In the Baggage Coach Ahead

One of the pleasures of researching family history, is stumbling across a good story. Sometimes they are love stories, or war stories, or funny stories. But recently I came across a poignent tragedy, a real tear-jerker.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve made real progress in searching my wife’s side of the family. The breakthrough came in locating information about two sisters of my wife’s GG Grandfather, Adam Geldmacher. Adam had two younger sisters, Victoria and Catherine, and I was fortunate enough to locate a living descendent of Victoria, Kathy, who has done much amazing work on her ancestors, and as genealogists so typically do, she gladly shared with me. Among the many names I was able to add to our tree thanks to Kathy help was Victoria’s daughter, Mary Stumpf, who married George Rinkenberger on August 16, 1887 in Farmdale, Illinois at the age of 19. From the information that Kathy provided, I saw that Mary died at the young age of 23, and I asked her if she knew anything about the cause of Mary’s death, and she had this story to share.

Mary and her husband William had left Illinois and moved to Kansas, and had recently become parents with the birth of their son George in February of 1891. Sadly, just three months later, on May 11th, 1891, Mary died of pnumonia. William returned to Illinois by train, bringing his wife’s body home to be buried. On the train ride, the baby cried and fussed, a dilemma that any parent traveling with a baby can sympathize with. And the other passengers complained to William, and asked him why he didn’t give the baby to its mother to be soothed. He let them know that he wished that he could, but that she was dead in the baggage coach ahead. With this revelation, other women on the train took care of the baby for the remainder of the trip.

The incident was supposedly witnessed by a train porter, who retold the story in a poem that was later put to music and published by Gussie L. Davis in 1896 in a song titled, In the Baggage Coach Ahead that went on to be a very popular song and the biggest hit of Davis’ career.

I set out to find the song and at the Library of Congress I found a recording of it from 1925, and on many other sites such as this one I found the lyrics. Read on to listen to the song and read the lyrics.

Listen here to the song (mp3 format), while you read along with the lyrics. And just try not to get choked up.

“In the Baggage-Coach Ahead“

On a dark stormy night, as the train rattled on,
All the passengers had gone to bed,
Except one young man with a babe in his arms
Who sat there with a bowed-down head.
The innocent one began crying just then,
As though its poor heart would break.
One angry man said, “Make that child stop its noise,
For it’s keeping all of us awake.”

“Put it out,” said another, “Don’t keep it in here;
We’ve paid for our berths and want rest.”
But never a word said the man with the child,
As he fondled it close to his breast.
“Where is its mother? Go take it to her,”
this a lady then softly said.”
I wish I could,” was the man’s sad reply.”
But she’s dead in the coach ahead.”

While the train rolled onward, a husband sat in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years.
Baby’s face brings pictures of a cherished hope that’s dead,
But baby’s cries can’t waken her in the baggage coach ahead.

Every eye filled with tears when his story he told
Of a wife who was faithful and true;
He told how he’d saved up his earnings for years,
Just to build up a home for two;
How when Heaven had sent them this sweet little babe,
Their young happy lives were blessed;
His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her name,
And in tears tried to tell them the rest.
Every woman arose to assist with the child;
There were mothers and wives on that train.
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace,
With no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next morn at a station he bade all goodbye,
“God bless you,” he softly said,
Each one had a story to tell in their homes
Of the baggage coach ahead.