E. Carver Tettemer

E. Carver Tettemer saved James Myers from being killed by a train, Trenton, New Jersey, May 8, 1941. James, 9, fell from a tricycle on a crossing between the rails of a track on which a locomotive was backing at a speed of about three m.p.h. Tettemer, 26, brakeman, who was sitting on the rear of the tender five feet above the crossing, vaulted onto the crossing between the rails ahead of the tender when it was eight feet from James. Running and stepping over the tricycle to James, he reached to take hold of him; but James brushed his hand away. Tettemer got hold of James and thrust him clear of the track. The tender then was two feet from Tettemer; and he ran 10 feet at an angle, crossing one rail, and thrust himself against an iron picket fence that was parallel with the track and 13 inches beyond the side of the tender. For a distance of four feet the side of the tender scraped against Tettemer’s elbow, causing blood to flow, and across his back. The locomotive came to a stop and then was reversed, the tender again scraping Tettemer’s back and tearing his shirt. Tettemer sustained bruises on his back and elbow and was too nervous to work the remainder of the day and the following one. James was not injured.