IRISH TIMES ODDITIES: JUSTIFIEDA Tokyo judge has released a woman convicted of killing her husband's mistress because the murder was the "natural unpremeditated behaviour of a woman trying to protect home and family" from an intruder. February 20th, 1950
A WAR-TIME REUNION
Tales of strange reunions of Irish folk in far-off lands will be told and re-told today. One of the strangest encounters of which I have heard occurred on the Tigris, above Bagdad, during the Great War. A son of the Rev CCM Dickey, Presbyterian minister at Draperstown, Co Derry, was granted leave for convalescence after being wounded. The “Mespot” campaign was then in full swing, and transport on the Tigris was thoroughly disorganised, and as time went on it seemed that no transport to Bagdad might be available for weeks. Dr Dickey, strolling by the river one day, noticed a small craft bearing a padre down stream, and hailed it as a possible means of reaching his desired destination. The boat drew to the bank, and the occupant, having noticed the stranger’s accent, asked: “Aren’t you from Ireland?” “Yes,” replied the doctor, mentioning the Derry village and his father’s name. “What a meeting!” exclaimed the padre, who was the Rev Fr Bradley, of Sixtowns, a parish a short distance from Draperstown. Dr Dickey got his “lift”, and the war was temporarily forgotten in the talk of home and mutual acquaintances.
November 10th, 1939
COUPLE LIVED IN A TREE
Doris Parkes (37), whose home was in a hollow tree trunk at Allesboro Farm, Pershore, was at Worcester yesterday, remanded in custody until April 11th for a medical report after pleading guilty to stealing a pair of boots and clothing worth £3-2-3 from two Worcester shops. She asked for four other offences to be considered into account.
Daphne Randolph, probation officer, said that since Mrs Parkes appeared last week, her husband, who had been working as a gardener, had disappeared from the district and had not been traced. Mrs Parkes served in the WRAF between 1942 and 1945, but was unable to settle down.
She and her husband had travelled the country doing casual work, and last autumn they worked at Pershore. They moved into the tree trunk because of rent arrears on a caravan. They lived in the tree for about six weeks.
Mrs Randolph added that Mrs Parkes was a diabetic and needed special diet and insulin.
March 25th, 1958
A CAT CEMETERY
Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a cemetery for cats, considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians of the old and middle kingdoms of the Pharaohs, Al Ahramreported in Cairo.
The cats, worshipped as incarnations of the god Bastat about 2,000 years BC, were buried in earthenware jars.
The archaeologists also uncovered a workshop where moulds for the making of ikons and statues were manufactured, the newspaper said.
August 1st, 1970
STRANGE STORY OF CONICIDENCES
A story of coincidences, in which three Liverpool brothers and a nephew all played parts, was unfolded at the Liverpool Coroner’s Court yesterday. Evidence showed that while Harold Freer Pugh (53), a dispenser, of Edge Lane, Liverpool, was driving a motor cycle, on which his nephew Ronald Williams was riding, a collision occurred at Wavertree with a car driven by his brother, Frank Pugh, a chemist, of Smithdown Road, Liverpool. Harold Pugh was taken to Smithdown Road Hospital, where he was treated by a third brother, Dr Thomas Pugh, who was present when he died. A verdict of accidental death was returned.
August 31st, 1935