NARROW ESCAPE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4961, 12 April 1926, Page 2

NARROW ESCAPE.

WAIHI RESIDENT’S EXPERIENCE.

SAVED BY ENGINE FIREMAN.

Mr John McKeown, a very old resident of Waihi, had a miraculous; escape from being the other day * (states the Wajhi Telegraph). McKeown, who is within a year or two of being a : n octogenarian, and whose' eyesight and hearing are impaired, was proceeding along the Waihi Company’s: tramline in the vicinity of the, crossing at Gilmour Street when the company's engine, returning from Waikino with a, long trail of empty trucks, came along. Driver S. Stack sounded the whistle and, observing that the man ahead did not make any attempt to get off the line, gave a continuous blast, still, to no purpose.

When within a few yards of.the. old man Mr Sidney Sleemam, the fireman on the engine, jumped from the footplate, and right in front pf the engine threw McKeown clear of the rails. He, himself, however, was struck on the hip, the impact knocking him clear of the line. But for Sleeman’s prompt and plucky action —although the engine-driver had the brakes hard on—McKeown would undoubtedly have been killed.