Train Throttle from the Great Hinckley Fire

Origin
The Great Hinckley Fire was a major conflagration on September 1, 1894, which burned an area of at least 200,000 acres (810 km2; 310 sq mi), perhaps more than 250,000 acres (1,000 km2; 390 sq mi), including the town of Hinckley, Minnesota. The fire killed hundreds, with the minimum number estimated at 418. Some scholars believe the actual figure to be nearly 800. If so, this was the deadliest fire in the history of Minnesota (the 1918 Cloquet Fire killed at least 453).

The user of this item, Jim or James Root, was the person who drove his train, Engine #4, backwards at 18mph to get passengers to safety.

According to a report of the incident: Engine #4 had hardly picked up speed before a blast of superheated air caught up with it. Jim had turned sideways in his seat, which probably saved his life; every pane of glass shattered, and glass tore into his neck, shoulders, and forehead. He slumped over the hot throttle, unconscious, as his shirt blazed. Root's hands swelled so much that the skin became tight and he could hardly bend his fingers. When the train stopped at water, the passengers tore down the wire fence with their bare hands. 3 men dragged Root from the throttl, but all the skin from his hands remained stuck to it. His eyebrows burned off, most hair gone, and face a mass if livil blisters, he survived."

Trivia
(To be added at a later date).