Sisters and Children of Saint Mary's Orphange offer aid
at Dutchman's Curve

By Betsy Thorpe

Shortly after coming on duty at 7 AM on July 9th 1918, NC&StL dispatcher
C.T. Phillips realized a terrible mistake had occurred and two passenger
trains on the Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway were sharing a
single track and would meet head on before the outbound train reached Harding Station.

Mr. Phillips quickly rang St. Mary's Orphanage to request the children go
to the railroad tracks and
halt the first train to come by. The residents of Saint Mary's(located
between Harding Road and a set tracks known as Dutchman's Curve)possessed
one of the few telephones in West Nashville. The phone only rang once,
then the connection died. The trains had collided at Dutchman's Curve and
derailed cars had knocked down and disabled the phone lines.

The children and Sisters of Saint Mary's hearing the collision rushed to
the scene. They offered aid and solace to the slightly injured and respite
to displaced travelers. The Dominican Sisters and their wards responded to
the tragedy at Dutchman's Curve with speed and compassion, and the good
deeds they performed as Nashville's worst disaster unfolded, is still
remembered
through the oral renditions and local lore of the terrible train wreck
that occurred on a summer morning long ago near Saint Mary's Orphanage and
Asylum.