This is the railway bridge crossing over the end of the road at John Street, Blantyre. Pictured fairly recently, this location reminded me on a peculiar incident which happened in 1901, some 122 years ago.
About 10 o clock in the evening on Saturday 7th September 1901, a miner named Edward Cornfield (40) met with a serious accident at this location. Found lying on the road below the bridge, police took his statement and pieced together how he ended up on the pavement.
Edward’s statement to police stated that he’d crossed over the railway and was stepping over the horizontal iron paling thinking he was stepping on to the road. But instead, he went over the side, and fell the distance down to the carriageway of John Street (at the time called New Station Road). He lay there for a time at this entrance to the Clyde Braes and banks of the River Clyde. After discovery by police, he was conveyed by stretcher to his home at Melbourne Place, Auchinraith Road. Dr Wilson who attended the home later concluded that the man had suffered a serious injury to his spine and had him removed to the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow on the next day.
