Cock, Alfred 1906 May 4th
The City Coroner (Mr S Buchanan-Smith) held an inquest at the Infirmary on Friday evening. Mr G Coombs was chosen foreman of the jury. The L &SWR Co was represented by Mr W J Trethowan, and Supt Richardson was also present.
The first witness was Caroline Cock, the mother of the deceased child. She said she was the wife of Alfred William Cock, an Admiralty overseer, residing in Glasgow. On Thursday she was travelling in the SWR in the train leaving Waterloo at 11am, and her son, Alfred Henry Cock, aged five years, travelled with her. After leaving Salisbury he complained of his feet being cold and she told him to run up and down in the corridor. Soon after a lady in the same compartment said to her, “Your little boy has gone through the door.” She pulled the communication cord and the train was stopped. The child was picked up and taken to Tisbury station by the railway officials, and afterwards brought to Salisbury Infirmary. She was present when he died at 7 o’clock that (Friday) morning. She did not sleep on the journey after leaving Salisbury.
Archibald Robert Turk, of Wimbledon, said he was a travelling ticket collector on the L & SWR. On Thursday he was travelling on the 11am train from London to Exeter. It was an express train and only stopped at Salisbury. After leaving Salisbury the communication cord was pulled and the train was stopped near Tisbury station. He went to the compartment and was told that a lad had fallen from the train. The doors could be opened from the inside but they were all closed and quite secure. As a rule it took some pressure to open them, but some worked easier than others.
Questioned by a juryman:- Witness thought it was possible for a child of the age of deceased to open the door.
Questioned by Mr Trethowan:- It was his duty to go up and down the corridor from time to time, and he did so. He saw the deceased seven or eight times between Waterloo and Salisbury, and had seen him after leaving Salisbury, he was then in the corridor alone. On arriving at Exeter he pointed out the lock to Carriage Inspector Street, and he examined it in his presence. The door was properly fastened when they left Salisbury.
Mr T B Henderson, house surgeon at Salisbury Infirmary, who affirmed, instead of taking the oath in the usual way, stated that deceased was brought to the institution at about 3.30 on Thursday afternoon. He examined him, and found a wound at the back of the head, bleeding at the nose and mouth, and a small scrape over the right knee. The wounds had been dressed. He did not regain conciousness and died at 7 o’clock that (Friday) morning. The symptoms pointed to fracture of the base of the skull, and probably injury to the brain, as the cause of death.
Henry Street, Chief Carriage Examiner, at Queen Street Station, Exeter, in reply to Mr Trethowan, said he was at the station when the 11 o’clock express from Waterloo arrived. Travelling ticket inspector Turk pointed out to him a third class corridor coach, No 58, and the lock of the door out of which deceased was said to have fallen. He examined it and found it was a double-action lock, Kays Patent. It was in good condition, there was no defect whatever. He examined the other locks in the coach, and found them all in perfect order. A pull of about ten or eleven pounds would be required to open the lock, for he had tested it that morning. If the door had been on the safety catch only, the collector must have noticed it during the journey, for it would let in a current of air and make a rattling noise. Also the handle would not be exactly straight.
Questioned by a juryman:- The locks were examined every day. A child of five might be able to open the door by pulling the lock with both hands, or perhaps with one hand.
The ticket collector, recalled, stated that the window of the door was closed when they left Waterloo, but he did not notice it at the time of the accident: the child was not tall enough to fall out of it, if it had been open. Witness made enquiries of all the passengers, but all of them said they saw nothing of the accident. One said he discovered the door open and closed it, so the deceased must have fallen from that door. They usually travelled at a rate of 50 miles an hour.
Mr Trethowan said that the stationmaster at Tisbury, who saw Mrs Cock just after the accident, would tell them, if they thought it necessary to call him, that Mrs Cock stated she closed her eyes when leaving Salisbury. He (Mr Trethowan) did not like to press the question, but he believed she got tired and fell asleep.
The jury considered the evidence sufficient, and they returned a verdict of “Accidental Death”. The foreman added that they considered that the carriage doors of fast trains should be locked.
On behalf of the Railway Company, Mr Trethowan expressed great regret at the sad accident and promised that the jury’s remarks should be sent to the company.
Wiltshire Coroner's Inquests 1801-1920 