Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

JUNE 24, 1936

Tragedy Strikes in Front of Cafe

I am sorry to report that Idgie’s and Ruth’s little boy lost his arm last week while playing on the tracks in front of the cafe. He was running alongside of the train when he slipped and fell on the tracks. The train was traveling about forty miles an hour, Conductor Barney Cross said.

He is still over at the hospital in Birmingham, and although he lost a lot of blood, he is fine and will be home soon.

That makes a foot, an arm, and an index finger we have lost right here in Whistle Stop this year. And also, the colored man that was killed, which just says one thing to us, and that is that we need to be more careful in the future. We are tired of our loved ones losing limbs and other things.

And I, for one, am tired of writing about it.

… Dot Weems …