ON A TRAIN PLATFORM IN JERSEY CITY

We celebrate Abrham Lincoln's birthday this Thursday FEB 12th-

In late 1864, a young man was waiting for a train in Jersey City, New Jersey. The platform was crowded, with passengers standing close to the edge as trains arrived and departed. It was an ordinary scene—busy, noisy, and unremarkable. At some point, the young man lost his footing. Accounts differ on exactly how it happened, but what's consistent is the result: he slipped into the narrow space between the platform and a moving train. It was the kind of accident that, in the 19th century, often ended ba...