A PLATELAYER KILLED ON THE LINE NEAR CLIFTON A PLATELAYER KILLED ON THE LINE NEAR CLIFTON 9th May 1863 On Monday night an inquest was held at the Clifton Station, on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, before G. R. Thompson, Esq, coroner, on the body of William Horn, a native of Melkinthorpe, who met his death by being run over on the line near Clifton on the previous Saturday morning. The evidence showed that the deceased, along with other labourers, was laying spikes for fixing the sleepers, when a goods train from the north came up. It was proceeding at only fourteen miles an hour as it was passing through a station, and the engine was whistling as it came. Deceased, who was standing in the " six-foot " with his back to the train, did not move till the engine was within a few yards of him, and then unhappily he moved between the rails on which the train was coming. He was knocked down, and the train, consisting of fifty loaded waggons and two engines, one before and one behind, went over him, killing him on the spot. The driver knew that the engine had passed over him by the jolting of the carriages. One of his hands was cut off. Deceased would have been quite safe if he had remained on the " six-foot." He was twenty years of age. Verdict - " Accidental death." Deceased's employer, after the verdict had been given, said that his men were ordered to leave off work when a train was a distance of 400 yards from the place where they were employed. THE WESTMORLAND GAZETTE SATURDAY 16th MAY 1863 http://keswick.ww1.googlepages.com/keswickatwar
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