WE TAKE a look at the stories making headlines in East Lothian 25, 50 and 100 years ago.
25 years ago
AN ESCAPED snake prompted a two-day search, reported the East Lothian Courier on April 23, 1999.
Slick the snake sparked a two-day search when he vanished from a glass tank in the home of his Haddington owner.
Police were told in case the reptile turned up on someone’s doorstep and gave them a fright – even though he was completely harmless.
The search for the family pet, worth £250, ended when Slick, a black-and-white striped eastern king, was found under the floorboards of the family home on Aberlady Road.
The five-year-old snake was a Christmas pet for Michelle McKenzie, 12, and was discovered under the floorboards in the evening after her parents, Ian and Donna, and brothers, Scott, 11, and Michael, 7, enlisted the help of half a dozen neighbours to search for the five-foot-long, four-inches-wide snake.
They searched all over Haddington but had no luck.
50 years ago
A DASHING streaker made headlines in the East Lothian Courier on April 26, 1974.
A night-time dash along Tranent High Street in the nude gained a 23-year-old Post Office technician the distinction of being East Lothian’s first streaker – but it also left him £30 poorer.
For that was what happened to the man, who was fined when he appeared at Haddington Sheriff Court on Monday charged with exposing himself “in a shameless and indecent manner”.
Mr Peter Morrison, prosecuting, said the man was seen running along the High Street naked at about 9.45pm on Friday.
A passing motorist reported him to the police.
And when policemen came out of the police station, they saw the man vanishing up the vennel next to the station.
They ran after him and caught him.
Cautioned and charged, he replied: “Crazy”.
His clothes were recovered from in front of a pub.
The Procurator Fiscal said there had been mention made of a bet but it did not seem as if this had been serious.
100 years ago
AN ORMISTON man was fined after a football-related argument resulted in a breach of the peace, said The Haddingtonshire Courier on April 25, 1924.
Alexander Stevenson, miner, 35 Park Road, was charged at the Burgh Court on Saturday, before Provost Harkness, with having used objectionable language, and also having committed a breach of the peace. Accused, who declared that he and three others had only been arguing about football, and denied using objectionable language, was fined 15s. in respect of one charge, and 10s. in respect of the other. A month was allowed in which to pay.
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