"A Hero's Hero"

In 1905, an act of rare heroism saved a little girl’s life on a railroad bridge near Torrington, Connecticut.

Two small children—a boy of eight and a girl of five—started to creep across the ties of the bridge on their hands and knees. They made slow progress, and when they reached the center, those near the end of the bridge saw a switching engine bearing down upon the little ones at high speed.

Lawrence Noonan, who was near the end of the bridge, saw the children's danger and cried out to them. The boy jumped to his feet and, leaving his tiny sister behind, scampered over the ties to safety. The little girl, however, kept crawling slowly, directly between the rails on which the engine was speeding toward her. It seemed a certainty that she would not make it off the bridge in time. Noonan dashed out onto the trestle, speeding over the ties at a terrific pace. He grabbed the girl up with one hand and, the next instant, leaped onto a pier alongside the bridge just as the engine thundered over the spot where the child had been a second or two before.

Those who witnessed the act cheered Noonan as he came back over the bridge with the girl in his arms. Had he made the slightest misstep in his dash, both he and the child would have lost their lives that day.