Dear list members, Sometimes when I tell someone that my hobby is genealogy, the first question they ask is how far back have you gotten. We who do this never ending puzzle know that is not our main goal. Rather, we like to get to know our ancestors as real people and the more we can find on them and their lives the better. Thanks to many of you on this list I just hit a big pay load. A few weeks ago I wrote to you asking advice on how to locate an old newspaper for a train accident. The family story was that my great-grandfather had gone back to Durham from the USA for a visit. He was a coal miner and a bit of a drinker, gambler and fighter. It was passed down that while there he was drinking and tried to beat a train with a buggy and lost. Now, I always wondered if this was just a convenient story to loose a wife and five kids. So I sent for his death certificate and learned he indeed did die from schock after being run over by a train. Of course that lead to really wanting the details. Thanks to your leading me to the British Library, I just received two articles on the accident. It seems he went home for a Christmas visit to surprise his mother who lived in Crook (great info-not only was she still living but the exact place). He arrived from Liverpool to Bishop Auckland and had an hour wait for the train to Crook. He spent it at the local pub at which he stayed too long and missed the train. He did go to the station which was closing as the last train had left and the porter and his wife were putting out the lights. He fell off the dark platform and must of passed out with his arm over the rail and a cattle train came by and cut his arm off near the shoulder. The porter's wife heard someone yell for a doctor who they called and they moved him to the workhouse (? what that is) and three doctors removed his shoulder joint the next day at the workhouse. Ouch! This was Dec. 1873. He rallied at first and then sank and died on the third day. He was visited several times by a sister and brother who lived in the area(also good to know). Very sad story but what a treasure! Like so many deaths of the time, he probably wouldn't have died from that today. He would have lost his arm and retired on disability. How lucky are we to live today even though the newspapers today are filled with so much sadness. What a New Years my great-grandmother must have had when she got that news. She had five kids ages 1-13 with all her family back in Durham. She did stay though and toughed it out. The five kids all grew to be adults and said she was a great mom. Thanks again for your help in acquiring this great piece of family information that makes my tree swell with reality. Stephanie Schickinger