We subjoin from the _Annual Register_ for 1864 an account of an alarming
occurrence which took place July 4th of that year:—“In one of the
third-class compartments of the express train leaving King’s Cross
Station at 9.15 p.m., a tall and strongly-built man, dressed as a sailor,
and having a wild and haggard look, took his seat about three minutes
before the train started. He was accompanied to the carriage by a woman,
whom he afterwards referred to as his wife, and by a man, apparently a
cab-driver, of both of whom he took leave when the train was about to
start. It had scarcely done so, when, on putting his hand to his pocket,
he called out that he had been robbed of his purse, containing £17, and
at once began to shout and gesticulate in a manner which greatly alarmed
his fellow-travellers, four in number, in the same compartment. He
continued to roar and swear with increasing violence for some time, and
then made an attempt to throw himself out of the window. He threw his
arms and part of his body out of the window, and had just succeeded in
placing one of his legs out, when the other occupants of the carriage,
who had been endeavouring to keep him back, succeeded in dragging him
from the window. Being foiled in this attempt, he turned round upon
those who had been instrumental in keeping him back. After a long and
severe struggle, which—notwithstanding the speed the train was running
at—was heard in the adjoining compartments, the sailor was overcome by
the united exertions of the party, and was held down in a prostrate
position by two of their number. Though thus secured, he still continued
to struggle and shout vehemently, and it was not till some time
afterwards, when they managed to bind his hands and strap him to the
seat, that the passengers in the compartment felt themselves secure.
This train, it may be explained, makes the journey from London to
Peterborough, a distance little short of eighty miles, without a single
stoppage; and as the scene we have been describing began immediately
after the train left London, the expectation of having to pass the time
usually occupied between the two stations (one hour and fifty minutes)
with such a companion must have been far from agreeable. While the
struggle was going on, and even for some time afterwards, almost frantic
attempts were made to get the train stopped. The attention of those in
the adjoining compartment was readily gained by waving handkerchiefs out
of the window, and by-and-by a full explanation of the circumstances was
communicated through the aperture in which the lamp that lights both
compartments is placed. A request to communicate with the guard was made
from one carriage to another for a short distance, but it was found
impossible to continue it, and so the occupants of the compartments
beyond the one nearest the scene of the disturbance could learn nothing
as to its nature, a vague feeling of alarm seized them, and all the way
along to Peterborough a succession of shouts of ‘Stop the train,’ mixed
with the frantic screams of female passengers, was kept up. On the
arrival of the train at Peterborough the man was released by his captors
and placed on the platform. No sooner was he there, however, than he
rushed with a renewed outburst of fury on those who had taken the chief
part in restraining his violence, and as he kept vociferating that they
had robbed him of his money, it was some time before the railway
officials could be got to interfere—indeed, it seemed likely for some
time that he would be allowed to go on in the train. As remonstrances
were made from all quarters to the station-master to take the fellow into
custody, he at length agreed, after being furnished with the names and
addresses of the other occupants of the carriage, to hand him over to the
police. The general impression on those who witnessed the sailor’s fury
seemed to be that he was labouring under a violent attack of delirium
tremens, and he had every appearance of having been drinking hard for
some days. Had there been only one or even two occupants of the
compartment besides himself, there seems every reason to believe that a
much more deadly struggle would have ensued, as he displayed immense
strength.”