On Monday 15th November 1909, a horrific injury happened to a little girl in Low Blantyre. A warning that this article contains some upsetting content.
On that afternoon, six year old girl Teresa McCaffrey or Cafferty, daughter of Thomas McCaffrey (a miner of McAlpines Buildings) was seriously injured by a tramcar. The little girl had been playing further up Glasgow Road towards the junction of Station Road when she suddenly bolted across the road, not noticing the oncoming tramcar.
So quick were her movements, there was no time for the tram driver to do much and the result was the little girl was knocked down. The tram wheels ran over her right arm, severing off her right hand at the wrist and two of her toes were also injured. She also sustained a couple of nasty cuts to her head. In shock, she was taken to the police office where Dr Wilson was called for at once. After dressing her injuries and stemming the bleeding, she was taken to the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow where it was feared that a further amputation may have been needed for her foot.
The scene of the accident is shown here in the same era.
