No officer likes to get a call involving a train accident. They are usually the bloodiest and most disgusting scenes imaginable.
One evening Marshal Larry Hawkins of Little Rock got a call that a pedestrian had been hit by a train. Expecting the worst, Hawkins reported to the scene. He arrived to find a crowd of spectators craning their necks to get a better look. The marshal elbowed his way through the crowd and saw the victim—standing up talking to someone and brushing off the dirt on his pants.
Here’s the story Hawkins unraveled: The man and his wife were at Johnson’s Tavern, which is right next to the railroad tracks. They both got drunk, and then they got into an argument. He said to her, “The hell with you, I’m walking home.” The railroad track went right past his house, so he decided he was going to walk the tracks home.
Meanwhile, a southbound train was on its way. And somewhere between the tavern and home, the train and the drunk man managed to meet.
But the important thing is that he was lying between the two rails when the train went over him.
The conductors and the engineers all saw a man go down, and they were sure the train went over him. They assumed he had been killed. But somehow after the train had managed to stop, the dumb, drunk, and incredibly lucky criminal was still alive.
To this day, no one is sure exactly how it happened. The train might have knocked the man down, or he might have passed out on the tracks. But the important thing is that he was lying between the two rails when the train went over him.
Said Hawkins, “Now, there’s always stuff hanging down under a train, like air hoses and stuff, and those things did clip him and roll him around. He was bruised, scratched, and cut, and his clothes were torn. But he was all right. He was up and walking around—still drunk and scared out of his mind. I took him in for his own protection and arrested him for public intoxication.”