younger children ran into the kitchen terrified.
Tumbled From Their Beds.
In the front part of the second floor, Abraham Schwartz, his wife and their daughter Celia, about 20 years old, were treated in like manner. They could hardily believe their eyes when they looked out of their windows and saw the car underneath them. Simon Klitzer, his wife and son, were in the rear of the second floor. They were shaken up, as were Paul Levin, his wife and three children an John Klitzner, son of Simon, who were on the third floor.
As it smashed its way through the saloon, the car played queer antics. It cut off a section of the bottled goods shelf behind the bar as cleanly as if the thing had been done with a knife, but left the cash register standing. It struck one end of the bar itself and shoved this before the car. It tossed the big 30-gallon barrels of liquor about.
Ropes Keep Crowd Back.
Employees of the railway company got on the scene early and the car was taken away before 9 o'clock and the track cleared. Ropes were stretched about the wrecked buildings to keep the crowd at a safe distance and a squad of policemen mounted guard.
Private owned automobiles and the police ambulances of the Central, Eastern and the Northeastern districts had taken the injured to Johns Hopkins, Mercy and St. Joseph's Hospitals as fast as they were taken from the car.
After the dead and the larger number of the injured had been taken away and some of the excitement had subsided. Horner, the conductor, went into Grossman's store to apply peroxide to his cuts, as some of the slightly injured had done, and suddenly collapsed in a dead faint.
It is thought that the list of injured include all, save perhaps one or two, of those who were passengers on the car. Several persons who had been cut slightly about the hands and face applied peroxide and bandages to their wounds in Grossman's and then went to their houses.
Tells Story Of Accident.
Elmer Schultz, 18 years old, 118 South Fulton avenue, one of the inured passengers, said the car was coming down the Fayette street hill at a rapid rate.
Schultz was badly cut about the head and is now under the care of a physician at his home. He was able to give an account of the crash, this morning, but could not tell whether the car had gotten beyond the control of the motorman.
"I was dozing," he said, "returning from a gathering in East Baltimore. I was seated in about the middle of the car and while I was not entirely awake I was conscious that the car was traveling down the Fayette street hill at a good speed. The next thing I knew I was jolted from my seat and through the window. My head and shoulders went through the glass and I was pinned down by bricks and wood. I must have lost consciousness."
"The next thing I knew, a policeman was talking to me and digging me out of the debris. My feet and legs were still inside the car. When I got to the sidewalk I saw one man lying, apparently, dead. One of the arms was about four feet away. Another man I had noticed sitting in front of me was also lying on the pavement. They told me he was dead.
"I was bleeding freely, and some one tied a cloth around my head. The patrol took me to Johns Hopkins Hospital. When I arrived there I saw at least 18 injured persons, some of whom were hurt in the car accident on the Belair road. Some of them were being treated."
Schultz was detained at the hospital until 8 o'clock this morning, when he was sent home in an automobile. He was able to tell his mother all he knew of the accident before he became delirious.
Wow. What a harrowing and grimly ironic story. Think about it: It was New Year's Day 1919. Both Greenberg and Ditlow had survived both the horrors of World War I and the Spanish Influenza. 1919 seemed to promise the whole world peace, health and prosperity. Yet these men only got to enjoy the new year for a few short hours prior to their tragic deaths.
I was curious about Hyman's draft status. I looked him up on Ancestry.com. I found a World War I Draft Registration for a Hyman Greenberg living at his recorded address. Despite the fact that his tombstone said he was 22-years-old, his draft registration reported he was born in April of 1893 in Russia. He was exempt from the draft because of a unspecified physical disability. Although he was working at Sparrow's Point at the time of his death, Hyman was employed as a tailor when he filled out the form in 1916. Additionally, the form indicated that his mother was dependent upon him for support. That makes his death even more tragic.
Here's a story from the following day with more details:
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 2 January 1919, Thursday:
CAR SMASH PROBE IS ON
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Two Men Killed, 8 People Hurt And Building Wrecked.
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SAYS BRAKES DID NOT HOLD
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Motorman Explains Accident, But Officials
Believe Obstruction Was In Curve.
Coroner J. Knox Insley, of the Northeastern district, is thoroughly probing the street-car accident which occurred early yesterday morning when a westbound Fairmount avenue car jumped the curved track at the intersection of Fayette and Caroline streets, plowing through the saloon at the northwest corner, occupied by Leonard Plaesser, and the next-door dwelling, 1438 East Fayette street, occupied by Samuel L. Grerob, killing two men and injuring eight other people. An inquest probably will be held tonight.
The dead are: James Zitlow, 137 North Exeter street, and Hyman Greenberg, 1121 East Lombard street.
The injured are: Catherine Braun, 3701 Centre Place, leg hurt; William Hoover, Annapolis, thumb hurt; Elmer Schulz, 118 South Fulton avenue, lacerated scalp; Lieut. Thomas Crawley, Camp Meader, leg bruised; Andrew McGeeney, 3406 Belair Road, bruised and shaken up; Mrs. Annie McGeeney, 3406 Belair road, bruised and shaken up, and Keith W. Dressler, 1214 Brentwood avenue, knee hurt and slight scalp laceration.
Motorman Being Held.
After medical aid at Johns Hopkins and St. Joseph's Hospitals the injured were taken to their homes. Lieutenant Crawley was taken to Hopkins for diagnosis and on being told his injuries were not serious left for Camp Meade immediately. Motorman Harry W. Baughman, who was in charge of the car, after receiving treatment at Hopkins, was taken to the Northeastern Police Station, where he is held pending the action of the coroner's jury.
Despite the drizzling rain thousands of people were attracted to the scene, which looked like the work of a bomb. A soldier's hat was found among the debris late yesterday morning and for a while it was feared that the body of a soldier might have been buried underneath, but a careful search revealed nothing.
Thirty Gallons Of Liquor Lost.
The motorman was firm in his statement yesterday that his brakes did not respond to the wet tracks when coming down the steep Fayette street incline, which begins at Broadway. Said to be going at a rather high rate of speed, the heavy car, of the Sparrow's Point type, crashed through the corner property, which was completely demolished and tore the entire front from the house next door. Thirty gallons of liquor were strewn about. Telephone poles were thrown over like small trees.
Patrolman Harbourne and Sergeant Wolper were eyewitnesses to the accident, having just left the corner. They say that the car was coming down Fayette street and instead of turning the corner it left the track. Loud cries were heard as the light went out, and when the building was struck brick and plaster began to fly in all directions, nearly covering the vehicle.
The dead body of Zitlow was dug from the debris and Greenberg was found on the side, when it was observed that one of his legs had been cut off. He was rushed to St. Joseph's hospital, where he died shortly after 3 o'clock. Rumors said that Zitlow and Greenberg were not passengers on the car, but were parting on the corner after attending a dance. Sergeant Wolper stated that the men were found out of the car while the injured had not been able to make any escape.
Clearing away the wreckage lasted until nearly 5 o'clock. The attention then was turned to the next-door building, where wall supports were placed. Four persons sleeping in the building, who were badly shaken up, explained the crash as sounding like a cannon.
James R. Pratt, general manager of the Railways company, stated yesterday afternoon that the company is in receipt of information that a foreign obstruction was in the curve, which in all probability caused the derailment, for the gauge of the car and the tracks are are in first-class condition. The report is being investigated.
Two Injured In Other Accident.
Another street-car accident occurred at 3.30 o'clock yesterday morning on the Belair road, near Herring Run, in which two men were injured. They were William Miller, 47 years old, Spring and Glen avenues, Overlea, and David Miller, 316 South Parrish street, motorman, who sustained lacerations of the scalp. The motorman was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in the automobile of Frank Stark, 118 East Pratt street, and later to his home.
The accident occurred when a car south bound failed to stop in time to prevent colliding with another car in the lead. According to the motorman the lights of the leading car were out at the time and he did not see it until he was directly on it.
That story added some gruesome details about dismembered limbs. As you probably noticed, the name of the second victim was changed in the previous story and some subsequent ones. I researched the man and I believe his name is definitely Henry Ditlow. I found a Henry Ditlow buried in a Jewish cemetery who died on that day. I could find no records for a James Zitlow.
Here's the next story about the burials.
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 3 January 1919, Friday:
CAR VICTIMS BURIED
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Persons Injured In Caroline Street Accident Reported Better.
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James Zitlow, 137 North Exeter street, and Hyman Greenberg, 1121 East Lombard street, who were killed in New Year's morning when a Bay Shore car jumped the track and crashed into two buildings at Fayette and Caroline streets, were buried this morning in the cemetery of Lloyd Street Synagogue, on the Belair Road.
Harry W. Baughman, 3205 Esther Place, motorman in charge of the car, is still being held at the Northeastern Police Station pending the result of the inquest which will be held Monday evening by Coroner J. Know Insley.
The eight person injured in the accident were reported improved this morning.
Wait a minute.... Hyman Greenberg was buried in the cemetery of Lloyd Street Synagogue on Belair Road? How'd he end up at Knesseth Israel Anshe Kolk Wolyn Cemetery? According to Jane B. Wilson's excellent book The Very Quiet Baltimoreans, the burying place of the Lloyd Street Synagogue is the B'nai Israel Congregation Cemetery on Southern Avenue, a few blocks west of Belair Road (which I could see from my bedroom window from my former home at 21 St. Helens Avenue). That cemetery is still operating. Was the newspaper mistaken? If not, why was Hyman moved? The monument I found was definitely for this Hyman Greenberg.
Interestingly, Henry Ditlow was also buried at a different cemetery than the one listed in the story. He can be found resting at Jehuda Amachby Lodge Cemetery on Hamilton Avenue in Rosedale.
Still, the story wasn't over yet. The fate of the motorman Harry Baughman still had to be decided:
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 11 Jan 1919, Saturday:
MOTORMAN IS EXONERATED
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Deaths in New-Year Car Wreck of Fayette Street Accidental.
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At the inquest last nigh at the Northeastern Police Station conducted by Coroner J. Knox Insley on the death of James Zitlow, 137 North Exeter street and Hyman Greenberg, 1121 East Lombard street, when a street car of the United Railways jumped the track at the intersection of Caroline and Fayette streets early New Year's Day and crashed into the property at the northwest corner, the jury gave a verdict of accidental death. Harry Baughman, 3205 Esther place, motorman, was exonerated and released.
The motorman testified that owing to the wet rails and the incline of Fayette street, which begins at Broadway, the brakes controlling the car did not respond and that he lost control of the car. Other testimony was given that on leaving the barn the mechanism was found in working order. Other testimony was given as to whether the men killed in the accident were standing on the corner or passengers on the car. Eight other persons were injured at the time.
So it was just an accident. No guilt was assigned to anyone. No one answered for the dead. And now Hyman's tombstone, his last earthly reminder, has fallen backwards to the ground.
I hope the caretakers of the cemetery see this blog and put it upright again. There appears to be active maintenance. I have photographed upright stones there only to find older photos on Findagrave that showed the same stones tumbled over. Hopefully they will get around to Hyman. He had a short life. he deserves a secure resting place.
Remember, there is a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one...
Grave Tales:
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble. Chapel Street is the tale of a young man battling a demonic entity that has driven members of his family to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting.
Learn more about the book, click
Here.
Listen to me read some chapters here:
Read about the true haunting that inspired the novel here:
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 1, An IntroductionThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The HouseThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is UsThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, ArrivalThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, MethodologyThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1 The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's TaleThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3
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