100 years ago in The Saratogian
Friday, April 27, 1917
“The first Saratoga boy to lose his life in the service of his country since the declaration of war against Germany” is run down by a New York Central Railroad mail train in Little Falls today, The Saratogian reports.
While Clarence Van Wagoner hasn’t lived in Saratoga Springs for the last five years, the 19 year old is the son of the Van Wagoners of 220 Maple Avenue.
He moved to Cohoes, took a job in Troy and joined Company B of the Second New York Infantry regiment when it was called up for border patrol duty in Texas last summer.
Shortly before the U.S. declared war on Germany on April 6, the Second regiment was called back into federal service and assigned police protective duty on strategic bridges, canals and railroads. Van Wagoner and Thomas F. Manley are guarding a railroad bridge in the eastern part of Little Falls when the fatal accident takes place.
“The accident happened at what is known as ‘ the gulf curve bridge,’” a reporter explains, “The two soldiers were crossing the tracks to go to their tents when fast mail No. 1 rounded the curve and struck them.”
Manley is killed instantly as the train passes over his body. Van Wagoner is “caught on the pilot of the locomotive” and remains there until the train pulls into Little Falls. Workers carry him into the baggage room, where he expires a few minutes later.
The bodies are escorted to the city line by a delegation of approximately 300 members of the Little Falls Knights of Columbus, along with comrades from Company B and about 200 additional residents. Both Van Wagoner and Manley belonged to the Cohoes K of C council. An undertaker’s ambulance takes their remains to the Spindle City.
A Saratogian reporter breaks the news to Van Wagoner’s parents around 6 p.m. this evening. The newspaper learned of the fatal accident earlier in the day, but only learned several hours later that one of the victims was a Saratoga Springs native.
Student military training
Under the provisions of a law passed last year, 70 Saratoga Springs boys begin a military training course at the city armory this afternoon.
The law requires all boys between the ages of sixteen and nineteen to receive military training. Today’s session is for students only, but Mayor Walter P. Butler is expected to issue a summons calling all boys in the age group to report for drill.
Captain Ranulf Compton of the city’s National Guard depot company, who led Saratoga County’s Company L on last year’s expedition to Texas, leads today’s drill session.