An aged man sacrificed his life in a vain effort to save a child from death beneath the wheels of a Santa Fe passenger train, which crushed them and imperiled the lives of nine other members of a fishing party trapped on a narrow trestle bridge yesterday morning, Sep. 2, 1929.  The futile heroic effort was made by George B. Hull, 78, of Pottsboro Texas.  The dead child is Lois May McCullough, 7, daughter of H. C. McCullough of Brazoria, Texas.

Mrs. W. T. Davis of Texas City, Mr. Hull’s daughter, received a deep gash on the arm when a rod on the train scraped her arm as she hung by her hands from the trestle to escape the locomotive.  The death of the child grew out of general confusion that arose among the dozen members of the fishing party when they sighted the train speeding toward them.  They were peacefully fishing from railroad ties of the single track on the bridge when they discovered their peril.  The bridge is near Texas City Junction, nine miles from Galveston.

R. McCullough of Texas City, the girl’s uncle, witnessed her death. Being a railroad employee, McCullough said he alone of the party members realized the speed with which the train bore down on the bridge, which he estimated at fifty miles an hour, and shouted warnings.

Summoning his wife and their child and Lois May, they started toward the south end of the bridge, which is a structure of 100 feet in length and 9 feet wide.  His wife’s hand was clasped around Lois May’s and she held her own child in the other arm.  As they began crossing the ties, Lois May’s foot slipped between two ties, causing her hand to be released from Mrs. McCullough’s grasp.  The child regained her footing, and as she started anew across the track, the train struck her.

Mr. Hull, who was a few feet from the girl, rushed toward her as he sensed her danger, and was crushed by the train as it passed over the body of the child.  Both bodies were dragged 300 feet.  The aged man’s body was mangled and he died almost instantly.  Suffering a fractured skull and severe cuts on the body, the girl was placed aboard the train, and died en route to a Galveston hospital.

Mrs. H. A. Palmer of Texas City, who was fishing with another party at the highway bridge over the bayou, said that they had started to fish from the railway trestle, but decided it too dangerous.  While on the automobile structure, nearly a half mile away, she heard the train whistle and saw the other group running for safety.  “They were trying to get off the bridge, but the train was coming fast and plowed into them before they could get out of the way.” Her son, Dr. F. Palmer, hurried to the scene, but Mr. Hull was dead before he arrived.  She was told by those in Hull’s party the he had tried to save the McCullough girl, but both were struck by the engine.  Mr. Hull’s body was return to Pottsboro for burial.