PART II THOMAS TRACY

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Rising early the next morning we enjoyed a very good continental breakfast at the hotel and worried about the dark stormy clouds rising from the West. We wondered if this trip to the flea market would be a washout. With this in mind we pointed the truck to the Southeast and the next geo-cache to find before arriving at our final destination.

As we got closer to Canton I turned on my GPS, I knew we would have to make a detour to Edgewood Texas where the next cache was hidden. While I drove I hoped it wouldn’t be far off the track as I was becoming anxious to start hunting the treasures that the flea market might have to offer. I even considered foregoing this cache and rushing on to Canton especially with the approaching storm clouds racing us from the West and the splatters of raindrops running down the trucks windshield. When we reached the crossroads where I would have to detour, I glanced at the GPS and seen that Edgewood and the cache was only a couple of miles down the road, so at that moment I decided why not, lets go for it and made my turn.

Edgewood Texas is a very small town and if you were to blink you might just miss it. The town has a main drive with a few homes branching off on side streets. I was also impressed by how clean everything looked. It was apparent the citizens took pride in their community. A railroad track ran along the North side of the town visible from the main street and since the name of the cache we were hunting was the “Iron Horse Tragedy“, I knew this geo-cache must have something to do with the railway. My thoughts were that a train wreck must have occurred in this town sometime in the past.

I made my turn toward the tracks checking my GPS to confirm that I was traveling in the right direction and drove to the intersection next to the tracks. My GPS then indicated that I needed to turn right to travel closer to the caches location. As I looked up the road alongside the track the only thing that stood out that was unusual was a single grave site. Placed in the center of the median between the road and the track.

I looked at my wife as she looked at me, we both raised our eyebrows and shrugged or shoulders wondering what and why, would somebody bury a loved one in a location such as this? I slowly came to a stop beside the grave and checked the GPS, we had arrived at the cache site. I then reread the instructions from the cache’s posting to determine what information the person hiding the cache wanted the finder to provide as proof of the find. The information was contained on the face of the tombstone.

Thomas Tracy
Killed by Train on
T. & P. Railway
May 28, 1889