Né le 14 Mai 1868 à Albany NY

Décèdès le 28 Février 1919 à Albany NY

Marié le 05 JAN 1887 Kohlopp Anna

Descendance avec Anna Kohlopp

Wemple Harry John

Wemple Irene

Note: The following is an article sent to David Wemple by Harry Wemple´s gra
ndson, Raymond Willard Wemple, and first printed in an Albany newspape
r in 1896 and reprinted in The Niskayuna/Scotia/Rotterdam Spotlight, A
lbany, NY on March 14, 1968:

The winding road skirting the Normanskill Creek flowing 90 feet below
, west of Kenwood, was the scene of an accident yesterday morning whic
h chilled the blood of the three people who experienced the terrible o
rdeal. Two horses went over the ragged precipice and but for the jumpi
ng of the occupants of the wagon, they probably would have met the sam
e fate.

Harry S. Wemple, the milk dealer of Bethlehem, who has a large route i
n the city and vicinity, accompanied by his little son, Harry, age
d 8 years, and his helper, Joe Loshier, aged 19 years, was driving alo
ng the road that leads over the Devil´s Bridge in the Kenwood cut, whe
n one of the horses shied and the team went over the precipice. The wa
gon followed on top of them, and Mr. Wemple picked up his son in his a
rms and leaped to a place of safety just as the forward wheels went ov
er the cliff. Loshier also leaped, and got out of the wagon while it w
as in midair. The horses fell to the bottom of the abyss where their m
angled remains were nestled among the jagged rock.

The scene of the accident is one of the most picturesque of the many s
cenes in this vicinity. It is located about one-forth of a mile sout
h of the celebrated Kenwood convent. About 100 yards to the west are t
he falls of the Normanskill, while the kill flows through the declivit
y in a gentle sweep among the rocks with which the place abounds and t
apping the borders of a sloping burst of meadowland upon the south
. A long, narrow island, shaped like a toothpick, is in the kill jus
t below the scene of the accident and directly opposite is the wheel h
ouse where is gathered the power that supplies Chamberlain´s grist mil
l. Upon either side of the kill at his point there rises a high precip
itous wall of rock, breaking the face of the ground into rugged grande
ur. On the southeast side of the canyon the rock rises to a height o
f at least 300 feet and its top is fringed with trees that stand out i
n gaunt perspective against the sky.

Mr. Wemple arose as usual yesterday morning shortly before 5 A.M. an
d attended to some of the chores that were necessary to be done abou
t the place where he lives, which is a short distance from the scene o
f the accident. At half-past five he hitched up the team and with hi
s son and assistant started out to serve the customers. There were 8 c
ans in the wagon, each full of milk, and a number of milkman´s sundrie
s in the bottom of the wagon under the seat. While the horses were bei
ng driven over the Devil´s Bridge, which is built over the culvert thr
ough which the trains of the D & H Railroad Company roll, they showe
d signs of being restive, and as the east end of the bridge was reache
d they were almost beyond control. Joe was driving and Wemple was on t
he side away from the gulch. As the team struck the opposite side of t
he bridge, a cloud of smile came through the cracks of the structure a
nd the horses´ speed was accelerated there at greatly. (Unintelligible
) . . . surmounts the top of the cliff and were in mid-air.

Wemple yelled to Joe to jump, and seizing little Harry about the waist
, despite his lameness for rheumatism and the cramped position he wa
s in, he leaped to the ground while his helper followed him. The horse
s plunged to the bottom in a heap, the wagon on top of them. The air w
as full of flying mild tickets and milk cans, while the milk flowed th
rough the roots and stumps of the hillside and soaked the ground as th
ough it were rain. One of the horses, May, was a very valuable anima
l and lived for about 15 minutes after the accident, but her companio
n a gray horse, was killed instantly. Mr. Wemple was able to secure 24
0 quarts of milk from neighboring farmers and supplied those of his cu
stomers that he could, and the debris from the accident was removed la
te in the day. A large number of people came down to the scene durin
g the morning.

Footnote: The foregoing article is verbatim from an Albany paper of th
e year 1896 and gives us a very quick glimpse into how life was live
d in the days of our grandfathers --- Allison P. Bennett. Town Histori
an.