IN THE NICK OF TIME.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 209, 16 June 1933, Page 8

IN THE NICK OF TIME.

BOY SAVES MAN’S LIFE. DRAMATIC RAILWAY DASH. Realising that something had to he done quickly to save the life of a man he saw lying on the railway line, a 15-year-old Cheshire hoy alteied a signal' which .stopped an approaching train. ’ This “good piece of work, ’ as the magistrate described it, was revealed at Altrincham, Cheshire, when Ernest Lowndes, aged 27, of Lane End Ashley, was bound over on a charge of attempting suicide. Superintendent Lees related that the boy, Barr Holmes, saw Lowndes lying in the railway track with his head on one? of the metals. A train was due. Holmes ran along the line to get the stationmaster at Ashley to stop, the train, but could not do so m time.

The boy worked a handlevcr on a pole, which raised the signal independent of signal-box controls. Holmes, who was congratulated by the Bench, was also thanked by Lowndes. “I ran hard, but I realised that I would be too late,” Holmes, giving his own account, of what happened after he had noticed Lowndes lying on the track. 1 could see the lights oi the engine leaving Ashley and coming toward me and the man further down the line.

“A short distance away the signal was showing green. 11: only I could change it to danger I could save the man’s life',; and with the train approaching me I pressed the counterweight. Looking up, I was glad to see that the light had turned to red. The train stopped, and the fireman ran toward mo to ask what, was the matter. I led him to the man.”