By By LYDIA GRIMES Feature Reporter
I told you a version of the story pertaining to a lone tombstone located just off Jay Road and now I will share what additional material I found at McMillan Trust about the life and death of William Edward Moore.
A Moore family had come to this area and settled on what is now known as Jay Road. Mr. Moore worked at the mill and they had two children, Jim and Sarah. In Feb. 1878 the Moores had a third child, William Edward. Mr. Martin Lindsey who owned the saw mill took a special interest in the young boy and even sent him to school. By this time, both Jim Moore and Sarah Moore had married, and at some point the parents had died. They were buried in a little graveyard near their home. It is said that Mr. Moore's old grey horse was also buried there beside the old man.
Martin Lindsey moved his mill to Pollard and began to log by train. He trained young Will Moore to run the locomotive engine. He then ran a railroad from Pollard across Little Escambia Creek.
In April of 1905 Will was crushed to death between two log cars of the train. A letter was written by Lawrence T. Jernigan to Ed Leigh McMillan about this incident in 1944. In the letter he said, "One day as we worked at Pollard, Mr. Jake Jernigan, foreman, came in with Bob Lindsey and the train crew full speed, whistle blowing steadily. Will Moore was dead, killed as Bob Lindsey operated his engine and Moore coupled the log cars.
There is a little difference in the actual wording on the marker, but now we know a little bit more about the life and death of poor Will Moore. One other version of the story says that Will had become engaged to a young lady by the name of Rose Bedgood and he had left the verse with her. Apparently the answer to just who is buried in the Moore Cemetery with him is told in another item that was in the McMillan file. His parents and his brother-in-law, Jim Graham (and maybe the horse) are all buried there but only poor Will Moore has a marker still standing.
Another interesting note is that Susan Lindsey married J.D. Moore who was Will's uncle. I assume that she was related to Martin Lindsey, maybe his daughter.