John McKelvery Jordan

John McKelvery Jordan died after falling from a North Express train.

He had been travelling with a party of seamen but they all denied that they knew how he fell from the train.

He and the other seamen were members of the crew of the steamship Fernmoor which was then at Barry Docks.

Two of his fellow shipmates were accused of his manslaughter and held in custody from 22 March 1926 but discharged on 1 April 1926 when the prosecution offered no evidence.

John Jordan was from Glasgow and had lived at 153 Oxford Street there.

He had been travelling by train from South Wales to Glasgow with eight other shipmates when he fell.

He was first reported missing by members of his party to the ticket collector. An investigation showed that the compartment next to that in which the seamen had been travelling in had a broken window and had whisky and beer bottles littered about.

Later, John Jordan was later found on the railway line near Nantyderry. The back of his head was battered in although the front portion was practically unmarked.

There was blood on the bridge there as well as blood on the outside of the railway compartment.

John Jordan was a short man, not over five feet tall and it was difficult to understand how his head could have come into contact with the bridge.

John Jordan's cousin, who had been travelling with him and was charged with his manslaughter along with another man, said that John Jordan was travelling in the next compartment to him but that he did not see him after the train left Pontypool Road.