For decades a small stone cross has stood by the roadside in east Perthshire in memorial to a forgotten tragedy.
It paid tribute to the all-too-short life of an American visitor to Scotland, whose passing, more than a century ago, was nonetheless noticed around the world.
The recent temporary removal of the cross, to make way for roads improvements, was noted by Courier readers who contacted the paper.
Investigations revealed that it will soon return, but also horrifying details of a devastating accident.
In August 1906, Miss Emma van Norden was enjoying a two-week vacation in the Highlands with a party of friends and family.
The daughter of millionaire New York financier Warner van Norden, she had also been private secretary to General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.
She was known for her devotion to that cause and for her steadfast support of women’s issues and had recently become engaged to a Colonel Bates, who was serving on “an important mission” in South Africa.
Newspapers of the time reported that “a party of wealthy Americans” was approaching Glenshee when their horse-drawn carriage got into difficulties on the Lair Brae.
Its brakes were said to have failed on the hill and the occupants were thrown out with “great force”.
Miss Van Norden, the sole female in the party, struck a wall and was then crushed by the vehicle.
She sustained “a shocking fracture of the skull” and was conveyed to the nearby Cray House, where an operation was performed by a number of attending doctors who “happened to be in the locality”.
The accident was reported in newspapers across the UK and news travelled swiftly across the Atlantic where it was relayed to her wealthy father.
He spoke in the New York Times, reporting that his knowledge of the accident and his daughter’s condition had come from newspapers.
Mr Van Norden said the accident had taken place near the country residence of a Dr Renton of Glasgow, whom he described hopefully as “one of the most skilful surgeons in Scotland”.
He added that doctors held out hope of “a favourable outcome”, but The Courier of Wednesday August 29 finally recorded that she had died, having lain in a semi-conscious state since the accident.
The carriage’s other occupants included two cousins; Ottomar van Norden and the Rev Dr Oliver Hart Bronson, together with a third man, Edward S. Avery.
All “recovered favourably” in rooms at the then Queen’s Hotel in Blairgowrie.
The coachman was said to have had “one ear almost torn off”, while the carriage itself was “smashed to splinters”.
The memorial to Miss van Norden has stood near the site of the accident for many years, leading Glenshee skiinstructor Alec Ferguson to wonder where it had gone.
“There has always been a wee stone cross at the junction, where an American girl died after her carriage overturned,” he said.
Perth and Kinross Council said the cross had been removed “temporarily” and would soon be returned.
It will sit alongside a plaque paying tribute to Dundee-born roads engineer Bob Morrison, who died in a motorcycle accident last year.
Van Norden family photos courtesy of www.jaycenter.org.