Right city, wrong state

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logoIt’s bad enough to get a call that your son’s in jail and needs you to bail him out, but what happens when you show up at the county jail with bail money and the corrections officer has never heard of your son? You may want to look at a map.

James Ridings was a 21 year old from Keyser, W.Va. was driving through Franklin County, Pa., on the evening of April 7, 1961. He was a mile north of Waynesboro, Pa., when he pulled onto the Waynesboro-Quincy road from a side street without paying attention to oncoming traffic. His car hit a northbound car being driven by Kenny Cook, Jr. from Quincy, Pa.

The crash sent Cook’s car off the road and into a tree. The impact pushed one of the front wheels on the car back three feet. Despite the force of the impact, Cook and his wife, Paneye, only suffered bruises and contusions. They were taken to Waynesboro Hospital and released, but their car was a total loss.

Pennsylvania State Police charged Ridings with failing to yield the right of way, and he was taken to the Franklin County jail.

Ridings used his phone call at the jail to contact his parents and ask them to come get him and bail him out of jail. Then he waited in his cell for his parents to arrive. In those days, the trip from the Keyser to Waynesboro took anywhere from 2 to 2 ½ hours depending on traffic and the route driven. That time passed and then even more with no sign of his parents.

Ridings eventually fell asleep and when he woke up in the morning, his parents still hadn’t arrived.

Then the jailer gave Ridings the news. His parents had set out for Waynesboro immediately after his call and made it to Waynesboro in about 3 ½ hours. The problem was it was Waynesboro, Va.

“This morning they phoned a message to their son telling him they were then setting out for Waynesboro, Pa. and Chambersburg,” the Chambersburg Public Opinion reported.

Both towns are named for the Revolutionary War General Anthony Wayne. To make matters even more confusing there is also the Borough of Waynesburg, Pa., in Greene County that is named after Wayne.

While it is understandable that Waynesboro, Pa., would be named after Wayne since the general was a Pennsylvanian, his bravery and battle victories during the War for Independence, earned him many namesakes. Besides Waynesboro, Va., there are six other cities, two communities, 14 counties, five towns, a forest, a river, 16 schools, 23 streets and highways, five townships, five villages and at least 17 businesses and structures that are named in honor of the general nicknamed Mad Anthony.

So Ridings’ parents could be forgiven their mistake. They were probably lucky that they didn’t wind up in Waynesburg Borough, the community of Wayne, Wayne County or Wayne Township, all of which are also in Pennsylvania.

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