Marietta Celebrates a Great Chase at Strand

Community leaders, descendants of members of , historians and train and history enthusiasts gathered at the Thursday night to celebrate the .

The night was full of laughter, memories and most of all history.

"It's a war story; it's an adventure story; and it's a railroad story," Russell Bonds, of Marietta and author of the award-winning novel Stealing the General, said. "It resonates even after the Civil War with the enduring legacy of the Medal of Honor, and locally this is our story, we grew up hearing this and driving across the railroad tracks."

"History runs through this city just like the railroad track does," Marietta historian Russell Bonds said.

William “Bill” Fambrough and Wilbur Kurtz III of Marietta, who are great-grandsons of , and Gordon Smith of Ohio and Duane Cordrey of Maryland, the great-grandson and great-grandnephew of , were in attendance.

"We heard many times from our grandpa that he (William Fuller) was a very strong, staunch man," Wilbur Kurtz III said. "He took his job extremely seriously; and when they stole the train at Big Shanty, he took off on foot after it. That was his train, and he wasn't going to let them have it."

"He was a liar, a thief and a convict," Cordrey joked of Jacob Parrott. "He was underage when he enlisted, he stole a train, and he got put in jail," Smith and Cordrey said together. "And then ," Cordrey added.

Parrott was the first recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The original medal, presented to Parrott by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, resides at West Point. Smith brought the 1904 version issued to Parrott when the medal was redesigned to be displayed at the Strand Thursday night.

"And even though some of them got away and got the Medal of Honor, enough of them got their necks tied that we were satisfied," Congressman Phillip Gingrey joked.

"It's exciting especially because the route the train took is right through my congressional district," Congressman Phillip Gingrey said. "And by golly we caught those rascals! And even though some of them got away and got the Medal of Honor, enough of them got their necks tied that we were satisfied," he joked.

Fess Parker’s infamous movie The Great Locomotive Chase, which had its Southern Premiere at the Strand Theatre in 1956, re-premiered Thursday night.

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