Summary
David Chase died in a Beaver Island train wreck on Good Friday in 1907, according to a 1969 Beaver Beacon report about a memorial plaque. The event site was already marked by a white-painted cross maintained by the Beaver Island Civic Association when George Chase visited it in 1960.12
Evidence and limits
The island had a narrow-gauge railway associated with the lumbering operation, but the 1969 memorial report does not identify the train, operator, route, precise location, or whether anyone besides David Chase died. The event is therefore linked to the island and lumbering theme without assigning it to the Beaver Island Lumber Company or inventing a wreck site. The source’s “Good Friday, 1907” wording is retained at year precision; the exact calendar date is not promoted here.
Open questions
- Where was the wreck, and which segment or operator of the island railway was involved?
- What was David Chase’s relationship to George Chase, and can civil, church, cemetery, or newspaper records identify him more fully?
- Were there additional deaths or injuries, and what was the date recorded in contemporary records?
See also
Sources
Footnotes
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, September 1960, report of George Chase's visit to the train-wreck site.Reports that George Chase visited the site where his uncle was killed 53 years earlier and that the Beaver Island Civic Association maintained a white-painted cross there; it does not name the victim or give the precise date.
- Beaver Beacon, July 1969, Beaver Island Historical Society museum report.Says a plaque was to be installed at the train-wreck location where David Chase lost his life on Good Friday, 1907; it does not identify the train, operator, mechanics of the wreck, or total casualties.