Louis E. LaSalle, 23, locomotive fireman, saved Arthur C. Copp, 18 months, from being killed by a train, West Rindge, New Hampshire, February 9, 1955. Arthur and his three-year-old brother wandered onto a track on which a freight-train was approaching at a speed of 15 m.p.h. The ties and ballast were covered with ice. At the sound of the locomotive horn the brother ran from the track, but Arthur remained seated midway the rails. The engineer saw him and applied emergency brakes 160 feet from Arthur. Climbing from the cab, LaSalle ran 32 feet along a catwalk to the front platform when the train, traveling then at a speed of five m.p.h., was 15 feet from Arthur. Vaulting over the front handrail, LaSalle landed on the track six feet ahead of the locomotive. He ran to Arthur, lifted him from the track, and clasped the boy to his chest. As he pivoted and stepped from the track with Arthur, LaSalle slipped on the ice. Falling prone three feet outside the rail, he barely cleared the train, which passed at a speed of four m.p.h. and stopped 50 feet beyond them. Arthur and LaSalle suffered cuts and bruises which healed. 43380-4009
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