Why the square mile ?

Glasgow is one of the great,Victorian cities. Famous for engineering, shipbuilding, science (Lord Kelvin, anyone ?), football and politics (Adam Smith had many a walk through Glasgow Green and the label Red Clydeside is always associated with the 1926 general strike).

Like many big cities that are, or were major ports, it can be quite Bohemian in many ways. The inhabitants of port cities tend to be liberal in their attitudes, working class and welcoming. A friend of mine, a genuine Irish poet, is always convinced that Liverpool, Glasgow, New York, Boston, Dublin and (East) London share a common sense of humour.

It also has a dark side, but what city worthy of the name doesn't? The publishers of all those regional "Noir"anthologies know that good folk like to read about dirty deeds in their own backyards and mean streets. Glasgow became infamous for its "razor gangs" in the 20's and 30's. This "culture" was immortalised in the book "No Mean City" by Alexander McArthur and H. Kingsley Long, a best-seller in its day.

The image was pretty well set in stone and has carried on to the present day. Every so often some bright young thing working for a low-rent production company will come up with the idea of doing a documentary about local gangs and hard cases. Recent examples have been "McIntyre's Underworld" and "Britain's Hardest Pubs" (another jewel in the crown of Murdoch's SKY TV).

Before Glaswegian crime was brought down to this lowest common denominator it played host to 4 of the greatest murder cases to scandalise the Victorians. All took place within a single, square mile just west of the city centre.

The Madeline Smith case made the Scottish legal verdict of "Not Proven" famous throughout the Empire and beyond. She was accused of poisoning her lover (arsenic in his cocoa) but walked free. Blythswood Square, the posh scene of the crime, later went into decline and became the city's red light district.

Then there was the Sandyford Murder involving domestic servants and forty-odd blows from a meat cleaver. Lizzie Borden could have learned from this.

Not to be outdone Dr. Edward William Pritchard (the "Human Crocodile") was also a poisoner and killed his wife along with two other victims.

Finally, another medical man of quite a different stripe was involved in my favourite of these infamous cases : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He fought long and hard to clear the name of Oscar Slater, a German Jewish immigrant who spent twenty years in jail for a crime he certainly didn't commit. It always amazes me to think that the creator of Sherlock Holmes acted as a real-life detective in a story that reads like a Franz Kafka screenplay for a film noir

Writing that also reminds me that Allan J. Pinkerton, the founder of the world's most famous detective agency, was also born in the city. He seems to have been a real contradiction in terms. Having fled Scotland because his left wing politics drew him to the attention of the law he later helped to break strikes in his adopted country. Local legend has it that his birthplace is now occupied by the beautiful building that is Glasgow's central mosque.

So this blog will give me a chance to write about some of my hobbies and preoccupations. Crime fiction (written or dramatised), some science fiction, humour and all filtered through a Glaswegian lens.

Due credit for the title has to go to the great Jack House, known as "Mr. Glasgow" throughout his many years as a journalist. His book "Square Mile of Murder" changed the way I look at the city. Cheers, Jack !