Steam locomotive engineer spent 40 years on the rails
This postcard image shows the yards and roundhouse where Phil Fetter would have worked during the later years of his career. In 1903, the yards served the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, the Chicago, Burlington and Kansas City Railroad, and the St. Louis and Hannibal Railway. Photo courtesy of Robert Spaun.
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Phil Fetter, 38, nicknamed “Boss” by his colleagues, was a steam locomotive engineer for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, circa 1878, when he met and befriended a young startup on the railroad, 15-year-old Henry Miller.
Miller, a boilermaker’s apprentice and later a switchman for the H&St.Joe, never forgot the kindness shown to him by his railroad colleague. That kindness would be repaid a quarter of a century later when Miller, by then in middle age, returned the favor during Fetter’s time of need.
Miller, who had advanced in position to that of the railroad’s general superintendent by 1904, noticed that officials were about to sideline the veteran engineer, whose eyesight was becoming imperfect. Rather than pull Fetter from his long-held career, Miller arraigned for Fetter’s assignment to a $4 a day job, breaking in engines in the Hannibal shops.
Fetter, who for a time had been living with his family in Brookfield, moved to Hannibal, and continued to work on the switch engines in the Hannibal yards as long as his health allowed. He died in May 1915, at the age of 75. His association with the railroad spanned more than 40 years, making him the oldest railroad engineer in Hannibal at the time, in regard to years of service.
Early years
By 1870, Phillip Fetter had moved his wife, Sarah Ellewiss, and 2-year-old daughter, Estella Matilda, to Hannibal from Clark County, Mo. In 1870, he was reported by the census to be a hotel operator in Hannibal’s Fourth Ward, South Hannibal.
As early as 1873, he was working as an engineer for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and during that decade, he primarily lived with his family on Hannibal’s South Side, near the railroad yards:
1873: Third (house) north of Jefferson, South Hannibal.
1877: South side of Tenth, east of Walnut, South Hannibal.
Scandal
In 1883, Phil Fetter’s family became embroiled in a public and very embarrassing situation.
The Palmyra Spectator reported that in late November, 1883, when Phil Fetter returned to his home following a train run, he found a young man in his wife’s bedroom. While Fetter’s wife wasn’t in the room at the time, the man was only partially dressed. Fetter and the other man in turn each pulled out a revolver, then the man grabbed his coat and vest and ran out of the house.
The Fetters presumably divorced.
Remarriage
Phil Fetter was married to Mary Jane Groves in 1886. Together, they had five children: Fred Phillip Fetter 1887-1955; Harry C. Fetter, 1889-1919; Arthur Josiah Fetter, 1891-1957; Paul Fetter, 1895-1897; and Myra L. Fetter Campbell, 1898-1967.
Mary Jane Fetter worked at several jobs following her husband’s death in 1915. In 1929, she worked as a maid for George A. Mahan.
Mrs. Fetter died in September 1930. She was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Brookfield, beside her husband.
Rail accidents
Over the span of four decades, it would be practically impossible for an over-the-road railroad employee NOT to be involved in major mishaps.
In September 1877, Phil Fetter was the engineer on freight train No. 7, on the H&St.Joe road, Engine 47. The train left the South Hannibal yards, and was going at a slow rate of speed. There was a misplaced switch in front of Cruikshank’s Lumber Yard, near Main and Collier. The momentum of the train caused the engine to run what was described in the Hannibal Daily Clipper as a “considerable distance” after the train left the rails.
“The cars and tender were speedily replaced; but the engine gave the company considerable trouble, it taking some six hours to get her in position on the track. But little damage was done, the extent of the injuries to the locomotive being only a broken damper and a jammed ash pan.”
Then, in late December, 1883, Phil Fetter was at the helm of the H&St.Joe train, coming into the Hannibal area at the Paris Gravel Road crossing. The train was moving slowly, the Hannibal Courier reported.
“Phil Fetter … says as the train approached the crossing he saw a man walking toward the track as if to cross. The train was not running fast, and the engineer little dreamed of the possibility of an accident as the man had ample time to cross, had he wished to do so. But the man stopped and did not step on the track until the engine was upon him, when it was too late to step the train.”
The force of the engine knocked the man from the rails. A trainman waited with the man’s body, while Fetter took the train to the city, where authorities could be notified.
The victim was later identified as James Smiley of Saverton.
Phil Fetter died at his home, 211 Beech St., Hannibal, on May 4, 1915. His body was taken to O’Donnell Bros. Funeral Parlor, and was transported to Brookfield for burial.
Rail tragedy
Just four years following Phil Fetter’s death, his son, 34-year-old Harry Fetter, was fatally injured in the Katy yards in 1919. While working as a switchman, he was knocked or fell from a car, and received internal injuries. He had lived with his wife, Rose, and a son, Edward Fetters, (born 1914) on Lally Street.
Daughters
Estella Matilda Fetter, born in 1868, was Phil Fetter’s daughter from his first marriage. She was married to Daniel N. Biddinger May 23, 1887, at Potawatomie, Kan. He later became affiliated with the Ford Motor Company, selling Fordson tractors and Ford cars in Wamago, Kan., for a number of years. While they didn’t have children of their own, they helped raise Mr. Biddinger’s nephew, Charley Homer.
Estella died in 1932, and is buried at Wamego City Cemetery.
Myra L. Fetter, born in 1898, was married to Grant Earl Campbell on Jan. 1, 1925. They had one daughter, Helen, born in 1917, who was married to George Sohn in 1938. George Sohn died in 1994, and Helen Sohn died in 2010. Their son, James Michael Sohn, died in 2014.
Sons
Fred Phillip Fetter, born in 1887, was married to Nell Ellen Malia in 1908. Fred died Feb. 11, 1955, in St. Louis.
Arthur Josiah Fetter, born in 1891, died in 1957 in Hannibal.
A few other railroad engineers of the era:
Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri," "The Historic Murphy House, Hannibal, Mo., Circa 1870,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’ and the newest book, “Oakwood: West of Hannibal.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com
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