The Derailing of Trains

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

The Derailing of Trains is a letter written by Arthur Conan Doyle first published in The Times on 5 september 1901.


The Derailing of Trains

The Times (5 september 1901)

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir, — Would it not be perfectly feasible to put a truck full of Boer irreconcilables behind every engine which passes through a dangerous part of the country ? Two of these dastardly affairs in the last few weeks have cost us 40 men killed and wounded, while the sum total of men who have been maimed in this fashion during the war amounts to many hundreds. Such a practice as I suggest would infallibly put an end to it, and is so obvious that it is difficult to imagine why it has not been done. The Germans in 1870 continually carried French hostages in the trains.

Yours faithfully,

A. CONAN DOYLE.

Undershaw, Hindhead, Haslemere.