Newspaper report of event @ Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire - 1874

[Ruskie]

I am hoping to find some details of an event at Newton Stewart Railway Station on 30 May 1874 and wonder if there may have been a newspaper report of the incident.

His d/c tells me that William Lamont died at 3.20pm from "shock to the system from injuries received at Newton Stewart Railway Station". He died at Carseminnoch (Carse Minnoch) which I've discovered is about 3 miles from the station. William was living at Darncroft in 1871, Daltammie in 1861 and Blackcraig before that, so I have no idea what he was doing at Carse Minnoch. His son was the informant so I'm wondering if it may have been his residence?

If anyone has access to any Scottish newspapers of the area I would be most grateful for a lookup.
Thank you.

[tidybooks]

Hi Ruskie,

In the Scotsman of Monday, 1st June 1874, it was reported, "Newton Stewart - Fatal Railway Accident - On Saturday afternoon an old man named Wm. Lamont was fatally injured at the Newton Stewart Railway Station. Lamont, who was a forester at Kirroughtrie, was at the station on business and during some shunting operations he got between the buffers of two waggons, and was so terribly crushed he died in half-an-hour."

Tom

[sancti]

Exact same report is in the Glasgow Herald

[Ruskie]

That was very quick, thank you Tom and Sancti. It's good to get a bit more detail about his death.

William was 63 years so not that old.  The d/c said "duration of disease" was "about 2 hours". 

I still wonder why he would have been taken all the way to Carse Minnoch in that condition.

[sancti]

Was Carse Minnoch the place of death or where his son lived?

[Ruskie]

Under the heading "when and where died" is:
1874
May Thirtieth
3h. 20m. PM
at
Carseminnoch
in
Minnigaff

Maybe the papers overdramatised the accident. It does say he died from "shock to the system" rather than being crushed to death between a couple of trains. 

I just thought this may have been his son's residence. It's not important, I was just curious about why they would move him unless it was for some kind of medical treatment (though it sounds like his injuries were beyond that).

If I have found the right census entry for his son, he was living at Larg Farm House in 1871, which looks to be quite close to Kirroughtrie where William worked (though that doesn't necessarily mean he also lived at there).

All these places appear to be fairly close to one another.

[Auchencrieff]

I was intrigued by the message and as I am currently in Newton Stewart I did some research in the local library. Carse Minnoch is 3 miles from Newton Stewart and Larg Farm House is in the area.

The Wigtown Free Press dated 4th June 1874 section 4g states:
"Fatal Accident at Railway Station.
On Saturday afternoon while a goods train was shunting at the station here, the Kirroughtree forester and two of his men including one named Wm. Lamont were pushing up two waggons to get at one they wished to unload. A waggon thrown off by the engine came back into the siding, and striking them as they were pushing and drove them back. Lamont was caught between the buffers of the one he was pushing and the waggon behind him. When released he was able to walk out, but complained very much of inward hurts. Dr. Dickson was immediately in attendance, and as no injury could be discovered by his examination, the patient was sent home to Carseminnoch, on reaching which he suddenly expired. He had been on the Kirroughtree Estate for upwards of twenty years."   

I hope this has been helpful.

[Ruskie]

Auchencrieff, thank you for going to so much trouble and looking this up in the library. The information you uncovered is very informative and answers all the questions I had about this death. It all fits together perfectly. I am glad to learn so much more about this unfortunate event.  Many thanks once again. Your help is much appreciated.