Runaway, Boxcar, Potato Cadet

In the spring of 1957, West Point plebe Jerome Lee Gibbons did poorly on his Indoor Obstacle Course Test (IOCT), according to published sources. Fed up with being a cadet but afraid to ask his parents permission to resign, which was required at the time, he decided to run away. After a cherry ice cream cone in Newburgh, he headed west on foot to Campbell Hall, NY, where there was a rail yard.

Gibbons climbed into a boxcar he thought was heading upstate towards Syracuse near where he had grown up. That night the door of the boxcar was automatically locked and Gibbons was trapped inside. In reality, the Erie Railroad train was heading south to Jersey City. When it got there, the boxcar full of potatoes was parked, still locked. Gibbons was trapped for eight days!

Source: New York Daily News, March 27, 1957.

Without water and in the dark, Gibbons banged on the walls of the refrigerated car but nobody heard him. He nibbled on a few spuds but did not care for the taste. He also had a few cigarettes with him. He reported later that the sound of rainwater on the outside of the car nearly drove him crazy. Eventually, the car was opened by a trucker looking to load up for a delivery and was shocked when Gibbons tumbled out begging,
”Water! Water!” The dramatic story of his imprisonment was carried by newspapers across the country.

Soon, military police from West Point came and retrieved the AWOL cadet and brought him to the hospital. He was nursed back to health on a liquid diet and then solid food. Other than losing 15-20 pounds, Gibbons was in pretty good shape. He was dismissed from the USMA Class of 1960 and became a member of the Clarkson Class of 1861.

Ice Carnival king and queen at Clarkson, 1961. Source: Clarkson University Archives. Used for education purposes.

At Clarkson, Gibbons excelled as a civil engineering major and seems to have become quite popular on campus. He was in a fraternity, involved in many clubs, and was even voted the Ice Carnival king. He graduated in 1961 and got a job with Union Carbide, seemingly a good job.

Newspapers show he got a speeding ticket in November of 1861 and then tragedy. Early on the morning of December 15, 1961, Fulton’s sports car struck a concrete abutment on Grand Island in a single-car accident, and the young ex-cadet was killed. He was survived by his parents and a brother who served in the Marines during the war in Vietnam. A sad ending to a crazy runaway cadet story.