Statistical anomaly-my connection to three murderers

My first brush with a murderer happened sometime between 1970-1972.
One Saturday evening I was upstairs in my family home reading my scriptures when I became aware of shouting & a young woman's scream.My Father ran outside to join the men running from neighbouring houses.A young neighbour girl coming home from a night out was grabbed by a man by the ends of her fashionably long scarf.She was unharmed & the man was chased by several of the younger neighbour men.They lost him but he was found later by the Police.He had a small axe hidden down his sleeve.This man Thomas McCulloch would go on to attempt to murder two colleagues & be sent to the State Mental Hospital at Carstairs.There he & his fellow inmate Thomas Mone would murder three people during their successful break out in 1976.They were recaptured & as far as I know McCulloch is now on the outside.

The second murderer was a well known local..Nickname of "Big Abie" or "Abie Baby".He was at school with my elder sister & even then was seen as "weird" His family background was tragic & in those days were less aware of the damage done by abuse.He once stalked my younger sister & I along "The Nollie" as the Canal was named locally as we walked from Dalmuir to Clydebank.We were alarmed but naively assumed we were safe as we had it on good authority his tastes lay elsewhere.
A family moved in a few doors down to us.They had a beloved only child. One evening in October 1981 he failed to return home from a school disco.By the Sunday morning the rumour going round was that "Big Abie" had him- he had years before kidnapped a local boy & kept him prisoner for several days so not such a preposterous assumption. Especially when his wallet was found by local children-one of whom we will speak of later.His body was found buried in a shallow grave later that day. Abie was quickly arrested & he confessed his crime.He had accosted the boy in the street & dragged him through the streets -witnessed by several people who assumed he was a reluctant teen being dragged home by an angry dad-this was years before Jamie Bulger & CCTV. A terrible family tragedy a young boy snuffed out & parents left devastated.They were spared a trial as Abie pleaded guilty. Every time I go home I think of this lovely young man destroyed by a damaged,dangerous man who should have been locked away for the public's protection.
The third murderer was a friend of my brother's when they were in Primary School.When he was a teenager he & a gang of friends murdered a young lad during a drunken fight.They dropped a kerb-stone on his head. I was so shocked thinking back to the skinny quiet wee boy who used to as they say in Scotland "Come about our House".He was also the young boy who had found the wallet of Abie's victim.
I am not a violent person I have rarely witnessed violence & statistics show that the odds of being murdered are 18000 to 1.
I only thought about this hideous coincidence after watching a TV Programme about Thomas Mone -McCulloch co-conspirator in their break-out from Carstairs.
I hope that I did not stir up any terrible memories for anybody & that is why I have not named any of the victims or two of the murderers there is no need to rub salt into wounded hearts.
These events have coloured my life & made me more aware of certain things.I for example do not assume that a scream in the night is just horseplay-I go & physically look.
It is also a fact that sexual abuse & violence was a feature in one of the murderers home-yet only one of the children of the family went on to abuse & violate others.Why?
Again I am so glad of the family I come from where we were nurtured & protected & accepted warts & all.
To those who have lost loved ones at the hands of others I send my deepest sympathies & pray for healing in your life.

Exercise

Now everybody that knows me will be rolling around the floor at this heading-exercises moi?
My earliest memories involve exercises.I am a child of the fifties(19 you cheeky beggars).We did not have a family car in fact few folk I knew did.Those that did kept them in a garage not necessarily next to their houses often several streets away.Most people used public transport-cars were for high days & holidays & trips to the airport or to hospital.
My Mother was always slim & trim.Her waist remained at 21 inches even after giving birth to her third baby-I'm baby no 2 by the way.
She would exercise every day apart from the physical nature of housework in the 50-70's -no automatic washing machines,no fridges(so daily shopping) terry nappies needing to be soaked rinsed & then boiled washed,floors swept & washed daily,hanging washing out,making up & lighting fires.No duvets-sheets & blankets,gardening,decorating & entertaining five children.
She would do floor exercises & we would be her willing partners,whittling our waists & developing our non-existent busts."Rocky Boats" -sole to sole on the floor & raising & lowering your partner by the hands.
We walked often for recreation exploring the Cochno Road,Old Kilpatrick & making the walk via the Sow's Back from Faifley to Mountblow to visit the Grandparents-I grew up with one Granny & one Grandpa-married to each other -one my Dad's Mum & the other My Mum's Dad.
Grandpa loved his garden.The front was dedicated to roses,carnations & peonies bushes.This was his a pride & joy & his first port of call after his night-shift at Babcock & Wilcox's at Renfrew.
He was not amused when my elder sister Margaret & two of my Waddell cousin's Derek & Jimmy decided to help with the pruning & beheaded his beloved peonies.He was livid & bottoms were spanked-a decision uncharacteristically disagreed with by my Mum who was a very dutiful & respectful daughter.
May I say this is the house where I was born in the same bed where six weeks later my Grandpa's "Wee Peggy" would die.Leaving Gordon,Alex & Jennifer motherless as young teens.My Mother who had been filling the role for most of their lives on a part-time basis quickly became their full-time Mum.Tommy(eldest) & Jim(next youngest to Mum) were either married or abroad or in Jim's case both.
Grandpa's back garden was dedicated to his fruit & veg.He would pull something fresh from the ground shake of the dirt & encourage you to have a taste.He had a Rowan Tree at the bottom of the back garden.It had a seat built around the trunk & Grandpa would oft sit there reading or doing his crossword & smoking a cigarette.What I would give to walk down that path & sit with him for five minutes.Grandpa was a man of the earth.His first job after leaving school whilst he awaited the commencement of his Boilermaker's Apprenticeship with Beardmores of Dalmuir was looking after the horses for the milk(?) cart-will have to check that with Mum.He would sit up front & guide the horses around the streets of Dalmuir.I wonder how he coped with the noise & the heat & the indoors life of a Boilermaker.He was very proud of his chosen occupation & alongside Uncle Archie & Uncle Willie(Waddell) his elder brothers & with his nephew being on the Board of Directors I just assumed we owned the Company.It left him with industrial deafness but amazingly he could he hear from his bedroom the rustle of his Fox's Mints bag being raided by one of his Grandchildren.One of his dreams was to build a large estate & have all his children & their spouses & the grandchildren all live in the same place.
The family surely got around-from NZ to USA to Canada,Zambia,Sierra Leonne,Singapore,Egypt
we have not been a stay in Scotland type Clan.
In doing my family history most lines as far back as I can trace have sent at least one each generation to the USA-starting with my GGGGGreat-Grandfather McPherson who went off to fight in the American War of Independence before returning home to Father my GGGreat-Grandmother & eventually down to our James who headed off with Amy to join her family in Washington State.
I nineteen years ago came to give London a go to join my then husband.I'm still here & still working for the same family.
I miss home & my family but I do manage to get home often & hopefully will be home to visit James & Amy & Adam & Ben as they travel from Spokane to Scotland this summer.
Oh & my Dr says I have to get in some more exercise & lose more weight.So watch this space.