Six men aboard a freight train had reason to be grateful that Dorothy Wagner took their danger more seriously than they took her warning.
According to an account published in The Washington Times on September 21, 1907, the 16-year-old was studying outside her home beside New York’s North River when a freight train stopped nearby. Her father operated a boathouse, and Dorothy had settled on the deck with her schoolbooks. In the caboose opposite her sat six men, several of whom found entertainment in watching her startle at the locomotive’s sharp whistle blasts.
Their laughter and remarks eventually drove her to abandon her outdoor study spot. But as she turned toward the house, she spotted something the men could not see. A curve obscured their view of two approaching locomotives.
The teasing then became a dangerous obstacle. When Dorothy shouted a warning, the men assumed she was trying to frighten them in return. She had to convince them that their lives were at risk while the engines continued toward the caboose.
The newspaper described a narrow escape followed by a violent collision that crushed the caboose and two boxcars. Flying debris injured several of the men, and fire added to the destruction.
There is a telling detail in the account’s conclusion: afterward, most of the men apologized.
Girl Saves Six Men From Death in Wreck After They Jeered Her
NEW YORK. — Dorothy Wagner, the 16-year-old daughter of John Wagner, who runs a boathouse on North River, was sitting on the “deck” of her home yesterday evening, studying her school lessons for Monday. Dorothy was deeply engaged when the caboose of a New York Central freight train of 30 cars stopped almost opposite her.
The engineer of the freight began blowing a series of sharp blasts. The shrieks from that engine’s whistle startled Miss Dorothy, and she jumped up.
There were six men in the caboose and several of them had been watching the girl, who is very pretty. When she jumped at the sound of the whistle they laughed. The girl paid no attention to them. Again there was a sharp blast from the engine and again Miss Dorothy nearly jumped from her chair.
This time some of the brakemen called out to her.
Sight Terrifies Girl
Finding the jeers of the brakemen prevented her from studying, Miss Dorothy started to go into the house. As she turned she looked up the track which was hidden from the caboose by a curve, and became deathly pale.
For a moment she stood, unable to stir; then, dropping er books, she pointed up the tracks and shouted to the men in the caboose: “Look out; jump for your lives!”
The men thought the girl was simply trying to scare them, in return for their teasing, and did not move.
Almost frantic, the girl ran out to the tracks.
“Oh, jump, please jump, or you’ll be killed,” she cried.
Men Get Out Just in Time
Realizing that the girl was not joking, the men scrambled from the caboose. The next moment two big locomotives running as a “double header,” crashed into the caboose, telescoping it and two box cars. Some of the splinters struck several of the men, cutting and bruising them.
Fire followed the collision, and it was several hours before the wreck was cleaned up.
After it was all over, most of the men in the caboose apologized to the girl.
Miss Dorothy quietly resumed her interrupted studies.
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. September 21, 1907.
