THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

A strange double tragedy was discovered at Aberdeen yesterday morning. When the girl assistant employed in the shop of Messrs Thomson, dyers, 86 Union Street, entered the premises at nine o’clock she found the dead bodies of a man and woman, locked in each other’s arms. Dr Matthew Hay, the medical officer, stated that death was due to poisoning. The man was William Kynoch, who managed the business, and Mrs John Wilson, wife of a spirit merchant.

50 years ago

The search drama for the five-yearold-boy missing all Saturday night in Tentsmuir Forest, near Tayport, ended shortly after eight o’clock yesterday morning when the boy was found alive and well. He was found within yards of the point where he had gone missing. Small, fair-haired Grant Rae had spent the night sleeping under logs, unaware that search parties totalling more than 100 people were combing the 3,500-acre forest through the night. He had been gathering cones with friends.

25 years ago

A Greek tanker which left the Sullom Voe oil terminal in Shetland on Sunday ran aground and caught fire at the entrance to the port of La Coruna in Spain yesterday. The 54,000-tonne Aegean Sea, which was carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, was still ablaze and threatening more explosions more than 12 hours after it went on to the rocks in heavy seas just before dawn. Flames spread across the water as the ship began leaking oil from its cracked storage tanks and shattered hull.

One year ago

A Perthshire village is celebrating a windfall left by a former Nazi soldier. German prisoner of war Heinrich Steinmeyer never forgot the kindness shown to him by the people of Comrie and has repaid the debt by leaving nearly £400,000 to the community. In line with his wishes, the money will be used to benefit local elderly people. Andrew Reid of the Comrie Development Trust, which will administer the cash, said: “People in Comrie will both honour and benefit from his legacy.”