Whisky, Wars, Riots and Murder by Malcolm Archibald

Author:Malcolm Archibald
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781845027285
Publisher: Black & White Publishing
Published: 2013-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

The Killing in Grantown-on-Spey

Grantown-on-Spey is a pretty place in Speyside, a planned village with a broad main street and access to the northern slopes of the Cairngorm Mountains. It is an unlikely setting for serious crime, but in July 1878 the population was agog when a prominent farmer was involved in a murder.

Andrew Grainger coupled farming Fettes in Easter Ross, with a secondary occupation as a railway contractor. Perhaps it was the pressure of holding down two jobs, but on occasions, Grainger had a tendency to drink too much. In the middle of July he hit the bottle quite seriously and by 17 July he was in an alcoholic haze. That day he left home for Inverness, intending to go to Ballinluig, near Pitlochry, where his wife was visiting her sick mother. When he was in the railway station he shied away from the crowds in case somebody robbed him, and asked a passing acquaintance to buy his ticket for him.

When the train reached Forres, Grainger slipped off, bought a bottle of whisky and boarded again, entering a compartment already occupied by a Dr Scott. Grainger sat down, took a knife from his pocket and thrust it up the sleeve of his coat. Not surprisingly, Scott was a little alarmed, particularly as Grainger seemed very excited. The alcohol must have been working through Grainger’s system because as the train pulled into the tiny stop at Dunphail, he jumped out of the compartment and ran up the full length of the train until he came to the engine.

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