|
A Lamlash resident has come across a 130-year-old map of Arran that he believes may have been used in the search for Edwin Rose the man murdered on Goatfell in 1889.
Two men , John Laurie and Edwin Rose, climbed Goatfell on July 15 that year, and only one came down.
Rose’s badly mutilated body was found three weeks later hidden below a large boulder in Coire nam Fuaran on the south side of Glen Sannox, by which time Laurie had guiltily fled from Glasgow.
The owner of the map said it has been in his possession since he was at school and he had always been fascinated by the markings inside.
If the map is studied closely a cross can be seen marking a spot on the side of Goatfell. In the margin to the left of the page in perfect copperplate handwriting someone has written ‘X where Rose was murdered 15th July/89.’
On the front page of the map a series of longitude and latitude positions are written marking the spot where the body was found.
The owner of the map is hoping to trace any one from Arran who thinks someone from their family may have been involved in the search.
John Laurie was apprehended and charged with the murder of his walking companion.
It is the only case of murder on one of Britain’s mountains to go to trial since recreational mountaineering began. The case was widely reported at the time, and excited enormous public interest before and after the trial.
Many believe that Laurie did not kill Rose and that the two men had descended together, that Rose fell to his death in the gully, and that Laurie robbed the body and hid it.
Laurie was found guilty after trial and sentenced to death. However, that sentence was subsequently changed to life, and Laurie languished in jail for 40 years before dying in the ‘lunatic division’ of Perth Prison.
