Wallace L. Smith, 63, railroad conductor, saved Shirley M. and Condra A. Smith, 32 and 14, respectively, from being struck by a train, Weiner, Arkansas, October 2, 1968. At a railroad crossing a pickup truck containing Mrs. Smith, her daughter Condra, and her son Christopher stalled astride a track on which a fast freight was approaching. Wallace L. Smith, who was not related to the occupants of the truck, ran to the rear of the vehicle, while V. E. Kilpatrick, Jr., ran to the front; but they could not push the truck off the track. Smith then ran to the driver’s side, opened the door, and pulled Mrs. Smith and Condra together from the cab. At that time the train was 1,000 feet from the crossing, and the engineer had applied emergency braking. Smith ran from the track, expecting Mrs. Smith and Condra to follow him. Noting that they had not done so, he ran back to them, grasped each by an arm, and pulled them from the train’s path. Meanwhile Kilpatrick had run to the open door of the cab and had taken hold of Christopher, who still was inside. The train then was within 500 feet of the truck and had slowed only slightIy. Kilpatrick pulled Christopher from the cab and clutching him to his chest, dived from the train’s path. The train demolished the truck and stopped about a half-mile beyond the crossing.
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