The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-02-27
CONDUCTOR HERO
Of TRAIN WRECK
CHAS. s. WALDRON OF SEATTLE
NEARLY LOSES LIFE IN TRY
ING TO SAVE THAT OF ENGIN-
FER JOHN LENAHAN.

ruar 10, in which Engineer John
Lenahan was fatally hurt and Fire
man Carl Bloom killed, there was a
real hero and he is a Seattle man,
Charles S. Waldron, conductor of
the train, who performed services at
the time viii: III railroad men think
entities him TO Carnegie hero med
| al. Lenahan was well-known here.
and was brother of Mesdames Duffy
and Bloom of this city.
Waldron took so many precautions
to elude the newspaper reporters who
were sent to the scene that his name
was not mentioned in the newspapers
at the time, and the part he took
was only referred to incidentally. 1t
is only since Waldron has been tell
ing his close friends of his part In
lie wreck that the story of his cour-
agecus conduct has been brought to
Fight
| Waldron succeeded in rescuing
Lenahan after the latter had been
blown into the Sound, but the lat
ter had been so badly injured that he
6ieC only few minutes after he was
brought ashore That Waliron him
self did not lose his life in his effort
&c rescue the engineer is fortunate!
When the explosion occurred Wal
/ IN Of
coaches. He Gained the frightened
men and women, telling them they
were not in danger. Pieces of debris
were falling on the roof, however,
and Waldron thinks it is only mir
acle that heavy piece did not crash
through the roof of one of the
coaches. Going outside to see what
the trouble was, Waldron saw the
injured engineer struggling in the
water several hundred feet from
shore.
II was six o'clock in the morning
ard very dark. There was a gale
blowing across the sound and the
waves were rolling high, savagely
pounding against the stone break
water alongside the track and throw
ing the spray twenty feet into the
air. Waldron is a good swimmer,
and he slipped off his coat and vest
ami plunged in.
AS he swan out the waves washed
over his head and kept him buried
in water half the time. When he
reached Lenahan the latter told him
his back was broken.
I'm gone; save yourself. quick"
said Lenahan.
Waldron thought the engineer had
me, ely been hurt in such way that
he thought his back was broken, as
his voice seemed to be quite strong,
cid he struggled with considerable
vigor AS a matter of fact, however,
..eIahan, stimulated by the shock of
the icy water. was simply making
his final fight for life.
Waldron, holding him by the head,
struggled back to the shore. He ac-
knowledges that more than once he
felt certain that he would sink to
death with the man he was rescuing.
He was exhausted when he reached
the stone breakwater again, and the
raves kept dashing him and his hu-
man cargo against the rocks. The
crowd of passengers standing on the
tip of the breakwater ten feet above.
watched the heroic struggle, but only
one of them would brave death to
rescue the conductor and engineer.
The lone exception was Captain Geo.
Harvey, of Vancouver, B. C. Wal
dron knew Harvey, knew that he Is
fairly good swimmer, and, in the
desperate emergency called to him
for assistance.
"Help me, Captain, or I'll sink"
he cried, and Harvey plunged into
the foaming water to assist. He sue
eeeded in keeping the two men above
water until an Everett druggist cut
the bell cord from the locomotive
and made loop in it. With this
Waldron was first hauled up, then
Lenahan and last Harvey.
Weak from his terrible ordeal as
he was, Waldron wanted to go into
the water again in the hope o. find
ing the fireman. The train crew re-
strained him, and few moments lat
er Waldron felt his knees give way
beneath him and he sank in heap.
With proper attention it was not long
before he had recovered from the eff
fects of the exposure and exhaustion.
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