Leo H. Murphy, 46, railroad conductor, saved Frank LaRose, 60, migrant farm worker, from being killed by a train, Middlefield, Connecticut, August 17, 1964. LaRose was walking on a railroad track when a freight train moving in the same direction approached at 30 miles an hour. The engineer sounded warning signals, but LaRose did not move from the track. The engine was within 300 feet of LaRose when the engineer applied the emergency brakes. Murphy, who was in the cab at the time, stepped onto the catwalk of the engine and ran eight feet to the front. Seeing LaRose veer toward the other side of the track, Murphy ran across the front catwalk and descended steps at the side of the engine, which was jerking due to the braking. Holding to the handrail, Murphy stepped forward onto a footboard at the front of the engine. He extended his other arm forward. As the slowing train reached LaRose, Murphy grasped him by the shoulder and thrust him from the track. Murphy released his hold on the handrail but retained his grasp on LaRose in order to push him entirely clear of the engine’s side extension. LaRose fell to the ground just beyond the train’s path, and Murphy fell on top of him as the engine passed, stopping 40 feet beyond them.
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