Belfast, Northern Ireland—The people of Belfast are buying picture postcards of their city’s torment by the hundreds. The most popular shows a boy throwing a stone at a British armored car … . other cards show burned-out homes, troops in battle positions on city streets and children at play amid smoking rubble. Each card sells for approximately 25 cents in the three Gardener’s shops.“Even at that price, people have been buying them in bundles of five or six at a time,” said Rose Lehane, manager of one shop. Mrs. Lehane said that nearly 1,000 cards were sold in four days.Since Belfast has few tourists, she said, most of the buyers are local people, mostly young men who want them as “souvenirs.”Neil Shawcross, a Belfast man, bought two complete sets of the cards, explaining, “I think they’re interesting mementoes of the times and I want my two children to have them when they grow up.”“The cards are good for people,” said Alan Gardener, a director of the chain. “Too many people in Belfast try to cope with the situation here by closing their eyes and pretending it doesn’t exist. Maybe something like this will jar them into seeing again.”“We have lost a lot of money through the troubles, with our stores being bombed and burned down,” Mr. Gardener added. “If we can get a bit of money back from the troubles, well and good.”

— October 29, 1974, Postcards of Belfast Strife Are Best-Sellers There, The New York Times, 1974