James Kirk (1841-1916) had an eventful career as a
railwayman at Newtownstewart. Employed as a Surfaceman (track worker, p-way
man) for the Irish North-Western Railway, James was called as a witness at the
trial(s) of Thomas Hartley Montgomery, who was accused and eventually convicted
of the murder of William Glass in the Northern Bank in 1871. More of this in a
future posting.
By 1876 the INW had merged with the Northern Railway of
Ireland and the Ulster Railway to form the Great Northern Railway.
James had moved on to become a Night Watchman by the time
he had this unfortunate encounter with an overcarried drunk, as reported in The Londonderry Sentinel, Saturday
February 21, 1891
