NON-FOOTBALL STORIES 1948

While looking through old documents, it is almost inevitable that the reader's attention will be drawn from the intended target to other articles. The reports below were found in an old Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald and Scotsman newspapers. Although they have no football content, they may be of interest.

STEWARD GUILTY OF SCOT’S MANSLAUGHTER RELEASED
A sentence of nine weeks imprisonment from the date of arrest – which meant his immediate discharge as he had already been in custody for this period – was passed at Cork on Saturday (24 January 1948) on James Ryan, a Londoner and chief steward of the British tug Dexterous.  Ryan had been found guilty of the manslaughter of the chief engineer, James Gordon McKeddie, Stanley Road, Ardrossan, in a quarrel aboard the tug in Berehaven Harbour, County Cork, last November.  The jury had made a strong recommendation to mercy based on provocation and evidence that McKeddie’s poor health and evidence that accelerated death.
            Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, 26 January 1948 

TWO WOMEN INJURED IN SCOTTISH EXPLOSION
Two women workers were injured in an explosion yesterday at the Ardeer factory in Ayrshire of Imperial Chemical Industries explosives division.  They were Katherine Douglas (24), Kirkhall Drive, Ardrossan and Annie Burgess (45), Allan Square, Irvine.  An ambulance waggon took them to the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, where they were detained with facial burns.  Several other workers were slightly hurt and they were treated at the casualty station at the factory.
           The Scotsman, 13 February 1948 

APPOINTMENT OF ARDROSSAN MAN
Mr H N Pedersen, 2 Montgomerie Pier Road, Ardrossan, was appointed Superintendent of Harbour Works by Aberdeen Harbour Works Committee yesterday.  Mr Pedersen, who is thirty-three years of age, is at present in charge of works at Ardrossan Harbour.
           The Scotsman, 10 June 1948