An alarming accident happened at Main Street, High Blantyre on the evening of Monday 7th May 1906. Motor cars on the roads in that year was something fairly new and rare and when one of the contraptions overturned, it caused quite a stir.
The motor car belonged to Mr. William Hamilton, an engineer of Uddingston. He was the driver and along with him were his two sisters. When proceeding through Kirkton, a child named William Frame ran from a close right in front of the car. Seeing the child, Mr Hamilton made a brave effort to save the child and in doing so abruptly swerved his car to the right hand side of the road. However, the car struck the granolithic kerb on the right hand side of the road, flipping the car up on to its side, narrowly missing tenement houses, with the car coming to a stop in the sawmill entrance. (pictured at the wooden fence under the tree). Mr Hamilton and his sisters were all thrown heavily from the vehicle on to the ground.
Beyond a severe shock, all occupants of the vehicle were not badly hurt. However, three men had been walking on the pavement. Richard Fisher, George Martin and James Wallace and the car ended up on top of them. Wallace escaped without injury but Fisher and Martin were hurt, suffering bodily injury and were taken to their homes close by. Both the men suffered broken legs, and in the case of Fisher, he had three fractures, prompting him to later be taken to hospital.
The car ended up lying in the Sawmills yard for a time, as Blantyre contemplated further the dangerous of these mechanical beasts now on the roads.