From the May 18, 1881 issue of the Port Jervis Evening Gazette:
At half-past two this morning a loaded boxcar ran off the track four miles east of Port Jervis on conductor Charles E. Brown's train, extra 35, engine 543, Florence engineer. The accident was caused by a broken wheel. The wreckers from Port Jervis put the car on the track and repaired it. The west track was blocked two hours and a half.

From the August, 1919 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine
WILLIAM D. FLORENCE�In a report of the death of William D. Florence appearing in the Port Jervis Union, it was stated that he was 70 years old, and had been a resident of Middletown since removing from Matamoras, Pa. He had been for many years an engineer on the New York division. His surviving relatives are his widow, a son and a daughter.