SEQUEL TO MYSTERY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5293, 29 June 1928, Page 4

SEQUEL TO MYSTERY.

SALESMAN SENT FOR TRIAL. TRAIN STOPPED IN TUNNEL. - Author of a play entitled “Jimmy s Fight in the- Dark,” a young salesman appeared before the Burnley magistrates as the alleged perpetrator of a real-life drama, which the prosecution contended was but. a “flight of imagination.” In support of summonses accusing him of contravening the L.M.S. Railway Company’s by-laws by opening the door of a compartment while a train was in motion .aiid- obstructing the train, remarkable allegations were made against Fred Wood (20), of Burnley. The case arose from a mysterious occurrence in Towneley tunnel on ■March 19. -A train was stopped through the communication cord being; pulled,- and Wood was discovered lying unconscious, in a third-class compartment, one door of which was open. Wood made a complaint that while travelling by train from Preston to Normanton he was assaulted am) robbed of £4 in Treasury notes in the tunnel by an unknown man.

Mr H. E. Daniels, prosecuting, stated that a thorough inquiry bad been made by the police, but they had been unable to trace an assailant or find a ray of evidence in support of the story. Therefore they came to the conclusion that defendant either acted as ; he did to account for a deficiency in travelling expenses—money for which he had to account to his employers—or that it was a practical joke to gain notoriety, and a pure flight of imagination on the part of a young man of rather dramatic tendency who had written a play and taken part in it. Wood’s story, explained Mr Daniels, was- that a man in the compartment threw something into his eyes and he received! a blow on the head. His memory from that point was a blank/ When the train stopped after passing through the tunnel the compartment door was open. Mr Daniels pointed out that the tunnel was 398 yards long, and he submitted that it would be impossible for the most expert “-cat” burgla.r to make his escape from it by the steep sides of the air shaft, and, if he did,'the grate at the top blocked. the means of exit. No one was found hiding in the tunnel. “We don’t believe the story,” concluded Mr Daniels. “The police do not believe it. and I don’t think anyone believes it.”

It was also stated that a detective who examined the compartment found no signs of a struggle, and that an attache case was untouched. Dr. Bailey, of Todmorton. who was called to see Wood a Stansfield. Hall Station, gave evidence that he was not satisfied with the symptoms and signs he saw. They did not correspond with either concussion or compression of the br.ain.

Detective-Inspector S'hillpto read three statements alleged to have been made by Wood to the police. One contained the passage: “When the man came near I felt Him throw something, into my face like pepper. 1 brought my head - down, and it felt as if 1 had been hit by someth'ng, or that something had fallen upon me. I did not remember anything more until 1 i was in hospital.” An extract from another ran : “I never really looked at the man, and we never spoke to each other.” The officer was cross-examined by Mr H. Ogden, who defended. He stated tha.t he interviewed Wood’s family doctor, with a view to ascertaining the young man’s medical history. The doctor told witness that he had treated Wood for epilepsy for some years, and that last November Woods received concussion in a football mqtcli. The doctor added that Wood had suffered from a head attack on the day previous to the assault of which lie complained, and that the solution of the mystery would probably be that it was a case of epileptic eutonomism. The officer agreed -that if Wood (Jid commit the offence be would certainly attribute it to liis medical condition. Subm’tting that there was no case in law to answer. .Mt Ogden pointed out that there was no person who could actually say whether there was a man in the railway .carriage or not. Wood, wlio pleaded not guilty and reserved h’s defence, was committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions. Bail was allowed.