John Morris, 60, gate-tender, died saving an unknown woman from being run over by a train, Hartford, Connecticut, May 19, 1905. Seeing that the woman was about to be struck by a fast-approaching train, Morris left his post of duty, ran in front of the train, and pushed the woman from the track but in doing so was struck and instantly killed.
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547-94Obituary
John Morris, 60, of Hartford, Conn., died on May 19, 1905, when he was struck by a train at a city rail crossing after saving an unidentified woman who had been standing on the tracks. Morris worked as a railroad gatekeeper at the crossing.
Morris, who was born in Ireland, came to America as a young man and worked in the railroad business for many years in New York before moving to Connecticut, the Hartford Courant reported in an article about his death.
“Nobody but Almighty God, who keeps track of such things, knows how many lives Morris has saved, but we who knew him know that he has saved many…” a co-worker said in the article. “He was the bravest man I ever knew, and no one is sorrier than I am that he lost his life in this way.”
At a funeral service, a priest at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford described Morris as a “good man” who had performed a “noble deed,” according to another article in the Courant.
“Mr. Morris was for many years an edifying member of this parish,” the priest said. “His life was no doubt crowded with acts of courage, but none of us looked for the sublime manifestation which brought it to a close.”
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission posthumously awarded a silver Carnegie Medal to Morris in May 1907.
He was buried at Mt. St. Benedict’s Cemetery in Bloomfield, Conn.