The Death of Oscar Hunt
Written by Justin D. Lamb
Left: Oscar Hunt poses in a family photo in the 1920s.
Right: The old Glade railroad bed where Oscar Hunt was killed in 1958.
On Friday, October 10, 1958, Lee Ernestberger, engineer for the N.C. & St. L. Railroad was north bound for Paducah on a freight train. At around 10:45am, the train came around the bend toward the Glade railroad crossing in southern Marshall County when Ernestberger noticed a man walking on the railroad tracks with his back toward the train. Ernestberger blew the train whistle to warn the man of the oncoming train, but the man kept walking.
As the train moved dangerously closer, Ernestberger continued blowing the whistle and the man stopped, but didn’t get off of the tracks. Ernestberger realized the man was going to be hit, so he pulled the train brake as he frantically tried to stop the train. However, it was too late. The man was hit head on and killed instantly.
Authorities were contacted in Benton and family members indentified the body as that of Oscar B. Hunt of the Glade community. Hunt was a deaf man and often walked the tracks daily on his way to and back from the old Glade store. Normally when a train was approaching, Hunt could feel the vibrations on the tracks and would get out off the tracks. However, on this fateful day, some believe that Hunt may have had a heart attack before being struck by the train.
Hunt was born in March 1895 to Elisha B. Hunt and Jelica Cope and lived all of his life in Glade. Hunt was drafted during World War I in June 1918 and was stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor training camp in Louisville, Kentucky. He was honorably discharged in December 1918 following the end of the war. Hunt returned home to Glade and worked on the F.M. Cope farm and at the Glade sawmill. He lived with his parents until their deaths and then shared a home with his two brothers. In the late 1920s, Hunt began to lose his hearing and he eventually became completely deaf. According to his veteran’s pension application, his hearing loss was attributed to his time in the army training camp.
Following Hunt’s death, a coroner’s inquest was held on Monday, October 13, 1958 which ruled the death as an accident. A graveside service was held for Hunt the day prior in the family plot in the Cope Cemetery in Glade.