H. Clay Snyder

H. Clay Snyder, 25, brakeman, saved Arthur J. Hartman, 2, from being run over by a train, West Wheeling, Ohio, May 11, 1911. Arthur wandered to the track and stood with his foot on a rail when a train running 25 m.p.h. was but 500 feet from him. Snyder, who was on the bumper timber of the locomotive, saw the child’s danger, and, after turning a lever to set the air brakes, he grabbed a rod and half slid and half jumped to a step at the bottom of the pilot. He crouched, extended his arm, and grasped Arthur’s shoulder. He lifted the child, whose body struck him, causing him to lose his hold on the rod. He felt the child falling from his grasp and kicked him to one side. The rapidly decreasing speed of the train caused Snyder to sway forward, and, failing to regain his grasp on the rod, he jumped. He fell to one knee beside the track, 10 feet from Arthur. Arthur’s shoulder was dislocated, and he was otherwise injured, but he recovered.