25 YEARS AGO/1983
Omagh-born soldier arrested in Hong Kong incident
AN Omagh man was one of two armed British soldiers who surrendered after incidents at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport when two policemen were held hostage.
The soldiers are members of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards.
The two men apparently went on a rampage in the early hours of Monday morning when, following a drinking spree, they took a military vehicle from the barracks. On encountering police they fired six shots and abandoned the vehicle.
They later forced a driver from his car and drove to the airport where they disarmed and took two policemen hostages.
After firing two warning shots and demanding food and cigarettes, they 'holed up' in the departure lounge, which resulted in the airport being closed for two hours and flights delayed. However, they eventually gave themselves up to security men.
Lorry crashed into house
FIVE members of an Augher family had a lucky escape when a Dutch lorry partly demolished their 100-year-old house on the Ballygawley-Enniskillen road.
The 40 ft vehicle crashed into the building as Mr and Mrs Albert Maxwell, their son and two daughters, lay sleeping in bed. The driver of the lorry had been on his way from Larne to collect fish at Killybegs.
He escaped serious injury and was taken to the South Tyrone Hospital, Dungannon, suffering from shock and cuts to his head.
50 YEARS AGO/1958
Omagh businessman meets Tyrone people in America
A WELL-KNOWN Tyrone businessman, Charles V McAleer, Campsie, Omagh, returned home from a visit to the United States and Canada during which he visited many Tyrone people in several cities and contacted other friends and acquaintances by telephone over distances of thousands of miles.
Mr McAleer, who is highly esteemed in tourism circles as proprietor of a prominent travel agency business in Omagh, stated on his return that he was overjoyed to note how Tyrone people and other Irish emigrants had prospered in America.
He said, "I can truthfully say that all of those I met or of whom I heard when I was over there are doing splendidly in the professions and in commerce. They are a tribute to their native land.
Mobile shops are labelled 'pirate grocers'
OMAGH Urban Council unanimously adopted a resolution asking the British Government to introduce legislation controlling mobile shops which RH O'Connor MP described as 'pirate grocers.' Mr O'Connor said that he could understand the anxiety of some business people at small shops remaining open all nights but a greater menace was the mobile shops which were offering goods of all description in a door-to-door canvas for custom. The family shop was being forced out of business by these mobile shops. He proposed they ask the government to introduce legislation seeking to control these mobile shops.
75 YEARS AGO/1933
Man's tragic death
THE Drominskin railway tragedy of last February during the strike on the Great Northern Railway had an echo in the Dublin Circuit Court when an application was granted by Judge Davitt for the allotment of £210 compensation agreed to be paid by the railway company under the Workmen's Compensation Act to the dependants of the late James Patterson, 38, single, a native of Newtownstewart, a railway clerk, who was killed while acting as temporary guard on the day of the tragedy.
The application was made on behalf of Samuel and Matilda Patterson, of Grange Newtownstewart, the parents of James Patterson, who asked that the amount should be paid to them. The Judge made the order sought.
Tyrone native charged with attempted suicide
AN elderly man, John Mullen, who said he was a native of Omagh, was in the Dublin District Court put back for medical examination on a charge of attempting to commit suicide by throwing himself into the Liffey.
Michael Murphy said he was driving a lorry along the quay and saw a man in the Liffey. Throwing off his overcoat he jumped in. Someone threw a lifebuoy, which witness put around the man while holding him with his right arm. They were taken from the water.
Thomas Murphy said he was standing with some companions when the prisoner came and handed one of them a note which stated: 'Please direct bearer to Drumcondra, Swords and Drogheda.' The Justice paid a tribute to the rescuer, the accused was remanded.
100 YEARS AGO/1908
Proposal rejected
AT the monthly meeting of Dungannon Urban Council, vice-chairman John Cunningham proposed that the council put the Artisans Dwellings Amended 'Act' into force, and that 60 artisans' cottages be erected forthwith by the council.
He said there were 100 unemployed men in Dungannon with 700 starving people depending on them, and the erection of these dwellings would give them needed employment. The working men were badly in want of proper housing accommodation and it was time for him to come forward as a 'Moses' to deliver them.
The chairman said he must rule the motion out of order as the 'Act' referred to was only at present a Bill before the House of Lords.
Brothers' quarrel
ARISING out of a quarrel concerning the proprietorship of graves in Knock burial ground, near Belfast, a sensational occurrence took place at the booking-office of the Belfast and County Down Railway Station.
While John Gelston, a farmer, was talking to a friend it is stated that William Gelston came up and, after having been refused a sum of money, produced a mug of vitriol and dashed the contents on his brother.
Suffering great agony, John Gelston was conveyed to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where it was found that he suffered from severe burns to the neck, face and chest. William Gelston surrendered at the central police station and was lodged in the cells.
- Nigel McDonagh
