The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-08-09 00:00:00

SAD DEATH OF A SCHOOL BOY.

.An inquest has been held at Thorndon Hall, the
seat of Lord Petra, by Mr. W. B. Blood, acting
coroner for Essex, on the body of Francis Gilbert
a'Beckett, aged 13, scn of Mr. Gilbert a'Beckett, of
lham-road. The deceased, who was a pupil at
Wobnrn College, met with his death under very
painful circumstances. He was on a visit to Lord
Petra at Thorndon Hall, and on Wednesday in
last week was shooting iu park with
another pupil from Woburn College and the
gamekeeper. • A bird was shot, which fell into a
large pond, and the deceased, who was an expert
swimmer, undressed and went into the water after
it. Having secured the bird, he was returning with
it, when he was seized with cramp, or caught by the
weeds, and after a brief struggle he sank. The game-
keeper went into the pond, but being unable to swim,
he narrowly escaped being drowned. Lord l'etre
was quickly on the si3ot, and
.endeavoured to recover
the body, but without avail, and a half hour elapsed
before it was recovered by aid of the drags. Life
was then extinct. The jury, who returned a verdict
of "Accidentally drowned," egpressed their sympathy
with ,Lord Petro at the sad occurrence.

"Why are you so precise in your statement? Are
you afraid of telling an untruth ? " asked an attorney
of a witness in s police wart, Ng, 8373" was the
prompt rtsliv.

SURGICAL RELIEF IN RAILWAY
ACCIDENTS.

At the 'United Service Institution in London, Sur-
geon-General Langmore presiding, Baron Mundy, of
Vrenna, delivered an address upon the best means of
affording succour to the victims of accidents upon
railways. Although he had been a witness, both in
this country and his own, of terrible catastrophes of
the kind to which he referred, he had no wish, he
said, to dwell upon their horrors. What he wanted
to point out was that assistance in such cases invari-
ably arrived too late, and the result was the death,
after prolonged sufferings, of many an unfortunate
passenger whose life might otherwise be spared. It
was only from the fact that each individual felt that

',hat the public mind was not 'alive to the subject.
One's first impulse in matters of difficulty was invari-
ably to call for the assistance of the police. Now,
the police were an excellent body in their way, but,
with the best intentions, they might do more harm
than good in cases requiring technical surgical know-
ledge. What he proposed was that ambulance
waggons should be kept in readiness, with supplies
of surgical instruments, bandages, and other
appliances, at different points along the great lines of
railway throughout the country. At these points also
a register should be kept of the skilled assistance
within reach; that is to say, of the names of
medical men in the district, while the fact should be
borne in mind that the least capable surgeon would
be more useful than the ablest physician. Some
apparatus should be designed also for more readily
extricating the wounded from the wrecked carriages,
always a difficult operation, and one which occupied
much time. In 'Vienna something had been done in
the direction indicated, and ambulance waggons,
although not distributed along the lines, were kept in
readiness to be sent to points even at a considerable
distance from the capital. The address, which Baron
Mundy delivered in English, was frequently ap-
plauded.
In a discussion which followed, Mr. J. Furley, of
the St. John's Ambulance Association, pointed out
the difficulties which his society had experienced in
getting the railway companies to make adequate pro-
vision in case of accidents; and Dr. Don, of the
Army Medical Department, pointed out that there were
at the present time 5,000 men belonging to volunteer
bearer companies throughout the country.