Morris V. Jacks rescued James H. Kimes from burning, Seymour, Texas, October 15, 1947. Kimes, 52, locomotive engineer, Jacks, 23, brakeman, and two other men rode in the cab of a locomotive operated by Kimes, which at a street crossing struck a tanker truck that carried 3,900 gallons of gasoline, ripping holes in the tank. The locomotive stopped with its cab five feet from the rear end of the tank of the truck, which overturned. Gasoline spread over the ground, sprayed over the locomotive and onto the clothing of the men, and burst into flames. Jacks climbed a ladder to the top of the locomotive tender, jumped to the ground on the side away from the truck and beyond the fire area, and ran to a fence which he climbed over, escaping burns. Kimes, whose clothing was partly afire, vaulted through a window of the cab and landed on the same side but in flames, sustaining fractures of one ankle and foot. After Kimes had tried but could not crawl out of the flames, Jacks vaulted the fence and ran 13 feet to the edge of the flames, which rose in gusts four feet high, and through them 10 feet to Kimes. Flames rose 30 feet above the locomotive and tender, and heat was intense. Jacks carried Kimes to the fence, dropped him over it, and carried him 100 feet farther from the fire, which spread to the fence. The other man in the cab escaped from it, but one perished in flames, and the other was seriously burned. The driver of the truck died of burns. Kimes sustained burns but recovered. Jacks suffered burns on the face and forearms, which healed in two weeks. 41207-3560
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