James E. Dowell, 60, brakeman, saved Jimmie A. Woodward, 16 months, and Frances Woodward, 24, from being killed by a train, St. Charles, Virginia, July 10, 1950. Jimmie wandered onto a track on which a train consisting of a locomotive pushing six cars and a caboose was approaching at a speed 12 m.p.h. From the platform of the caboose Dowell saw Jimmie and sighted his mother, Mrs. Woodward, running toward the track from a near by yard. Dowell descended steps at the side of the caboose and jumping to the ground ran 50 feet alongside the track to Jimmie, who stood against a rail. Grasping Jimmie when the caboose was three feet from them and moving at a reduced speed of seven m.p.h., he swung him from the track and clasped him to his chest as the caboose passed, its projecting parts brushing Dowell’s jacket and trousers. Dowell took one step farther from the track and extending an arm rigidly in front of him struck Mrs. Woodward as she raced toward him and Jimmie, halting her close to the train, which came to a stop 270 feet beyond them. 42044-3690
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42044-3690