By Jessica Gorman

Artemus Monroe and Horace Overton Cherry were the sons of John Franklin and Mary Jane Johnson Cherry. Their story was featured last week as part of Yocom Law Firm’s 318 Ghost Hunt. For the Ghost Hunt, clues were given each day pointing to the location of a ghost. Find the ghost, win the prize associated with that ghost. Tuesday’s clue led to the site of the accident that claimed the lives of these two boys.

John Franklin Cherry and Mary Jane Johnson were married around 1895 and lived in Columbia County, Arkansas. They welcomed their first child, Artemus Monroe Cherry on 14 January 1896. Two years later, a daughter, Cecile, was born and the couple’s third child, Horace Overton Cherry, was born 22 November 1900.

Sometime between the 1900 census and 1906, the family moved to Minden along with Mary Jane’s parents and brothers. John worked as a store clerk for Burnett, Wren, & Turner. It was in Minden that the family was struck by tragedy. On the afternoon of 21 May 1906, the two Cherry boys and their 11-year-old uncle, Jewell, were riding in a wagon driven by their grandfather, M.M. Johnson.  As they crossed the railroad tracks on Cemetery Street, now Bayou Avenue, the wagon was struck by a switch engine.

Mr. Johnson and the Cherry boys were thrown from the wagon as it was pushed down the track. Not much is revealed about Jewell Johnson, only that he was not hurt or at least not seriously enough to be noted. Mr. Johnson was found unconscious with injuries described as serious. The Webster Signal gives a detailed description of the horrific injuries sustained by the two Cherry boys. As heartbreaking as the accident was, it seems even more so in light of the fact that the two boys, whose bodies were mutilated, lingered for hours before succumbing to their injuries. Artemus Monroe and Horace Overton Cherry were only ten and five years old. They were buried in the Minden Cemetery, just up the hill from where the accident occurred.

We probably all stop and wonder how this accident could have even happened. It was 1906 and they were in a wagon. How would they not know an engine was on the track? The Webster Signal reported the presence of rail cars loaded with logs on a side track which prevented Mr. Johnson and the engineer from seeing each other. But how would Mr. Johnson have not heard the engine? We have to stop and consider the context of the time and place the accident occurred. In 1906, the Minden Lumber Company was in operation and the mill was located right there along the track. With that in mind, it would be easy to imagine how the noise produced by the mill could prevent Mr. Johnson from hearing the engine or its bell.

At the time of the accident, their mother, Mary Jane, must have been pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter, Mary Grace, on 20 January 1907, just days after Artemus would have turned eleven. Mary Grace only lived 10 months before her death on 25 November 1907 and only days after Horace would have turned six. In July of the following year, Mary Jane gave birth to a fifth child, John Franklin, Jr. He and his older sister, Cecile, are the only two of the Cherry children to live to adulthood. There was at least one other Cherry child. The only evidence I have found of her existence is a death certificate indicating she was stillborn on 25 October 1917.

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, President of the Minden Cemetery Association, and an avid genealogist.)