Forsyth County NcArchives Obituaries.....Hooper, Swift October 19, 1943
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Bunny Horton phinhorton@bellsouth March 8, 2007, 8:53 am

Winston-Salem newspaper
Swift Hooper Dies Suddenly

Swift Hooper, Sr., 70, "the man who might have prevented the wreck of the Old 
97," died suddenly at 9 o'clock this morning at his home, 669 Irving Street.  
His death brings to the end of the run a career of 51 years of service as a 
locomotive engineer.  For 44 of those years Mr. Hooper made the run between 
Winston-Salem and North Wilkesboro and both he and his engine were familiar 
figures to residents who live along that stretch of tracks.  The other 7 years 
of his life behind the throttle, he spend on the Southern Railways main line, 
and it was during that period that his name has been mentioned as "the man who 
might have prevented the wreck of the Old 97."
Since 1903 when the Southern's fast mail train, No. 97 jumped the tracks 
at "90 miles an hour" the name of Swift Hooper has ranked right along with 
that of Engineer Joe Broady in colorful stories of that wreck which has gone 
down in history in the words of the familiar ballad.  For Mr. Hooper was at 
that time regular engineer of No. 97, and had he not taken a day off to visit 
his relatives he would have pulling the throttle on that fateful day.  Because 
he knew the engineer and the tracks so well and because that the curve could 
not be taken at "90 miles an hour," it is said that Swift Hooper is "the man 
who might have prevented the wreck of the old 97."
He began railroading career on Dec. 25, 1889, with old Richmond and Danville 
Railroad, which later became the Southern Railroad, and through 51 years he 
made his runs, retiring in December 1940.  During those years there rode in 
trains pulled by Mr. Hooper's engine such famous persons as President 
Theordore Roosevelt; George Perkins, associate of J. P. Morgan and Adlai E. 
Stephenson, candidate for Vice-President with Grover Cleveland.
Mr. Hooper was born in Kernersville on Nov. 9, 1872.  He was a member of the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and a member of Ardmore Methodist Church.  
Survivors include the wife, the former Blanche Coley; five sons, Dr. G. L. 
Hooper of Dunn, Robert L. Hooper, of Salisbury; Pvt. Charlie M. Hooper of 
Greenville, Pa.; and Henry T. and Swift Hooper, Jr., both of Winston-Salem; 
four grandchildren; three brothers, C. M. and John L. Hooper, both of Winston-
Salem, and Ben F. Hooper, of St. Petersburg, Fla.
The body will remain at Voglers Chapel where funeral service will be held, the 
hour and day to be announced later.

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