Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-21
In FRONT OF A TRAIN.
Fireman Cunningham's Brave Act in
Saving a Child From Death.
BOTH ESCAPE WITHOUT INJURY.
Grasping the Youngster He Throws Himself
Clear of the Tracks.
A TOT PLAYS BETWEEN THE RAILS

The bravery of engineers and iremen on
fast-fying trains has often been shown on
railroad lines, but it remains for Fireman
Bruce Cunningham, of engine 614, OF the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, to show to
what extent daring could 60 in the saving
of human life.
When the Bissell accommodation left
Laughlin's station yesterday evening at
Z 7:15 o'clock it in few moments reached a
speed of 80 miles an hour. Engineer c. G.
Brainard saw an object upon the track and
so did Fireman Cunningham. The latter at
once seemed to realize that it was that of a
child and jumping through the cab window
exclaimed to the engineer, 'I'l have to
roll" ran quickly along the boiler walk,
dropped to the cow catcher, and seizfng the
L child bv its dress threw himself into the
ditch along side the track. Neither he nor
the child were hurt. That's the story in a
nut she'll
Fireman Cunningham, who lives in Bis
sell with his wife and two children, is q
very modest man, and when asked last night
to tell about the incident was not at all
communicative. He remarked, however,
that when he saw the child he knew that he
could save it, and with word to the engi-
neer he made for the pilot, or cow-catcher.
The Rest Was Dream.
Then, he said, he knew nothing more until
he found himself in the ditch. Asked
whether he would do the same thing again he
replied that he did not know, it would all
depend upon circumstances.
n. IL
est in his statement of the brave deed he
had done, the other men who were on the
train were out utspoken in their commenda-
tion of his pluck. Engineer G. G. Brainard,
who was at the throttle, SAYS that
when he first saw the object on
the track he thought it to be
a goat or dog, but closer view showed it
to be a child playing between the rails.
"At the same moment" said he, Cunning
ham made out what it was, and shouting.
I'll roll over with it, was, almost quicker
than fash, on the cowcatcher and as the
front of the pilot touched the dress of the
child he had grasped it, and threw himself
into the ditch. So soon as 1 saw that there
was a child ahead of us, reversed the
lever and put on the air, so that we had
almost stopped when Cunningham caught
the child. A brave deed? Why in all my
like it. The man took his life in his hands
when he started to save the child, for you
know there is mighty little foothold on the
pilot of an engine. He again risked his life
when he threw himself into the ditch.
With the Child in His Arms
Conductor L. F. McAbee and Baggage
master D. McClintock state that when they
went ahead to see what had caused the train
to stop so suddenly they found Cunningham
lying in the ditch with the child in his
arms. He was not hurt, nor was there
scratch upon the youngsters body, "but,
as remarked Mr.. McAbee, "no matter how
long that baby boy lives, he will never
come again so near death as he was this
afternoon until he finally shuffles of.
To whom the child belongs is a mystery
to the trainmen. Conductor McAbee took
it to the steps leading to the hillside, where
large number of Hungarians live, and so
soon as he put the youngster at the bottom
he began to climb the stairway. A Hun
garian was asked whether the child be-
1onged to him, but the only reply was "Me
no, no." and then the cold -blooded savage
went on his way without paying any fur
ther attention to the tot whose narrow
escape from death he had witnessed.