A Boy Run Over at Carnforth A
BOY RUN OVER AT CARNFORTH.
On
Tuesday, William
Stephenson, a boy only ten years of age, was run over by a mineral
train at Carnforth, and killed. The deceased was son of Mr. Christopher
Stephenson, auctioneer, of Carnforth, and was employed as a messenger
at the post office. Andrew
Spires said :
Last night about half-past eight o'clock I brought a letter to the
post-office and saw the deceased playing on the platform. We were
together about ten minutes and then went into the waiting room to sit
by the fire, and when he heard the train coming he ran out. As soon as
the train had passed I heard him crying and I went out. He was lying on
the line and could not get up, and I went and told the persons in the
post-office, and they went to his assistance. Christopher
Stephenson said he was in the employ of the post-office at the
Carnforth Station, The deceased was his brother and a messenger in the
post-office. He left work at eight o'clock in the evening. He had left
work but returned with a letter to post half-an-hour afterwards. About
twenty minutes after his return Spires went into the post-office and
said that a little boy was lying on the line, and on witness going he
was shocked to find it was his brother, and he went home to tell his
parents. James
Bryan, foreman
porter at Carnforth, said : Last night I saw the deceased and another
boy sitting on a form in the waiting room. I saw the deceased go across
the station as though he was going to the post-office. There was a
goods train coming up just at that time, and after it had gone through
the station I went into Mr. Birkett's office to see after some left
luggage. I heard a boy crying and I went out to see what was the
matter, and I saw the last witness coming across the platform and he
said "Oh dear, our William's got run over." We removed the boy to the
waiting room, and on examining him I saw that his legs had been run
over. He was bleeding very much from the wounds, and died in about a
quarter of an hour. We did not take his clothes off, or do anything, as
he was apparently dying from the first. Charles
ferguson,
engine driver, said : I was in charge of the mineral train from Tebay
to Carnforth. I saw the deceased with two other boys playing at the
gate leading to the platform. They were snow-balling each other, and I
told them to go away or else they might get landed. The Jury found the deceased was run over and killed by a goods train. A Boy Run Over at Carnforth - Lancaster Guardian 25th November 1871
|