Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen

The railroads and Indianapolis are almost synonymous. In 1832, of the eight initial railroad charters issued by the State, five of them directly involved Indianapolis. As early as the 1850s, several lines converged on Indianapolis, bringing with it commercial and industrial prosperity. The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT) was founded in 1883 in Oneonta, New York as a protective and insurance organization for railroad employees. Indiana had several lodges of the BRT, with two chapters located in Indianapolis.

George Avery (1864-1900) was born in Ohio and worked out of the railroad in Monon, IN. He died in a collision between two trains near Mitchell, IL, where another railroader died and seven were injured.

Robert Emmett Huffman (1870-1899) was born in Wilmington, IN (Dearborn County). In 1894, he spent time in the Indiana State Prison South for petty larceny and then enlisted in the army in 1898. He was listed as a cook in the enlistments register. A newspaper report in the Indianapolis News had recorded him as having died in the Battle of Santiago, but a few days later published a correction, noting that he was alive.

Later, the enlistments register listed him as a deserter. He was back in Indiana by the end of 1898, when he passed away from typhoid fever. His death certificate says he was a railroader, giving his rights to be buried in the BRT lot; he was the first burial in the lot. His tombstone says he was born in 1871, but he is found in the 1870s census at three months old.