On Monday 18th November 1895, six Blantyre youths stood up in the Justice of Peace Court in Hamilton to face their punishment for previous dangerous antics.
Francis Campbell, Duncan Brown, Hugh McDonald, John McGhie, Thomas McLaughlin and John Ferrie were charged with placing a plate layers bogie on the rails of a railway siding at Dixons Pit 4 at Larkfield. Today this would have been at edge of the bing at the corner of Glenfruin Road and Broompark Road.
It was a dangerous thing to do and could have caused an accident. Caught, they all pled guilty and as a deterrent to this kind of activity in future, the Court ordered the boys to receive 5 stripes each with a birch rod, to be given immediately.
As soon as the sentence was given a prolonged wail came from the boys in the dock and sounds of sorrow and concern around the courtroom. Mr Weir, the genial Fiscal then took the opportunity to explain to the court that the boys had already been medically examined beforehand and were deemed fit enough to receive such a punishment. He would personally oversee to ensure the punishment was not overly injurious to the boys.
Well, reading that I’m left with the impression the court had made its mind up before the case was heard, for why else would the boys be examined prior to their plea. It would not have been a pleasant experience to see or hear 30 lashes being given out that day and the cries it must have prompted. Different times indeed.
I did a similar thing growing up in nearby New York City. I was about 10 years old in 1953 and lived a few blocks from the street-level city subway tracks. Going thru a hole in the fence, we kids used to place a copper penny on the track. The passing train would flatten the coin. We thought it was so cool. Little did we realize the trains were powered my a high-voltage rail that rain next to the tracks to power the subway cars. A “shoe” attached to the train ran along the top of the electricity rail. I could have been electrocuted and fried like toast if I touched the rail.