Clinton E. Smith, 54, telegrapher, saved Mary S. Humphries, 70, from being killed by a train, Vesuvius, Virginia, July 23, 1929. Mrs. Humphries stepped on a track on which a train was approaching at a speed of 15 m.p.h. Smith, from a point five feet ahead of the locomotive, ran 40 feet to her, reaching her when the locomotive was two or three feet from her. Standing with one foot against the rail, Smith jerked Mrs. Humphries from the track. His clothing was brushed by the locomotive.
29590 – 2443
29590-2443Obituary
Clinton E. Smith, 78, retired telegraph operator of Norfolk and Western Railroad and holder of a medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, died on Nov. 28, 1953, at his Greenville, Va., home.
Smith joined the railroad company as an extra telegrapher in May 1906, and he served as a telegrapher until his retirement on Oct. 1, 1940. Of his 34 years of service with the firm, the last 11 were spent at Vesuvius, Va.
Smith was awarded a medal and $1,000 by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for saving an elderly woman from death on July 23, 1929.
(Edited from an obituary found at freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com)