25 YEARS AGO/1983

How they polled in the West

AS the various political parties sit down to assess the local results and implications of the 1983 General Election, it seems clear there will be no let-up in the bitter struggle for popularity between the SDLP and Sinn Féin on the nationalist side, and between the Official Unionists and the DUP in the loyalist camp.

As far as Sinn Féin and the SDLP are concerned, the results in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, Mid-Ulster and Foyle will have been greeted with a mixture of both pleasure and disappointment from the two parties.

Sinn Féin must be concerned at their failure to make more of an impact on John Hume's majority in Foyle, but party leaders will be pleased at Danny Morrison's vote in Mid-Ulster, where he came within an ace of beating DUP man, Rev. William McCrea. And Owen Carron, while not getting the monopoly of nationalist support he had hoped for in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, still managed to poll almost 21,000 votes.

Booby-trap bomb attack failed

A MASSIVE booby-trap bomb attack planned against the security forces, near Castlederg, was foiled by police. Just after midnight, a police patrol travelling between Castlederg and Victoria Bridge disturbed a gang of men setting up a booby-trap at Spamount Crossroads.

As the police approached the scene, two cars were spotted being driven off at high speed towards the border, four miles away, and when police went to investigate they discovered an 800lb bomb, contained in two oil drums, one in a transit van. Immediately six houses near the scene were evacuated as British Army experts moved in to try and defuse the deadly cargo.

They succeeded in making one of the bombs harmless, but the other in the van exploded, demolishing the van and breaking windows.

50 YEARS AGO/1958

Tyrone railway stations to go?

THERE is consternation and anxiety throughout the north-west at the reported intention of the Stormont government to close down the Great Northern Railway northwards from Portadown early in 1959. Such a decision would mean that the terminus at Derry would go, and that the entire area would be left without a rail service of any kind.

The reported justification for the move is the requirement in the new Transport Bill, being debated at Stormont, that the Ulster Transport Authority should balance its accounts by 1963. The closing of the GNR line would throw an enormous burden of traffic onto the roads, which are not yet equipped to take such traffic.

Business interests are unanimously opposed to the closing of the line. Prominent figures in the commercial life of the county were vehement in their condemnation of a proposed change that can only seal the isolation of Tyrone and do irreparable harm to the great port at Derry.

'Man on the run' arrested

A TYRONE man who has been 'on the run' for almost a year was taken into custody by the RUC in Dungannon. Soon after his arrest he was questioned by Special Branch officials and later moved to Belfast for more questioning.

The man concerned, wanted in connection with Border incidents, is known to have been in the 26 counties for some time. Considerable importance is attached in Belfast to the arrest.

Two men who had been interned were released from prison. Both had appeared before the committee set up by the Minister for Home Affairs to consider appeals by internees. One of the men is a native of Belfast and the other comes from Tyrone.

75 YEARS AGO/1933

Young boy drowned

A YOUNG Strabane boy went missing 20 minutes after having tea with his father. A search followed in which many of the neighbouring residents participated. In the course of the search, two people noticed, near the edge of the canal, a mark which had been caused by someone who had skidded and fallen into the water.

Their suspicions were aroused, and they immediately procured a grapple, with which they searched the water near the spot and succeeded in finding the body. Artificial respiration was tried without success, and two doctors who were immediately summoned could only pronounced life extinct.

The child's parents live a short distance from the scene of the tragedy, and it is believed that the deceased met his death while playing near the water.

'Englishman stands for fair play' – Unionists are told

SPEAKING at a Unionist meeting in Fivemiletown, Major-General Montgomery stated that there was one thing the Englishman stood for, and that was fair play. While they would have a support of England if attacked, they might easily alienate British sympathy by events such as happened in Ballinahinch, when a drumming party demonstrated outside a Catholic Church while a service was going on, and jeered at the Presbyterian Minister who had the courage to rebuke them.

The men who did this were the real enemies of Ulster. He could not imagine conduct like that happening in Fivemiletown, which had come through the troubled years of 1920-22 without a stain.

100 YEARS AGO/1908

Tyronians visit Belfast

IN numbers alone the excursion to Belfast was a huge success. The annual outing is one of the most popular of the season, and the railway stations from Victoria Bridge to Beragh were crowded with hundreds of holiday trippers. The weather, which was somewhat cloudy in the morning, now turned out beautiful.

Having reached the city, the crowds dispersed to enjoy themselves in various ways. Many of them went to Bangor by steamer, but those who remained in town had ample facilities for enjoying themselves. The City Hall, museum, parks etc., were all visited, and the large drapery windows in the centre of the city came in for a share of attention from the fairer sex.

The various contingents were back in their homes by 10pm, having spent a most enjoyable day.

Italian love tragedy

A TRAGIC love story is reported from Palma (Italy), where Guiseppe Raigoneri, 24, a workman, had fallen in love with Maria Rocca, 18. The wedding had been fixed for Monday, but on Saturday Raigoneri told his fiancé that he belonged to the anarchist league, and that if he were married in a church the brotherhood would have him killed for playing false to his principles.

He implored the girl to consent to a civil marriage. She refused, declaring that however much she loved him she placed her religion above everything.

Raigoneri departed in silence, and she did not see him again until Monday, when, as she was entering the church for the ceremony, hoping that he had relented, he dashed forward and shot her through the heart. He then blew out his own brains.

– Nigel McDonagh