N&W in 1911--Three sad, yet bright, articles

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 9, 1911

LOSES BOTH LEGS
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Jesse Brinkley, of Oakvale, Falls From Train Beneath Wheels
    While attempting to jump on a freight train at Oakvale yesterday afternoon about 3:30 o'clock, Jesse Brinkley, son of Squire Henry Brinkley, of that place, lost both legs.  He was brought to this city last night on train No. 3 and taken to St. Luke's hospital for treatment.  The little fellow was conscious when he reached here and talked plainly and distinctly when he explained to a Telegraph reporter how he had fallen from the train underneath the wheels which mashed his legs off.
    The boy's injuries were attended to by Dr. Boyd of Oakvale, before he was brought to this city.
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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 10, 1911

BOY SUFFERED FRIGHTFUL PAIN WITHOUT WHIMPER
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Six-Year-Old Jesse Brinkley is Built of the Stuff That Makes Heroes
    One of the saddest stories of the misfortunes that come to people in this life had a beginning in a news item in yesterday's Daily Telegraph which noted briefly the accident that was sustained by Jesse Brinkley, the little six year old Oakvale boy.
    The little fellow was running along by the side of the train, and stepping on the end of one of his shoe lacings, which had worked loose, be tripped and in falling his hand was caught under a wheel and cut off.  The pain and shock were so great that the little fellow twisted and writhed in such a way that he threw both of his legs under the cruel wheels and both were crushed off.  The accident happened 3:30 o'clock and Dr. Boyd administered to him until No. 3 came along when he was brought to Bluefield where the amputations were made at St. Luke's hospital.
    Dr. Scott yesterday said it was one of the saddest cases he had ever known.  The boy is small for his age, and not once during the horrors of the afternoon or the painful journey from Oakvale to this city and the torture he had to undergo did the little fellow whimper.  He had more courage and displayed more nerve than men do.  In fact, the surgeons say few men stand such a frightful ordeal as well as this little boy.  The pity of it is that he will be helplessly crippled for life, but the courage and fortitude displayed by him indicate that he has a spirit that will assert itself in the struggle of life.
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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 14, 1911

IN CITY AND COALFIELD
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On Road to Recovery
    Jesse Brinkley, the boy who lost both legs and a hand in a railroad accident several days ago near Wills, is now on the way to recovery at St. Luke's hospital.  It has been a long time since a boy was taken to a local hospital about whose condition so many inquiries have been made.  This interest has been partly created by the unusual bravery of the little fellow, who in spite of his misfortune, has never complained and who has been so interested in everything which was going on that he has become a favorite with the nurses and doctors at the hospital.
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Gordon Hamilton
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