The Amtrak “Sunset Limited” rolled on in the night through the bayou country. Bayous, rivers and bridges were the main features of the flat landscape, and the train was making good time. Nearing the end of the long trip from the west coast, the passengers were sleeping in comfortable berths or reclining chairs. Then—the jolt, the shock, the wild “roller coaster” motion, and the terrifying awakening. The train was suddenly plunged into the deep, dark water of Bayou Canot.
One car was only half submerged. The panic-stricken passengers inside were choking and blinded by smoke from a car burning near them. Amid the groans and cries of the injured someone yelled, “We’re all going to die!”
One young man, Michael Dopheide, borrowed a key-ring flashlight from a fellow passenger. Following its faint gleam, he scrambled to the higher part of the car. A piece of timber from the bridge had crashed through a window. Climbing outside, Dopheide clung to the timber and called to the others to follow. Holding on with his left hand, he reached out with his right hand to help people scramble through the window. Grasping firmly, he lowered them feet first into the water—a drop of about six feet. Those who could not swim to safety were perched on pieces of wreckage and floated across to a bridge support.
All told, about thirty people grasped that extended hand and were pulled from the wrecked car to safety. Gus Maloney, whose injured wife was rescued by Dopheide, said, “If there were any way to reward him, I would. We’ll be forever grateful.”
There is another hand stretched out—a hand stretched out to you and to me and to all souls in peril of eternal death. God says, All day long I have stretched forth My hands. All day, all night, those hands have been stretched out to rescue souls in danger. That hand is stretched out still and the way to eternal safety is still open. Only take it and, like Gus Maloney, you will be forever grateful.