The North Carolina born writer decides not to go to Connecticut with his oh-so-patient editor Max Perkins. But instead of just declining Perkins’ invitation to go to his weekend home, Wolfe opts to board the train and then change his mind at the last moment.

He jumps from  a moving train on this day in 1932 and lands onto the Grand Central Station platform. But the clumsy 6’5 writer doesn’t make it onto level ground without injuring himself. He severs a vein in his left arm after falling on the concrete platform.

Writer and editor had been drinking heavily and had made their way unsteadily to the train. When Perkins saw Wolfe on the platform, he described the scene as similar to a beached whale on Cape Cod. Emergency wires were pulled and a crowd gathered around Wolfe. Of course, Wolfe goes into a very long description of what he was thinking: shame that he had injured himself and had broken his arm “uselessly, horribly, stupidly and wastefully.”