The lines run from Florida to New York and from New York to Charlotte. I have become accustom to crossing these tracks everyday on my way into town. The rural countryside of Lucama where I live is not even a half of a mile from the railroad tracks. My family and I are so use to the constant train whistles that we do not even seem to hear them anymore. As a child I remember riding with my father and sitting stopped in front of the crossing arms while waiting for the never ending freight cars to pass by. My creative father would always entertain me by asking if I could guess how many cars would accompany the train engine. I have probably counted thousands of train cars from that same spot over the years as I sometimes still play my father’s game while waiting for the train to pass. Until recently though, I never knew the unique history that surrounds our local railway.
Excitement on the tracks
Lucama, like many small towns was built around the railroad. The railroads provided transportation and opportunity to Americans by industrializing the movement of both people and commodities. In the 1900’s it was common to find town life was centered around incoming and outgoing trains. In 1904, a veteran engineer “Louis Waxsmith” piloted the swank Atlantic Coast Line Champion. Waxsmith had left nearby Wilson about 25 minutes late and continued to travel southbound toward Lucama, only 10 miles away. As he approached the quarter-mile post the locomotives headlight beam passed over the depot and Waxsmith spotted a freight train sitting on the main line. Frantically, he pulled the brakes, but it was too late. The engine collided with the wooden caboose and the locomotives boiler exploded. The explosion sent flames blazing over both trains and the depot. Many of both train’s cars were destroyed, including the Champions mail and baggage car. Miraculously, no lives were lost and no one was injured. The town put out the fires and began to clean up the mess that the accident left.
Some 6 months later, Mr. Bran Adams “A Lucama resident” was walking on his daily commute to work when he noticed a glimmering stone lying embedded between the tracks. Being a novice rock collector, Mr. Adams was captivated by its sparkle and plucked the stone from its bed between the tracks. He noticed that this stone was different than his usual pickings from around the tracks. There was a charcoal residue on the rock’s surface that made him recall the train crash which occurred near that same location. In fact, it was the same area where the mail and baggage car had burned. Unknowingly what he had found, he placed the stone in his pocket and proceeded to work. The next day, Bran showed his newly acquired stone to his pastor and confidant, the Reverend Robert Frost. Reverend Frost suspected that Adams had found a diamond, but was uncertain. He then volunteered to carry the stone to be inspected by a jeweler in nearby Wilson. The Reverend’s predictions were correct, the jeweler confirmed the stone was indeed a diamond and even offered to buy it for $400. The next day, Bran Adams skipped work and began to comb the tracks where he found the diamond. In just a few hours he had found several more diamonds. The ecstatic Mr. Adams could not contain himself and had to share his exciting discovery. The news spread faster than the flames from the train wreck. In only a few hours, the entire town was searching the tracks in hopes to find more diamonds. The following day, it was reported that five more diamonds had been uncovered. One of the diamonds was a whopping three and a half carats! It wasn’t long that the news spread, and people from both Wilson and Rocky Mount joined local residents in searching the tracks. Tempers flew high as locals felt that they were being encroached on by out of town competition. Local newspapers reported that town residents were filling wagons with dirt from the tracks to carry back to the privacy of their back yards.
The chaos continued in town until the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad ordered that all excavating around the tracks must stop. The railway was becoming a safety hazard as a result of the holes that were dug to look for diamonds. Several tons of dirt and rock had to be hauled in to recondition the rail beds so train routes could continue. There were a total of nine reported diamonds found in the area surrounding Lucama’s depot. Some people say that there were several more cashes of diamonds found in resident backyards. The true amount found remains a mystery. However, the story heard around town to this very day says that Lucamans began wearing diamonds that neighbors knew they did not inherit and definitely could not afford. I was recently told by a long time Lucama native that he believed all the diamonds were never found. That may just be a local legend, but the next time I drive over the train crossing I might just stop and look to see if a glimmering rock catches my eye.
~ J. Alex Lewis
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