Railway Adventures and Anecdotes: Extending over More Than Fifty Years
History
Railway Adventures and Anecdotes: Extending over More Than Fifty Years
Railroads
An officer of confidence was immediately sent to the Secretary of State,
to state their hesitation and its cause, as the message was, in fact, a
death warrant, and that Mr. Walter must have undoubted evidence of its
correctness. On Mr. Walter drawing the attention of the Secretary of
State to the fact, that the transmission of such a message was, in
effect, to make him the Sheriff, the conduct of the railway company, in
requiring unquestionable evidence and authority, was warmly approved.
The proper signature was affixed in Mr. Walter’s presence; and the
telegraph then conveyed to the criminal the sad news, that the suspension
of the awful sentence was only temporary. Hutchings was executed soon
after it reached Maidstone.
—_Annual Register_, 1847.
LOST LUGGAGE.
Sir Francis Head, giving an account of the contents of the Lost Luggage
Office, at Euston Station, observes:—“But there were a few articles that
certainly we were not prepared to meet with, and which but too clearly
proved that the extraordinary terminus-excitement which had suddenly
caused so many virtuous ladies to elope from their red shawls—in short,
to be all of a sudden not only in ‘a bustle’ behind, but all over—had
equally affected men of all sorts and conditions.
“One gentleman had left behind him a pair of leather hunting breeches!
another his boot-jacks! A soldier of the 22nd regiment had left his
knapsack containing his kit. Another soldier of the 10th, poor fellow,
had left his scarlet regimental coat! Some cripple, probably overjoyed
at the sight of his family, had left behind him his crutches!! But what
astonished us above all was, that some honest Scotchman, probably in the
ecstasy of suddenly seeing among the crowd the face of his faithful
_Jeanie_, had actually left behind him the best portion of his
bagpipes!!!
“Some little time ago the superintendent, on breaking open, previous to a
general sale, a locked leather hat-box, which had lain in this dungeon
two years, found in it, under the hat, £65 in Bank of England notes, with
one or two private letters, which enabled him to restore the money to the
owner, who, it turned out, had been so positive that had left his hat-box
at an hotel at Birmingham that he made no inquiry for it at the railway
office.”
VERY NICE TO BE A RAILWAY ENGINEER.
A lady in conversation with a railway engineer observed, “It must be very
nice to be a railway engineer, and be able to travel about anywhere you
want to go to for nothing.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account