Lucas-Sandusky-Cuyahoga County OhArchives Obituaries.....Polite, Joseph February 6, 1912 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Patricia Fuller munrofuller@yahoo.com February 26, 2006, 10:31 am Sandusky Register, 02/08/1912, Page 6, Column 2 Joseph Polite, 74, Lake Shore engineer, the man who was at the throttle of the Twentieth Century Limited train, is dead at Toledo. Mr. Polite was in failing health for weeks and had been a sufferer from locomotive ataxia. Heart disease recently developed and this caused his demise. Mr. Polite's career as a railroad employe covers a period of more than 40 years. Most of this time he was employed by the Lake Shore road, beginning as a freight brakeman and continuing up the ladder until he was chosen to pull the Twentieth Century train from Toledo to Cleveland on its maiden trip east. It was Polite who established the record time on the century train, having made a few years ago a speed of 104 miles an hour between towns near Cleveland. He has to his credit many other high records on the same train. Mr. Polite had lived in Toledo for nearly half a century. He was born in Morristown, N.Y. and at the age of 18 came west. He enlisted in a Michigan regiment formed near Detroit, fought in the civil war, and was a prisoner in the Libby prison, where after four months he was exchanged for a southern prisoner. Mr. Polite was shot several times, once so seriously that it was necessary to cut 14 pieces of bone from his chest. Becomes Engineer. Having been honorably discharged Mr. Polite returnd to Toledo and entered the employ of the Lake Shore. He was brakeman on a freight train, later conductor, fireman on a passenger, and then engineer. When he started upon his railroad career the railroads used nothing but wood and oil for fuel. The speed was very slow, but wrecks strange to say, were plenty. Polite's collarbone was broken three times in railroad accidents. In 1872 an engine of which he was in charge crashed into the rear of a freight train. He was hurled many feet and badly injured. A few years ago Polite's train, a flyer, travelling at high speed, bumped into a pony engine near Cleveland. Polite was thrown from the cab, sustained a fractured collarbone, and for weeks was given up. Mr. Polite also had an accident in Fremont years ago which disabled him for a long time. Many years ago Polite was at the helm of a Lake Shore train carrying passengers. The bridge at Fremont was washed away by the flood and a section hand of the Lake Erie & Western railroad flagged the train Polite was drawing. Sticks to His Cab. While operating a fast Lake Shore train three years ago Mr. Polite had his left leg fractured when the reachrod of his engine broke and struck him. Despite his injury he continued the trip to Toledo from Elkhart. Mr. Polite was the odlest engineer in this section of the country in point of service and was one of the most popular engineers in the service. Additional Comments: Death certificate states he was born July 4th, 1845 in Ogdensburg, N.Y.; Parents David Polite and Genett Kidd. The obituary was written as part of the news and there are several errors. 1) I do not think he died of locomotor ataxia, his death certificate states he died of Uremia, contributory factors; arteriosclerosis and granular kidney. 2) His family was in Michigan as early as 1850, so Jospeh would have been 5, not 18. 3) He married after the Civil War to Harriett Brown of Branch Co., MI. I not believe he lived in Toledo before the war at the obituary/article states. 4) He enlisted in Co. C, 19th Inf. Sept. 12, 1862 at Dowagiac, MI. and Batt. D, Feb. 17, 1864 at Coldwater. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/lucas/obits/polite780ob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ohfiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb