Buchan Observer and East Aberdeenshire Advertiser
27 February 1863
Painful scene
On Sabbath last, between the hours of one and two o'clock afternoon, a crowd gathered on the quays and gave expression to their emotions in a very unusual manner. The cause of this was found to be that Captain Higg of the Glasgow packet, had resolved to go to sea, while Mr Mackie, the Harbour-Master, had determined not to let him go out until he (Capt Higg) appeared before the Harbour Board, to answer to a charge of disobedience to the harbour-master. When the Captain made his rope fast to the quay to draw out his ship, the Harbour-Master cut it. At length the Captain made his rope fast to a large half-decked boat that was fast to the quay, and here the scene became very painful.

The constable, possessed of a warrant, apprehended him on board of this boat, and Mr Mackie laid hold of him to prevent him from escaping from the constable. During the struggle between the Captain and his captor, the boat was set adrift, and pushed towards the vessel, while some of the Captain's crew came from the ship in their small boat and boarded the one in which their master was, fast in the hands of the constable and Mr Mackie.

Other means than legal were then used by Higg's men to set their master at liberty. The Captain, on board of his ship, an effort was made to get her out. A rope was made fast to the middle quay, but the Harbour-Master soon cut it, and the vessel was once more adrift in the harbour. No pilot would give any assistance, and hence it was expected that the vessel would have to remain in port until justice should be done to the offending party, whoever he might be, and the true cause of so painful a scene should be made fully manifest.

This, however, was not the case – the crowd on the quays gave the Captain and his men all the assistance that was needed, and the vessel went to sea without a pilot, and the Captain with a warrant over his head. Such conduct was never shown here before in our day, and there is little doubt but steps will be taken to prevent the like taking place again. Law and order must be upheld.

Dundee Courier
27 February 1844
Alyth
The Rev Mr Ramsay, parish minister here, was lately presented with an elegant mahogany wardrobe, and a marble toilet table, by the female members of his congregation – being, as expressed by the donors, 'small testimonials of their respect and gratitude, for the indefatigable zeal at all times manifested by the reverend gentleman in promoting the temporal and spiritual welfare of his parishioners; and also to mark their sense of his exemplary benevolence to the poor.'

Buchan Observer and East Aberdeenshire Advertiser
27 February 1863
Prison Offence
The Aberdeen Journal states that on Friday, Andrew Aberdein, residing in Dee Street, a respectable looking elderly man, was brought up before Sheriff Watson, on a charge of contravening the statute relative to Prisons in Scotland. It appeared that Aberdein had, on Friday last week, gone to the prison to visit a friend named Duncan McRae, who was confined as a civil prisoner. He carried in his hand a small tin pail, wrapped round with paper, which, in reply to the warder's inquiry, he said contained soup for his friend. The warder suspected something, however, and on examining the pail, it was found to contain about two gills of whisky. By the Act referred to, it is illegal to introduce letters, tobacco, or spirits into any prison; and parties found guilty of such an attempt are liable to a heavy pecuniary penalty, and failing immediate payment, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one month. Aberdein pled guilty, and the Sheriff ordained him to pay a penalty of £2 – being the minimum fixed by the statute.

Perthshire Advertiser
28 February 1833
The Duke of Buccleuch intends to plant no less than 160,000 young trees. Eighteen years ago, the price of acorns, which is now 4s 6d was as high as 14s per bushel. But the fall in larch seed is still more remarkable, which, in place of £18 per cwt can be bought for less than 30s. A considerable quantity of this kind of seed is imported from Aberdeen. Where ornamental shrubs or trees are dispensed with, the whole expense, putting in and all, and supplying the deficiencies, does not exceed £3, 4s per acre.

Dunfermline Saturday Press
3 March 1860
Discovery of gold in Peeblesshire
Gold has been found among the quartz detritus in Glengaber burn, a small mountain rivulet which falls into the Meggat about a mile and a half from St Mary's Loch, and which forms, as we understand, the division between Henderland and the property of the Earl of Wemyss. The gold is in small nuggets, some of them resembling flattened split peas. The quantity picked up is in weight equal to half a sovereign. Whether on minute investigation the gold will be found to an extent worth working remains to be seen when the state of the season permits. The discovery so far is due to Mr Macalister, schoolmaster at Henderland, and the specimens which he has been able to collect have been remitted to the museum of the Chambers Institution, Peebles, where they may be seen by the curious.

Inverness Courier
3 March 1830
New bridge over the Clyde
Operations have already recommenced this season for going briskly forward with the building of a new bridge over the Clyde, when the weather permits. Workmen are employed night and day in sinking the foundation of the third arch, and the hewing and other preparatory building departments are well advanced. The masons in town have had during winter 12s a week (one shilling more than they had at the same season last year) and as they have this week resumed full hours, they are looking for the annual rise made at this time. This is the period when the country masons, if scarce of work, used to pour into Glasgow in quest of it; and the city masons are rejoicing that there is a total absence of 'interlopers', as they are called, owing to their being taken up by the contractors for repairing the extensive devastations on the Highland Bridges and Roads committed last autumn by the calamitous flood in the North.