# Did Old West outlaws ever tie women to train tracks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-old-west-outlaws-ever-tie-women-to-train-tracks/562714 "2010-12-02T21:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-old-west-outlaws-ever-tie-women-to-train-tracks/562714/21 "2010-12-04T03:02:27Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Yeah. Don’t you guys ever read the Straight Dope? Gfactor did a superbjob on that one. > [@BigT](#): > > Well, aren’t you modest. Apparently you helped out, too. > > From the article: About as modest as you. I supplied a very minor newspaper cite to help him. He really did a great job. Since I had email with him about the article, that’s why I remembered it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-old-west-outlaws-ever-tie-women-to-train-tracks/562714/22 "2010-12-04T03:51:28Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > On a related note - how about when someone is tied to the platform slowly dragging them into the big blade at the old sawmill? I think Snidely Whiplash did that as well as the old railroad bit. Well, that seems to be fairly unrealistic. Whenever I remember seeing such a scene, it shows a full log, and the saw blade is set to cut right through the middle of it. But in real sawmills, they start from the outer edge, and cut the log into thin planks. They do not start from the middle and slice the log in half. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-old-west-outlaws-ever-tie-women-to-train-tracks/562714/23 "2010-12-04T04:46:11Z")
The series Perils of Pauline is the most famous girl on a train track image. The first was done in 1914. Then The Exploits of Elaine came out. 1933 Perils of Pauline was remade. It was remade twice more after that. > **[The Perils of Pauline (1914 serial)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perils_of_Pauline_%281914_serial%29)** > > The Perils of Pauline is a 1914 American melodrama film serial produced by William Randolph Hearst and released by the Eclectic film company, shown in bi-weekly installments, featuring Pearl White as the title character, an ambitious young heiress with an independent nature (in the time before women could vote in the United States) and a desire for adventure. The premise of the story was that Pauline's wealthy guardian Sanford Marvin, upon his death, has left her inheritance in the care of his ... There’s some obvious sexual overtones here. Helpless woman, bound, carried, put in danger. A male fantasy in overdrive. There’s even a phallic aspect to that long, long train that will violate her flesh. I wonder what the female audience thought of this back in 1914? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-old-west-outlaws-ever-tie-women-to-train-tracks/562714.md?page=1)