1 George Street
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James Pearson
Fitter’s Labourer, DornockBiography
‘Sheriff Campion and a jury held a public inquiry on Friday into the death of James Pearson, fitter’s labourer, 1 George Street, Annan, which occurred as the result of injuries sustained in an accident in the Dornock section of the Gretna Factory on the 18th October. The evidence showed that Pearson, who was 56 years of age and belonged to Edinburgh, fell from an iron beam on which he was walking fourteen feet high and fractured his skull, which caused his death the following day. The just returned a formal verdict, but suggested that a plank should have been provided for the man to walk on. The jury asked that their fees should be given to the Red Cross funds.’ – Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 13 December 1916, p. 3.
‘James Pearson, age 56 of Little King Street, Edinburgh, did not regain consciousness after falling 14 feet. A foreman, J Horne, when giving evidence said that it would have taken a tightrope dancer to get along the girder which was only four inches wide. The jury recorded that a better device was needed for going along girders.’ – G Routledge, Gretna’s Secret War, (Bookcase, 1999) p. 39.