Harold R. Sumner, 27, locomotive fireman, saved James E. Decker, 2, from being killed by a train, Winona, Minnesota, April 11, 1951. James wandered onto a track on which a freight train was approaching at a speed of 30 m.p.h. Sumner sighted James from the cab of a locomotive moving in the opposite direction on a parallel track and descended steps at the side of the locomotive when the train was 300 feet from the child. Riding to within 20 feet of James, Sumner jumped to the track-bed. He fell prone but rose quickly and sprinted onto the other track to James, arriving when the freight train was 10 feet from them. Sumner in full stride grasped James who stood at the far rail and lunged five feet outside the track with him, barely clearing the train, which passed them at a speed of 18 m.p.h. and stopped 500 feet beyond them. 42242-3718
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42242-3718