Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-17
TWO COURAGEOUS MEN
One Risks His own Life to Save a
Three Year-0ld Baby.
THE OTHER JAILED FOR VALoR.
An Unknown Colored Man the Hero in One
of the Cases.
QUIET ,PICNICKER MADE FAMOUS

An unknown colored man in attemptin,
to save the life of a 3-year-old child at tn,
Twenty-eighth street crossing of the ALLIE
gheny Valley Railroad was struck by tht
engine and severely bruised. In savint
the child's life the colored man displayed
remarkable courage. His brave act at
tracted the attention OF a train load of peo
pie, but he refused to give his name ant
also refused to accept any reward for hi
manly efforts
The child was the son of James Blasak, q
butcher at 2734 Penn avenue. The little
one, while nobody was watching it, slipped
out of the back door of its home and got on
the railroad track where it crossed Spring
alley and deliberately seated itself between
the two rails and began playing in the dirt
Just at that time the accommodation trair
from Braeburn was coming into the city,
and as it came around 3 curve the engineer
could not see the child.
Almost q Life for Life.
Joseph Griffen, the operator in the tower
saw the perilous position of the child. He
began to shout and throw his arms wildly
trying both to scare the child off the track
and at the same time warn the engineer.
A colored man who was seated on huck-
ster wagon outside the safety gates, waiting
for the train to pass, took in the situation.
He sprang from his wagon, ran out to the
track in front of the approaching train and
lifted the baby up. He jumped from the
track, but not quick enough to escape being
struck.
The cowcatcher hit him on the leg, knock
ing him down. The child, however, escaped
uninjured. The colored man picked him
self up and found that besides bruised leg
and cut on his head he was not otherwise in
jured. He hobbled back to his wagon and
drove away, refusing to give his name.
A crowd. of nearly 500 people collected.
They cheered the brave man who had risked
his life to save another. The train was
stopped and the passengers alighted helping
to swell the crowd.
Tried to Jump Out OF Train.
A queer arrest was made last night on the
West Penn Railroad by special officer of
that company named MatteeE This officer,
from the stories told by passengers on the
train, seems to be more thoroughly pos
sessed by zeal than by discretion. There
was a picnic at Ross Grove yesterday,
given by one of the church societies of
Allegheny. On the return train, at $50 in
the evening, a lad of about IL years sud-
denly sprang up in his seat and cried, 'T
must jump outP He sprang at the open
window, and would have gone headlong
into the sea of, darkness, to certain death,
had not q young man named Frank
O'Shea, who was sitting in an
adjoining seat, reached quickly forward
and seized the boy by his coat.
The lad, who was a stranger to O'Shea, sat
down in his seat and remained for several
minutes quiet. Then again, as the train
was flying along at 40 miles an hour, the
boy was seized anew with his strange frenzy
and leaped at the open window.
Caught in the Act.
He went clear through, but O'Shea, who
was watching him all the time, reached
quickly again and caught the lad BY his
trousers There he held firmly, the youth
hanging head down outside the car, the
landscape rushing by wildly with an occas-
ional flashing light in the darkness.
'.Pull that bell cord." O'Shea said, and
sturdy young man reached up and pulled
the cord twice.
The train was stopped, the boy was
pulled in by several helping hands, and the
window by his seat was closed. Then the
train men rushed into the car, and Officer
Natter with them.
"Who pulled that rope?" Natter asked.
81 did," fearlessly replied O'Shea, and
he was Immediately placed under arrest
A dozen passengers rushed forward to ex-
and explain the circumstances,
but all availed nothing. Natter brought
O'Shea to Allegheny City on the train, and
took him to the lookup, where he was con-
fined on the charge of violating State law
referring to the operation of railways
O'Shea lives at Sharpsburg.