Alan Ainwood Gossage

Alan Ainwood Gossage died after falling out of a train between Chester and Crewe.

His body was found on the line between Waverton and Tattenhall Road Stations.

He was a stockbroker who lived at the Dunes in West Kirby and worked in Liverpool.

When he was last seen at Crewe getting on the 5.05pm Chester train nothing seemed amiss with him. When the train reached Chester a signalman noticed the door of a first class carriage was swinging open and Alan Gossage was soon found on the line with terrible head injuries. Two suitcases, an overcoat, some books and an umbrella were found left in the compartment.

When he was seen at Crewe the ticket-collector said that he asked Alan Gossage for his ticket but that he couldn't find it and said that he must have lost it at Euston in the dining car.

A train guard said that he noticed Alan Gossage in the first-class compartment because he had looked like an unusually serious man.

When he was found he had £11 in money on him.

A supervisor from Crewe said that the lock on the carriage door could not possibly be opened without being operated. When the train had left Crewe all the door handles were securely fastened.

A cashier at Alan Gossage's firm in Liverpool said that Alan Gossage had no financial worries.

It was suggested that he had opened the door in error and stepped out.

An open verdict was returned stating that he had met his death by falling from a train but that there was insufficient evidence to show how he came to fall out.

He had recently returned from Switzerland two weeks earlier where he had been for winter sports which he did every year.