Trains?! Trains, you say?! Well, my family has a long, proud history of being involved with the railroad - thought not necessarily in a positive way. The inspiration for this blog, Horace Pearson, lost both of his legs (completely - they were amputated just below the hips) in a train accident when he was 8 eight years old. His father, my great great grandfather, worked for the Illinois Central Round House in Mounds, Illinois. He managed to keep all of his limbs.
Horace's sister, Nettie Pearson, married a man by the name of Roy Hudson. She married a lot of men, but I digress... Nettie and Roy were married in Caruthersville, Missouri, in November of 1915. Not long after, in January of 1916, Roy (after evidently having a bit too much to drink) attempted to hitch a ride on a northbound Frisco train. All he accomplished was losing his leg. The amputation occurred just below the knee.
On the other side of my mother's family, Nils Wedberg also ended up under a train. He lost one leg at the knee, but he was able to get a prosthetic. Believe it or not, he lost the prosthetic in another train-related accident.
You have to keep a sense of humor about these things, though. I've now made it a point to take a picture under any train that isn't in danger of moving.
Wow! That looks like a jinx to me! Amazing that your Horace survived at all! And at 8 years old. So sad. I love your gallows-humor approach in taking those photos!
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