THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

The Press Association learns from an authoritative source that while it is hard to estimate at their proper value the constant reports of Germany’s approaching collapse, both economic and political, is worse than it has ever been since the start of the war. A neutral Diplomatist who has just passed through Berlin was much struck by the change since he was there in the summer. The food conditions he described as very bad. For the great mass of the population the situation is absolutely awful.

50 years ago

A Coupar Angus man who became an engineer in Canada has remembered his home town in his will. Mr James Ferguson, Ontario, died over a year ago and has left £13,000 to provide financial or other assistance for needy residents over 65 years of age, or under that age in special cases. Provost John Davidson said the money had been invested and it was anticipated £800 would be produced in interest. The provost estimated there were about 400 people over 65 in Coupar Angus.

25 years ago

Police launched a murder investigation after confirming that a boy found dead on a railway embankment was missing toddler James Bulger. The body of the twoyear-old boy was found by four boys on the embankment of the Edge Hill to Bootle freight line, near Liverpool’s Walton police station yesterday – 48 hours after he disappeared from a shopping centre. The boy’s parents Denise (25) and Ralph (26) were being comforted by relatives. Police were not revealing the cause of death.

One year ago

Fife Council will launch a major investigation into the safety of headstones in all of the region’s 115 cemeteries. It follows the death of Ciaran Williamson (8), who was crushed by a falling tombstone as he played with friends in a cemetery in Glasgow. The trial will start in Inverkeithing and Cupar cemeteries, with those surveys then being used to shape the investigation of all of the region’s graveyards. The council will label headstones in need of repair until next of kin can be traced.