Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz will be inducted into the baseball hall of fame this weekend. Aside from the three World Series he helped bring to the city, among the memories this is likely to stir up among fans is the rousing speech Big Papi gave shortly after the Boston Marathon bombing. “This is our fucking city!” he shouted at Fenway Park.
Many locals had a similar reaction to the heroics of another Boston figure on Thursday morning when an MBTA train heading into the neighboring city of Somerville caught on fire.
Thankfully no one was injured, but the sudden fire, as the train crossed over the Mystic River – known in part for its historic use, and misuse, in local industry – was a frightening experience for the 200 or so passengers who climbed out of windows on to the tracks.
One commuter remained undaunted, though. She jumped off the tracks into the water, swam to shore, and carried on with her morning.
“An unidentified female passenger jumped off the bridge into the river,” Somerville fire chief Charles Breen told the Boston Globe. “Our marine boat happened to be in the river for training and was on scene immediately. The woman refused to get into the boat. She was provided a life jacket and proceeded to swim to shore … then she walked away.”
No emergency support. No shot for whatever bacteria are lurking in the Mystic River – cleaner now than it was in its industrial heyday, sure, but still no one’s ideal of a recreational spot. No one else’s business. Just on to the shore and on with her day. A common refrain among local commenters was that she was probably already late for work anyway, knowing the MBTA, and just needed to keep moving by any means possible. Maybe she’d had a large iced Dunkin’ and felt invincible.
New video shows a person in the water after an Orange Line train broke down and started smoking over the Mystic River.
— Rob Way (@RobWayTV) July 21, 2022
Riders had to climb off the train on to the tracks and walk back to the station. Witnesses say one person even jumped into the water. pic.twitter.com/Gvimj7krf9
Many on Twitter heralded the mystery woman as a Boston archetype: people here have very little patience for nonsense or having their time wasted. Jokes also abounded about the absolute state of America’s oldest subway system, often beleaguered by trains in disrepair, derailments, accidents and unreliable schedules.
But elected officials weren’t laughing. Boston’s mayor, Michelle Wu, posted that the fire was “more evidence of an ageing transit system in crisis”.
“Obviously, today is just a colossal failure,” Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker said.
The one interview everyone in Boston wants is the woman who *swam away* from the flaming train this morning. She's our new Queen.
— Andre Green (@dre4theville) July 21, 2022
The woman wants to remain anonymous, and told local news she was frightened she wouldn’t be safe next to the train.
“I was very scared for all of us. We had no idea what was happening. It was like pandemonium,” she told WBZ-TV’s Anna Meiler, adding that she felt she would be “safer in the water right now than walking down the tracks”.
Just like that she was gone.
We may never know the identity of the mystery woman but she has provided a contemporary update on the old folk song kids in Massachusetts learn called Charlie on the MTA.
“Did he ever return? No, he never returned. And his fate is still unlearned … ”
