Death in the loch
IT was a night that began with the sound of youthful laughter as Milngavie's young people gathered to skate, slide and sledge on the frozen surface of Tannoch Loch. But it ended in sorrow as the whole community shared the grief of two families left to mourn a son and a daughter who were drowned when the ice gave way.
The Herald of January 21, 1927, spoke for the town when it said: ''Never before in our experience has Milngavie been shaken to its very depths as it has been by this sad occurrence.''
The paper described the scene that unfolded two days earlier as about a dozen boys and girls congregated at a point 15 yards from the Tannoch Drive end of the loch.
Their shrieks of laughter turned to screams of terror as the ice gave way, plunging them into the depths of the loch.
Men from the nearby houses joined other onlookers in risking their own lives to pull the youngsters to safety, some wading up to their necks in the freezing water.
Several were brought to the bank ... then it was realised that 15-year-old Catherine Graham from Ferguson Avenue was missing. She was last seen on the loch with a boy, holding on to his hockey stick while he pulled her across the ice.
Fourteen-year-old Tom Mackinnon, whose home looked on to the loch, dived in to look for Catherine. Finding no trace of her he came ashore, then announced he was going back in.
Full of praise for Tom's ''indominatable courage'', the Herald described how his elder brother Ian and one Major George Macfarlane took the precaution of tying a rope round the lad's body, wading in waist high behind him as he swam to the bottom of the loch. ''This enabled Tom to swim some distance under the ice, and a great thrill went up when he was seen returning with the body of the girl,'' reported the Herald.
A doctor at the scene failed to revive Catherine. The crowd gathered round young Tom to congratulate him on his bravery. He was too distressed that his efforts were in vain to take any notice of what was being said.
But there was more tragedy to come. Some time later Milngavie Police Office were told that another young person, Alexander Laing had failed to return to his home in Douglas Street. Friends said they last saw the 20-year-old standing on the banks after coming out of the water. He had joined Catherine and the boy with the hockey stick in their game and it was feared he must have gone back in to the water to look for her.
Inspector Campbell led a team of volunteers, which included Alex's brother Dan, in dragging the loch from a boat. The Herald said their efforts were hampered by the darkness and extreme cold and it was three hours before they spotted Alex's body under the ice. Another man took Dan's place in the boat while his brother's body was pulled out. ''It was a heart-rending sight,'' said the Herald, ''and the sympathy of the onlookers went out to Dan as he recognised his missing brother.''
Two eye-witnesses told the Herald reporter that they had seen Alex standing on the bank dripping wet. ''Although they missed him subsequently, they have no doubt that he lost his life in an effort to save his friend.''
The paper also said that both victims ''were looked upon as the bright and happy members of their respective homes, which have been so suddenly darkened by this tragic happening.''
Among the rescuers the Herald made special mention of a boy called Fleming Coutts who, up to his neck in water, rather resourcefully used his hockey stick to pull several victims clear.
Sounding a note of warning which is worth repeating today the Herald said: ''Possibly, as a result of our comparitively open winters of recent years, when the loch has rarely been frozen over, the younger generation are not aware of the dangers, hence the reason for the light-hearted manner that seemed to animate our young folks once there was a sheet of ice to be seen.
''No doubt, as a result of the tragic experience of this dark week, greater precautions will be taken in the future, and we trust it will be a long time before the like happens again.''
And at a meeting of the Town Council Provost Peter Tait said:"Seldom or never has Milngavie been stirred to the depths of its being as it was through the tragic event which occured on Wednesday evening last in Tannoch Loch... we are all deeply grieved at the calamity and condole with the bereaved ones in their great loss."
The provost praised the rescuers, saying some put themselves in such danger that they too had to be rescued. The council decided to ask the Carnegie Hero Fund and the Royal Humane Society to recognise these acts of bravery.
Alex, who was a bookbinder with William Collins, and Catherine, thought to have worked at the Ellangowan paper mill, were buried close to each other in New Kilpatrick Cemetery.
FOOTNOTE: A copycat tragedy nearly happened on another local loch on the SAME evening as the Tannoch Loch drownings.
Student priests from the former St Peter's College in Bearsden were skating on Craigton Loch when five fell through the ice into 15 feet of water.
Three scrambled out but the others were trapped amidst sheets of ice four inches think for 15 minutes before their companions could pull them out with ropes borrowed from a nearby farm.
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Weather for Milngavie
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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