E.J.
Delahanty (Edward James)
1895 Mayo’s Cut Plug (N300)
1895 Mayo’s Cut Plug (N300)
Intoxicated and belligerent, his escalating violence became too
much for the conductor of the No. 6 train from Detroit to Buffalo. Pulling a
sleeping woman from her berth was the last straw. At around 10:45 at night, the
conductor forced him off the train at Bridgesburg station at Fort Erie, Ontario
without an escort. Alone, with no other thought in his disoriented mind, but to
follow the train to Buffalo, he started for the bridge. With the station lights
dimming from distance and the loud flow of the Niagara River twenty-five feet
below, he looked down as he walked, trying to concentrate. As nimble as a
drunken man can possibly be, he stepped tie by tie into 3,500 feet of darkness.
Seven days later his body floats, bloated and disfigured, at the bottom of Niagara
Falls, naked except for his tie, socks and shoes.
Two books and numerous
articles have been written about Big Ed Delahanty. Big chunks near the end of
his biographies are devoted to theories on what happened to Delahanty the night
of July 2, 1903. The only witness to claim to see him fall was a night-watchman
who followed Delahanty onto the bridge. He claimed the man (no one knew it was
Delahanty) ran off the bridge. Did Delahanty run off the bridge in the darkness
to evade the guard? Or did he become distraught over gambling debts and the
unknown future of his legendary baseball career, concluding he'd be better off
dead?
What has not been mentioned in the writings on Delahanty's death
was how anonymous he was to the train passengers. Today, his behavior would
have been described as ‘Del being Del,’ and his entourage would have its own
train car. The conductor and passengers aboard the No. 6 train seemed oblivious
to Delahanty's baseball exploits. While he was well-known in Philadelphia and
Washington, D.C., on a train from Detroit, dressed in upper middle class
attire, he’s just a drunk bruiser kicked off a train without his baggage or a
friend in the world.
The Mayo Cut Plug cigarette card of Delahanty presents him not
in his baseball uniform, but in so-called ‘street clothes.’ Without his name
and team at the bottom, the photo could be of a banker, or a laborer in his
Sunday’s best. It’s not a great leap to imagine Delahanty wore similar clothes
that July night, appearing well-dressed, but anonymous.
Days after the incident, word had spread to the Pullman Train
Car Company about a man who fell into the Niagara River. In an attempt to
identify the man, a suitcase and satchel, left unclaimed from the No. 6 train,
were searched. Inside the satchel rested shoes used for baseball playing and a
complementary pass to Washington Senators games. In the suitcase, a suit of
clothes was found inscribed with the name 'Delahanty.'
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