CAUGHT IN THE POINTS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 50, 23 October 1912, Page 8

CAUGHT IN THE POINTS.

WAITING FOR A DREADFUL DEATH. Cases have occurred in which men have been caught by the foot in railway points, but a still more extraordinary accident befell Thomas Birch on the London and North-Western line near Crewe on a recent Saturday night. He was trapped by the arm. Despite his struggles he could not extricate himself, and a train severed the limb. Birch had been spending a holiday at Earlstowu, and was returning to Willcsden, where he lives. How he happened to be on the line is not known. It is supposed that he fell at the electric crossing points just as a signalman turned the levers to switch on a train. The points closed with a snap, and his arm was tightly trapped. He must have heard trains approaching him, and his frantic efforts to free himself may be imagined. Probably bo feared that he would be killed by the first train passing on the rails to which he was pinned; instead, after an age of agonising suspence, lie escaped with the loss of part of ids arm. Even then .he could not free himself, and he lay on the line groaning and shouting for help. His cries were heard by passengers in a passing train. They looked out of the carriage windows, hut it was so dark that they could see nothing. The train was stopped and the line was searched. When Birch was found he was so tightly held by the points that it took quite half an hour to extricate him. He was taken to the railway hospital, and Dr. Lawrence, the company’s surgeon, amputated His left arm at the shoulder. In November, 1909, a railway porter was caught by the heel of his boot in points at Peterborough and killed by an express train. A boy of 15 named Bertie Brewster, who was caught by both feet at Ilford in December, 1901, threw himself backwards to escape a train, but bis feet were cut off. A shunter named John Jones'lost a log at Birmingham in December, 1909, in a similar manner, and Walter Salisbury was killed while trapped at Holloway in February, 1905. A carriage cleaner named Jeffreys, could not extricate bis foot when it was pinned at Landore Viaduct in June, 1904, although bo unlaced his.,boot and a train injured bis knee so seriously that his leg had to be amputated.