Croydon's Weekly Standard, August 18th 1866

Adjourned inquest on body of John Gates
ADJOURNED INQUEST.- This inquest, on the body of John Gates, who was killed on the line near Wolverton on the night of the 2nd of August, was resumed on the 9th instant at the Radcliffe Arms Inn, before J. Worley, Esq. coroner.- Mr. G.F. Waldener, stationmaster, at Northampton, said:- I was at Blisworth on Tuesday evening last, on the arrival of the 9 p.m. train from London. Seeing some people round a compartment of a second-class carriage, I asked what was the matter. I was told a man had fallen out of the carriage, and I asked the people inside whether it was true. They said it was, and the man nearest the door told me when the train left Euston there were four of them inside. They all went to sleep, and a short time before the train arrived at Blisworth he was aroused by some noise, and on awaking he found the man gone. I asked him for his address and he gave me a card with the name “Brigham Young. Jun.,” I told him there was no address and he wrote the address on it. I asked another man for his address and he said “it is the same, Young; I am Mr. Brigham Young’s brother.” I then asked the third man Latham, for his address and he gave it me at once. All of them gave me their addresses very readily. The two Youngs’ told me they came from Hamburgh, and Latham said he came from Southampton. I asked if the man had any luggage, and Latham said, “He had none here, only a coat.” There was a sailor’s bag under the seat, and I said “Surely that is his,” and Latham said “That is mine.” I asked for the coat, and found it had been given out. I asked the man’s name, and someone on the platform said. “It is on a card here.” I said “I should like to where he was; where was he when you last saw him? Brigham Young at once said. “You had better come in the carriage, and I will show you exactly how we were.” He pointed out the position in which they all lay, and said the missing man lay on the floor with his head towards the door. I ascertained that the door of the carriage on the other side was locked. The window was down, I looked round the carriage and there was no signs of blood, or anything to indicate anything wrong. I have not the slightest suspicion there was any foul play. The men seemed to be respectable. The coroner told the jury he was sorry to say it would be necessary to have another adjournment. Latham, one of the men in the carriage with the deceased, and who seemed to know more than anyone else, had been summoned to attend, but was in Ireland, and could not be up in time to day. There was also another reason for adjournment. There was a difficulty in identifying the body. On Sunday last Mr. Rogers came up and identified the body as that of his brother. It afterwards turned out that Mr. Roger’s brother was alive. There was then reason to suppose that the body was that of a man named Yates(sic), but he had received a letter from a bother-in-law of Yates’s(sic) requesting that the inquest might be adjourned to give him time to make inquiries as he had good reason for believing that it was not the body of Yates(sic). The inquest was again adjourned until seven o’clock the same evening, when the deceased’s wife and brother-in-law, who arrived from Liverpool gave evidence. From their statements it appeared the deceased telegraphed to his wife from Southampton to say that he should be at Liverpool on Thursday night. The following verdict was then returned: - “That the deceased John Gates, being 36 years of age, was found dead on the London and North-Western line of railway with his head cut open, and other injuries, there being no direct evidence to show by what means the said deceased came by his death, but that in the opinion of this jury it was caused by deceased having jumped or fallen from a second-class carriage attached to the evening mail train, in which he was travelling from London to Liverpool, the train running at full speed.”-From enquiries made in Liverpool, it was ascertained that the parties who were in the carriage along with the deceased are respectable men, and that the addresses given by them were quite correct.