Mrs. Gann and the Train
Pictured above: Mrs. Martha Gann.
By Cody Berry
Sometimes when I’m researching one thing, I come across something completely new to me. Last week when I was on the library microfilm machine looking for articles about the library itself, I came across a gem of a story about Mrs. Martha Gann and an inaugural train in 1933. On March 16, 1933, the Benton Courier reported that Mrs. Gann and Mrs. P.E. Thomas of Clarendon had caused their train to stop before leaving Washington, D.C. Mrs. Gann was in the Nation’s capital for the first inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) on March 4, 1933. She was one of 12 ladies chosen to represent her State at the historic event.1
FDR ran for President of the United States for the first time in 1932. At the time, the Nation was well into the Great Depression and had opted for a change in leadership. Roosevelt won in a landslide victory against Republican Herbert Hoover, who was running for a second term. Mrs. Gann was there the day that President Roosevelt declared that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” on that cold morning.2
According to the article I found in the Courier after the ceremony was over Mrs. Gann and her friend Mrs. Thomas were supposed to board a train home, but the train couldn’t leave the station. Mrs. Gann, then described as “a young woman of eighty-two summers,” and her friend Mrs. Thomas were missing. Mrs. Gann had left behind a small souvenir for her son in her room at the Lafayette Hotel, so she and her friend had dashed back to the hotel to retrieve it. The item in question was “an ornate badge,” meant for Mrs. Gann’s “little boy.”3
After holding up the train for twenty minutes the missing women were found by “a young man dispatched to fetch them.”4 Both ladies could have got there faster, but it was reported that Mrs. Gann insisted upon waiting for a 20-cent taxi and due to traffic issues they could only get within two blocks of the station and had to walk when they were spotted by the young man. Back on the train, Mrs. Gann was informed by the authorities that she would be sued by the railroad company for having held the train twenty minutes behind schedule.5
Mrs. Gann wasn’t having it. Being a “son of a lawyer,” however, Mrs. Gann responded to the threat by asking two gentlemen to help her get onto a table from which she gave a three-minute speech. She convinced the complainants that she was in fact five minutes early. The article concluded with a wonderful description of Mrs. Gann. It said that she was the “Delphic Oracle of the party, the Major-General commanding the Arkansas delegation.”6
If you’re enjoying these stories, I urge you to go to the library, grab some microfilm, and spend a few hours reading some old newspapers. Discoveries like these only happen when you do the work and know what you’re looking for. Online resources are available as well.
Citations:
1 Lex Bruce Davis, Among Arkansas Leaders, 1934, p. 68; “Mrs. Gann Held Up Inagural Train,” Benton Courier, March 16, 1933, p. 1
2 “First Inaugural Address,” Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.fdrlibrary.org/first-inaugural-curriculum-hub, Date Accessed 3/21/2026.
3 “Mrs. Gann Held Up Inagural Train,” Benton Courier, March 16, 1933, p. 1
4 “Mrs. Gann Held Up Inagural Train,” Benton Courier, March 16, 1933, p. 1
5 “Mrs. Gann Held Up Inagural Train,” Benton Courier, March 16, 1933, p. 1
6 “Mrs. Gann Held Up Inagural Train,” Benton Courier, March 16, 1933, p. 1