TOOK WRONG TRAIN

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4325, 3 August 1937, Page 7

TOOK WRONG TRAIN

WORKED HIS WAY HOME Jimmy Hall, a 16-year-old sailor boy, got on the wrong train. When he found himself stranded in London with only 4s 6d he worked his way back to Newcastle, 270 miles away, walking most of the way. It took him three mouths.

Questions were asked about his exploit in the House of Commons when Miss Irene Ward (Con., Wallsend) told Sir John Simon, the Home Secretary, that the Admiralty telephoned Scotland Yard about the disappearance of the boy, and that Scotland Yard withheld information.

Sir John replied that the Admiralty was satisfied that the police gave all the information they had. This is the story of Janies Hall’s travels, pieced together from police reports, friends’ stories, and Sir John Simon’s statement. James, an only son whose father died from war wounds, had achieved his life’s ambition and joined the Navy —after his m not her had tried to dissuade him. He spent his Christmas leave with his mother, who is caretaker of business property in Eldon Square, Newcastle. . On January I his leave expired. His mother saw him comfortably seated in a train from Harwich, where his training ship Ganges lay. But James changed into a train which landed him at King’s Cross with the 4s 6d in his pocket. He decided to work his way back to Newcastle. Relatives thought he had been shanghaied. His mother worried, developing a nervous breakdown. Then the Newcastle police found Hall before he had reached his home — and sent him back to his ship.