If ^ '

S t

THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES

GLENGARRY'S WAY

AND OTHER STUDIES

By the same Author

TWELVE SCOTS TRIALS

THE RIDDLE OF THE

RUTHVENS AND OTHER

STUDIES

III Ihe "Xotahle Trial" Spriefi'
DR PRITCHARD
DEACON BRODIE
CAPTAIX PORTEOUS
OSCAR SLATER
MRS M'LACHLAK
MARY BLANDY
P.IRKE AND HARE

^t::^^^^ B^4^a^:^^s^.

GLENGAIIilY S AVAY

AND OTIIKR STUDIES

WILLIAM ROUGHEAD

AUTHOR OF
'TWELVE SCOTS TRIALS," "THK RIDnLE OF THE KUTHVE.NS," ETC.

With Nine Illustrations

I asked liini wliat might l)e his immediate
purpose, toucliing his future movements. He
answered, to go to sea again, in his old vocation.
— Herman Melville : Mohy-Dich,

EDTNBUR(JH
W. GREEN k SON, LIMITED

MCMXXTT

PEIN-TKD IM GREAT BRITAIN BY

NKILL AND CO., LTD.

EDINBURGH

h\RlS

To
HUGH WALPOLE

OLD LAMPS FOR NEW

A PERSONAL PREFACE

rpiHERE is popular warrant for the belief that even of a
good thing we can have too nuicli, and this being my
third public appearance in the same role, the reader, how-
ever gentle, may be tempted to exclaim with the apocalyptic
martyrs, "How long?" But as in tins free and happy
country of ours the accused is no longer gagged, I claim
my statutory right to be heard in m}^ own defence.

In the last year of what has been termed on high official
authority the Bad Old World, my first volume of essays,
Twelve Scots Trials, saw the light. Greeted auspiciously,
they were doing as well as could be wished, and seemed
like to thrive, when their young promise was prematurely
blighted by the whirlwind of the Great AVar. After the
storm their youth was relatively renewed, and I am glad
to know that there is yet life in them. Juliet's brave pro-
nouncement touching the unimportance of a name has
passed into a proverb ; still, although a rose catalogued as
a cauliflower should lose nothing of its perfume, its appeal
to other than vegetarians would be largely nugatory.
Sharing as I do Mr. Shandy's opinion on the magic quality
residing in names, by which for weal or woe the fortunes of
their possessors are influenced, I luu'e always considered
that my venture suffered in its baptism, l^'or its title I,
though the only begetter of the contents, was not respon-
sible ; but I felt from the first, and experience has confirmed
the impression, that of those three fateful words two at
least were unhappily chosen. "Scots" tended to arouse

viii A PERSONAL PREFACE

hereditary prejudice in such of "our auld enemies of
England " as might otherwise have been willing to lend
me an ear. '' Trials " suggested to the lay mind either the
bloomless technicalities of law reports or the raw and ribald
obscenities of the baser press. Had they been " a baker's
dozen " the game would have been up indeed. Upon the
first count, while I hold Scottish crime and our judicial
methods of dealing with it to be more dramatic and
picturesque — in both senses, more effective — than those
which obtain beyond the Border, I allow that my judgment
may not be free from patriotic bias. Upon the second,
while I admit to strict realism, I hope that the manner of
presentment is a redeeming feature. To an unwholesome
craving for " sensation " as such I have ever declined to
pander. They, the trials, were carefully culled as examples
from three centuries of Caledonian wickedness, and their
value resides in the light they cast upon the social history
of our race in its darker and less admirable aspects. The
repulsive blend of religious enthusiasm and abandoned
depravity observable in so many cases must, I fear, be
accepted as an unlovely national trait : one meets with It
again and again in studying our criminal annals. While
I acknowledge a general weakness for these black sheep
of mine, I regard Katharine Nairn as the flower of my
nefarious flock. She takes precedence, for me, of all her so
gifted sisters who have played their parts in the Justiciary
Opera, the unique performance of Madeleine Smith — our
20vima donna assoluta — alone excepted. The three bene-
ficiaries of the verdict Not Proven, selected as typical
instances of the abuse of that via media by incompetent
or feeble juries, have been to my surprise mistaken by some
reviewers for victims of our peculiar practice ! In these,
as elsewhere, I tried to state the facts impartially ; yet I

A PERSONAL PREFACE ix

should have thoug-ht that here they spoke for themselves,
and that with no doubtful voice. The Dunecht and the
Arran cases were objected to as being essentially inadequate
to their striking and spectacular settings ; but for this, of
course, the narrator is in no wise to blame : it is not his
fault if criminals cannot always rise to the measure of their
opportunities. Not that I complain of criticism. No ; my
reviewers have ever tempered judgment with mercy, and
I am very sensible of their long-suffering.

The late Mr. Charles E. Green, whose firm in 1913
published my book, invited me to contribute to the
Juridical Revieiv, of wliicli he was then the editor, a series
of similar essays. Despite the belief expressed by an
optimistic critic of the volume that in it, and in other
separate contributions of mine to the literature of the
subject, I must have well-nigh exhausted the crop of
Scottish crime, I contrived to add to my former harvest a
number of fresh sheaves. These in the fullness of time
were duly garnered in The Riddle of the Ruthvejis and
Other Studies, published in 1919, as to which in view of its
comparative youth there is no need to say much now. I
was told that some apology is due to Robert Fergusson for
my exhibition of his engaging figure in such godless
company, an association which Avas justly termed incon-
gruous. I did so lor two reasons : I wished to speak a
good word for the lad, and the occasion served to say it ;
I also believed that his touching story would prove an
acceptable antidote to the naughtiness of his companions.
For the other subjects of Tlie Riddle I went somewhat
further afield than formerly ; the historical and the criminal
elements are better balanced, and I would fain hope that
the interest is thereby increased. Since then I have con-
tinued in tlie pages of the Juridical, with unabated zest,

X A PEPuSOXAL PKEFACE

my criminous researches, and readers of that journal may
have been disposed to jib at my persistent appearances. I
can only plead that as a taste for these pursuits, like stamp-
collecting, wife-beating, and such recondite hobbies, grows
wdth indulgence, it is not surprising, seeing the evil com-
munications I have so long maintained, that I myself
should become incorrigible.

So here is a third gathering which I have the hardihood
to put forth, and as to which I must offer some justification.
Well, the paper on Glengarry was inspired by Raeburn's
splendid portrait, to the end that so imposing a person
should not lack some literary memorial ; that on Plagium,
by a curious instance of out-of-the-way wrong-doing.
The longest essay, in which an attempt is made to take
what is called a bird's eye view of the wide field of Scottish
poisoning, exemplifies the difficulty sometimes experienced
in seeino- a wood for the trees. I know that it suffers from
cono'estion, but I was wishful to cover so far as possible
the whole ground. Two papers of earlier date for which
no room was found in my last book are here reprinted :
"Poison and Plagiary" and "The Strange Woman." Of
these the Eaglesham case is important on legal, medical,
and psychologic grounds. It is the first trial in Scotland
and the third in Britain for murder by poisoning with
prussic acid. Mrs. Mackinnon's was a famous affair in its
day, and notwithstanding some disagreeable features is
perhaps worth recalling. I had grave doubts as to the
propriety of granting her admission, but certain local
admirers have desired her presence, so here she is. If she
be deemed unworthy of the entree, the reader is welcome,
with Professor Monro, to cut her dead. With the amiable
purpose of keeping him, the reader, in as cheerful a frame
of mind as is consistent with the character of his company,

A PERSONAL PEEFACE xi

the paper on the Edinburgh students' " rag," which affords
some comic relief, has been included. As its object is
purely recreative and no appeal is made to the erudite,
I have in this instance dispensed with the formality of
footnote references. For the rest, " The Twenty-seven
Gods " is a comedy of manners municipal ; A[r. Oliphant's
case, legal farce with a tragic underplot ; M'Kean's, melo-
drama of the Grand Guignol school. In the last article,
that on the occasion of Lord Braxfield's bi-centenary, I was
handicap23ed by having written elsewhere at large upon
that great judge. I have tried, however, to present in a
true and fairer light the attaching picture of his personality,
hitherto so wantonly camouflaged b}' the party colours of
Lord Cockburn.

Finally, I am in honour bound to give the reader fair
warning : there is still grist for the mill, and it is by no
means certain that he is done with me even yet.

WILLL4M KOUGHEAU

12 Belgrave Crescent, Edinburgh,
April 1922.

CONTENTS

PAGR

GtLengarry's Way : a Footnote to " Waverley " . .1

Plagium : A Footnote to "Guy Mannering" . . .27

Locusta in Scotland : a Familiar Survey of Poisoning, as

Practised in that Realm ..... 47

Poison and Plagiary . . . . .119

The Strange Woman ...... 143

The Last Tulzie . . . , .167

The Twenty-Seven Gods of Linlithgow . . .197

The Hard Case of Mr. James Oliphant . . . 227

The Hanging of James M'Kean : Lord Braxfield's Last

Case 251

The Bi-Centenary of Lord Braxfield . . . 275

ILLUSTRATIONS

Lord Braxfiei.d ...... Frontispiece

Macdonell of Glengarry . . . Tofacfpuye 22

Plan of Agnks Montgomery's Housk . . . „ 123

Execution at Libbkrton's Wynd-Head . . ,, 160

The College Comp.at . . . . . „ 170

Patrick Robertson . . . . . „ 178

James M'Kean at the Bar . . . . „ 269

Braxfield House, Lanarkshire . . . ,, 282

Braxfield House, the Original Front and Court-
yard .......,, 296

GLENGARRY'S WAY:

A FOOTNOTE TO "WAVERLEY"

GLENGARRY'S WAY:
A Footnote to "Waverley"

Fight as lawyers plead,
Who gain the best of reputation
When they can fetch a bad cause smoothly off :
You are in, tind must through.

— A Cure for a Cuckold.

WHEN the Author of Waverley designed the romantic
figure of Fergus Maclvor he borrowed, we are told,
certain traits for that fiery and impetuous chieftain fi-om
the character of his old acquaintance, Glengarry. (a)

The last of the Chiefs, the typical Celt, the enthusiastic
upholder of the heritable and feudal braveries of a day that
was gone, Alastair Ranaldson Macdonell, fifteenth of Glen-
garry, was the son and heir of Duncan Macdonell and
Marjory, daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant of Dalvey. His
grandfather fell at Falkirk in 1746. The date of his birth
is not recorded, but we know that his parents were married
in 1772, and he was their eldest child. On the death of his
father in 1788 Alastair succeeded as well to the much
encumbered family estates, as to the no less burdensome
traditions of an ancient and, pace Mr. Andrew Lang, an
honourable house — his granduncle was "Alastair Ruadh,"
the young Glengarry whom that historian seeks to identify
with the notorious Pickle. (6) Bereft thus early of paternal
guidance and restraint, the lad's indisciplined nature
flourished amain in the congenial atmosphere of his heredi-
tary position. His mother, a woman of imperious and
haughty temper, alternately crossed and petted him, and
until her death in 1792 did all that in her lay to spoil him.

(a) Mackenzie's History of the Macdonalds, p. 356 ; Crockett's The Scott
Originals, p. 11 n. Captain MacTurk in -S'^ i?onon's TFe/^ owes something to the
same source.

{b) Macdonald's I'he Clan Donald, ii. 480 ; Lang's History of Scotland, iv. 525.

4 GLENGARKY'S WAY

Yet he was not without certain good qualities which,
like the virtues of some absolute monarch, tempered the
severity of his rule. Provided due respect were paid to his
pretensions, he was generous and placable enough ; he exer-
cised a lavish hospitality, having in such matters, as was
said, the heart of a prince, and he grudged nothing that
ministered to his ancestral pride. But whatsoever he chose
to deem an affront to his dignity or privileges awoke in
him the primitive passions of his Celtic sires, hardly to be
assuaged but by blood — a disposition which earned for him
the sobriquet of " Alastair Fiadhaich."(a) In the peaceful
times in which his lot was cast this idiosyncrasy tended to
involve its possessor with the law of the land, and like that
fair litigant Miss Rugg, Glengarry had his trials, one of
which it is here my main purpose to describe. He himself,
of course, wore always the " Garb of Old Gaul," and when
he went abroad was attended by a retinue of armed
followers in full Highland costume, popularly known as
" Glengarry's tail," including the family bard as professional
proclaimer of his patron's state.

In 1794, on attaining his majority. Glengarry was
authorised to raise a regim.ent, called the Glengarry
Fencibles, of which he was appointed colonel. They are
said to have been a fine body of men, more than half of
whom were enlisted from the Glengarry estates. The
corps was reduced in 1802.(6) Recruiting in the High-
lands was, after the failure of the Forty-five, a matter of
much difficulty ; Culloden had cooled the martial ardour
of the clansmen, and landlords had to give an extra turn
to the screw. Glengarry's method with the conscientious
objector of the day appears from his instructions to his
agent in Inverness regarding the eviction of such of his
tenants as either for themselves, their sons or their
brothers, declined the honour of military service. "Their
leases being expired by Whitsunday first," he writes on

(a) The Clan Donald, ii. 485.

(6) Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders, ii. 397.

GLENGAPtRY'S WAY 5

29th November 1794, "and having refused to serve me,
I have fully determined to warn them out, and turn them
off my property without loss of time ; and as this is the
first order of the kind I have given you since I came of age,
I have only to add that your punctuality and expedition on
the present occasion will be marked by me." (a) This hint
was not lost upon the agent; the cottars were presently
banished, and their kindly crofts knew them no more.

On 1st May 1798 a subscription ball was given at
Inverness by the officers of the regiment and gentlemen of
the county, which was destined to make more noise in the
world than is usual for such social functions. Thither, in
full panoply of chieftainship, came Colonel Macdonell of
Glengarry, his bosom swelling with the pride of all the
Macdonalds. Miss Forbes of Culloden, a famous beauty,
was the belle of the ball; and among the guests was
Lieutenant Norman Macleod of the Black Watch, son of
Major Macleod and Anne, daughter of the famous Flora
Macdonald. The chief, the damsel, and the lad — these are
the protagonists of the tragedy ; there was a lighter after-
piece played that night by Miss Bell Chisholm, daughter of
the Provost, supported by the gallant Captain Morrit, to
which I shall return when the graver matter is disposed of.
The circumstances of the fracas are shortly stated by Mrs.
Margaret Macbean, a lady who attended the ball, in a letter
written on 5th May to her husband in Edinburgh : — " Such
wonderful events have happened here within these ten days
past ; the like have not been heard of in this corner of the
world this many a year — an elopement and a duel in one
day. I am sure your curiosity is raised, but you must have
a little patience until I relate the circumstances as they
happened. Well, to begin, there was a grand ball, given by
the officers and some of the county gentlemen, among the
rest Glengarry. He payed Miss Forbes, Culloden, a deal
of attention. Lieutenant Macleod of the 42nd asked her to

{a) Fraser-Mackinto8h's Letters of Two Centuries, p. 328.

6 GLENGAREY'S WAY

dance and she did. Glengarry wished her not, and spoke
rough to Macleod. After the ball was over they quarrelled.
Macleod challenged Macdonald ; they fought, and Macleod
has got a severe wound, but not mortal ; the other has
escaped without a scratch ; some people would not be sorry
if he got a slight wound." (a) Thus Mrs. Macbean gives the
current version, inaccurate as we shall find in several par-
ticulars. Young Macleod's injury proved fatal, and Glen-
garry was indicted for his murder. After the duel that
chieftain had gone into retirement, and through his Edin-
burgh " doer " he consulted Henry Erskine, the leader of the
Scots Bar, who two years before had been deprived of the
office of Dean of Faculty, as to whether or not it were safe
for him to stand his trial. Erskine was of opinion that
though the case was a very serious one, Glengarry ought to
face the charge, and said if he returned for that purpose
he (counsel) would do the best he could in his behalf. So
Glengarry, electing to " stake his chance on Harry Erskine,"
surrendered to the criminal authorities. (6)

His trial, which naturally excited immense interest in the
North and among the Highland advocates and writers,
began at Edinburgh before the High Court of Justiciary on
Monday, 6th August 1798. The judge presiding was Lord
Eskgrove — (the Justice-Clerk, Braxfield, was then in his last
illness) — with Lords Swinton and Dunsinnan ; the counsel
for the Crown were the Lord Advocate (Robert Dundas),
the Solicitor-General (Robert Blair), and James Oswald ;
Hugh Warrender, W.S., was Crown Agent; for the pannel
were the Hon. Henry Erskine, James Montgomery, and
William Rae, instructed by Coll Macdonald, W.S. The
proceedings are fully reported in the local newspapers of the
day, upon which, and on the official record in the Justiciary
Office, Edinburgh, the following account is based. (c) The

(a) I.etters of Two Centuries, p. 335.
(6) Fergusson's Henry Ersldne, p. 395.

(c) Books of Adjournal, 6th and 7th August ; Caledonian Mercury, 9th August ;
Edinburgh Advertiser, 10th August ; Scots Magazine, September 1798.

GLENGAERY'S WAY 7

Court was crowded to suffocation, and the temperature was
in keeping with the excitement of the auditory. The
indictment sets forth that on the 3rd day of May last, on
the Muir or Links between Fort George and Ardersier, the
pannel did wickedly and feloniously discharge a pistol
loaded with ball at the now deceased Lieutenant Norman
Macleod of the 42nd Regiment of Foot, in consequence of
which Macleod was wounded on the right side immediately
under the arm, the ball having penetrated through the
right armpit into the back; and notwithstanding every
medical assistance having been immediately procured,
Macleod did, in consequence of the wound so given him by
the pannel, expire on the 3rd day of June thereafter, and
was thus murdered by the pannel. The jury were above
the average in social condition, being twelve landed pro-
prietors in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, a Writer
to the Signet, a writer, and a merchant. Mr. James
Home, W.S., the only member of his Society whom I have
encountered on an assize — they were and are exempt
from serving on a jury, — was elected clerk. Glengarry
pleaded Not Guilty. No objection was taken to the
relevancy of the libel, but Rae for the pannel argued
that the wound was given in a duel into which he was
drawn in self-defence, under the most imperious necessity,
and therefore craved that he be allowed a proof of all
facts and circumstances which might alleviate or exculpate
from the charge. The Court, while holding that by the
law of Scotland killing in a duel was murder, not culpable
homicide, and that a person tried therefor must either
be found guilty of murder or be acquitted, allowed the
proof craved. (a)

" The libel was laid for Murder at Common Law," says
Burnett in his account of the case ; " and the Court, before
pronouncing their Interlocutor on the Relevancy, and on the
plea of Self-defence being stated, expressed in clear terms

(a) Books of Adjournal.

8 GLENGARRY'S WAY

their opinion that the plea of* Self-defence was inadmissible
on killing in a Duel."(<^)

The first Avitness called for the Crown was Mrs. Duff,
formerly Miss Sarah Louisa Forbes, daughter of Arthur
Forbes of Culloden, she in the interval between the ball
and the trial having married Mr. Hugh Robert Duff, younger
of Muirtown. Among other delightful reminiscences of
the eccentric Lord Eskgrove preserved by Henry Cockburn
is the manner in which Mrs. DuflP was sworn by his Lord-
ship : — " In the trial of Glengarry for murder in a duel,"
he writes, " a lady of great beauty was called as a
witness. She came into court veiled. But before adminis-
tering the oath Eskgrove gave her this exposition of
her duty — ' l^'oung woman ! a^ou will now consider yourself
as in the presence of Almighty God and of this High
Court. Lift up your veil, throw off all modesty, and look
me in the face.'"(?>) In reply to the Lord Advocate, Mrs.
Duff deposed that she was present at the ball at Inver-
ness on the night in question. She danced both with
Glengarry and with Macleod that evening. She was en-
gaged for the dance /ifter supper to Mr. Kanald Macdonald.
Glengarry came up and said she had promised him that
dance ; she told him that she had no recollection of doing
so. He took this " a little warm," went off, and presently
returned to say that Mr. Macdonald had relinquished in his
favour the right to dance with her. She then said that she
would dance with neither of them ; but Glengarry persisting
to press his claim, Macleod, who was sitting beside her,
remarked, " Why do you teaze the lady ? can't you allow
her to choose for herself; you are one of the Stewards, and
may command as many dances as you please." Whereupon
Glengarry "in a passionate manner" retorted, "It is no
business of yours ; you should not interfere." Macleod
replied that he only did so in a friendly wa}^ and meant

(a) Burnett's Treatise on the Criminal Latv of Scotland, p. 51.
(6) Cockburn's Memorials of his Time, 1856, p. 122.

GLENGAKRY'S WAY 9

no offence. Glengarry seemed warm, but Macleod was
perfectly calm ; she danced a reel with hhn before leaving
the ballroom, which on account of the dispute she did earlier
than she intended.

Eanald Macdonald, advocate, deposed that he dined
with Macleod and Glengarry in the mess of the 79th ; none
of the party was the worse of liquor. After dinner they
went to the ball. He was engaged to Miss Forbes for the
last country dance; Glengarry solicited the lady for his
partner, and he gave up his own right. Glengarry and
Macleod had words about the matter, but witness left the
room to see some ladies to their carriage. On returning, he
met the parties coming out of the ballroom ; they were
quarrelling. Later, in the messroom of the 79th, high
words passed between them ; Macleod said, " You are very
impertinent " ; Glengarry struck him on the bonnet with his
cane. They then came down the room, still abusing each
other — a long table was between them, and when they
reached the foot. Glengarry again struck Macleod on the
face, and kicked him. Macleod drew his dirk and the
witness came between them, saying he hoped Macleod would
not think of running a man through who was unarmed.
They were then separated and retired to different rooms,
Macleod exclaiming, " You shall hear from me, you damned
eternal rascal." Fearing the consequences, witness informed
Major M'Caskill, the Commanding Officer, with a view
to Macleod being put under arrest, which he believed
was done.

Captain Neil Campbell of the 79th Eegiment, Macleod's
second in the duel, described the quarrel in the messroom.
Glengarry said, "It was the height of presumption for
you to interfere." " Since you have followed it so far,"
replied Macleod, "I must tell you you are most imper-
tinent." Glengarry then struck Macleod on the face with
his cane and kicked him twice on the breech with his
feet, saying, "You know what that's for; it is now day-
light, and you can use pen and ink." Macleod said he

10 GLENGARRY'S WAY

could never have believed Glengarry would behave in so
ungentlemanly a manner, and drawing his dirk, added, " If
I were not more of a gentleman than you, I would run
you through the body." The company interposed, and
Macleod and witness went to another room, where a
challenge was drawn up, which he carried at once to
Glengarry. A meeting was arranged at a place called
the Long Loan, on the beach near Inverness, for six o'clock
that morning. Macleod and witness waited there an hour,
but Glengarry, because of some misunderstanding as to the
ground, did not appear, and they had to leave, owing to the
intervention of the magistrates, who arrived on the scene
to stop the duel. They next went to Sinclair's Inn, three
miles from Inverness, on the road to Fort George, where
at Macleod's request witness wrote a letter to Major
Macdonald, Glengarry's second, informing him of their
whereabouts, and that the place was "very proper" for
settling the dispute. No answer came ; so they returned
to Inverness, where witness waited upon the major, who
said that Glengarry was then at Culloden House, but a
reply would be sent in the morning. A meeting was
arranged next day on the links at Campbelltown, near
Fort George, where the parties met accordingly. Major
Macdonald proposed an amicable settlement, to which
Macleod agreed on condition that Glengarry should make
an apology in writing, to be dictated by Majors M'Lean
and M'Caskill, and also give up to him the cane with
which he struck him, " to be used as he (Macleod) thought
proper." Glengarry was willing to apologise, but refused
to give up the cane ; and as Macleod would not recede, the
affair had to go on. The witness produced pistols and
balls ; as the latter proved too small he proposed to wrap
them in leather, but to this the major would not assent.
They then placed their men, witness suggesting ten paces,
Macdonald twelve ; they agreed upon eleven, the witness
to give the word to fire. The parties fired almost together ;
Macleod was wounded but kept his ground, saying that

GLENGARRY'S WAY 11

unless Glengarry would apologise they must load again.
The seconds, however, intervened, and on Macleod ad-
mitting sorrow for what he did at the beginning of the
business. Glengarry expressed regret for his share in the
later stages, so they shook hands and parted. Captain
Campbell was cross-examined as follows : — " (Q.) What use
do you think Lieutenant Macleod was to make of the cane
if delivered up?— (^.) Any use he chose. (Q.) Do you
mean that he might inflict a blow on Glengarry with it ? —
(A.) If he thought fit to do so, he might." At Sinclair's
Inn Macleod said that if Glengarry did not give him satis-
faction he would post him for a coward. There was a
report at Inverness that Glengarry had " shyed to fight."

Lieutenant Kymond Hicks of the 79th Eegiment gave
similar evidence regarding the quarrel in the messroom, at
which he was present. It was then past five o'clock in the
morning.

Major Duncan Macdonald of the 15th Regiment of Foot,
who acted as Glengarry's second, deponed that Macleod
said to Glengarry in the messroom, "You are damned
impertinent," whereupon Glengarry struck him with a
small cane on the bonnet. There were high words between
them and Glengarry struck him again ; witness interfered,
and took Glengarry away. After receiving the challenge
Glengarry put himself in his hands. They went to the
ground proposed, but nobody came : there was a mistake
as to the place of meeting. Glengarry did not see Captain
Campbell's letter, written from Sinclair's Inn, as he was
then at Culloden House. Later in the day witness met
Captain Campbell and proposed an accommodation — the
matter to be referred to Majors M'Caskill and M'Lean,
friends of Macleod ; but Macleod stipulated for a written
apology and for delivery of the cane, to be used as he saw
fit. The latter condition witness held to be inadmissible,
and the meeting at Campbelltown was arranged. Next
day when the parties met he again tried to effect a settle-
ment, but Macleod insisted on delivery of the cane, to

12 GLENGAREY'S WAY

wliicli witness would not consent, as he never heard of a
British officer making such a concession. On the parties
taking the ground he objected to Glengarry's position, the
sun being in his eyes ; they tossed up for it, and Glengarry
won. It was agreed to fire at the word of command, which
they did nearly at the same time. Perceiving that Macleod
was wounded he ran up to him saying, " I'm afraid you are
hurt." Captain Campbell said, "It's only a scratch." "I
am able to stand," said Macleod ; " Glengarry, keep your
ground." But Macdonald protested : " Gentlemen, I did
not come here to see you commit murder. If you offer to
fire another shot, I'm off." Macleod said Glengarry must
apologise first ; Glengarry said that Macleod must first do
so. Macleod then said, " I am sorry for the beginning of
this affair"; " Then," said Glengarry, "I am exceedingly
sorry for the latter part of it." Finally Macleod remarked,
" You must be satisfied, Glengarry, that I received your
fire like a man." Witness was certain that Glengarry
entertained no malice against the deceased, and was con-
vinced that he always desired an accommodation.

Lieutenant Gordon Cameron of the 79th deposed that
he met Major Macdonald on 2nd May and walked with
him towards Sinclair's Inn, where they saw Macleod and
Campbell. Macleod asked him what 'people were saying in
Inverness about the matter ; he replied that it was thought
Macleod had acted very right and as an ofiicer should do.
" I'll give your friend one other opportunity of coming
forward," said Macleod to Macdonald, " and if he doesn't, I
shall expose him." While waiting for Glengarry's return
from Culloden House, Macleod asked witness his own
opinion. He answered, " If Glengarry can reconcile what
he has done to his own feelings, I think you have done
enough to vindicate your honour as an ofiicer and a gentle-
man, by sending repeated challenges, and he not coming
forward."

James Macpherson of Ardersier deposed that while
returning home from Fort George on 3rd May he met a

GLENGAKKY'S WAY 13

soldier, who cried, " For God's sake run forward, and prevent
bloodshed ! " He heard the report of a pistol, and coming
to the place saw the parties. Glengarry said to Macleod,
"You must say you meant no insult"; Macleod replied,
" That is what I have always said," adding that Glengarry
must now consider him a gentleman and a man of honour.
Thereupon they shook hands and parted.

Ensign John M'Curry of the 7th Fencible Regiment,
who was in company with Mr. Macpherson, corroborated.
Lieutenant Andrew Miller of the 78th Regiment of Foot
deposed that on 2nd May, in the Muir of Culloden, he
received from Macleod, after he had left Sinclair's Inn,
a letter directed to Captain Campbell, pressing for an
immediate meeting with Glengarry, which he duly delivered.
Macleod said he would accept from Glengarry no apology
other than that formerly mentioned.

Ebenezer Brown, assistant surgeon, 79th Regiment,
deposed that he accompanied Captain Campbell in a post-
chaise to Campbelltown, where he understood a duel was
to be fought. He waited in the chaise for some time, and
when summoned to the ground, found Macleod wounded by
a pistol ball under the right armpit. He was carried to
Fort George, where the ball was extracted from below the
left shoulder blade. For the first fortnight he seemed to
be recovering, but on the fifteenth day he became worse,
and died on 3rd June, thirty -one days after receiving his
injury. James Roy, surgeon to the garrison of Fort George,
and James Moir, surgeon, 7th Fencible Regiment, who
attended Macleod in his illness, corroborated. They per-
formed a post-mortem and made a report, which they
identified. The reading of this document, entitled, "Note
of Appearances on the Body of Lieutenant Macleod, upon
Examination after Death," closed the Crown case.

Two witnesses only were examined for the defence :
Miss Jean Walecoat, daughter of Captain Thomas Walecoat,
residing in Inverness, who gave as to what happened at the
ball an account similar to that given by Mrs. Dufi', with the

14 GLENGAKKY'S WAY

addition that she thought Glengarry then rather the worse
of liquor ; and Lieutenant William Macdonald of the 37th
Regiment, who corroborated what had been stated in
evidence as to the proposed posting of Glengarry as a
coward, and the reports circulated at Inverness to his
prejudice for declining to meet Macleod.

The proof being closed, counsel addressed, and Lord
Eskgrove charged the jury. No report of these speeches
has survived ; it is merely mentioned that " the Lord
Advocate summed up the evidence for the Crown in an
elegant and impressive speech, as did the Hon. Henry
Erskine for the pannel in his usual eloquent manner. Lord
Eskgrove charged the jury, and recapitulated the evidence
with great candour and impartiality." Thus the Mercury
reporter ; but from what Henry Cockburn tells us of his
Lordship's judicial methods, both jury and audience, which
included "a great number of Ladies and persons of Rank
and Fashion," must have had a trying time. " His tedious-
ness," writes Cockburn, "both of manner and matter, in
charging juries was most dreadful. It was the custom to
make juries stand while the judge was addressing them ;
but no other judge was punctilious about it. Eskgrove
however insisted upon it ; and if any one of them slipped
cunningly down to his seat, or dropped into it from inability
to stand any longer, the unfortunate wight was sure to be
reminded by his Lordship that ' these were not the times in
which there should be any disrespect of this High Court,
or even of the law.' Often have I gone back to the court
at midnight and found him, whom I had left mumbling-
hours before, still going on, with the smoky unsnuffed
tallow candles in greasy tin candlesticks, and the poor
despairing jurymen, most of the audience having retired
or being asleep ; the wagging of His Lordship's nose and
chin being the chief signs that he was still ' char-ging.' "(a)
At four o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, 7th August, his

(ffl) Memoriah of his Tirae, p. 123.

GLENGAREY'S WAY 15

Lordship having exhausted at once his subject and the
patience of his hearers, the jury was " inclosed," and
ordained to return their verdict in the same place that day
at noon, " the pannel in the mean time to be committed
prisoner to the Tolbooth of Canongate," and the Court
adjourned, (a)

It appears that the line taken by Erskine in his speech
was an appeal to the jury on the point of honour, stress
being laid on the persistent efforts of Major Macdonald and
his principal to offer every kind of apology consistent with
their character as gentlemen. His biographer adds that he
was careful to note, and to make the most of in his client's
behalf, the animus displayed by the Crown witnesses ; but,
so far as reported, these seem to have given their evidence
with commendable fairness. Erskine began his address at
midnight and spoke for three hours. So confident was
Glengarry of the result of this "splendid appeal," that he
objected to await the verdict in the Tolbooth ; but Erskine
dryly remarked, " If Glengarry is wise he will return to
prison." (h)

When the Court met next day the crowd was greater
than ever ; popular sentiment, which hitherto had been
against the accused, now favoured an acquittal, and the
unanimous finding of Not Guilty was greeted with prolonged
applause. The verdict having been recorded, the Chancellor
of the Jury (Charles Brown of Coalstoun) explained that the
sole ground on which it proceeded was the anxious desire
latterly manifested by the pannel and his second amicably
to settle the matter, as the jury highly disapproved of
his conduct at the beginning of the dispute, and it was
fortunate for him that the duel did not take place so soon
as intended, before any attempt was made to apologise, as
in that case they would have returned a very different
verdict. Lord Eskgrove expressed approbation of the jury's
sentiments, adding some cliaracteristic observations on the

^ (a) Books of Adjournal.

(b) Henry Erskine, p. 396.

16 GLENGARRY'S WAY

illegal and dangerous practice of duelling ; Lord Swinton,
while assenting generally to the jury's views, deprecated
the tendency to turn a Court of Law into a Court of
Honour, and described duelling as " a horrid Gothic
custom," which the Legislature had done everything in its
power to discourage. The pannel was then assoilzied and
dismissed from the bar, and the Court rose, (a)

That Glengarry was lucky to escape so easily the con-
sequences of such a discreditable business was the opinion
of his contemporaries, professional and lay. The trial, in
the considered judgment of Burnett, " ought to have had a
very different issue " ; (h) and Fraser of Gortuleg writes on
7th August to the agent for the defence : "I cannot avoid
congratulating you on Glengarry's escape, which was narrow
indeed. ... I sincerely wish he may make good use of
the hairbreadth escape." (c) Glengarry's friends, with
questionable taste, gave him "a great dinner" at Oman's
Hotel in Edinburgh, to celebrate his acquittal. Henry
Erskine was invited, but declined, as his admiration of the
part played by his client in the late tragedy was not suffi-
ciently strong to admit of his being present. (c?) There is
an interesting letter, written on 14th August, by Glen-
garry's law agent and kinsman. Coll Macdonald of Dalness,
W.S., giving his own impressions of the case, which is
worth quoting : — " I have yet scarcely recovered from the
fatigues of Glengarrie's trial. You would have several
public as well as private accounts of it, but none can give
an adequate idea of the whole of what appeared in the
course of it. The Lord Advocate exerted the utmost pitch
of his abilities, and the verdict returned does not meet with
the general approbation of the public, though I for one am
convinced that it is a proper verdict, warranted by the
evidence adduced. The public voice was so much against

(a) Books of Adjournal.

(b) Criminal Law, p. 51.

GLENGAEEY'S WAY 17

Glengarry that not a single one among his friends thought
that he would have been acquitted by a unanimous verdict.
If you compare the Mercury and the Advertiser account, it
will convey a tolerable good criterion of the import of the
evidence, though several material things are omitted in
both — particularly no notice is taken of a letter signed
' Neill Campbell, Captain, 79th Regiment,' which Captain
Campbell denied to be his subscription. It was wrote to
the publisher of the Courant. The evidence of Mrs. Duff
is the subject of general talk ; without doubt you will hear
it. She remained in court to the last. The Lord Advocate
paid very many compliments to her beauty, etc., in the
course of his speech, but the Chancellor of the Jury said
she was the best evidence for Glengarry of all that had
been adduced." (a) It is a curious fact that with the ex-
ception of a brief reference in Sabine's Notes on Duels and
Duelling, no mention of so notable an affair of "honour" is
made in any of the standard works on the subject.(6)

The other incident associated with the famous ball at
Inverness was the elopement of two of the other guests,
Miss Bell Chisholm, the Provost's daughter, and Captain
Morrit, who, as the writer of the letter already quoted
informs us, " set off at twelve o'clock at night in a carriage
and four " for Elgin, making for Aberdeen. It appears that
the captain's attentions had been discouraged by the young
lady's family, who declined his acquaintance. She was
not missed till eight o'clock the next morning, when the
Provost, accompanied by two friends, at once started in
pursuit. "Their intention is to marry her whenever they
meet her, and I hope that Captain Morrit never intended
anything but what was honourable," says Mrs. Macbean,
though she is not sanguine as to the issue of the adventure.
" Every person is sorry for Miss Chisholm," she significantly
adds, " for you know what Morrit is." (c) Let us hope,

(a) Antiquarian Notes, Second Series, ]i. 139.
(6) Notes and Queries, 12. S. v. 43.
{v) Letters of Two Centuries, p. 336.

18 GLENGARRY'S WAY

however, that the captain proved better than his reputa-
tion ; history is silent as to the denouement.

Glengarry's high spirit was untamed by this experience
of the law. The next we hear of him is as the principal
defender in a civil action of damages for injury and oppres-
sion, at the instance of Dr. Donald Macdonald of Fort
Augustus, before the Court of Session. The pursuer, who
was tenant of one of Glengarry's sheep farms, was of a dis-
position as fiery as his laird. The ill-feeling between them
was of long standing, it culminated in a personal scuffle,
and notwithstanding the intervention of common friends,
the doctor, considering himself the aggrieved party, refused
Glengarry's demand for an apology. A favourable oppor-
tunity presenting itself at Fort x\ugustus market, on 30th
September 1805, the doctor was severely beaten by Glen-
garry and some of his " tail." The legal proceedings taken
by him to obtain redress dragged on until 23rd June 1807,
when the case was decided in his favour. The defenders.
Glengarry, his factor, his piper and three other retainers,
were found guilty of " a violent and atrocious assault on
the person of the pursuer, to the effusion of his blood and
danger of his life." As, according to the judgment of the
Court, this outrage did not originate in a sudden quarrel,
but was the result of long-premeditated resentment and a
deliberate purpose of revenge, and was moreover attended
with many circumstances of great barbarity and peculiar
aggravation, "especially on the part of the defender Alex-
ander Macdonell of Glengarry," the defenders were found
liable in £2000 sterling of damages, as well as in the
expenses of the process. Further, in respect that Glengarry
was at the time of committing the offence a Justice of the
Peace and Deputy-Lieutenant of the county, the Court
remitted to the Lord Advocate to consider whether, in view
of "the uno^overnable resentment and violence" manifested
by Glengarry, it was proper he should be continued in
those offices, and also whether he should not be prosecuted
criminally. " Though not recovered from the dismay of our

GLENGARRY'S WAY 19

discomfiture," writes his agent, Coll Macdonald, " 1 think it
right to communicate a copy of the interlocutor. . . . The
malicious are now making an attack on Sir James Mont-
gomery [the Lord Advocate] for not taking it up criminally,
and to every one concerned a certain share of censure is
allotted in the conversation of the Parliament House. In
particular the ladies took a great interest for the doctor."
An appeal to the House of Lords was contemplated ;
whether it was ever taken, and if so how it fared at the
hands of that alien tribunal, is unrecorded. (a)

In any case Glengarry seems to have been none the
worse for the judicial thunders. Certainly his inveterate
desire to quarrel was unabated, for within the year we find
him on the brink of a duel with Kothiemurchus — there was
a lady in the case — which was only averted by the good
sense and offices of Colonel Halkett and other peacemakers,
who saw in the circumstances " no necessity for proceeding
to extremities."(/>)

One would have expected Glengarry to have had enough
of Inverness dances, yet an incident, in itself sufficiently
ludicrous, arising out of the Northern Meeting ball in 1810
which he attended, was to involve him in another criminal
prosecution. The Hon. Archibald Fraser of Lovat, also one
of the party, on leaving the ball took by inadvertence
Glengarry's hat instead of his own. So soon as he reached
his hotel he discovered his mistake, and at once sent the
hat to Glengarry's lodging. "Next day, being Sunday,"
writes Lovat to his kinsman, the Sheriff of Inverness-shire,
"I went to the High Kirk, when I was summoned in the
middle of the sermon, and called out by a message that
Glengarry insisted on seeing me on pressing business. I
came out of kirk to the alarm of the whole congregation,
who concluded that I had got a military express or was
taken ill. Upon going to Fraser's Hotel, not two hundred
yards distance, I found Glengarr}'- gone out of town, after

(a) Antiquarian Notes, Second Series, pp. 139-142.
(6) Letters of Two C'enturie.% p. 3.55.

20 GLENGARKY'S WAY

beating open my locked door, in which there was a good
deal of money and papers in a law contest I have with
him . . . my apartment being ransacked, and his hat
not found. The door was left open by Glengarry, who in a
supercilious, dictatorial tone of voice halloo'd to the land-
lord to have the lock mended at his, Glengarry's, expense.
The manners of the gentleman I overlook ; but as a public
man I demand Glengarry and all the world to be made
sensible that any man's apartment is his sacred castle, and
that it is criminal to break it open under any pretence
without legal warrant."(a) Here were the makings of a
pretty quarrel ; but owing to the delicate health of Glen-
garry's wife at the time — he had married in 1802 a
daughter of Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, and a result
of that transaction was looked for — Lovat magnanimously
delayed action for three months. When the lady was out
of danger, however, he invoked the aid of the law. The
Crown refused to prosecute, but intimated willingness to
concur in a process of criminal letters to be raised by
Lovat, which was accordingly done. Later, on the advice
of friends, the proceedings were withdrawn.

In addition to these personal actions Glengarry, in his
capacity of landlord, was constantly involved in litigations
with his numerous tenants, in most of which he seems to
have been unsuccessful. He was hardly more happily
inspired in raising with Clanranald the vexed question of
the chieftainship of the Clan Donald, that controversy so
long and warmly waged, upon which so much ink and
temper have been wasted.

Scott's Letter Si Journal, and Life afford many and
more agreeable glimpses of Glengarry in social and friendly
relations with Sir Walter. On 3rd March 1816 the chief
writes offering to present to Scott the historic staghound :
" His name is Maida, out of respect for that action in
which my brother had the honour to lead the 78th High-

(a) Letters of Two Centuries, p. .361.

GLENGAERY'S WAY 21

landers to victory. This dog is now in his prime, and has
been bled to deer and roe, and should you wish for more
of the deer blood for yourself, command me freely." Scott
accepted the gift, which on 12th April he describes to
Joanna Baillie as " a large bloodhound, allow'd to be the
finest dog of the kind in Scotland, perfectly gentle, affec-
tionate, and good - natured, and the darling of all the
children. I had him in a present from Glengarry, who
has refused the breed to people of the very first rank." (a)
Glengarry's brother was the celebrated General Sir James
Macdonell, K.C.B., " the bravest man in Britain," who is
remembered for his holding of the gate at Hougoumont.(5)
He it was who, when Landseer asked leave to paint him,
replied in the emphatic words of Scripture, " Is thy servant
a dog that he should do this thing ? " (c) Apart from
Raeburn's supreme presentment, the best portrait we have
of Glengarry is that given a few years later by Sir Walter
in his Diary : — " I had a call from Glengarry yesterday,
as kind and friendly as usual. This gentleman is a kind
of Quixote in our age, having retained in their full extent
the whole feelings of clanship and chieftainship, elsewhere
so long abandoned. He seems to have lived a century too
late, and to exist, in a state of complete law and order,
like a Glengarry of old, whose will was law to his sept.
Warm-hearted, generous, friendly, he is beloved by those
who know him, and his efforts are unceasing to show
kindness to those of his clan who are disposed fully to
admit his pretensions. To dispute them is to incur his
resentment, which has sometimes broken out in acts of
violence which have brought him into collision with the
law. To me he is a treasure, as being full of information
as to the history of his own clan, and the manners and
customs of the Highlanders in general. Strong, active,
and muscular, he follows the chase of the deer for days

(a) Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott, i. 358.
^ (6) History of the Macdonalds, p. 355.
(c) Skene's Memories of Sir Walter Scott, p. 177.

22 GLENGAKRY'S WAY

and nights together, sleeping in his plaicl when darkness
overtakes him in the forest. He was fortunate in marrying
a daughter of Sir William Forbes, who, by yielding to his
peculiar ideas in general, possesses much deserved influence
with him. The number of his singular exploits would fill
a volume ; for, as his pretensions are high, and not always
willingly yielded to, he is every now and then giving rise
to some rumour. He is, on many of these occasions, as
much sinned against as sinning; for men, knowing his
temper, sometimes provoke him, conscious that Glengarry,
from his character for violence, will always be put in the
wrong by the public. I have seen him behave in a very
manly manner when thus tempted. He has of late prose-
cuted a quarrel, ridiculous enough in the present day,
to have himself admitted and recognised as Chief of the
whole Clan Ranald, or surname of Macdonald. ... It is
absurd to set up the jus sanguinis now, which Glengarry's
ancestors did not, or could not, make good, when it was a
right worth combating for." (a)

It is probable that Sir Walter's sentiment for his friend
was coloured by the fact that Glengarry's wife was the
daughter of his own first love. The marriage was a happy
one, for contrary to custom Glengarry seems to have shown
himself most amiable in his domestic relations, and a family
of one son and seven daughters — six sons had died in
infancy— formed the home circle at Garry Cottage. Inver-
garry House and shootings were, owing to the chiefs
embarrassed circumstances, always let. ^neas Ranaldson
Macdonell, the son and heir, w^as a source of great pride
to his parents. He was a good scholar and distinguished
himself when at Perth x\.cademy.(6) Like his father, the
lad was a keen sportsman. "The young Laird of Glen-
garrie kill'd a hart shooting at a hind," the Duke of Atholl's
keeper reports to his Grace in January 1824, " which pleased
Glengarrie and the young man as much as if it had been a

(a) The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, i. 120.

(6) Antiquarian Notes, p. 147; History of the Macdonalds, p. 3.59.

Macdonkll or Glengarry.

(Aller the portrait by !>ir Henrj' Raeburn in the National Galler.v of Scotland.)

GLENGAKRY'S WAY 23

hart in season " ; and the same month Lord Charles Murray
writes to the Duchess : " Glengarry is in town, having
come up to bring ^neas to Eton. He tells me that he
has a good idea of the Gaelic, and that he killed his deer,
and slipped the hounds for his father before he crossed the
Tweed, according to an ancient vow made by a Glengarry
to that effect. To accomplish this they went to the Forest
of Atholl, and M'Intire's [the keeper] good generalship
proved quite successful." (a)

I lack space to recount the many anecdotes of Glengarry
which may be gleaned from the several authorities upon
whom I have so largely drawn, but of an incident men-
tioned by Sir Walter one would gladly have found room
for more. " We have had Marechal Macdonald here," he
writes to Skene from Edinburgh on 24th June 1825 ; "we
had a capital account of Glengarry visiting the interior
of a convent in the ancient Highland garb, and the effect of
such an apparition on the nuns, who fled in all directions."
Scott used to tell the story with great delight. (6) Some-
thing good, too, must underlie the following reference in
a letter to William Stewart Rose of 12th October of
that year : " Glengarry's helmet is true enough ; but
why speculate on what can come either in or on such an
extraordinary head ? " (c)

The visit of George the Fourth to Edinburgh in August
1822 — that regal orgy of snobbery m excelsis — provided
Glengarry with a part to play after his own heart. Scott
stage-managed what he terms " this most royal row " — " a
sort of grand ' Terryfication ' of the Holyrood chapters in
Waverley,'' is Lockhart's apt description — when the fat
Florizel (aged 60) appeared as Bonnie Prince Charlie, and
Sir Walter as the Baron of Bradwardine ; and we read how
the green room in Castle Street was " besieged by swelling-
chieftains," disputing fiercely as to the relative positions of

(a) Atholl Chronicles, iv. 348.
^ (h) Skene's Memories, p. 132.

24 GLENGARRY'S WAY

their clans at Bannockburn, which they held to be the
precedent for determining their respective places in the line
of the King's escort ; and with what unwearied good-humour
Scott adjusted their competing claims and smoothed their
ruffled plumage — a task beyond the ability of any other
man in Scotland. (a) Glengarry came well out of these
rivalries, for we find him in command of the Glengarry
Highlanders, of whom since 1808 he had been Lieutenant-
Colonel, guarding the royal carriage on the King's arrival
at Leith. "After his Majesty was seated in his carriage,
Glengarry on horseback forced his way through every
obstacle, and advancing close to the royal carriage exclaimed,
' Your Majesty is welcome to Scotland ! ' a salutation which
was returned by a most gracious bow from the Sovereign. "(6)
In the State procession from Holyrood to the Castle on
Thursday, 22nd August, the Glengarry Highlanders, headed
by their chief, attracted much attention. " Glengarry has
a small, but select following ; twelve gentlemen of his house,
amongst whom we noticed the gallant Colonel Macdonell,
brother of the Chief, and famous for his achievements at the
defence of Hougoumont, where, assisted only by a serjeant
of the Guards, he slew or drove back six French grenadiers,
who had forced their way into the courtyard. Also we saw
Barrisdale, Scothouse, Major Macdonell, and other cadets of
this ancient line. Each had a gillie in attendance — tall,
raw-boned, swarthy fellows, who, besides the sword and
target, carried guns of portentous length. We believe they
are chiefly the foresters of the Chieftain ; and indeed they
look as if they had done nothing all their lives but lived by
hunting, and slept in the woods."(c) Glengarry must have
been gratified by this public appreciation of his "tail." At
the great banquet in the Parliament House on 24th August,
which rounded off the royal visit, immediately after the
toast, "The Author of Waverley, whoever he may be,"

(a) Lockhart's Life of Scott, v. 192.

(b) Historical Account of His Majesty's Visit to Scotland, p. 101.

GLENGARRY'S WAY 25

Glengarry, "in a warm speech, in which he dwelt at some
length upon the virtues and patriotism of one who, he said,
had been the patron of his early life," proposed the memory
of Lord Melville, (a) He dined more quietly with Scott in
Castle Street, when the poet Crabbe, who was so amazed by
the " Celtic invasion," was also of the party and took " Lady
Glengarry " in to dinner.

This was Glengarry's apogee. Like Fergus Maclvor, he
had "stretched his means to the uttermost to maintain the
rude and plentiful hospitality which was the most valued
attribute of a chieftain." Times had changed; his estates
were heavily burdened, and despite raised rents and the
constant stream of emigration to make way for sheep
farms, his circumstances became daily more straitened. He
realised too late the need for retrenchment. Visitino- his
kinsman, Captain Duncan Macdonell of Aonach, in the
summer of 1827, he remarked, "Duncan, I have been
thoughtless ; I have been, as I thought, sustaining the
honour of my ancestors ; but now I see that I have been
wasting the heritage that generations of them have left me.
I must turn over a new leaf, I am determined to do it ; I
am going south by-and-bye to have this business definitely
arranged."(6) But it was not to be. On 14th January
1828, the steamboat Stirling Castle, aboard which he ^vas
making the journey from Inverness to Glasgow, broke down
after leaving the Canal, and was driven ashore in a oale
at Corran, near Fort William. Glengarry, in attempting
to leap from the stranded vessel to the shore, slipped upon
the rocks, and in falling received a violent blow on the
head. He was able to reach safety with the help of his
companions, but died a few hours later, (c) He was buried
in the cemetery of Killionan, beside the chieftains of his
race, and the bards made loud lamentation for the tragic
fate of him who had striven so long and proudly to main-

(a) Historical Account, p. 243.

(6) History of the Macdonalds, p. 358.

26 GLENGARRY'S WAY

tain the old magnificence of bygone days.(a) "I have
this day the melancholy news of Glengarry's death, and
was greatly shocked," writes Sir Walter Scott on 21st
January. " The eccentric parts of his character, the pre-
tensions which he supported with violence and assumption
of rank and authority, were obvious subjects of censure and
ridicule, which in some points were not undeserved. He
played the part of a chieftain too nigh the life to be popular
among an altered race, with whom he thought, felt, and
acted, I may say in right and wrong, as a chieftain of a
hundred years since would have done, while his conduct
was viewed entirely by modern eyes, and tried by modern
rules."(6)

On Glengarry's death his afiairs were found to be so
seriously involved that the estates had to be sold, and his
son and successor, by a strange irony of fate, emigrated to
Australia, as so many humbler members of the clan had
already done to Canada, in quest of the livelihood denied
them in their native land.(c) All that remained to the
family of the great territories of their forebears was the
blackened ruin of Invergarry Castle, the eyry of that eagle
race, ravaged, like the fortunes of its owners, by the
passions of the Forty-five. (cZ)

(a) The Clan Donald, ii. 488.

(6) Journal, ii. 113.

{d) The Clan Donald, ii. 475.

PLAGIUM :

A FOOTNOTE TO "GUY MANNERING"

PLAGIUM :
A Footnote to "Guy Mannering"

"Pardon me," said Pleydell, " it \s plagium, and 'plagium is felony."

— Guy Mannering.

IN An Apology for Idlers, that delectable essay which is
to the Greeks foolishness, Robert Louis Stevenson,
lookinsf back on his own education, remarks, " I still
remember that Emphyteusis is not a disease, nor Stillicide
a crime." Whether or not his stock of legal knowledge
was so extensive as to embrace the true significance of
plagium or man-stealing, we cannot tell ; but it is beyond
the peradventure of a doubt that Mr. Ebenezer Balfour of
Shaws, falsely so-called, and Captain Elias Hoseason of the
brig Covenant, of Dysart, in kidnapping David Balfour as
they did for the delight of the posterities, were guilty, art
and part, of that unconventional offence, and jointly and
severally incurred whatever may be the precise penalty law-
fully thereto belonging. Such also, in the opinion of that
excellent lawyer Mr. Counsellor Pleydell, was the crime
committed by those earlier rascals, Gilbert Glossin, Esquire,
" late writer in . . . ., now Laird of Ellangowan," and
Captain Dirk Hatteraick of the Yung/ramv Hagens-
laapen, in their machinations against the person of little
Harry Bertram.

Eeaders of Scott's incomparable tale need not to be
reminded how the child Harry, accompanying Supervisor
Kennedy to the Wood of Warroch, was, after the ganger's
murder by the smugglers, kidnapped by them at Glossin's
instigation, and conveyed to Holland for a season ; and
how, after divers diverting adventures, mainly through
the good offices of Meg Merrilies he recovered the heritage
of his fathers, a consummation to which the genial Edin-

30 PLAGIUM

burgh advocate materially contributed. When Glossin
was about to be committed to prison for his share in the
conspiracy, the wily ci-devant writer took exception to the
magistrates' decision. "Forgive me, Mr. Pleydell," said
he ; " there is only one case upon record, Torrence and
Waldie. They were, you remember, resurrection -women,
who had promised to procure a child's body for some young
suro-eons. Being upon honour to their employers, rather
than disappoint the evening lecture of the students, they
stole a live child, murdered it, and sold the body for three
shillings and sixpence. They were hanged, but for the
murder not for the plagium. Your civil law has carried
you a little too far." But Mr. Pleydell's statement of the
law as it then stood was sound, and Glossin, as we shall
see, was wrong. Torrence and Waldie's case was not the
sole authority.

The eminent Sir George Mackenzie, treating of " Some
Crimes punished amongst the Bomans, which are not
directly in use with us," observes : " Plagium was the
stealing of Men, and was punishable by death, which
agrees with the Law of God, Exod. xxl. 16, Deut. xxlv. 7.
And with us Egyptians and others stealing Children have
been Hkewise punished by death, and such as force away
Men to be Souldiers should be lyable to the same Punish-
ment, though the Council uses to punish them only by
an arbitrary punishment ; and such as take away men's
Children upon pretext to marry them, before they come
to the years wherein they may give a legal Consent
(which is 12 in Women and 14 in Men), ought in my
judgement to be so punished." {a) The crim.en plagii of
the Boman law might be committed either by selling a
free man into slavery, which was a capital crime, or by
enticing, conceahng, or buying the slave of another, whereof
the punishment was at first pecuniary by the lex Flavia,
and afterwards discretionary, according to the degree of

(a) Laws and Customs of Scotland in Matters Criminal, Part 1. tit. 36.

PLAGIUM 31

the fault .(a) In modern practice ^9^a^mm or the theft
of a human being applies only to young children. The
penalty is incurred whether the child be enticed away or
carried off by force, and whatever be the motive. Sentence
of imprisonment varies with the degree of guilt.(6) In
former times, however, on the theory that it was a
treasonable usurpation of the Royal authority in detain-
ing the King's free lieges without his licence or commission,
it was punishable with death. (c)

Thus, as appears from the official records, on 12th January
1604, George Meldrum, younger of Dumbreck, who was
charged with invading, taking captive and carrying away
three persons, including Mr. Alexander Gibson of Durle,
one of the Clerks of Session, whom he conveyed out of Fife
by Kinghorn and Edinburgh, through Lothian, and by
Melrose into England, being convicted, was sentenced to be
beheaded at the Cross of Edinburgh and his estate forfeited
to the Crown. On 23rd November 1649, Lieutenant Mark
Ker and others were pursued for the rapt and taking away
of Robert Cunninghame, a boy of fourteen, from the pos-
session of his uncle and tutor, Harry Cunninghame. The
libel was sent to an assize after debate on the title of the
uncle to pursue, which was sustained. On 4th July 1664,
James, Viscount Frendi-aught, was indicted for carrying off
and detaining in a private prison, Alexander Gregory of
Netherdale, and for the nmrder of the said Mr. Alexander,
or being art and part of these crimes, and the libel was
found relevant, though the pannel was assoilzied. On 25th
March 1720, occurred the very curious and interesting case
of Sir Alexander Anstruther of Newark, which, as I propose
to deal with it later and at length, may meantime be passed
over. On 18th December 1727, David Colquhoun, maltman
in Dumbarton, and William Buntine, son of William
Buntine of Auchendennan, accused at the instance of John

(a) Dig. lib. 48, tit. 15, 1. 1.6.7.

(6) Macdonald's Criminal Law, p. 24, and authorities there cited.

32 PLAGIUM

Campbell and John Ewing, wrights, burgesses of said
burg-h, and Archibald Porterfield, another burgess, were
charged with assaulting and trying to carry off Campbell
and Ewing from an election, but failing in the attempt
they cruelly beat, bruised, and wounded them ; and actually
carrying off Porterfield by putting him on board a boat,
swearing him to secrecy, and lodging him in the house of
Levenside, locked up in a room, and thereafter taking him
to one of the islands of Loch Lomond, and keeping him
there until the election was over, when he was set at liberty.
The Court found the libel respecting the carrying off of
Porterfield and keeping him under restraint relevant to
infer an arbitrary punishment, damages and expenses ; but
the charge was found not proven. These doings at Dum-
barton are even more remarkable than the electioneering
amenities of Eatanswill.

The next case upon record is that cited by Glossin :
His Majesty's Advocate against Helen Torrence and Jean
Waldie : of which a brief report is given by Maclaurin in
his instructive treatise, (a) A more particular account of
the circumstances is contained in the Scots Magazine for
February 1752.(6) It appears from these authorities that
Torrence and AValdie were brought to trial on 3rd February
1752 for the crimes of plagium and murder, committed
upon the person of John Dallas, a boy of eight or nine
years of age, son of a chairman in Edinburgh. The women
were sick nurses of the school of Mesdames Gamp and Prig.
In the preceding November they undertook to procure for
certain apprentice-surgeons a suitable subject ; they were
to sit up with a dead child, and proposed at the coffining
to substitute something for the body. The parents of the
subject, however, prevented the completion of this plan.
For some time the two hags had the boy Dallas under
observation ; he was ailing, and in the opinion of Torrence,

(a) Argu'iiients and Decisions in Remarkable Cases, pp. 152-153.
(6) Vol. xiv. pp. 98-99.

PLAGIUM 33

if he were to die " would be a good subject for the doctors."
Repeated inquiries as to his health found him no worse,
and Torrence, becoming impatient, resolved to assist nature.
On 3rd December Mrs. Dallas called upon her, presumably
to thank her for the interest she took in the case. Waldie,
who lived in the flat above, happened to be present. She
went up to her own house and knocked on the floor,
whereupon Torrence followed her up and after a short
consultation returned to her visitor, whom she invited to
a neighbouring tavern to drink to the invalid's recovery.
While the mother's attention was thus engaged Waldie
went to her place of abode, found the boy looking over the
window for his mother's return, took him up in her arms,
and carried him "in her gown-tail" to her own house,
where she was immediately joined by Torrence. They
confessed that they then choked the child by a forcible
administration of ale. So soon as he was dead they went
to inform the young surgeons that they now had a subject
for them. The apprentices came, saw the body, and offered
two shillings for it. The hags protested against the in-
adequacy of the remuneration, " declaring that they had
been at more expenses about it than that sum " ; but when
the lads increased their ofier by " tenpence to buy a dram,"
the bargain was closed, and Torrence carried the body in
her apron to their rooms, for which she received a bonus of
sixpence. The parents raised a hue and cry for the missing
child, and four days later the body, bearing evident marks
of having been in anatomical hands, was found " in a place
of the town little frequented." The parents were arrested,
and subsequently the two women. The apprentices told
their tale, the parents were released, and the women
committed for trial.

When the case came before the High Court on 3rd
February, counsel for the pannels represented that al-
though the actual murder might be relevant to infer the
pains of death, the stealing of the child could only infer
an arbitrary punishment ; and as to the selling of the dead

34 PLAGIUM

body, it was no crime at all. (a) To this it was answered
that though the stealing of the child when alive, disjoined
from the selling of it when dead, might not go so far,
yet when taken together they were undoubtedly relevant
to infer a capital punishment. The Court found the libel
relevant, and after proof, which included the evidence of
the child's parents and of the apprentice-surgeons, the
jury returned the following special verdict: "Find that
the pannels are both guilty art and part of stealing
John Dallas, a living child, and son of John Dallas,
chairman in Edinburgh, from his father's house at the
time and in the manner libelled ; and of carrying him
to the house of Jean Waldie, one of the pannels ; and
soon thereafter, on the evening of the day libelled, of
selling and delivering his body, then dead, to some
surgeons and students of physic." Counsel having been
heard on the import of this verdict, the Court repelled all
the objections taken. Helen Torrence then "pleaded her
belly" in arrest of judgment ; upon which four midwives
were appointed to examine as to her condition. These
experts having reported that she was not with child, the
Court adjudged her and the other prisoner to be hanged
in common form. They were accordingly executed in
the Grassmarket on 18th March. "Both acknowledged
their sins, and mentioned uncleanness and drunkenness
in particular."

The case of Sir Alexander Anstruther to which I have
referred is in many respects remarkable and worthy of
notice. Though interesting and important it has left little
mark upon the law books ; only one or two brief references
to it are made by our criminal writers, (?>) and it may
well have escaped the learned eye of Mr. Glossin. Apart
from the singularity of the charge and the picturesque
quality of the evidence, the social and professional status
of the principal accused is in such a connection unusual ;

(a) Comfortable words these for Messrs. Burke and Hare.
(6) Hume, ii. 113 ; Burnett, pp. 109, 385.

PLAGIUM 35

one seldom sees a knight, an advocate, and an official of
the Court of Session involved in a criminal prosecution.
The printed report of the proceedings, too, is rare ;
the small quarto pamphlet of fifty-one pages, to which
I am indebted for the facts, was at one time in the posses-
sion of James Maidment, the antiquary, who describes
it on the fly-leaf as " a very scarce Scottish Tryal," and
indeed I have never come across another copy. The title
page reads as follows: "The Criminal Process At the
Instance of Edward Copinger and Henr}^ Cowie, Sailers,
and His Majesty's Advocate ; against Sir Alexander
Anstruther of Newark, and James Black. Taken from
the Books of Adjournal. Edinburgh, Printed by James
Watson, His Majesty's Printer. 1720."

The protagonist was a scion of the ancient and honour-
able house of Anstruther of that ilk, one of the oldest
families in Fife. His father, Sir Philip Anstruther of
Anstruther, nephew and heir to that Sir William who
had been a gentleman of the bedchamber to James the
Sixth, was knighted by Charles the Second at Scone in
1650. A zealous Poyalist, he was taken prisoner at
Worcester, and his estates were sequestrated until the
Restoration. He had seven sons, of whom two were
baronets of Nova Scotia, and three were knights. The
creation of Nova Scotia baronets, a pleasant device of
King Jamie for raising the wind, ceased on the union of
the Crowns. (a) The members of this distinguished brother-
hood with whom we have to do are Sir Alexander of
Newark, Sir Philip of Anstrutherfield, Sir Kobert of
Balcaskie, and Sir John of Anstruther, who seemino-ly
succeeded his father in the estates. Wood remarks that
John "probably died before 1690"; but he was alive
and in the enjoyment of the lands and barony in 1720,
as appears from the record of the trial. (6) A family so

(a) " I ken the man weel ; he's one of my thirty-pound knights." — Eastward
Hoe, Act IV. Sc. i.

(6) Wood's East Neuk of Fife, pp. 359-360.

36 PLAGIUM

handsomely endowed with titles and of such criminous
proclivities recalls the bad Baronets of Ruddigore. Sir
Alexander, with whose amiable eccentricities we are chiefly
concerned, was Sir Philip's fifth son. Admitted a member
of the Faculty of Advocates in December 1 692, he was
later appointed Principal Clerk of the Bills. He had a
charter, 23rd June 1704 (confirmed 12th February 1722),
from Sir George Brown of Coalstoun, Knight Baronet,
with consent of his spouse, of the lands of Newtonleys,
in the county of Haddington. In another charter of
1728 he is designed brother german of the deceased Sir
Philip Anstruther of Anstrutherfield.(a) This, apart from
the legal proceedings of which he was the subject, is all
that I have been able to glean anent Sir Alexander.

The prosecution is in the form of Criminal Letters, the
private prosecutors or complainers being Edward Copinger
and Henry Cowie, sailors, late on board the ship Anne and
Margaret of Leven, with concurrence of Sir David Dalrymple
of Hailes, Baronet, his Majesty's Advocate, against Sir
Alexander Anstruther of Newark, advocate, one of the
Principal Clerks to the Bills, James Black, skipper and
master of the said ship, and Bailie James Graham of
Anstruther, accused "of the most atrocious Crimes of
Hamesucken, Plagium or Man-stealing, and gross Oppres-
sion." The facts as stated in the charge are briefly these :
Sir Alexander, who for some time past, over and above his
professional and oflicial duties, " dealt in foreign Trade as a
Merchant," had an interest in the voyage of the Anne and
Margaret, which in the spring of 1719 sailed from the
Firth of Forth with a cargo of salt " for Ports beyond Sea."
On the return of the ship to Scotland in the autumn
"Brandy in prohibited Casks" was seized aboard her by
the Custom-house ofl^cers, and two of the crew, Copinger
and Cowie, were examined before the Barons of Exchequer
as to the " clandestine Importation " of the spirits. The

(a) Riddle's Baronetage of Scotland, MSS. Advocates Library, vol. viii.
p. 114.

PLAGIUM 37

knight, the skipper, and the bailie, who were jointly interested
in this unlawful venture, perceiving that Copinger and
Cowie " might be made Use of as Witnesses in a judicial
Trial for discovering and punishing the said Frauds and
Imbezelments," determined " to withdraw the Complainers
as Evidences and disappoint the Effect of their Testimonies."
In pursuance of this natural but illegitimate purpose the
three merchant adventurers, having traced the intended
witnesses to Crawfordsdyke in Renfrew, " upon the River
of Glide," whither they had retired for rest and privacy,
came accoutred with swords, pistols, " or other invasive
Weapons," about midnight on Saturday, 27th November
1719, to the change-house of that village, where the two
sailors were "sitting in a peaceable Manner, preparing to
go to Bed." After threatening the inmates with a pistol,
the party forcibly seized and carried off the mariners,
dragged them on board a boat, and so " transported them
from Place to Place through the Country, sometimes under
Cloud of Night ; and unlawfully confined them as Prisoners
for several Weeks " in the houses of Newark, Anstruther-
field, and Balcaskie, from which imprisonment Cowie
ultimately escaped, and Copinger was liberated at the
instance of the Crown authorities.

It appears from a note on the report that " Tho' the
Criminal Letters are raised against Bailie James Graham of
Anstruther, yet he could not be got in due Time cited to
the 25th of March, which was the Day appointed for the
Trial." Hence the bailie's non-appearance at the bar along
with his brother bandits. A formidable array of counsel
was engaged in the proceedings, Walter Stewart, Advocate-
Depute, with Charles Erskine, Kobert Craigie and Peter
Wedderburn, conducted the prosecution; Sir James Stewart,
Alexander Hay, James Gordon and John Forbes appeared
for the defence. Erskine, as Solicitor-General, in 1736
assisted in the prosecution of the celebrated Captain
Porteous ; Sir James Stewart was the son of the Lord
Advocate Stewart invidiously known as " Wily Jamie."

38 PLAGIUM

Copinger and Cowie were not examined as witnesses,
their evidence being adduced in the form of an affidavit
made by them on 7th October 1719, which deals only with
the question of the smuggled brandy. In this document
the complainers set forth on oath that in the beginning of
May last they were hired by Sir Alexander Anstruther to
sail in the Anne and Margaret from Scotland to Hamburg.
At Pittenweem the ship took on board 80 or 90 tons of
foreign salt. She then sailed round to St. Andrews Bay,
" betwixt Grail and the Red Head," where 60 or 70 tons
of the cargo were landed in fishing hoats, the master and
mate superintending the trans-shipment. She next sailed
for St. Martins in France, where the remainder of the cargo
was landed, after which she left in ballast for Bordeaux,
where a cargo of wine and brandy was shipped, which they
understood was for Scotland, " tho' they were all caution'd
by the Master (in case there was need) to say. That they
were bound for Bergen in Norway." From Bordeaux they
returned to St. Martins, where they re-shipped the salt
previously landed, and being thus loaded began their home-
ward voyage. When the ship reached the Forth about
the end of August, " there was a Man sent on Shore to
St. Andrews to give Notice thereof." On the two following
nights "eight Boats were loaded out of the said Ship with
Quarter Casks of Brandy, and sent on Shore," the son and
son-in-law of Bailie Low of St. Monans having charge of
the boats, and the captain and mate checking the casks.

Among other documentary evidence produced by the
complainers was a Custom-house Certificate of Cargo of
the Anne and Margaret on her outward voyage, which
bore that she sailed for Danzig on 25th May 1719 with
1657 bushels of foreign salt for account of Sir Alexander
Anstruther ; a Certificate of Seizure of 462 casks, con-
taining 4700 gallons of brandy, " being prohibited to be
imported " ; a Warrant for apprehending Sir Alexander
and his co-partners, upon which they were imprisoned in
the Tolbooth of Edinburgh ; and a Warrant for liberating

PLAGIUM 39

the prisoners, they having found sufficient caution that they
would stand their triaL Appended to the Criminal Letters
was a list of 51 witnesses in support of the charge, of whom,
however, only 20 were called. The indictment was laid
both at common law and on the clause of the Act 1701,
c. 6, anent wrongous imprisonment, and concluded for fine,
deprivation of office, and incapacity of public trust.

On 25th March 1720, " when this Libel was called
before the High Court of Justiciary, the Procurators for
the Pannels offered some Objections against the Relevancy
and also some Grounds of Exculpation, and insisted on
several Pretences and Excuses for the Pannels ; To which
Answers being made, Parties were ordained to inform."
The Informations, or written pleadings for the parties, are
not less lengthy than learned. It was argued for the
defence that what occurred at Crawfordsdyke amounted
to no more than a common riot ; that there was nothing
in the nature of Hamesucken, "since they [the pursuers]
were not dragged from their own Dwelling-house"; nor
of Plagium, " since it was not luc7'i faciendi causa, and
in order to sell them into Slavery." The pursuers were
detained by the defenders as " necessary Witnesses for
proving an Exculpation in case of a Trial of the Frauds
alleged to have been committed." Their confinement could
not come under the Statute, which had no concern with
imprisonments made by private persons in privato carcere.
It was further pleaded in exculpation that no violence was
used to the pursuers at Crawfordsdyke, and even had such
been employed, " yet that was taken off and remitted by
their going voluntarily along all the rest of the journey,"
during which they had several opportunities to escape had
they been so minded.

To this it was answered that in view of the "black and
detestable" character of the crimes charged, the pannels
ought to be thankful that they were no worse off, there
being " good Reason for heightening the Punishment to a
higher Pitch than is here done." Hamesucken was com-

40 PLAGIUM

mitted, as the pursuers were invaded by men In arms in
their quarters at Crawfordsdyke, where the}'- had for some
time resided. As to Plagium, the motive was " the saving,
if possible, the Reputation of the Pannels and their Cargo,
by putting them [the pursuers] out of the Way, either by
sending them as Slaves to foreign Countries or disposing
of them in a worse Manner." The effect of the Act 1701
" is the same as to Restraint of personal Liberty both
with regard to those clothed with publick Authority, and
private Persons ; the Injury to the Person is the same,
and the Affront in the last Case is higher." As to the
facts : threats and violence were used in carrying the
pursuers out of the house to the boat ; they remonstrated
against that violence and " expressed their Griefs " to
divers persons by the way ; the pannels guarded them
as prisoners, riding before and behind them ; Copinger
offered money to one of the servants to inform the Sheriff
of their plight ; the later separation of the prisoners "and
shifting their Residence in the Night-time, is an undeniable
Mark that all these Doings were the Works of Darkness " ;
and finally, Cowie's escape, and Copinger's liberation only
in consequence of a complaint against Sir Alexander and
upon a Bail-bond for his appearance given by Sir Philip
under a high penalty to produce him, confirmed the truth
of the indictment.

On 1st April the Lord Justice-Clerk (Adam Cockburn
of Ormistoun) and the other Lords of Justiciary, having
heard parties, pronounced an interlocutor finding (l) the
invasion and threats at Crawfordsdyke, (2) the forcible
carrying-off and putting on board the boat, and (3) the
detention under restraint in the houses of Newark, Bal-
caskie and others, each relevant to infer an arbitrary
punishment, and in the last case, damages and expenses
also ; repelled the defenders' whole objections ; and remitted
the libel, as found relevant, to the knowledge of an assize.
On 4th April a jury was accordingly empannelled, which
included such " representative " Edinburgh citizens as Sir

PLAGIUM 41

James Kochead of Inverleith (who, being himself a Nova
Scotia baronet, may be supposed to have had some
sympathy with the principal offender), and William Ged,
goldsmith, the inventor of printing from stereotype plates.
The prosecutors then adduced their proof

Elizabeth Kelburn, spouse to Robert Sinclair, Inn-
keeper in Crawfordsdyke, with whom Copinger and Cowie
had lodged, stated that between 11 and 12 o'clock on
the night in question certain strange men came to her
house and knocked civilly at the door, which was bolted.
When she drew the bolt they rushed into the house
and seized hold of her lodgers, who were sitting by
the fire making ready for bed. On her remonstrating
one of the invaders, producing a pistol, "desired the
Deponent to hold her Peace, for that should be her
Portion." They then took their prey by the arms and
carried them out ; Cowie had taken off his stockings,
and next morning her son found Copinger's hat lying
on the quay. She could not identify the pannels as her
invasive visitors, " there having been no Candle-light
in the House, nor other Light except the Light of the
Fire."

Richard Graham, merchant in Glasgow, said that in
November last he was desired by Sir Alexander and
Skipper Black " to provide a Boat and some Men to the
Key of Crawfordsdyke for carrying off the Pursuers
Copinger and Cowie," which he did, and was present
when they were taken prisoner at Sinclair's house. Both
pannels were armed, and he saw Black threaten the
woman with a pistol. Bailie Graham was also of the
party. The captives were marched down to the quay ;
" it being dark he did not see them put aboard the
Boat," but he heard a cry of " Murder ! " and another cry
"desiring them to stop his Mouth." He also heard
" a OTeat Strusfsle and Noise " durino^ the embarkation.
As the boat put off, he, rather gratuitously, " wished
them a good Voyage." Witness believed that neither of

42 PLAGIUM

the men " would have gone away if they could have
shunned it."

James Boyd, sailor and a neighbour of Sinclair, heard
" a Noise of Feet, and saw a Bulk of People together
which went down the Key, and heard a Voice crying
' Murder,' and a Voice crying, ' Toss them into the Boat,'
and did see a Boat go oif from the Shore."

James Smith, another neighbour, " was designing to
go to Bed," when he heard the cry and the trampling
of feet. He took a lantern and went down to the quay,
where he heard the sound of oars and also " Strokes
given, but whether they were upon a Man's Back or not
he cannot tell."

John Spiers, merchant in Greenock, said that on the
day on which Cowie and Copinger were captured he was
" in a Company at New Port-Glasgow " — presumably mean-
ing in a public-house — when Skipper Black and one who
resembled Sir Alexander were present. One of them
asked him " if he knew that two Stranger Sailers, who
were employed by the Commissioners of the Customs,
were at Crawfordsdyke ? " He replied " that the said
Strangers lodged in Mrs. Sinclair's."

So much for the seizure at Crawfordsdyke ; the captives
were rowed across the Clyde, and the story is taken up
by witnesses from the other shore. Elizabeth Porterfield,
spouse to Alexander Porterfield in Hill of Ardmore, said
that about midnight, her household being abed, there came
to her door some boatmen of New Port-Glasgow, with five
other persons, three of whom "looked like Gentlemen,"
and called for lights and a fire. One of the other two
complained of a hurt knee, having been " taken uncivilly
from his Quarters." The boatmen addressed one of the
gentlemen as Mr. Black. They remained till the next
morning, when they left for the Ferry of Bonhill.

William Lindsay, " Ferrier at the Boat of Bonhill,"
said that the pannels and some others, five in all, came
to his house about 10 a.m. and asked for a room. He

PLAGIUM 43

identified Copinger and said that he wrote his name,
Edward Copinger, with chalk upon the back of a bed,
but Black came in with pistols " and rolled out the name."
Copinger complained of a sore knee which he had got
by being forced aboard a boat, and gave witness his keys
to deUver to the Collector of Customs at Greenock. That
evening there came a servant of Sir Alexander with four
horses, and next day, being Sunday, other two horses
were hired by Sir Alexander from witness for the prisoners'
use. Copinger said that if he was to be treated as he
had been the night before, " he would not go along
with them although he were dragged," and Sir Alexander
assured him that he need fear no harm. The party
then set out for Drymen, the captives riding the two
hired mounts.

John Stewart, Bonhill, who was in Lindsay's house,
corroborated.

Andrew Miller, maltman in Drymen, said that the
pannels hired two horses from him " the Length of Airth "
for Copinger and Cowie. Witness accompanied the party
to bring his horses back. At Mill of Touch Copinger
offered him a guinea to go to Stirling and ask the magis-
trates to rescue him, but witness declined to meddle in
the matter.

James Telfer, Sir Alexander's man, said that by his
master's orders he brought the horses to Bonhill. He
went with the party to Drymen, and so by Mill of Touch
to Airth; "thence to Higgins-nook, where they boated
all the foresaid Persons, and landed at Kincardine ; and
from thence they came to Anstrutherfield on Monday,
about 6 or 7 a Clock at Night." Horses were hired for
the captives' use from Bonhill to Drymen, and from thence
to Airth ; those hired at Airth " were carried over the
Water with them " to Kincardine. (The hiring of the
several horses was also established by other witnesses.)
After staying a night at Anstrutherfield the prisoners
were removed to Newark, where "the Deponent every

44 PLAGIUM

Night he lay in the Room with the Complainers, bolted
the Door on the Inside."

Sir Philip Anstruther of Anstrutherfield gave evidence
as to the granting of a Bail-bond by him for the production
of Copinger. He instructed Bailie Murray of St. Monans
to enquire for the missing witness ; the bailie, who " had
been at some Pains to find him out," ultimately produced
him up to time, and the Bail-bond was discharged. Sir
Philip was asked no questions as to the scene of Copinger's
sequestration.

Anne Kilgour, maidservant at Newark, said that she
saw Copinger and Cowie in a room there several times
in November and December last. She had seen Telfer in
the chamber with them and sometimes found the door
locked.

William Galloway, servant at Newark, saw the com-
plainers brought there by Sir Alexander and Black. " For
the most Part they kept their Room." After a few days
Sir Alexander ordered witness to take Cowie " in the Night-
time to the House of Balcaskie," which, accompanied by his
fellow-servants Steedman and Knox, he accordingly did,
delivered him to John Fairfoul, servant to Sir Robert
Anstruther, and saw him put in a room there. Some days
later the same three men by Sir Alexander's orders " rode
along with Copinger to the House of Ardross, likewise in
the Nig-ht-time," and dehvered him to John Lorimer,
servant to Sir John Anstruther of that Ilk. After Cowie's
escape from Balcaskie, Sir Alexander ordered them to
remove Copinger from Ardross " to the House of Craighall
in the Night-time and on the same manner," where he was
delivered " to a Maid of the House and was carried up to a
Room." After remaining there some days he was by Sir
Alexander's orders brought back to Newark, where " he
staid in his Room as in the former Time," until his libera-
tion at the instance of the Crown authorities.

Robert Steedman and Robert Knox, both Sir Alexander's
servants, corroborated. They relieved each other and Telfer

PLAGIUM 45

in "laying with the Complainers" at night at their various
places of pilgrimage.

John Lorimer, Sir John's servant, said that at Ardross
Oopinger was kept in a room about eight days. He was
locked in, except when Steedman lay with him, who told
witness "he had Instructions to take Care that Copinger
should not escape."

John Fairfoul, Sir Robert's man, said he put Cowie in a
room at Balcaskie, " in which Room he continued for Eight
or Ten Days, during which Space he neither went abroad
from the House nor from one Room to another." Witness
locked him in at night, but " at last he made his Escape
out of the said House by pulling off the Lock which was
upon the Chamber-door, and got away betwixt going away
of Day-light and the lighting of Candle." The servants
went in search of him but could not find him.

Thomas Dobie, a fellow-servant, corroborated. Cowie
was locked in his room and Fairfoul kept the key. He
added that Cowie had offered him half a guinea if he would
go and tell his wife where he was detained, " but he
[witness] refused to accept the Commission."

This closed the complainers' proof, and the defence
offered no evidence. The addresses of counsel are not
recorded. As it was not then the practice for the pre-
siding judge to charge the jury — a custom initiated by
Lord Kames at the trial of Katharine Nairn in 1765, (a)
— we have not the advantage of a judicial summing up of
the evidence ; but to me it humbly appears that the com-
plainers had fully established their case. Nevertheless
the jury did, upon 4th April, "by Plurality of Voices
find the first and second Parts of the Interlocutor not
proven," i.e. the charges relating to the violent seizure at
Crawfordsdyke, and the forcible embarkation there ; "and
with one Voice find it proven. That the Complainers were
carried from the Boat of Bonhill through the Country to

(a) Twelve Scots Trials, p. 128.

46 PLAGIUM

the Shire of Fife by the Pannels, likewise that Mr. Cowie
was detained under Restraint in the house of Balcaskie,
but we do not find the Restraint to have been by the
Pannel's Orders " !

This amazing verdict must surely have been the subject
of debate, but the report contains nothing further than the
interlocutor of Court, pronounced on 15th April, by which
the pannels were assoilzied and dismissed from the bar.
I should like to have had a word with my respectable
kinsman, Sir James Rochead, as to the jury's finding ; I
can only hope that at least he voted in the minority.

One wonders how Sir Alexander and his myrmidons
proposed to deal with their prisoners had the one not
been rescued from their clutches and the other effected
his escape. The Information for the complainers darkly
hints that "the w^orst was to be suspected, if by good
Providence the Contrivance had not been seasonably found
out and disappointed." The excuse urged for the pannels
that in acting as they did they were merely safeguarding
their own witnesses so as to prevent them being " got at "
by the Revenue officials, is sufficiently ludicrous ; but
they can hardly have been prepared, in their zeal for the
suppression of evidence, to go the length of murder.

Whether or not any further steps were taken against
them on the smuggling charge I have been unable to
discover. Those were spacious days, and it is probable
that Sir Alexander's reputation with the sporting baronets
who formed his family circle in no wise suffered from
his devotion to the Free Trade principles ; while among his
brethren of the Parliament House his professional standing
may even have been enhanced by reason of his unique
experience in criminal practice, and his familiarity with
both sides of the bar.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND:

A FAMILIAR SUEVEY OF POISONING, AS PRACTISED
IN THAT REALM

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND:

A Familiar Survey of Poisoning, as Practised
IN THAT Realm

Fie on these dealers in poison, say I ; can they not keep to the old honest
way of cutting throats, without introducing such abominable innovations from
Italy ?

— On Murder, Considered as one of the Fine Arta.

TT is strange that a critic so acute as De Quincey, while
-*- extolling the rude methods of the mere manslayer,
should hold in light esteem the poisoner's delicate and
nimble art. Such attaching cases as that of Miss Blandy
or of Captain Donellan shall never, he protests, have any
countenance from him ; and the instance which he selects
as a palmary example of the purest and most perfect style
is that of the savage Williams, who exterminated with a
carpenter's maul two whole families in Ratcliffe Highway.
As in the case of other artists before and since, quantity
rather than quality seems to have been Mr. Williams' note,
and his best bit of work was his last — the lianQ-ina; of
himself in a prison cell with his own braces.

Regard being had to the relatively rare occurrence of
poisoning in Scotland, it would appear that De Quincey 's
view was largely held by local exponents of the homicidal
cult. Possibly the national sense of thrift counted for
something in the matter ; drugs were dear and hard to come
by, but the meanest could command a knife. Be that as
it may, one of our chief connoisseurs, King -James the Sixth,
followed his native bent in employing the stake, the dagger
and the gibbet for the elimination of such of his Scots
subjects as were repugnant to the Royal pleasure — compare
his unnumbered witch-burnings, passim, and the butchery
of the Cowrie boys at Perth. Not until His Majesty
enjoyed the refining influence of the Ttalianate Court of

49 4

50 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

England did Prince Henry eat at Woodstock the impoisoned
grapes, and Sir Thomas Overbury die lingeringly in the
Tower, attended by the King's mediciner, after a liberal
exhibition of realgar, mercury, white arsenic, and dust of
diamonds. The last named sounds the most attractive, but
doubtless it was all one to the patient : " What would it
pleasure me," asks the Duchess of her murderer in Webster's
great tragedy, " What would it pleasure me to have my
throat cut with diamonds ? or to be smothered with cassia ?
or to be shot to death with pearls ? " Queen Mary, so
amazingly James's mother, a princess, by reason of her
French upbringing and natural gifts, infinitely superior to
the gang of noble ruffians about her throne, wrote to
Bothwell once, deprecating his crude purpose of blowing
up her petulant spouse with gunpowder: "Advise to with
zourself gif ze can find out ony mair secreit inventioun by
medicine, for he suld tak medicine and the bath at Craig-
millar." Poison, she wisely implies, would make less noise
than powder ; but the hint was thrown away upon the
rude Borderer, and more than Darnley was exploded at
Kirk o' Field.

For the curious in homicidal pharmacy the accounts of
early cases preserved in our records are provokingly scant.
This is due as well to the ignorance of the amateur
practitioner, as to the ineptitude of physicians in failing
to detect him in his interesting pursuit. The pioneer of
poisoning groped his way, as it were, in a scientific wilder-
ness, where was "nor path nor friendly clue to be his
guide," while the professed man of medicine was better
versed in the mysteries of the heavenly, than in those of
merely human bodies. The first Scots Act to recognise the
crime of poisoning as such is that of 1450, (a) whereby all
persons are forbidden under pain of treason to bring home
poison for any use by which any Christian man or woman
may take bodily harm. " But notwithstanding of these

(a) 7 James II. c. 31 and 32.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 51

words," observes Sir George Mackenzie, "Apothecaries and
others do daily bring home Poyson " ; indeed, whatever
the Legislature might intend, the Statute was practically
a dead letter, for he adds, " I find no instances in the
Journal Books where any have been convict as Traitors
upon this account. "(a) Thus the provision was of no
benefit to poisoners, who suffered on the scaffold the com-
mon doom of homicides, without the added distinction of
mutilation and dismemberment.

Passing such hazy instances as the suspected poisoning
of Margaret Drummond, mistress of James the Fourth, in
April 1502, the earliest case of the kind in our records is
that of the Lady Glammis. Jean Douglas, grand-daughter
of " Bell-the-Cat " and sister of Archibald, sixth Earl of
Angus, a lady famous alike for beauty and virtue, had
provoked the wrath of James the Fifth by her attachment to
her brothers, the banished Douglases, of whom the King had
sworn that while he lived they should never find refuge in
Scotland. As the only member of her family on whom the
Royal hands could be laid, Lady Glammis was rancorously
harried by divers criminal prosecutions, and finally, upon
false evidence, done to death. Her first husband, John, Lord
Glammis, having died in 1527, she had married a Campbell.
In 1532 she was indicted for taking the life of her former
spouse "j9er intoxicationem'' : contriving his death not, as
might appear, by driving him to drink, but by means of
drugs, charms and enchanted potions. The lords and lairds
summoned as jurymen upon her trial, believing her innocent,
refused the office ; they were fined and the proceedings
dropped. (6) Five years later, however, the attack was
renewed in another form. One William Lyon, who unsuc-
cessfully had sought her favours, was found to bear false
witness against her; in July 1537 she was tried and con-
victed, upon what evidence we do not know, for conspiring
to destroy the King " be poysone," and for treasonably

(«) Laivs and Customs of Scotland in Matters Criminal, tit. viii.
(6) Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in Scotland, i. 157--', 158*.

52 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

assisting her Douglas brothers. (a) The judges delayed
sentence, and represented the case to His Majesty as one
meriting the Royal mercy ; but James was not inclined to
be clement — the law must take its course. So the hapless
lady was burnt alive upon the Castle Hill of Edinburgh,
"with great commiseration of the people, in regaird of her
noble blood and singular beautie."(fe) Her husband, in
attempting to escape from the Castle, fell down the rocks
and was killed ; her son, the young Lord, was kept a
prisoner till the King's death. The traditional belief that
Lady Glammis suffered for witchcraft is erroneous : she died
a victim to political spite, " as I can perceyve," Sir Thomas
Clifford, the English Ambassador, reported to King Henry
VIIL at the time, " without any substanciall ground or
proyf of mattir."{c) In the following month Alexander
Makke, convicted of making and selling poison, and of
concealing Lady Glammis' treason, was condemned to
have his ears cut off and to be banished for life to
Aberdeen. (cZ) One w^onders how the Aberdonians liked
the compliment.

During the troublesome reign of Queen Mary her
subjects were probably more occupied with politics than
with poison, for we find but two cases upon record :
Henry and Patrick Congiltoune, for "the cruel Slaughter
by Intoxication" of their nephew, in October 1554 ;(e)
and Adam Colquhoune, for the murder of a servant and
the attempted murder of his mother and stepfather "by
that secret method of Poison or Intoxication," in March
1562. (y) The wicked uncles escaped, but the other
practitioner was hanged and his body burnt to ashes on
the Castle Hill.

Under the Solomonic sway of King James the Sixth,
when evil-doers increased and multiplied and, reversing the
divine command, did their best to displenish the earth,

(a) Pitcairn, pp. 187* 191*. (b) Ibid., p. 195*.

(e) Ibid., pp. 368*, 369. (/) Ibid., pp. 419* 420*.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 53

poisoning shared in the revival of naughtiness. The popular
belief in witchcraft, which by precept and example that
enlightened monarch did so much to foster, rose to un-
paralleled heights, and the Records of Justiciary for the
time abound in witch-trials, wherein charges of sorcery and
poisoning are inextricably mingled. An examination of
these, however entertaining and instructive, would take us
too far ; nor does space permit enquiry into the mystery
attending the death of the Earl of Atholl, after a feast of
" reconciliation " given in April 1579 by his rival the Regent
Morton, who was popularly credited with his taking-off.
Cases more strictly relevant are that of Helen Cunninghame
in January 15 79, (a) for " Ministering of Poysoun to William,
hir spous," and of Andro Glencorse in February 1580,(^) for
"the poisoning of Issobell Staig, his spous." Both were
convicted and duly suffered. In December the same year
took place the trial of Laurence, Lord Oliphant, for the
slaughter of Alexander Stewart, " schot with ane poysonit
bullet." He was acquitted. (c) The only other instance of
this peculiar form of crime occurred in June 1609, when the
turbulent Border baron, John, Lord Maxwell, treacherously
slew with two poisoned bullets Sir James Johnstone of that
Ilk, who had superseded him as Warden of the West
Marches. (c^) In neither case is any proof of preliminary
poisoning recorded ; perhaps it was inferred merely from
the symptoms, or from the morbid appearances.

The year 1590 is memorable for the Great Oyer of
Witchcraft — the series of trials following upon the Satur-
nalia at North Berwick, as to which King James was so
curious — but the case of Katharine, Lady Foulis, in July of
that year, must have occasioned more scandal in Scots
society. (e) This lady, a daughter of Ross of Balnao-owan
and the second wife of Munro of Foulis, was charged with
poisoning and witchcraft, the intended victims beino- her
brother's wife and her own stepson ; the object, to brino-

(a) Pitcairn, i. 80. {b) Ibid., p. 84. (c) Ibid., pp. 89, 90.

(d) Ibid., iii. 28 et seq. (e) Ibid., i. 192-201.

54 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

about a marriage between her brother and her stepdaughter.
Fortunately matchmaking mothers seldom carry their
scheming to such sinister lengths. We are not here con-
cerned with the witchcraft charges, interesting and typical
though they are, based upon the dealings of Lady Foulis
with certain sorceresses, " lialdin and reput rank commoune
Vichis in the countrey." These hags, who varied their
necromantic practices by the purveying of poisons, were
employed by her ladyship to furnish " ane stoup-full of
poysonit new aill " for the destruction of the young laird of
Foulis ; but the lady, having tried its efficacy upon a boy,
who only " thaireftir tuik seiknes," commissioned the making
of "ane pig-full of ranker poysoune," which she sent to her
stepson by his "nourrice." The nurse, unluckily for herself,
" taistand of the samin, immediatlie thaireftir departit — "
upon a farther errand. In connection with the machinations
against the Lady Balnagowan, it is noteworthy that one of
the charges contains the first recorded mention of that
venerable and flowing-bearded excuse for the acquisition of
poison — rats. The fallacious use of the word in this relation
may have determined its value for modern slang. Lady
Foulis was accused of giving eight shillings to a man of the
congenial name of McGillieverie-dam " to pas to Elgyne
for hying rattoun poysoune" While the minor actors were
suitably " convict and brunt," the leading lady was
acquitted : her jury was composed of local burgesses and
family dependants — a characteristic example of justice as
administered under James the Just.

Very different was the treatment accorded in the
following year to another gentlewoman, whose estate the
o-ood Kinor coveted for one of his minions. Among the
North Berwick "witches" socially the most remarkable
was Euphame MacCalzean, daughter of Lord Cliftonhall,
one of the Senators of the College of Justice. This lady
was in June 1591 sentenced to be taken to the Castle
Hill, " and thair bund to ane staik and brunt in assis,
quick, to the death," for treasonably conspiring against

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 55

His Majesty's life by witchcraft ;(a) but the " Dittay "
against her contains another interesting charge : " Item,
Indytit of airt and pairt of the poysouning of the said
Patrik Moscrop, your husband, upon deidlie malice con-
tractit aganis him, the fyrst yeir of your mariage, be
o-ewing to him of poysoun, and cuist the rest thairof in
the closett ; quhairby his face, nek, handis and haill body
brak out in reid spottis, quhilk poysoun wes expellit be his
youth." Further attempts convinced Patrick that Scotland
was no place for him, so he fled beyond " the seais " and
spent the remainder of his days abroad.

In June 1596 the Master of Orkney was tried for con-
spiring to murder his brother Patrick, Earl of Orkney, by
poison at a banquet in Kirkwall. Though King James
personally insisted "in persuit " of the Master, and had
the Crown witnesses, in order to confession, tortured with
a ferocity which, as Mr. Pitcairn observes, " would disgrace
the most barbarous tribe of Indians," the prosecution
happily failed, (fe) A similar result attended the trials, in
October and November of the same year, of Alison Jollie
in Fala, for poisoning a neighbour with whom she had
quarrelled over " ane aiker of land,"(c) and of John Boyd,
burgess of Edinburgh, for the " slauchter " of a woman by
putting poison into the domestic meal-cupboard, on account
of "ane deidlie rancour" conceived against her.(cZ) In
November 1601 two men of Brechin named Bellie were
banished the realm for mixing poison with dough, " and
casting doune thairof in Jonet Clerkis zaird in Brechin for
destructioune of fowlis, be the quhilk poysoune they dis-
troyit to the said Jonet twa hennis."(e) Of a darker hue
were the deeds for which in July 1605 William Rose of
Dunskeith suff'ered doom.(/) This miscreant with the co-
operation of his mistress, Marie Rannaldoche, frankly
designed in the record " ane harlot," essayed to murder

(a) Pitcairn, i. 247-257. (h) Ibid., pp. 373-377.

(e) Ibid., ii. 336. (/) Ibid., pp. 481-484.

56 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

his wife with " poysonet and tressonabill drinkis," and
failing in his purpose, " unmercifullie strangallit and
wirreit" her in her bed. As, in addition to murder under
trust, he was convicted of stouthrief or masterful theft,
reset, adultery and other crimes, Rose must have been a
very pretty villain.

No distinction appears then to have been drawn be-
tween the felonious administration of drugs to destroy
life and the giving of them with curative intent. Thus,
in November 1597, Christian Saidler in Blakhouse, "a
wyise wyffe," who had successfully treated sundry patients
by prescriptions obtained " frae ane Italean strangear callit
Mr. Johnne Damiet,"(a) thereby effecting cures "quhilk be
na naturall meanis of phisik or uther lawfull and Godlie
wayes" could, in the judgment of the authorities, have
been performed, was upon conviction "wirreit at ane staik'
on the Castle Hill. (6) It seems hard that she should have
suffered for the Crown lawyers' lack of faith. So too, in
the case of Bartie Patersoune, " tasker in Newbottill,"
indicted in December 1607 for " ministring, under forme
of medecine, of poysoneable drinkis," the alleged murder
of two patients is charged along with the " cureing of
James Broun in Turnydykis of ane unknawin disease," as
also the treating of " his awdn bairne " and of one Alexander
Clerk, the remedy employed in each case being " watter
brocht be him furth of the Loch callit the Dow-Loche,
besyde Drumlanrig."(c) Upon this point a further illus-
tration of what was legally held to constitute the crime of
poisoning is afforded by the case of Issobell Haldane in
May 1623, charged with bringing water from the Well of
Ruthven, of which she " had gewin drinkis to cure bairneis,"
one of whom, notwithstanding, died. For these charitable
acts she was " brunt " at Perth as a warning to sick-nurses
in general, (c/)

(a) Jehan Daniyte, the French or Italian priest and wizard who warned
Rizzio of his danger. (6) Pitcairn, pp. 25-29.

(r) Ibid., ii. 535, 536. (d) Ibid., pp. 537, 538.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 57

In November 1609 James Mure of Monyhagen was
" dilaitit " for having given to Mai-garet Wicht in
Dalraellington " ane Incliantit drink."(a) This person, a
kinsman of the celebrated John Mure of Auchindrayne,
"maist willinglie " offering himself to trial, " disassenting
fra all continuatioun," and alleging that the charge was
" bot maliciouslie inventit aganis him be the said Margaret
for hir awin previe advantage " — a defence worthy of his
redoubtable relative — was discharged owing to the non-
appearance of the " Persewar." Perhaps, knowing the
family, the lady thought it more prudent not to press
the matter: the Mures were ill folk to go to law with.

Leaving these nebulous and fantastic charges we reach
solid criminal ground in the case of the Erskines in
December 1613, Robert, Helen, Isobel and Anna, brother
and sisters, were branches of the godly tree whereof Mr.
John Erskine of Dun had been the stalwart trunk. That
inveterate Reformer, surviving till 1591, devoted, we are
told, his declining years to the moral and religious welfare
of his many descendants. Robert and his sisters were
probably then too young to profit by the good man's
precepts ; but if they were a fair sample of the stock, he
had his work cut out for him. Their brother David, the
last laird of Dun, died leaving two children, on whose
behalf the property was administered by a tutor, an office
to which the uncle Robert thought himself entitled —
doubtless a long minority would present opportunity for
pickings. But apart from this grievance, his sisters urged
upon him the hardship of being kept out of a fair estate
by the survivance of their little nephews. Beyond credi-
bility as it seems, repeated family counsels were held
within their house of Logic as to the best way of expe-
diting Robert's succession. The sisters — who might claim
kinship with their resolute countrywoman, Lady Macbeth
— finding it difficult to screw their less bloodthirsty
brother's courage to the sticking-place, approached one

(a) Pitcairn, iii. 68, 69.

58 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

David Blewhouse with a proposal that if he could contrive
" be sum sinisterous meanis " the extinction of the two
young lives standing between Robert and the estate, he
should receive part of the lands and five hundred merks
in silver. Subsequently Robert himself called upon Blew-
house to homologate the offer, but that gentleman declined
to treat. Thereupon the sisters set out one summer evening
from the place of Logic, and passing over Cairn-o'-Mount
towards Muir alehouse, took counsel with a wise woman,
Janet Irving by name, reputed "ane abuser of the people,"
From this sibyl they obtained " ane grit quantitie of herbis "
which, with instructions for use, they carried home to Logic.
Robert, sceptical as to the potency of the herbs, personally
interviewed the sorceress, who satisfied him that they were
" forceable aneuch " for his purpose. So as directed they
were steeped in ale for a long space, and the resultant
brew was taken by the family party to Montrose, where
the children were then living with their mother. After
drinking this beverage both boys were seized with pain
and violent vomiting, to which the elder presently suc-
cumbed, exclaiming with his ultimate breath, and a grasp
of the situation beyond his years : " Wo is me, that I evir
had richt of successioun to ony landis or leving ! fi"or gif I
had bene borne sum pure coitteris sone, I had nocht bene
sa demanet [treated], nor sic wikket practizes had bene
plottit aganis me for my landis." Only less immediately
fatal was the condition of the younger boy, " ofi" quhais
lyfe," says the indictment, " thair is na hoip." This
monstrous and sordid crime was fortunately too clumsy
to escape detection, so the uncle and aunts were forth-
with apprehended. Robert was tried first in December
1613, and having avouched the deed, was beheaded at
the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh. (a) His sisters, denying
their guilt, were in the following June convicted upon his
confession and on the direct evidence of BJewhouse and
others. Isobel and Anna shared their brother's doom ;

(a) Pitcairn, iii. 260-264.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 59

Helen, " being moir penitent, thogh less giltie, than the
rest," had her sentence commuted to banishment for life. (a)
The whole horrid business forms an instructive comment on
the state of Scots society in the golden days of "gentle
King Jamie."

Hitherto we have walked in the light of the admirable
Pitcairn, whose research has done so much to make plain
the way of the student of early Scottish crime. Sir Walter
Scott wrote in the Quarterly Review for February 1831 an
article warmly appreciative of "his patient and enduring
toil," but these labours, unfortunately for us, were carried
no further than the year 1624; and for subsequent cases,
other than such as are separately reported, until we reach
the first series of the ofiicial Justiciary Reports beginning
in 1826, we must rely on those respectively noticed in
the treatises of Burnett and Hume, and included in the
collections of Maclaurin and Arnot. The Proceedings of
the Justiciary Court from 1661 to 1678, published by the
Scottish History Society, are so barren in detail as to yield
little to the present purpose. The only grain I have been
able to glean from them is the case in May 1665 of
Margaret Hamilton, relict of Robert Bedford, merchant
in Leith, for the murder of her husband, an Englishman,
inspired by an intrigue with his friend, a local surveyor.
This lady " employed a servant to buy poison," but being,
as appears, of an impetuous habit, she anticipated its
action "with the canon bullet that she used for breaking
of her coalls," accounting afterwards for the deceased's
injuries by a pretended fall down stairs. She was very
properly beheaded.(?>)

From the inadequate data furnished by these early cases
it is impossible to tell the nature of the toxic substances
employed, while the common conjunction of poisoning and
sorcery does not tend to enlightenment ; but such indica-
tions as there are point to the poisons formerly classed as
vegetable. We now come to the first recorded Scottish

{a) Pitcairn, pp. 2GG-269. (6) Justiciary Records, i. 125, 126.

60 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

case in which the poison used is definitely stated : that of
John Dick and Janet Alexander, his spouse, convicted in
March 1649 of the murder of his brother and sister by
poisoning them with arsenic, administered in a loaf or
bannock. (a) It is to be noted that, so curiously con-
servative is the criminal mind, this irritant has since
continued the standard medium in homicidal poisoning.
That it was early and widely recognised as such in other
times and countries appears from its adoption by the classic
school of Greek and Latin poisoners. Arsenic was the
favourite specific of the Borgias, the famed Aqua Tofi"ana
consisted of a solution of arsenic, and to arsenic Madame de
Brinvilliers owed her dreadful power. Its deadly properties
were well known ; it was readily obtainable and as easily
administered; and, until in 1836 Marsh discovered his
test, there was no certain method for its detection. (6)

An interesting case, disclosing unusual originality of
design, in which death was caused by the excessive adminis-
tration of drugs not in their nature poisonous, was tried
in January 1676. (c) Two menservants, John Ramsay and
George Clerk, were charged with the murder of their
master, John Anderson, merchant in Edinburgh, an old
bachelor, wealthy and infirm, with none to care for him
but his hired attendants, who basely abused their trust by
repeatedly robbing him when they had lulled his vigilance
with liquor. The season was "very sickly" — dysentery
raged in the town ; there were many deaths, and the
stricken were ignorantly shunned for fear of infection. To
these wicked servants the idea . occurred of counterfeiting
by medicine the symptoms of the disease in their master.
For this purpose they consulted in the King's Park a lad
named Kennedy, an apothecary's apprentice, whom they
induced to supply them with certain purgatives, which

(a) Burnett's Criminal Laiv, p. 9 ; Hume's Covivientaries, 1819, i. 284.
(6) Those curious in the poisons of the ancients may consult Edinburgh
Medical Journal, xxxiii. 315.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 61

speedily produced the desired result. The old man called
in his own physician, who treated him for the common
disorder. From Kennedy they also obtained syrup of
poppy, which they mixed with their master's drink, and
when he was unconscious, rifled his repositories of money
and jewels. They next gave him "powder of jalap and
crystal of tartar" to counteract the effects of his doctor's
prescriptions. But whether by the efficacy of these, or by
the strength of his constitution, the old gentleman beo^an
to mend ; so the murderers sought from Kennedy a more
potent drug. This the apprentice refused to give them,
"saying that the body would swell, and they would be
discovered " ; but he advised an increased exhibition of
jalap, which they accordingly mixed in a conserve of roses
prepared by the patient's own apothecary. So soon as
they perceived that the end was near they secured the
residue of his valuables, and " called in the neighbours to
see him die." Eamsay and Clerk were convicted and, con-
fessing their guilt, were hanged at the Cross ; Kennedy,
who had furnished the drugs and shared the spoils, was
in the following February indicted as art and part in the
crime. It was ingeniously objected for him to the rele-
vancy of the charge that the Act 1450 on which he was
tried applied only to poisonous drugs, not to such as were
given medicinally and were not intrinsically noxious. The
point was never judicially determined, for before judgment
Kennedy was upon his own petition banished for life ; but
Sir George Mackenzie in discussing the question observes :
" The best of Druggs, given in great excess, is Poyson ; for
Poyson consists in excess of quantity as well as quality, and
whatever overpowers our nature is poysonable to us. "(a)
The only similar case I have encountered is that of William
Paterson, tried in February 1815 for the murder of his wife
by repeated doses of sulphur, calomel, tartar emetic, jalap,
castor-oil and other purgatives. At the trial, a surgeon

(«) Laws and Customs of Scotlniid in. Matters Criminal, tit. viii.

62 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

swore that he was asked by the husband for such drugs to
dispatch the wife, and when these were refused with the
remark that this was tantamount to murder, Paterson
replied, "No; it was only helping her awa " ! He was
acquitted by a majority of one ; but his neighbours, taking
a diflferent view of the facts, well-nigh lynched him on his
return home. (a)

The attempt and not the deed, which confounded Lady
Macbeth, also caused some confusion in practice as regards
its proper penalty. Thus in the case of David Hay and
Dr. Thomson, March 1692, in which an attempt to poison
with laudanum was charged along with the actual murder
of Hay's wife, the doctor who had supplied the drug was
convicted of art and part. Both were sentenced to be
hanged, and to have their heads cut off and affixed to the
jail of Lanark. (6) In the case of Dr. Elliot and others in
January 1694, where the charge was "the designing to use,
and the use-making and buying of poyson," coupled with
a malignant conspiracy to fix the like crime on two innocent
persons, the accused were sentenced to death. (c) When,
on the other hand, in January 1728, Walter Buchanan of
Balquhan was charged with two attempts to destroy Jean
Dougal, Lady Branshogel, liferentrix of part of his estate,
by giving poison to an unwitting third party to administer
to her, the Court found the libel relevant to infer only an
arbitrary punishment. (cZ) The same course was followed
on the trial of Janet Ronald in May 1763, for an attempt
to poison her sister by mixing with her food verdigris, of
which by the timely use of antidotes she recovered. (e)
Since the Act 10 George IV. c. 38, however, the attempted
administration of poison with intent to injure or destroy
life is a capital offence.

(a) Hume, i. 285 ; ii. 318.

(6) Burnett, pp. 8, 10 ; Hume, i. 175, 269.

(d) Burnett, p. 10 ; Hume, i. 176.

(e) Maclaurin's Criminal Cases, pp. 211-249 ; Burnett, pp. 9, 10 ; Hume,
ii. 399.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 63

The case of Dr. Elliot above cited calls, on account
of its unusual features, for more than passing mention.
Daniel Nicolson, an Edinburgh writer, had a mistress
named Marion Maxwell, and with the view of regularising
their connection, he proposed to rid himself of his lawful
spouse. For this purpose the pair "seduced" Dr. John
Elliot to furnish them with the necessary drugs, which were
supplied accordingly by that venal physician. Some diffi-
culty was experienced in administering these, so the parties
formed an elaborate and complicated plot for the judicial
destruction of Mrs. Nicolson and her sister, Margaret
Sands, by fixing on them a design to poison her husband.
In pursuance of this scheme Nicolson waited upon the
Lord Advocate, Sir James Stewart, to complain that his
life was in danger from his wife and sister-in-law, who he
said had conceived a groundless suspicion of his infidelity
with Maxwell ; that they had applied for poison to Dr.
Elliot, who, being filled with horror at such a proposal,
informed the intended victim ; and asking his lordship's
guidance in this painful predicament. Summoned before the
Lord Advocate, the doctor confirmed the tale, adding that
so anxious were the ladies to obtain poison, they would not
hesitate to give a receipt for it in any terms he might
suggest. His lordship authorised Elliot to supply what
was wanted and to take a receipt therefor, intending to
secure the poison when in Mrs. Nicolson's possession. The
conspirators then placed poison in her repositories, where
it was duly "discovered" by the Crown ofiicials. Dr.
Elliot next produced a receipt in the required form, bearing
to be granted by the wife and her sister, who were forth-
with apprehended. But public opinion was less blind than
Justice ; when the story got abroad the known character
and conduct of Nicolson and Maxwell and the professional
repute of their medical adviser, raised suspicions which in
the end led to the unmasking of the plotters. The doctor,
under re-examination, collapsed and confessed ; and the
three malefactors were brought to the bar, charged with

64 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

forgery, conspiracy, and attempt to poison. The legal
objection to Mrs. Nicolson giving evidence against her own
husband was ingeniously surmounted by taking her testimony
on oath before the Lord Advocate, the Sheriff, and the
Clerk of the Privy Council, and producing her deposition
at the trial ! His lordship's handling of this case goes
some way to explain his popular nickname, "Wily Jamie."
All three prisoners were convicted and suffered the extreme
penalty.

Resuming our chronological survey we find arsenic
playing the leading part in a series of cases the first of
which, that of William Bisset and Jean Currier, is of June
1705. (a) Jean, Bisset's mistress, bought from an apothecary
in Dundee "an ounce of arsenic unprepared," on pretence
of killing a dog, and gave it to Bisset, who administered
it to his wife by the hand of their maidservant, as a
medicine which her doctor had prescribed. The verdict
" finds that the powder found in the defunct's stomach, Mary
Murray, was the occasion of her death." Although Currier
was accessory to, and was indeed the instigator of the
crime, and both were convicted, their sentence was merely
whipping, the pillory, and banishment.

An interesting departure from the standardized methods
of crime occurs in November 1720 in the case of Nicol
Muschet, a villain whose name is familiar to readers of
The Heart of MidlotUan.(b) Before slaying his wife in
the King's Park, as commemorated by his cairn, Muschet
and his associates made repeated attempts to destroy her
by poisoning and other more violent means, from which
her amazing immunity might, but for the sequel, lead
one to think the lady bore a charmed life. Burnbank,
Muschet's infamous friend and adviser, recommended
corrosive sublimate as "far less dangerous to meddle
with than arsenic, on account arsenic both swelled and

(a) Burnett, pp. 9, 268 ; Hume, i. 270, 276 ; ii. 370.

(6) Criminal Triah Illustrative of the Tale entitled " The Heart of Mid-Lothian,"
1818, pp. 323-344 ; Maclaurin's Criminal Cases, pp. 738-741.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 65

discoloured," and quantities of that poison were from time
to time administered to the unhappy woman in the sugar
she was in the habit of taking with her " dram." As she
recovered from the illness thus induced, it was decided to
increase the doses, so the conspirators put the poison into
a nutmeg-grater, from which they conveyed it into her
brandy and ale. But though afterwards the grater looked
" as if it had been burnt in the fire, by reason of the
corrosive mercury," the patient still survived, and physical
force had finally to be employed to terminate her miserable
existence. Muschet was sentenced to be hanged and his
body hung in chains to the terror and example of others,
a penalty reserved for crimes of singular wickedness.

In the case of Nicolas Cockburn in August 17 54, (a)
a wife was chargred with the murder of her husband and
stepmother by putting arsenic respectively into their kail
(broth) and porridge, to disappoint a beneficial settlement
in favour of the mother as a widow. In the husband's
case there was no sufficient proof; but on a post-mortem
examination of the mother, the surgeons detected in the
stomach " a whitish powder resembling arsenic," some of
which was also discovered in the bottom of a vessel used
by the deceased for food. A paper containing a similar
powder, ascertained on analysis to be arsenic, was found in
the prisoner's chest. Dundas of Arniston, the future Lord
President, who as Justice of the Peace had taken the
woman's dying declaration, deponed to her grounds of
belief that her stepdaughter had poisoned her. The
verdict was Guilty. In Andrew Wilson's case in August
1755 a man bought arsenic " for rats."(6) He was seen to
put something from a paper into a mug of ale, out of which
his wife drank and shortly thereafter died with the usual
symptoms of poisoning. She expressed strong suspicion
against her husband. A white powder, which was neither
analysed nor preserved, was noticed in the mug and tasted
by a witness, who presently suffered from vomiting, etc.

(a) Burnett, pp. 9, 544 ; Hume, ii. 392. (b) Burnett, pp. 9, 545.

66 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

No medical man attended the deceased, nor was the body
opened, and no arsenic was found in possession of the
prisoner, who absconded. He was brought back, and
convicted on trial. The motive alleged for the crime was
the marrying of a younger woman. Like Muschet, Wilson
was condemned to be hung in chains. In two Inverness
cases, M'Coiler in September 1757, (a) and M'Kenzie in
1760,(6) where the poisons employed were respectively
laudanum and arsenic, the accused were acquitted.

The curious laxity which then obtained in regard to
medical evidence as to the cause of death, and the exist-
ence of any poison in the body of the deceased, is nowhere
perhaps more strikingly apparent than in the remarkable
case of Katharine Nairn in August 1765.{c). I have often
wondered why no enterprising novelist has laid hands upon
her story, such is the effective quality of the facts, so nice
the question of a just apportionment of the relative guilt
and innocence. " Readers of Mr. J. A. Symond's book on
the Eenaissance," wrote Andrew Lang once, " hold up
obtesting hands at the rich and varied iniquities of the
Courts of mediaeval Italy. But for complex and variegated
depravity the family of Mr. Ogilvy of Eastmiln could give
the Baglioni and other Italian miscreants a stroke a hole —
whatever view you take of the case." Katharine, daughter
of Sir Thomas Nairn of Dunsinnan, married at nineteen,
on 30th January 1765, Thomas Ogilvy, laird of Eastmiln
of Glenisla, in Angus, a gentleman in failing health and
more than double her age. There lived with them his
venerable mother and younger brother, Patrick, a lieutenant
invalided home from the East Indies. Alexander, the
youngest of the three brothers, was a dissipated surgeon
in Edinburgh, on bad terms with his family. A month
after the wedding there arrived from that city Miss Anne
Clark, a cousin of the Ogilvys, who was, though unknown

(a) Burnett, p. 10. (h) Ibid.

(c) Trial of Katharine Nairn and Patrick Ogilvie for the Crimes of Incest and
Murder, Edinburgh, 1765 ; Twelve Scots Trials, 1913, pp. 106-135.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 67

to her relatives at Eastmiln, a woman of flagitious life,
of evil disposition, and Alexander's mistress. He sent her
ostensibly to make his peace, but really to work what
mischief she could; failing his delicate brethren he was
next heir to the property. The first-fruits of her mission
were divers rumours regarding the relations of the bride
with the young lieutenant, but neither the husband nor
the mother paid much heed to their guest's scandalous
whispers. The two brothers, however, quarrelled over
money matters; the laird referred to Anne's reports, and
Patrick, indignantly denying their truth, left the house,
refusing to return though pressed by Thomas to do so.
Katharine, whose health was then indifl'erent — she was in
prospect of becoming a mother — asked Patrick to send her
some salts and laudanum which he had in his sea-chest at
Alyth ; and having got the drugs he sent them to Eastmiln
by Andrew Stewart, his sister's husband, who delivered
them to Katharine. Anne then informed the other members
of the family that Katharine had told her she meant to
poison her husband, and she (Anne), to put her oft^, had
herself promised to procure poison from Edinburgh, but
that Patrick had now supplied it. None of them believed
her " horrible tale," and no action was taken. Next day,
6th June, the laird, whose ailments had been increasing,
became seriously ill, with symptoms of acute gastric in-
flammation, and a doctor was summoned but arrived too
late ; Thomas Ogilvy was dead. Five days later, on that
fixed for the funeral, Alexander came post from Edinburgh,
sensationally stopped the burial on the ground that his
brother had been poisoned, lodged with the authorities
an information upon which Katharine and Patrick were
apprehended, and assisted by Miss Clark — who after the
death had been dismissed by Katharine — entered into pos-
session of the estate. On their trial at Edinburgh on
5th Auojust for the crimes of incest and murder, the evidence
relating to. the two charges was, wilfully or not, confused:
the intrigue, as appears, being inferred from the poisoning.

68 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

and the poisoning assumed from the intrigue. The proof
occupied forty-three consecutive hours, but of upwards of
a hundred witnesses for the defence only ten were examined,
owino- to the undisguised impatience of the jury. To
establish the first charge, the prosecutor relied mainly on
the infragrant testimony of Miss Clark — than whom in
such a connection no witness could have been more com-
petent — and on that of a servant girl who had been dis-
missed by Katharine for theft and had sworn revenge. As
ref^ards the second charge, strangely enough, it was neither
proved that the deceased died of poison, nor that his wife
had the means of poisoning him were she " so dispoged."
The medical evidence as to the cause of death was quite
inconclusive — though three surgeons inspected the body,
a post-mortem had been prevented by Alexander — but the
awkward fact that Patrick, shortly before the death, did buy
half an ounce of arsenic, " in order to destroy some dogs
that spoiled the game," was clearly proved. The prisoners
havino- been found guilty on both counts, Katharine, in
the picturesque language of the time, " pled her belly " in
arrest of judgment, and sentence was in her case delayed.
The conduct and result of the trial was widely and adversely
criticised, and efforts were made to have the verdict reviewed
by the House of Lords, but this was found to be incom-
petent. After four several respites Patrick, protesting his
innocence, was hanged in the Grassmarket. Meanwhile
Katharine in the Tolbooth had given birth to a daughter,
who did not long survive. The night before she was to
appear for judgment, having changed clothes with the
midwife, she escaped from the prison. Her uncle, William
Nairn, an Edinburgh advocate, later raised to the Bench as
Lord Dunsinnan, doubtless knew something of his niece's
fiio-ht from justice, for his clerk accompanied her in a post-
chaise to England, whence she safely reached the Continent.
She is said to have entered a French convent, dying in the
end full of years and grace. Alexander did not long enjoy
his t^ood fortune ; presently he was banished for bigamy,

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 69

but being allowed some time to settle his affairs, met a
violent death by a fall from a window. Anne Clark, how-
ever, survived, retaining in her experienced bosom the
secrets of the house of Eastmiln.

Not every jury was so eager to convict as that which
sent Patrick Ogilvy to the gallows. On the trial at
Glasgow of Jean Semple in May 1773 for poisoning her
husband with arsenic, no less than fifteen grains of that
substance were found in the deceased's stomach.(«) "The
usual experiments," we read, " were made on it by hot iron,
and part of it was given to a chicken, which died soon
after." But this failed to convince the jury, who returned
a verdict of Not Proven. Even more curious was the
scepticism shown by an Aberdeen jury on the trial of Ann
Inglis in 1795.(6) In the homely household of a young
farmer, named Patrick Pirie, this woman combined the
offices of cook and concubine, but her master, desirous of
ranging himself, announced his intention to marry another.
This was deeply resented by his lady -help, who was heard
to make the ominous remark that " there would be a burial
before a bridal." Shortly before the wedding, Pirie, a hale
man of thirty-two, who had never had a day's illness, after
taking a draught of ale from the hands of Ann, was seized
with violent vomiting and internal pain ; he was attended
by a doctor, but died in nine days, declaring his belief that
his servant-mistress had poisoned him. A post-mortem
disclosed " much inflammation in the stomach, the inner
coat of which was corroded and separated from the adjoin-
ing one." No poison was detected in the body, but the
surgeons deponed that the appearances were such as might
have been produced by sulphate of copper or blue vitriol.
A search of Ann's chest brought to light a parcel of that
poison, which she said she had bought as a cure for tooth-
ache, though she was never known to suffer from that
ailment. The verdict of Not Guilty must have surprised

(a) Bunieit, p. 584.

{b) Ibid., pp. 9, 393, 547 ; Black Kalendar of Aberdeen, 1854, pp. 139, 140.

70 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

hor as much as it did the prosecutor. Strangely enough,
another instance of the use of similar means occurred at
Aberdeen in 1830, (a) jealousy being also the motive of the
crime, where Catherine Humphrey, having quarrelled with
her husband about another woman, poured oil of vitriol
into his open mouth as he lay asleep. She was convicted
and hanged. This, too, was the poison employed by
Barbara Malcolm to destroy her own child, for which she
was condemned in January 1808.(6)

Such toxicological vagaries are rare ; arsenic resumes
its rightful place in the case of Matthew Hay, convicted at
Ayr in September 1780(c) of poisoning and attempting
to poison a whole family. Hay had seduced one of the
daughters, and to prevent discovery he did not hesitate to
sacrifice, not only the girl herself, but her father, mother
and sisters — five lives in all. The parents, however, alone
succumbed ; the others, after severe sufferings, recovered.
Hay, having bought arsenic " for killing rats," called one
day on his victim and found her boiling sowens for the
domestic meal. He sent her out to get him a drink, and
during her absence threw some of the arsenic into the pot
and the rest into the seed barrel. All who ate of the food
were seized with the usual symptoms of arsenical poisoning,
and the father and mother died that night. On a post-
mortem examination of the bodies no arsenic was found,
but Dr. Black, the eminent chemist, discovered that sub-
stance mixed with the sowens and seed ; so Hay was,
happily, hanged. It is interesting to note that it was upon
this trial that Lord Katnes made from the bench the
judicial joke about "'check-mate," which Lockhart in his
Life of Scott fathered upon Lord Braxfield ; also that the
counsel for the defence, not the prisoner himself, was his
lordship's old opponent at chess. (cZ)

(a) Black KaUndar of Aberdeen, pp. 207-209 ; Edinburgh Medical Journal,
XXXV. 298-316. (b) Burnett, pp. 9, 549.

(d) Hill Burton's Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland, ii. 64, 65, n.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 71

In the case of Marshall, on the Autumn Circuit at Perth
in 1796, the accused's wife died without suspicion of foul
play, which did not arise until two months thereafter, when
the body was exhumed and three grains of arsenic were
found in the stomach. The prisoner was convicted. (a) iV.t
Aberdeen, in 1797, a man named Stewart was found guilty
of an attempt to poison by administering arsenic in a ball
of oatmeal. (6) In 1800, at Glasgow, one Lockhart and his
servant-maid were charged with the murder of Lockhart's
wife.(c) No medical man attended the deceased and there
was no evidence of the cause of death. It was proved
that the husband had bought upon false pretences a large
quantity of laudanum, but the body was not opened until
a fortnight after death, when the physicians were of opinion
that even had laudanum been administered, it could not
have been discovered. The accused were acquitted. At
Ayr, in April 1810, John M'Millan, from Wigtownshire,
was convicted of poisoning with corrosive sublimate Barbara
M'Kinnel, a girl who was with child to him.(d)

As we advance into the nineteenth century the field of
our investigation, whether by the greater prevalence of
poisoning or by the improved methods available for its
detection, so largely widens that in the space at my disposal
I am able to deal only with the more interesting examples.
The crime for which, at Aberdeen, in October 1821, George
Thom was brought to book, presents, both as regards manner
of perpetration and comprehensiveness of scope, points of
resemblance to that of Matthew Hay previously cited. (e)
A well-to-do-farmer, who for sixty-one years had enjoyed
a high reputation for piety and worth, Thom married his
second wife Jean Mitchell, whose brothers and sisters lived
at Burnside, a farm in the parish of Keig. By the death
of a relation the Mitchells succeeded to a considerable
fortune, but the fifth share falling to Mrs. Thom seemed to

(a) Burnett, pp. 9, 548. (6) Ibid., pp. 9, 11, 584.

(e) Black Kalendar of Aberdeen, pp. 173-180 ; Edinburgh Medical Journal,
xviii. 167.

72 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

her spouse a very inadequate provision, and it was obvious
that the death of the other legatees would substantially
increase their sister's portion. With a view, therefore, to
accelerate her succession he called at Burnside on the eve of
the local " Sacramental Sunday," and announced his inten-
tion to stay the night. After a friendly supper the visitor
asked leave to sleep in the kitchen, but this his host would
not permit, and he was installed in the best bedroom. In
the small hours of the Sunday morning one of the brothers,
from his box-bed in the kitchen, heard somebody moving
about the cupboard, but did not trouble to open the shutter
of his insalutary cubicle to see who was astir so early.
When the family met for breakfast, Thom, hospitably pressed
to share the meal, declined on the plea that he must be oif
before folks were going to the kirk : it would never do for
one of his godly walk and conversation to be seen abroad
upon the Sabbath day. So, wishing his relatives a kind fare-
well, the worthy man set forth. On his way home he ate
at Mains of Cluny a hearty breakfast, though he said he had
been very bad at Burnside after something he had eaten
there, and that but for his promptitude in inducing sickness
with a crow's feather, he would not have lived to tell the
tale. Breakfast at Burnside was a simple meal, consisting
of porridge, eaten, in the good Scots fashion, with salt
instead of sugar. That morning one of the brothers thought
it had "sweet, sickening taste," the others noticed nothing
amiss. Presently all of them became unwell ; the sisters
stayed at home, but the brothers struggled to church.
James had to go out during the service, as he " felt himself
turning blind " ; he found William in the kirkyard, very
sick. All four were for some time seriously ill but three
recovered, William alone dying within the week. They
were attended by a doctor, who seems at first to have had
no suspicions. It appears that from a queer sort of family
pride the survivors wished to hush up the incident ; a post-
mortem examination, however, was made, and three surgeons
" concurred in opinion that the deceased had died by means

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND " 73

of some deleterious substance taken into the stomach."
From the beginning the Mitchells had suspected their
brother-in-law, and when Thorn, uninvited, came with cynical
audacity to the funeral, his presence was forbidden — he
"had done ill enough there already." Told that William
had been poisoned, he made the rather inept suggestion
that " poison might have been got in the burn from
puddocks," to which Helen Mitchell dryly replied that
there were no puddocks in the porridge, whereupon Thom
took his departure. He was later arrested, tried for murder,
found guilty, and sentenced to death. No arsenic was
traced to his possession, but an attempt to buy it "to
poison rats" was proved by an Aberdeen apothecary. After
conviction, Thom earnestly maintained his innocence, but
despite edifying behaviour in prison he attempted to get
his son to supply him with poison. Finally, the game
being up, he confessed that he had mixed arsenic with the
salt, not with the meal as had been assumed at the trial, (a)
When the execution was over, " the body was subjected
to a series of galvanic experiments of which a particular
account was afterwards published " — a shocking business
in more senses than one.

At Glasgow, in April 1822, Helen Rennie, a domestic
servant, was charged with the murder of her illegitimate
child.(6) The mother being in service, the little boy was
boarded with another woman. One day Rennie called for
him and took him away for some hours ; he was then in
perfect health, but when brought back seemed very ill.
She explained that she had given him " some brimstone
for the hives." The foster-mother sent for a doctor, who
found the child dying. A post-mortem was held, when
"two teaspoonfulls " of king's yellow (sulphuret of arsenic)
were discovered in the stomach. There w^as no indication
that the child had suffered from hives. Rennie declared

(a) Such also was the device of the gatekeeper Mi^arrl, in F.n Bete Humaine
)f Zola.

(6) Edinburgh Evening I'ouranf, 25th April 1822.

74 LOCUSTA TN SCOTLAND

that she had bought a half-pennyworth of sulphur, and at
her trial a druggist's apprentice (who recalls the assistant
of the chemist juryman in Bardell v. Pickwick) deponed
that the sulphur and king's yellow were kept respectively
in a drawer and in a bottle ; he did not recollect having
served the prisoner, but was sure he never sold to anyone
a half-pennyworth of king's yellow. For the defence, two
doctors stated that by an unskilled eye king's yellow might
be mistaken for sulphur. The verdict was, by a majority,
Not Guilty, the judge, in discharging the prisoner, remarking
that he would have voted with the minority.

The criminal records of 1827 are notable for the occur-
rence of several important poisoning cases, of which the
first is that of Mary Elder or Smith in February of that
year, (a) She was the wife of a respectable farmer at
West Denside, near Dundee. Among the women employed
at the farm was a girl named Margaret Warden, who had
engaged the affections of Mrs. Smith's youngest son, a
fact which, when discovered by the mother, in view of a
previous lapse on the girl's part, that lady bitterly resented.
She dismissed Margaret with ignominy ; but fearing she
was enceinte, afterwards induced her to return for the
avowed purpose of attempting by illegal means to avert
the threatened scandal. Accordingly, with the girl's con-
sent, Mrs. Smith gave her sundry doses, particularly, in
presence of Jean Norrie, a fellow-servant, " something in
a dram glass" that looked like cream of tartar, with the
result that Margaret grew gravely ill, her symptoms being
those of arsenical poisoning. A doctor, brought by the
girl's mother who had learned of her state, thought she
was dying of cholera, which was then rife in the district.
Margaret, however, expressed both to her mother and to
Norrie suspicion of foul play on the part of her mistress.
" Ye ken wha is the occasion o' me lyin' here ? " were her

(a) Sytne's Justiciary Reports, p. 71 ; Account of the Medical Evidence in the
Case of Mrs. Smith. By R. Christison, M.D., Edinburgh Medical Journal,
xxvii. 141 ; xxviii. 84, 94 ; Twelve Scots Trials, pp. 160-190.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 75

last words; "but they'll get their reward. My mistress
oave me . . . " but death cut short the sentence. So far
as human retribution was concerned Margaret, as we shall
see, was not inspired. The girl died and was buried ; but
somebody talked, so the body was exhumed and examined
by three surgeons ; on a subsequent analysis the presence
of oxide of arsenic was unequivocally detected, and Mrs.
Smith was apprehended on the charge of murder. In her
declaration before the Sheriff she denied having known of
the dead girl's condition, and said she had given her nothing
except a dose of castor-oil, and that she (declarant) got no
drugs from any person on the Friday preceding the death.
All these statements were at the trial proved to be false.
In particular. Dr. Dick of Dundee stated that the prisoner,
whom he had known for many years, did on the day in
question apply to him for " poison for rats" ; he gave her
an ounce and a half of arsenic in a packet marked
"Arsenic — Poison," warning her at the same time to be
very careful how she used it. Jeffrey and Cockburn
conducted the defence, which rested on two disparate
bases — cholera and suicide. The opinion of the Crown
experts, including that of Dr. Christison who had made
an independent analysis, that the death was due to arsenic,
remained unshaken ; and Dr. Mackintosh, physician in
Edinburgh, called to maintain the theory of death from
natural causes, was utterly routed by the Lord Advocate
on cross-examination. It would seem that to the evidence
of this skilled witness the following amusing extract from
Dr. Ohristison's autobiography refers :

In a trial for poisoning with arsenic— the last occasion on which an
attempt was made to dispute the validity of the cheraical evidence in
arsenical poisoning— Dr. . . . was employed to make a muddle of the
professional testimony ; and this was how he set about it. The proof,
from symptoms during life and morbid appearances after death — apart
from irrefragable chemical proof of the presence of arsenic in the stomach
—was unusually strong, perhaps singly conclusive. But Dr. . . . had no
difficulties. "He had great experience of disease. Vast experience in
pathological dissections. There was nothing in the symptoms of the

76 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

deceased during her life which he had not seen again and again arising
from natural disease : nothing in the appearances in the dead body which
he had not seen twenty times as arising from natural causes." "But,
Dr. . . . ," said the Lord Advocate, "the symptoms you have heard
detailed, and which you say may have arisen from natural disease, are
also such as arsenic may produce, are they not?" "They may be all
produced by natural disease." "So you have already told us. But
may they not also be produced by arsenic?" "They may; but natural
disease may equally cause them." "You need not repeat that informa-
tion. Doctor. Give me a simple answer to my simple question : May
these symptoms be produced by arsenic"? Yea or Nay?" "Yes."
" Now, Dr. . . . , you have also told us that the appearances found
after death were such as natural disease may produce. Are they not
also such as may be produced by arsenic?" "Natural causes may
account for them all," etc. etc., through the same round of fencing, until
he was compelled to admit that arsenic might produce them. " Now,
Doctor," continued the Lord Advocate, "you have heard the evidence
of arsenic having been found in the stomach of the woman. Are you
satisfied that arsenic was discovered there?" " My Lord, I am no judge
of chemical evidence." " Then, Dr. . . . , in that case I must tell you
that it will be my duty to represent to the jury and judges that arsenic
was unequivocally detected ; and I ask you this— Suppose arsenic was
detected, what in that case do you think was the cause of these symptoms,
and of these signs in the dead body ? " " Natural disease might cause
them all." " Yes ! Yes ! we all know that. But suppose that arsenic
was found in the stomach, what then would be your opinion as to their
cause?" A pause on the part of the Doctor, now run to earth. "Do
you not think, sir, that in that case arsenic was the cause?" Softly and
reluctantly came the inevitable answer, "Yes." "One more question,
then, and I have done : In your opinion, did this person die of poisoning
with arsenic ? " " Yes." " Have you any doubt of it ? " " No." " Then "
{sotto voce, yet audibly enough), "what the devil brought you here? "(a)

This instructive passage is in the official report reduced
to a couple of lines.

There was thus no contesting the fact that the girl died
of arsenic, and an attempt to show that she had committed
suicide broke down ; nor was Jeffrey more successful in
seeking to have the prisoner's declaration set aside on the
ground that at the time of making it she was unfit to be
examined. Yet, after a trial lasting twenty-two hours,

(a) Life of Sir Robert Christison, i. 286-288.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 77

the iury returned a unanimous verdict of Not Proven,
and the prisoner was discharged. Cockburn admits his
client's guilt. (a) It seems that she had at first meant
only to procure abortion, but — -facilis descensus — was led
on to employ the more radical remedy of murder. Sir
Walter Scott has recorded his impressions of the trial,
which he attended. (6)

A case of peculiar atrocity, exceeding in cold-blooded
wickedness even that which we have just considered, was
tried at Perth in April of the same year.(c) Two sisters,
Margaret and Jean Wishart, kept house together in the
High Street of Arbroath, supporting themselves by taking
boarders. The younger, Jean, was totally blind and quite
dependent on her sister. A young man named Andrew
Roy, a Wright or carpenter, had lodged with them for five
years. He was, as appears, originally the blind girl's lover,
and she had borne him a child, which died ; afterwards
Margaret secured his aff"ections, but later he returned to
his first love — which indicates in the words of the Lord
Justice-Clerk at the trial, " the most abominable footing on
which they were." The discovery by Margaret that Jean
was about to become again a mother aroused in her, to
quote the same authority, a " fiend-like jealousy," and she
determined at all costs to remove her rival. On Tuesday,
3rd October 1826, Margaret gave Jean, who was then in
bed expecting shortly to be confined, her supper of porridge,
in presence of a neighbour and one of the boarders. No
one but Jean ate of it. Twenty minutes after taking it
she was seized with sickness and other painful symptoms.
Next day she continued very ill, and on Friday gave birth
to a child, when Margaret was reluctantly forced to summon
a midwife. Jean begged her sister to send for a doctor, a
course also repeatedly urged upon her by divers sympathetic
matrons, but Margaret replied "that everything had been

(o) Circuit Journeys, p. 12. (6) Journal, i. 356, 361.

78 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

done that could be done ; that a doctor would do no good,
and that she was not able to pay one." The gruel which,
durino- the illness, was given both to mother and child, was
prepared by her alone, and she showed throughout complete
apathy and indifference as to their sufferings. Jean died
on Sunday morning, and as it was obvious that the child
too was dying, with similar symptoms, one of the neighbours
'• brought in a doctor from the street." He said he could
do nothing, and being asked by Margaret — an excellent
ruse — to look at the dead body of her sister, refused, " as it
could do no good." He seems to have had no more con-
fidence in his profession than had the lady of the house.
The child died on the following day, and was buried with
its ill-fated mother. The authorities, apprised of these
doings, ordered an exhumation, and owing to the appear-
ances presented, certain organs were removed for chemical
analysis. These were divided into two parts, one being
tested by the local doctors and the other sent to Professor
Christison for separate examination. Meanwhile Margaret
was arrested, and emitted a declaration which the judge
afterwards described as "replete with misrepresentation,
falsehoods, equivocations and contradictions." On her trial
the local doctors stated that arsenic was present in the
deceased Jean Wishart's stomach and that her death had
been occasioned by that poison. As regards the child, no
arsenic was recovered. The tests applied by Dr. Christison
in the mother's case yielded incontestable evidence of
arsenic, though the quantity procured did not exceed the
fortieth part of a grain. The defence relied mainly on the
prosecutor's failure to trace to the prisoner the purchase or
possession of arsenic, and also upon a peculiar incident
connected with one of the Crown witnesses. This woman,
Mary Greig, an intimate friend of the Wisharts, had been
three times sent for to the prison by Margaret, who finally
prevailed upon her to say, in presence of the jailer and two
fellow-prisoners, that she (Greig) had gone with the blind
woman to three several doctors in the town to buy poison,

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 79

but without success, and that they had in the end obtained
some from a chemist. The truth of this sinojular statement
the witness on oath solemnly denied, explaining that she
had been induced to make it solely out of pity for the
prisoner, who " grat and urged sore upon her to say these
words." The jailer and the other felons were the chief
witnesses for the defence, and the judge, in charging the
jury, observed that he " had no hesitation in saying he
believed Mary Greig in opposition to him and his associates."
Andrew Roy had discreetly vanished ; but David Edward,
another boarder, who bore flagrantly false witness in
Margaret's behalf, was committed for perjury. The jury
found the pannel guilty of poisoning her sister, but found
the poisoning of the child not proven ; she was sentenced
to death, and was executed at Forfar.

In view of the part played by the prisoners' declarations
in the two cases last cited, it may be remarked that
although the ostensible object of a judicial declaration is
to enable an accused person voluntarily to explain such
circumstances as appear to tell against him, in practice it
is apt to prove merely a net to entrap him. The uneducated
criminal invariably gives himself away, and even intellectual
malefactors, however adroit and wary, often are tripped up
by its invidious meshes. The wise say nothing, or are
content simply to deny the charge ; but there is in human
nature a curious itch of self-justification which few so
situated, be they innocent or guilty, seem able to resist,
and to this amiable weakness the judicial declaration in-
geniously appeals.

The third poisoning case by which the year 1827 is
distinguished is that of Mary Ann Alcorn, a domestic
servant, tried in June for administering to her master and
mistress, Mr. and Mrs. Roach of Bath Street, Portobello,
with intent to murder them, tartar emetic or powder of
antimony.(a) Mrs. Roach had told the girl to make a

(a) Syme's Justiciary Reports, p. 221.

80 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

beefsteak pie and to take it to the baker's to be "fired."
She did so, and in due course served the pie at table, when
it was noticed that the gravy looked white. Mr, Roach
ate heartily, his wife but sparingly ; after dinner both were
taken ill with similar symptoms — sickness, internal pain,
swelling, feet and hands cold, perspiration — the husband's
being much more violent than those of the wife. In the
course of the attack Mr. Roach successively took some
strong whisky toddy, two cups of coffee, a glass of brandy,
and also " Anderson's Pills," the menstruum being more
toddy ; but despite the drastic character of this treatment,
or perhaps because of it, he "suffered severely afterwards,"
and for some days his life was in danger. Mary Ann, being
apprehended, at first denied, but later admitted having put
a powder, which she got from a neighbour's servant, into
the pie, " merely for a bit of fun." But for the recovery of
the subjects the joke would probably have been her last.
It appeared that she had been incited to the act by a
discharged servant, with a grudge against the Roaches.
The doctor who attended the patients held that some pre-
paration of lead, not antimony or tartar emetic, had been
employed ; and Dr. Christison, while unable to detect any
in the remains of the pie, had no doubt whatever that
poison of some sort had been swallowed. The prosecutor
withdrew the charge of attempt to murder, and upon that
of intent to do grievous bodily harm the jury found a
verdict of guilty. A sentence of twelve months with hard
labour must have gone some way to correct Mary Ann's
defective sense of humour, and was certainly, in the circum-
stances, lenient. The contemporary report describes her
as " surprised," but whether agreeably or otherwise does
not appear.

We have seen in the case of Mrs. Smith how a timid or
stupid jury may, by adopting the Scots form. Not Proven,
frustrate the ends of justice. An instance equally scandalous
is afforded by the case of John Lovie, tried at Aberdeen in
September of the same year for the murder of a servant-

LOCIJSTA IN SCOTLAND 81

girl, (a) This scoundrel, a farmer near Fraserburgh, had
seduced one of his maids named Margaret McKessar, who
believed and expected that he would marry her. At the
date in question she was some five months with child, and
their relations were well known to the other inmates of the
farm. One of these, Alexander Rannie, a ploughman of
seventeen, was asked by his master how much jalap would
constitute a fatal dose, and also as to the relative merits of
laudanum and arsenic. The lad referred him for informa-
tion upon these points to one Suttie, " a kind of prophesier
in the country," but Lovie does not seem to have consulted
that expert. Pursuing his scientific enquiries, Lovie in the
beginning of August called at a chemist's shop in Fraser-
burgh. " Would an ounce of jalap be a good dose — not for
a beast but for a body ? " he asked ; being told that it
would kill any person, he bought an ounce and said he
would divide it. He then asked what was the best poison
for rats, and having learned that arsenic was deemed the
most efficacious, departed with his purchase. Next day,
after dinner, both the ploughman and the girl suifered from
a severe attack of dysentery, from which, however, they
recovered ; so Lovie paid another visit to the chemist, and
said he would now take the poison — " they were much
infested with rats." He was supplied, according to the
guileless fashion of the time, with an ounce of arsenic. On
Tuesday, 14th August, Margaret McKessar rose in her usual
health, and after breakfast was seized with violent pain and
sickness, which continued throughout the morning, till in
the afternoon her sufferings were terminated by death. To
the master who was " working at his neeps," Rannie the
ploughman brought word of her sudden illness, but Lovie
continued his labours, merely remarking that if she were so
bad as that, "she would not be long to the fore." The girl's
mother was at work near him in the same field, but not
only did he fail to acquaint her with her daughter's con-

{(() Syme'ti .Tusticiary Reports, Appendix No. II. ; Black Kalendar of Abtrdeen,
pp. 199, 202 ; Edinburgh Medical Journal, xxi.x. 415.

82 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

dition, but expressly ordered Rannie not to tell her. When
they returned to the farm for dinner the girl was dead.
Meanwhile a doctor had been sent for by Lovie's mother ;
he was from home, but his apprentice came and saw the
body ; he " tried her mouth with a candle, and said there
was no breath there." Margaret was buried on Thursday ;
there had been some talk of having the body opened, but
to this Lovie strenuously objected, craftily representing to
the girl's relatives the scandal that would ensue should it
be found she was " with bairn." The authorities, however,
were less susceptible, and on Saturday the body was
exhumed in presence of two surgeons from Fraserburgh,
who removed certain organs for chemical analysis, parts of
which were sent for separate examination to Dr. Blaikie,
Aberdeen, and to Dr. Christison, Edinburgh. These
gentlemen duly reported that they found in the stomach
and its contents oxide of arsenic, which in their decided
opinion was the cause of death. When Lovie heard that
the body was to be " lifted" he asked a significant question :
" Would it swell if she got poison ? " ; and later, being
advised by a friend inconfident of his innocence " to take
the south road," i.e. to fly the country, he denied his guilt,
adding that he had never bought, used or seen any poison
in his life. As the result of the investigation Lovie was
arrested. In his declaration the prisoner took the customary
liberties with truth : he never had intimate relations with
the girl, and had no suspicion that she was with child ; he
told the chemist that he wanted stuff "to kill vermin upon
black cattle," and was unaware that the substance supplied
to him was poison ; he used some of it to rub the backs of
his cows and laid the remainder in the barn for rats ; he
knew nothinoj of the orirl's illness until he went home to
dinner, and he denied holding with Rannie and others any
conversation regarding poison. All these statements were
at the trial proved false, the testimony of the Crown
witnesses was unscathed by cross-examination, and the
defence called no evidence. Cockburn, who was Lovie's

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 83

counsel, addressed the jury in his behalf, but no report of
the speech survives. Mr. Hill Burton, who notices the case,
observes : " Mr. Cockburn made at that trial one of his
greatest efforts of persuasive oratory, and delivered an
oration which, in seductiveness to such a tribunal as he
addressed, has probably never been excelled."(a) The effect
of this eloquence — a unanimous verdict of Not Proven —
was doubtless for Cockburn no less a personal triumph than
had been for Jeffrey the acquittal of Mrs. Smith ; in the
interests of justice it can only be regarded as equally
deplorable. Cockburn makes no mention of the case
in his Journal; one would like to have had his private
opinion.

In the minds of most of us the Clyde passenger steamer
is associated with summer memories of days passed upon
the waters of that noble estuary, and the idea of wrong-
doing in such a connection is limited to the occasional
excesses of some too-festive voyager. The curious in these
matters, however, may recall that in the Ivcmhoe Lawrie
sailed to Arran with his victim Rose, whose body he was to
leave hidden amid the lonely corries of Goatfell ; and that by
one or other of the steamers on the " Royal Route " Monson
passed to and from Ardlamont upon Cecil Hambrough's
affairs, and the mysterious Scott made his exit from the
scene of the tragedy. These relations are something of the
remotest ; yet unlikely as it seems, murder and robbery
were once actually done upon a Clyde passenger steamer,
for which crimes two persons suffered the last penalty of
the law.(/v) The Toward Castle (like Sir Walter, I love to
be particular) was built by William Denny, father of the
great shipbuilding firm, at Dumbarton in 1822, ten years
after the pioneer Comet first threshed with her paddle-
wheels the waters of the Firth, and was engined by
M' Arthur of Glasgow. A wooden ship of some 79 tons and

(a) Narratives from Criminal Trials, ii. 61.

(6) Trial of John Stuart and Catherine Wright or Stuart. Edinburgh, 1829.

84 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

45 horse-power, she plied between Glasgow and Loch Fyne,
upon the route so long followed by her famous sister, the
Cohimba. On 15th December 1828, there embarked at
Tarbert upon the Toivard Caatle, then on her return run
to Glasgow, a blacksmith and his wife, John and Catherine
Stuart, and a mother and daughter named M'Phail. The
parties had foregathered at the inn, where Mrs. M'Phail's
luggage was lightened by a ganger of two gallons of whisky
which she proposed to smuggle. The Stuarts sympathised
with her loss, and as the morning was cold upon the water,
they suggested a dram in the cabin. There, as she could
not read, Mrs. M'Phail consulted them as to the denomina-
tion of certain guinea notes. Her hospitable fellow-travellers
then pressed her to sample the ship's beer. " It was very
bitter," she afterwards told the jury, " I never tasted such
infernal strong beer in my life, and T spat out every drop,
and wiped my mouth with my apron." As the old woman
could by no means be induced to partake further of their
bounty, the pair turned their attention to another passenger,
a stout merchant from Ulva, Robert Lamont by name, on
whose broad bosom the outline of a bulky pocket-book was
plainly visible. He was travelling with a cousin, who
preferred to remain on deck. Lamont made no difficulty of
accepting gratuitous refreshment, but declined to pay for
drinks, deeming the price prohibitive — '' it cost 9d. a bottle " ;
and so generously did his hosts stand treat that, as appears
from the evidence of the steward, they drank the ship dry
— "three gills, three bottles of porter, and a dozen of ale;
there was no more on board." One tumbler only was in
use, and it was noticed that before Lamont drank, Mrs.
Stuart "put the tumbler in below her mantle," and once,
as her husband was about to drink, she " pulled it from his
mouth and spilt it over his breast, and he damned her for
it." When the steamer reached Renfrew Ferry, John
Lamont went below to look after his relative, whom he
found alone in the dark cabin, insensible, with his empty
pocket-book lying on the Hoor at his feet. John at once

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 85

informed the captain that his cousin had. been robbed, where-
upon the Stuarts were " laid hold off" and searched, £19, 7s.
in notes and silver, and a black purse, all afterwards proved
to have been Lamont's property, being found upon them.
When at 6 p.m. the Toivard Castle reached the Broomielaw,
Stuart and his wife were taken into custody, and two bottles
containing laudanum were discovered in their possession.
A doctor, summoned to attend Lamont, applied the stomach-
pump, but the patient never regained consciousness, and
died that nio;ht aboard the boat. On the trial of the
Stuarts at Edinburgh in July 1829, the facts already stated
were clearly established. Two surgeons, who conducted
the post-mortem, deponed that they saw no sign of natural
disease ; Drs. Ure and Corkindale, who made the chemical
analysis, reported that laudanum was present in the con-
tents of the stomach and probably caused the death. No
witnesses were called for the defence ; the jury found both
prisoners guilty, and sentence of death was pronounced
accordingly. To their own counsel before the trial the
couple fully acknowledged their guilt, and it further appears
that they had adopted "doping" as a means of livelihood.
The practice seems to have been prevalent at the time and
other cases are upon record.

The case of Elizabeth Jeffray, tried at Glasgow in April
1838, is noteworthy not only as one of double murder, but
from the fact that there was, in the ordinary sense of the
term, no motive for the first crime, it being purely experi-
mental and, as it were, a rehearsal of the second, (a) This
woman, whose " well-moulded form and beautiful counten-
ance " favourably impressed her biographer, was in her
youth seduced by a " titled villain." After divers less
distinguished experiences, she became the wife of a militia-
man named Jeffray, and settled at Carluke, where, being
unscrupulous and of a passionate temper, she was more

(u) Swiutoii's Justiciary Reports, ii. 113; A Sketch of the Life and Trial of
Mrs. Jeffray. Glasgow, 1838.

86 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

feared than beloved by her neighbours. There lodged with
her an infirm old pauper, called Mrs. Carl, and a young
miner from Skye, named Munro, who had intrusted his
savings — some £10 — to his landlady's keeping, and as he
was about to leave Carluke, he naturally required restitu-
tion. This on various pretexts she delayed to make ; there
was the expense of her daughter's forthcoming marriage,
and it was inconvenient for her then to find the money.
Munro continuing to press his claim, early in October Mrs.
Jeffray sent to a local druggist by a neighbour's child " a
line for 3d. worth of arsenic to poison rats," and obtained
half an ounce of that specific. On the night of Wednesday,
the 4th, old Mrs. Carl being confined to bed, attended only
by a boy, her nephew, Mrs. Jeff"ray visited the invalid with
a drink of warm whisky, meal and cream of tartar, which
she said would do her good. The old woman demurred,
but Mrs. Jeffray gave a taste to the boy, who, inferring the
wholesomeness of the remedy from its repellent flavour,
advised his aunt to take it, which she did. Soon after she
became violently ill, and the boy, who was himself sick
during the night, roused the landlady to tell her that his
aunt was dying ; but Mrs. Jefi'ray refused to rise, as it might
waken the lodgers. Next morning Mrs. Carl was dead ;
she was buried and, as Lord Braxfield might have said,
" nae mair aboot it." A fortnight later Mrs. Jefi'ray called
upon the druggist and bought another threepennyworth of
arsenic, remarking that " she had killed one rat ivith the
first quantity, and she ivanted to try it again." On Saturday,
the 28th, Munro left work early in good health and spirits,
and ready for his dinner — porridge — which his landlady had
prepared. After eating it he was seized with acute pain,
vomiting, etc., and went to bed, from which he never rose.
Terrible thirst was throughout a marked symptom, and
from the first, as is expressively recorded, he " took a fear at
the porridge." Despite her lodger's sufi'erings, Mrs. Jefi'ray
would not send for a doctor, alleging to several persons who
urged her to do so, that Highland folk were " narrow-

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 87

minded" and Munro would grudge the expense, also that
she had been three times for Dr. Rankine, her own doctor,
but he was not to be found. On the Monday night, how-
ever, she summoned a surgeon, who "thought it was
diarrhoea " and prescribed a rhubarb powder, which he pie-
pared and left with her to be administered. Instead of
relieving the patient who was somewhat easier, the powder
made him much worse ; he died in great agony, and was
buried next day. Questioned as to Munro's money, which
was known to have been in her hands, Mrs. Jeffray explained
that she had given it to him to send to his relatives in
Skye. On 3rd November her daughter was married with
undue magnificence, the number of the bride's frocks pro-
voking envious comment. A further sensation was provided
next day by the exhumation of Munro's body, followed on
the 6th by that of Mrs. Carl. As in neither case was there
any indication of natural death, Mrs. Jeffray was appre-
hended, and in due course was indicted for the murders.
The chemical analyses, conducted as regards Munro by Drs.
Logan and Rankine, and as regards Carl by Professors Traill
and Christison, were conclusive of the presence of arsenic,
which in the opinion of those experts was undoubtedly the
cause of death. It was proved that the prisoner had never
called for Dr. Rankine, and that Munro had sent no money
home to Skye. For the defence, an attempt to give to the
supposititious rodents a local habitation in the garret was
unsuccessful. After a trial lasting eighteen hours the jury
by a majority found the prisoner guilty, but for some
inexplicable reason unanimously recommended her to mercy.
The judge in passing sentence observed that he could hardly
conceive how a double murder came within the limits of
mercy, and as the Home Secretary shared his Lordship's
difficulty, Mrs. Jeffray paid the full penalty of her crimes.
With characteristic firmness she refused to confess her suilt,
and died inflexible to the end and unrepentant.

A case of exceptional interest occurring in 1844 — the
trial of Christina Gilmour for the murder of her husband

88 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

— is remarkable both in respect of its unusual features and
its surprising result, (a) The daughter of a substantial
farmer in Ayrshire, Christina had been educated somewhat
above her condition, and as she was as fair as accomplished,
her parents expected her to make a good marriage. A
suitable parti was found in John Gilmour, a Renfrewshire
farmer of worth and means, whom Christina was by her
family induced to accept, though she had fixed her heart
upon another. The wedding took place in November 1842,
and the pair set out for their future home at Inchinnan,
near Renfrew. They had no sooner arrived there than the
bride announced to her husband that she would never live
with him as his wife. How the situation might have
developed need not concern us, for six weeks later John
Gilmour was in his grave. On 26th December Mrs.
Gilmour ordered her maidservant, who was on leave for
a couple of days, to buy in Paisley " twopence worth of
arsenic to kill rats," which the girl obtained and on her
return delivered to her mistress. On the 29th John
Gilmour, a strong man of thirty in perfect health, was
seized with the symptoms characteristic of arsenical
poisoning. Notwithstanding the assiduous attentions of
his wife he grew gradually worse. On 6th January Mrs.
Gilmour went early to Renfrew for the alleged purpose of
getting " something that would do her husband good."
On her return she inadvertently dropped a black silk
bag, which was picked up by one of the farm hands. He
examined it and showed it to the maid, who gave it to
her mistress. The contents, a little phial of liquid that
smelt like scent and a paper packet marked " Poison,"
Mrs. Gilmour explained as "turpentine to rub John with."
On the 7th a young lady, describing herself as "Miss
Robertson " of Paisley, obtained from a Renfrew chemist
twopence worth of arsenic upon the well-worn pretext.

{a) Broun's Justiciary Reports, ii. 23 ; Report of the Trial of Mrs. Oilmour.
Edinburgh, 1844 ; Twelve Scots Trials, pp. 191-220.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 89

At a later stage three witnesses identified the pseudo-
nymous purchaser with the fair Christina. 'J'hough during
the illness Mrs. Gilmour represented her husband as
refusing medical aid, he had without her knowledge sent
for a doctor from Renfrew, but that physician being when
he came the worse of drink, was in no condition to make
a diagnosis. On the 8th, by request of a relative. Dr.
M'Kechnie of Paisley visited the patient. He was not
satisfied with the case, and told Mrs. Gilmour to preserve
for his examination the vomited matter, etc. Calling next
day he asked for these, but she said there was so little
that it was not worth keeping. On the 11th the doctor
found the patient in a dangerous state. Soon after he left
John Gilmour died, expressing a wish " to be opened," and
exclaiming with his latest breath, " Oh, that woman ! — If
you have given me anything, tell me before I die I " The
funeral over, Mrs. Gilmour went home to her parents, and
resumed correspondence with her first love. Eumour was
busy with the farmer's mysterious fate ; his wife had told
several people that she had married him against her will
and "would rather have preferred one Anderson"; in the
whole circumstances, especially in view of her repeated
purchases of poison, an enquiry was deemed advisable,
and on 22nd April the authorities ordered exhumation.
Two doctors having reported that the deceased died from
the efi'ects of an acrid poison, probably arsenic, the police
w^ent down to Ayrshire with a warrant for the widow's
arrest. But tidings of what was afoot had been before
them, and Mrs. Gilmour had disappeared. She was traced
to Liverpool, from which port she had sailed in a packet-
ship for America, but her pursuers, taking a Cunard
steamer, reached New York before her. After lengthy
proceedings, caused by the feigned insanity of the fugitive,
she was extradited and brought back to Scotland. In her
declaration before the Sherifi' the prisoner, abandoning the
rat motif, said that being unhappy in her marriage, she
bought arsenic for the purpose of suicide, but changing

90 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

her mind, destroyed it ; she gave none to her husband.
On 12th January 1844, exactly a year after his death, the
widow was brought to trial at Edinburgh. The medical
evidence as to the cause of death was incontrovertible ; the
analytical tests, conducted separately by Drs. M'Kinlay
and Christison, established the presence of arsenic in the
stomach, liver, and intestines. The defence maintained
that John Gilmour had poisoned himself either acci-
dentally or voluntarily, but neither proposition received
much support from the evidence. The unanimous opinion
of the four Crown doctors that arsenic had been given in
repeated doses, disposed of the question of suicide. As to
the theory of accident, it appeared that long before his
marriage Gilmour once poisoned some rats with arsenic,
which he got from a neighbouring farmer ; but there was
no proof that any of the poison remained in his possession.
The defence called no witnesses; and after a damning
speech by the Lord Advocate and a sentimental address
from the other side, the Lord Justice-Clerk (Hope) charged
strono-ly in favour of an acquittal, and the jury followed
the judicial lead. So Christina returned to her native
parish, where, though she did not after all get Anderson,
she lived to a ripe and venerable age. A certain clergyman
told me once that as a boy he often saw her in church — a
charming old lady, serene and beautiful, famed throughout
the district for her singular piety.

The curious unwillingness of juries to convict a woman
upon a charge of poisoning on evidence merely circumstantial
however cogent, is, as we have seen and shall continue to
find, a marked feature of such cases. A flagrant example is
that of Janet Campbell or M'Lellan, tried at Edinburgh in
November 1846 for the murder of her husband, James
M'Lellan, a weaver at Dunning, Perthshire, nearly thirty
years his wife's senior.(a) She had an intrigue with a
lodf^er, resulting in the birth of twins, and the domestic

(o) Arkley's Justiciary Reports, p. 137.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 91

atmosphere was in consequence perturbed. The goodman
made a practice at family prayers of referring pointedly to
her transgression, which, instead of comforting the fair
penitent, so exasperated her that on one occasion she pur-
sued the suppliant with an axe. On 3rd July, M'Lellan,
a hale man for his years, was taken ill, with symptoms
indicating arsenic, after breakfast prepared by his wife.
Next day, feeling "a good deal settleder," he was able
to rise, but after breakfast the symptoms recurred in
aggravated form. His wife was strangely annoyed when
he was sick in a vessel containino- " the sow's meat."

Advised to invoke medical aid, she refused to do so — " he
[her husband] was not so ready sending for skill to her
when she needed it"; but M'Lellan insisted on seeing a
doctor, as he believed he had been poisoned. Dr. Young,
when he came, formed the like opinion, which was confirmed
on his detecting arsenic in the vomited matter. The patient
died that night, and his widow was arrested. In her
declaration the prisoner denied that she ever had in her
possession, or attempted to procure, poison. At the trial,
it was proved that she applied personally to Dr. Young for
arsenic " to poison rats," which, owing to the notoriously
strained relations of the spouses, the physician declined to
give her ; that she then sent a girl, Davidson, to buy arsenic
from Dr. Martin, but without success ; and that on two
occasions within a week of the death she obtained from
a chemist by another girl, Aitken, twopence worth of that
poison. She explained the second purchase to Aitken by
saying that a mason who lodged with her " had tramped
upon the saucer in which the former quantity had been
placed," which the mason at the trial swore was false. No
trace of poison could be found in her house, nor was there
any evidence of how she had disposed of it. Dr. Thomson
of Perth and Professor Christison found arsenic " to a con-
siderable extent" in the stomach, liver and lungs of the
deceased, and were confident that it caused his death. For
the defence, Dr. Martin's assistant said that, when the twins

92 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

were born, M'Lellan asked him for "'poison to kill rats,"
which he refused to supply ; and an old flame of M'Lellan's
stated that once upon a time she had rejected his suit,
whereupon he threatened suicide. But as this incident took
place thirty years before, it seemed improbable that the
effects would be so far-reaching. The Lord Justice-Clerk
told the jury that looking to the whole circumstances of
the case, it was impossible to suppose the deceased had
poisoned himself; yet that enlightened tribunal returned a
verdict of Not Guilty ! One wonders what amount of proof
ivould have sufficed for those disciples of Didymus.

A case tried at Glasgow in January 1850 is an inter-
esting exception to the general rule I have mentioned.
The scene was the village of Strathaven in Lanarkshire :
the characters, Margaret Lennox or Hamilton, a young
married woman, and her sister-in-law. (a) Jean Hamilton,
lately in service with the Rev. Mr. Campbell, an Edinburgh
minister, had been seduced by that divinC; who paid her
£26 as aliment for her expected child. It is gratifying to
know that he was in consequence deposed. The girl re-
turned to her mother's house, where in due course she
gave birth to a child. She was attended by Margaret, but
instead of making a good recovery, she was attacked by
frequent sickness. On 7th July Margaret obtained from
a doctor for the invalid a calomel powder, upon taking
which Jean became violently sick. Margaret undertook to
bring the doctor to see her, but failed to do so, and next day
the girl died. A post-mortem was held, and on subsequent
analyses by Professors Penny and Crawford, twenty grains
of arsenic were found in the stomach. Shortly before the
death Margaret obtained from an apothecary's wife arsenic "to
kill rats," but in her declaration she altered the objective to
buo-s. The clerical endowment had been placed upon deposit
receipt in Jean's name wdth the local bank. Lord Cockburn,
who tried the case, gives the following account of it :

(a) Edinburgh Evening Courant, 12th January 1850.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 93

The poisoner had first stolen the bank deposit receipt, and finding
that she could not get the money without the owner's signature, she
forged it, and then, having committed these two offences, she murdered
the victim in order to hide them. She was tried for the whole three
crimes. The forgery and the administration of arsenic were very clearly
proved. But there was a doubt about the theft, and therefore the jury
found it not proved. Yet upon this fact a majority of them grounded by
far the most nonsensical recommendation to mercy that any jury known
to me ever made themselves ludicrous by. They first recommended
without stating any reason, and on being asked what their reason was,
they retired, and after consultation returned with these written words,
viz. : that they gave the recommendation " in consequence of the first
charge of theft not having been proved, which they believe in a great
measure led to the commission of the subsequent crime"! Grammatic-
ally, this means that it was their acquittal of the theft that did the
mischief, but what they meant was, that the murder was caused by a
theft not proved to have existed. It is the most Hibernian recom-
mendation I have ever seen. Though backed by the whole force of
the very active party opposed to capital punishment, it failed, and the
poor wretch' died. (a)

In July of the same year there was tried at Edinburgh
a case which, in its hideous blend of hypocrisy and cruelty,
anticipates and rivals that of Dr. Pritchard.(6) William
Bennison, an Irishman, when a lad of twenty, married
Mary Mullen at Armagh in 1838. He deserted her in the
following year, and at Paisley bigamously married Jane
Hamilton. A few weeks afterwards he returned to Ireland
and brought his first wife to Airdrie, where she fell sick
and died, probably by poison. He then rejoined his other
spouse, to whom he presented the wardrobe of her pre-
decessor as the clothes of " his deceased sister Mary."
Later, the second Mrs. Bennison learned that her sister-
in-law was alive and well ; but her husband explained that
the deceased of whom he had spoken was " only his sister
in the Lord." Thereafter the couple removed to Edin-
burgh, where they occupied a flat in Stead's Place, Leith
Walk. An enthusiastic Methodist, Bennison received from

(a) Circuit Journe.ys^ pp. 3()2, 363.

(6) Shaw's Justiciary lleports, p. 453 ; .1 Full RepoH of the Trial of JViUiam
Bennison. Leitli, 1850,

94 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

his pastor at the trial a glowing character. He took
the keenest interest in the spiritual welfare of the flock,
never missed a meeting, was an eager proselytizer, visited
the sick, and possessed a notable gift of fluency in prayer.
His character was akin to those " holy Luthers of the
preaching North " of whom we read in Synge's Playboy of
the Western World. The favourite convert of this modern
Major Weir was a girl named Robertson, the sharer of
his pew in chapel and the consoler of his leisure hours.
"Their conversation," says Miss Robertson, "was always
of religion." Mrs. Bennison, thousfh not a strono- woman,
enjoyed fair health ; her sister, Ellen Glass, w^as surprised
to hear from Bennison on Sunday, 14th April, that his
wife had been seized with illness and that the doctor
despaired of her life. She hastened to the house and
found her sister, whom she had seen shortly before in
her usual health, violently sick and in great pain. She
remained with the suff"erer, as, in her own expressive
phrase, " she saw that death was on' her." As a matter
of fact no doctor had seen the patient, and when it was
suggested to send for one, Bennison said, " It's of no use ;
she is going home to glory." Mrs. Bennison told her sister
she was taken ill after eating porridge. She died that
night. During her last hours her husband, who had asked
for the prayers of the congregation, busied himself in pre-
paring " the dead clothes " and writing funeral letters, so
that when all was over the final arrangements were well
in hand. Advised of his loss — he had never entered the
sickroom — he piously remarked, "Thank God! She has
gone to glory." The burial took place forthwith, Bennison
drawing £11 from divers benefit societies of which he was
a member. He informed his tailor, from whom before the
death he had bespoken mournings, that he had never seen
a "pleasanter" deathbed. Now it happened that, when his
wife lay dying, Bennison put out some cooked potatoes,
which were devoured by two of the neighbours' dogs ;
these presently died in agony, the fact aroused suspicion.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 95

and a rumour spread that Mrs. Bennison had been
poisoned. The widower was much distressed. He called
upon a druggist named M'Donald, and referred to a recent
purchase by him from M'Donald's wife of half an ounce of
arsenic "for rats in the cellar," on which he feared the
authorities might put a false construction. He hoped
M'Donald would say nothing about it : "As 1 got it from
your wife, you can easily say I did not get it from you."
This casuistry not commending itself to the chemist,
Bennison said that God had carried him through many
difficulties, and would doubtless see him through this one.
He was, as will appear, mistaken. Next day the body
was exhumed in presence of the bereaved husband, who
identified it as that of his " dear Jane." He was subse-
quently arrested on the charges of bigamy and murder.
At his trial Dr. (afterwards Sir Douglas) Maclagan stated
that he found arsenic in the stomach and liver of the
deceased. He also detected its presence in a vessel into
which she had vomited, and in a piece of paper recovered
from the grate ; but he failed to find any in the bodies of
the dogs. From the symptoms, morbid appearances, and
results by analysis, he had no hesitation in attributing the
death to arsenic. Drs. Spittal and Anderson corroborated.
The jury unanimously found the prisoner guilty, and he
was sentenced to death. On leaving the dock he made a
canting speech, in which he declared his innocence before
God and forgave the sins of the Crown witnesses.
Bennison in the end confessed his crime — he had put
arsenic in the porridge — and was duly executed. Seldom
has a fouler scoundrel graced the gallows. His case is
the subject of an instructive article in the Edinburgh
Courant,{a) dealing with the strange atiinity between
religious enthusiasm and crime.

Apart from those criminals who by the incompetence or
pig-headedness of juries escape the grasp of justice, there is

(a) 29tli July 1850.

96 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

a smaller class who owe their immunity from punishment
to some loophole in the law itself. Of such technical
acquittals three examples may here be noted. At Glasgow
in May 1843 Mary M'Farlane or Taylor was charged with
a double murder. (a) When the diet was called, ol)jection
was taken to the citation of the pannel in respect of an
error in date, and the case was certified to the High Court.
This certification was fallen from, and no further proceedings
were taken. Similar results followed in nineteen other
cases at the same circuit. Lord Cockburn, who presided,
observes :

There was also the case of a woman accused of murdering her husband,
but it was one of the twenty, and did not come on. It will be a famous
case in its day, however. She first committed the capital offence of giving
her husband a dose of arsenic, which very nearly killed him, but he
survived it. Thinking, truly, that it was her unskilfulness in administer-
ing that made this dose fail, she resolved to improve herself by a little
practice, and then to renew the attempt. She therefore experimented
upon a neighbour, whom she killed ; and having now ascertained how to
proceed, she gave another dose to her spouse, and killed him too. She
was indicted for the two murders and the abortive administration, an
awkward accumulation of charges. It being in her case that the motion
to put off all the trials was made, she was brought to the bar ; and, whether
it was fancy or not, struck me as having a very singular expression. She
was little, apparently middle-aged, modest and gentle looking, with firm-
set lips, a pale countenance, and suspicious restless eyes.(i)

This scandalous miscarriage of justice led to an amend-
ment in the practice of citing parties at circuit ayres. The
second instance is the case of Janet Hope or Walker at
Edinburgh in July 1845.(c) This woman, wife of the land-
lord of the Blue Bell Inn, Lockerbie, was charged with
poisoning by arsenic George Tedcastle, her son by a former
husband. While incarcerated in Dumfries jail the prisoner
confessed her guilt to the keeper, who had constituted
himself her spiritual adviser. At the trial, a question as
to what she said to him being disallowed, the prosecutor

(a) Broun's Justiciary Reports, i. 550. (h) Circuit Journeits, \\ 190.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 97

abandoned the charge, and a verdict of not guilty was
returned. The third and most deplorable example occurred
at Inverness in April 1852, where Sarah Anderson or Eraser
and James Fraser, her son, were convicted of poisoning
William Fraser, Inver, Easter Ross, husband of one, and
father of the other pannel.(a) Fraser was sixty years of
ao-e, his wife forty, and their son seventeen. Purchases of
arsenic by Mrs. Fraser at Tain were proved, following upon
which the husband became suddenly ill. Before his death
she was heard to say that if she were a widow, there would
be none happier in Ross-shire. No doctor was sent for,
and the man died with all the usual symptoms. Forty-five
letters written by mother and son to each other were
recovered ; and on his judicial examination the son was
asked to explain certain passages : — " Hasten the day when
you will be a widow" ; " I pray to heaven I will soon have
it in my power to release you from the tyrant" ; " I wish
the world were rid of such a monster " ; " Many others
have wished my father's death as well as I " ; "If you have
any spunk you will not be long in your present condition,"
etc. He declared that his father was unkind to his mother
— of which, by the way, there was no evidence — and what
he meant was, that he hoped soon to be in a position to
support her. The mother declared that all the arsenic was
consumed by rats. On their trial their guilt was clearly
proved, and the jury found accordingly ; but sentence was
delayed, owing to an objection taken for the defence to the
admission of certain evidence. In the list of productions
a packet of powder, sent to Dr. Maclagan for analysis,
which he found to be arsenic, was described as a " sealed
packet," whereas, though the seals were intact, the wrapper
had been cut by him in order that he might examine the
contents. The point was certified for the consideration of
the High Court. On 1st June, before that tribunal, it was

(a) Irvine's Justiciaiy Reports, i. 1,66; OouraiU ; Scotsman; 17th April
1852.

98 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

further objected that no precise day had been fixed for the
diet being called, so the diet was held to have fallen, and
the warrant against the prisoners was discharged. On 12th
July an attempt by the Crown to proceed against them
upon a new indictment failed, the Court holding that,
havino- tholed an assize, they could not again be tried for
the same ofi'ence. Thus, thanks to these red-tape entangle-
ments, two convicted murderers were restored to society.
Lord Cockburn, who presided at their trial, has given his
impressions of the case :

The only interesting case was that of Mrs. and Mr. Fraser, a mother
and her son (a lad), who had chosen to poison their father, a shopkeeper
in Eoss-shire. They thought him a useless creature, and that they would
be better without him, especially as the wife had forged his name to bills,
in reference to which his removal before they became due would be con-
venient. I never saw a couple of less amiable devils. The mother,
especially, had a cold hard eye, and a pair of thin resolute lips, producing
an expression very fit for a remorseless and steady murderess. She saw
her daughter, a little girl, brought in as a witness, and heard her swear
that there were no rats in the house and that her father's sufferings were
very severe, with a look of calm ferocity which would have done no dis-
credit to the worst woman in hell. They were both convicted, but I fear
the gallows won't get its due . . . which will be a pity.(a)

We have seen that his Lordship's fear was justified.

As it too rarely happens that we have the advantage of
a judge's private opinion upon cases tried before him, I shall
give one other instance from Lord Cockburn's reminiscences :
that of Elliott Millar at Jedburgh in September 1847.(6)

The only curious case on this Circuit was that of a worthy husband
who wanted to get his spouse killed ; but instead of resorting to common-
place violence by himself, he tried to make the law do it. For this
purpose he fell upon the device of making it appear that she had poisoned
him ; for which she was committed for trial and was very near being tried.
But suspicion being excited, it was discovered that his whole statements
on precognition were false, and all his dexterous imitations of being
poisoned, utter fabrications. The result was that he was brought to trial
himself for fraud, and was transported for seven years.(c)

{a) Circuit Journeys, p. 377. (6) Arkley's Justiciary Reports, p. 355.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 99

It appears that this ingenious rascal complained of
illness after breakfast ; took an emetic, saying his wife had
poisoned him ; and preserved for examination the coffee and
vomited matter. These on analysis were found to contain
sugar of lead, which, as he subsequently confessed, he had
himself introduced from a supply obtained by his wife with
a view to suicide, in attempting which she was unsuccessful I

Confronted with the task of tackling in a single para-
graph the complexities of our greatest cause celehre, I envy
the skill of those caligraphists who within the compass of a
threepenny piece can depict our most familiar prayer. But
though it is impossible in such conditions to appreciate
Madeleine Smith's achievement, no paper on Scots poisoning
would be complete without her. (a) The daughter of an
architect of position in Glasgow, Madeleine at nineteen was
a dashing damsel, accomplished and attractive, an ornament
of middle-class society in that city. Her charms caught
the roving eye of a young Frenchman, L'Angelier, clerk in
a commercial house, and he contrived through a common
friend an introduction to her in the street. This ill-omened
meeting occurred in 1855. Socially, of course, L'Angelier
was impossible ; but he was a good-looking little " bounder,"
and the girl fell in love with him. They corresponded
constantly, with that amazing mid-Victorian voluminosity
which, happily, is a lost art, and met as often as circum-
stances permitted. No one in Madeleine's set knew of their
intimacy ; but a romantic spinster friend of L'Angelier, Miss
Perry, acted as go-between, and one of the Smith's maids
connived at their clandestine meetings. In the spring of
1856 the flirtation developed into an intrigue, the changed
relations of the lovers being reflected in the tropical and
abandoned tone of the fair correspondent. They addressed
one another as "husband" and "wife," and there can be
little doubt that in the belief of L'Angelier, as well as by

(a) Irvine's .Justiciary Reports, ii. 641 ; Trial of Madeleine Smith, edited by
A. Duncau Smith, 1905.

100 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

the law of Scotland, tliey actually were married. An
elopement was anticipated, but the gallant's official salary
amounted only to ten shillings a week and the lady was
quite dependent on her parents, so the prospect was none
of the brightest. In November 1856 the Smiths occupied
a main-door corner house, No. 7 Blythswood Square. The
stanchioned w^indows of Madeleine's bedroom in the base-
ment opened directly upon, and were partly below the level
of, the pavement of the side street ; it was the lovers'
custom to converse at these, the sunk part formed a con-
venient letter-box, and when the coast was clear she could
take him into the house. In the flat above lived a gentle-
man named Minnoch, who began to pay his charming
neighbour marked attentions. Whether or not the copious-
ness of her draughts of passion had induced satiety, Made-
leine v/as quick to realise that her position as the wife of a
prosperous Glasgow merchant would be very different from
her future with the little French clerk, so she gave her
responsible wooer every encouragement. On 28 th January
1857, with the approbation of her parents, she accepted his
hand. Meantime her correspondence with L'Angelier was
maintained at the accustomed temperature, till, early in
February, she made an efl"ort to break the " engagement,"
and demanded the return of her letters. Rumours of Mr.
Minnoch's attentions had reached L'Angelier ; he suspected
what was afoot, taxed her with perfidy, and refused to give
up the letters to anyone but her father. The mere sugges-
tion drove Madeleine well-nigh crazy : the letters were
indeed such as no parent ever read and few daughters could
have written ; she poured forth frantic appeals for mercy
and solemnly denied that she had broken faith ; she
besought him to come to her and she would explain every-
thing. L'Angelier stood firm ; he has been called black-
guard and blackmailer ; as I read the facts, it was neither
revenge nor money that he wanted, but his wife. " I will
never give them up," he told his friend Kennedy, " she shall
never marry another man so long as I live " ; adding with

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 101

prophetic significance, "Tom, she'll be the death of me."
A reconciliation was effected on 12 th February, the corre-
spondence was resumed on the old footing, and L'Angelier
became again "her love, her pet, her sweet Emile." He
told Miss Perry he was to see Madeleine on the 19th. That
night he left his lodgings, taking the pass-key as he intended
to be late ; next morning his landlady found him writhing
in agony on his bedroom floor, with all the symptoms of
irritant poisoning. Whether the lovers had met or not is
disputed, but in his diary, production of which at the trial
was disallowed, L'Angelier wrote: " Thurs. 19. Saw Mimi
a few moments — was very ill during the night." He
recovered, but was never the same man afterwards. At
4 A.M. on Monday, 23rd, L'Angelier rang for his landlady,
who found him suffering from another similar attack. The
diary records : " Sun. 22. Saw Mimi in drawing-room —
Promised me French Bible — Taken very ill." This meeting
is otherwise established under Madeleine's own hand : " You
did look bad on Sunday night and Monday morning. 1
think you get sick with walking home so late and the long
want of food, so the next time we meet I shall make you
eat a loaf of bread before you go out." L'Angelier said to
Miss Perry, " I can't think why I was so unwell after
getting coff'ee and chocolate from her [Madeleine]," referring
to two different occasions ; "If she were to poison me I
would forgive her." He also told his friend Towers that
he thought he had been poisoned twice, after taking coffee
and cocoa. Now, prior to the first illness, Madeleine made
an abortive attempt to procure prussic acid — "for her
hands " — but no arsenic could then be traced to her posses-
sion. The day before the second attack she bought from
Murdoch, a druggist, one ounce of arsenic " to send to the
gardener at the country house " — Mr. Smith's summer villa
at Row, on the Gareloch. On 5th March L'Angelier, whose
jealousy had reawakened, wrote insisting on knowing the
truth about Mr. Minnoch ; that day Madeleine purchased
from Currie, another druggist, a second ounce of arsenic

102 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAHD

"to kill rats in Blythswood Square," and on the 6th she
went with her family for ten days to Bridge of Allan.
Mr. Minnoch was of the party, and the wedding was fixed
for June. L'Angelier, on sick leave, had gone to Edinburgh,
impatiently awaiting Madeleine's return, when everything
was to be explained; on the 19th he followed her to Bridge
of Allan. But Madeleine had come back on the 17th, and
next day she obtained from Currie a third ounce of arsenic
— "the first was so effectual." On the evening of Sunday,
22nd, L'Angelier returned to his lodgings : a letter for-
warded to him from Glaso-ow had brous^ht him home in hot
haste ; he looked well and happy, and after a hasty meal
hurried away, saying he might be out late. At 2.30 a.m.
his landlady, aroused by the pealing of the door bell, found
him doubled up with agony upon the threshold. He was
put to bed and a doctor sent for, who formed a hopeful
prognosis; " I am far worse than the doctor thinks," cried
the patient. He said nothing as to the cause of his illness,
but asked to see Miss Perry ; when that lady arrived
L'Angelier's lips were sealed for ever. In his pocket was
found the last letter of a remarkable series :

Why my beloved did you not come to me. Oh beloved are you ill.
Come to me sweet one. I waited and waited for you but you came not.
I shall wait again to-morrow night same hour and arrangement. Do come
sweet love my own dear love of a sweetheart. Come beloved and clasp
me to your heart. Come and we shall be happy. A kiss fond love.
Adieu with tender embraces ever believe me to be your own ever dear
fond MiMi.

The postmark was Glasgow, 21st March. L'Angelier's
half of the fatal correspondence was discovered, Madeleine
fled to Row and was brought back by her fiance ; an
examination of the body pointed to poison, and she was
apprehended. In her declaration she said that she had
not seen L'Angelier for three weeks ; the appointment was
for Saturday, 21st, he came neither that night nor the
next ; her purpose in making it was to tell him of her
eno-ao-ement. As to the arsenic, she used it all as a

o o

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 103

cosmetic, on the advice of a school-friend. She admitted
giving cocoa to L'Angelier once at her window. Of the
nine days' wonder of her trial at Edinburgh in July 1
have small space left to speak. No less than 88 grains
of arsenic were found in the body, and the defence made
much of the fact that this was the greatest quantity ever
detected, arguing that so large a dose indicated suicide
rather than murder. The unsoundness of this contention
is proved by two subsequent English cases, (a) where 150
and 154 grains respectively were recovered. As regards
the first two charges — of administration — the Crown was
handicapped by the exclusion of L'Angelier's diary, and
in the murder charge, by inability to prove the actual
meeting of the parties on the Sunday night. There was
proof that L'Angelier had talked once or twice in a
vapouring way of suicide, but none that he ever had
arsenic in his possession. The prisoner's account of her
object in acquiring arsenic was contradicted by her old
school-fellow, and the fact that what she obtained was,
in terms of the Statute,(6) mixed with soot and indigo,
rendered it strangely uninviting for toilet purposes. On
the other hand, the doctors noticed no colouring matter
in the body, but to this point their attention was not then
directed. On the question of motive, it was maintained
that the prisoner had nothing to gain by L'Angelier's death
if her letters remained in his possession. These, however,
having neither address nor any signature except "Mimi,"
afforded little clue to the writer's identity. But surely it
was his silence that was for her the supreme object : how
could that be ensured save by his death ? Lord Advocate
Moncreiff's masterly address, strong, restrained, convincing,
was then, as now, unduly eclipsed by the brilliant emotional
speech of John Inglis for the defence, held to be the finest
ever delivered in a Scots court. The one appealed to the
head, the other to the heart; each pledged his personal

(a) B. V. Dodds, 1860, and E. v. Hemtt, 1863.

(b) 14 Vict. c. 13, s. 3.

104 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

belief in the rightness of his cause. Lord Justice-Clerk
Hope's charge favoured an acquittal ; the jury found the
pannel not guilty of the first charge, the other two not
proven. In the popular verdict, " If she did not poison
him, she ought to have done it," I am unable to concur.
The amazing self-command with which the prisoner faced
her ordeal, no less than her youth and beauty, inspired
the pens of contemporary scribes. During the trial she
received many proposals, lay and clerical ; her fiance was
not an offerer. A surgeon named Tudor Hora was pre-
ferred, with whom she emigrated to Australia. Returning
to England after his death, she was married on 4th July
1861 at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, to Mr. George Wardle,
an artist. She is said to have died in Melbourne in
1893.(a)

There is in the trial at Glasgow in December 1857 of
John Thomson alias Peter Walker, known as the Eagles-
ham case — the first in Scotland for murder by hydrocyanic
or prussic acid — a curious echo of that which we have just
considered. (6) Thomson was employed as a journeyman
tailor in the village of Eaglesham, near Glasgow. A girl
named Montgomery had rejected his addresses and he
vowed revenge. Thomson was much interested in the
newspaper reports of Madeleine Smith's trial, discussed
the relative drawbacks attending the use of arsenic and
of prussic acid, and expressed his strong opinion that
she should have been hanged. Having obtained by the
carrier's boy from a Glasgow chemist 2 drachms of
Scheele's prussic acid, for use as a " hair dye," Thomson
on 13th September administered it to Montgomery in
beer, leavinsj the girl locked in her room. She was found
in a dying condition, and her death certified as due to
apoplexy. On the 23rd, after ordering a second supply,
he left his situation for Glasgow, where he attempted

(a) Notes and Queries, ii. S. iv. 311.

(6) Irvine's Justiciary Reports, ii. 747 ; Report of the Trial of John Thomson
alias Peter Walker Edinburgh, 1858 ; " Poison and Plagiary," infra, pp. 121-142.

LOCUSTA TN SCOTLAND 105

gratuitously to poison in whisky Mr. and Mrs. Mason, with
whom he lodged. Suspicion was aroused, Montgomery's
body was exhumed and examined, and Drs. IM'Kmlay
and Maclagan detected prussic acid in the stomach and
spleen. Convicted on circumstantial evidence, Thomson
was executed, confessing his guilt.

Glasgow contributes further to our subject the case of
Dr. Pritchard, tried at Edinburgh in July 1865 for the
poisoning of his wife by repeated doses of antimony, and of
his mother-in-law by antimony and aconite. (a) " When
a doctor does go wrong," Mr. Sherlock Holmes once
remarked to his egregious colleague, " he is the first of
criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer
and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession."
A hypocritical charlatan with a German diploma, hand-
some, plausible, and unscrupulous, Pritchard, after a varie-
gated career, came to Glasgow in 1860. Though disliked
and distrusted by his medical brethren he acquired a con-
siderable practice; but his reputation suffered by his
"treatment" of certain lady patients, and a fire in his
house in Berkeley Terrace, involving the mysterious death
of a servant girl, followed by a fraudulent claim on an
insurance company, hardly enhanced his fame. An adept
at self-advertisement, he was an enthusiastic Mason and a
popular lecturer on his experiences of foreign travel, which,
as he was unhampered by the laws of truth, were rich in
surprising detail. His family worshipped him ; his wife,
to whom he was flagrantly unfaithful, was ready to accept
anything— even poison — at his hands, while of his mother-
in-law he is said to have been the idol In 1864 we find
Pritchard established at No. 131 (now 249) Sauchiehall
Street, the household consisting of himself, his wife and
children, a cook and a nurse- housemaid. The latter, Mary
M'I.eod, a girl of 16, had been the year before seduced by
him and the subject of an illegal operation at his hands.

(a) Irvine's Justiciary Reports, v. 88 ; Trial «/" Jh. Pritchard, edited by-
William Rougheai), 1906.

106 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

Mrs. Pritchard was aware of the intimacy. Two medical
students boarded in the house. Mrs. Pritchard's illness
began in October with persistent sickness. In November
she went to see her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, at No. 1
Lauder Road, Edinburgh, where she stayed till Christmas.
During the visit she was greatly better, but on her return
home the sickness recommenced, occurring after food.
Pritchard ascribed her illness to gastric fever, and Dr.
Cowan of Edinburgh, her cousin, saw her ; he did not con-
sider her seriously ill. On 1st February 1865 she had a
violent attack of cramp ; Dr. (afterwards Sir William)
Gairdner was sent for. The case puzzled him — there were
no symptoms of fever, he thought she was intoxicated ; so
he wrote to the lady's brother. Dr. Michael Taylor, Penrith,
recommending her removal to his care ; but Pritchard
said she was not w^ell enough to travel. Meanwhile Dr.
Cowan had told Mrs. Taylor that she ought to go to
Glasgow to look after her daughter, and on the 10th the
old lady arrived from Edinburgh. She was a hale woman of
seventy, but in the habit of taking for neuralgic headaches
Battley's Sedative Solution, a preparation of opium. On
the 13th some tapioca prepared for the invalid was eaten
by Mrs. Taylor, who immediately became sick, remarking
that she must have got the same complaint as her daughter,
upon whom she was in constant attendance. On the
evening of the 24th Mrs. Taylor had tea with the family,
wrote some letters in the consulting-room, and walked
upstairs to her daughter's room, telling the maid to order
sausages for supper. A few minutes later she was seized
with illness, and rapidly became unconscious. Dr. Paterson
was summoned, to w^hom Pritchard falsely stated that the
old lady, while writing letters, had fallen off her chair in a
fit and was carried upstairs, adding that she was given to
liquor. Dr. Paterson examined her ; she was dying, said
he, under the influence of some strong narcotic, and
Pritchard explained that she was in the habit of taking
opium. Dr. Paterson was much struck by the ghastly

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 107

appearance of Mrs. Pritchard, sitting up in bed behind her
dying mother. He formed the opinion that she was being
poisoned with antimony, but " professional etiquette " pre-
vented him interfering, and he left the house. Mrs. Taylor
died that night. In her pocket was found the bottle of
Battley, of which Pritchard took possession, saying it
would never do for a man in his position to have it talked
about. After the death, he met Dr. Paterson in the street
and asked him to call on Mrs. Pritchard, which that
gentleman did, confirming his impression that she was the
victim of foul play. When Pritchard sent to him for Mrs.
Taylor's death certificate Dr. Paterson refused to grant it,
and wrote to the Registrar that the death was " sudden,
unexpected, and to him mysterious " ; this he thought
should open the eyes of the authorities, but the Registrar
destroyed tlie letter and did nothing further. So Mrs.
Taylor was buried by her disconsolate son-in-law in the
Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh. Mrs Pritchard's lingering
illness continued, " one day better and two days worse,"
despite the unremitting care of her loving husband and
physician. On 13th March he sent by M'Leod to the
patient a piece of cheese, which she asked the girl to taste.
Mary did so, and experienced a burning sensation and
thirst. The cook, afterwards eating it, became violently
sick and had to go to bed. On the 15th Pritchard
ordered her to make egg-fiip for the invalid. He carried
two lumps of sugar from the dining-room into his
consulting-room, and from thence to the pantry, where
he dropped them into the fiip. Mrs. Pritchard took a
little and was sick ; the cook drank the rest and suffered
all night from pain and vomiting. On the 17th Mrs.
Pritchard had a severe attack of cramp and became
delirious. Dr. Paterson was sent for, and advised a
sleeping-draught ; as Pritchard said he kept no drugs in
the house. Dr. Paterson wrote a prescription and departed.
That night Mrs. Pritchard died in her husband's arms,
Mary M'Leod lying on a sofa at the foot of the bed.

108 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

Pritchard took his wife's body to her father's house in
Edinburgh, where at his request the coffin was opened in
presence of the relatives, that he might kiss his "dearest
Mary Jane " for the last time. Not Webster nor Tourneur,
those masters of the horrific, ever conceived a scene so
cynically atrocious. Meanwhile someone had written to
the Procurator-Fiscal, calling his attention to these strange
deaths ; when Pritchard was in Edinburgh his house was
searched and the inmates examined, and on his return he
was arrested at Queen Street Station for the murder of his
wife. On the discovery of antimony in Mrs. Pritchard's
body that of Mrs. Taylor was exhumed, and the presence
of the same poison being also in her case ascertained,
Pritchard was further charged with her murder. The trial
took place on 3rd July before the High Court ; John
Inglis, who had so successfully defended Madeleine Smith,
presided as Justice-Clerk ; the Solicitor-General (Young)
prosecuted, and Mr. Rutherfurd Clark conducted the de-
fence. The medical evidence as to the cause of death was
in both cases conclusive. Pritchard had certified that of
Mrs. Taylor as "Paralysis, 12 hours; Apoplexy, 1 hour,"
and that of his wife as " Gastric Fever, 2 months." Mrs.
Pritchard's symptoms, as observed by Drs. Cowan, Gairdner
and Paterson, directly negatived the truth of this, while
other witnesses proved that Mrs. Taylor was quite well
until her sudden seizure. There was no sign of apoplexy.
The medical and chemical examinations made by Drs.
Maclagan, Littlejohn, and Penny established the fact that
both bodies contained antimony — that of Mrs. Pritchard
being saturated with the poison. Antimony and aconite
were found in the bottle of Battley, but no aconite could
be detected in Mrs. Taylor's body. The unused tapioca
was largely mixed with antimony. As regards possession
of poison by the prisoner, despite his statement to Dr.
Paterson he was proved to have been from September 1864
to 16th March 1865 a constant purchaser of deadly drugs:
strychnia, conium, laudanum, morphia, tartarised antimony,

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 109

Fleming's tincture of aconite, atropine, etc. ; the quantities
of antimony and aconite alone being largely in excess of
those supplied to other medical men and much greater than
could have been required in any ordinary practice. The
opportunities for administration were obvious, but the
cheese and the egg-flip were the only poisoned articles
traced to Pritchard's hand. The Crown case, in other
respects impregnable, was weakest upon the question of
motive. Pritchard had promised to marry M'Leod if his
wife died, and under Mrs. Taylor's settlement he received
a life-interest in a few hundred pounds. That he would in
any circumstances have married the servant-girl he had
long before seduced is incredible ; and though his bank
account was overdrawn, Mrs. Taylor would have lent him
money, as she had previously done. It would be, for him,
a sufficient reason for becoming a widower that he was
tired of his wife and saw his way to a more attractive
match ; as for ]\Irs. Taylor, her presence interfered with
his scheme, and we know from his confession that she had
" caught M'Leod and him in the consulting-room " ; pro-
bably she proved less complacent than her daughter on a
similar occasion. An attempt by the defence to throw the
guilt upon M'Leod failed, and Pritchard afterwards declared
her complete innocence. After a five days' trial he was
convicted and sentenced to death. Before his execution —
the last public one in Glasgow — ^he confessed his crimes,
which he attributed to " the use of ardent spirits " ; but
there is no evidence of his intemperance : he was too cold-
blooded and crafty for that. He retained to the last the
cloak of religious hypocrisy which he had worn so long.
" 1 shall meet you in Heaven," said he to the Rev. Dr.
Bonar, whom he had asked to pray with him. "' Sir,"
retorted the divine, " we shall meet at the Judgment Seat."
On 23rd November 1910, in connection with the demolition
of the old South Jail, the courtyard, in which were buried
the bodies of executed criminals, was excavated, and among
the remains exhumed were those of Dr. Pritchard, Oppor-

110 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

tunity was taken to examine the skull, a " note " on which,
with interesting photographs, was published by Mr. Edington
in 19 12. (a)

Eugene Marie Chantrelle, teacher of French and amateur
physician, was a villain of a ruder type than Pritchard. (Z>)
While employed at Newington Academy, Edinburgh, in
1868 he seduced one of his pupils, a girl of fifteen named
Elizabeth Dyer, whom her family, saving her reputation at
the cost of her happiness, compelled him to marry. From
the first Chantrelle systematically ill-treated his wife, several
times she fled from his cruelty to her parents' home, but
for the sake of her children she as often returned to her
tyrant. As his infidelities were frequent and notorious she
could readily have obtained divorce ; there again, however,
she sacrificed herself to her children's welfare. So for ten
years the unhappy woman patiently endured her cross.
Chantrelle's teaching connection suff'ered from his profligate
and drunken habits, engagements grew scarce, he was in
debt and pressed for money, and in October 1877 he insured
his wife's life for £1000 with the Accident Assurance
Association, having previously ascertained from another
office what constituted "accidental" death. This step was
against the lady's wish : she told her mother that she was
afraid of the consequences, for her husband had more than
once threatened to take her life ; he was half a doctor, and
boasted that he could poison her without detection. The
Chantrelles occupied the two upper flats of a common stair,
No. 81a George Street, Edinburgh. On New Year's Day
1878 Madame Chantrelle gave the servant a holiday, re-
mainino; herself at home with the children. On the maid's
return at 10 p.m. Chantrelle told her that his wife, being
unwell, had o;one to bed. She found her mistress in
the back bedroom, " very heavy looking," with the baby
beside her. A tumbler of lemonade stood by the bedside,

(a) Glasgow Medical Journal, February 1912.

(6) Trial of E. M. Chantrelle, edited by A. Duncan Smith, 1906.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 111

and Madame asked her to peel an orange for her, which
was done. Chantrelle slept in the front bedroom with the
tw^o older children. Next morning when the maid rose at
seven she heard moaning from her mistress's room, the door
of which was partly open and the gas unlit— both contrary
to custom. Entering, she saw Madame lying unconscious
in the bed, with stains as of vomiting upon the pillow.
She called her master, who was in his own bed with the
three children. He went with her to the back room and
attempted to rouse his wife ; the maid advised sending for
a doctor. Chantrelle said he heard the baby cryino- and
told her to attend to it ; she left the room, but findino- the
baby still asleep, at once returned, and saw Chantrelle in
the act of coming away from the window. " Don't you
smell gas ? " he asked, and though she did not then do so,
immediately afterwards she noticed a slight smell, so she
turned off the gas at the meter. Dr. Carmichael was
summoned ; when he arrived the room was redolent of was,
and Chantrelle explained that there had been an escape.
The doctor sent for Dr. (afterwards Sir Henry) Littlejohn,
City Medical Officer, " to see a case of coal-gas poisonino-/'
and the patient, in a comatose state, was carried into the
front room. Dr. Littlejohn came ; he thought she was
dying and advised her removal to the Royal Infirmary.
Both doctors, in view of the smell and of Chantrelle's false
statements, believed her to be suffering from gas. At the
Infirmary, Dr. Maclagan, into whose ward she was taken,
diagnosed the case as one not of gas, but of narcotic
poisoning, probably opium, and it was treated accordincrly.
At 4 P.M. the patient died without having reo-ained con-
sciousness. Medical and chemical examinations of the body
negatived the suggestion that death was due to gas poison-
ing, but failed to detect the narcotic poison indicated by
the symptoms. Fortunately for the ends of justice, in
certain stains of vomited matter upon the nightdress and
bedclothes Drs. Maclagan and Littlejohn, as well as Pro-
fessors Crum Brown and Eraser, established by separate

112 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

analyses the presence of opium, apparently in the form of
extract, together with orange pulp. Chantrelle was arrested ;
although his judicial declaration occupied thirteen hours,
the only important point was his statement that he left his
wife in her usual health at 1 a.m. ; for the rest, the por-
tentous document was devoted to gross and baseless slander
of the dead woman. On his trial at Edinburgh in May
1878, for murdering his wife by opium, in orange or
lemonade. Lord Moncreiff presided, the Lord Advocate
(Watson) appeared for the Crown, and Mr. Trayner for the
pannel. The defence maintained that the symptoms and
morbid appearances were consistent with gas poisoning, and
that the stains were not proved to be the result of vomit-
ing ; and indeed, upon the medical evidence alone, the
Crown mif^ht not have been certain of a conviction. But
it was proved that behind the window shutter, from whence,
before there was any smell of gas, Chantrelle had been seen
by the maid to come, was a disused gas pipe, freshly broken
throuo-h by wrenching, which, had it been for any time in
that condition, must have filled the house with gas; and
that while Chantrelle denied that he knew of the pipe being
there, he had in 1876 been present when it was repaired,
and discussed its position with the workman. It was
further proved that on 25th November 1877 Chantrelle
bouo-ht from a local chemist a drachm of extract of opium,
as to the application of which there was no evidence, though
a similar purchase by him in 1872 was found in his reposi-
tories ; also that he had stated to various witnesses that
before o-oing to bed he gave his wife a bit of orange and
some lemonade, and took the baby away as she was feeling
unw^ell. The jury unanimously found him guilty, and the
prisoner, in a rambling statement from the dock, demolished
the whole fabric of the defence by arguing that his wife
had taken opium voluntarily, and that someone had rubbed
the poison on her linen in order to incriminate him. He
was condemned to death, and notwithstanding strong efforts
made to obtain a reprieve, sentence was duly carried out,

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 113

the convict refusing to confess his guilt. Had Chantrelle
been content simply to turn on the gas that night in his
wife's room it is probable that, so far as her case is concerned,
he might have "cheated the woodie"; but it was under-
stood at the time that in the event of an acquittal the Crown
was prepared to indict him upon another capital charge.

After M. Chantrelle's enforced retirement from practice
the art of poisoning in Scotland sensibly declined. Since
his suspension no other artist of the same school has been,
if I may pursue the metaphor, hung on the line ; the
present generation furnishes but few performers, whose
work, in quantity inconsiderable, lacks the boldness of
design and finish of execution which distinguish that of
the older masters.

An unsatisfactory case was that of John Webster,
landlord of Newton Hotel, Kirriemuir, tried at Edinburgh
in February 1891, for the murder of his wife by arsenic.(a)
In the beo-innino; of Auo;ust Mrs. Webster had been
suddenly attacked with vomiting and persistent thirst, and
died after three days' illness, attended by her husband. A
doctor, called in, thought her suffering from gastritis, and
certified accordingly. Four months after interment the
body was exhumed ; it was unusually well preserved, there
were no signs of natural death, and on analysis arsenic was
found in all the organs examined. At the trial expert
evidence to that effect was given by Dr. Littlejohn, Mr.
Falconer King, and Professor Crum Brown ; death was due
to arsenic, administered in repeated doses. An error in
the chemical report as to the amount probably contained
in the body was corrected by the medical witnesses from
subsequent experiments. When the diet was first called
the Lord Advocate asked for a postponement, owing to
the disappearance of his principal witness, James Peacock,
barman at the hotel. Before the second trial Peacock was
discovered drowned in a reservoir, so his testimony was lost

(a) Scotsman, 18th, 19th, and 20t]i February, 1891.

114 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

to the Crown. It was proved that the couple had been on
bad terms, and that Webster had insured his wife's life
for £1000. The bed linen used by the deceased had been
partially washed before being sent to the laundry. No
arsenic could be traced to the prisoner's possession, nor
any attempt on his part to procure it. The defence con-
tended that the presence of arsenic in Mrs. Webster's body
was due to her having taken Fowler's Solution ; she had
consulted in June an unknown medical man, who gave
her medicine which "might have been Fowler" — a likely
prescription for the ailment she admittedly had ; but, on
the other hand, it was not proved that she ever took any,
and none was found in the house. Taylor, by the way,
states that there is only one recorded case (1848) in which
Fowler's solution has destroyed life.(a) After a three days'
trial the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the
prisoner was discharged.

On 19th November 1906 Mr. William Lennox, Old
Cumnock, Ayrshire, received by post an anonymous gift
of shortbread, roughly covered with icing, in a parcel
containing a card inscribed, " With happy greetings from
an old friend." Four persons in the house who tasted the
shortbread became seriously ill, with symptoms of strych-
nine poisoning ; one, the housekeeper. Miss M'Kerrow, died
next day. Strychnine was ascertained to be the cause of
death, and enough of that poison to kill several people was
found in the icing. Thomas Mathieson Brown, whose wife
was a niece of Mr. Lennox, was arrested in connection with
the crime. (6) At the pleading diet, the Procurator- Fiscal
produced two medical certificates that the accused was of
unsound mind and incapable of pleading to the indictment.
It was insisted for the prisoner that he should be allowed
to plead not guilty ; and the Sheriff reserved the matter
for the consideration of the High Court. At the second
diet on 18th March 1907, the Solicitor-General left it to

(a) Medical Jihrisprudence, 1910, ii. 472.
{h) Adam's Justiciary Reports, v. .312.

LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND 115

the Court to order an investigation as to tlie prisoner's
mental condition. The defence objected, and moved that
he should be discharged, as he had not been called upon
to plead at the first diet. The Court repelled the motion,
and found that it was inexpedient to hold a preliminary-
enquiry into the panncl's state of mind. He then pleaded
not guilty, and the trial proceeded. Evidence was led to
prove that the pannel had bought an ounce of strychnine
from a Glasgow chemist, and that the card and the address
on the parcel were in his handwriting. Expert testimony
was given to the eifect that he had suffered for years from
chronic epileptic insanity. The Lord Justice-General
(Dunedin) directed the jury to answer the following
questions: — (l) Is the prisoner now insane? if not, (2)
Did he send the poisoned cake ? and if so, (3) Was he
insane at the time? The jury, by a majority, found the
pannel to be then insane ; he was accordingly ordered to
be detained during His Majesty's pleasure. Thus the
question of his guilt or innocence remained undecided.

A remarkable case which, owing to the self-effacement
of the criminal, was never brought to trial occurred at
Dalkeith, Mid-Lothian, in 19 11. (a) On 3rd February of
that year Mr. and Mrs. Hutchison, Bridgend, on the
occasion of their silver wedding, entertained a party of
friends at a whist drive. After supper coffee was brought
in by John Hutchison, the son of the house. Of the
eighteen persons present he and three of the guests took
none, the other fourteen, including John's fiancee, drank
the coffee, were immediately seized with violent sickness,
and quickly became prostrate. Medical aid was summoned,
and after treatment all but two — Mr. Hutchison and Mr.
Clapperton — recovered. Arsenic was ascertained to be the
cause of death, and that poison was traced in the remains
of the coffee as served. John Hutchison, who had been
prompt in administering an emetic to the sufferers, attended

(a) Dalkeith Advertiser, 9th, 16th, 23rd February ; 2nd March 1911.

116 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

the funeral of the victims. He was formerly assistant to
his uncle, a chemist in Musselburgh, but though only twenty-
four had retired, as appeared, upon his winnings on the
Stock Exchange, and his motor car was a feature of the
district. On the 14th Hutchison left Dalkeith, ostensibly
to visit friends in Newcastle. Meantime the authorities
discovered that a bottle containing arsenic was missing
from the chemist's shop where he had been recently em-
ployed ; there were other suspicious circumstances, and a
fortnight after the tragedy a warrant was issued for his
arrest. Descriptions and photographs of the wanted man
were published broadcast ; he was tracked to London and
from thence to Guernsey, where on the 20th he was dis-
covered in a boarding-house under an assumed name.
Questioned by a police-sergeant, he denied his identity
and ran upstairs to his bedroom, pursued by the ofticer.
Before the latter could close with him he swallowed the
contents of a small phial which he had about him, and fell
dead on the spot. An inquest was held, when it was found
that death was due to prussic acid. Hutchison, so far
from being a man of means, was heavily in debt, and
had given way to drink ; if there was any financial
motive for the commission of the crime it was not dis-
closed, nor was any evidence as to his mental condition
made public.

The next crime to be considered was admittedly the
work of a mind deranged. William Watson and his wife
were charged at Glasgow in October 1912 with conspiring
to murder their children, and with murdering two of them,
by cyanide of potassium. (a) The wife pleaded insanity in
bar of trial, and upon expert evidence by Drs. Devon and
Parker she was ordered to be detained during His JMajesty's
pleasure. In the husband's case it was proved that he,
being a photographer, had obtained four ounces of cyanide,
which his wife had persuaded the children to take. After

(a) Official Sliorihaud Writers' Notes.

LOCUST A IN SCOTLAND 117

medical evidence that Watson had long suffered from fixed
delusions by which his mind was still affected, the judge
(Lord Johnston) stopped the case, directing the jury to
say whether or not upon the evidence the prisoner was of
sound mind ; they found that he was insane, and he was
ordered to be confined accordingly.

The latest — it were sanguine to suppose the last —
poisoning case tried in Scotland is that of John Saunders,
gamekeeper, Gosford, Haddingtonshire, at Edinburgh in
April 1913, for attempting to poison his wife. (a) It
appeared from the evidence that Mrs. Saunders, who had
long been in a neurotic condition, began to complain of her
food having a strange taste, and displayed after eating
symptoms suggestive of poisoning. She was attended by
Drs. Gamble and Millar, who treated the case as one of
hysteria. To the nurse and others Mrs. Saunders indicated
certain articles of food and drink which she said had made
her sick, and these were secured for examination. On
analyses by Professor Harvey Littlejohn of marmalade,
cream, and biscuit, the presence of strychnine was detected
— the total quantity recovered being '323 of a grain.
There was no proof of administering or tampering with
food by the prisoner, or of his ever having had strychnine
in his possession, nor was any motive for the crime alleged.
For the defence, Drs. Martine and GuUand testified that
Mrs. Saunders suffered from hypochondria, and Sir Thomas
Clouston stated that an hysterical woman would do any-
thing to excite sympathy — the theory of the defence being
that the symptoms were simulated, and the poison intro-
duced by Mrs. Saunders herself. The prisoner, who bore
the highest character, gave evidence in his own behalf ; he
had patiently endured for many years his wife's peculiar
humours, and had never given or sought to give her poison.
The jury, by a unanimous verdict of not guilty, acquitted
him of the chargre.

(a) Haddingtonshire Courier, 25th April 1913.

118 LOCUSTA IN SCOTLAND

So much for the past ; with regard to the future a recent
authority, in an entertaining chapter entitled " Comfortable
Words about Poisoning," remarks : — " Everything goes to
show that the poisoner of the future will not be a very
dreadful person — at any rate, will not be a more dreadful
person than the poisoner of the present, unless we credit
in the future all the scientific acumen to the villain, and
none to those engaged upon the side of justice. For this
one dilemma will always remain to the poisoner. If he is
ignorant entirely, sheer ignorance will hang him ; while, by
as much as he knows anything, by so much will he be a
marked man, upon whom suspicion will fall. "(a)

In concluding this rapid review of four centuries of
Scottish poisoning as recorded by various authorities, I am
fully conscious of the injustice done to the more important
and interesting cases by the compression which my scheme
entails ; yet I venture to hope that such a survey, bringing
together by name, date, and salient features the principal
trials of the period covered, may, despite its obvious dis-
advantages, subserve some useful end,

(a) Physic and Fiction. By S. Squire Sprigge, London, 1921, p. 285.

POISON AND PLAGIARY

" It happens, unfortunately, that great crimes, leading to the discussion which
they must necessarily do, are often followed by the committal of the same offence
on the part of others ; and you will see how that comes out in a remarkable manner
in this case."

— Charge of the Lord Justice-Clerk.

"jl/TENTION of the year 1857 reminds the general reader
-^ -^ — that well-informed person — of the dark chapter in
British history known as the Indian Mutiny. For the
limited class versed in Scots criminal annals its association is
with that most attaching of our causes celebres, the trial of
Madeleine Smith. But even as the tale of the great revolt
surpassed in public interest at the time many events other-
wise sufficiently notable, so was the lustre of certain contem-
poraneous malefactors quenched in the exceeding Ijrightness
of the young lady of Blythswood Square. Between that
brilliant damsel and the "hero" of the judicial drama which
it is here proposed briefly to recall there would seem at first
sight to be nothing in common, except their respective
occupancy of the dock upon a charge of murder ; yet the
baleful influence of her example upon the fate of the obscure
country tailor is a curious and suggestive fact.

Apart, however, from any borrowed liglit, the Eaglesham
poisoning case is noteworthy as being the first trial in
Scotland for murder by hydrocyanic or prussic acid, only
two other cases of the criminous employment of that drug
having previously occurred in England. The first of these
was the trial of John Donellan on 30th March 1781 at
Warwick Assizes, before Mr. Justice Buller, for the murder
of his wife's brother, Sir Theodosius Boughton, at Lawford
Hall, Warwickshire ; the second that of John Tawell on
12th March 1845 at Aylesbury Assizes, before Mr Baron
Parke (Lord Wensleydale), for the murder of Sarah Hart
at Sal thill, Slough, near Windsor.

121

122 POISON AND PLAGIAEY

Donellan, a cashiered army captain who had married
money and, in the popular phrase, hung up his hat, was con-
victed of administering to his brother-in-law, a dissipated
young baronet of twenty, in the medicine which the lad was
taking for a specific ailment precociously contracted at Eton,
a distillation of cherry-laurel leaves, commonly called laurel
water, the alleged motive being that by his death his sister,
Mrs. Donellan, would benefit to the tune of £2000 a year.
The verdict has been disputed. The evidence was purely
circumstantial ; the scientific testimony, as usual in those
days, was regrettably vague, and the sole proof of the
presence of any laurel water in the case at all was the
statement of Lady Boughton that her son's medicine smelt
like bitter almonds. Four physicians testified to their belief
that Sir Theodosius died from the efi'ects of poison, but,
for the defence, the celebrated Dr. John Hunter maintained
that no such inference could be drawn from the symptoms
and post-mortem appearances ; he attributed the death to
natural causes, (a)

Tawell, a benevolent and godly member of the Society
of Friends, famed for his acts of charity, was convicted
of poisoning with prussic acid, in a bottle of Guinness's
stout, his devoted and unselfish mistress, to rid himself of
the expense of a small quarterly allowance made to her, he
being a married man in easy circumstances. His case, as
we shall see, is in certain respects interesting with reference
to that which we are about to consider.(6)

In the village of Eaglesham, in the shire of Renfrew,
some nine miles from Glasgow, there stood at the date in
question a two-storey tenement, access to which was had
by a close or entry common to the whole building. Upon
the ground floor were two one-room houses, separated by
the close which ran through the tenement to a garden behind,

(a) The Trial of John Donellan, Esq. Taken in shorthand by Joseph Gurney,
London, 1781.

(b) Reports of Trials for Murder by Poisoning. By La thorn Browne and
Stewart, London, 1883.

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POISON AND PLAGIAEY 123

and respectively occupied by James Watson, tailor, and
Hugh Montgomery, carrier. The upper floor, reached
from the close by a turnpike stair, consisted of three
adjoining rooms, in which were accommodated a like number
of tenants, namely, David Clarkson, mole-catcher, James
Macdonald, joiner, and Agnes Montgomery, employed as a
" reeler " in the local cotton-mills. Her room was the
middle one above the close. Agnes, the sister of Mrs.
Watson and niece of the carrier, was, according to the
evidence, a hale young woman of twenty-seven, respectable,
of a happy disposition, and powerful physique. She main-
tained herself on her earnings at the mill, supplemented
by a monthly allowance of £2 from a sailor brother. Since
June 1857 there had lived with the Watsons as a journey-
man tailor a man calling himself John Thomson, aged
twenty-six, a native of Tarberb, Argyllshire. Eaglesham
would have been surprised to learn that the stranger within
its gates was in fact, as afterwards appeared, one Peter
Walker, an ex-convict, sentenced in 1853 to seven years'
transportation for stealing £22 from his employer. Adding
insult to injury, he had applied the proceeds of the theft
to winning the young affections of his master's daughter.
When he returned to Scotland on ticket-of-leave Peter
Walker, modestly sinking his identity in an alias, was
known to his new associates as Jack Thomson. He admired
Agnes Montgomery and had offered her marriage, but the
girl, who described him to her relatives as a liar and a
blackguard, declined his proposals. In the preceding
August she and a friend, Janet Dollar, had in a double
sense thrown cold water on his suit, with reference to which
attention he said he would be damned but he would be "up
to them " for that. The acquaintance temporarily ceased, but
later Jack and Agnes appeared to be on friendly terms,
and it was his occasional habit to visit her of a Sunday
afternoon.

On Sunday, 13th September 1857, Agnes Montgomery
was in her usual good health and spirits. She went to

124 POISON AND PLAGIAKY

church twice, forenoon and afternoon, with her friend Miss
Dollar, returning to her own room at the close of the
second service, shortly after four o'clock. Having broken
coals in order to kindle her fire in view of the approaching
tea hour, Agnes went downstairs to the entry, where she
stood gossiping for half an hour, first with her sister, Mrs.
Watson, and afterwards with a friend named William Young.
It was her habit, on leaving her room, to lock her door and
take the key with her. About ten minutes to five Thomson,
who had been having his tea with the family of his employer,
left Watson's house, and passing Agnes and Young in the
entry, went up the turnpike stair to the flat above. Agnes
then went upstairs after him, and Young turned into
Watson's, Janet, Mrs. Watson's three-year-old child, was
not then " in " — she was playing about the stair. At five
o'clock Miss Dollar, who lived hard by, sent two little girls,
aged nine and eight, with an invitation to Agnes to go for
a walk with her. The children gave the message, and
Agnes replied that she would go. They saw that Jack
Thomson and little Janet were then in her room and that
the fire was burning brightly. Agnes asked the girls to
bring her a bottle of beer from Dollar's — the father of her
friend had a licence ; this they duly did, and delivered it
unopened to Agnes. Jack and the child were still with
her when they left the beer.

Agnes Montgomery's next-door neighbours were, as it
chanced, at home that afternoon — Clarkson, in his room on
the west of hers, and Mrs. Law (who lived with her son
Macdonald) in that on the east. The doors of both were
open. About ten minutes past five Mrs. Law heard a heavy
fall in Agnes's room, followed by " a sort of rumbling — feet
rustling along the floor." In a minute or two she heard
someone leave the room, lock the door, take out the key,
and go softly downstairs. She attached no importance to
the matter at the time, thinking that the person was Agnes
herself. Clarkson, sitting by his fireside, commanded across
the landing a view of Agnes's door. About ten minutes to

POISON AND PLAGIARY 125

five he saw her enter her house, accompanied by Thomson
and the child Janet. She opened the door with her key,
and they all went in together. He next saw the two girls
call, and return later with the beer. A quarter of an hour
after they left he heard "a great rumble and a desperate
thrash on the floor," which, mentally deprecating such
conduct on the Sabbath day, he attributed to some horse-
play on the part of the visitor. It is noteworthy that no
cry or scream was heard either by Mrs. Law or by Clarkson.
In four or five minutes he saw Thomson come out with the
little girl, lock the door on the outside, and go downstairs.
Almost immediately Thomson returned alone and stood
listening for a moment at the locked door with his ear
against it, after which he went again downstairs. Clarkson
himself soon after went down for water from the well in the
garden, and on coming back a few minutes later heard a great
moaning, which he thought was made by Mrs. Montgomery,
who was lying ill in the room below.

Mrs. Macdonald also had been at the well, and returning
to the house, met Jack and little Janet in the garden, near
a rosebush. He remarked that it was a fine day and that
he was goino; to give the child some flowers. She thought
his face looked white. Mrs. Watson met her in the entry ;
their attention was attracted by the strange moaning, and
the two women went up together. On reaching the landing
they found that " the moans were from Aggie's." Her door
was locked, and their cries and knockings elicited no response
from within. Mrs. Law and Clarkson, alarmed by the noise,
had joined them, and it was decided to force the door, but
someone thought of trying Clarkson's key ; it opened the
lock and they all rushed into the room. Mrs. Watson on
entering noticed a peculiar smell like bitter almonds, which
aff'ected her throat and nostrils. She thus describes the
scene : " Aggie was sitting on a chair before the clock, her
head leaning to the right on the table, her right hand hang-
ing down, the left in her lap. A thick slaver was coming
from her mouth, and her eyes were staring. She was alone."

126 POISON AND PLAGIAEY

Seeing in this dreadful state the poor girl whom half an
hour before she had left in perfect health, her horrified
sister, attempting to rouse her, cried, " Aggie, Aggie ! what's
this ? Have ye been taking anything ? " But Aggie was
to speak no more in this world. It is obvious that the
idea of natural illness was in the circumstances out of the
question and occurred to no one. The fire was burning
brightly, the room was in perfect order, nothing was visible
which could account for her condition ; but the key of the
door was missing.

Meanwhile, at twenty minutes past five, two friends of
Thomson, named Fulton and Muir, called for him at
Watson's house. Watson said he was "either in Aggie's
or down the green." They accordingly went upstairs, found
her door fast, heard the groans, and then went down to
the garden, where they met Jack, to whom they mentioned
the strange sounds in the locked room. He gave " a bit
smile" but made no comment. They were joined at the
instant by Mrs. Macdonald, who said Aggie was very ill
and someone must so for the doctor. Thomson volunteered
to do so. He ran across the public green to Dr. Scott's
house, some 200 yards distant, asked the doctor to come
at once, and, running back across the common, was seen by
two separate persons to stop at a certain tree, stoop down
to the ground for a moment, and then run on again. On
his return he remarked to others in the room that he had
felt so faint coming back he had to lean against a tree.
Dr. Scott reached the house at half-past five. He thought
the case one of apoplexy, and attempted bleeding but
without success. By his directions the patient was put to
bed, Jack willingly taking off his coat to help. Toddy was
exhibited to no efi'ect, and the doctor left, the case being,
in his opinion, hopeless. By six o'clock Agnes Montgomery
was dead ; the duration of the illness, so far as could be
ascertained, being under fifty minutes. Dr. Scott duly
certified the cause of death as apoplexy.

At the "coffining" next day Thomson, who was present.

POISON AND PLAGIARY 127

said it was a serious call that Aggie had got, and he
was very sorry — he never saw a girl he thought more
of. Her sister, Mrs. Young, remarked, "You would be
the last person that saw her alive [i.e. conscious]?" to
which he replied, " I believe I was," adding that, when he
left her, she was breaking sticks to light her fire. He also
told his friend Fulton that he had been with her for a
quarter of an hour, but noticed nothing wrong. Whether
or not the sudden fate of Agnes Montgomery aroused at
the time among her friends a suspicion of foul play does
not appear ; as simple country folk, to whom the idea that
she had been deliberately done to death would hardly
occur, it is improbable that they presumed to question the
accuracy of Dr. Scott's certificate. So with the burial of
the dead girl on Thursday, 17th September, the village
tragedy was to all appearance played out.

A week later, Friday the 25th, Jack Thomson left
Eaglesham. The order of his going, though irregular, was
unconnected with the recent sensation. A letter containing
money had disappeared ; Watson suspected Jack of stealing
it, and advised him to go away. He did not propose to
prosecute, but refused any longer to employ him. Three
days before her death Agnes told her sister Mrs. Young
that Watson had missed money and would get his eyes
opened as to Jack yet. She stated to Janet Dollar that
she blamed him for taking money out of her sailor brother's
pocket, and her last word to her sister Mrs. Watson had
reference to a missing loaf, which was found hidden in his
bed. That he had not changed his nature with his name is
evident ; John Thomson's views of the distinction between
meum and tuum were as imperfectly developed as those of
Peter Walker.

At seven o'clock that night he set out to walk to
Glasgow. On the road he called at a spirit dealer's in
Clarkston and bought a pint bottle of whisky, which he
took away with him. Prior to his Eaglesham period
Thomson had lodged with a respectable couple named

128 POISON AND PLAGIAKY

Mason, who lived in John Street, Glasgow, and at their
house he now presented himself half an hour before mid-
night. Mason was in bed. The visitor explained that he
had come back to occupy his former lodging, and to cele-
brate the occasion he poured out from his bottle a glass
of whisky, which he offered to his landlord. Mason barely
tasted it — the stuff was bitter, sourish, and he felt his face
instantly flush ; fortunately he declined to drain the cup.
The visitor, remarking that it was the best Paisley whisky,
then filled a glass for Mrs. Mason, who, having swallowed
a third of it, felt a bitter taste, presently became giddy-
saw double, and lost the power of her limbs. " Oh, John,
that's not good whisky ! " cried she ; but Thomson repeated
his assurance that it was the best Paisley produced. She
continued very ill for several days but ultimately recovered.
Thomson on his previous visit had appropriated some clothes
belonging to a fellow-lodger, and next morning Mason left
the house to communicate to the police the fact of the
prodigal's return. During her husband's absence the visitor
went up to inquire for Mrs. Mason, and pressed her to take
another glass of the Paisley blend. She refused, telling
him how ill she had been in the night ; whereupon he
observed that he himself drank what she had left and was
none the worse for it. The conversation was interrupted
by the arrival of the police and the removal of Mr. Thomson
to prison. He was, however, set at liberty on Tuesday the
29th, in what circumstances we do not know.

On that date, four days after Jack's departure from
Eaglesham, little Janet, playing on the floor at her
mother's feet, said something about Aggie's death which
applied the spark to Mrs. Watson's slumbering suspicions.
She questioned the child, and as the result of her answers
Mrs. Watson, having conferred with the neighbours, set out
next day for Glasgow. The Court of Justiciary, then upon
the Autumn Circuit, was sitting in that town. Mrs. Watson
went to the Court house and informed a detective officer
that she believed John Thomson had murdered her sister.

POISON AND PLAGIARY 129

By a curious chance the very man of whom she spoke was
then in Court, having, as appears, a liking for the law ; she
pointed him out to the officer, who arrested him on the spot.
On 1st October the prisoner w^as brought before the
Sheriff- Substitute and emitted a declaration in regard to
the charge of murder. In this, inter alia, the accuse<l
declared that he did not enter Agnes Montgomery's house
on the day of her death, and that he never employed any
person to buy prussic acid. In the course of their inquiry
into the case the authorities lighted upon the curious
incident which took place at Mason's house on the night of
the prisoner's arrival from Eaglesham, as the result of
which, on 21st October, he again appeared before the
Sheriii'- Substitute and emitted a second declaration with
reference to the further charges of attempting to poison
Mr. and Mrs. Mason. Upon this examination he declared :
" I bought no whisky on said night, either in Eaglesham
or on my way from it to Mason's house ; and I had no
whisky with me when I went to Mason's house. I did not
give or offer any whisky to Mason or his w4fe." He re-
peated that on no occasion had he ever sent any person to
buy ]n-ussic acid, adding, " I don't know what it is." How the
facts stand with regard to the truth of these declarations we
shall see when we come to the evidence led at the trial.

The case against him being duly completed, on 22nd
December 1857 John Thomson, alias Peter Walker, was
placed at the bar of the Circuit Court of Justiciary at
Glasgow to answer the charges brought against him. (a)
The judge was the Lord Justice-Clerk, John Hope, who in
the preceding July had presided at the trial of Madeleine
Smith. There appeared for the Crown Messrs. F. L.
Maitland Heriot and Andrew Rutherfurd Clark, Advocates-
Depute, the pannel being represented by no less than four
counsel, namely, Messrs. Alexander Moncrieff, William

(a.) Repwt of the Trial of John Thotnson alias Peter Walker. By Hugh Cowan,
Advocate, Edinburgli, 1858 ; Irvine's .Justiciary Report.*, ii. 747 ; Lancet, 2nd
January 1858.

130 POISON AND PLAGIAEY

E. Gloag, A. Dunn Pattison, and James Mure, Advocates.
Though taking no prominent part in this case, Mr. Ruther-
furd Clark was five years hater to distinguish himself by
his defence of Mrs. M'Lachlan on her trial for murder in
the same Court; he also in 1865 defended Dr. Pritchard in
similar circumstances, when even his ability could not avail
to save that villainous physician's life. Among the counsel
for the defence will be noticed the name of the future Lord
Kincairney. Moncrieff was junior counsel for Madeleine
Smith.

The indictment is peculiar in respect that the pannel
was charged with the two distinct crimes of murder and
of attempt to poison, not, as in the case of Miss Smith,
committed against the same person, nor, as in that of
Katharine Nairn, where the separate acts set forth, in the
words of Hume, " have a natural relation and dependence as
parts of one foul and nefarious story. "(a) Counsel for the
pannel, however, neither objected to the indictment nor
moved for separation of the charges, though had he done
so, as appears from an observation of the Justice-Clerk, his
Lordship would have sustained the objection, and proceeded
with the first charge alone. The charges were (l) on 13th
September 1857 administering to Agnes Montgomery in
beer a quantity of prussic acid, in consequence whereof
she died and was thus murdered by him ; (2) on 25th or
26th of that month administering to Agnes Stenhouse or
Mason in whisky a quantity of prussic acid with intent to
murder her or do her grievous bodily harm, whereby she
suffered severe illness and was put in danger of her life ;
and (3) administering on that date the same poison to
Archibald Mason with similar intent, whereby he was in-
juriously affected in his health and person. The last two
charges were laid alternatively at common law or under the
statute 10 Geo. IV. cap. 38. Annexed to the indictment
was an inventory of fifty productions, and a list of ninety-
one witnesses for the Crown. The diet having been called

(a) Commentaries on the Law of Scotland respecting Crimes, 1819, ii. 166.

POISON AND PLAGIARY 131

and no objection stated, the Lord Justice-Clerk found the
libel relevant ; the pannel pleaded not guilty, a jury was
empannelled, and the trial proceeded.

The first witness of importance for the prosecution was
Mrs. Watson, who spoke to the circumstances of Af^nes
Montgomery's death as already mentioned. She described
in great detail the symptoms exhibited by the dying oirl —
insensibility, foaming at the mouth, clenching of the teeth
and hands, the eyes fixed and staring, the face red and
swelled "like to burst." She asked the doctor if he
thought Agnes had taken anything ; he said he didn't
know, and seemed unable to judge. She entered the room
at twenty-five minutes past five, and death occurred about
thirty-five minutes later. On Saturday the 12th, Thomson
asked her for pen and ink. He wrote a note which he
gave to the carrier's boy, who, she understood, was to brino-
him something from Glasgow, as she had seen him do
before. After Aggie's death no money, except twopence,
was found in her room. She identified a key produced as
that of the dead girl's door ; she knew it well,

James Watson, her husband, spoke to seeing the pannel
and little Janet in the garden at twenty minutes past five.
After Thomson had left the garden Watson noticed upon
the walk between the house and the well fragments of
broken glass, apparently crushed into the gravel by a foot,
the mark of which was visible. The glass was thin, that
of a small phial. He showed it to Mrs. Clarkson, who was
with him, and then threw it away. He remembered on
13th or 14th July last his wife reading aloud from a
newspaper report of Madeleine Smith's current trial the
evidence of that young lady's unsuccessful attempt to
purchase prussic acid. Thomson was present at the time
and seemed much interested by the incident. (a) With

(rt) It will be within the reader's recollection that prior to her repeated
acquisition of arsenic Madeleine had sent her father's page boy to a neighbouring
chemist with a. "line" asking him to give bearer half an ounce of prussic acid,
which the chemist wisely declined to do.

132 POISON AND PLAGIARY

reference to this passage, Thomson inquired what kind
of stuff prussic acid was ; whereupon Watson replied that
if Miss Smith had given it to L'Angelier, he could not
have left her company alive. Apparently struck by the
rapidity with which the poison was said to act, Thomson
remarked that it was surely strong stuff, and asked where
it could be bought ; Watson answered, in an apothecary's,
but no one except " likeness- takers " could get it.

From the evidence of other witnesses it appears that
the academic interest in prussic acid aroused by this con-
versation stimulated Thomson to further inquiry touching
the properties and effects of the drug. Within a week,
19th July, he called upon Watson's brother, a photo-
grapher in Portugal Street, Glasgow, and broached the
subject of Madeleine Smith buying prussic acid. The
"likeness-taker" remarked that it was a very active poison,
and as such would not have answered her amiable purpose
— L'Angelier, had he taken it, would have dropped down
dead at her feet. A painter named Arneil, who took part
in this conversation, observed that prussic acid would have
suited Miss Smith better than arsenic, as it was not so
easily discovered ; on the other hand, it was more difficult
to obtain. Watson said both could be got with equal
facility, being sold as medicine by all druggists — by Mr.
Hart, for instance, a Glasgow chemist. Thomson listened
attentively, turning from one speaker to the other, and
putting in a word occasionally. The question of the
quantity required by Miss Smith arose, a newspaper was
sent for, and they found she had proposed to purchase
sixpence- worth. Mr. Thomson terminated the discussion
by expressing his strong opinion that Madeleine Smith
should be hanged, which, in view of the benefit he derived
from her experience, was not only ungallant but savoured
of ingratitude.

Mrs. Macdonald corroborated Mrs. Watson as to the
discovery and appearance of the dying girl. On entering
the room she noticed a sickening kind of smell which

POISON AND PLAGIARY 133

afFected her nostrils and throat. She described it as
" blowing-like " from Agnes. On 5th November, in
presence of the superintendent of police and the Crown
doctors, some beer mixed with priissic acid was spilt in
her presence, when Mrs. Macdonald at once recognised the
smell, "as sickening, though stronger." Mrs. Young stated
that while attending Agnes during the illness she found
below the dresser in the room a bottle, containing about
two gills of beer, which she emptied out, as the bottle
was required for hot water for the patient. An un-
washed tumbler was found in the press by another witness.
The grass at the foot of the tree on the common at which
the prisoner, returning from the doctor, was seen to stoop,
disclosed on research by the police and others a key, later
identified as that of Agnes Montgomery's door. With the
evidence of the neighbours concerning what they saw and
heard on that fateful afternoon, and of the parties to the
conversations regarding Madeleine Smith, the first day's
proceedings closed.

When the Court met again on 23rd December the
Advocate-Depute proposed to examine the little girl Janet
Watson. The child alone could tell what happened in the
room between the pannel and the deceased ; she was barely
more than three years old, but he submitted it was for the
jury to judge of the value of her evidence after seeing and
hearing her in the box. The fact to which she would speak
was one eminently within the comprehension of the child.
A heavy fall was heard by others in the adjoining rooms,
the child was proved to have been in the room with two
persons whom she knew, and the question he proposed to
ask was. Who fell? The Lord Justice-Clerk said that he
was unable to admit her statement, this being a case of life
and death. Its admission was a matter of discretion in
the Court. if the child Jiad made the statement at the
time, it would have been in a different position, but sixteen
days elapsed before she spoke. Somethino- might have
been suggested to her in the interval, and she was too

134 POISON AND PLAGIARY

young to explain why she had not spoken sooner. The
Advocate-Depute then proposed to ask the mother what
was the statement so made by the child, but the Lord
Justice-Clerk refused to admit the statement as part of
the mother's evidence. Fortunately for the ends of justice
the circumstantial evidence was so strong as not to require
the direct evidence of Janet Watson to make it convincing ;
but his Lordship's ruling was in some quarters deemed
wrong, the view being expressed that the whole case
ought to have gone to the jury, and that the judge had
no power arbitrarily to withdraw any part of it from their
consideration.

On the conclusion of the trial there was published in
the newspaper press, presumably by authority, the pre-
cognition of little Janet taken by the Crown : "Remember
my Auntie Aggie. She took me to the kirk. I ken Jack
(the prisoner). Was in Auntie Aggie's house on 13th
September. I ken Janet M'Gregor. She brought a bottle
of ' ffinp-er.' (Her mother explains that the child calls any-
thing in a bottle ' ginger.') Jack took out the cork and gied
Aggie ' ginger.' She fell down. Jack put her in a chair and
took me out. He had a nice little bottle in the garden and
put his foot on it. Jack told me not to tell and he would
give me a bawbee."(a) The precognition is interesting as
showing the child's intelligence, and there is little doubt
that the jury would have believed her statement.

John Ferguson, the Eaglesham carrier's boy, drove his
master's cart to Glasgow on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
On Saturday the 12th, the day before Agnes Montgomery's
death, the prisoner gave him a "line" for something to get
at Hart the chemist's, whose shop was at the corner of
Virginia and Argyle Streets, Glasgow, telling him to keep
the matter secret, and, if asked, to say "it w^as for a
portrait painter." He gave the boy sixpence. Ferguson
could not read, and showed the " line " to one Adam Gall,
a friend to whom he gave a " lift " that day on his way to

(a) Scotsman, 26th December 1857.

POISOX AND PLAGIAllY 135

town. The contents were as follows: "Sept. 1857. —
Mr. Hart, — Please give the bearer 6cl. worth of prussic
acid, and oblige. — John Thomson." The writing was
proved to be the pannel's. Ferguson duly presented the
"line" at Hart's, and the assistant, Stirling, accepting the
portrait-painting as a sufficient reason, gave him 2 drachms
of Scheele's prussic acid in a glass phial. On the lad's
return to Eaglesham at ten o'clock on Sunday morning
the prisoner came to him at the stables, asked for the
parcel, and told him not to tell anyone about it. He
further said that he wanted the stuff to dye his hair black.
On AVednesday the 23rd Thomson gave Ferguson a similar
'"line," telling him to get another supply as before. At
Hart's the boy saw a different shopman. Young, who
demurred to selling poison in such circumstances ; but
Stirling, being consulted, said the boy had got it before and
mig-ht set it asjain. So another 2 drachms of prussic acid
were dispensed. Both "lines" were destroyed by Stirling.
The Lord Justice-Clerk, before that witness left the box,
told him he ought to have the death of the girl on his
mind all his life. Ferguson returned to Eaglesham on
Thursday morning, and at ten o'clock Thomson came to
the cart shed and got delivery of his parcel. He opened it,
uncorked the phial, and touched his hair with the cork,
telling Ferguson, if anyone asked what he had bought, to
say twopence worth of lozenges. Next day Thomson left
Eaglesham for Glasgow, where Mr. and Mrs. ^lason were
to experience the effects of this novel hair dye.

Several other witnesses were examined, from whose
evidence the foregoing; account is taken. There remains,
however, the medical testimony, which may be mentioned
briefly, as Mr. Hugh Cowan, who edited the trial, has
prefixed to his report («) exhaustive observations on the
medico-legal points of the case. This, being the first of
its kind in Scotland, naturally excited much interest in
professional circles. The evidence of iJr. Scott, the only

(a) Vide supra, p. 129, n.

136 POISON AND PLAGIAKY

doctor who saw the girl alive, was regrettably vague,
and displayed, in the words of the Lord Justice-Clerk,
a strano-e want of recollection or observation. So far
as it went his account of the symptoms agreed with
those o-iven by the other witnesses present. He thought
at the time that death was due to apoplexy and certified
it as such. The body of Agnes Montgomery was exhumed
on 30th September — she died on the 13th and was buried
on the 17th — and that day within the parish church of
Eaglesham a post-mortem examination was made by Drs.
Daniel and Walter M'Kinlay of Paisley, assisted by Dr.
Scott. Dr. M'Kinlay, senior, had been a skilled witness
for the prosecution at the interesting trial of Christina
Gilmour for the murder of her husband by arsenic in 1844.
Owing to the advanced stage of decomposition the doctors
were unable to ascertain the cause of death, which, how-
ever, as they stated in their joint report, was neither from
external violence, protracted disease, nor structural change
in any of the important organs. Certain portions of the
body were therefore removed for chemical examination.
Dr. M'Kinlay stated that there was no appearance what-
ever of apoplexy ; all the indications of death from that
cause were absent. On opening the body a slight smell
of bitter almonds was perceived. With regard to the
subsequent analysis conducted by him and his son, they
found unequivocal proof of the presence of prussic acid in
the stomach. In view of the symptoms he had heard
described, coupled with the results of the post-mortem and
analyses, he had no doubt death was due to prussic acid.
In the course of a long cross-examination by Mr. Moncrieff,
Dr. M'Kinlay admitted that a patient who survived for
forty minutes generally recovered under proper treatment.
He had not expected to detect the acid at so long a period
after death. He repudiated Orfila's theory in regard to
the production of prussic acid in a dead body by decomposi-
tion. Dr. M'Kinlay, junior, concurred. Dr. (afterwards
Sir Douglas) Maclagan, who had made an independent

POISON AND PLAGIARY 137

analysis of other portions of the body, said that he obtained
unequivocal proof of the presence of prussic acid in the
spleen. In his opinion the case was a typical one of
poisoning by prussic acid. In cross-examination by Mr.
Moncrietf, Dr. Maclagan refused to accept the theory of
Orfila. Each of the leading medical witnesses stated, as
the result of an independent analysis of the contents of
the whisky bottle left by the prisoner at Mason's house,
that it contained such a proportion of prussic acid as to
constitute a wineglassful of the mixture a fatal dose. At
the conclusion of Dr. Maclagan's evidence the Court rose.

The last day of the trial, 24th December, commenced
with the evidence of Professor Penny, who had given
expert testimony for the Crown in the' Madeleine Smith
case. He confirmed generally the evidence of the other
medical witnesses, approved the chemical tests employed,
and, in cross-examination, negatived Ortila's theory, which
he characterised as a mere assumption. This closed the
case for the prosecution, and as no evidence was led for the
defence, the Advocate-Depute addressed the jury. Directing
their attention to the first question in the case — Did Agnes
Montgomery die of poison ? — he dealt with the symptoms
exhibited by her, the duration of the illness, and the
suddenness of the attack, all of which, he maintained, were
characteristic of poisoning by prussic acid. On opening
the body no morbid appearances were found to account
for death, and the theory of the defence that the death
was due to apoplexy was excluded. Then there was the
odour of prussic acid perceived both in the room at the
time and upon the post-mortem examination. Apart
altogether from the result of the chemical analysis, the
facts justified him in asking a verdict against the pannel.
But prussic acid was found in the stomach by the two
Drs. M'Kinlay, and in the spleen by Dr. Maclagan. All
the medical men examined stated that the speculation or
assumption of Orfila was unsupported by any evidence
whatever. He therefore submitted that he had proved

138 POISON AND PLAGIARY

beyond all reasonable doubt that Agnes Montgomery was

poisoned with prussic acid. Did she commit suicide ? Her

character and disposition rendered that improbable ; she had

no motive to take her own life, nor, unlike L'Angelier, had

she ever threatened to do so. She must, on swuUowing

the poison, have fallen at once insensible ; she could not

have raised herself so as to sit in the chair ; no phial was

found within her reach ; and she was locked into her room

from the outside. But in view of the pannel's whole

conduct the idea of suicide was out of the question, and

the fact that the Masons, at any rate, were not attempting

suicide was upon this point decisive. Was she murdered

by the prisoner at the bar? He had previous knowledge

of prussic acid, derived from the conversations about

Madeleine Smith ; he sent secretly for it an order in his

own handwriting ; he was proved to have been in the room

when the seizure occurred ; he left her, locked her in, and

returned to listen at the door. He admitted being the last

person who saw her alive, and said she was then breaking

sticks to kindle her fire, but it was proved that at the time

the fire was burning brightly. The missing phial was

found crushed on the path immediately after he had left

the spot, the missing key was discovered below the tree

where he was seen to stoop. He told Ferguson he wanted

the prussic acid for a hair dye ; in his declaration he denied

that he ever got any at all, or that he even knew what it

was. In Miss Smith's case there was some evidence to

prove that her alleged purpose in acquiring arsenic — for use

as a cosmetic — was possible, and that she had both heard

and read of it as such. In this case there was no evidence

of that kind. If the pannel gave a false reason, could there

be any doubt what was the true one ? With regard to the

question of motive, the Advocate-Depute suggested that the

pannel might either have desired to get possession of what

money the girl had in the house, or, as she had rejected his

advances and called him a liar and a blackguard, he might

have been actuated by feelings of hatred and revenge.

POISON AND PLAGIAEY 139

Having reviewed the evidence concerning the Glasgow
charges, counsel remarked that if the jury were satisfied
of the prisoner's guilt upon these, they threw much light
upon the Eaglesham charge, which really was the important
one. Finally, he asked for a verdict of guilty on all three
charges.

Mr. Moncrieff, for the defence, said that he was not
bound to account for the death of Agnes Montgomery.
Suicide was a possible, apoplexy a probable explanation, or
there might have been some other undetected natural cause,
but murder was the greatest improbability of alh The
duration of the illness, if due to prussic acid, was un-
paralleled, and was new to the scientific world. They
were left in the dark by the purely medical evidence ; let
them see how far they were enlightened by the chemical
examinations. The Drs. M'Kinlay reported on the stomach
a week after Dr. Maclagan. They found prussic acid clearly
where he all but failed. They reported on the spleen three
weeks before him, and they failed to find it where he was
successful in his search. Having criticised the result of
the analyses at great length, counsel maintained that there
never was a case more favourable for the adoption of Orfila's
theory than the present. The fact that the pannel knew
the difficulty of getting prussic acid accounted for his
secrecy and false statements. "As to how he used it or
why he wished it, these are questions as to which, unfortun-
ately, I can give you no light." Nor was he (counsel)
bound to do so, the object of the inquiry being, whether the
prisoner used the poison to murder Agnes Montgomery ; if
that was not proved, it was useless to speculate. The
attempt to prove motive had utterly failed, but it was said
there was opportunity. The conduct of the parties was
unseen. On the evidence of two witnesses who heard certain
sounds, thev were asked to believe that the crime of murder
was committed. Excluding all subsequent discoveries, the
sounds themselves were worth nothing ; they aroused no
suspicion at the time. It was only an assumption on the

140 POISON AND PLAGIAEY

part of the witnesses that Agnes did not lock herself in.
As for the key found at the tree, such keys were common —
one was readily obtained to open the door — and someone
might have put it there with morbid or malicious intent to
fill a gap in the chain of evidence. The fragments of glass
found in the path were of no importance against the
prisoner. His conduct and demeanour before and after the
death were, counsel contended, entirely inconsistent with
o-uilt. The evidence with regard to the Glasgow charges
was, he submitted, neither satisfactory nor conclusive, and
was only used by the prosecutor to strengthen his case on
the former charge. Finally, in a peroration more pious than
forensic, Mr. Moncrieff besought the jury not rashly to seek
to pierce the darkness in which Providence had seen fit to
enshroud that case of mystery and doubt.

A London medical journal in commenting on the case
praised the prisoner's counsel for having abstained from
those assertions of personal belief in the innocence of his
client so common south of the Tweed.

I have but space to glance at the charge of the Lord
Justice-Clerk. In refreshing contrast to the summing-up
delivered by his Lordship in each of the three great murder
trials at which it was his lot to preside, namely, those of
Mrs. Gilmour (1844), Dr. Smith (1853), and Madeleine
Smith (July 1857), the fullest possible weight is allowed
to facts proved against the pannel. Here, at least, the
judicial mind was free from such "reasonable doubts" as
unreasonably beset it in the cases mentioned, and his Lord-
ship's plain presumption that the Crown had substantiated
the truth of the charges recalls the forthright methods of
his Draconic colleague, Lord Deas. Well for the gentle
Christina, well for the ingenious physician of St. Fergus,
well even for the elegant Miss Smith, that they encountered
the Justice-Clerk in a different mood. The sophistries of the
defence were brushed aside like cobwebs : " It is a rash thing
to attempt to set a bound to man's malignity, or to suppose
that, because your honest and innocent hearts cannot enter

POISON AXD PLAGIARY 141

into the motive of one committing sach a crime, guilt must
be excluded. We know not the depths of the depravity
and malignity of the human heart, and numbers of desperate
criminals would escape if we were to test things in this way,
and to lay aside evidence as to matters of fact from our
inability to understand what led the man to do the deed."
Thus his Lordship to this jury, upon the apparent absence
of motive. If they came to the conclusion, to which, as
Dr. Penny had remarked, they were inevitably driven,
that prussic acid was administered to the deceased, his
Lordship was afraid they could not escape the painful
result of the inevitable verdict merely because they were
unable to find a motive. There was nothing in the previous
history of the prisoner to render the commission of this
crime highly improbable, but what they had to deal with
were the facts of the case.

As these were too plain for misapprehension even by a
jury, a unanimous verdict of guilty was returned, and the
Justice-Clerk, remarking that the circumstances disclosed
on the part of the pannel a hardness of heart which his
Lordship could scarcely conceive, pronounced sentence of
death. The judge, we read, was deeply moved, but the
prisoner maintained to the last the stoical composure which
he had shown throughout his three days' trial.

The execution took place at Paisley on the 14th January
1858, Calcraft officiating, in presence of an immense con-
course of people. By the condemned mans reijuest no
religious service was held. Thomson, shortly after sentence,
acknowledged his guilt, and gave as his motive a desire to
possess himself of his victims' money ; but the day before
his death he confessed that he was driven to commit the
crime by an influence for which he could not account, and
that in his boyhood he had murdered a companion by
pushing him into a quarry-hole near Jiis native village. (a)

Though the story of Agnes Montgomery's fate, fearful

(a) Edmburgh Evening Gourant, 29th December 1857; Anniial Register,
December 1857, p. 255.

142 POISOX AND PLAGIARY

as it is, admittedly lacks those dramatic and mysterious
elements which in other cases of poisoning have powerfully
possessed the popular mind, yet in point of medical and
psychologic interest it has an undoubted value. That the
criminal, a practised malefactor, was directly inspired by
the heroine of the recent "Great Oyer of Poisoning" is
certain. Even in the pretext alleged by him to the
carrier's boy as his reason for acquiring the poison, we hear
an echo of the cosmetic peculiarities of Blythswood Square.
"There is a strange morbid state of feeling created by the
discussion of such cases," the Lord Justice-Clerk told the
jury ; "it arises from a strange desire to possess that com-
mand over human life which the knowledge of such poison
produces, and sometimes leads, without one being able to
detect the object, to the commission of similar crimes."
And his Lordship was right ; the Glasgow cause celebre had
the same effect upon Thomson's mind as the discussion of
Palmer's case produced on the Leeds poisoner, Dove — a lust
of mastery over the lives of others, which from Madeleine
Smith's comparative acquittal he rashly inferred might be
indulged with impunity. As Madame de Brinvilliers began
her criminous career by poisoning the sick folk in the Hotel
Dieu, not grudgingly nor of necessity, but for mere pleasure
in the exercise of a diabolic power, so Thomson destroyed
Agnes Montgomery and attempted to destroy the Masons ;
and if the hideous deeds for which the marquise made so
terrible an expiation far outstripped the clumsy efforts of
the convict tailor, that was but the result of her environ-
ment, and nowise detracts from Mr. Thomson's performance.
He did what he could. France under Louis XIV. was richer
in possibilities of picturesque crime than mid- Victorian
Scotland.

THE STRANGE WOMAN

She is loud aud stubborn ; her feet abide not in her house.

— The Book of Proverbs.

rriHIS is not a nice story ; but it is a short one, and for

a variety of reasons I think it worth the telling. To

begin with, the case to which it relates created in Edinburgh

intense interest at the time. Both Jeffrey and Cockburn,

those twin luminaries of law and literature, were associated

in the defence. Further, the matter throws some light on

the ways, not always of pleasantness, and the paths, here

other than peaceful, pursued by certain of our forebears in

the Auld Keikie of the early twenties. Finally, there is

a curious legal sequel. For which causes, pace Mrs. Grundy

and Mr. Podsnap, I propose to recall, as discreetly as may

be and without unduly fluttering the dovecots of propriety,

the forgotten circumstances of the affair.

Although no reports of the trial were published except

those which the newspapers and magazines of the day

supplied, the heroine's fate moved an anonymous scribe to

write A Biographical Account of Mary Mackinno7i, printed

and sold at the Observer office, Mound Place, Edinburgh,

in 1823. To this pamphlet, now rarely met with, I am

indebted for the few known facts regarding the life of the

unhappy woman that to some extent explain her tragic

end. Our author, too, even in a less squeamish age felt

the disadvantages attending his choice of a subject. " We

are fully sensible of the difficulty of the task which we

imposed upon ourselves when we undertook to give an

account of the unfortunate life and ignominious death of

Mary Mackinnon," he remarks in his opening sentence ;

but holding as he does that all history and biography

ought to afford either "models to regulate the conduct of

145 10

146 THE STEANGE WOMAN

posterity, or examples which they ought to shun," his
labours are directed to the enrichment of the latter cate-
gory. For my purpose, however, it is regrettable that
his work is much fuller in moral reflections than in
biographical detail.

An appropriate dubiety obscures the origin of Mary
Mackinnon. She is believed to have been born in Ireland,
an only child, some thirty-two years before her earthly
punishment. At her trial Captain Brown, of the Edinburgh
City Police, stated that he had served with her father, a
quartermaster in the 2nd Battalion, 79th Regiment, in
which he himself was adjutant, and that he had known
her since her fifteenth year. It appears that this Mac-
kinnon, who had lost sight of his daughter for many years,
came to Edinburgh and interviewed the prisoner after her
condemnation, but failed to recognise her — "he unequivo-
cally and positively denied that the unfortunate woman was
at all connected with him." According to another account
she was the child of one Archibald Maclnnes, sometime a
lime-burner in Isla, where she was born, her mother being
a Hebridean damsel named Flora Macdouald, not, it is to
be presumed, the protectress of Prince Charles. From the
contemporary newspapers I gather that public opinion was
divided upon the question of her parentage ; but in the
notice of her execution given in the Scots Magaziyie for
May 1823, (a) it is said that at the last moment she admitted
that her name really was Maclnnes, and that her father had
been a private soldier. Re that fact as it may, Mary was a
daughter of the regiment, and as such successively visited
St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies ;
" but her recollection of these parts of the world was very
indistinct." When she was fifteen her mother died at
Dunbar, where the regiment was then quartered. Her
biographer gives us an ominous glimpse of the family on
the night of the funeral : the father hopelessly drunk, and

(a) Vol. xii. N.S. p. 637.

THE STEANGE WOMAN 147

the daughter succumbing to the wiles of a young officer
who had for some time been paying her " very particular
attention." Soon after she was thus betrayed the regiment
left for England, and at Faversham her father consoled
himself with a second wife. Of this lady we are signifi-
cantly told that Mary had no cause for congratulation
on his choice of her stepmother. About a year later
her father quitted the army, and the family settled in
Glasgow. In that city Mary formed acquaintances " who
were not more tender of her reputation than the officer
who visited her on the evening of her mother's funeral";
and as even the lax restraint of the parental roof grew
irksome to her, she left home never to return. A volun-
tary orphan, " without resources, without friends, without
religion," uneducated — she could hardly read or write —
impetuous, irresponsible, and attractive, her future in a
great city could easily be foreseen. The author passes
lightly over her subsequent adventures, which make but
sorry reading ; an expedition to Gottenburg in company
with a naval officer, "supposed to have been a Lieutenant

C ," is the most presentable. She returned to Scotland,

and in 18112 set up house in Edinburgh, where in due
course she became well if not favourably known under the
style and title of Mrs. Mackinnon, though it does not
appear that she was ever married. The character of an
establishment such as she maintained is best described in
the emphatic words of King Solomon : '" Her house is the
way to hell, going down to the chambers of death " ; and
so in very deed it was to prove, in the latter clause at
least, to one visitor in the year 1823. Her address was
No. 82 South Bridge, a common stair still extant, in which
she occupied a flat now appropriated to more legitimate
commercial uses. I have elsewhere had occasion to note
that the celebrated Mr. David Haoo-art visited her house
with a friend iti the last months of his eventful life.

On Saturday, 8th February 1823, two Edinburgh young
men gave a bachelor dinner party in the lodgings which

148 THE STRANGE WOMAN

they shared in Broughton Street. The hosts were Henry
Ker, a land-surveyor, and William Howat, a writer's clerk ;
the hour was four and the company mixed, the guests
including a cattle-dealer from Balerno named Alexander
Welsh, Walter Grieve, a medical student, and James John-
ston, described as an old man from the country. After
dinner the arrival of John Wilkinson, an innkeeper of
Bristo Street, completed the sederunt. In the course of
the proceedings " two or three " bottles of whisky were
consumed in the form of toddy, and when about nine
o'clock the revellers rose to convoy Mr. Wilkinson to his
home in Bristo, they were all visibly though unequally the
worse of liquor. At the trial each gentleman deponed, in
the manner of Baron Bradwardine after the symposion at
Luckie Macleary's change -house, that though personally
little affected by their potations, his companions were
" rather intoxicated," and by general consent Howat was
distinctly drunk. Now, Mr. Johnston, possibly because of
his years and rural habits, had a strong aversion from such
houses of entertainment as that over which Mrs. Mackinnon
so discreditably presided, and in accordance with the un-
refined humour of the age the others arranged a little joke at
his expense. As the party went up the North and South
Bridoes it was sugsested that the friends should take a
parting glass somewhere, and a " proposition was made of
going to Mr. Cooper, the boxer's." I know nothing against
the character of this exponent of the fistic art, but ap-
parently Mr, Johnston disliked its practitioners : he refused
to ao-ree — " he would go to a respectable house " ; where-
upon they crossed to the west side of the street and
entered No. 82, of the reputation of which the old man,
as a stranger, was unaware. "Mr. Johnston," says Ker,
" was not pleased at the company into which he had been
brought." He soon realised the trick that had been played
upon him, and took an early opportunity of retiring ; the
others remained in the house for twenty minutes or half
an hour. What happened during that time formed the

THE STRANGE WOMAN 149

subject of the judicial proceedings which we are about to
consider. When the police appeared on the scene they
found that William Howat had been stabbed by somebody,
and was in a serious condition. All the persons present
in the house were taken into custody, and the wounded
man was removed to the Royal Infirmary, where in con-
sequence of his injuries he died on 20th February. On
the 10th of that month, in presence of Mr. George Tait,
Sheriff- Substitute, the dying man made a declaration as
to how he came by his wound, which he said had been
given him by Mrs. Mackinnon ; and when the prisoner was
shown to him, he identified her as the person referred to
in his declaration.

The evidence taken by the authorities led to the release
of all the parties concerned except Mrs. Mackinnon, who
on Friday, 14 th March 1823, was brought to the bar of
the High Court of Justiciary, charged with the crime of
murder, by having, on the evening of 8th February,
assaulted and stabbed in the breast with a table knife
William Howat, then clerk with Thomas Johnstone, writer
in Edinburgh, of which wound he languished in the In-
firmary until the 20th day of the same month, when he
died.(ct) The judges present were the Lord Justice-Clerk
(Boyle), and Lords Pitmilly and Meadowbank ; the counsel
for the Crown were the Solicitor-General (Hope), Duncan
M'Neil, Robert Dundas, and Archibald Alison, the future
historian of Europe. Francis Jeffrey, Henry Cockburn, and
Thomas Maitland, instructed by James Rutherford, W.S.,
appeared for the defence. Excepting Jeffrey, the same
counsel had two years before defended David Haggart ;
of Lord Meadowbank and Mr. Rutherford we shall hear
further in the sequel. The pannel pleaded not guilty, and
no objection having been taken to the relevancy of the in-
dictment, a jury of Edinburgh merchants was empannelled.
In the written defences lodged for the prisoner it was stated

(a) The following account of the trial is given from the report of the case
published in the Edinburgh Literanj Gazette of 15th March 1823, pp. 97-108.

160 THE STKANGE WOMAN

that she kept a licensed tavern in the South Bridge. She
had left her house on 8th February to visit a neighbour,
and during her absence a riot took place. The deceased,
alone with others, in a state of intoxication, came into her
house, she herself being absent, broke the furniture, and
violently assaulted certain females who lived in the house ;
when she returned she was herself knocked down, and if the
deceased sustained any injury at her hand, she knew nothing
of it. Her original explanation, given at the police office
after her apprehension, was that Wilkinson struck the fatal
blow, and that she had seen a knife in his hand, but this
statement was apparently not maintained by her at the trial.

The first witness called for the Crown was Sheriff Tait,
who deponed to the circumstances in which Howat emitted
his dying declaration, and his identification of the prisoner
as his assailant. This evidence was corroborated by Mr.
Scott, the Procurator-Fiscal.

Henry Ker was then examined. He described the dinner
party given by him and Howat, and the practical joke of
which old Mr. Johnston was meant to be the victim. He
himself was little affected by drink ; Howat was drunk,
but could walk ; Welsh and Johnston were less, Wilkinson
and Grieve were more, intoxicated — " all walked without
any assistance whatever." The whole party went up to the
house. They were admitted and shown into a room. An
order for a jug of toddy was immediately executed. This
was discussed with the assistance of divers damsels who re-
sided there under the equivocal auspices of Mrs. Mackinnon.
He identified Elizabeth M'Donald, Elizabeth Gray, and
Mary Curley as three of the girls in question. The toddy
dispatched and paid for, his party proposed to leave, but the
ladies said " it was a shame for them to go away for one
jug ; there ought to be jugs apiece." This discussion, which
at first was academic and conducted with good humour, was
continued in the passage and resumed in the kitchen, where,
appropriately, it increased in warmth. There they found
two other fair boarders, ^Margaret White and Margaret Orr.

THE STEANGE WOMAN 151

Mr. Johnston meanwhile had prudently made his escape.
The ladies then locked the house door, and refused to allow
their visitors to leave unless more drink was forthcoming.
Ker was chiefly engaged in controversy with Miss M 'Donald,
a vigorous and stalwart nymph, who vehemently opposed
his going, laid violent hands upon him, tore his shirt frill,
spoilt his hat, and knocked him down l)ehind the kitchen
door. On his regaining his feet the amazon again fell upon
him, so Ker, determined to get out, tripped her up with his
foot. He remembered Grieve saying to him, " Don't strike
a woman," to which he replied that he would not do so.
This was all the violence used by him that night, and was
only what was necessary in order to extricate himself. He
rejoined Welsh and Wilkinson, who were in the passage.
M 'Donald at once followed, and made an attack upon
Wilkinson, striking him with her clenched fists. Ker went
back to the kitchen to bring out Howat, who was standing
at the fireplace, Grieve being also there. He heard no cries
of murder. There were candles in the rooms and passage,
but none of his party had a candlestick in his hand. At
this moment Mrs. Mackinnon, whom they had not seen that
night, entered the kitchen. " Stand back," she cried; "let

me get a knife, and I'll soon settle the b s ! " There

was then no disturbance going on, and nobody was attacking
M'Donald. Mrs. Mackinnon went straight to the dresser
and deliberately selected a knife from a tray. No one had
spoken to her at that time. He noticed a strange man
(Samuel Hodge) and woman (Jean Lundie) at the kitchen
door. With the knife in her hand Mrs. Mackinnon made a
spring at Ker ; he parried the blow aimed at him, and she
was then restrained by M'Donald and Lundie. No violence
was ofi'ered to her or to any of the women after that. The
man Hodge took no part. Welsh and Wilkinson were still in
the passage, and all the women were in the kitchen. He next
found that Howat, beset by both Mackinnon and M'Donald,
was keeping them at bay with his clenched fists. He saw
the pannel raise her right hand with the knife in it over her

152 THE STRANGE WOMAN

left shoulder, and make a sweeping thrust at Howat. He
at once seized her and tripped her up, but it was too late :
the blow was given suddenly, and took effect on the left side.
He went to his friend's aid. Howat said to him, " Henry,
she has given me a wound," and fainted. Blood was flowing
from the left side ; the vest was opened and he saw the
wound. No one but the pannel had a knife at the time.
He did not notice what became of the women after his
friend was struck ; none of them offered any assistance.
When the police arrived he asked to be taken to the office.
All his party went there willingly. He was almost con-
stantly with Howat till his death, and heard him name
Mrs. Mackinnon as his assailant. Only one question, as
to the length of time the party were in the house, was
asked in cross-examination.

John Wilkinson corroborated the evidence of Ker. He
and Welsh left the house when Johnston did, but hearing a
noise of quarrelling, they turned at the top of the stair and
went back. They did not enter the kitchen, but remained
in the passage. He saw Mrs. Mackinnon come in from the
street ; she seemed angry, and " scolded " as she passed him.
M'Donald came out of the kitchen and struck him violently
on the breast. Welsh prevented him from retaliating. No
violence was used to the girl. He heard Ker cry out that
Howat was stabbed. He then entered the kitchen, and saw
Mrs. Mackinnon and the women standing about, and Howat,
wounded and bleeding, in a chair. He did not recollect
noticing any strange man, nor did he see any person with a
knife. In cross-examination, Wilkinson admitted that at
the time he was " very much intoxicated," but said he had
a perfectly clear recollection of what happened. There was
no quarrel prior to his leaving the house the first time. In
reply to questions by the Court and jury, he stated that
personally he had no struggle with anyone that night. He
remembered the prisoner at the police office " charging him
with the murder." He was quite certain that while in the
passage he heard Ker cry that Howat was wounded.

THE STEANGE WOMAN 153

Alexander Welsh corroborated the account given by the
previous witnesses. From the passage he could not see
what was going on in the kitchen. ^Irs. Mackinnon, with
a man and a woman (Hodge and Lundie) came in from the
street. "The landlady was apparently in a passion," but
he could not recollect the words uttered by her. He heard
Ker call out that Howat was stabbed, and he and Wilkinson
then entered the kitchen. Wilkinson was not in the kitchen
until after he heard the cry. He saw no one with a knife
that nioht.

Walter Grieve, medical student, corroborated the state-
ments of his friends. He went into the kitchen to get
the other two men away, but Ker would not leave with-
out Howat. Before Ker came in, he saw Howat strike
M'Donald on the head. M'Donald assaulted Ker and after-
wards Wilkinson ; she seized a candlestick, which witness
took from her. Mrs. Mackinnon came in with Hodge
and Lundie. He did not see the blow struck, but saw
Mackinnon falling down and heard her cry " Murder ! "
At the same time Ker called out that Howat was stabbed.
In cross-examination, he admitted that he did not notice
Mrs. Mackinnon's presence in the kitchen till he saw her
lying on the floor. There was nothing to prevent his
leaving when Johnston and the others left.

The declaration of Howat was then read, which agreed
generally with Ker's account of what occurred. He tried
to ward off the blow, but failed ; the knife struck him on
the left breast, below the collar. None of his companions
except Ker could have seen the thrust given. He was
certain Mrs. Mackinnon was the person who struck him.

Elizabeth M'Donald was next called. IShe alleged that
after the toddy incident Wilkinson " used her in a very
uncivil manner," smashed a chair, and followed her into
the kitchen, where he again attacked her. Ker came in
shortly after, took up a candlestick from the dresser, and
struck her with it on the breast, "which became black in
consequence." He afterwards twice assaulted her. Margaret

154 THE STRANGE WOMAK

M'Innes (the servant) took the candlestick from him. The
witness's version of the episode became, upon further re-
search, so obscure that the Solicitor-General moved to have
her answers judicially taken down, and the Lord Justice-
Clerk warned her to be careful, remarking that a more con-
tradictory testimony had never been given in any Court.
After taking her in hand himself, his Lordship observed
that it was his sacred duty to tell the jury that her evidence
was not worth their attention. Cross-examined by Jeffrey,
M'Donald said Mary Curley went out for Mrs. Mackinnon,
who had been away two hours. When the latter returned
she ran into the kitchen crying, " In the name of God, what
is this ? " Wilkinson and Ker were then in the kitchen.
Wilkinson knocked Mrs. Mackinnon down and tore her cap.
Ker, in trying to strike Mrs. Mackinnon, struck witness
on the shoulder. Wilkinson held Mrs. Mackinnon down.
Howat was sitting on a chair, leaning his head on the
dresser. The police arrived, and he was carried to another
room. She did not see Mrs. Mackinnon with a knife in her
hand, nor standing opposite Howat. The latter was, in her
judgment, "tipsy"; the others were merely "hearty"; she
herself was sober. A long re-examination by the Solicitor-
General only involved Miss M'Donald's evidence in greater
confusion — even the reporter apologises for his inability to
render it intelligible.

The demoiselles Gray and Curley were also examined.
Their testimony added little to the facts already proved,
but each of them alleged that she had been assaulted by
some one of the visitors : they kept, in their evidence, as
much as possible out of the kitchen, and swore they saw
nothing of the murder. Jane Lundie, residing in Lover's
Lane, Leith Walk, said she was at Hodge's with Mrs.
Mackinnon on the night in question, and followed her to
the South Bridge house, where she " perceived a great con-
fusion in the passage." When she entered the kitchen
" there was a gentleman on a chair," and Mrs. Mackinnon
was lying on the floor. She assisted her to rise. Samuel

THE STRAIS^GE WOMAN 155

Hodge, grocer, Cowgate, stated that when he reached the
house he found several men and women in the passage.
They seemed to be quarrelling with one another, but no
violent blows were given. His account of what he saw in
the kitchen tallied with that given by Lundie.

James Stuart, apprentice surgeon, deponed that he
entered the house along with the police. He found "a
great bustle of people" in the passage. Mrs. Mackinnon,
who seemed agitated, told him that some men had come
into the house and assaulted several of the inmates. The
police summoned him to the kitchen, where he saw a man
sitting in a state of stupor, with a large wound in his chest.
He attended to him at once ; none of the women offered
their aid. Ker and Grieve seemed quite sensible, and well
aware of what was going on.

Robert Allan and William Newbigging, surgeons to the
Royal Infirmary, described the nature of the wound and the
varying symptoms of the patient from his entry into the
infirmary until his death, as also the results of the post-
mortem examination of his body. The wound in the chest
was unquestionably the cause of death. Dr. William
Dumbreck corroborated their report.

Sir Robert Christison, in his notes upon the case re-
marks : " The body was examined in the Royal Infirmary
by warrant of the Sheriff, in my presence, but as an un-
concerned spectator only. A gash was found in the left
ventricle of the heart : whereupon the inspection was about
to be brought to an end by sewing up the body. But I
stepped up to the inspecting surgeons, and suggested that
they should fix exactly the direction of the wound. It was
then seen that the knife, after severing the cartilage of the
second left rib, had penetrated to the left, somewhat inward,
and very much downward. This fact proved to be of great
consequence. The friends of the murdered man were tipsy
at the time, and those of the woman were on other grounds
untrustworthy. The woman stated in her declaration that
the young man and his companions having become up-

156 THE STRANGE WOMAN

roarious and rude, she seized the knife in self-defence, and
held it before her with the point sloping forwards and
upwards, when he stumbled towards her upon its point.
One of his friends, on the other hand, swore he distinctly
saw the woman hold the knife daggerwise, raise her hand
towards her left ear, and strike towards her own right and
downwards — in which way exactly would such a wound as
was found be produced." (a)

The Crown case closed with the reading of the pannel's
declaration, in which she denied all concern in the murder
of Howat, and threw the whole blame of it upon his own
party.

Only five witnesses were examined for the defence. Dr.
Black, police surgeon, said he was called to Mrs. Mackinnon's
house, where a young man had been w^ounded. He saw
her that evening, and attended her professionally for several
days. She complained of pain in her head from having
been knocked down, and also of spitting blood. She seemed
distressed both in mind and body. He found one bruise on
her side. He had likewise attended Elizabeth M'Donald.
He found the mark of a blow, apparently from a fist, upon
her left breast, and her face bore marks of violence, but
these w^ere more evident on the night in question. He also
attended Margaret M'Innes, who complained of a violent
injury on the side, of which he could find no trace. James
Christie, keeper of the Lock-up House, deponed that on
the night when Mrs. Mackinnon was entrusted to his care
he observed blood on her cap, and she complained of pain
in her head. He saw her spit blood once only. Mrs. Sherifi",
wife of John Sheriff", upholsterer, Cowgate, stated that on
the night of the "accident" at Mrs. Mackinnon's, a boy
named John Smith, who resided with witness, was sent by
her on an errand to the Abbey. John Smith, aged four-
teen, said he knew the pannel, and had heard of the
"accident" in her house. She asked him to go an errand

(o) The Life of Sir Robert Christison, Bart, Edinburgh, 1885, i. 292-293.

THE STRANGE WOMAN 157

that night about half-past ten. He saw her at Hodge's shop.
While there, the girl Curley came in and said some men
were in the house "putting M 'Donald into the fire." He
ran to the house before the pannel, and saw a man executing
that barbarous purpose upon the young lady in question.
When Mrs. Mackinnon arrived she sent him for the police.
He found a watchman at the head of Blair Street. On
leaving the house he heard cries of murder. Captain Brown,
late Superintendent of Police, stated that he had served for
several years in the same regiment with the prisoner's father,
and had known her ever since she was fifteen, when she was
seduced in atrocious circumstances by an officer. From that
time her father neglected her in the most shameful manner.
Her disposition was always humane and peaceful ; he knew
nothing peculiar about her house.

The exculpatory proof being here closed, the Solicitor-
General addressed the jury for the Crown. After some
general remarks upon the painful character of the case, and
certain moral observations thereon which need not detain us,
he commented severely upon the "wilful and horrible
perjury" committed by the witnesses for the defence. The
exhibition of Master Smith and the tale he told could not
be too strongly reprobated; and he was sure his learned
friend did not expect such statements to come from the boy,
which were flatly contradicted by his own witnesses. If
the jury believed that the pannel struck the blow, the
charge could only be evaded by the plea of self-defence, or
by evidence that there was such extreme provocation given
as justified a verdict of calpable homicide. It was clearly
proved that the blow was dealt by the pannel, and from the
evidence no conclusion could be drawn which would justify
the use of lethal weapons. He then examined the evidence
of Ker, which, he held, received great support from the state-
ment of Stuart, who swore distinctly to Ker's sobriety and
capacity of observation. With regard to the allegations of
M' Donald, all that Ker did was merely to extricate himself
from her grasp. To the pannel, before she struck Howat,

158 THE STEANGE WOMAN

no violence whatever was used, but after the fatal blow
was given Ker tripped her up. It was natural for him to
spring forward to his friend's relief when he saw Howat in
such imminent danger. Her fall might well account for the
symptoms described by Dr. Black. After reviewing the
evidence of the rest of the party, which completely refuted
the insinuation that the blow was given by Wilkinson or by
any of the men, he said that their united testimony formed
a body of evidence strong and irresistible, agreeing in all
its substantial features. Each of the witnesses for the
defence, on the other hand, told a different story, and every
one more incredible than another. They contradicted each
other in every important fact, and it was material to note
that none of them alluded to the absurd idea of Wilkinson
being the murderer, which was the real groundwork of the
defence. It was clearly shown by the proof that no justi-
fication of a recourse to lethal weapons could be maintained ;
and he therefore submitted that if the jury were satisfied
the wound was inflicted by the pannel, they must find her
guilty of murder.

Jeffrey's speech for the defence has, unfortunately, not
come down to us. The proceedings had lasted for fourteen
consecutive hours, and the reporter pleads physical exhaus-
tion for his failure to supply even an outline of that " warm,
eloquent, and impassioned address." This is the more
regrettable that, in view of what Lord Cockburn well calls
" the bad elements in his hands," it would have been
interesting to learn how Jeffrey treated a case apparently so
hopeless. His efibrt must have been a brilliant one, for
Cockburn reckons the speech " beautiful," and says it is
"remembered to this hour."(a) Probably, as his Lord-
ship's adjective suggests, Jeffrey's appeal was directed to the
hearts rather than to the heads of the jury. He made the
most of the inevitable discrepancies in the evidence of the
Grown witnesses, which, he said, precluded an undoubted

(a) Journal of Henry Cockburn, i. 142 ; Circuit Journeys, p. 340.

THE STKANGE WOMAN 159

conviction of guilt, and argued that, even in the most
unfavourable light, the circumstances in which the prisoner
was placed justified her having recourse to lethal weapons.
" Mr. Jeffrey concluded with a strong and energetic appeal
to the feelings of the jury on behalf of the unfortunate
creature, who early in life had been cast on the wide world
with a diminished reputation, and had been deserted by
those whose reclaiming discipline might have drawn her
from the dreadful course of iniquity in which she had
indulored."

The Lord Justice-Clerk then charged the jury "in a
luminous and comprehensive speech," of which the particulars
are not reported. His Lordship told the jury that more
credit ought to be attached to the evidence of the men than
that of the women upon those points in which the two
came into collision, and that there was nothing in the
circumstances of the case to render the act justifiable. The
jury, after retiring for twenty minutes, returned their verdict,
finding, by a plurality of voices, the pannel guilty of the
crime of murder ; but they, also by a majority, recommended
her to mercy. She was accordingly sentenced to be
executed at Edinburgh on 16th April, and her body there-
after to be given to Dr. Alexander Monro for dissection, his
Lordship adding that though he could see no grounds in the
circumstances of the case for the jury's recommendation, it
would be forwarded to the proper quarter. When the
verdict was returned the prisoner fainted, and after receiv-
ing sentence she fainted again ; as the Court rose she
was "lying extended, apparently lifeless, on the seat." It
must have been an ugly business.

The Edinburgh Evening Courant of 15th March 1823
ends its account of the case as follows: "The trial lasted
from ten o'clock yesterday until four o'clock this morning,
and so great was the interest excited that by an early hour
yesterday morning all the doors of the Court were crowded
with people. Strong bodies of the police were stationed in the
Court and at the doors to preserve order, but so great was

160 THE STRANGE WOMAN

the pressure and the anxiety to gain admission that once or
twice the Court had to announce that unless better order
was kept the room would be cleared. The Parliament
Square during the whole day, and even until the termina-
tion of the trial, was filled with people anxious to learn
the progress." It appears that the verdict met with popular
approval, but people were surprised that it was not unani-
mous. Application for a reprieve seems to have been made
in accordance with the jury's recommendation, and Cockburn
states that if certain circumstances which were established
in a precognition taken after the conviction by order of Sir
Robert Peel, then Home Secretary, had transpired on the
trial, it is more than probable that Jeffrey would have pre-
vailed on the jury to restrict their finding to culpable
homicide. " But in law it was a murder, and Peel, though
moved, was advised that she could not be spared. "(a) I
have failed to find any other reference to this extrajudicial
inquiry, of which no particulars seem to have been published.
The execution, which took place at the head of Libber-
ton's Wynd in the Lawnmarket on the appointed day,
attracted an immense concourse of people, estimated at not
less than 20,000, numbers of whom had arrived on the
preceding day from various parts of the country. "From
the site of the old Weigh House to the Exchange, the
multitude presented a solid mass ; and the windows and
house-tops within that space were also covered with
spectators."(?>) Cockburn has preserved a curious anecdote
of the occasion : " She died publicly, but gracefully and
bravely ; and her last moment was marked by a proceeding
so singular, that it is on its account that I mention her
case. She had an early attachment to an English Jew,
who looked like a gentleman, on the outside at least ; and
this passion had never been extinguished. She asked him
to come and see her before her fatal day. He did so ; and
on parting, finally, on her last evening, she cut an orange

(a) Circuit Journeys, p. 340.

(6) Scots Magazine, vol. xii. N.S. p. 637.

An Iv\k(;i tion at Liddkrtox's Wynd-ITead,

(Alt-T an ftcliiiig by Walti-r Geikift.)

THE STEANGE WOMAN 161

into two, and giving him one half, and keeping the other
herself, directed him to go to some window opposite the
scaffold, at which she could see him, and to apply his half
to his lips when she applied her half to hers. All this was
done ; she saw her only earthly friend, and making the
sign, died, cheered by this affection. Here the anecdote
ou^yht to have ended : and if it had been an invention, it
would have ended here. But see how nature's wonders
exceed those of art. She had left everything she had,
amounting to four or five thousand pounds, to her friend.
He took the legacy, but refused to pai/ the costs of her
defence, which her agent only screwed out of him by an
action, "(a)

The episode of the symbolic orange is also recounted by
George Combe, W.S., and may be read in his observations
on the cerebral development of Mrs. Mackinnon.(/>) The
philosopher makes a comparative analysis of the characters
of that lady and of David Haggart, another of Edinburgh's
black sheep, deduced by him from their "bumps," and
illustrated by certain grim engravings of their respective
heads, as shaved to facilitate the application of his art after
their owners had no further use for them. The woman's
features, of the Bourbon type, are surprisingly aristocratic,
and indicate an imperious temper. "It is impossible to
doubt," writes Combe, " that the murder of Mr. Howat was
committed on the impulse of the moment," and he finds upon
inquiry that Mrs. Mackinnon was " excessively prone to
rage," a weakness of which he gives several examples. To
her highly developed destructiveness he attributes the
complacency with which she viewed the death of her victim,
while her equally powerful secretiveness accounts in his
opinion for her persistent denial of guilt. Doubtless the
conclusions of the amiable scientist were not arrived at
without perusal of the Biograjohical Account before cited,
which furnishes many instances characteristic of the heroine's

{a). Journal, i. 142-143 ; Circuit Journeys, 340-341.

(b) Transactions of the Phrenological Society, Edinburgh, 1824, pp. 362-379.

162 THE STRANGE WOMAN

mentality. As might be looked for in one of her ill-regulated
life she was strongly emotional and superstitious, and her
volatile disposition was the despair of the ministers who
attended her while in prison. When they pointed out with
Whom all hope of mercy must ultimately lie, she remarked,
" But it can do no harm to try George IV. in the meantime " !

Despite its more than prosaic circumstances the case
begot upon the local Muse a little progeny of ballads, neither
better nor worse than those to which similar occasions have
o-iven birth. Of these, Mackinnons Ghost and Mary
Mackinnons Lament are not of much account, but Mac-
kinnons Garland, " To the Tune of ' Catherine Ogie,' "
rinss throuo;hout its dozen stanzas with a robustious ribald
humour, unfortunately too untrammelled for quotation.

Cockburn's reference to the baseness of Mrs. Mackinnons
residuary legatee regarding the costs of her defence has
o-iven me some trouble, and is difficult of verification.
I find that on 31st January 1825 there was tried in the
Jury Court, before Lord Chief Commissioner Adam, an action
by James Rutherford, W.S., against Robert Baird, accountant
in Edinburgh, for payment of the expense of defending the
late Mrs. Mackinnon on her trial. («) The defence was that
the defender did not employ the pursuer, nor did he subse-
quently render himself responsible for payment of the
account. The issue submitted, which had been approved
by Lord Meadowbank, before whom the action was raised in
the Court of Session, was as follows : " It being admitted
that the pursuer was employed as agent to conduct the
defence of the late Mrs. Mackinnon, and did conduct her
defence accordingly, — Whether the pursuer was so employed
by, and on the credit and responsibility of, the said Mrs.
Mackinnon ? or by, and on the credit and responsibility of,
the defender? or by, and on the credit and responsibility
of, the defender and Mrs. Mackinnon jointly ? " Fullarton
and Rutherford appeared for the pursuer ; Jefi'rey, Skene,

(a) Murray's Reports of Cases Tried in the Jury Court, vol. iii. p. 489.

THE STKANGE WOMAN 163

and Gillies for the defender. At the outset the Lord Chief
Commissioner observed that in this issue the only fact was
the employment ; the credit and responsibility were points
of law. He could not allow the jury to put a finding of
law upon the face of their verdict. The verdict might
either be on the fact, or a general verdict, the Court
stating the law. After evidence had been led, it was
argued for the pursuer that he was employed by Mrs.
Mackinnon and the defender, and that he did not deny
his liability till six months after her death, though there
had been frequent demands made upon him. Jeifrey replied
that no case had been made out ; it was only proved that
the defender assisted another person in defending Mrs.
Mackinnon, and made certain payments out of her funds.
The evidence showed that the pursuer was employed before
the defender saw him. His Lordship charged the jury, and
after reviewing the evidence, said : "As this is an issue
drawn in the Court of Session, I feel anxious as to the
verdict to be returned. If you think the pursuer has not
made out his case, you may find for the defender ; but if
you think he has made out his case, it is difficult to say
what finding you ought to return, as the verdict must be
returned to the Court of Session for that Court to find
the law. If a general issue had been sent, then a verdict
upon it w^ould have been a warrant for judgment here.
The issue would have been, whether the defender alone, or
along with Mrs. Mackinnon, undertook to pay, and the
jury could then have distinctly found oneway or other; but
here the question is so put, that if the jury make a return
in terms of the issue, it would be putting a point of law on
the face of the verdict. This you must try to avoid, and
will find for the pursuer or defender, according to the
opinion you have formed on the facts and circumstances."
The verdict, therefore, was simply " For the defender."

To the lay mind these particulars may perhaps, like the
bones to the prophet Ezekiel, seem "very dry," but they
are none the less relevant, as will presently appear.

164 THE STRANGE WOMAN

The Jury Court was then a comparative novelty in
Scotland. Instituted in 1816, it marked the introduction of
trial by jury in civil causes. "A separate court, a presiding
judge trained to English practice, special issues, and no more
extensive jurisdiction in matters of law than was indis-
pensable for the trial of facts, were all necessary at first,"
says Oockburn,(a) and of the Chief Commissioner he
remarks : " Adam had the misfortune to come into this new
scene under exaggerated expectations of what he was to
do" ; but he adds, "No one else could have either launched
or piloted it. "(6) So dissatisfied was Adam with Lord
Meadowbank's conduct of the case that he took what must
have been the very unusual course of reporting the matter
at length to Lord Chancellor Eldon. From the matter as
represented by him, " it cannot fail to appear," he wrote,
" not only how little the framing of issues is understood in
the Court of Session, but it also serves to exhibit the
difiiculties which have presented themselves in tryiug special
issues, from the commencement of the institution to the
present moment." Naturally Lord Meadowbank was
exceeding wroth with the Chief Commissioner, and in his
turn he addressed an open letter to the Lord Chancellor
on the vexed question of the issue in Rutherford v. Baird,
annexins: thereto the condescendence and answers of the
parties to that process. Printed copies of these documents
were circulated privately, and to one of them I am indebted
for the details. It seems from the record that the " other
person " mentioned by Jefi"rey as associated with the defence
was one Abraham Lyons, " who took an interest in Mrs.
Mackinnon's fate." This must be the English Jew of
Cockburn's anecdote, "who looked like a gentleman on the
outside," but I can find no trace of any attempt to " screw "
the costs out of him by an action. Meadowbank stoutly
combated the charge of incapacity brought against him
by the Chief Commissioner, and complained with justice of

(a) Memorials of His Time, 1856, p. 295.
(6) Ibid., pp. 296, 298.

THE STRANGE WOMAK 165

"that learned person" having refrained from all previous
communication with him on the subject, either before the
trial of Rutherford's case, or when preparing the address to
the Chancellor, and also of the circulation of the latter a
fortnicrht before it was brouorht to his notice. He maintained
that the issue was correctly framed, and that he was con-
firmed in that view by " the concurring opinions of the
whole counsel in the case." In conclusion, his Lordship
observed that he had formerly been obliged, in discharging
another public duty, to state to the Parliamentary Commis-
sioners " the great unpopularity of the Jury Court, and the
prejudices entertained against it, as well as the circumstances
to which those feelings were to be attributed." His doing
so could hardly fail to be remembered by its learned head,
who, like Queen Mary, may thenceforth have studied
revenge; but in 1830 the Jury Court ceased to exist as a
separate Court, and with it went the power of the Chief
Commissioner. A Parliament House wit likened it to the
garden of Eden : " because it was made for Adam." What
action, if any, the Lord Chancellor saw fit to take in the
matter does not appear.

Alexander Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank, second of that
judicial title and the friend of Sir Walter Scott, presided at
the famous Theatrical Fund Dinner in Edinburgh, on 23rd
February 1827, when the identity of " The Great Unknown "
was publicly revealed. " Meadowbank taxed me with the
novels," writes the Author of Waverley, "and to end the
farce at once I pleaded guilty, so that splore is ended."(a)
The first Lord Meadowbank was a man of great ability and
varied accomplishments, by whose shining qualities, in the
opinion of the Parliament House, his son and successor was
somewhat overshadowed. The latter is said once to have
interrupted the pugnacious John Clerk, who was pleading
before him, to ask the distinction between the words " also "
and "likewise," which counsel was reiterating in the course

(a) Journal of Sir Walter Scott, i. 364.

166 THE STRANGE WOMAN

of his argument, and which the judge deemed synonymous
terms. " Your Lordship's father," came the unexpected
retort, " was Lord Meadowbank ; your Lordship is Lord
Meadowbank also, but not likewise ! " Cockburn, however,
calls him a curious and able man ; and Mr. Omond remarks
of him that, " although not equal to his father, he was a
painstaking and conscientious judge. "(a)

(a) The Lord Advocates of Scotland, ii. 255.

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quale hoc hurly-burly fuit ! si forte vidisses
Pipantes arsas, et flavo sanguine breickas
Dripantee, hominumque heartas ad prcelia faintas.

— Polemo-Middinia.

THE causeway of Auld Eeikie was long regarded by
factious persons as an appropriate venue for the
settlement by combat of their private feuds, and the
resulting tulzies, to employ the technical term for such
rencounters, were of common occurrence in the capital.
Even readers unversed in the story of her turbulent past
will remember the conflict between the Seytons and the
Leslies, so vividly described in The Abbot, by which Sir
Walter illustrates and keeps in mind this old uncivil
custom. Contemporary annalists make repeated mention of
these public brawls. There was the famous street skirmish
in 1520 between the Hamiltons and the Douglases, known
as Cleanse the Causeway, when the latter, as Pitscottie
records, " keiped both the gaitt and their honouris"; and
that in 1551 between the Kerrs and the Scotts,

When the streets of High Dunedin
Saw lances gleam and falchions redden,
And heard the slogan's deadly yell —
Then the Chief of Branxholm fell.

We recall, too, how in 1593 Sir James Sandilands, one of
King James's minions, slew in a scuffle " at ye fitt of Leith
wynd " a Lord of Session against whom he bore a grudge,
and when in the following year the Lord Chancellor and
others sought to avenge the murder in a High Street tulzie,
his Lordship, finding the tide of battle unfavourable, " re-
teirit himself with glaydnes to the College of Justice,"

169

170 THE LAST TULZIE

as the Historic of King James the Sext quaintly reports.
Sandilands was sorely wounded, " bot convalescit agayne."
Robert Birrel, the old Edinburgh diarist, notes divers
instances of such affrays: "The 24 of November [1567],
at 2 afternoon, ye laird of Airthe and ye laird of Weeims
mett upone ye heigh gait of Edinburghe ; and they and
ther followers faught a verey bloudey skirmish, quher ther
wes maney hurte one both sydes vith shote of pistol." —
"The 4 day of November [1601], being ane fair day in Edr.
[that is, not a dry, but a market day] ane combat foughten
betwixt the Keirs and the Turnbulls, qr. yair wes grate
bluid."— "The 17 of Junii [1605], ane combat or tulzie
foughten at the salt tron of Edr. betwixt the laird of Ogle,
zounger, and hes complices, and the zoung laird of Pitt-
arow, Wischart. The faucht lastit frae 9 hours at night
till ij at night, twa hours. Yair wer sundrie hurt one both
sydes, and ane Guthrie slaine, which wes Pittarow's man,
ane verie prettie zoung man."

Nor did the contentious citizens rest satisfied merely
with internecine strife : a favourite variation was to com-
bine against constituted authority. An " Account of Mobbs
at Edinbg.," preserved among the Newcastle MSS. in the
British Museum, prepared for the instruction of the Govern-
ment during the affair of the Porteous riot, gives a succinct
resume of these metropolitan disturbances. Thus, " about
the year 1701 the Mob rose in Edinburgh, burst open
the Door of the Tolbooth, and released what Prisoners
they thought fit. This is commonly called the Darien
Mob." The next example is that of the mob which, in
1705, insisted on the hanging of Captain Green and his
crew, whom Queen Anne was disposed to pardon. The
deliberations of the Privy Council were distracted by a
furious multitude clamouring at their doors ; the Lord
Chancellor was attacked with stones and sticks, "his Coach
being broke to pieces, and my Lord run up the stairs of a
house." During the debates upon the Treaty of Union,
" the Mob were so insolent as to beat with stickes and clubs

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171

'S#:

The College Combat.
{From a Contemporary Drawing by Professor Edward Forbes.)

172 THE LAST TULZIE

at the very Door of the Eoom where the Parliament was
actually sitting," and the Lord High Commissioner and the
Lords of the Council, in passing between Holyrood and the
Parliament House, "durst not go in their coaches, but
were forced at the hazzard of their lives to walk with
their servants through the streets where the mob was
so assembled." Apparently the carriages of the great had
an inflammatory effect upon the passions of the Edinburgh
proletariat. Again, in 1734, "two Apprentices were put in
prison for a misdemeanour by the Magistrates," says the
same authority, with a fine disregard for the principles of
collocation, " upon which the Mob rose and marched
towards the Nether Bow Port, where Major Leighton met
them with the Canongate Guard ; the Mob attacked the
Troops with great stones and wounded the Major." Finally,
on the memorable night of 7th September 1736, the
citizens achieved international celebrity by the taking of
the Tolbooth and the lynching of Captain Porteous. That
was the last serious engagement, the mob in after years
finding sufficient relief for their unruly passions in the
periodic differences with the Town Guard, immortalised in
the poems of Robert Fergusson.

It is interesting to find from Steven's History of the
High School of Edinburgh, that even the scholars of those
times were rebellious beyond the common wont of boyhood,
and were often committed to prison and fined for their
misconduct. '' Barrinsi;-out " their masters was a regular
institution ; the pupils, well provisioned and armed, held
the old schoolhouse in the historic Yards, hard by the Cow-
gate Port, to which their long-suffering preceptors laid siege,
with varying success. Sometimes that seat of learning was
carried by assault, or the garrison, subdued by famine, would
surrender and be duly flogged ; sometimes, to the detriment
of discipline, the defenders enforced acceptance of their
terms, usually a week's holiday. In the general ameliora-
tion of manners brought about by the eighteenth century,
these academic tumults were commuted to the relatively

THE LAST TULZIE 173

blameless bickers, of which in the preface to Waverley
Scott gives so engaging an account ; but during the
enlightened reign of James the Sixth the High School bovs,
participating in the general licence of that golden age,
pushed their " privilege " so far as to incur a criminal pro-
secution before the High Court of Justiciary. The facts
as narrated by Birrel in his " Diarey," being strikingly
characteristic of the ways of Jacobean Edinburgh, are
sufficiently curious to warrant transcription. "The 15 of
September [1595], Johne Macmorrane slaine be the shott of
ane pistole out of the schooll. This Johne Macmorrane
being baillie for the tyme, the bairns of the said gramar
schooll came to the tounes counsell [the patrons of that
institution] conforme to yair zeirlie custome, to seek the
priuiledge, quha wes refusit ; upone the qlk, ther wes ane
number of schollaris, being gentelmens bairns, made ane
mutinie, and came in the night and tooke the schooll, and
prouydit yameselfis wt. meit, drink, and hagbutis, pistolet,
and suord : they ranforcit the dores of the said schooll, sua
yat yai refusit to let in yr. mr. [master] nor nae uthir man,
wtout they wer grantit ther privilege, conforme to yr.
wontit use. The Prouost and Baillies and Counsell heiring
tell of the same, they ordeinit Johne Macmorrane baillie,
to goe to the gramar schooll and take some order yrwt
[therewith]. The said Johne, with certein officers, went to
the schooll, and requystit the schollaris to opin the doreis :
yai refusit. The said baillie and officers took ane geast
[joist or beam] and rane at the back dore with the geast.
Ane schollar bad him desist from dinging up the dore,
utherways, he vouit to God, he wald shute ane pair of
buUetis throw hes heid. The said baillie thinking he durst
not shute, he, with his assisters, ran still wt. the geast at
the said dore. Ther came ane schollar callit William
Sinclair, sone to William Sinclair chansler of Catnes
[Chancellor of Caithness], and with ane pistolet shott out
at ane window, and shott the said baillie throw the heid,
sua yat he diet. I'ntlie [presently] the hail tounesmen

174 THE LAST TULZIE

ran to the schooll, and tuik the said bairns and put yame
in the tolbuith : hot the haill bairns wer lettin frie wtout
hurte done to yame for the same, wtin ane short tyme
yairafter."

There is a gap in the Justiciary Records for the period
from 1591 to 1596, so that unfortunately no official account
of the prosecution survives, but I find the matter referred
to upon the trial in 1612 of a boy named James Middleton,
"for the crewall Slauchter of umquhile Clement Mauchane,"
his comrade, " be streking of him with ane dirk under the
schorte ribbis, upon the diaphragma, quhilk is ane noble
pairt." Objection was taken to the indictment on the
ground that the accused was a minor of fifteen : " Lyk as, in
the accident that fell furth be the scolleris of the Grammer-
scole of Edinburgh, in slaying of Johnne Mcmorrane, being
ane bailzie, and in the execution of his office, this allegeance
being proponit in the persute intentit agains thame for the
said Slauchter, it was fi'und be Interloquitour of the Judge,
in respect of thair minoritie, that thai war nocht doli
capaces, and sa wer assoilzeit." To this the Crown replied :
" As to the practique allegit betuixt Johnne Mcmorrane and
the Chancellor of Caithnes Sone and the rest of the bairnes,
quhome the pannell allegis to haif bene persewit for the
said Johnne Mcmorranes slauchter, it is certain that all the
bairnes that war persewit and accuset for that slauchter
war within fourtene yeiris of age ; and thair was na Inter-
locutour gevin in that cause, bot the matter was tane up be
his Majesties expres Warrand." Further, the prosecutor
was able to prove that Middleton was in fact seventeen,
so the death penalty was pronounced, though afterwards
commuted to voluntary exile for life.

King James knew Macmorran personally ; he was fond
of dining with well-to-do citizens, and attended a few years
later a banquet given in the bailie's house in Riddle's Court,
a fine example of sixteenth-century domestic architecture,
unaccountably spared by the exterminators of our civic
treasures, who did not scruple to destroy the palace and

THE LAST TULZIE 175

oratory of a Catholic Queen to make way for a Free Church
hall. His Majesty was early informed of the tragedy ; the
Provost himself took the news to Falkland next morning.
After a month's confinement in the Tolbooth the youthful
malefactors petitioned to be brought to trial, and James was
graciously pleased to appoint 1st December as a suitable
date for that end. The relative Act of the Privy Council
is printed by Steven. Whatever the form of the proceed-
ings, it seems that pressure was brought to bear in high
quarters by the boys' relatives, who were persons of influence
and position, so that the King was persuaded to pardon
them. The chief culprit became in course of time Sir
William Sinclair of Mey. He married Katharine Ross,
daughter of the laird of Balnagowan, a lady who, like him-
self, had some experience of judicial procedure, having been
implicated in the notorious case of Lady Foulis, " dilatit of
certane crymes of Witchcraft," in 1590.

The long list of these picturesque barbaric happenings
is brought to a close in the nineteenth century by an occur-
rence at Edinburgh which I here propose to commemorate.
The circumstances of the aff"air, as briefly set forth by Sir
Robert Christison, an eye-witness, in his Autobiography,
were as follows: "One morning in 1838 a knot of street
boys at the College gate snowballed the assembling
students, who repaid the compliment with interest. Bigger
than boys then joined the fray, which led to a change
of weapons. 'Jam[qae] fasces et saxa volant.' The
conflict soon reached such dimensions as to call for the
interposition of the police. But the police interposed on
one side only — mistaking their business, which is that of
peacemaker, not of partisan. By-and-by the plan they fell
upon was to storm the College quadrangle, in which they
signally failed. One would suppose that, at this crisis at
least, the civic authorities might have bethought them of
calling in the aid of the professors, but in place of that they
sought the aid of the mob. With their support the quad-
rangle was attacked again, and again the assailants were

176 THE LAST TULZIE

repulsed. Night put an end to the combat, which was
renewed next morning with increased animosity. Severe
injuries were now sustained on both sides. The conflict
continued till night again approached ; but, except that
a good many bruises were inflicted and some prisoners
taken, no impression was made on the defenders of the
quadrangle. A bright idea now took possession of the
magistrates in command. A wing of the 79th Highlanders
was summoned from the Castle, and the quadrangle was
carried by four companions of foot, with forty rounds of
ball-cartridge in their pouches. The students, retreating
to the terraces, cordially cheered the military, but con-
tinued in no mood to yield to the police. A professor
[Dr. Christison himself] now got leave from the magistrates
to address them ; and a few words directed to their
common-sense induced them all to retire to their homes.
The authorities of the city made so much of this disturb-
ance, as to try five chief ofi'enders for riot. But lawyers
generally laughed at this device. By the witty counsel
for the defence — Mr. Robertson, afterwards on the Bench
— the trial was turned into a farce ; and after four [three ?]
days' patient hearing, the judge discharged the prisoners.
Nevertheless, at a distance, the snow tournament and police
scuffle were long looked at as a formidable riot ; and
Louis Philippe's Ministers, it was positively alleged, made
inquiry whether the row was not part of a general revolu-
tionary insurrection among the University students of
Europe. The whole afftiir was really nothing else than the
natural effervescence of youth, mismanaged by blundering
functionaries and an ill-trained constabulary."

Some time ago, by the kindness of the late Mr. H. B.
Irving, whose interest in everything connected with trials
was perennial, I acquired a volume of pamphlets relating
to the Students' Riot. This collection, once the property
of the great " Peter" Robertson and presented by him to his
learned friend J. A. Maconochie, includes (l) a report of
the judicial proceedings, prepared from the shorthand notes,

THE LAST TULZIE 177

and revised by the judge and counsel ; (2) " The University
Snowdrop : an Appendix to the Great Trial ; containing
a selection of Squibs, old and new, descriptive of the Wars
of the Quadrangle, and the Consequences thereof; with
magnificent Embellishments," consisting of eleven spirited
sketches of the chief scenes and characters in the drama,
two examples of which are here reproduced ; and (3) twenty -
three broad-side ballads, or war songs of the alumni, pub-
lished by certain Edinburgh stationers. From this so ample
reservoir my facts are drawn.

On Wednesday, 21st February 1838, Charles John
Dalrymple, Alfred Westmacott. John Aikenhead, Robert
Scott Skirving, and Edward Kellet, all students of Edin-
burgh University, appeared at the bar of the Sheriff Court,
charged upon the complaint of the Procurator Fiscal with
the crimes of mobbing, rioting, and assault, committed on
11th and 12th January, within the precincts of the College
and on South Bridge Street. Sheriff - Substitute Adam
Urquhart occupied the Bench ; Cosmo Innes, Advocate-
Depute, assisted by Archibald Davidson, conducted the
prosecution ; Patrick Robertson and Robert Whigham, the
defence.

The youthful prisoners were happy in their choice of
senior counsel. Patrick, familiarly "Peter," Robertson was
a notable personality at the Scots bar. Rotund and rosy,
jovial, wise, and humorous, he was the Andrew Jameson
of his day. Not only witty himself, but a source of wit
in others, "Peter" is the hero of many a good story,
some of which are preserved by Lockhart, by Professor
Wilson, and among the choice leaves of The Court of
Session Garland. You remember how " Peter," the centre
of a circle of unreverend juniors round the fireplace in the
Parliament House, saw approaching the high-domed head of
the Author of Waverley. " Hush, boys ! " cried he, " here
comes old Peveril, I see the Peak." " Ay, ay, man," re-
joined Sir Walter, " as weel Peveril o' the Peak ony day

as Peter o' the Painch." And at the Theatrical Fund

178 THE LAST TULZIE

Dinner in 1827, when Scott dropped his mask of anonymity,
he passed a note to "Peter": "Confess something too;
why not the murder of Begbie ? " Henry Cockburn often
mentions him, but the most lively picture of the man is
that given by Lockhart in Peter s Letters, as presiding, vice
two presidents retired in the course of the evening either
from exhaustion or other cause, at a Burns' Dinner in 1818 :
" Once in the chair, there was no fear of his quitting it
while any remained to pay homage due to his authority.
He made speeches, one chief merit of which consisted
(unlike Epic poems) in their having neither beginning,
middle, nor end. He sung songs in which music was not.
He proposed toasts in which meaning was not. But over
everything that he said there was flung such a radiance
of sheer mother-wit, that there was no difliculty in seeing
the want of meaning was no involuntary want. By the
perpetual dazzle of his wit, by the cordial flow of his
good humour, but above all by the cheering influence of
his broad, happy face, seen through its halo of punch-steam
(for even the chair had by this time got enough of the juice
of the grape), he contrived to diffuse over us all, for a long
time, one genial atmosphere of unmingled mirth. How
we got out of that atmosphere, I cannot say 1 remember."
Such was the champion whom the students delighted to
honour by the title of " Our Glorious Defender."

The evidence for the prosecution, as given by the magis-
trates, police, and selected citizens, tended to throw the
whole blame of the disturbances upon the students. The
first witness examined was Bailie Grieve — " asinus sed
hominus," a student squib proclaims him — whose shop at
the corner of Adam Square (the site is now occupied by
Chambers Street) adjoined the College on the north. On
Thursday, llth January, about 1 p.m. his attention was
directed to a riot in front of the College : the street was
crowded, snowballs were flying from the stairs and Quad-
rangle where the students were assembled, and the windows
of the opposite houses were being broken. He remon-

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179

Patrick Robektson.
{From a Contemporary Drawing hy Professor Edward Forbes.

180 THE LAST TULZIE

strated with the students, but to no effect. At three
o'clock a large body of them marched towards the North
Bridge. They assembled in front of the Police Office,
where those who had been arrested earlier in the day were
liberated. Orders were given to the police to attend next
morning to prevent a renewal of the disturbance. On
Friday the 12th, at 2 p.m., the stairs of the College were
"crammed full of students" armed with sticks, "sharpened
at the end as if for stabbino;." He again remonstrated
with them on the impropriety of their conduct, but his
admonitions were received with disrespect. He returned
at three o'clock with the Lord Provost and Bailie Sawers ;
the Provost addressed the students, who took it "very
ill." They held the stairs, the police made repeated baton
charges, and at each charge prisoners were taken. The
magistrates then adjourned to his (Grieves) shop to consider
the situation ; they decided to send for the military, as it
was " a dangerous riot," so the Provost and Bailie Sawers
went up to the Castle in a coach ; at four o'clock the troops
arrived, and quiet was restored. The police were exhausted
by their duties in connection with the trial of the Cotton
Spinners. " That was the other great trial," interjected
" Peter," who had conducted the defence of those worthies
on their prosecution before the High Court of Justiciary
from 3rd to 11th January, the first day of the College
combat. Cross-examined by Mr. Robertson, Bailie Grieve
admitted that on Friday the police were sent to protect
the students from annoyance by the mob. There were
two parties to the quarrel : students and townspeople. The
Riot Act was read in the Quadrangle after the soldiers
came ; no attempt was made to communicate with the
professors. Some of the people were assisting the police.
The crowd extended from Adam Square to Drummond
Street ; it was doing nothing and was quite peaceable.
There was no " intemperance " on the part of the police.

Lord Provost Forrest — the "Frosty old Fogo " of
the ballads — said he saw nothing of the disturbance on

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Thursday. At 2 p.m. on Friday, hearing that there was

a riot, he went to the College ; he found a great crowd of

people in the street, missiles flying from the College, and

windows crashing every minute. Police and students were

struggling on the stairs, the former were trying to force

the gates, which were shut against them. Captain Stuart

told him his men were exhausted. He then addressed the

combatants without effect, the tumult rather increasing,

and after consultation it was determined to summon the

troops, which he did in person. His Lordship was chaffed

unmercifully :

Studentes inquirant, " Si mater sua cognoscit
Filium out-esse?" Sed Frosty respondit nihil!

Cross-examined, the Provost was not aware whether or
not he was by virtue of his oftice Rector of the University.
It did not occur to him to communicate with the professors
before calling in the military. On Thursday afternoon he
saw a body of students, 600 strong, parading the North
Bridge. "You did not see me walking down at that time,
I presume?" asked "Peter"; "sed Frosty respondit nihil."
A crowd was expected in the city on account of the Cotton
Spinners' trial ; the coaches and canal boats were searched
for undesirables from Glasgow. He saw students bleeding
and with broken heads ; that, he supposed, was not done
by the military.

Captain Stuart, Superintendent of Police, said that on
Thursday a crowd of workmen gathered at the College.
He cleared the front of the building. Students were snow-
balling the crowd, and some of them were apprehended ;
they were liberated the same day. The police were sent
the next day to protect the students, who complained of
the tradespeople snowballing them. Learning of the riot,
he went to the College with an additional force. He found
a great crowd, the students holding the gates ; they made
a sally with sticks, and a conflict between them and the
police ensued. He considered the situation alarming and
dangerous to life. The students were driven back to the

182 THE LAST TULZIE

gates and some were arrested. Part of the crowd got into
the Quadrangle along with the police. He had to force
the gates in order to rescue his men within. Those appre-
hended resisted and were hurt ; there were injuries on both
sides. As his force was insufficient to quell the riot he
concurred in sending for the troops. Throughout, the
students were the aggressors, and the behaviour of the
police was temperate, "considering." Cross-examined, he
saw no impropriety on the part either of police or towns-
people. Two of the latter were arrested, one for throwing
a stone, another for assaulting a student, but they were
"helped off" by the crowd. The people who got into the
Quadrangle were assisting the police. They were perhaps
over-zealous and crushed forward violently ; some of them
had sticks and used them. Thirty-five students were
apprehended. The tumult lasted from two till four o'clock.
He himself was never in bodily fear. The police had
cleared the stairs before the troops came. If the students
had stopped resisting the police, the riot would have been
at an end.

Lieutenant Ker said that on Friday the students made
a rush from the College and attacked all and sundry with
their sticks. He himself was knocked down. The students
were driven back ; the police attacked the gates, got in,
and took the ringleaders. Professor Christison suggested
that his men should be withdrawn from the yard, and as
this was being done the students again attacked them. In
cross-examination, he admitted that the affair of Thursday
was merely a snowball bicker; the sally on Friday began
the trouble. The people were favourable to the police and
were assisting them to keep the peace. About 100 got
into the yard. The snowballing by the crowd did not con-
tribute to keeping the peace. No blame attached to anyone
but the students, and the general character of the crowd
was peaceable.

Lieutenant Thomson corroborated. Cross-examined, he
said that the police behaved with singular moderation and

THE LAST TULZIE 183

propriety. He saw certain students hurt and bleeding,
but had no idea how they came by their injuries. A
person named Thomson was poking at the students with
an umbrella; he was not arrested, as he was helping the
police to keep the peace. On the same principle none of
the crowd who struck the students with sticks was taken
into custody. The before-cited bard thus commemorates
the prowess of this unofficial peacemaker :

Thomsonus, hullyus in domus ill-famse Cougatus,
Armatus umbrello poket Studentes frustra,
Umbrella shiverabunt, et Thomson cut like the devil.

Hugh Paton, " carver and gilder, not glazier," said that
the police were defied and obstructed; he considered the
behaviour of the students to their fellow-creatures brutal.
" Had these fellow-creatures batons or not ? " asked Mr.
Robertson ; witness admitted that they had, but said the
students struck first. He was told on Thursday by a
student named Jones that there would be a worse row
next day, as the students were to come with bludgeons
to attack the police.

This closed the first day's proof, in which the prosecutor
had things pretty much his own way ; but his next witness,
Mr. Hutchison, surgeon, put a different complexion on the
matter. Though invited to bless the Crown case, like the
prophet Balaam on another occasion, the defence got the
benefit of his benediction. He said that for two days before
the fracas there was a long slide in front of the College.
On Thursday morning a number of apprentices and work-
men assembled there. These pelted the students with snow-
balls as they were going to their classes. The students
complained of ill-usage, and went in procession along the
North Bridge to the Police Office. They arranged to bring
sticks next day as the police would not protect them. In
cross-examination, he said that the students' complaints
were well founded ; the crowd prevented them from getting
into the College, and assailed them with divers epithets
refiecting alike upon their breeding, morality, and political

184 THE LAST TULZIE

tenets. (These opprobrious expressions are discreetly
rendered by the learned author already quoted : " damnatos
puppies, catamitosque Torios"; the principles of the mob,
of course, were purely Whig.) He was frequently at the
College, trying to collect the scattered members of his class.
On Friday the same thing occurred ; the students were
abused by the mob, whom the police made no attempt to
disperse. He was refused by an officer admission to the
College. Many of the students were cut and bleeding ;
those taken prisoner were ill-treated by the crowd. Had
the mob been moved on there would have been no trouble.
It was largely composed of Tron Church loafers, " usually
denominated blackguards."

John Crearar, whose shop was opposite the College,
described what he saw of the fighting ; he could not say
who were the aggressors on Friday ; a number of black-
guard boys began the trouble on Thursday.

The next witness was P.C. Alexander Gunn, No. 18,
the most unpopular member of the force. A truculent
ruffian, who had savagely abused the students, he figures
prominently in all the ballads of the battle. " Fire away,
Gunn!" was "Peter's" greeting, when this paladin entered
the lists. After giving, in chief, the official version of the
riot, Gunn's fire was drawn by Mr. Robertson. No snow-
balls, he alleged, w^ere thrown at the students except by two
small boys, " who dispersed away immediately after." The
crowd used neither violence nor improper language ; there
never was any rioting on the part of the people and no
occasion to remove them. He did not know whether the
mob was right or wrong in pushing towards the College.
Macdonald, a baker, and others were assisting the police.
He could not tell how many students he himself knocked
down, whether 10, 20, 50, or 100. He did not remember
whether or not he had knocked down a professor : they
were all alike " depredators " to him. He had used no
abusive language. He did not know how many policemen
were on duty that day, perhaps 100 ; the opposing force

THE LAST TULZIE 185

was 30 times as strong. Whereupon the cross-examination
continued as follows : " Do you mean to say there were
3000 men armed with sticks against you ? " — " If I had had
time to count them I would have been better able to tell
you." — "And you expect me to believe that?" — "I don't
care whether you believe it or not." — "You were quite cool
and collected at the time ? " — " I was cool in my mind,
though my body was warm " — an answer which afforded
the ballad-makers matter for endless mirth.

Half-a-dozen lesser satellites of the force told the same
tale, and identified the pannels as "depredators"; Macdonald,
the baker, who had received Is. lOjd. for assisting to keep
the peace with a stick, endorsed the ofticial story ; and Dr.
Black, surgeon of police, certified that he had treated two
constables for wounds received upon the field of battle.
Cross-examined, he admitted attending at the Police Office
four students who were severely injured and cut about the
head. With the putting in of the prisoners' declarations,
which were admitted by Mr. Kobertson, the Crown case
closed.

The evidence for the defence may be more briefly stated,
the rather that it entirely exculpates the pannels of the
crimes charged. The first two witnesses. Walker and
Maclachlan, whose places of business were opposite the
College, saw the whole proceedings. They said that the
trouble began by workmen snowballing the students, who
at first were very patient. Tradespeople, women, and boys
participated in the assault. On Friday afternoon a student
who was struck in the face ran out to catch his assailant ;
he was seized by the police, his friends made a sally to
rescue him, and a battle of batons and sticks followed. The
crowd and the police began the tulzie ; they were actino-
together, such students as were captured were very roughly
handled, and the police behaved with unnecessary violence.
Had they dispersed the crowd, there would have been an
end of the fray.

Mr. Lawrence Douglas, advocate, said that the students

186 THE LAST TULZIE

were hustled by the mob and had to take refuge in the
archways. The mob and the police were clearly acting in
concert, the conduct of the latter was unjustifiable through-
out, and their treatment of prisoners needlessly severe.

Captain Jones, R.N., who lived at the corner of
Drummond Street, saw workmen assemble at one o'clock on
Friday. Some occupied the entries opposite the College.
From their appearance and conversation he gathered that
they were met for a disturbance : they were armed with
bludgeons, and said that they expected " fine fun." At
half-past two an armed crowd rushed "in torrents" into
the College yard ; some had two hats on, " but only one
head each." He tried to stem the rush, but the police
refused his aid : their conduct was unjustifiable and dis-
graceful. When a student was captured, the behaviour
of the mob was of the most savage kind, and nothing
was done to repress it.

Professor Christison, whose appearance in the box was
hailed with cheers, said that from his room in the front of
the College he watched the Friday's melee. There was
a great crowd of workmen. One student ran out towards
Drummond Street, others followed in a wedge, the police
rushed upon them, and a conflict ensued. He afterwards
went out to the Quadrangle, where he found the police and
mob, who were acting together, fighting with the students.
He sussested to Lieutenant Ker to remove his men and
clear the area of the mob, which was partially done. No
communication was made by the magistrates to the Univer-
sity authorities ; there was nothing to prevent them doing
so. When the troops arrived the students withdrew to
the terraces ; he addressed them and they dispersed. Some
were thereupon apprehended, which they considered unfair.
He had a correspondence with Bailie Sawers on the subject,
with a view to their being leniently dealt with. These
letters were then read by witness ; and a passage in the
Bailie's, referring to the students as " a class of young men
who, when once they have passed the Ribicon [sic], have

THE LAST TULZIE 187

shewn themselves to be somewhat troublesome customers,"
delio"hted the audience, and became an "owercome" of the
students' song;s. The lads, continued Dr Christison, acted
throughout on the defensive and with 2;reat forbearance ;
they were under the impression that the magistrates had
no jurisdiction within the College area. Workmen of "a
very inflammatory appearance " took part with the police.
If the crowd had been dispersed there would have been
no disturbance.

Mrs. Kennedy, whose shop was opposite the College,
enjoyed the distinction of being, with the exception of the
Provost's mother who had not a speaking part, the only
lady in the cast. She saw a student dragged out of the
College by the hair and beset by three men, one of whom
was a policeman.

Mr. Eagle Henderson was at the College at 2 p.m. on
Friday. The mob and police were attacking the gates,
which the students were defending. The police, supported
by "blackguards, boys, and carter fellows," rushed the
gate. A butcher in a red nightcap led the charge. Such
prisoners as were taken were very roughly handled, the
police being unnecessarily severe. This closed the second
day's proof.

At the resumed hearing, seven students who had
sustaiijed injuries gave their several experiences of the
campaign. They proved aggravated assaults by the police
and their " concurrents," including a butcher, a baker, a
drunk carter, and the umbrelliferous Thomson. Some of
the students were rendered insensible by blows, many
were wounded, and it appeared that Gunn, " the eighteen
pounder," as Mr. Robertson pleasantly termed him, had
specially distinguished himself by his ferocity. One student
was arrested merely for calling, " Shame ! " when he saw a
companion ill-treated. The tale of Paton, the Crown wit-
ness, as to the students' preparation for Friday's fight, was
denied by the other parties to the conversation. The
defence closed with the evidence of the College janitor, who

188 THE LAST TULZIE

on Thursday complained to the police of the mob throwing
stones at the gates, but was told to mind his own business ;
they refused to arrest the offenders. On Thursday he went
to the Police Office to lodge a formal complaint ; he was
informed that they had no time to listen to him and that
if he persisted, they would take him up ! Later, in the
Quadrangle, he was assaulted by a collier with a piece of
coal in his hand, who said, " I am a constable ! " and tried
to apprehend him.

The Advocate-Depute then addressed the SheriflF, who
sat as judge and jury. The case, he said, was an ordinary
Police Court one, and was only brought in that form out of
delicacy, to allow the conduct of the police to be discussed.
The charge was of mobbing, rioting, and assaulting certain
police officers, and persons active in the riot were equally
guilty of the separate assaults committed. The attempt to
show that the magistrates were terrified and confused had
failed, but he admitted that their sending for the troops
was a mistake. The evidence of Captain Stuart and his
subordinates was unshaken ; no attack had been made on
their character or credibility except in the case of Gunn,
who might be censured for loss of temper but not for
wilful deceit or concealment of the truth — having no
precise knowledge on the subject of the questions put to
him, he did not choose to favour his interrogator with a
conjecture. As to Paton, he might have heard the state-
ment he spoke of from someone else and mistaken his
informant. Counsel then reviewed the facts of the case :
on Thursday, a general snowball bicker, in which the police
interfered and were grievously assaulted by the students,
and the resolution of the latter to bring sticks next
day ; on Friday, a phalanx of students rushing towards
Drummond Street, beaten back by the police, and holding
against them the gates, which, with the assistance of
persons in plain clothes, were forced. No doubt the
students thought that the College was their castle and that
they were entitled to defend it. As the magistrates could

THE LAST TULZIE 189

not reach the professors they unwisely sent for the troops.
Of course, had the crowd been removed the riot would have
ended, but the police had to judge which party was to
blame. None of the witnesses for the defence saw the
be^inninff of the disturbance, and could neither know who
were the aggressors nor the provocation received by the
police which palliated what degree of roughness was used.
It was immaterial whether or not the magistrates acted
prudently, or whether the police executed their orders with
discretion ; such proved resistance to authority was im-
proper and illegal, and by every principle of law he was
entitled to a conviction against all the pannels.

In contrast to the prosecutor s colourless and half-hearted
address the speech for the defence was a psean of victory
in which ridicule and righteous wrath were happily com-
mingled. Mr. Robertson at the outset observed that this
was a case which it was difficult to treat except with scorn
and lauohter. Had he had the honour to be Advocate-

Depute— "which, indeed, I once had, but, alas! only for a
very short time " — he would have abandoned at an earlier
stage such a preposterous, pitiful, and contemptible pro-
secution. " We are here, my Lord, in a court of justice ;
we have a libel, we have a judge, we have two Crown
lawyers, and we have five prisoners. We have had nine-
teen witnesses examined on the one side, and eighteen on
the other. We have produced in evidence three ' or thereby '
bludgeons, and we are engaged at the close of the third day
in an investigation which my learned friend says ought to
have been settled in the Police Court and in a few minutes.
He is right. It ought to have so terminated — yes, I say so
too — and that by the punishment of the police and the
mob." Of the evidence of the only unbiassed witnesses for
the Crown, Mr. Hutchison, the surgeon, and Mr. Crearar,
the grocer, his learned friend said not one word ; they were
important witnesses for the defence. Adding them there-
fore to his own list, and deducting students against police-
men, he had Professor Christison, Mr. Walker of the Agency

190 THE LAST TULZIE

Office, Mr. Maclaclilan, the bookseller, Mr. Douglas, the
advocate, Captain Jones, R.N., and his case was further
adorned by the presence of the fair Mrs. Kennedy, the pro-
cession appropriately closing with the College janitor. This
was a most serious charge which, if tried in another place,
might have been followed by transportation ; let them see
what were the terms of the indictment. " Whereas, by the
laws of this, and every other well-governed realm — " Mr.
Innes : "Is that in the indictment?" Mr. Robertson:
" No, it is not. It is omitted, and no wonder ; for the
present is not a prosecution, I admit, according to the laws
of this or any other well-governed realm. Well, then, after
naming the students, it goes on to say that they ' have been,
all and each, or one or more of them, guilty of the crimes of
mobbing and rioting and assault, or one or other of them,
actors, actor, or art and part : in so far as, on the 11th day
of January, 1838, or about that time, a mob or great number
of disorderly and evil-disposed persons did violently and
tumultuously assemble ' — that is the poor students, I suppose,
goino- to and from their classes — ' and did, within the area
and precincts of the College or University of Edinburgh,
and on South Bridge Street opposite or near to the said
College or University, conduct themselves in a riotous and
outrageous manner, to the disturbance of the public peace,
and to the terror and alarm of the lieges, and did throw
snowballs or other missiles at them ' — that is, at the lieges.
But the outrages did not stop here, for these evil-disposed
persons also did throw snowballs at ' several carts and
carriages passing along or near to the said street, and at
the windows and other parts of the houses or shops or other
premises in the said street.' That is on the Thursday,
and then the same horrible things are charged on the
Friday." (I omit, for lack of space, the "laughter" with
which each sentence of this passage is punctuated.) After
stating the law in regard to mobbing and rioting, as
laid down in Alison's Principles of Criminal Law, Mr.
Robertson said that all the elements which constitute that

THE LAST TULZIE 191

crime were lacking. The students were met there for a
purpose perfectly lawful, namely, attending their classes ;
the extramural mob of Tron Church loafers — those delicate
creatures — were not lawfully assembled, and the magistrates
and police were bound to disperse them ; therefore, to add
to all the absurdities of that exhibition, the Crown had got
the wrong prisoners at the bar. Further, the crime must
be "to the fear of the lieges." Had any of Her Majesty's
subjects stated that he was at all alarmed ? Even Gunn,
though "hot in body," was "cool in mind." The Lord
Provost suffered no offence, albeit that " some kind inquiries
were made respecting the welfare of one who I trust has
lived to enjoy the exaltation of her progeny." When he
(counsel) asked the witnesses, " Were you in bodily terror ? "
they laughed in his face. " Bodily terror from a bicker of
the College students ? Come, come, you are a well-known
joker, Mr. Peter, but that is coming it too strong ! " Again,
Alison instanced "assemblies for purposes nowise illegal,
though sometimes contrary to good morals, as football " —
he wondered whether the Professor of Moral Philosophy
would agree that football was contra honos mores — "cock-
fighting, and the like " — which doubtless meant snowballing.
Then there must be " a common design." This was not a
meal mob, nor an election mob ; it was a mob in search of
learning : the students wished to get to their classes, that
was the common design. On no ground of law, therefore,
could a conviction in that case be secured. AVith regard
to the facts, his only difficulty was to know when to stop,
for he had everything to say in his clients' favour and
could not even imagine anything to be said against
them. Having, with characteristic comments, reviewed
the evidence with which the reader is already familiar, Mr.
Robertson said that the row was begun by the mob and
that the police behaved most shamefully. " The towns-
people were supported by a police which is the disgrace of
this metropolis, the most expensive, I believe, in Europe,
and at the same time, as these proceedings have proved,

192 THE LAST TULZIE

the most inellicient and the most brutal." Before the first
sally of the students the magistrates, to quell the forth-
coming riot, sent for Her Majesty's 79th Regiment of Foot.
It was a foolish, a preposterous step. The Provost and the
Bailie decided to pass the " Ribicon " ; they went up to the
Castle in a hackney coach. They were afraid of Cotton
Spinners concealed in canal boats and in the boots of
coaches, yet they sent the troops out of the way to quell
a college row ! These wiseacres never thought of reading
the Riot Act ; but the Procurator-Fiscal, knowing that it
was unusual to send for the military before that had been
done, put a copy in his pocket and marched down to the
College. " The drums are beating and the trumpets are
sounding while the Act is reading, in order to quell the
riot which the police themselves had created, aided and
abetted by their extramural force. For although they
were wearied out by the Cotton Spinners' trial, they had
able aid : they had the red-capped butcher, and the super-
numerary baker with his Is. lOjd., neither more nor less,
for one night's service. They had the drunken carter, they
had the chairmaker with his umbrella poking about, and
they had a collier dug up for the occasion. I trust 1 may
say without ofience that he is one of the loiver orders.
They had all this aid, and they were struggling — to do
what? They were struggling to force open the College
gates, in order that this ferocious mob and still more
ferocious police might get at the students who were only
doing what was lawful. They never thought of dispersing
the mob which was doing what was unlawful — oh, no ! —
but they gently put them back : ' Adieu, they cried, and
waved their lily hands.' They returned, however, again to
the charge. ' Come on,' quoth the butcher ; ' Strike hard,'
quoth the baker ; ' I'm a constable,' quoth the collier, with
a bit of diamond as his badge of office ; ' Remember my old
horse,' quoth the carter ; ' Follow me, I hope I don't
intrude,' quoth Paul Pry with his umbrella. And before
all this had taken place, before all this scene of blood, of

THE LAST TULZIE 193

desolation and dismay, the Lord Provost, with Bailies
Sawers and Grieve, are coolly sitting in the latter's shop,
whence, after solemn deliberation, they send for the
military to quell that disturbance which was owing to their
own stupidity, the ferocity of the mob, and the mingled
absurdity and brutality of the police ! " He did not suggest
perjury on the part of Paton, who was merely a timid
blockhead and had dreamed of bludgeons ; yet it was the
stupidity and fear of this one man which had prevailed on the
Provost and Bailie Sawers to pass the " Ribicon." The Cotton
Spinners' trial was a tragedy ; this was a farce. But the
farce had its serious aspect. Were students to be insulted
in this way with impunity ? Was the University to be
thus disgraced ? Were the inhabitants to be taxed for a
police to beat out the brains of the students of Edinburgh ?
He called for an inquiry, he called for proceedings against
the police, and as a citizen and a gentleman he publicly
declared that the matter ought to be thoroughly investi-
gated. Every one of the unbiassed witnesses swore that
the police were acting in concert with the crowd and
against the students. "That impudent blackguard Gunn
— for blackguard I do call him — who did not know whether
the police establishment consisted of 100 or 1000 men, who
did not know whether he had knocked down 10 or 50 men,
who struck the blows, I doubt not, that laid some of these
young gentlemen on a bed of sickness — he would bully me at
this table, and would presume to talk before this Court in the
manner he did ; and yet would have you believe that the
evidence he gave was trustworthy." In a moving perora-
tion Mr. Robertson besought his clients when they were
dismissed from the Bar, as he was convinced they would be,
to bear their triumph modestly, and by orderly conduct
and attention to their studies to show the authorities that
they could exhibit that noblest sentiment of the human
heart, forgiveness for wrongs received ; and when the excite-
ment had passed away, which was not caused by them but
by the folly and recklessness of others, they would have the

194 THE LAST TULZIE

satisfaction of knowing that on their side they had
acted an honourable part, and had done nothing incon-
sistent with that dignity and high honour a deep sense
of which he trusted the Scottish youth would always
cherish.

When the loud and long-continued cheering which
followed these remarks had subsided, the Sheriff pronounced
judgment. His Lordship observed that in trying the case
without a jury he was placed in the invidious position of
having to determine both as to the law and the credibility
of the evidence. In regard to the proceedings of Thursday,
he was satisfied that there was no evidence upon which the
first charge could be maintained. On Friday the magistrates
sent the police "to protect the students." From the
evidence of Captain Jones it was quite clear that a body of
workmen, armed with sticks, were employed by the police,
and that other persons so armed occupied the entrances and
doorways opposite the College. These preparations were
not for a mere snowball bicker. The students also had
sticks, but they had a perfect right to go to the College
and the people had no right to be loitering there. Their
demeanour and language convinced Captain Jones that
these persons were preparing for a fray. As the police
ofticers were not upon their trial his Lordship would not
comment on their conduct, whatever opinion he might have
formed of it ; but the violence to prisoners proved against
the policemen was certainly culpable in a very high degree,
and the behaviour of the mob was disgraceful. The snow-
balls thrown at the students by those who had already
exasperated them, which led to the sally, was the first
aggression ; after that, the police regarded the mob as
friends and supporters, and their joint energies were
directed against the students. Any damage done to property
being over, the police were not justified in forcing them-
selves, mixed with members of the mob, into the College
yard. The first provocation was not given by the students,
and consequently not by the accused. His Lordship there-

THE LAST TULZIE 195

fore found the panuels not guilty, and dismissed them
simpliciter from the Bar.

So ended, in the triumphant acquittal of the
"depredators," the last action in that notable campaign,
which, if it redounded but scantly to the wisdom of the
City Fathers and the humanity of the ostensible preservers
of the peace, at least afforded the citizens three days'
amusement and inspired to entertaining purpose the song-
ful sons of Alma Mater. Not all their strains are admir-
able ; but the dog- Latin fragment in the Virgilian manner,
so often quoted in this paper, entitled Frosteidos and
commencing :

Frosty policeque cano, Reekie qui primus ab office
In High Street, ad College veniebant quellere riot,

is a worthy pendant to the racy jeu desjyrit of Drummond
which furnishes my inceptive tag.

The students' witty champion, who five years later as
Lord Robertson ascended the supreme Bench, was less
happy than his clients when he himself adventured upon
the perilous seas of poesy. Lockhart appended by way of
epitaph to a review in the Quarterly of his Lordship's
volume of reprehensible verse. Gleams of Thought reflected
from Milton, etc., the following pungent distich :

Here lies that peerless paper peer, Lord Peter,
Who broke the laws of God and man and metre.

It is recorded of "Peter" that he waxed exceeding wroth.
This probably was the sole occasion on which that genial
jester failed to see the joke ; but the man was mortal, and
had written a book.

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF
LINLITHGOW

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

Thou canst not slave
Or banish nie ; I will be free at home,
Maugre the bearde of greatnesse.

— Antonio's Revenge.

THIS title is not my own ; neither is it taken, as might
appear, from one of Lord Dunsany's delicate and
fantastic tales. It properly belongs to a curious scarce old
pamphlet by a learned scholar and grammarian, Mr. James
Kirkwood, in which he sets forth at length the story of the
" weel kenn'd " plea so long depending between himself and
his patrons, the Provost, Magistrates and Council of Lin-
lithgow, together with the manifold and grievous wrongs
sustained by him at the hands of that unconscionable
Corporation. There are in fact two accounts of this
memorable business, issued by Kirkwood in his own
defence: (1) "A Short Information of the Plea betwixt
the Town Council of Lithgow and Mr. James Kirkwood
School-Master there, Whereof a more full Account may
perhaps come out hereafter " ; and (2) " The History of the
Twenty-Seven Gods of Linlithgow : Being an exact and
true Account of a Famous Plea betwixt the Town- Council
of the said Burgh and Mr. Kirkwood Schoolmaster there.
Seria Mixta Jocis . . . Edinburgh, Printed in the Year
MDCCXI," in which the promise of the earlier tract is
amply fulfilled.

The author himself disclaims responsibility for his title.
In an "Advertisement" printed on the back of it he says :
"Pray, good Peader, do not stumble at the odd kind of

190

200 THE TWENTY- SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

Title given this Book : It not being Mr. Kirkwood's Con-
trivance, but what the Members of the Town-Council
assume to themselves, as you'll see elsewhere " — which we
shall in due course do. Of the fuller account of the affair
he remarks that it "well deserves to be intitul'd Tlie
Histoiy of the tiventy-seven Gods of Lithgow ; wherein you
shall see such ridiculous and droll Stuff', such wild and
extravagant Acts, such cruel and illegal Pranks, that tho'
you made search into the whole Records of all the Burghs
in this Kingdom from their first erection to this day, you
shall not meet with any thing that can parallel this."
That it were idle to set bounds to the folly and wickedness
of mankind in general and of Town Councils in particular,
lovers of Old Edinburgh, lamenting the civic vandalism of
which she has been the victim, would be the last to deny ;
but Mr. Kirkwood's claim for the unique and pre-eminent
villainy of his municipal oppressors may be admitted. The
story, he further observes, " looks liker a Romance than a
Law plea, and would be no ill Subject for a Comedie, if it
could end well " ; and of a truth it does form a most divert-
ing interlude in the dour ecclesiastical drama of which

Scotland was so long the theatre. Unluckily the powers
responsible for the production of the piece forbade a happy
ending : Virtue indeed was vindicated, but Vice remained
practically triumphant and unpunished.

From the flight of King James in December 1688 to the
establishment of Presbyterianism in June 1690, known in
history as the Revolution period, the affairs of the Kirk in
Scotland were, even for them, in a state of more wild con-
fusion than usual. The Abbey Church at Holyrood was
plundered ; and the " rabbling of the Curates," as described
by Patrick Walker, the biographer of the Saints of the
Covenant, soon showed the Episcopal clergy what they had
to look for at the hands of their Presbyterian brethren.
The position of an established minister must at that date
have implied a very insufficient sense of stability. It is in
the early stages of those turbulent doings that the incidents

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 201

with which we are concerned took place. The popular
belief in the immense preponderance of the Presbyterian
element at the time has been well described as an interested
and modern assumption. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, the genial
minister of Inveresk, himself admits " that when Presbytery
was re-established in Scotland at the Revolution, after the
reign of Episcopacy for twenty-nine years, more than two
thirds of the people of the country, and most part of the
gentry, were Episcopals." (a)

A notable exception to his class was one Walter Steuart
of Pardovan, in the county of Linlithgow, a gentleman of
views violently Presbyterian, and the author of an
exhaustive (and exhausting) treatise touching the worship,
discipline and government of the Kirk. (6) His was the
moving spirit in the Linlithgow Town Council, and when
we first make his acquaintance he was about to be elected
Provost of the burgh. A young man for so considerable
an office, he had received his early education in the local
grammar school at the hands of Mr, James Kirkwood.
Whether or not the dominie had spared the rod, it is clear
that Pardovan was a spoilt child.

Since 1674 Mr. Kirkwood had held the post of school-
master at Linlithgow, bestowed upon him by the then
Town Council. At the time of his appointment he was
" Governour to my Lord Bruce," son of the Earl of
Kincardine, at the College of Glasgow, where he lodged
with Dr. Burnet, then Professor of Divinity there, and
afterwards the celebrated Bishop of Sarum. Kirkwood was
a scholar of repute, "being Famous for his special skill in
Teaching Youth, particularly by his framing and publishing
a new Latin Grammar (c) and E/hetorick,((i) very much
approved by most of all the Learned Men of this Kingdom,"

(a) Autobiography, 1860, p. 249.

(b) Collections and Observations Methodiz\l . . . in Four Books. Edinburgh,
1709.

{d) Ehetoricw Oompcndium, ciii siibjicittir de Analyst Tractatuucula.

202 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

and it "was not without " very much entreaty and good
offers" that he was prevailed upon to accept the duty of
giving the young of Lithgow the benefit of his experience.
He was most particular as to the conditions of his service,
refusing to be " stinted " or limited as regards its duration ;
and he was admitted " in general and absolute terms, as
all Professors of Liberal Arts use to be, implying Ad
Vitam vel Culpam, as his Act of Admission bears." A
yearly salary of 400 merks was the measure of his
remuneration. So for fourteen years he continued to
discharge his functions " to the great satisfaction of that
place, living inoffensively without the least shadow of any
stain, and duly receiving all the Emoluments and Profits "
pertaining to his office.

But, alas, when King James so inconsiderately cast
away his crown he also disposed, among other things
more momentous, of the poor schoolmaster's peace of mind.
Among the minor consequences of the Revolution was the
turning out of the Jacobite Town Council, their place being
taken by Presbyterian Whigs of the deepest religious and
political dye. Kirkwood was something of a rare bird in
those days : a broad-minded tolerant man, of moderate
principles in Church matters, as became his philosophic
calling. Though himself adhering to the Episcopal Church
of Scotland as by law established, he tells us that " he
blames no Man for being of this or that Opinion, especially
in Things that are of themselves not simply necessary to
a Christian Life ; and craves the like Favour of them :
Humbly judging private Persons are to keep within their
Sphere, and for Peace's sake to submit to many things and
to comply with them, tho' inconvenient in their Judgment,
yet not sinful, such as are most of these Things which make
so great Stir in this Kingdom and destroy the very Life of
Christianity, which consisteth in Sobriety, Justice and
Devotion ; but these are eaten up and consumed by the
Unchristian Management and Prosecution of small and
inconsiderable Difterences. We tithe Mint and Cummin,

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 203

and omit the main and absolutely necessary Duties of
our Religion." These sentiments, however praiseworthy,
proved highly unpalatable to the new authorities, who, in
Kirkwood's phrase, " being all Biggotly Presbyterian," had
scant sympathy with such views, and determined to punish
their exponent by forcing him from ofEce and depriving
him of his means of livelihood.

On 12th April 1689 the pious and purified Town
Council "sent in a most tumultuous Manner a Party of
Musqueteers" to command the two parish ministers to
remove from their charge, " that they might place better
in their Room." Until possession of the parish church (a)
could be obtained it was arranged that the true evangel
should be preached " in the Provost's (6) own Kitchin " ; and
on the following day Pardovan " in a A^ery magisterial
manner" intimated to Mr. Kirkwood that unless he
attended these extra-mural lectures " he should not be
long Schoolmaster in Lithgow." Mr. Kirkwood very
properly replied that he had " no freedom " to go to their
meeting-house — probably he deemed the venue savoured
more of digestive than of devotional exercises. " He
refused to forsake the publick Place of Worship till either
the Convention of Estates that was newly sit down, or the
then ensuing Parliament, should make a change in the
Government [of the Church]." In whatever alteration
might so be made he was prepared to acquiesce, "for he
thinks it his Duty to follow, and not to run before the
Laws in these matters." There was certainly nothing
restrictive in his religious opinions. "He can hear
Presbyterian, Episcopal, Papist, yea, a Turk or Heathen
make a good discourse," but at that juncture he was sure
that his going to the meeting-house would give offence to
many on both sides ; " some were already stumbling to see
him so frequently conversing with the Provost, and he can

(a) The venerable Gothic Chapel of St. Michael, in which James the Fourth
received supernatural warning of the di,-a.ster awaiting him at Flodden.
(6) Pardovan was then Provost designate.

204 THE TWENTY-SEVEN" GODS OF LINLITHGOW

instance them that cry'd to him in the High Street, ' Turn
Coat, Turn Coat ! ' " Those who did so were strangely
ill-informed as to their fellow-townsman's character.

A fortnight later Pardovan was elected Provost. He
at once sent for the schoolmaster and urged him to attend
the meeting-house on the ensuing Sabbath, " to counten-
ance his Lordship's first Entry there " ; but Mr. Kirkwood
declined. To do so would be, he said, to forsake all his
own friends and learn a new language ; to abandon the
form of worship " establish'd by the supreme Powers of the
Nation and go to a private Meeting-House (Pardovan's
own Kitchin), then only connived at or at most tolerated,
neither Threats nor Allurements can prevail with him."
Pardovan used all methods and arguments to persuade
him to forsake the Church, " thinking if he left it many
would follow his Example. Frequent communing they
had about it, but all in vain." Finding him so firm the
Provost lost his temper, of which he appears to have had
imperfect control ; " You have," said he, " the most
malignant Spirit of any Breathing, and ought not to be
conversed with." This " in a great liage and Passion, on
the High Street, and in view of many People."

The magisterial vengeance was first manifested by the
Provost advising divers persons of quality to withdraw
their children from the school, in which spiteful scheme,
owing to the pusillanimity or sectarian bias of the parents,
he was partially successful. His next step was to quarter
on Mrs. Kirkwood, in her husband's absence " in time of
School Vacance," four men and four horses, although none
of the neigfhbourinpc households had a single soldier billeted
upon it. "Had Mr. Kirkwood been at Home, he would
have given them a better Stable in the middle of his
School, and he was sure to furnish them with as many old
Theams and Grammars as their Horses could eat several
Months." These measures failing signally to subdue the
dominie's spirit, the Provost and Council on 12th October
" made an Act, reducing his Salary from 400 to 300 Merks

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 205

a Year." This they did, not only without his consent, but
without his knowledge, the formal agreement between the
parties being treated, more Germanico, as a scrap of paper.
On 19th October the Provost sent for Mr. Kirkwood and
intimated to him the Council's decision. "If you will
not submit to it," said he, "you must flit and remove."
"That's another Question," replied the schoolmaster, and
a vexed one indeed it was to prove. Next day two of the
Bailies called upon him " to see if they could make up the
Peace." As the parties were coming to "a good Agree-
ment" the Provost burst in upon their deliberations.
"Master Kirkwood," said he, "you cannot but acknow-
ledge that you are exceedingly obliged to the good Town,
having gained in it all you are worth ; and therefore you
ought to do nothing that may any way tend to its Dis-
advantage." The dominie returned a dignified answer.
" That I am obliged to the good Town I will never deny,
for I have met with very much Kindness from all that I
have had to do with. Yet I hope you will give me leave
to say the Obligation betwixt the Town and me is
reciprocal. I am obliged to it, so it is to me ; and if I
have gain'd any thing 'tis with the Sweat of my Brows in
a most honest and lawful manner." So far from owing to
the burgh everything he possessed, he pointed out that he
had "a tolerable good Portion" from his parents, "got
considerably " with his wife, and to say nothing of other
services, came from a very honourable and profitable one
in Lord Kincardine's family, where he gained both gold
and silver. " So you see," he concluded, " I came not to
this Place like a Beggar, as your Words import." To
which the Provost rudely retorted, " You would rake Hell
for the 100 Merks we have taken from your Salary."
After some further expressions of magisterial tact and
delicacy " they parted not very good Friends." That
night Pardovan wrote to Edinburgh for a new school-
master ; and next day " one Mr. Binny " came from the
capital, who on 26th October was "settled Schoolmaster

206 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

by an Act of Council, and Mr. Kirkwood ordained to
remove at Martinmas then next."

On another occasion the Provost, in face of the Council,
called Mr. Kirkwood " Sirrah," and " cry'd with a loud Voice,
' Hurry him out, hurry him out ! ' " "I taught you English,
Latin and some Greek," rejoined the dominie, " and now
'tis not amis I teach you some Morals also. It would seem
your Lordship has forgot that Saying of the Heathen
Philosopher, Honor est in honorante."

Mr. Kirkwood continuing unshaken by these official
thunders, the Council passed an Act of Amerciament,
whereby they fined him in 200 merks as being " A Reviler
of the Gods of his People." " By Gods," he explains, " they
mean the 27 Members of the Town Council, the Provost,
Four Bailies, Dean of Guild, Treasurer, Twelve Counsellors,
Eight Deacons ; so that the Websters, Sutors and Taylors
in Lithgow are Gods, forsooth ! They alledging {for Mr.
Kirkwood positively denies it) he said, ' The Town Council
may think shame of their Actings.' " No doubt Mr.
Kirkwood was properly punished for his folly if he in
fact deemed the magistrates capable of contrition. On 11th
November they sent their officers to the school, " and most
violently extorted the Key from him"; on the 16tb they
summoned him to remove out of his house. " A very
seasonable Time indeed, in the Cold of Winter, betwixt
Terms to ffit with a Family of many young Children."
This did "a little chaff him," and made him think upon
"some Remedy for these Evils." He had too just ground
to appeal from them, who were both judge and party, to a
more impartial judicature. He therefore went to Edin-
burgh, where, having obtained legal advice, he presented
to the Court of Session a Bill to suspend the Act depriving
him of office, another to advocate (review) the cause of
removing from his house, and a third to suspend the Act
anent the fine. Thus were well and truly laid the founda-
tions of the great cause of Kirkwood v. The Gods of
Lithgow, which might have been cited as a precedent for

THE TWENTY-SEVEN" GODS OF LINLITHGOW 207

the more famous but less flagrant case of Peebles v. Plain-
stanes. What sort of temple was raised thereon to Justice
we shall see in the sequel.

To show the kind of men with whom he was contending,
Mr. Kirkwood gives many instances of municipal unwisdom
and extravagance for which I have no space, but his fore-
cast of the entertainment provided in his longer tract is
sufficiently quotable. " Here you'l see one Baily causing
drag another to Prison for words that had past betwixt
themselves at Court ; and he breaking Prison, is hal'd to
it again by his own Officer to the great amazment and
laughter of hundreds of People. Here you may read how
one Baily calls two in face of Council, ' Perjur'd Villains
and Knaves.' Here you'l see some Burgesses, even of the
best rank in the Burgh, staged for not taking off their Cape
when they past by the Provost in the street, tho' standing
at a tolerable distance ; others, for taking it off and making
too low a leg. In a word, innocent, harmless, dumb Beasts
do not escape their fury, for Baily Turnbul shut up in closs
Prison within the Tolbooth a poor man's horse a night and
a good part of two days, for tasting a little of the grass in
the Churchyard, himself being Jaylor, not daring commit
the keys to an Officer, positively refusing to let the poor
man give his own horse a peck of draff that he had brought
for his supper." Such examples of sweet reasonableness
are indeed enlightening with reference to the treatment
later meted out to Mr. Kirkwood.

After the cause had been several times debated at the
bar, the Lords found that the Town could not remove him
either from his charge as schoolmaster or from his house
" at that Time, upon that Ground, and after that Manner,"
as their interlocutor of 12th December more fully bears.
Next day the Town presented a petition desiring a new
hearing on other grounds, which was granted. The point
the Town had to prove was that Mr. Kirkwood did demit
or quit his charge, and the Court had found that his refusal
to serve upon a diminution of salary was no demission. At

208 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

the next hearing Mr. Stewart,(a) counsel for the Town,
adduced two fresh arguments in support of his contention :

(1) that Kirkwood took leave of his scholars and exhorted
them to be obedient and submissive to their new master ;

(2) that he went into the school and welcomed that gentle-
man " by taking him by the Hand, and wishing him all Joy
and Happiness in his Charge." These allegations *' made
Mr. Kirkwood's Advocates look one to another " ; but being
matters of fact, he felt he was the fittest man to answer
for himself. He therefore solemnly assured the Court that
the statements were " meer Falsehoods and Lies, contrived
to carry on an unjust Cause." And plainly any such
congratulation of his successor, if offered, could in the
circumstances only have been intended as ironical. " Mr.
Stewart," said my Lord Aberuchill,(6) "speaks as he is
informed." " I'm sorry," replied Mr. Kirkwood, " that such
Liformers should be our Reformers." So the Lords con-
firmed their previous interlocutor, and suspended the fine,
" which before, upon a Mistake " had been decided in the
Town's favour. Thus in the first round the dominie was
completely victorious.

The next creation of the Provost's fancy was " a deep
Design or (to give it a more proper Name) a hellish Plot,"
contrived by him against the schoolmaster " to prove him
Perjur'd, and thereby to make him Infamous for ever." He
was cited before the Council to hear the members judicially
declare that he did " demit his Charge in Face of the
Council without Qualification," and had therefore sworn
falsely before the Lords at Edinburgh. Some of the coun-
cillors hedged : " they did not distinctly remember " ; but
the majority supported the Provost, and the finding became
that of the whole. On 25th December they passed a new
Act ordaining Mr. Kirkwood to remove at Candlemas :

(a) Later Lord Advocate Sir James Stewart, popularly known as "Wily
Jamie " on account of his Lordship's singularly ingenious methods, professional
and political.

(b) Sir Colin Campbell, appointed a judge at the Revolution.

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 209

"Thus, when others were making merry with their fat
Goose Pyes and delicate Dishes, poor Kirkwood was amused
with terrible Threats." The dominie promptly sought
suspension in the Court of Session ; and the cause having
been several times debated before Lord Philiphaugh, (a)
his Lordship on 28th January 1690 ordered both parties to
lodge informations or written pleadings, when he would
report upon it. This order was duly implemented by Mr.
Kirkwood ; but the Town — " O Treachery, O Treachery 1
Treachery in its highest degree " — instead of lodging their
information presented a petition for a new hearing before
report. This the Lords, "suspecting no Deceit," allowed,
but in the meantime " discharged any Execution to be used
against the Suspender." That long-suffering litigant's
mind was thus comparatively at ease, but he reckoned, as
we shall see, without his Provost.

The debate began on Tuesday 4th February, and
immediately it was over Mr. Kirkwood received from his
wife a letter informing him that the magistrates had on
the 3rd forcibly ejected herself, her children and servants
from his house. The lady wrote in French, and "so
scrimply and overly" that it did not clearly appear
whether the outrage had actually taken place or was only
" minted " (aimed at), Kirkwood at once showed the
letter to Lord Philiphaugh, who summoned both parties
to the bar. The Lord Advocate (the Master of Stair) (b)
and Mr. Stewart represented the Town ; Sir Patrick
Hume,(c) Commissary Dalrymple (c?) and Mr. Wilham
Mony penny appeared for the schoolmaster. His counsel
"immediately fall upon the Points," challenging the
Town's proceedings as the height of injustice, "an
exceeding great Contempt of Authority, and an unparallel-

(o.) James Murray, appointed an ordinary Lord of Session in 1689.

(b) Sir John Dalrynijile, eldest son of Lord President Stair, and afterwards
first Earl of Stair.

{(I) Sir He\v^ Dairy mple of North Berwick, third son of Lord Stair, who
succeeded his father as President of the Court of Session.

210 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

able Instance of a treacherous and deceitful Dealino; with
the Lords." Stewart denied all knowledge of the Council's
action, and said it was "a mere Calumny." The Lord
Advocate, however, admitted that if it were true his clients
had "hugely prejudiced" their case — "and so went from
the Bar." Cn the 6th, the cause having been reported,
the Lords sent it back to the Lord Ordinary " to discuss
the Reasons of Suspension upon the Bill " — which one
would think had already been siifficiently done — and
meanwhile stopped all further execution. The points
remaining for discussion were, says Mr. Kirkwood,
" Whether or not 'tis in the Town's Power to lessen his
Salary ; Whether they can deprive him of his Office, with-
out a Fault, giving him a fair and legal Warning? etc."

He was anxious to know before returning to Linlithgow
"if now there was any Hazard from the Town"; but the
several Lords of Session, Advocates, Clerks and Writers
whom he consulted "all with one Voice said there was no
Ground or Cause of Fear." Still, to make assurance
doubly sure, he waited upon Lord Philiphaugh, and asked
for a protection under his Lordship's own hand. " ' 'Tis
not the Custom,' replied my Lord, ' nor is there any need
to give such a Paper ; I assure you, Mr. Kirkwood, they
dare not meddle with you.' 'My dear Lord,' said Mr
Kirkwood, ' I know them People better than your Lord-
ship ; Ignorance, Malice and Fury, what dare they not do ?
They are truly turn'd mad and distracted because I have
hitherto carried the Plea. A Paper, my Lord, under your
Hand, questionless, if anything can do it, will put a stop
to their Bage. Grant me this one Bequest for God's sake.' "
So the judge good-naturedly gave him the order he
required, and with this in his pocket the dominie set out
for home, his heart considerably lightened.

On his arrival there on 8th February Mr. Kirkwood
duly intimated his " protection " to the Council. He found
his family reinstated ; the ejectment, which had been
carried out at sight of Bailie Higgins, as explained to Mrs.

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 211

KIrkwood by that dignitary, was merely a legal fiction :
they were thrust out of doors, but nothing was done to
hinder their return. " () Heavens ! Earth ! " exclaims
the schoolmaster, "We must use, says he, the Formality
of Law ; and yet at the very Minute the Word is warm in
his Mouth he is trampling both Law and Gospel under his
Feet, he goes over the Belly of Law, and certainly acts
contrary to the Dictats of his own Conscience," being well
aware of the terms of the Lords' interlocutor. 8oon after-
wards, this legal formalist " retired into Holy Orders, and
was settled Minister of the Gospel, some place in
Tweedale" — the re-established Kirk at first found some
difiiculty in obtaining a suitable pulpit supply, as this
singular appointment proves — "What his Carriage has
been since, is out of our Road to enquire."

Now the technical tactics of Bailie Higgins had afforded
no satisfaction to the Provost's more practical mind. So
soon as he learned that Mr. Kirkwood had come home he
" caus'd ring the Council-Bell," and after a brief conference
with his colleagues, despatched four officers to the
dominie's abode with the view of giving substance to the
bailie's fiction. The magisterial myrmidons "in a most
violent manner break up the Chamber-door wherein he was,
and first take tlie Keys out of his Pocket and then drag
himself. Wife and Six young Children most barbarously
down Stairs. Mr. Kirkwood, thinking to save himself by
laying Hands on the Horns of the Altar (for indeed a
Man's own House is his Sanctuary), claspt his Arms closely
round about the Stoup of a Bed ; but these rude fellows
tug'd so lustily that had he not quickly let go his grip,
they had certainly carried away the Trunck of his Body.
Thus Mr. Kirkwood in a Moment's Time was made poorer
than Job, for he still kept his House and had something to
satisfy Hunger ; but Mr. Kirkwood could not come by one
Crum, as you shall presently hear."

Even more grievous was the case of his wife. Bare-
footed and clad only in her " Night-Cloaths," the poor

212 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

woman, who was then in a delicate state of health, was
flung into the street, the ruffians refusing to let her put
on her shoes or " cast any loose cloath about herself" So
great a shock did she sustain by reason of this ill-usage
that the mere sight of these officers ever after caused her
extreme terror, " albeit her Husband used all the Rhetorick
he was Master of to discover the folly of that Passion ;
so that at last he was forced to send her to Edinburgh."
The lady, he points out, might have looked for better
treatment at Pardovan's hands, she being herself of gentle
blood, and her brother, Captain Van Beest, of Colonel
Ramsay's regiment, having " behaved so well at Killi-
chranky." This hero's name is pleasantly reminiscent of
Guy Mannering. One of the children, who had long been
ailing and was " so extenuated that it would have pitied
an Heart of Stone to see her sit by the Fire-side," was
cast out " to bath in the frosty Air of the cold Winter,"
the mother not being suffered so much as to wrap her' in a
blanket. The child soon afterwards died, and its blood
was surely on the Provost's head.

Mr. Kirkwood, meanwhile, was dragged off to the
Tolbooth, and shut up in a cell along with a minor male-
factor, then in duress. His wife besought the magistrates
to let her have some food and clothing from her own house,
but this they flatly refused, " unless her Husband would
subscribe a Paper " — which was indeed to let the cat out
of the bag — the Provost further threatening to have him
driven furth of the town "by the Hand of the Hangman."
That night Jerome Hunter, the Treasurer, came to the
prison and invited the captive to sign his demission, when
all would be well ; but the doughty dominie indignantly
declined to do anything that might prejudice his just cause.
His spirit was unsubdued, and " tho' in no very merry Fit,
he drol'd a little with the Treasurer," telling him that if
the magistrates would shew no pity to him and his family,
who ivere rational creatures like themselves, yet they might
have mercy upon the harmless hens and chickens in his

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 213

house, that Avere Hke to starve for hunger : if they would
not feed them, it were more humane to kill and eat them.
The delightful irony of this passage was thrown away upon
the Treasurer, who doubtless was as thick-headed as his
colleagues. Charitable neighbours gave shelter to the
children and servants, and " by Intercession of a Gentle-
man " — probably a unique specimen in Lithgow at that
time — Mrs. Kirkwood was permitted to share her husband's
cell, where the afflicted couple lay on the cold stone floor
"all Saturday and Sunday nights," 8th and 9th February.

On Monday morning Pardovan sent his officers to tell
the prisoner " to provide an House within an Hour to put
his furniture in." Mr. Kirkwood replied that his furniture
was in his own house, and he had no mind to remove
it ; whereupon fresh orders were issued that he should be
haled out of the Tolbooth to see his goods ejected. " Out
I will not go," said he, " till I know who put me in, and for
what crime I am imprisoned." The matter being referred
to the Provost, that despot " refused to answer any of these
Questions." The captive was accordingly dragged back to
his dwelling-place, where he found eight men, led by James
Muckle, Deacon of the Wrights, " with Hammers and other
Instruments fit for ejecting his Goods." These ministers of
justice proceeded "to break open what Doors, Presses and
Trunks were fast in the House, and to throw out all the
Furniture, not into the Gloss, which was a Place of some
Security and not very nesty, but into the open Street, a
dirty, unsecure and disgraceful Place, in view of the World."
Fine Dutch presses were smashed in pieces, porcelain and
glass broken, bed and chamber hangings torn and spoiled ;
forty large illuminated maps and charts, many rare pictures
and other ornaments, were " pull'd down in a Moment's
time by ignorant and rude Fellows, design'dly abusing them
that Mr. Kirkwood might cede from his Right." Chiefly lie
laments the ruin of " 1800 Grammars in loose Sheets, printed
in London " — the remainder of his magnum opus. Some of
the furniture was thrown from the third and fourth storeys

214 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

into the churchyard, many things were " carried away by
People and never afterwards seen," and the residue "sus-
tained by this Ejection great Hurt and Dammage." The
only room in the house to escape the fury of the Provost's
satellites was the dominie's own study or closet, which, as
we shall see, was to form the subject of a separate outrage
later.

AVhen at 6 p.m. the work of destruction was complete —
they had been at it since 10 in the morning — the prisoner
asked how he himself was to be disposed of " They told
him they did not know ; but he was to wait there until all
the Goods were carried off the Street into Houses, and then
they were ordered to go to the Provost to ask what to do
with him." So soon as the officers had withdrawn upon
this errand, Mrs. Kirk wood " went and came by the Loch
side (that she might shun the gazing Multitude)," where
she was forced to perform her necessary ablutions in the icy
water. Her husband meanwhile " slip't out and went up
to the Palace, about 20 paces distant, a Place of Security,
being a Sanctuary into which the Town's Officers dare not
set their Foot," where he took the freedom, " even in the
Earl of Lithgo's absence," (a) to call for and obtain some
much-needed refreshment and rest : he had been fasting for
twenty-four hours. " While he was very busy with a Dish
of good Collops in the Earl's House, one of the Servants
comes running, telling the Officers were going up and down
like distracted Men, crying, ' What will we do ? what will
we do ? the Provost will slay us ! '" After some hours'
repose Mr. Kirkwood, " about 2 or 3 in the Morning, by
the Help of the Moon, came stepping through Dub and
Mire (for he kept not the common Eoad for fear the
Provost's tlounds should have catcht him) into Edinburgh,
without Coat, Cloak or Staff, for he knew not what was
become of them nor in what House to cause seek them.
Thus he escaped out of Prison and yet did not break it ;

(a) The Earls of Linlithgow were hereditary keepers of the Royal palace
from the reigu of James the Sixth until their forfeiture in 1715.

THE TWENTY-SEVEN OODS OF LINLITHGOW 215

got from the Hands of the Officers, yet run not from
them."

To explain how he thus made himself at home in Lord
Linlithgow's apartments, Mr. Kirkwood tells us that in
happier days he had enjoyed the familiar friendship of that
nobleman, being often invited by him to the palace,
" especially in the long Winter Evenings," on which occa-
sions " now and then they took a Game at Chess." No
doubt his Lordship {a) esteemed the worthy dominie's
learning, humour and good sense, qualities at the time
somewhat to seek in Lithgow. The Royal palace of which
he was the constable, the birthplace of Queen Mary, was
then intact and habitable, and so continued until its wanton
destruction by the Hanoverian troops in 1746, after the
rout of Falkirk. When Hawley's dragoons lit huge fires
in the rooms, Mrs. Glen Gordon, the chatelaine, who had
entertained the Prince there on his march upon Edinburgh
the year before, remonstrated with the General on the
reckless conduct of his men ; but that unhappy warrior said
they might burn down the palace for all he cared. " Weel,
General," rejoined the dame, " / can rin aiva frae fire as
fast as you!" and so took horse for Edinburgh. (6)

On the Saturday of his incarceration our indefatigable
litigant had found means to write to the Lord Advocate,
complaining of his ill-usage, and also to his legal advisers in
the capital, instructing them to proceed against the Provost
for wrongous imprisonment ; and by Monday morning the
news of the fresh outrage of which he was the subject "run
through the City as if it had been put by Tuck of Drum."
No sooner was the report spread abroad than the prisoner
himself appeared among the citizens on the causeway of
Auld Reikie, and "whether it was Matter of greater

(a) George Livingstone, fourth Earl of Linlithgow, who had commanded a
company of the King's Life Guards at Bothwell Bridge, and at the Revolution
was superseded by Pardovan as Provost of the burgh.

(6) Collie's Roijal Palace of Linlithgow, p. 23 ; Waldie's Hidory of Linlithgow,
p. 73.

216 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

Astonishment to the Lords of Session, Advocates and many
Hundreds of other People to hear one Minute that Mr. Kirk-
wood was lying in Prison in Lithgo, or in the next to see
him walking at the Cross of Edinburgh, is not easy to tell."
If he had been his own ghost, he says, his appearance could
scarcely have caused a greater sensation ; " in a word, had
he return'd after 7 years' Captivity among the Turks, he
could not have received a more hearty Welcome and been
more troubled with Questions." And though everyone was
sorry to hear of the barbarous treatment he and his family
had met with, " yet the gravest of them, and his greatest
friends, could not contain themselves from laughing at the
odd Circumstances of the Story." Verily, but for his
possession of the saving grace of humour, the poor school-
master might well have sunk beneath the accumulating
burden of his woes. " If Men be thus used, or rather
abused," he quaintly observes, " they had better go keep
Sheep than be at vast Pains and Expence to fit themselves
for training up of Youth."

At a consultation with his counsel the learned gentlemen
were of opinion that the magistrates' behaviour " was a
more atrocious Crime than the Lords of Session could
punish, and properly belonged to the Secret Council."
The Town had in effect " thrown filth and mire at the Faces
of the Lords and spit in their very Countenances, bidding
them utter Defiance."

On Wednesday 12th February, "as he was coming out
of the Countess of Kincardin's Lodging" — Lord Kincardine,
it will be remembered, was his former patron — Mr. Kirk-
wood met the Lord Advocate, to whom he had written from
Linlithgow, pointing out that though his Lordship was
counsel for the Town, " yet now he [as Public Prosecutor]
behoved to turn Sail, and strike in with him [Kirkwood] in
Matters of Riot." If the metaphor was mixed, the argu-
ment was sufficiently sound. "'We are well met,' saith
my Lord, ' I received your Letter, I know the whole Affair ;
they arc wild People you have to do with ; I would advise

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 217

you to leave them. Will you accept of 50 Pounds Sterling
and pass from this Riot of imprisoning you, and be pay'd
up to this Day, of Salary, School- wages and any thing else
that is due you as School-master? and besides they will
pass from the Fine, for now they fear you. You need not
doubt but you will get a Place.' ' Alas, my Lord,' replied
Mr. Kirkwood, 'I find you know not all my Business.
That they did on Saturday is but Bairn's-play by what
they did Yesterday. - Fifty Pounds, my Lord ! many Fifties
will not repair my Loss. I'm ruined. They have thrown
all I have out into the open Street, broken and destroyed
every thing.' ' They are certainly gone mad,' said my
Lord, lifting up both his Hands ; and with that run away."
Alan Fairfbrd fled from Peebles v. Plainstanes ; this, as
we have seen, is the second occasion on which Kirkwood v.
The Gods of Lithgoiv put the Lord Advocate to flight.

Next day the dominie, being in the Parliament House,
was approached by Mr. Stewart. That wily counsellor,
"with a Smile, took him by the Hand very heartily,"
and hoped that he would now " agree " with the Town. Mr.
Kirkwood dryly remarked that he (Stewart) had been
so far the chief obstacle to such agreement, having opposed
a settlement until the decision of the Court was obtained ;
he (Kirkwood) might now retort that the afl'air could
not be settled except by sentence of the Privy Council.
After some further discussion the schoolmaster was per-
suaded to submit the matter to the Lord Advocate, on
whom as " a discreet Person " he could rely ; whereupon
Stewart "again takes Mr. Kirkwood by the Hand and
leads him to the Advocate, who was sitting at a very
little Distance on a Bench in the Outer House." In
the end his Lordship consented to act as arbiter, though
the oflice was "sore against his Will." To the profane
this episode might seem to savour of what is vulgarly
known as a put-up job. Be that as it may, an arrange-
ment was come to that the parties should meet next
mornino- m the Advocate's chambers — the Provost, the

218 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

Treasurer and Bailie Higgins being then in town — when
an effort would be made to bring about a settlement.
Kirkwood's magnanimity in thus consenting to meet his
adversaries half way served no purpose beyond furnishing
further proof of their stupidity, for Pardovan and his
fellow wiseacres declined to attend the conference or to
submit to his Lordship's judgment, unless the dominie
should first acknowledge it was in the Town's power to
remove him at their pleasure. This, of course, he refused
to do, so nothing came of "Wily Jamie's" motion.

On 19th February the great cause was again debated
at the bar before Lord Philiphaugh, Commissary Dalrymple
for the schoolmaster "beginning with these Words to
Mr. Stewart, 'Why did you eject me out of my House?
Why did you imprison me? Why did you cast all my
Goods out into the open Streets?'" Stew^art for the
Town refused to speak to any of these points ; he would
deal only with the question which the Lords in their
last interlocutor had sent for discussion : W^hether or not
it was in the Town's power to remove Mr. Kirk wood at
pleasure? " 'Tis in their poiver," said the Commissary,
with a smile. " It is indeed," added Mr. Kirkwood, " In
eorum potentia sed non potestate " — physically they could
cast him out, but not legally. It were tedious, as he
remarks, to set down here all that was said pro and con.
Stewart, " being sore pinch'd with the Commissary's Argu-
ments," admitted that the Town had no power to deprive
their master of his office, yet they had power to demit him.
This distinction between deprivative and demissive power
was received in Court with " a short laughter," the judge
observing " That it was Petitio Principtii, a meer begging
of the Question, a Quibble about Words." After hearing
counsel, his Lordship intimated that he would report
the cause on a later date ; but the Session rising on the
28th, no report was made, " And here Matters stand 'twixt
the Town and Mr. Kirkwood on the last of February 1690
as to Civil Law ; but as to Club Law it is as follows."

THE TWEXTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 219

Destined equally a victim to both systems of juris-
prudence, our dominie returned to Linlithgow, where he
established himself in " an hired House " until he could
dispose of the wreckage of his furniture. At 9 a.m. on
Saturday Lst March, as he was "sitting in his Nightgown,
trimming himself," there came to him one of the Provost's
minions with orders that he should immediately present
himself before the Council. The schoolmaster replied that
he was shaving and could not then go ; the officer returned
with a summons even more peremptory. "They must
either let me stay here at Jericho," said Mr. Kirkwood,
" till that part of my Beard which is taken off grow again
like the rest, or give me Time to take off the whole. I
hope they mind not to affront me as Hanun did David's
Messengers." (a) His toilet at length completed, Mr.
Kirkwood repaired to the Town-house. " Come forward,
Schoolmaster ! " cried the Provost in a very loud voice —
("for he had gotten such a check for saying 'Sirrah'
before, that he held off that"). "Schoolmaster I am,"
rejoined the indomitable dominie, " and ought so to be
call'd, till the Lords of Session determine the contrary."
Pardovan then ordered him to remove by Tuesday next
the contents of his study (which, as the reader may
remember, had escaped the recent raid) and to deliver
the key to the Treasurer. Kirkwood pointed out that
until the cause was decided against him the whole house
and study were his, and that the Lords had expressly
forbidden the Council to meddle further with him. " If
you will not remove your Goods willingly," retorted
Pardovan, "we shall do it by Force," and so the matter
rested for the time.

On Tuesday following, the Treasurer, two bailies and
four officers proceeded to the schoolhouse and sent one of
their number to demand of Kirkwood the key, " which

(a) "So Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their
beards, and cut otf their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and
sent them away." — 2 Samuel x. 4.

220 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

they must either get or carry him to prison." He elected
for the latter alternative, and voluntarily set out for the
Tolbooth. " As he is going towards it he meets another
Officer with Orders to carry him to the Bailies. 'I'm
going to Prison,' said Mr. Kirkwood to the Officer. * You
must not go,' said the other. 'I will go,' replied Mr.
Kirkwood. ' You shall not,' said the other ; and with
this they began to struggle." This Gilbertian contest
terminated in presence of the bailies, who said that they
had given no orders for his arrest, a statement which the
officer " in their sight and audience " denied. " Whether
the Bailies or Officer be guilty of the Breach of the Ninth
Commandment they know best themselves and let others
make conjecture," is Mr. Kirkwood's comment upon this
"odd Passage." A quaint instance of the dominie's
pedantic humour concludes the scene. " ' Tho' we will
not imprison you,' said Bailie Main, 'yet you deserve it.'
'Upon what ground. Bailie?' answered Mr. Kirkwood.
' For your Pervicacy,' said the other. ' I was once your
Master,' replied Mr. Kirkwood, 'and I think I must be
it again ; for you seem not well to understand what Per-
vicacy is. If all things were rightly considered it would
be found you are rather Pervicacious in this Matter than
I : for a Pervicacious Man is one that is so wedded to a
thing that, be it right, be it wrong, he will prosecute it.
But I find, Gentlemen, this is a needless Debate; and,
therefore, farewel.' "

While this was adoing Pardovan, "a Sword by him,"
was majoring about at the Cross " in a very odd Manner."
As Mr. Kirkwood went towards him to protest against
this new outrage, an officer came up in great haste, saying,
" By no means go nigh the Provost, for he is in a Fury."
Whereupon the dominie turned aside: "the Provost, it
seems, was for Bloody War, Mr. Kirkwood only for Civil ;
but sore does he now repent he went not up to him, tho'
he should have got a broken Head." The old Adam stirred
beneath the cloak of the philosopher, and indeed Pardovan's

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 221

conduct had been such as, in the memorable words of
Mrs. Gamp, "lambs could not forgive, nor worms forget."
Meanwhile the civic forces, led by Deacon Muckle, " broke
open with Hammers and other Tools his Closet door," and
cast out into the open and dirty street all his books,
papers, and MSS., "being the Product of 30 Years' great
Labours." The only official expression of regret came
from Bailie Smith, who said that if the windows had not
been " all fast with Nails," he would have had the things
thrown from the third storey. Next morning Mr. Kirk-
wood, shaking the dust of Lithgow from his feet, went
to Edinburgh and took a house, " where he might live
with his poor distressed Wife and Children at some more
Ease, without the Reach of these bloody Canibals." The
term is a strong one, but I think it is warranted by the
circumstances.

The course of our dominie's protracted litigation recalls
another "ganging plea" — that of Hutchinson v. Mac-
kitchinson, of which mine host of the Hawes boasted to the
Antiquary : " It's been four times in afore the Fifteen, and
deil ony thing the wisest o' them could make o't, but just
to send it out again to the Outer House. Oh, it's a
beautiful thing to see how lang and how carefully justice
is considered in this country ! " In a " General Account of
the Dammage, Loss, Expence and Trouble Mr. Kirk wood has
met with by this Plea, preceding April 1690," appended to
his Short Information, the author thus surveys the field of
his judicial operations : " Know that he Raised and Discust
Three Suspensions, an Advocation, a Summonds of Reduc-
tion, a Declarator ; Cited to Edinburgh the whole Town
Council ; Gave in to the Lords Seven Bills, 82 Informa-
tions ; 'look 31 Instruments, Extracted 7 Acts made by
the Town, Got Doubles of their Bills, besides many other
Papers, as Minutes, Interlocutors, etc." The cause was
fourteen times debated at the bar, he attended the Court
of Session for fifteen weeks, and he travelled to and from
Edinburgh eighteen times upon that business.

222 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

These things, observes Mr. Kirk^YOod, reflecting on his
late painful experiences, were not done in a corner, but
openly and avowedly " in Face of the Sun " ; not by an
ignorant rabble, but by men in public trust, magistrates of
a royal and ancient burgh, "a Company of Gods, as they
call themselves," whose duty it was to protect others from
cruelty and oppression. They were done, not to a stranger
or foreigner, " but to their Door-Neighbour, their familiar
Friend and most intimate Acquaintance, yea, to a fellow
Burgess and Gild-brother," who had, moreover, deserved
well of his country by publishing many useful works.
They were done to one " that was altogether innocent as to
what Man can lay to his Charge," w^ho had lived fifteen
years among them without the least stain on his character :
and all because he refused to forsake the public worship of
the Church for the service of the Provost's kitchen. For
this cause alone was he branded as " a Re viler of the Gods
of his People." " 'Tis worth the Enquiry to know," he
characteristically remarks, "the Antecedent or Substantive
to the Word ' His ' in this so singular a Phrase. At the
reading of the Information it was pretty warmly debated
by Persons of Honour whether it was God, Provost or
Kirkwood : a Reviler of the Gods of God's People, or the
Provost's People, or Kirkwood's people. Some were for
one, some for another, some for none of them, averring it
was not good Grammar considering the Context, and that
instead of ' His ' it should be ' The ' : a Reviler of the Gods
of the People. Others cry'd out it was the hight of
Blasphemy to call any Webster or Tailor in the Kingdom a
God." Posterity, however, so far at least as I may venture
to speak for it, is little likely to quarrel with that diverting
phrase, which, one is happy to think, must have been
wormwood to the magistrates for the term of their official life.

When in March 1690 it was known that Mr. Kirkwood
had left Linlithgow, several persons of position and influence
asked him to undertake the education of their children, so
that he soon came to have "a very frequent School, above

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOAV 223

Sevenscore of Noblemen and Gentlemen's sons." Nor was
this the only mark he received of esteem for his talents and
sympathy in his misfortunes. St. Andrews University
offered him the Chair of Humanity. He was called to be
Professor of Greek in the CoUeo-e of James Town, Virginia,
and his friend the Bishop of London urged him to accept ;
but he feared the climate for his young family. The
grammar schools of Duns, Kimbolton and Kelso contended
for the benefit of his teaching. Lord Tweeddale, the
Chancellor, was "very pressing" that Kelso should be the
favoured one, and to its claims, further supported by Lady
Roxburgh, Mr. Kirkwood eventually gave the preference.
But the most surprising overture made to him proceeded
from his old enemy the Provost, who commissioned a
minister " to deal with Mr. Kirkwood in order to get him
back again to Lithgow upon good Terms " ! The recipient
of this invitation "stood no less amaz d than if it had been
told him all the Rivers were running back again to their
Spring from whence they came." " We read," he con-
tinues, " of very many strange Things told us by Ovid in
his Metamorphoses; how Men, yea, Gods themselves were
transformed into the Shape of Beasts : Acteon was for no
very great Fault turned into a Hart, and devour'd by his
own Dogs ; Jupiter into a Bull, for his own carnal Ends.
But those are nothing if compared to this. Here bloody
and rampant Lions, wild and savage Boars, cruel and
greedy Wolves and Tygers are become harmless and
innocent little Lambs." Though the terms offered by the
Town were "very charming," it need hardly be said that
Mr. Kirkwood was unable to accept them ; no transforma-
tion the Gods of Lithgow might affect could deceive that
" burnt Bairn."

Hitherto Mr,- Kirkwood, like Daniel in the Lions' Den,
had been for the Council the centre of attraction, but on
the withdrawal of that bone of contention their natural
ferocity prompted them to turn upon each other, and their
war-cries were heard even in the Court of Session. In

224 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

January 1691, meeting Bailie Beer one day in the Parlia-
ment Close, the dominie thus addressed him : " ' What's
this, Bailie, now fallen out among you ? I hear of very
horrid and dreadful Crimes laid to some of your Charges.
You are pursuing one another to Death. I thought if once
I had been removed from amongst you, you would have
agreed all like Lambs, whereas you are now worse than
ever.' 'If I had Time and Place convenient,' answer'd the
Bailie, ' I would give you a perfect account of all things.'
'Let's step into the Old Kirk,' replied Mr. Kirkwood.
'With all my Heart,' said the Bailie." So the pair entered
St. Giles Church, which then " was wont to stand open the
whole Day, that People may go into it Morning and
Evening to shut up their Prayers to the Almighty," and
there the bailie gave him the news of the recent " Battels ''
in the Council. For these, though highly entertaining, I
have no space. Moved by this recital of the Provost's
latest "Pranks" the schoolmaster exclaimed: "'Bailie,
Bailie, were it done to some of you as was done to the
unjust Judge, you would but get what you deserve ! '
' Pray, Mr. Kirkwood ' said the Bailie, ' tell me what was
done to that unjust Judge?' 'The Skin,' replied Mr.
Kirkwood, ' was taken off him and affix'd to the Bench
where Sentence was past, to scare others from doing the
like.' At this the Bailie lifted up his Hands and Shoulders
towards the very Heavens, saying, ' Good Lord deliver us !
Cou'd such a thing be done to a Judge ? ' " And with this
he sunk down to the very ground, so that Mr. Kirkwood
"was truly fear'd to be alone with him." When he had
sufficiently recovered, his admonisher spoke very kindly to
him and gave him some sensible advice, for which the
bailie professed himself grateful, and so they parted. It is
to be hoped that he took the parable home with him to
Linlithgow.

Not until June 1692 was Mr. Kirkwood's cause con-
sidered by the Lords of Their Majesties' Privy Council.
In the course of the debate before that august tribunal

THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW 225

Mr. Stewart, for the Town, denied tliat the " treacherous "
petition of which we have heard was ever presented to the
Court of Session at all Mr. Kirkwood thereupon produced
from his pocket the original document, signed by Stewart
himself, "at which the Lords lookt one to another" — and
no wonder ; "so that the Town was quite defeat and
baffled, and their Advocates rendered speechless, not one
of them opening his Mouth." Even "wiliness" has its
occasional drawbacks. The Privy Council appointed Lord
Fountainhall,(a) one of their number, to take evidence as
to the amount of Mr. Kirkwood's claim, to which that
gentleman deponed as follows : —

lib. Scots
800

Imo. That he wanted of by-run Salaries preceeding Whit
Sunday then last, three Years, ......

2do. His Profits in the School two Years and a half, viz
Quarter- Wages and three Candlemass OfTerings, with other
Casualties, 1800

Stio. His House and Garden, with Consideration of his
Advantage by Tablers [boarders], 500

j^to. The Spoiling of his Goods and their Imbazling; and the
Loss by the Auction, and the transporting them to Edinburgh, . 1500

5to. The Expense of Plea before the Lords of Session, . . 1200

Summa 5800

Over and above, there was " the Pretium affectionis of
Things, which is very considerable"; as well as "his own
indefatigable Pains both of Body and Mind."

Pardovan, for not compearing before the Privy Council
when summoned, was " denounced Rebel and put to the
Horn," and his movable goods ordered to be escheat and
forfeit to Their Majesties' use, all which was duly done at
the Cross of Lithgow on 11th July 1692. Though advised
to "put in for Pardovan's Escheat" the dominie, "looking
on it as an odious Thing," refused to benefit by his enemy's
so merited misfortune. The burgh was fined 4000 merks
for Mr. Kirkwood's use, and Lord Linlithgow was appointed

(a) Sir John Lauder of Fouiitaiiilial], the loariicd historian and judge.

226 THE TWENTY-SEVEN GODS OF LINLITHGOW

to enquire whether the Provost and bailies only, or the
whole members of council were guilty of the several riots.
One would expect that our worthy friend's trials were
now over, and that at least materially he was recompensed
for all his tribulations. But, alas, he says in his History,
"to this Day, viz, 10th April 1711, he has not receiv'd the
Worth of a Farthing ! What he will get he knows not ;
however, he still lives in good Hopes." Of this amazing
miscarriage of justice the dominie offers the following
explanation : Lord Linlithgow died before making his
report ; and he himself entering at the time upon his
duties at Kelso, " fell into a vast Ocean of Troubles, was
tost as in a Blanket, hurried from Court to Court, from
one Judicature to another, for several Years." K full
account of this fresh embroilment was published by him in
1698. (a) Its 144 closely-printed quarto pages are devoted
to the story of his plea with the Kirk and Presbytery of
Kelso, from which it appears that he was even more
evilly entreated by the divines of that town than he had
been by the Gods of Lithgow. "Whether that Battel
Mr. Kirkwood had with the Burgh or that with the Kirk
was the most severe and bloody," he is at a loss to
determine ; but as regards mental suffering, " that with
the Kirk does infinitely surpass this with the Burgh." Of
the history of this new Holy War I lack time and space to
treat ; but if the reader be not weary of Mr. Kirkwood and
his woes, at some propitious season I may have a tale to
tell : how the dauntless dominie wrestled with wild beasts
at Ephesus, yet was not overcome of them, and how in the
end, like as the sun emerging from the morning mists, he
broke through clouds of calumny into a clearer sky.

(a) Mr. Kirkwood' s Plea before the Kirk and Civil Judicatures of Scotland,
Divided into Five Parts. . . . London, Printed by D. E. for the Author. 1698.

THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

THE HAED CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

Second Clown. But is this law '?

First Clown. Ay, marry, is 't ; crowuer's quest law.

— Hamlet, Act V. Sc. 1.

"pvEGENERATE and disloyal Scots have been known to
-^-^ lament the absence from our legal usage of that
palladium of English justice, the coroner's court, as tend-
ing to foster in our lieges a taste for manslaughter and
to confer immunity on murderers. And while it may be
allowed that there have been, north of Tweed, one or two
notable cases in which a public inquest conducted by such
an official immediately upon discovery of the crime perhaps
might better have brought the criminal to book than our
more leisurely and private method of inquiry, yet in the
instances I have in mind it was not so much the system
that was at fault as the functionaries responsible for its
administration. Even Procurators-Fiscal are human ; they
make mistakes and have their weaknesses like lesser folk.
But had a coroner's jury sat upon the Sandy ford Place
murder of 1862, the subsequent proceedings of which Mrs.
M'Lachlan was the centre would probably have assumed
a different aspect ; a remark which, for other reasons,
equally applies to a more recent mystery that might have
been dispelled had prompter measures been taken to
investigate it, where the venue was thought to have been
chosen for the express purpose of avoiding the English
procedure.

Be these matters as they may, admirers of that system
must have been disagreeably surprised by the facts dis-
closed upon the trial in 1915 of George Joseph Smith,
commonly called the Brides-in-the-bath case. This modern
disciple of Bluebeard and King Henry VIII. married some

229

230 THE HAED CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

seven wives, most of whom he was content to desei't after
robbing them of their ready money ; but his last three
victims, possessing some property and making wills in his
favour, were successively drowned in their baths. In each
case the murderer followed the same formula, and in each
case a coroner's jury after full inquiry pronounced a verdict
of death from natural causes. It w^as objected to Sir
Walter Scott that in characters of the Meg Merrilies type
he was "good, but good too often " ; the same may be said
of Mr. Smith's novel and ingenious device for solving the
chief problem involved in the successful commission of
murder : the disposal of the remains. Once was well
enough, twice might have passed as a coincidence, but
thrice was more than the most sanguine of assassins could
reasonably hope to compass. Still, for originality of design
and boldness in execution these crimes would have merited
the encomium of De Quincey.

I propose to give here a short account of the most
flagrant abuse of the coroner's powers with w^hich I am
acquainted. The fact that the sufferer was a Scotsman
" of an auld descent " has induced me, contrary to my
custom, thus to venture across the Border, in the belief
that the tale may go some way to reconcile malcontents
with our native and familiar practice. For the facts I am
indebted to a contemporary pamphlet, entitled : " The
Case of Mr. James Oliphant, Surgeon, respecting a Prosecu-
tion which He, together with his Wife and Maid
Servant, underwent in the Year 1764, for the suppos'd
Murder of a Female Domestic. Newcastle upon Tyne :
Printed for Mr. Oliphant ; and sold by B. Fleming, in
Newcastle ; J. Johnson, in London ; W. Drummond, in
Edinburgh ; and all other Booksellers in Great Britain,
&c. MDCCLXVIII."

The victim of this scandalous miscarriage of justice was
a scion of an ancient and honourable family, " a House
very Loyall to the State of Scotland," the Oliphants of
Gask. His father was James Oliphant, brother to the

THE HAKD CASE OF ME. JAMES OLIPHANT 231

Jacobite laird who was governor of Perth in 1746 ; his
mother was Janet Austin of Kilspindie. In those times
the younger sons of the old Jacobite and Episcopalian
families, to whom all public and most professional careers
were closed, commonly entered some business or trade.
Thus James Oliphant pere became a wine merchant in
Perth. By 1749, as appears from a letter of his son, he
had taken a house and shop in Edinburgh " to dale in the
grocery way. "(a) He had three sons, of whom the eldest,
James, is to engage our attention. The lad first followed
the profession of arms, and in the letter above cited he
describes himself as "Cadet in Lieu. Generall Halkcts
Eegiment in Garrison at Ypres." The elder James
abandoned the grocery business in 1751; four years later
he asked his brother Laurence, the laird, then in exile in
Paris, to get a commission for young James in the Spanish
service. Whether or not the laird did anything for his
nephew does not appear, but he refused to allow his
brother James, whose circumstances were straitened, an
asylum at Gask.(6) " After passing a few of his juvenile
years in the army," James tells us in his Case, he
exchanged the sword for the scalpel, and in 1755 married
Margaret, daughter of Mr. William Erskine, a surgeon
in Gateshead, who had been in practice there for some
forty years, during which he enjoyed a high reputation by
reason of his sterling character and professional skill. He
took his young son-in-law into partnership, but by the
time in question the old gentleman had retired, and James
Oliphant carried on the practice alone.

In the month of May 1764 the household consisted of
Mr. and Mrs. Oliphant, their two children, old Mr. Erskine
and two maidservants. That month one of the maids fell
sick and had to leave, so a girl named Dinah Armstrong
was engaged, without a "character," to take her place.
It afterwards appeared that Dinah was other than a good

(a) The Oliphants of Gask, p. 163. (6) Ibid., p. 1G4.

232 THE HAED CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

one, having been dismissed a few days before from the
service of Mrs. Heath, a widow resident in Newcastle,
upon suspicion of theft, a fact then unknown to her new
mistress. The plausible account which the girl gave of
herself, coupled with "a good countenance," was un-
fortunately deemed sufficient recommendation. On 5th
June Mr. and Mrs. Oliphant went to Scotland on a visit
to that gentleman's relations, leaving their children in the
care of a friend, Mrs. Milne, wife of a merchant in
Newcastle. Dinah went with the children as their nurse.

When Mrs. Oliphant came home on 10th July she was
told by Mrs. Milne that the maid had been detected in
certain pilferings by her, that lady having among other
things missed three damask napkins, " which from circum-
stances she strongly suspected the said Dinah of taking."
She therefore requested Mrs. Oliphant to examine the girl
strictly about them. Accordingly on Friday, 13th July,
Mrs, Oliphant spoke to Dinah on the subject, mentioned
the missing napkins and Mrs Milne's suspicions, and begged
her to be candid and declare the truth. The damsel
positively denied the charge. Asked if she would allow
her chest to be searched, Dinah reluctantly consented ; no
napkins were found there, but a linen sheet, " mark'd in
such a manner as if intended to be cut into shifts," and
bearing the initials A. H., was discovered. This, she said,
was " a gift of a relation's," but on the sheet being identified
by Mrs. Heath, her former mistress, as that lady's property,
Dinah confessed that she had stolen it, together with some
other trifles. On Monday, 16th July, Mrs. Oliphant pre-
sented her with certain underlinen, supposing the girl to
have been tempted by the inadequacy of her wardrobe in
that regard ; she also gave the culprit much excellent advice,
said she would keep her till her quarter had expired,
promised to intercede for her with Mesdames Heath and
Milne, " and only begg'd she would for her own sake restore
the three napkins to the owner." But Dinah persisted that
she knew nothing of them.

THE HAKD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIl'HANT 233

Mrs. Milne, who seems to have taken the rape of the
napkins very hard, now intimated her intention to prose-
cute Dinah so soon as she left the Oliphants' service, and
urged that she be dismissed forthwith. Mrs. Oliphant,
unfortunately, as it proved, for all concerned, did not do so.
Anxious if possible to save the girl from public disgrace
and punishment, she thought that "if some person of
ingenuity w^as to interrogate her " the peccant Dinah might
be brought to confess her fault and make restitution. A
neighbour, John Green, tallow chandler in Gateshead, " a
gentleman of great humanity," w^as called in, and being
acquainted with the position of matters, on the forenoon
of Tuesday, 17th July, he "expostulated with the girl,
representing to her the natural consequences of her conduct
and of a prosecution." Dinah pleaded guilty to the sheet
but continued steadfast in her denial of the napkins. He
left her to think it over, saying he would return later in
the day for her final answer. Meanwhile the girl went
about her domestic duties as usual, brought up water from
the cellar several times — the house stood beside the river —
took the children to school, and fetched from the Queen's
Head in Pipewellgate ale for the mid -day dinner.

In order to appreciate the evidence as to what occurred
that day it is necessary to have some conception of Mr.
Oliphant's abode. " The house stands at the south end of
Tyne Bridge, on the first arch, and on the west side of the
street. In the second or middle floor is the kitclien and
parlour, whose doors are opposite each other. Next below
is the shop on the ground floor, and underneath the shop
is the cellar, into which the descent is by winding stairs.
The cellar has a door cut into two parts ; the upper part
opening for the purpose of receiving air and light, the under
part opening occasionally for convenience of loading or
unloading goods from thence into or from the river Tyne,
which at high tide runs deep and rapid almost close
below." (a)

(a) The case of Mr. James Oliphatit, p[). 5-6.

234 THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

Between the hours of one and two on the afternoon of
Tuesday, 17th July, the family sat down to dinner in the
parlour. There were present Mr. Oliphant and his wife, old
Mr. Erskine, and Mr. Henry Thompson, a resident patient
under the doctor's care, who had been living with them
since June. Mary Shittleton, the other servant, a respect-
able girl enjoying her employers' confidence, attended the
table. The dishing of the dinner was done in the kitchen
by Dinah, whose demeanour was then noticeably dull and
sullen. Mrs. French, a staymaker, was also in the kitchen,
awaiting the return of the elder child from schoorto try
on a pair of stays. Finding the time hang heavily Mrs.
French was " amusing herself at the window," and paid
little attention to the movements of the sulky handmaid.
Mary Shittleton, coming from the parlour " for some things
which the said Dinah had been left dressing," found that
she was not in the kitchen and asked Mrs. French what had
become of her. The matron replied that she thought the
girl had gone downstairs. Mary called down the well of
the stair, and getting no answer proceeded to the shop on
the ground floor ; failing to find her there, she went down
to the cellar in the basement. As she descended the stair
she saw for an instant reflected on the east wall of the
cellar the shadow of a figure in the act of leaping from the
half-door into the river. The tide was out at the time, and
she heard the fall of a body upon the shore beneath.
Looking out, she saw Dinah Armstrong lying on the
sand upon her side. She called to her several times,
but receiving no reply, ran upstairs to alarm the
family, (a) The whole household was thrown into the
greatest consternation. They rushed down to the cellar,
but by that time the girl had disappeared. Neighbours
were summoned, the shore was examined, but though the
mark made by her body was plainly visible, no further
trace of Dinah could be found. " She had leap'd a height

(a) This is Mary Shiltleton's own account of the aflfair, as given by her at
the int[uest.

THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT 235

of about 13 feet, and the place she fell on was distant from
the then stream (it being low-water) only four or five
yards." There was no sign of her in the river, and a search
of the adjacent lanes and of the arches of the bridge yielded
no better result. Some boys fishing below the bridge had
seen nothing of her. The rest of the day was spent in
making fruitless inquiries in the neighbourhood after the
missing girl.

In these circumstances Mr. Oliphant naturally concluded
that Dinah had meant to drown herself by jumping into
the river, that her design being defeated by the lowness
of the tide, she had thought better of her purpose and
" escap'd undiscover'd by some of the passages leading from
the water side into the town," and that shame prevented
her returning to the family. That night word was sent by
Mrs. Milne's maid to acquaint her sister, Jane Armstrong,
who lived in Newgate Street, Newcastle, of what had
happened, and asking whether she knew anything of her,
to which the answer returned was in the negative. Next
morning Jane appeared in person to inquire into her sister's
"departure"; she informed Mrs. Oliphant that another
sister, Tamar, lived at Long Benton, 3| miles N.E. of
Newcastle, and suggested that Dinah might be there. The
following day, Thursday 19th, Jane called with a friend,
said she had heard nothing more of Dinah, and desired
delivery of her chest and clothes, which was given. As
Jane " discover'd no concern " as to Dinah's disappearance,
Mrs. Oliphant assumed that she had sufficient reasons of
her own for not being unduly anxious : the charges of theft
and the attempt at suicide might well dispose the girl's
relations to conceal her whereabouts. So for the time the
matter rested.

On the morning of Sunday, 22nd July, Joseph Barlow,
a "keelman," called at Mr. Oliphant's house. Mary
Shittleton opened the door, and he asked " if Dr. Erskine
had a maid that was drowned lately." Mary replied that
a maid had been missing since Tuesday, but she hoped she

236 THE HAKD CASE OF Mil. JAMES OLIPHANT

was not drowned. Mr. Oliphant then coming to the door,
Barlow stated that he and another man had that morning
" taken up a woman floating in the middle of the river
Tyne," which he had carried ashore at Dunston, l|- miles
W. of Gateshead, on the Durham side of the Tyne, "where
a number of people employ'd about the coal-works live."
From Barlow's description Mr. Oliphant could not be certain
that the body was that of the missing girl ; he therefore
referred him to her sister Jane as the person most capable
of deciding the question. Meanwhile for his own satis-
faction he dispatched Mary Shittleton at once to Dunston ;
she went, saw the body, and identified it as that of her
late companion. With this intelligence Mary returned
home, where the news of the hapless Dinah's tragic end
was received with great concern.

Such were the facts, too plain, one would think, to be
misconstrued by anybody, upon which public malice and
official stupidity were to base a charge of murder against
three innocent persons.

The body, when taken up by Barlow and his fellow -
boatman, was laid by them across the gunwale, "the head
and shoulders hanging within the boat," and in this posture
the head and neck, which before were much sw^ollen though
not discoloured, rapidly assumed a dark reddish aspect.
" She spung'd at the mouth ; and from a contusion on the
back part of her head there appear'd a tittering of bloody
matter " (a) — the corpse had been knocked about in the
river for five days. She was fully dressed, her stays were
laced close, and " the string of her cap quite tight about
the neck, the cap hanging behind her head." (6) It is also
in evidence that the deceased always wore around her neck
a necklace or ribbon. There was noticed on the neck a
circular mark, "which at first appeared whiter than the
other parts of the skin, but in a short time turn'd into a
light purple colour." This mark caught the attention of the

(a) EvidL-nce of Barlow at tlie trial. (b) Ibid.

THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT 237

gaping idlers who gathered round the body when it was
brouoht ashore, and the inference was drawn that the girl
had been hanged. This popular belief received scientific
sanction from the wisdom of " a young practiser in surgery,"
who, coming up at the time, expressed his confident
opinion that the deceased had been strangled, of which in
his judgment the mark on the neck afforded clear and
indisputable proof Wild rumours as to the supposed
circumstances attending Dinah Armstrong's disappearance
quickly spread abroad ; and as there is always a sufficient
number of charitable persons ready to take the worst
possible view of their neighbours' actions, the general voice
did not scruple to denounce her master and mistress as the
murderers. These reports reached the Oliphant family
who, though much distressed and justly indignant, were
unable to do anything to confute them.

On Monday, 23rd July, Tamar Armstrong called at
the house for the purpose of venting "the most scurrilous
abuse and threats " against the whole family, upon whose
subsequent fortunes the insensate wrath of this vituperative
virgin was destined to have a fatal effect.

On Tuesday, 24th, John Robson, Esq., one of the
Coroners for the County of Durham — " not the Coroner of
Newcastle, whose province it was" — came to Dunston to
hold an inquest, and a jury was empannelled " out of the
lowest people in the place, all strongly infected by the
popular prejudice." So virulent, indeed, was the contagion
that, as we shall see, even the coroner himself was not
immune. The court constituted, a constable was dis-
patched with a summons to Mary Shittleton to attend
and give evidence. By this officer Mr. Oliphant sent a
civil message to the coroner, tendering himself and his
family as witnesses if required, but no notice was taken of
his offer. Mr. John Green, whom the reader may remember
as the friendly admonisher of Dinah, attended voluntarily ;
but though his evidence was highly pertinent to the inquiry,
the coroner rejected it and refused to take his deposition,

238 THE HAED CASE OF MR. JAMES OLTPHANT

for no better reason, as appears, than that it was favourable
to the OHphants. Mr. Oliphant was nowise anxious as to
the issue, believing that a magistrate and jury, solemnly
en<rao-ed in the elucidation of the truth, would discounten-
ance all malevolent gossip. That afternoon, however,
certain friends called, and strongly advised him to go
personally to Dunston " to justify himself from the
calumnious aspersions thrown out against him." Accord-
ingly, accompanied by Henry Thompson, the resident
patient, and by John Weatherburn, one of the neighbours
called in upon discovery of the occurrence, Mr. Oliphant
set forth. When he reached Dunston "he experienced
all the insolence of an enraged mob, and with difficulty
preserved his person from violence." Having at length
obtained speech with the coroner he gave that functionary
" a detail of the whole affair relative to the Deceas'd, so far
as he or any of his family had any knowledge." When he
had finished his statement the coroner observed : " Very
well, Sir; pray, what is all this to me? You should go
talk to the Jury." Mr. Oliphant found that impartial
tribunal, who were then considering their verdict, " stand-
ing by a hedge in the open air, surrounded by a crowd of
people who frequently intermixed with them." " It may be,
Gentlemen," said he, " you have not yet chosen a Foreman ;
no matter, I will, with your leave, and as Mr. Coroner has
referred me to you, speak to you all." He then attempted
to repeat what he knew of the business, but was prevented
by the interruption of the mob, of whom Tamar and Jane
Armstrong were moving spirits, "busied in inflaming the
populace." The gentle Tamar denounced him as "a
murdering dog," and subjected him to much vile oppro-
brium. Finding it impossible to obtain a hearing, Mr.
Oliphant returned to the coroner and requested that his
deposition, with those of Thompson and Weatherburn,
might formally be taken. This the coroner refused to do,
saying it was not necessary. Mr. Oliphant then insisted
upon knowing of what he was accused. The coroner

THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT 239

replied : "I. He was charg'd with confining the Deceas'd in
his cellar from the Friday till the Tuesday. II. That
when she leap'd out at the cellar window no measures
were taken to find her. III. That when Barlow came to
acquaint him with his having found a woman drown'd, he
(Mr. Oliphant) threw the door in his face and bid him
begone. IV. That he had not sent for him (the coroner)
as was incumbent on him." Further, that the deceased's
neck bore marks of strangulation. These four allegations
Mr. Oliphant offered instantly to disprove by the sworn
evidence of himself, his wife, Mary Shittleton, Thompson,
Weatherburn and several other responsible persons, whose
testimony would clearly demonstrate their utter falsity.
As to the marks of strangulation, he could prove that the
girl left his house alive and well ; he was neither able nor
obliged to account for any marks of violence appearing on
her body when found. But despite all that he could urge,
the coroner absolutely refused to take the evidence either
of Mr. Oliphant or of his witnesses. That gentleman
waited at Dunston with his friends till six o'clock, when
they sent to ask whether the coroner "had any occasion
for them." The reply was, that he had not; so they went
home in ignorance of the jury's finding.

From the oflicial record of the proceedings at this
remarkable inquiry it appears that the depositions of the
only five persons examined were to the following effect.
Jane Armstrong stated that on Monday, 16th July, she
visited her sister Dinah, who was " very dull and heavy,
and look'd down and said nothing." Returning later in
the week, Jane was told by Mrs. Oliphant that Green had
been sent for to "threaten" Dinah about some missing
linen, of which she denied all knowledge. Mrs. Oliphant
reported Dinah as saying, "I'm going downstairs, but I
won't stay." After the disappearance, Mary Shittleton
told witness that Dinah had been confined all the Tuesday
forenoon. Mary said that she saw her, after leaping from
the window, " rise up and run." They thought she had

240 THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

" got upon the jettys of the bridge," and some men were
sent to look for her.

Thomasine Ehvell stated that on the afternoon of the
23rd (the day after the body was found) she was in Mr.
Oliphant's surgery. Mrs. Oliphant remarked "that it [the
aifair] was the greatest trouble that ever came to her family,
and further said that she did it [her expostulation] to a
good end, in hopes of reclaiming her and screening it [the
theft]." Mrs. Oliphant also said that three sheets and a
tablecloth were missing, and " that she had her there from
the Friday before to the Tuesday till she did that wicked
deed."

Mary Shittleton, examined, gave the account of her
connection with the affair which I have already narrated.

Jane Greeves stated that, three weeks before, she met
upon the quayside Dinah Armstrong, who said she was in
Mrs. Oliphant's service and was very well. On Monday,
23rd, witness accompanied Jane Armstrong when the latter
called to ask Mrs. Oliphant "what she had to lay to the
charge of the said Dinah." That lady informed them of
the finding of Mrs. Heath's sheet, and said that she herself
had missed some linen ; but Dinah had begged her not to
tell her relations. Witness then went to Mrs. Milne, who
said she had lost three dam.ask napkins, " but she did not
blame her, the said Dinah, for them. "(a)

Robert Somerville, surgeon in Swalwell, stated that he
was ordered by the coroner to inspect the body. "I
found," said he, " as follows : she had a circular mark on
her neck about half an inch in breadth, which has been
made (to my judgment) by a rope, or might have been
done by a ribband, necklace or the like nature, but there
was no such thing found upon her neck when taken up.
Her face was quite black, occasioned by a stagnation of the
blood, which is a concomitant of strangling or suffocation."
He observed no other appearances of violence.

(a) Yet the whole trouble was caused by that lady's inveteracy in the luatler
of the napkins.

THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAIMES OLIPHANT 241

We have not the advantage of knowing in what manner
Mr. Coroner Kobson summed up this evidence for the
guidance of the jury. He must have been an expert in the
art of brick-making without straw, for the amazing result
at which that body arrived was this : " The Jurors do upon
their oath find and say, that James Oliphant, Margaret
OHphant, and Mary Shittleton, with force and arms, in the
cellar of the dwelling-house of the said James Oliphant at
Gateshead in the county of Durham, feloniously, wilfully,
and of their malice aforethought did strangle and suffocate
Dinah Armstrong with a certain cord of the value of
sixpence.) And so the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oath
aforesaid, do say, that the said James Oliphant, Margaret
Oliphant, and Mary Shittleton, her the said Dinah Arm-
strong, in manner and by the means aforesaid, wilfully,
feloniously, and of their malice aforethought, did kill and
murder." Thus, with magnificent disregard to the proved
facts, in the words of Hamlet's clown, " The crowner hath
sat on her, and finds it Christian burial."

In his comments on these strange doings Mr. Oliphant
justly points out that the evidence of the first four
witnesses contains nothing against either him or his family.
The verdict, therefore, must have proceeded solely upon the
evidence of the surgeon. That expert allowed that the
mark on the neck might have been caused by a ribbon or
necklace, but said that nothing of the kind was found upon
her. Had the coroner's zeal for truth prompted him to
examine Barlow and Southeron, the men who discovered
the body, they could have told him, as they afterwards did
another jury, " that the Deceas'd when found had a hand-
kerchief about her neck, and a cap tied under her chin with
tape or a small string. "(«) We know, too, from Mary
Shittleton that Dinah habitually wore a ribbon round her
throat. As for the discoloration of the face being " a
concomitant of strangling," Mr. Oliphant, himself a surgeon,

(a) Evidence of Barlow and SoulliL-nni at tlic trial.

242 THE HARD CASE OF MR JAMES OLIPHANT

remarks that the body had been in the water for five days,
that the stays were laced tight, and that an accidental
ligature was about the neck— facts amply sufficient to
account for such post-mortem appearances. Further, it
was proved that lividity occurred only after the body was
laid across the boat with the head hanging downwards, and
after being for some time exposed to the open air. Mr.
Somerville found no other marks of violence, yet Barlow
afterwards swore to an injury upon the back of the head — " a
bloody matter tittering out like froth. "(a) Some of the jury
later declared that their intention had been merely to find a
verdict of murder, and not against any particular person. (6)
But the coroner had no use for such fine distinctions.

The position of Mr. Oliphant and his wife was grossly
prejudiced by the involving of Mary Shittleton in the
charge, for thus the lips of their most important witness
were sealed and they themselves deprived of the inestimable
benefit of her testimony. No motive was suggested for the
alleged crime, no provocation given by the deceased, no
malice or sudden passion shown by the accused. That the
members of a reputable family should voluntarily combine
to destroy a poor servant girl for no conceivable reason and
by so unlikely a means as strangling, is, even allowing for
the eccentricities of human conduct, sufficiently improbable
to call for the clearest proof

Early next morning John Crozier the constable, with two
concurrents, came to Mr. Oliphant's house with a warrant
by the coroner for the arrest of the accused. The three
prisoners were conveyed to Durham, and as a preliminary
to being lodged in gaol were, at Mr. Oliphant's request,
taken before the coroner in the Bishop's Palace, where that
remarkable official resided, " he being household steward
to his Lordship." "What brings you before me ? " asked
the coroner haughtily, " Do you know your case is not
bailable ? " To which Mr. Oliphant replied, " We come

(a) Evidence of Barlow at the trial.

(b) Affidavits of Weatherburn and Green.

THE HAED CASE OF ME. JAMES OLIPHANT 243

here in the light of murderers, in consequence of" your
proceedings and warrant, and we know that our case, as
you have made it, is not bailable ; but I desire that bail
may be taken for my wife." He then tendered the
evidence of Dr. Wilson of Newcastle, who was present,
prepared to certify as to the state of that lady's health and
the grave consequences likely to result from her confine-
ment in gaol. Some other friends of the prisoner there-
upon offered to enter into recognizances for any amount
that might be required, but the incorruptible magistrate
repeated that he could accept no bail and would commit
all the accused to prison. Mr. Oliphant said he was not
surprised, after the treatment he had already experienced.
"You are warm. Sir," retorted the coroner. "I have great
reason to be so," rejoined the prisoner; "the misfortunes
I now experience and foresee, in consequence of your
behaviour as a magistrate, are of the most serious nature
and of the most afflicting kind, and such, if I may be
allowed to judge, as you can never sufficiently repair.
My peace, character and fortune are not only materially
afiected, but likewise my liberty and life ; and what is still
more the life of my wife, whose tender frame and con-
stitution render her very unfit to sustain the shocks she
hath already felt and those that are likely to follow."
This dignified rebuke had some efiect upon the coroner,
who, apparently thinking that his zeal might be carrying
him too far, finally allowed the prisoners to go home, there
to remain in charge of a constable until their trial at the
forthcoming assizes.

Their situation was, in Mr. Oliphant's forcible phrase,
" replete with horror." To the mental agony caused by
the monstrous accusation under which they lay were joined
" the sudden stop put to his practice, particularly from the
country," the grievous injury done to his wife's health,
and what was to prove the fatal effect upon his father-in-
law, then " labouring under the complicated pangs of
bodily distress and anguish of mind." In these manifold

244 THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

misfortunes Mr. Olipbant was sustained as well by the
sympathy and support of his personal friends, as by the
confident hope that his innocence would soon be clearly
manifested to the world.

The Durham Assizes, presided over by the Hon. Mr.
Justice Bathurst,(a) opened on 13th August 1764, and
the prisoners were now in gaol awaiting their deliverance.
The fourth day of the assizes came, and yet no bill
of indictment was laid before the grand jury. Mr.
Oliphant's witnesses, who had been in attendance since
the opening of the court, were thus put to much incon-
venience. This delay was, he says, due to the action of
the coroner, who, having constituted himself " sollicitor
in the prosecution," was busy beating up evidence against
the prisoners ; " he had gone a-hunting into the country
after witnesses other than those who were examined on the
inquest." The gross impropriety of these proceedings well
warrants Mr. Oliphant's strictures upon them. Not till
the 17th, the last day of the sittings, was the bill of indict-
ment presented to the grand jury, who found it to be a
true bill ; and in the afternoon of the same day the trial
of the prisoners began. Judging by the bag, the coroner
must have had but poor sport in the country, for the
quality of the birds was no better than those which he had
brought down at Dunston.

The first witness, John Southeron, who had helped to
land the body, narrated the facts with which we are now
familiar. When taken into the boat on the Sunday,
*' blood came out of her nose and mouth ; her face and
neck were black, with a circular white mark, half an inch
broad, like the mark of a cord or of something tied round
her neck tight." He did not see the body stripped. On
the Tuesday the face and neck were blacker. He was one

(a) Henry Bathurst (1714-1794), Solicitor-General lo the Prince of Wales,
1745 ; led for the Crown in the prosecution of Mary Blandy, 1752 ; Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas, 1754; Lord Chancellor, 1771 ; succeeded his father as
Earl Biithurst, 1775 ; and in the following year presided as Lord High Steward
at the trial of the Duchess of Kingston. He resigned the Seal in 1778.

THE HAED CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT 245

of the jury on the inquest that day. Next Joseph Barlow,
his partner, told the same tale. When he announced to
Mary Shittleton the finding of the body " the maid seemed
no way surprized." The deceased's cap was hanging behind
her head, tied under her chin with a tape or a small string.
Robert Somerville, surgeon, repeated the evidence he gave
at the inquest. Had the deceased been hanged on Tuesday
and lain in the water till Sunday he did not think any
blood could have come from the body. It might have so
swelled in the water that any ligature on the neck would
occasion the mark ; " the necklace or ribbon might have
broke." Jane Armstrong repeated, with unimportant
variations, her former evidence. After the examination
of three new witnesses, who had seen the body but had
nothing material to say, Sarah Ward stated that on
Sunday, 22nd July, she met Mary Shittleton on her way
to Dunston to view the body. To her Mary gave the same
account of what had happened as she did at the inquest,
but added that if she should find the body to be Dinah's
" she was to turn about her foot and make no discovery."
Jane Greaves and Thomasine Elwell, examined, had
nothing to add to their previous testimony. Tamar
Armstrong described her visit to Mrs. Oliphant and the
account given to her by that lady of Dinah's disappearance.
The facts, when stated on oath, did not justify Tamar's
extrajudicial gloss upon them. This closed the Crown case.
The defence called two witnesses only. Henry
Thompson stated that he had lived as a patient in the
doctor's house since June. All Tuesday forenoon, 17th
July, he saw Dinah going about her ordinary work, and
several times she went out of doors. She was under no
restraint or confinement whatever. He then described the
alarm when the family were at dinner, and the measures
taken to find the missing girl. She was always kindly
treated by the family, he never saw the least ill usage.
Margaret French stated how she came to be in the
kitchen that day ; Dinah was at full liberty, going about

246 THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHANT

her business as usual. She seemed very dull. Witness
gave the same account as Mary Shittleton of what after-
wards happened. No further record of the proceedings
is available, Mr. Oliphant here concluding his report by
stating that " the prisoners were immediately acquitted
to the entire satisfaction of the whole court."

Upon the prisoners' acquittal Mr. Oliphant asked leave
to address the Court. He hoped that the law provided
some means of redress for the enormous injuries, losses
and expense he had sustained by that prosecution, and
also for the punishment of the coroner, who had led him
into those fatal proceedings by refusing to hear evidence
on the inquest and by other misbehaviour. Mr. Justice
Bathurst replied that these matters were not then regu-
larly before the Court, but he suggested that Mr. Oliphant
should take opinion of counsel as to his proper remedy.
"I am sorry for your misfortune," continued his Lordship,
"and believe you to be as innocent of the crime laid to
your charge as myself." The Court then rose.

Shortly after his release Mr. Oliphant addressed to the
Lord Bishop of Durham a letter calling his attention to
the conduct of his steward in the capacity of coroner, and
submitting that that person " ought to render what repara-
tion lay in his power for the injuries sustained from his
abuse of office." His Lordship took no notice of this
appeal, and the unjust steward was not called to account.
Mr. Oliphant next consulted several eminent lawyers as to
the best means of bringing his oppressor to book. The
learned gentlemen advised appHcation to the Court of
King's Bench for an information against the coroner, upon
affidavits verifying the facts, which were prepared accord-
ingly. In these, Mr. Oliphant, after dealhig fully with
the whole circumstances, stated that the expenses of the
defence amounted to over £90; that his practice had
severely suffered — "a great many people having since
refused or declined to employ or have any dealings with
this deponent " ; and that his wife was ill of a nervous

THE HAKD CASE OF ME. JAMES OLIPHANT 247

fever, owing to the anxiety and trouble of mind she had
undergone. John Weatherburn and John Green swore to
the rejection by the coroner of evidence amply sufficient
to rebut the charge, and that to their knowledge the jury
were influenced or intimidated by him. Crozier the
constable corroborated the evidence of the others as to
way in which the inquest was conducted. Thomasine
Elwell denied that Mrs. Oliphant had ever said she had
confined Dinah in the cellar ; if anything appeared in her
deposition to that efiect, it was a misrepresentation of the
truth and contrary to her meaning.

In September 1764 Mr. Oliphant gave notice to the
coroner of his intention to exhibit a complaint against him
to the Court of King's Bench, and in Michaelmas Term
following counsel moved upon the affidavits for an informa-
tion. The Court refused the motion and referred Mr.
Oliphant to the Grand Jury, " as the subject matter of the
complaint appear'd to be more proper by way of indictment
in the county." From this course, however, and from the
alternative one of a special action for damages, which his
legal advisers deemed " very proper and eligible," Mr.
Oliphant was finally dissuaded, the sole certain result for
him of such proceedings being further expense. " A con-
siderable part of my small fortune," he writes, " the fruits
of years of honest industry, the provision of a numerous
rising family, dissipated in a necessary defence and
ineffectual endeavours to obtain redress : my business
greatly reduced ; my reputation sullied ; my peace of mind
deeply wounded ; my wife's health much impaired ; and to
complete my afflictions, deprived of the kindest and best of
fathers, who after languishing a few months in all the bitter-
ness of sorrow, fell a victim to his too great sensibility of the
injuries of his son : these are some of the triumphs of my per-
secutors, a few of the long train of evils that have resulted
from this most oppressive prosecution, the effects whereof I
must severely feel to the last moment of my life." (a)

(a) The Case of Mr. James Oliphant, pp. v-vi.

248 THE HAED CASE OF MR. JAMES OLTPHANT

After three years' further struggle with misfortune Mr.
Oliphant, in the " ruinous " state of his affairs, was moved
to appeal to an impartial world, and " with an unreserved
confidence in the justice of the public," to print and publish
in 1768 a full statement of his wrongs. One hopes that it
met with a large sale and was the means of engaging in
behalf of its unhappy author the practical sympathy of
his countrymen. Mr. Oliphant notes in his introduction
the remarkable parallel between his case and the con-
temporaneous one of Jean Galas (1761-1765), that historic
instance of judicial error which in its day made as much
noise as L Affaire Dreyfus. "The misfortunes of the
parties in both cases," he writes, " took their rise from one
of the family's committing an act of suicide. In our case
the accident happen'd while the family was sitting quietly
at dinner ; in their's, whilst at supper. With each a
stranger friend was present, and both families equally
unsuspicious and ignorant of what was passing. The father
and relations of the son, the master and mistress of the
servant — persons whom of all others in the eye of cool
reason ought not to have been suspected — were the first
persons positively charg'd with the murder of the deceas'd
parties. A servant maid in each family was by the officers
of justice made a party in the alledg'd crime, and the
accus'd thereby depriv'd of the benefit of their respective
evidence. The uncharitable and false reports of an infatu-
ated multitude, notwithstanding their absurdity, gave rise
in both cases to suspicion and afterwards to the prosecution
of the parties. The groundless opinion of a surgeon in
each case serv'd to corroborate the ridiculous notions of
the populace, and gain credit to the fantasies of prejudice
and delusion. The Capitoul of Tholouse [Magistrate of
Toulouse] appears to have been much akin both in office
and complexion to our Coroner. The proceedings and
errours of these officers proved ruinous to the respective
parties. Fortunately for our fellow-subjects they were
tried before judges of different understandings from the

THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIRHANT 249

judges at Tholouse, otherwise the catastrophy might have
been equally fatal, and the one case made a complete
counterpart of the other." (a)

Jean Galas was a respectable draper of Toulouse. He,
his wife, and two of his sons, Marc-Antoine and Pierre,
were Protestants; his servant, Jeanne Viguier, was a
Catholic. On the evening of 13th October 1761 the
family supped together, a youth named Francois Lavaysse
being of the party. After supper Marc-Antoine, a gloomy
and profligate young Calvinist, embittered by the failure,
on relic^ious grounds, of his ambition to become an avocat,
and disgusted with the mercantile pursuit which he was
compelled to follow, went out, like Judas, and hanged
himself. Unfortunately for their fate, when the others
discovered his body hanging behind the door in the
paternal shop, they cut it down, and for the protection
of the family honour agreed to conceal the fact of the
suicide. A doctor was summoned, who declared that
death was due to strangling. As Protestants in a city
violently Catholic the Galas were unpopular with the
faithful of the neighbourhood ; a rumour arose that these
heretics had slain their son in order to prevent him from
turning Catholic. This view was vehemently espoused by
the capitoul charged with the investigation, one David de
Beaudrigue, in whom Mr. Oliphant descries a strong
resemblance to Mr. Coroner Robson. This magistrate's
conduct of the case, however, was even more prejudiced
and illegal. The five persons in the house were arrested,
loaded with chains, and charged with murdering Marc-
Antoine in the interest of Protestant fanaticism. They
then told the truth about the matter, but it availed them
nothing. Marc-Antoine was buried with high solemnity;
the Church treated him as a martyr, the feithful considered
him a saint, miracles were wrought at his tomb. "The
author of this account," writes George Borrow m his
report of the affair, "has an a ttested case of a young man

(a) The Case of Mr. James Oliphant, pp. ix-x.

250 THE HARD CASE OF MR. JAMES OLIPHA.NT

who lost the use of his understanding by remaining all
night in prayer on the tomb of this new saint, and not
obtaining any of the miracles which he implored. "(a)
One conceives the young man's understanding as from the
first not of the strongest. Meanwhile the capitoul, in the
absence of all proof of guilt, ordered that the most rigorous
torture should be applied to the three Galas, and that the
friend and the servant should be "presented to torture"
with a view, as appears, to the quickening of their
imagination. Though despite this atrocious treatment
they all persistently maintained their innocence, the
Toulouse Parliament sentenced Jean Galas to death, and
after undergoing torture ordinary and extraordinary, he
was finally, on 10th March 1762, broken alive upon the
wheel. Pierre was banished for life, the charge against
Madame Galas and young Lavaysse was found not proven,
and the maid, as a good Catholic, was acquitted. The
vindication of this hapless family was ultimately effected
by the unremitting efforts of Voltaire, who played in
L' Affaire Colas the part later taken by Zola in L Affaire
Dreyfus. Two years after the judicial murder of Galas
the King's Privy Council annulled the decision of the
Toulouse Parliament; and on 9th March 1765, the third
anniversary of Jean Galas' condemnation, his family, friend
and servant were upon a new trial formally " rehabilitated,"
and their names erased from the criminal registers of
France. It is satisfactory to learn that the capitoul de
Beaudrigue, being dismissed from office, became insane and
committed suicide, and that Louis the Fifteenth gave the
survivors a grant of 30,000 francs. In these respects, as
Mr. Oliphant points out, the parallel is incomplete; the
English coroner went unpunished and George the Third
did nothing to indemnify the victims of his stupidity and
spite. But then, on the other hand, the case of Galas was
even a harder one than Mr. Oliphant's.

(a) Celebrated Trials, 1825, iv. 456.

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN :

LORD BRAXriELD'S LAST CASE

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN :

LOP.D BRAXFIELD'S LAST CASE.

" You're a young gentleman that doesna approve of Caapital Punish-
ment," said Hermiston, " Weel, I'm an auld man that does."

— Weir of Hermiston.

UNLH^E the roycal pair In Old Testament story whose
fate King David so touchingly laments, the subject of
this insignificant biography was neither lovely nor pleasant
in his life, and in his death he was divided — by the knife of
a professor of anatomy. The crime for which he thus so
suitably suffered lacks those elements, whether of romance
or mystery, which sometimes lend a factitious attraction to
the ugliest of deeds, and the criminal himself was as canting
and cruel a scoundrel as ever occupied a rope. But on the
other hand, there are in his case certain circumstances that
move me to evoke for a world comfortably ignorant of his
existence, his evil and repulsive image. It was his good
fortune to be the last man hanged by Lord Braxfield. The
dramatic quality of his capture in the delectable Isle of
Arran, while attempting to shun the embraces of "the
widow with the wooden legs " ; the curious narrative of
his career, afterwards published "as taken from his own
mouth" in Glasgow Tolbooth, five days before his execu-
tion ; the interest which the crime aroused in the mind of
Sir Walter Scott, who, as we shall see, was present at the
trial and actually interviewed the murderer; the sinister
and striking picture by John Kay of the prisoner as he
appeared at the bar — these are for me matters sufficiently
inviting, and will, I trust, by the reader be held to extenuate
the act.

When Robert Louis Stevenson was busy fashioning
from the dry bones of the historic Braxfield the grandly

253

254 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

vital figure of his own Justice-Clerk, he wrote on 1st
December 1892 to his friend Mr. Charles Baxter: "I wish
Pitcairn's ' Criminal Trials ' quam primum. Also, an
absolutely correct text of the Scots judiciary oath. Also,
in case Pitcairn does not come down late enough, I wish
as full a report as possible of a Scotch murder trial' between
1790-1820. \JndiQX&tdind., the fullest j)ossihle.'\a) Pitcairn,
duly despatched to the Pacific, was read "from end to end
with vast improvement " ; but, alas ! he did not come down
late enough, his invaluable collection terminating with the
reign of our sixth James, and I have often wondered what
printed report, if any, Mr. Baxter sent out to Vailima. It
would preferably be one of a trial at which Lord Braxfield
himself presided, but reports of these are few. By far the
best and most instructive, that of Deacon Brodie in 1788,
is not a murder case; that of Major Kinloch in 1795 is
only technically such, the accused having been insane when
he committed the fatal act. Nor could the present case,
even had a report of it been available, have claimed the
high distinction of subserving the author's use, as that of
James Stewart of the Glen had earlier so admirably done in
the matter of David Balfour's experiences. It dealt, indeed,
with murder, it occurred in 1796, and it was the last, so far
as I am aware, which was tried by Lord Braxfield before
that mighty frame began to crumble beneath the onslaughts
of disease. No separate report was published, and beyond
the official record in the Books of Adjournal we have but
the accounts given in the contemporary local press. (6)
Further, there was no defence, the pannel judicially con-
fessing his guilt; and the Crown led evidence only "in
order to satisfy the Court and the country," and to warrant
the jury's verdict.

It is idle though pleasant to speculate upon how
Stevenson proposed to turn the " kittle " legal corner in

(a) Letters to His Family and Friends, ii. 273-274.

(6) Edinburgh Evening) Gourant and Caledonian Mercury, 15th December 1796 ;
Scots Magazine, vol. 58, p. 863.

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN 255

the plot of his half-told tale. Trial scenes in fiction have
rarely been -successful ; even the supreme example, that
of Effie Deans, shows here and there some traces of the
limelight. From the letter to Mr. Baxter before cited it is
plain that despite the scantness of his professional equip-
ment the writer well knew that Lord Hermiston could not
himself preside at Archie Weir's trial. "The Justice-
Clerk tries some people capitally on circuit," he continues.
''Certain evidence cropping' up, the charge is transferred
to the J.-C.'s own son. Of course, in the next trial the
J.-C. is excluded, (a) and the case is called before the
Lord Justice-General. Where would the trial have to
be ? I fear in Edinburgh, which would not suit my
view. Could it be again at the circuit town?" As Sir
Sidney Colvin has told us, the point was submitted to
Mr. Graham Murray, now Lord Dunedin, who was of
opinion that the second trial might take place at the
circuit town before two Lords of Justiciary, and that the
Justice-General, who was then a layman and but nomin-
ally the head of the Court, would have nothing to do
with it. Whereupon Stevenson wrote, " Graham Murray's
note re the venue was highly satisfactory, and did me all
the good in the world." The precedent of Argyll presiding
^ at the Appin murder trial in 1752 would seem to have
been disregarded. Personally I think that the " people "
who were to be tried first by Lord Hermiston for the
murder of Frank Innes at the Weaver's Stone, were the
Four Black Brothers of the Cauldstaneslap ; that their
acquittal following upon new evidence pointing to Archie's
guilt, the Justice-Clerk granted a warrant for his son's
arrest, and in doing so pronounced his own doom ; and
that the next trial, at which Archie would be convicted,
was held before Lords Glenalmond and Glenkindie. That
Archie should be confined in the local county jail was

(a) At a late dramatic production iu Edinburgh of JVeir of Hermiston the
trial scene,, in which the father condL-inns his son to death, proved curiously
unreal and ineffective, and spoilt a performance iu other respects commendable.

256 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

essential to his successful rescue by the Four Black Brothers,
who — as their creator divulged in a letter to Sir James
Barrie — were to " break prison " in his behalf. The Tol-
booth of Edinburgh had been broken once for all by Scott.
Stevenson was too fine an artist to renew the attack,
though he might try a crack at Portanferry ; hence his
relief on counsel's favourable opinion. All this, however,
is beside the present purpose, and like Lord Hermiston
" I must get to my plew-stilts."

Autobiography, even under conditions the most fortunate,
is a difficult art. It must choose between showing the
author as he really is, or as he believes himself to be, or
as he would fain hope that he appears to others. At best,
as I say, h ticklish business ; but pursued by one in the
invidious situation of a convicted murderer and executed
— appropriate term ! — in the condemned cell, beneath the
very shadow of the scaffold, an enterprise from which the
stoutest and most foolhardy might recoil. Yet did David
Haggart of adventurous memory, to whom I have else-
where paid a modest tribute, produce in circumstances
thus forbidding a work now regarded by all but namby-
pamby criticism as a classic of its kind. Through his brave
young pages blows much the same highway breeze as that
which keeps green and gracious the inimitable Beggars
Opey^a. The writer with whom we have to deal, however,
though so greatly older and more experienced than his
criminous successor, and in all respects the riper rascal, has
nothing of his junior's charm. A cold-blooded hypocrite,
certainly guilty of one, and probably of two more murders,
he interests in another way. A glance at their respective
portraits — David's drawn by himself in his cell, M'Kean's
by Kay at the trial — shows how little, even of wickedness,
they have in common. The one was, regrettably, a rogue ;
the other, merely an unmitigated rufiJian.

" The Life of James M'Kaen, (a) Shoemaker in Glasgow,

(a) So spelt by the owner and his publishers. I have preferred throughout
the more usual form.

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN 257

who was executed at the Cross of Glasgow on Wednesday
the 25 th Jan. 1797, for the Murder and Robbery of James
Buchanan, the Lanark Carrier," a little book of seventy-
one pages, issued in Glasgow by Brash and Reid, is the
sole account we have of its author's history. Designed for
edification, it was dictated by him in Glasgow Tolbooth
and published at his own request, as a " full, accurate and
authentic " memoir. While in Edinburgh Tolbooth, being
" continually tormented by the turnkey and others to write
a History of My Life,'' he had agreed to be " interviewed,"
but so little was he satisfied with the result that he
petitioned the Magistrates to prevent publication of the
Edinburgh document, he having been "in a perfect phrenzy
or delirium when it was taken down." Possibly his Glasgow
publishers were the parties most interested. Anyhow, the
Edinburgh " Life " was suppressed and Brash and Beid's
volume had the field to itself.

James M'Kean, who at the time of his trial was aged
forty-four, was born in the Gallowgate of Glasgow. His
father died when he was a child, his mother married again,
and on her second widowhood espoused, with unfortunate
results, a journeyman shoemaker. This gentleman, whom
she set up in business as a master craftsman, having abused
her generosity for a season, subsequently " ran off to
Dalkeith, carrying with him all the effects he could come
at." James, then ten years old, was bound apprentice to
a shoemaker. The deserted lady had still invested for
the boy's education a small sum of money which the
fugitive had overlooked. He therefore wrote professing
penitence, prevailed upon her to join him in Dalkeith,
and there tried to persuade her to " lift up " the fund and
apply it to his own use. Finding her maternal instinct
stronger than her sense of wifely duty he again absconded,
this time for good and all. Bereft of the benefit of his
stepfather's counsel and guidance the young M'Kean
continued his apprenticeship until, his master failing in
business, his indenture was transferred to a shoemaker in

258 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

Dalkeith. Before the expiry of his time, however, he ran
away from home, taking with him, presumably for re-
membrance, " some few articles and one shilling," the
property of his mother, from which it would seem that
his stepfather's example had not been wholly thrown away.
M'Kean made his way to Lanark, where he remained two
years working at his trade. His mother meanwhile had
prospered, having then a considerable business in selling
smallwares, so the absentee thought it worth his while to
go home and was welcomed after the usual fashion of
returned prodigals. To his mother's folly in fitting him
out " genteelly as to apparel " and allowing him too much
liberty and pocket-money he attributes the taste for loose
company which ultimately led to his undoing.

M'Kean courted for some time " a sober young girl of
the neighbourhood," to whom he made oath that nothing
but death should part them. Wearying of her charms, he
determined to break with her ; so he took her one day
by a lane where lay a dead horse, and as she stood looking
at it he went to the other side of the body, pointing out
" that his vow was now entirely broken, for death had
made a total separation between them." The quaintness
of this conceit was so little appreciated by the damsel
that " she fell into a fever which nearly deprived her of
life." His mother now wanted him to marry a certain
dame "for the sake of a trifling sum of which she was
possessed," but whether he deemed the consideration in-
adequate or was too high minded to marry for money, he
secretly contracted an alliance with another. " A short
time after I was married," he says, " I fell into a criminal
correspondence with a girl who soon after proved with
child to me, in consequence of which she was deprived of
her place of service, and went home to her father's in the
parish of Liberton, about three miles from Dalkeith ; and
I was put away from my mother's house and was under
the necessity of taking private lodgings." His wife re-
mained with her own people. After the birth of the

THE HATs^CtTNCt of JAMES M'KEAN 259

child, M'Kean awoke one morning to find that someone
had deposited the infant in his bed while he slept. He
returned the unwelcome guest to Liberton, but it was
again brought back to him. Finally his mother undertook
the care of it, M'Kean " made public satisfaction " in the
parish kirk of Liberton, compensated the girl's parents for
their charges, and settled down to domesticity with a
mind at ease.

The pleasures of home life must have soon begun to
pall, for presently we find him sallying forth with a friend,
James Pringle, an Edinburgh writer, " for a country walk
and to avoid company." They forgathered with one John
Bell, who was on his way to Musselburgh to enlist under
Major Menzies in Frazer's Highlanders, " which were then
raising during the time of the American War." It was
arranged that the friends should accompany the recruit in
order to participate in the reward. " He received six
guineas of bounty and we received half a guinea betwixt
us for our bringino^ him." The sergreant marked the
occasion by treating them to sundry bowls of punch, and
at a favourable stage of the entertainment " threw down
all the cash he had upon the table," inviting them to
help themselves and go along with him. " Meantime the
landlord coming to serve us, used a great many impreca-
tions, swearing that we were all of us the King's men. At
this I took up a candlestick and threw it at him with such
violence that it cut him through the cheek bone ; then all
the recruits and the sergeant got up at once to seize us,
and the table, candle, money and all were thrown to the
ground. In the confusion John Bell, the recruit whom we
had brought, gathered all the money he could from off the
floor and ran off and deserted, and was never more heard
of, though repeatedly advertised " (a). M'Kean and his
learned friend were less fortunate. Arrested by the

(«)Iu a footnote to this passage the author frankly admits that his temper
was rarely in perfect control, and cites King Solomon on the unwisdom of yield-
ing to that infirmity.

260 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

soldiers and taken to the commanding officer's quarters
they found that he had just gone to bed ; his servant
would not disturb him, and said they must be kept
prisoners till next day. This so enraged the man of law
that he, being of powerful build, knocked down several of
the party and rescued his companion, who in the scuffle
received a bayonet thrust in the thigh. Pringle, who
seems to have been anything but a dry-as-dust disciple of
Themis, was so elated at their escape that he lifted an ale
barrel from the door of a place of public refreshment, and
pushed it through the window. " The people were so much
alarmed that they came out of the house and ran after us
naked, excepting with their shirts, but they did not over-
take us." The pair reached Dalkeith safely, but next day
a military guard arrived and took them prisoner. Pringle
was carried off to Edinburgh, but M'Kean's mother obtained
his freedom from the sergeant at the expense of two
guineas. How the festive writer fared is not recorded.

After this escapade M'Kean settled down of new,
"behaving unblameably as to the world's censure." So
he continued, until the mysterious disappearance of his
child set local tongues wagging again. According to his
own account his mother, to remove the scandal of the
child's existence, " put it into an hospital at Edinburgh."
What became of it he is unable to state ; the child, like
Mr. John Bell of Musselburgh, was never heard of more.
The incident was the subject of unkindly comment, and
so sensitive was M'Kean to criticism that " in order to
escape the reproach " he removed with his wife to Glasgow,
taking with him "sufficient testimonials of his moral char-
acter " from the minister of his parish. These documents, if
genuine, afford singular evidence of the charity of that
complacent divine. M'Kean found employment with a
firm of shoemakers, until seven years later he set up in
business for himself He then invited his mother to come
and share his home in Glasgow ; this the old lady did in
1785, and they lived together, he says, in perfect amity

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN 261

for four months. It afterwards appeared, however, that
the harmony of the household suffered somewhat from
the uncertain temper of the master, who, among other
regrettable outbursts, is reported to have boiled in a pot
his mother's favourite cat. But he was soon to lie under
an imputation yet more grievous.

At eight o'clock, on the evening of 25th September
1785, a man unknown decoyed old Mrs. M'Kean from her
home in the High Street; she never returned, and next
day her dead body was found " in the Grand Canal, about
half a mile beyond the Old Basin at Hamilton Hill."
M'Kean's account of this untoward family incident is as
follows. He was working in the house all that day until
about 8 P.M., "when, coming out of the door, I was about
three steps down my own stair when a person asked at me
in an ordinary tone of voice, ' if it was here or where Mary
Hogg lived?' this being my mother's maiden name. To
this question I made no reply, but turning about I pushed
up the door of her apartment and called to her, ' Mother,
here is a man wanting you,' or some such words as these.
She accordingly came to the door, for I saw her do so ; I
passed the man in the stair but paid no attention to him,
and stood for a little time to make water in the close. I
overheard the man speaking to my mother and her to him
on the stair, but recollect nothing of what he or she said,
nor yet do I recollect of their passing me in the close."
The perfunctory and inadequate character of this explana-
tion is most remarkable. The old mother, a stranger in
the city, summoned suddenly after dark by an unknow^n
man, and the son neither asks his business nor notes his
appearance, and though within earshot of their conversation,
fails to recall its purport ! It is also very singular that,
although the old woman had been thrice married, the
stranger should know, and enquire for her by, her maiden
name. M'Kean then went out, he says, upon his own
affairs for an hour and came home, making no comment on
his mother's continued absence. "I caused my wife to

262 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

serve up supper to me and send out ibr a bottle of porter ;
all this was done by nine o'clock or a few minutes after
nine ; and then as our usual course was, we made ready to
make family worship, which was done accordingly," On
the conclusion of these devotional exercises Jean M'Kerran,
a friend of the old lady, called to see her. Learning that
she was abroad, Jean decided to await her return. Eleven
o'clock struck, and still there was no word of her ; M'Kean's
filial solicitude was aroused, he and the visitor went out
together to look for her. They tried sundry carriers'
quarters and taverns " where she used to frequent," but
without result. By midnight the son's anxiety was
increased ; he. Miss M'Kerran, and a friendly tobacconist
who lived in the close, resumed the search, which they
continued till the following noon.

At midday, returning from the ineffectual quest, Jean
heard casually in the Gallowgate that the missing woman
was found drowned in the Canal ; so the bereaved son went
to the Canal Basin, brought to his own house the body of
his mother, and, as he points out, " gave her a decent
funeral." What more could the best of sons have done ?
And yet so wicked is the world that, as he complains,
presently among the ignorant and the ill-willing a report
spread that he was his mother's murderer. "This rumour,"
he says, " was principally caused by a girl who went
messages for the girls in the inkle factory (a) of Messrs.
David Dale & Co. as she was in the room with my mother
ivhen I unfortunately called her out." We may so far
agree with our author that but for the fact stated in the
passage I have italicised, we should have heard nothing of
his connection with the tragedy. No official enquiry into
the case appears to have been made ; but after the funeral
M'Kean, at the instance of some friends, caused to be
inserted in the Glasgow newspapers the following advertise-
ment, paying 4s. 3d. for each insertion : —

(a) Inkle. — A narrow linen fabric or kind of tape, formerly used for shoe-
ties, apron-strings, and the like. — Wright's English Dialect Dictionary.

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN 263

A REWARD OF TWENTY GUINEAS.

Whereas Mary Hogg, relict of the deceased James M'Kaen, tanner
in Glasgow, who for some time past has been employed in selling
teas, was called from her house in Castle-pens Land, in the High
Street of Glasgow, about seven of the clock on the evening of
Monday the 26th of September last, to speak with a person at the
close-mouth ; and the said Mary Hogg having been found dead next
morning in the Great Canal, near Ruchhill, there is ground to
suspect that her death has been occasioned by some person who had
her at malice ; a reward is therefore offered of 20 guineas to any
person who can give information of the person who took her from
her house ; or of the person who was accessory to or concerned in
her death, to be paid on conviction by her son

James M'Kaen, Shoemaker in Glasgow.(a)

No such information was ever forthcoming, and M'Kean
regrets to state that his mother's death remained a mystery

"this is all that 1 know respecting that unfortunate

affair."

He devotes much more energy and space to dealing with
another calumny of which he was the victim. His niece
was married to one Watson, a butcher in Lanark. This
gentleman's affairs becoming involved, " he made an elope-
ment from her." The deserted spouse applied to her uncle
for advice ; M'Kean went to Lanark and obtained from her
" the rights of a land of houses and a piece of ground," m
security of an account of £14 for boots and shoes supplied
by him to her absent lord. The butcher seems to have
been somewhat nice in the matter of footwear ; but even so,
the amount of the security appears excessive. This friendly
move caused trouble with the other creditors, who were
further annoyed when they found that Mrs. Watson had
sent to her uncle by James Buchanan, the Lanark carrier,
a sack of valuables, "to prevent them being taken from
her." The wods were arrested in the hands of Buchanan,
who refused to deliver them to M'Kean; "several sharp
words passed," and it may be that the offence thus given
to the intemperate shoemaker contributed to the carrier's
death. The lady seems to have shared her uncle's infirmity

(a) Glasgow Journal, 6th October 1785.

264 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

of temper, for so highly was she incensed by the action of
the creditors that she " threatened to burn their house
about their ears," for which she was apprehended on a
warrant, " but the deceased James Buchanan bailed her out
of prison." Subsequently she resided with her uncle, until,
upon his "discovering some instances of improper behaviour
in her," he advised her to seek a less respectable asylum.

Now it was part of Buchanan's business to convey
weekly from the Merchant Banking Company of Glasgow
to a manufacturer in Lanark certain sums of money.
M'Kean says nothing about this, but it is plain that he
became aware of the fact and began to cultivate the carrier's
acquaintance. The landlord of the inn at which, when in
Glasgow, Buchanan used to put up deponed at the trial that
he had seen the pannel and the carrier in company every
Thursday for three or four weeks previous to the murder.
M'Kean admits that Buchanan spent an evening at his
house the week before the crime : " I lighted him down-
stairs, and at parting asked him to give me a call next
week," The carrier probably owed his escape on this
occasion to his not then having the Bank's money upon him.
On the evening of the following Friday, 7th October 1796,
Buchanan came again by invitation to the dark house in
Castle-pens Land, and was received in the back room by
his host, who says he was writing a letter which, along with
a parcel, he intended sending by the carrier. As it chanced,
he was mending his pen with " a very big razor, indeed the
largest I ever saw in the blade," to which he had bound
with rosined thread "a piece of old file or risp at the back,
to keep it steady as a haft." Unluckily the visitor broached
the sore subject of the bankruptcy ; " a few sharp words
passed," and Buchanan, losing his temper, gave his host a
kick on the shins. M'Kean thus describes what followed : —

I started up, and lifted up the fatal weapon in my right hand with
which the deed was done, and struck him fairly on the throat with it.
I declare he received but one stroke from me ; but a dreadful stroke it
was, for it was given with great violence. He was sitting on a chair, and

THE HANGEXC^ OF JAMES M'KEAN 265

I was standing upon his right-band side, and when I had given him the
stroke, in consequence of feeling it he suddenly lifted up his right hand
to defend himself and grasped me by the arm ; in his doing this the chair
he sat upon flew fairly from him to the left side, and I having the razor
still at his throat, followed the stroke and fell down above him, by which
he received the whole weight of my body and pressure and force of my
arm and the instrument together, as it never went from his throat till
I took it out after he was dead. (a)

Such is the murderer's version, which Sir Walter Scott
has well termed apocryphal. " Buchanan," he remarks,
" was a powerful man, and M'Kean slender. It appeared
that the latter had engaged Buchanan in writing, then
suddenly clapped one hand on his eyes, and struck the
fatal blow with the other. The throat of the deceased was
cut throup-h his handkerchief to the back bone of the neck,
against which the razor was hacked in several places."(&)
The deed done, the murderer seems to have lost his head.
He hurried into the front room where his wife and daughter
were sitting sewing, seized a green cloth from the table,
and ran back with it to wipe up the blood, bolting the door
behind him. His wife, suspecting something wrong, beat
upon the door, which the murderer, having thrust the body
of the carrier into a closet, opened to her. When she
entered with a lighted candle — the room was then in dark-
ness — and saw the great quantity of blood on the floor, her
repeated cries of "Murder! Murder!" alarmed the house.
M'Kean incontinently fled, taking with him his victim's
watch and pocket-book. Hardly was he gone than the
neighbours rushed in, and the hue and cry was raised.

The bells were ringing six o'clock as the murderer
crossed the Old Bridge ; through the Gorbals he sped,
never stopping till he was some three miles on his road.
In his haste and walking in the dark, he stumbled into the
river Cart, and wet and weary continued his way to Mearns,
where at a change-house he supped and slept. He shared

(a) Life of James ArKean, pp. 41-42.
(6) Lockhart's Life of Scott, 1837, i. 257.

266 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

a bed with " a travellino- old man that was comino- to

O fc)

Glasgow." Had this venerable wayfarer known who was
his bedfellow he had passed but a restless night. Next
day the fugitive was up betimes, and going through Mearns
Muir, broke his fast at Kilmarnock. Thence he pushed on
to Irvine, in the hope of embarking for Ireland. He found
a ship in the article of sailing, " the last cargo of coals
being in its longboat to go out to the vessel, as she was
riding at anchor." The Friendshij), Captain Cowsie, was
bound for Dublin, and in her M'Kean, modestly veiling his
identity under the alias of James Hogg, obtained a pass-
age. That day, Saturday, 8th October, they weighed
anchor at four o'clock. There were four other passengers,
and it soon appeared that they were to have a stormy
voyage ; " the winds being very contrary, the sea ran
dreadfully high, and the captain declared that he never
saw the like." To sailing-ships outward bound from the
Clyde the influence of a south-west gale is not propitious ;
the Friendship spent the week-end in beating about the
Firth, and early on Monday morning was forced to put in
for shelter to Lamlash Bay, in the Isle of Arran.

This splendid natural harbour, which, I have heard,
could accommodate the entire British fleet, is practically
landlocked, the Holy Isle, which guards it on the east,
leaving but a narrow channel on either hand. Being-
brought safely to this desired haven the passengers per-
suaded the captain to land them in the longboat, and the
party made for the inn, where they ordered breakfast, (ct)
As there seemed no prospect of the gale abating, our traveller
decided to see something of the beautiful island upon the
shores of which fortune had cast him ; so having hired a
horse he rode over the hills by the old bridle-track to
Brodick, the bay adjoining that of Lamlash upon the north.
Biding round the noble estuary, which must then, for lack
of sundry modern improvements, have looked even more

(o) This was not the existing hotel ; the old inn, which adjoined the present
police station, is the hostelry referred to by M'Kean.

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN 267

lovely than it does to-day, our horseman reached Brodick
Castle, "where," as he mentions, "the Duke of Hamilton
frequently visits " ; and having admired that famous
fbrtalice, he rested at the picturesque old inn, which, though
it has long lost its public character, still spreads its fair and
spacious front to the roadway below the Castle. "The
landlord of the house," he remarks, " was a fine, active old
man, who had excellent talents for conversation." These,
unfortunately, the guest was then " too dreadfully agitated
in mind " to appreciate. He was, however, composed enough
to " take a refreshment," the nature of which he does not
specify ; probably it was something more stimulating than
the beverage for which the house was noted, (a) After
leaving the inn he went " down by the sea-side to a piece
of level ground " — the present golf course — " and set off at
the full gallop." He had not gone far before his horse
stumbled and threw him, which he accepted as a proof
"that God Almighty was now pouring down His judgments
upon me, and that the very animal was armed against me
in order to execute His just vengeance upon me for my
sins." Apart from any question of " refreshment," the
incident, to one knowing the nature of the ground, is
susceptible of an explanation less awful. By four o'clock
he had regained his quarters at Lamlash, where after divers
further potations he spent the night. Next day he went
with a companion " a mile or two into the island to amuse
me, on purpose to raise my spirits " ; the expedition met
with no success. His supper that evening consisted chiefly
of brandy ; " but the force of this stimulus had no avail to
cheer me, for I believe I might have drank as much spirits
as would burn me up, without having that effect upon me."
Leaving the storm-stayed travellers to discuss their
liquor by the fire, let us now see what was doing on the
mainland. William Munro, Town Officer in Glasgow,

(a) " Good goat milk quarters may be had this season in the Island of Arran,
in a very coaimodious slated house, hard by the Castle of Brodick." — Glasgow
Journal, 12th March 1759.

268 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

deponed at the trial that on 7th October, having learned of
the murder, he went with another officer to apprehend
M'Kean. When they reached the house their bird had
flown. They traced him to Irvine, where on Sunday they
found that a man answering to his description had sailed
from that port for Dublin the day before. In view of the
state of the weather they were advised that the ship was
probably lying-to in Lamlash Bay. The officers then went
on to Saltcoats, the nearest point for Arran, and tried to get
a boat to take them over to the island, " but the sea was so
tempestuous they [the boatmen] would not venture out."
Next morning, Tuesday, the weather was still very boister-
ous and no boat could be had, but the officers, determined
to cross at all risks, " got an order from a Justice of the
Peace and impressed a boat." With much danger and
difficulty they reached Lamlash about 8 p.m. There, sure
enough, lay the Friendship at anchor in the bay, under
the lee of the Holy Isle, but the sea was running too high
to permit of them boarding her, so they landed and made
for the inn, " where they called for a room and a fire as
they were very wet." On the officers being shown into
the kitchen they saw, among the party sitting round the
fire, the wanted man, whom they knew by sight. Munro
whipped out a pistol and bade him surrender, which, per-
ceiving that the game was up, he did. He was taken into
a private room and searched, when the carrier's watch and
pocket-book — the latter " sewed into his greatcoat " — were
found upon him. At 8 A.M. next day, the weather having
moderated, the officers took their prisoner back in their
boat to Irvine, whence they conveyed him in a postchaise
to Glasgow, and by 6 p.m. he was safely lodged in the
Tolbooth. John Graham, Munro's fellow-officer in the
expedition, " concurred in everything with the preceding
witness." There M'Kean remained, undergoing, as he
avers, certain spiritual experiences which he describes with
unctuous particularity, until removed to Edinburgh for
his trial.

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN 269

The proceedings began in the High Court of Justiciary
on Monday, 12th December 1796 (a). The Right Honour-
able Kobert M'Queen of Braxfield, Lord Justice-Clerk, was
on the Bench ; Robert Dundas of Arniston, His Majesty's
Advocate, appeared for the Crown ; the pannel, as we shall
see, was not represented by counsel. The indictment
charged him with the crimes of murder and robbery :

In so far as the late deceased James Buchanan, carrier between
Lanark and Glasgow, having waited on you on the evening of the 7th
of October last in this present year 1796, in the house then possessed by
you in the High Street of Glasgow aforesaid, in consequence of a previous
invitation by you, you conducted him into a back room in your house,
when you the said James M'Kean immediately thereafter upon the said
evening . . . did wickedly and inhumanly murder the said James
Buchanan by cutting his throat with a razor from ear to ear which
occasioned his immediate death, and after giving this mortal wound you
the said James M'Kean did, time and place foresaid, wickedly and feloni-
ously rob the said James Buchanan by taking out of his pockets his silver
watch and black leather pocket-book, containing £118 Sterling or thereby
in Bank Notes and promissory Notes of Banking Companies, besides
sundry Bills and Receipts ... all which you the said James M'Kean
carried off and immediately fled, and being then pursued, you were traced
to Lamlash in the Island of Arran, where you were apprehended and
brought back to Glasgow.

A declaration emitted by him on 1 2th October, in which
he denied his guilt, as also the watch, pocket-book and
money, were libelled as productions. The indictment
having been read the pannel pleaded guilty to both
charges, handing in a written and signed acknowledgment
of his guilt. " Have you any counsel ? " asked the Justice-
Clerk ; " No," replied the prisoner, " nor do I desire any
but the Almighty." The usual interlocutor finding the
libel relevant having been pronounced and a jury em-
pannelled, the Lord Advocate said that although from the
judicial confession by the pannel there was full evidence
of his guilt, yet in order to satisfy the Court and the
country in general of the enormity of the crime his Lordship

(a) This iiccount of the proceedings is derived from the report in the Cale-
donian Mercury of 15tli December 1796.

270 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

would adduce such proof as would, independent of the
prisoner s admission, clearly establish the fact and furnish
a sufficient warrant for the jury to return a verdict of
guilty.

Several of the neighbours who lived in the tenement
were then examined. They all told the same tale. Shortly
before six o'clock M'Kean came home to tea ; in a few
minutes were heard cries of " Murder ! " and the noise of
someone rushing down the common stair ; entering the
house they found Mrs. M'Kean "in an ecstasy of grief,
crying she was ruined and undone ; her man had murdered
James Buchanan, and fled ; the body was in the back room
closet." They saw the blood upon the floor, also the fatal
weapon ; and, in the closet, the dead body of the carrier.

William Nimmo, surgeon in Glasgow, stated that he
was summoned to M'Kean's house on the night in question
and saw the body of Buchanan, whom he knew. " He
discovered a great wound in the throat. The carotid
arteries were cut on both sides extending almost to the
backbone, which, he had no doubt, occasioned instant
death. There was no other wound on the body."

Hugh Allan, change-keeper in Glasgow, deponed that
Buchanan w^as in use to put up at his house. Buchanan
told him that M'Kean had invited him [the carrier] to
drink tea at his house on Friday, 7 th October. In the
course of that day Allan delivered a parcel of money to
Buchanan, who put it up in his black leather pocket-book.
He last saw him alive at twenty minutes to five o'clock that
evening. He had seen the pannel in company with Buchanan
weekly for a month before the murder. The prisoner,
being asked whether he had any questions to put, said that
the witness had not told the truth, " but he forgave him."'

Ofticers Munro and Graham gave evidence as to the
pursuit and capture of the prisoner, and divers witnesses
proved that the watch, pocket-book and money found upon
him had been in the possession of Buchanan on the day of
the carrier's death. This closed the Crown case, and the

THE HANGING OF JAIMES M'KEAN 271

Lord Advocate stated that he would not trouble the Court
or jury with any observations, as the case was so clear that
it required no comment. The jury were then enclosed, and
appointed to return their verdict next day at one o'clock.

On Tuesday, 13th December, when the Court met, the
pannel was found guilty as libelled ; whereupon Lord
Braxfield " delivered his sentiments " in few words, but
in such forcible language as to affect in a very powerful
decree the feelinj^s of the audience. " On the mind of the
prisoner," we read, " they were calculated to make a very
strong impression indeed." His Lordship observed that
the enormity of the crime, the calm deliberation with which
the pannel followed out his purpose and the circumstances
attendant upon this foul murder, indicated a mind sunk to
the last degree of depravity, and the ghastly deed which
he had perpetrated threw a stain upon the human char-
acter and reproach upon our country. In pronouncing
sentence his Lordship, addressing the pannel " in a suitable
and affecting manner," pointed out that the crime he had
committed was such as to preclude him from all hope of
mercy in this world, and therefore earnestly entreated him
to make his peace with God, whose mercy would, if he
were truly penitent, be extended to him, great as his crimes
had been.

It will be remarked that we have here no sign of the
coarse and brutal exultation over convicted prisoners which
Henry Cockburn would have us believe to have been upon
such occasions the habitual manner of Lord Braxfield.

The Justice-Clerk then pronounced sentence as follows :
— That the pannel should be taken from the bar to the
Tolbooth of Edinburgh, there to be fed on bread and water
till Monday, 26th December, on which day he should be
delivered to the Sheriff of Edinburgh and be transmitted
from Sheriff to Sheriff till he be lodged in the jail of
Glasgow, there to remain until Wednesday, the 25tb day
of January, on which day, between the hours of two and
four o'clock, he should be hanged at the common place of

272 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

execution and his body delivered to Dr. James Jeffrey,
Professor of* Anatomy in the University of Glasgow, to be
by him publicly dissected and anatomised. The Court
then rose.

" During the whole course of the trial," concludes our
reporter, " and at pronouncing sentence, the unhappy
prisoner conducted himself with becoming resignation.
He is a decent-looking man about 44 years of age, 5 feet
6 or 7 inches high, was dressed in a brown coat, black silk
waistcoat and breeches, over which he wore a striped green
greatcoat. The Court was uncommonly crowded both days,
and an astonishing crowd attended to see the prisoner go
into the Parliament House." (a)

Among the familiar Edinburgh figures that filled to
overflowing the narrow limits of the old Justiciary Court-
room was a young advocate of no great distinction at the bar,
to which he had been some four years called. But lately
crossed in love, he had just published his first literary
venture, a little book of ballads after Biirger. This incon-
siderable junior was Walter Scott, who, as his son-in-law
afterwards recorded, had the curiosity to witness the trial.
All his life, indeed, as we know on the same authority, Sir
Walter had a passion for reading murder cases, and attended
such celebrated trials as were held in Edinburgh in his
time. " I have heard Scott," writes Lockhart of the pre-
sent case, " describe the sanctimonious air which the
murderer maintained during his trial — preserving through-
out the aspect of a devout person, who believed himself to
have been hurried into his accumulation of crime by an
uncontrollable exertion of diabolical influence." {b) The
library at Abbotsford contained, among a large collection
of criminal trials, a copy of The Life of James M'Kaen,
doubtless bought by Sir Walter on its publication, upon
which he had written the following interesting marginal
note : —

(ft) Cahdnnian Mercury, 15th December 1796. (/') Lockliart, i. 256.

THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN 273

I went to see this wretched man when under sentence of death, along
with my friend Mr. William Clerk, advocate. His great anxiety was to
convince us that his diabolical murder was committed from a sudden
impulse of revengeful and violent passion, not from deliberate design of
plunder. But the contrary was manifest from the accurate preparation
of the deadly instrument, a razor strongly lashed to an iron bolt, and
also from the evidence on the trial, from which it seems he had invited
his victim to drink tea with him on the day he perpetrated the murder,
and that this was a reiterated invitation. M'Kean was a good-looking,
elderly man, having a thin face and clear grey eye ; such a man as may
be ordinarily seen beside a collection-plate at a seceding meeting-house,
a post which the said M'Kean had occupied in his day. All M'Kean's
account of the murder is apocryphal, (a).

The remainder of the note I have already quoted. Scott
and his friend Clerk were not the only people whom M'Kean
sought to persuade that he was less black than the facts
painted him. Not content with appending to his auto-
biography a lay sermon on sin, in which lie particularly
warned his readers to beware of pride and passion, he
furnished as a sort of moral bonus a selection of Bible
texts bearing on bloodguiltiness, "which," he thoughtfully
remarks, " will save the reader the trouble of collecting
them himself, as the verses lye scattered in various parts
of the Sacred Volume." Four days before his execution
he wrote a farewell letter to his wife and children. The
Last Letter of James M'Kaen was printed as an eight-
page penny pamphlet by Brash and lleid, the publishers
of the Life, (h) and was advertised as containing " striking
particulars respecting his dreadful situation immediately
after he committed the horrid deed, which he omitted to
state in his Narrative." On perusal, it appears to have
been framed more with the view of catching the public
pence than of affording comfort to his afflicted family. As
a contribution to our knowledge of the case these reflections
of " a hell-deserving creature " — the phrase is the author's
— are disappointing, and except from the collector's point
of view the tract is but a poor pennyworth.

(a) Lockhart, i. 257.

(6) James Brash and William Eeid, publishers of the "Penny Poets," carried
on business in the Trongate from 1790 for nearly thirty years.

274 THE HANGING OF JAMES M'KEAN

On Wednesday, 25th January 1797, the murderer, in
pursuance of his sentence, ceased to burden the earth.

Yesterday James M'Kean was executed at the Cross of Glasgow on a
new erected gibbet, for the murder and robbery of James Buchanan, the
Lanark carrier. He appeared on the scaffold dressed in white, about ten
minutes after three, proceeded to the front with a firm and undaunted
air, holding a paper in his hand, and after saying a few words to the
multitude, which was immense (about 20,000), he gave it to one of the
Town Officers. About ten minutes thereafter he mounted the platform
with much indifference, and after praying for a few minutes was launched
into eternity, without one sympathising tear from the surrounding
multitude.(a)

Scarcely was he cut down than his indefatigable
publishers announced " A Particular Account of M'Kaen's
Execution and Final Address on the Scaffold, price One
Penny." No copy of this bibliographical rarity has
rewarded my research ; it is unlikely, however, that we
have lost much. What with the Life, "price Ninepence,"
running to three editions, the Last Letter, and the
Particular Account, Messrs. Brash and Reid seem to have
made the most of their ugly customer, and might well have
spared on the occasion of his last appearance one of those
tributes of regret which the Mei^cury reporter missed.

If Mr. Archibald Weir, that supersensitive youth, when
he strayed one day into the Justiciary Court, had chanced
upon the trial of James M'Kean instead of that of Duncan
Jopp, it is just possible that his tortured spirit might have
found the business less "hideous." The hanging of the
carrier's murderer need not have had so disquieting an
effect upon his gorge, and in the subsequent debate at the
Spec, his views on the subject of capital punishment would
perhaps have been more happily expressed. But then we
should lack Weir of Hermiston ; and although we have
plenty of plain truth, where could we find fiction thus
superbly coloured ?

(a) Caledonian Mercury, 26th January 1797.

THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAX FIELD

We honour your old Virtues, conformable unto times V)efore you,
which are the noblest Armoury. And, having long exyierience of your
friendly Conversation, void of empty Formality, full of Freedome, con-
stant and generous Honesty, 1 look upon you as a Gemme of the old Rock.

— Sir Thomas Browne.

A PHILOSOPHER of the carpe diem school has acutely
^^-^ remarked that we are a long time dead. But it by
no means follows that we are long remembered, and indeed
the facility with which the world can forget the dead is
only surpassed by its reluctance to forgive the living. The
vainest of us, having cast into the stream of Time our more
or less considerable pebble, must realise the transitory
nature of the consequent disturbance, and we may w^ell
marvel at the force of a personality so potent as to compass,
amid the welter of the generations, the distinction of a
bi-centenary. Of the several ways by which such eminence
may be attained there is one that surely leads to post-
humous renown, a road, however, for obvious reasons none
but the boldest dare to travel. A high reputation for
wickedness is an unfailing passport to immortality. While
the dust gathers deep upon many a fair and gracious
memory, you, if only you be bad enough, may count on
being remembered. This, you observe, means more than
merely not to be forgotten, which is but a cold and
negative reward, very different from the lively coronal
of remembrance. Whether you proudly reign with
Ahab and Caligula, or take humbler rank with Blue-
beard and the Tichborne Claimant, the benefit of infamy
is assured.

Something of this invidious fame has been conferred by
Lord Cockburn upon Lord Braxfield. Cockburn was in no

277

278 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

sense of the term a great judge, but he was a good man and
a writer of much charm, so he justly enjoys wide popularity
and his opinions are generally received. These two Senators
of the College of Justice had, beyond the judicial office
which they so variously filled, nothing in common. No
temperaments could be more disparate. Braxfield, a rough
diamond, inelegant of manner, broad, convivial, strong in
mind as in body, humorous after the fashion of Ben Jonson,
passionately patriotic, an inveterate Tory, and above all a
great lawyer, was the full-blooded son of the Eighteenth
Century. Cockburn, well bred, urbane, fastidious, physic-
ally shght, a resolute Whig of the Reform brand, and both
intellectually and professionally less distinguished than the
other, was a child of the new era. Had they met as men —
for Cockburn was a boy when Braxfield died— my Lord
might conceivably have called his learned colleague a
"daam'd auld wife" ; Cockburn's retort, if more genteelly
phrased, would have been none the less unflattering. But
they never did so meet, for Cockburn was not admitted to
the Bar till the Justice-Clerk was in his grave, and the
forbidding portrait of "the Jefl'reys of Scotland" in the
Memorkds is painted by a partisan brush with other
people's colours. Hearsay, and political at that, is, as a
Lord of Session ought to know, not the best of evidence. (a)
Happily there is direct testimony on the other side. In
this age of compromise and coalition we can hardly conceive
the inflammatory eflect upon our forebears of divergent
political views. The Scot of those days regarded differences
in politics and doctrine as equally vital, and imported into
the one a bitterness more properly reserved for the other.
Cockburn, in writing his ex j^arte account of the sedition
trials, says that he recognised " the duty of never letting
Braxfield and the years 1793 and 1794 be forgotten," and
that he only refrained from publishing it in his lifetime
out of consideration for the feelings of the other judges'

(«) Examination of Trials for Sedition in Scotland, Edinburgh, 1888, i. 87.

THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LOKD BRAXFIELD 279

relatives. (a) His endeavour thus to perpetuate the memory
of "this coarse and dexterous ruffian," a singular labour of
love, might have failed of its purpose. Fortunately for
Lord Braxtield's fame there was exhibited at Edinburgh one
autumn in the 'seventies a collection of paintings by Sir
Henry Raeburn, into which a certain young advocate with
nothing better to do found his way. The half-length of
Robert M'Queen of Braxfield irresistibly attracted him ;
the result was the delightful sketch in Some Portraits by
Raeburn, and the living picture in Weir of Hermiston.
So, for numbers who cared neither for Cockburn nor his
works, was the Justice-Clerk made a homely and familiar
figure, and his name imperishably embalmed in literature.

I don't suppose Lord Braxfield ever gave a thought to
the verdict of posterity. He enjoyed life as he had it,
heartily and wholly ; he did his duty as he saw it, staunchly
and unflinchingly, in the face of much public opprobrium.
Like him or not as you will, you are bound to yield to him
the tribute of your respect, for if not beyond reproach he
was indisputably without fear. There are few finer things
told of him than that in the letter of his friend John Mow-
bray of Hartwood, W.S., which I have elsewhere printed. (6)
All day long Mowbray had sat in the thronged Justiciary
Court, listening to the sedition trial, before Lord Braxfield,
of Citizen Margarot, the Friend of the People. The case
lasted till four o'clock of a black winter morning ; that
truculent demagogue had been sent to Botany Bay, amid
furious threats of personal violence against the judge vented
by an excited mob in the gallery, and Mowbray anticipated
trouble. When the Court rose the Justice-Clerk put on
his greatcoat and trudged away home to George Square,
" down Libberton's Wynd and up Hume's Close, two very
dark and dangerous passages." Apprehensive for the old
man's safety, Mowbray followed. At the head of Hume's

(a) Examination of Trials for Sedition in Scotland, Prefatory Note.

(b) "The Real Braxfield," Juridical Review, May 1914; reprinted in The
Riddle of the Ruthvens and Other Studies, 1919, pp. 39-65.

280 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

Close Braxfield became aware of him, and turning round
said, " Is this you, Mr. Mowbray ? What brings you here
at this time ? This is not the road to your house."
Whereupon Mowbray explained that he could not be at
ease until he had seen his Lordship safe to his own door.
But Braxfield would have none of his convoy. He thanked
him ; there was no danger, he was only doing his duty,
which, he added with a characteristic chuckle, he couldn't
have done had he paid any regard to the mass of threaten-
ing letters he received daily ; " but they gaed a' the same
gate." And so the stout old judge strode off alone.
Memories of Captain Porteous and of how an Edinburgli
mob could deal with unpopular officials did not disturb
him. Let us, despite his Lordship's inhibition, follow
him home.

I often think it is a pity that in a place of such historic
interest as Edinburgh the houses do not bear upon the
fronts some record of their more famous occupants. In a
city relatively so small many a house has held from time
to time divers distinguished tenants, whom one lacks patience
to search for in the columns of old directories. Indeed,
even these guides are not infallible. The first Edinburgh
Directory of 1773-74 gives Braxfield's address as George
Square, tout court, and so do all later issues, till his death
in 1799. How No. 28 acquired the honour of being known
as his house does not appear, but the legend was crystallised
by Harrison in his Memorable Edinburgh Houses, where
he categorically states the " fact," and other writers have
followed suit. That B. L. S. himself was a victim of this
vulgar error is manifest from his references to the position
of Lord Hermiston's house in the Square. Often must
devout Stevensonians, pausing before No. 28, have imaged
the stalwart figure mounting those steps, or beheld, in a
fervour of enthusiasm, the gurly face glowering with its
" small quick eye " from out that dining-room window.
I, myself, fresh from reperusal of the magic tale, have
seen these things ; and, alas ! unless Lord Braxfield visited

THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BEAXFIELD 281

at that house he had no more to do with it than you or I
— a fine commentary on the value of tradition and the
veneratins: of landmarks. Lawyers and others throuo^h
whose hands the title-deeds of the real and of the reputed
residences chanced to pass must, of course, have been con-
versant with the truth ; but nobody took the trouble to
proclaim it, and not until Mr. Forbes Gray examined the
writs of the property, and communicated his discovery to
the press in an interesting article, (a) was the matter made
common knowledge and the fact established once for all.
Thus No. 13, so long kept out of its rights, received due
recognition, and No. 28, deprived of its spurious fame, sank
into deserved obscurity.

When in the last quarter of the eighteenth century
Edinburgh began, in Robert Fergusson's phrase, to " spread
around : her bonny wings on fairy ground," her earliest
flights were towards the Meadows. Brown Square, at the
west end of the present Chambers Street, was her first
venture beyond the Cowgate valley ; the formation of
George Square, a more notable improvement, was the next
advance. Theretofore people had lived piled up one above
another in the flatted tenements of the Old Town, and
well-to-do citizens were quick to see the convenience of
having a " self-contained " house. Curiously enough, as
an instance of Time's revenges, the greater mansions of
Edinburgh are nowadays being "reconditioned" into separate
flats. Amono- the first emip'rants from the real Auld
Reikie to the southern fields, flitting from the historic
but insalubrious purlieus of Covenant Close, was Mr. Robert
M'Queen of Hardington, advocate (who had not yet suc-
ceeded to the paternal acres), then the leading counsel of
his day, and in receipt, as Ramsay of Ochtertyre has
recorded, of prodigious fees. (?>) In 1770 he acquired from
James Brown, architect in Edinburgh, for £1500, a piece

(a) Scotsman, 2nd April 1921.

(6) ScotlcMcl and Scotsmen, i. 380-393. This reference embraces my further
citations from Ramsay.

282 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

of ground on which he built No. 13, "the third house
from the west in the north row of the great Square, building
by the said James Brown," Here, then, lived my Lord
for the remaining twenty-nine years of his life ; here he
laboured at his law papers, and entertained his friends
upon many a glad occasion ; here his two consorts succes-
sively reigned — more happily, let us hope, than Mrs. Weir
— and his children grew up to be well seen in the world ;
here his last days were dragged out beneath the fell shadow
of disease, and after long, painful passage of the dark
vale his strong soul found rest. The house, materially
unchanged, continued down to our own time in private
occupation, until in 1904 it was transformed into a College
of Agriculture. As the required structural alterations were
mainly at the back, the principal rooms look much as they
must have done in Braxfield's day. My Lord, who, as
Ramsay relates, was an enthusiastic farmer of his own
lands in Lanarkshire, would have acknowledged the fitness
of the appropriation, and the spirit of the old judge may
be supposed all genially to preside over the studies of the
incipient husbandmen.

Kobert M'Queen coming, a landward lad, to the then
close corporation of the Parliament House, had none of the
hereditary advantages enjoyed by the aristocracy of the
robe. His grandfather was a gardener, his father a country
writer, and he himself got his education at Lanark grammar
school. John M'Queen, from being baron -bailie to Lord
Selkirk — a post similar to that held by Bailie Macwheeble
in Waverley — rose to be Sheriff- Substitute for the Upper
Ward of Lanarkshire, married the daughter of a county
laird, and bought the lands of Braxfield, a small but
picturesque property upon the banks of Clyde, within a
mile of Lanark. There on 4th May 1722 his eldest son
Robert, first of a brood of seven, w^as born. The boy was
destined for the father's office ; by-and-by he was sent to
Edinburgh and apprenticed to Thomas Goldie, W.S., under
whose care, according to his first biographer, the future

LuAXriKLD llul'bK, LANAllKSJllia;.

THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LORD BRAXFIELD 283

Justice-Clerk thus early " began to perceive and to appreci-
ate the beauty and systematic order and arrangement of
the feudal law, a branch of professional knowledge in which
he was far superior to any lawyer of his time."(a) These
recondite joys, Ramsay tells us, were varied, on holidays
at Braxfield, by bird-nesting in the paternal trees. It
happened that Robert Dundas of Arniston, son of the first
Lord President Dundas, having married the heiress of
Bonnington, an estate about a mile from Braxfield, got to
know the lad, and became enamoured of his company and
conversation. From these he augured that Robert was too
promising a boy to be made a mere country lawyer, and
urged his father to send him to the Bar. " The advice of
such a man," says Ramsay, " w^as equal to a command " ;
and after the usual course of study at Edinburgh College,
Robert, in his twenty-second year, was on 14th February
1744 admitted a member of the Faculty.(6)

Many fledgling advocates, for lack of brains or backing
or of both, are doomed to attenuate their souls (in more
senses than one) by long unproductive pacing of our national
Salle de Pas-Perdus. Not so the young man from Lanark.
He had the capacity, and the chance of showing it was not
delayed. We are not here concerned with the momentous
happenings of the Forty-five except as they affected his
fortunes. The forfeitures of the estates belonging to the
Jacobite lairds who had taken part in the Rising pro-
duced a heavy crop of litigation in the Court of Session.
M'Queen's abilities led to his employment in these law-
suits, and he was retained as counsel on the part of the
Crown. Here he found a field for the full display of his
knowledge and skill as a feudist. His appearances engaged
general attention ; he deservedly attracted the notice of prac-
titioners, and soon came into high estimation as a sound
lawyer. Agents liked his easy unaffected manners, his

(a) Biographical Sketch of the late Rt. Hon. Robert M'Queeu of Braxfield,
Lord Justice-Clerk, Scot^ Magazine, May-June 1801, Ixiii. 303-304.
(6) Faculty Records.

284 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

luminous and convincing mode of stating his opinions, and
his happy and energetic method of pleading his causes. (a)
The fact that Dundas, his friend and patron, was now
Solicitor-General for Scotland would no doubt contribute
to the young counsel's rapid rise. In the same year he w^as
installed as Sheriff- Substitute at Lanark to assist his father
in that office, which he continued to do until his increasing-
practice required his whole time and attention. (5)

In the thirtieth chapter of La Dame de Monsoreau,
that intriguing romance, the great Dumas justifies by the
custom of the time his introduction of so many of his
characters into so many hostelries. Eighteenth-century
Edinburgh resembled in that respect the Paris of the
Valois. The important part then played by taverns in the
daily life of the citizens can now- hardly be conceived. Not
only were they, the taverns, as the old-time equivalent of
the modern club and refreshment bar, places of social
pleasure and recreation, but in them was conducted all
sorts of solemn business. There the merchant made his
bargains, the physician met his patients, the lawyer
interviewed his clients. As Sir Alexander Boswell has
pleasantly sung : —

O'er draughts of wine the Writer pen'd the will ;
And Legal Wisdom counsel'd o'er a gill.(c)

Indeed so identified was the tavern with the law that it
had become the very vestibule of the Temple of Themis.
" The usual manner of preparing counsel was to convene in
a tavern, where they were met by the agent who conducted
the cause. At these consultations Mr. M'Queen peculiarly
shone ; abstract and difficult points seemed to vanish before
him, and the openness and candour with which he gave his
opinion were highly to his honour. "(c?) In addition to his
other qualifications the future Justice-Clerk had as good a

(a) Biographical Sketch, pp. 304-305.

(b) MS. History of the House of Braxfield, by Thomas Raid.

(d) Biographical Sketch, p. 305.

THE BI-CENTENAEY OF LORD BRAXFIELD 285

head for liquor as for law and was equal to any amount of
either, which gave him a great advantage over his weaker
brethren. It is interesting to know that as a matter of
etiquette the choice of the beverage consumed at consulta-
tions was left to counsel, who usually condescended upon
sherry in a mutchkin stoup (a) as "mellering to the organ."
Ramsay, M'Queen's contemporary at the Bar, has
preserved his impressions of the popular pleader. His
judgment as a Whig gentleman of the old school, free
from the rancorous spirit which later informed Scots
politics, is of special value. Among the many eminent
lawyers of the day, he says, M'Queen's merits were con-
spicuous. His frankness and honesty commended him to
agents who preferred substance to show. With the judges
he was equally a favourite. " It was obvious to every-
body that his papers and pleadings made a deep im-
pression on the Court, from his keeping close to the
matter at issue, without any rhetorical flourishes or
digressions." In the fields of feudal and civil law he
was easily first. Another authority tells us that M'Queen
"liked pleadings before the Lord Ordinary better than
Inner House memorials," which, being interpreted, means
that he preferred oral argument before the judge of first
instance to the written pleadings whereby cases were then
presented to the whole Court — the old Fifteen. " Of
these pleadings he had a very large share ; he is known
to have repeatedly pled from 15 to 20 causes in one day."
The labour involved in mastering the legal points as well
as the relative facts and circumstances of so many con-
current cases demands mental and physical powers of
singular strength. Busy counsel before and since, having
accepted more work than they could conveniently attend
to, have been accused of sacrificing their less lucrative
cases. Not so M'Queen, who " never declined doing his
duty in any cause ; he was remarkably diligent and active.

(o) Somerville's Own Life and Times, p. 373.

286 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

The numerous papers which he wrote are proofs of this.
His style of writing was extremely clear, distinct, and
energetic, although neither his language nor his pro-
nunciation were much polished." (a) As an oral pleader
Ramsay thought that he undervalued rhetoric too much,
trusting chiefly to the strength of his intellect and his
skill in supporting unadorned facts by principles. This
was the reason why he so seldom figured in the Courts of
Exchequer and Justiciary, where a more ornate style of
oratory obtained. He lacked the silver tongue, the
plausible and flowing eloquence of the popular advocate.
Throughout his long loquacious life M'Queen sturdily
adhered to the natural and kindly Scots which as a boy
he had learnt at his Lanark school in the Broomgate, and
both as counsel and judge he scouted the nipperty-tipperty
English aflected by the followers of fashion. But this
foible of his had little influence on his success, for it is
said that few important and remarkable cases occurred
during his thirty-two years' practice in which on one side
or the other he was not employed. A consideration of
these would take us too far, but mention must be made
of the great Douglas Cause, that Brobdingnagian lawsuit,
which absorbed for eight years the energies of all the big
wigs of the Bar. M'Queen was of counsel for the claimant,
and his hand may be traced in the admirable memorial
prepared on behalf of his young client. The oral pleadings
in the Court of Session occupied the then unprecedented
space of twenty-one days ; seven counsel addressed the
Court for the pursuers, the Duke of Hamilton and others,
and seven for the defender, Archibald Douglas of Douglas,
McQueen's speech being delivered on Friday, 18th July
1766.(6) As everyone knows, the Scots judges were
equally divided and Mr. Douglas lost his case by the
casting vote of Lord President Dundas, to the high in-
dignation of the populace, who indicated their dissent

(a) Biogiapliical Sketch, p. 305.

(b) The Douglas Cause, A. Francis Steuart, 1909, p. 19.

THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LORD BRAXFIELD 287

from the judgment by smashing his Lordship's windows.
On appeal to the House of Lords, however, the decision
was reversed, and Mr. Douglas was found to be his mother's
son and the heir of his uncle, the Duke of Douglas.

When Dundas became Lord Advocate in 1754 he
appointed M'Queen one of his deputes, an office which
the latter filled with his wonted efficiency and zeal. In
1760 Dundas succeeded his father as Lord President.
Both he and his brother Henry (a) were old friends of
M'Queen, and having the highest opinion of his abilities,
were long desirous of seeing him on the Bench. "Mr.
M'Queen for some time resisted their importunities. Being
in the receipt of much more money as a barrister, he
conceived that duty to his family required perseverance
in that situation." The salary of a Scottish judge was
then but £640 ; the appointment would present few-
attractions to the best-paid counsel at the Bar. In 1776,
however, a vacancy occurred on the death of Lord Coalston,
and M'Queen was at last prevailed upon reluctantly to
accept a judgeship, yielding to the solicitations of the
Dundas brethren — Henry Dundas was then Lord Advocate
— " aided and seconded by the Earl of Suffolk, Secretary
of State." So sensible was Lord Mansfield of this acquisi-
tion to the Scots judiciary and of M'Queen's disinterested
action in the matter, that he spoke of it in the highest
terms of approbation. (^) On 13th December 1776 the
new judge took his seat with the judicial title of Lord
Braxfield, after that of his Lanarkshire estate.{c) The
old judges used always to be known by their territorial
designations, a custom nowadays for divers cogent reasons
pretermitted. One regrets the change ; Lord Smith or
Lord Brown may be as learned lawyers, but their titles
are surely less euphonious than those, say, of Lords AUer-

(rt) Henry Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville, was Solicitor-General for Scot-
land in 1766 and Lord Advocate in 1775.
(6) Biogvaplucal Sketch, p. 306.
(c) Books of Sederunt.

288 THE BI-CENTENAEY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

muir and Caerketton. Lord Hermiston, you remember,
took his title from his wife's lands. (a)

Though M'Queen had sacrificed so much in leaving the
Bar no further advancement came his way until on the
resignation of Lord Auchinleck, father of the great little
Boswell, he was made on 1st March 1780 a Lord Commis-
sioner of Justiciary, (?>) an office which, together with that
of ordinary Lord of Session, he held for several years.
Lord President Dundas died In 1787 ; his place was taken
by Lord Glenlee, the Sheriff Miller of Catriona, who thus
became head of the Court, and was on 15th January 1788
succeeded by Braxfield as Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland.(c)
This was the highest round of the professional ladder which
he was destined to reach.

The achievement of M'Queen has been insufficiently
appreciated. In these democratic days anyone may go to
the Bar, and if he have the requisite brains and luck there
is no honour to which he may not aspire. It was far
otherwise in the bad old times. The Parliament House
was then a highly exclusive club, into which the entrance
of a member lacking the indispensable qualifications of birth
and breeding called for unique self-confidence and courage.
Yet this gardener's grandson, with his rough manners and
landward speech, won not only his professional spurs, but
the friendship and esteem of his brethren and of the judges,
and rose by distinguished stages to be president of the
criminal Court. How great must have been the qualities
of head and heart which, despite so heavy a handicap,
enabled their possessor to win the race. Well might young
Walter Scott, in the dedication of his thesis on admission
to the Faculty, thus address his Lordship : —

Viro nobili Roberto Macqueen de Braxfield, inter qusBsitores de rebus
eapitalibus primario, inter judices de rebus civilibus, senatori dignissimo,
perito baud minus quara fideli juris interpret! ; adeoque, in utroque

(a) Another difference between the real and the imagined judge is that Weir
was Lord Advocate, an office never held by M'Queen.

(6) MS. List. (c) lUd.

THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BEAXFIELD 289

munere fungendo, scelera sive debita severitate puniendo, sive suum
cuique tribuendo et tuendo, prudentitia pariter atque justitia, insigni ;
hasce theses juridicas, surama cum observantia, sacras esse voluit
Gualterus Scott.(a)

Before entering upon the vexed question of Lord Brax-
field's conduct on the Bench let us see what manner of man
he appeared to his contemporaries, whose judgment is
worth bushels of posthumous censure, in the Elizabethan
sense of that term. And at the outset I may say that it
is not here proposed to invite the reader to eat of the
chestnut tree which is in the midst of Braxfield's garden :
the harvest is plenteous, but the fruit has lost by reason of
repeated gatherings its pristine flavour, and much of it
must be rejected as apocryphal. Yet a brace of anecdotes,
which I myself was the first to publish, may, if the citation
is permissible, be recalled without satiety. My Lord pre-
sided one Saturday at e'en at a circuit dinner in the King's
Arms, Dumfries. It was the last day of the sittings ; the
company was of the best, the fare and the wines were
equally commendable, and the sederunt was prolonged far
into the small hours of the Sabbath. Lord Hailes, the
other judge, for some reason had not been of the party and
probably bemoaned his loss. He called it "a shameful
debauch " — the grapes were sour — and remarked that at
least one reveller, Alexander Young, then acting as Clerk of
Justiciary, was too unwell to go to church next morning.
Braxfield, despite the heavy weather of the night before,
had been prominent among the worshippers, and took
occasion thus to admonish Young, who tells the story : "At
a rates ye should hae cam' to the kirk, for though mony
a scoondrel cams there regular, few honest men stays
away. "(6) The other tale I have in mind relates to old
James, Lord Braxfield's confidential man and long in his
service. One day James gave his master notice ; he must

(a) Latin Thesis on a Title of the Pandects: "De Cadaveribus Dainnatorum,"
lull July 1792. — Advocates' Library.

(b) The Riddle of the Ruthvens, p. 51.

1<7

290 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LOKD BEAXFIELD

leave at the next term. "What's wrang noo, James?"
inquired my Lord. " Naething but your Lordship's
temper ; ye're sae passionate,' was the reply. " Hoots,
man, what needs ye mind o' that?" said his master; "ye
ken weel it's nae sooner on than it's aff." " Very true, my
Lord," rejoined James, " hut then it's nae sooner aff than it's
on! "(a)

One of the earliest and best appreciations of Lord
Braxfield is that contained in the Scots Magazine already
cited. Published on the second anniversary of his death
and for readers who would be familiar with the personality
of the subject, it is absurd to suppose that the portrait is
not a more faithful likeness than Cockburn's.

Lord Justice-Clerk was an affectionate husband and a tender parent ;
he had a warmness of temper and benevolence of heart which made him
highly susceptible of domestic attachment. As a companion and a friend
he was peculiarly beloved by such as stood in those relations to him. He
had an openness of manners and was so easy of access that his friends
were never disappointed when they wished to have his advice. His
engaging, we may say fascinating manners rendered him a most agreeable
member of society. The company was always lively and happy of which
Lord Justice-Clerk was a member, (i)

I wonder whether Stevenson ever saw that statement,
which to me has about it the ring of truth, and whether had
he done so it would have affected his judgment, patently
taken captive by Cockburn. But what then would have
become of Archie Weir's tragedy ?

Lord Justice-Clerk was of middle size and robust make ; he was what
is commonly expressed by the terms hard featured, but had a small quick
eye and expressive countenance, impressive of mildness and intelligence.(c)

This description is borne out by the Raeburn portraits.

Hamsay, who walked the Parliament House with him,
says that when called to the Bench M'Queen was one of
the most popular characters at the Bar, " and what was
rare indeed, seemed to have no enemies." He describes

(a) The\Riddle of the Ruthvens, p. 64.

(b) Biographical Sketch, p. 388. (c) Ibid.

THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD 291

him as a man of vigorous, comprehensive mind, warm
affections, and communicative disposition ; a pleasing and
interesting companion.

If his wit and humour would have revolted Lord Chesterfield as
coarse and at times unseemly for his station, yet in his highest glee he
WHS always pleasant and good natured, most desirous to oblige and
inform. As a proof of his social powers there was a number of people
warmly attached to his person, who praised the qualities of his heart no
less than those of his head. Nothing, indeed, could exceed his zeal or
industry to serve the interest of his friends and allies. And he had reason
to plume himself on his success.

All his life he was fond of pleasure and not very
delicate or guarded in its pursuit. Though long accus-
tomed to mix with persons of good breeding and position
" he never could shake off his original manners or smooth
his rough corners." But it is probable from what we know
of the man that this was largely deliberate, and was
persisted in as a protest against the preposterous affecta-
tion of Anglicanism with which in the second half of the
century genteel Edinburgh was so fatuously smitten.
When Auld Reikie's "best" people were taking lessons
in the English tongue from an Irish actor (a) — whose only
title to remembrance it is to have begotten Richard
Brinsley Sheridan — we can imagine how Braxfield would
exaggerate his broad Scots and fortify the quality of his
humour. As Mr. Francis Watt has well observed of him
in his admirable study : " His seemed the voice of old
Scotland protesting against a degenerate and effeminate
time." (6) He swore "like an ensign of the last age in
his teens " and his after-dinner stories scandalised the
godly. Ramsay thought that in some ways he resembled
Robert Burns. At least, as we know on other authority,
he shared the poet's passion for Scottish song — and
doubtless also for " sculduddery," which a respectable
antiquary once defined for me as the universal language.

(a) Scots Magazine, 1761, p. 391.
(6) Terrors of the Law, 1902, p. 105.

292 THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

The truth is that the so-called social amelioration which
Braxfield had lived to laugh at was mainly sham.
Fashionable folk read high-flown poetry and flatulent
novels, and rigidly observed a fantastic code of etiquette,
but despite their vaunted culture and refinement their
morality was even worse than their fathers'. " In no
respect," writes William Creech, " were the manners of
1763 and 1783 more remarkable than in the dignity and
delicacy of the one period, compared with the looseness,
dissipation and licentiousness of the other. Many people
ceased to blush at what would formerly have been
reckoned a crime."(a) He adds divers examples of
deterioration in manners and morals among the citizens
whom as Lord Provost he was called upon to govern,
ranging from the multiplication of brothels and the
alarming increase of serious crime, to the building of a
public cockpit. "The Ten Commandments," he quaintly
laments, " were as little known as obsolete Acts of
Parliament." In such a society Braxfield's failings would
seem less flagitious than they did to Henry Cock burn. (6)

A new and valuable light is thrown upon the personality
of Lord Braxfield by a manuscript memoir of his Lordship
written by Alexander Young of Harburn, W.S., which I
discovered in Edinburgh University Library and printed
for the first time in 1914.(c) Young, a lifelong friend of
Braxfield, knew Sir Walter intimately, and his assistance
is acknowledged by Lockhart in the preface to Scott's Life.
He wrote his reminiscences in 1838, as a protest against
the misrepresentation and injustice from which Lord
Braxfield's memory then suflered in connection with the
movement to erect on the Calton Hill a public memorial
to the "martyrs" of the political trials of 1793 and 1794,

(a) Edinburgh Fugitive Pieces, 1815, p. 101.

(6) "Coarse and illiterate; of debauched habits, and of grosser talk than
suited the taste even of his gross generation." — Sedition Trials, i. 86.

(c) Memoir of Robert Macqueen of Braxfield, Lord Justice-Clerk, by Alexander
Young Esq. of Harburn, W.S., Edinburgh, 1838.— Edinburgh University Library,
David Laing MSS. Div. ii. 113.

THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LOED BRAXFIELD 293

and for the purpose of vindicating his Lordship's character
as a man and a judge from undeserved aspersion. He also
wished to refute the famous "checkmate" story, fathered
upon Braxfield by Lockhart in his first edition. As to
the anecdote he achieved his purpose ; in his larger object,
so far as my judgment goes, he was equally successful.

During the whole of Lord Braxfield's progress from the time he left
the Bar until his death, I was in habits of strict intimacy and friendship
with him, in so much, that I believe hardly one week passed in all that
time in which I had not some intercourse with him either in town or
country, both during Session and Vacation. I humbly think, theiefore,
that unless I was totally unqualified to form a correct judgment of
character or had a very undue partiality and affection for him, I must
have known whether or not he merited that odium and reproach which
of late years has been cast on his conduct as a gentleman and his
proceedings as a judge.

This however I will take it upon me to say, that he was one of the
most kind, benevolent, cheerful and agreeable men I ever knew, most
hospitable and attentive in an eminent degree to all his neighbours, and
as a judge, I never till lately heard a public opinion uttered concerning
him except in praise. He was a great friend to dispatch in business, and
there never was insinuated any complaint of undue favour or partiality
displayed by him in the whole course of his judicial career, which is more
than I can say of some very eminent judges who sat on the Bench at the
time with him.

He was a very good scholar and particularly conversant with the Latin
classics, of which, as I was then pretty much master of the Latin language
myself, I thought I could form a correct judgment. In general literature
it appeared to me that he was somewhat deficient, and I remember well
that Shaftesbury's Characteristics, the works of Sir William Temple and
some of Swift's prose works were the only English authors which he said
to me he had read out and out and dipped into oftener than once.

The defects in his Lordship's character, I either had not the penetra-
tion to discover, or they were such as I at the time viewed with great
toleration and charity. In regard to his conviviality, admiration and
praise of the fair sex, having been often in Ireland, I thought his Lord-
ship as to these very much resembled some of the jovial spirits with
whom I had associated in that country.

Against this direct testimony to Lord Braxfield's
scholarship is the ipse dixit of Cockburn : " Except Civil
and Scotch (sic) Law, and probably two or three works

294 THE BI-CENTENAEY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

of indecency, it may be doubted if he ever read a book
in his life '" ! {a)

Young introduced to Braxfield one of his Irish acquaint-
ances, named Patrick, "a considerable merchant in Dublin,
chiefly in the wine trade." This expert nicely differentiated
between the festive habits of Lord Braxfleld and those of
his fellow Senator, Lord Newton, the most eminent toper
in the annals of the Parliament House : —

Amongst the number of his acquaintances in Scotland Mr. Patrick
ranked several of my friends and particularly Lord Justice-Clerk M'Queen,
his son-in-law Lord Armadale, and Mr. Charles Hay of Newton, with all
of whom he said on his different visits to Scotland he could scarcely tell
whether his head or his heels were uppermost. Both Lord Braxfield and
Mr. Hay, he remarked, took a considerable quantity of wine, of which
the former was a judge, and the latter the greatest drinker ; that Lord
Braxfield was a great admirer of the fair sex, of which he thought Mr.
Hay made little account. . . .

That my friend Mr. Patrick had made a just estimate of two of his
Scotch acquaintances I think no doubt could be entertained, especially
that though they both indulged in taking a good deal of claret, Mr. Hay
was the most copious in his libations. In fact, much as I was in company
with Lord Braxfield, I can hardly say I ever saw him the worse of liquor
except on one particular occasion.

The exception occurred at Dumfries, when his Lordship
reproved Young for not going to church "the morning
after" ! Chambers mentions Braxfield as one of the habitues
of the famous house-of-call in the Potter Row kept by Lucky
Flockhart, immortalised as the Mrs. Flockhart of W^avei^ley ;
other constant customers were Lord Melville and the father
of Sir Walter Scott. (/>) Cockburn admits that Bacchus
had no easy victory over Braxfield, who never allowed his
potations to interfere with his work. " He was all his life
accustomed to rise at an early hour ; he was regular in his
attendance to business as a judge ; even in winter he was in
use to be upon the Bench at nine o'clock in the morning."(c)
Counsellor Pleydell, you remember, was equally precise in

(a) Sedition Trials, i. 87.

(6) Traditions of Edinburgh, 1825, ii. 292.

THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LORD BRAXFIELD 295

his punctual daily attendance at the Parliament House.
Indeed, in view of the fierce and endless debaucheries of
the Edinburgh of that day, which killed Robert Fergusson
and permanently damaged Burns, Lord Braxfield should be
regarded in respect of liquor as a shining example of
moderation. It is said that after his death a subsequent
occupier of No. 13 George Square complained to the pro-
prietor who then owned the house that the wine cellar
was always full of water, and was informed that his late
Lordship, finding the cellar inadequate, had caused deepen
it, hence the invasion of the alien element. Of my Lord's
wine cellar at Braxfield there will be a word to say later.

Young gives us other interesting glimpses of Lord Brax-
field's tastes and ways. He was, it appears, so devoted
to cards that he carried a whist-table with him in his
travelling-coach when he " rode the circuit," and played
innumerable rubbers with his colleagues and the advocates-
depute, whereby the tedium of the journey was agreeably
beguiled. Sometimes the conditions were more arduous,
for in 1784 he and Charles Hope, afterwards Lord President,
literally rode a whole North Circuit, and the Findhorn
being in flood, were obliged to go twenty-eight miles up
the bank before they could find a bridge, (a) Four years
earlier, on Braxfield's appointment as a Lord of Justiciary
in succession to Lord Auchinleck, that gentleman's irre-
pressible offspring, James Boswell, published his amazing
pamphlet, in which he inveighed against the vices of the
criminal judges in general and their methods of conducting
circuits in particular. (6) How his Lordship viewed this
tactful and well-timed effusion is not recorded.

Braxfield was particularly fond of old Scots songs,
" taking equal delight in words and music," and Young has
preserved a pleasant picture of the post-prandial symposia
arranged " for providing entertainment to his Lordship in

(a) Cockburn's Circuit Journeys, 1889, p. 323.

(b) A Lttter to Robert Macqueen, Lord Braxfield, on his promotion to be one of
the Judges of the High Court of Justiciary. Edinburgh, 1780.

296 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

that line." " Muirland Willie," " Fye, Let us a' to the
Bridal," and "My Jo Janet" were his special favourites,
with one rendering of which my Lord was never satisfied,
demanding repeated encores. We know, too, as appears
from a list of membership, dated 1st May 1775, (a) that he
belonged to the Edinburgh Musical Society, which met
in St. Cecilia's Hall at the foot of Niddry Street in the
Cowgate, described by Cockburn as " our most selectly
fashionable place of amusement."

There is no record of Braxfield's connection with sport,
and we cannot tell whether like other busy lawyers he
enjoyed on Bruntsfield Links " a turn at the golf on a
Saturday at e'en " ; but it is said that when at the Bar
he was captain of a Volunteer corps. His learned friend
Andrew Crosbie, the original Counsellor Pleydell of Guy
Maifinering, was likewise capable of other than purely legal
combat, being in command of the Edinburgh Defensive
Band during the American War —

Colonel Crosbie takes the field.

To B>ance and Spain he will not yield. (J)

Sir Walter Scott was an equally zealous volunteer.

Pious persons have been surprised and shocked by
Kamsay's remark that Lord Braxfield was in his own
estimation a sincere Christian. As a boy he had received
a strict religious upbringing, and of this, says Ramsay
quaintly, " he retained all along a due sense, being
thoroughly persuaded of its truth, though it did not
always produce suitable fruits or make him set a watch
on his lips." That his Lordship regularly conformed to
common religious practice appears from the fact that he
occupied as a heritor a pew of ten sittings in Lanark
Parish Church, of which he and all his family were
members. (c) In Edinburgh, both as advocate and judge,

(a) Saint Cecilia's Hall, 1899, p. 296.
(6) Chambers Traditions, ii. 257.
(c) MS. History of Braxfield.

'A O

< r-

X z

THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LORD BKAXFIELD 297

he was a seatholder in the Trou Kirk,(a) and subject to
the "jarrin' twang" of the doleful bell which so distressed
poor Fergusson. When on circuit, as we have seen, he
was punctilious in the article of church-going. Into
Lord Braxfield's spiritual state we are not here concerned
to pry, but it may be pointed out that he was wholly free
from any taint of that canting hypocrisy which has dis-
figured so many eminent professors. Neither was he in
the same case with such natures as Fergusson and Burns,
who were victims of the abnormal mental condition known
to experts in psychiatry as cyclothymia, wherein, to the
confusion of their biographers, remorse and despair alternate
with reckless realisation of the joy of living. Braxfield
was entirely sane. " So exuberant were his spirits," says
Ramsay, " that even in his sober hours he might be said
to be in a state little short of inebriety." No clouds of
so-called religious melancholy ever darkened that powerful
mind. Yet we cannot read his impressive judicial addresses
in passing sentence of death on such hapless criminals as
Deacon Brodie and James M'Kean without a very real
sense of my Lord's sincere concern for the eternal future
of the condemned. The famous obiter dictum touching
the Founder of our faith, alleged by Cockburn to have
been uttered upon the trial of Gerrald, has been accounted
blasphemous ; I shall have something to say about it later.
As Mr. Francis Watt has well observed of that and similar
sayings attributed to Lord Braxfield, they were probably
asides uttered during the proceedings, and meant only for
the private ear of his colleagues on the Bench, which, told
and retold out of Court, lost nothing in the telling. The
worst of them, the celebrated "checkmate" anecdote, has
been finally exploded.

In pronouncing moral judgments on the great figures
of history the mistake is often made of applying our
modern standards to their so difierent conditions. It is

(a) Butler'3 Tro7i Kirk of Edinburgh, 1906, pp. 306, 312.

298 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORB BRAXFIELD

absurd, for instance, to estimate the conduct of Mary,
Queen of Scots, by the twopenny measuring- tape of to-day's
proprieties, or to regard the doings of Rob Roy from the
standpoint of a Collector of Customs and Excise. Those
who condemn Lord Braxfield as a crapulent and foul-
mouthed old pagan — " his religion railing and his dis-
course ribaldry " — are strangely ignorant or forgetful of the
manners of eighteenth-century Edinburgh. Everybody
drank too much, swore too hard, laughed at everything,
believed in little, and blushed at nothing. But one thing
Lord Braxfield did do, faithfully, with a single eye and an
undivided heart — his duty. It was a corrupt age, most
officials had their price, and he was above suspicion ; it
was a self-indulgent age, and he wrought late and early
at what work was given him to do ; it was a naughty age,
and he was a good husband, an affectionate father, a loyal
friend, and he left to his children the heritage of his high
reputation and an unstained name. If he sat too long
over the decanters, and if the raciness of his humour was
inordinately pronounced, these were foibles which many
of his contemporaries, honourable and upright men, were
content to share. His critics may be more nice of speech
and less robust of stomach, but most of them would be all
the better for some of his Lordship's brains.

It is in his capacity of a criminal judge alone that Lord
Braxfield's judicial deportment has been impugned ; the
ability and integrity of his conduct of civil causes is un-
questioned. Even Cockburn admits him a dexterous and
practical trier of ordinary cases, but calls him as a Lord of
Justiciary " a disgrace to the age," the " indelible iniquity "
of whose doings it is impossible too severely to condemn.
Harsh alike to prisoners and counsel, he was never more in
his element than in hounding with brutal and insulting
jeers some wretched culprit to the gallows. (a) Now I have
had occasion in another connection minutely to examine the

(a) Memorials of His Time, 1856, p. 115.

THE BI-CENTENAEY OF LOKD BRAXFIELD 299

records of three capital cases at which Braxfield presided as
Lord Justice-Clerk, namely, those of Deacon Brodie in
1788, Major Kinloch in 1795, and James M'Kean in 1796,
and as all these trials, being very notable in their day, were
fully and accurately reported, they afford an excellent
opportunity to test the truth of Cockburn's allegations.
And with regard to Brodie's case, the thing that strikes
the professional reader is the amazing mildness of Lord
Braxfield in the face of John Clerk's intolerably rude and
violent demeanour to the Bench. When I first read the
suppressed passages, now printed in the report of the
trial, (a) I trembled at the doom which must await the
counsel who should so beard the savage Braxfield in his
lair, and expected Clerk to be sent straightway from
the bar to Botany Bay. (You perceive that I was yet in
thrall to Cockburn.) But my Lord bore these minatory
insults with dignified composure, and his leniency to the
offender speaks loudly for his patience and good nature.
As to the pannels, both the gallant Deacon and the pitiful
partner of his recreations were plainly guilty and the pre-
judice against them was intense, for what sympathy could
such housebreakers expect from a jury of responsible house-
holders ? Yet Braxfield saw to it that they had a fair trial,
and every latitude was given by him to the defence. The
admirable spirit of his final address to the prisoners I have
already commended. The Kinloch case is remarkable as
being the first in Scotland in which the criminal responsi-
bility of the insane was seriously considered. (6) Tried by
an incompetent or careless judge the result might well have
been a tragedy. The case was at once difficult and delicate
— the murder of a reigning baronet by his brother and heir,
a victim of delusional insanity, with lucid intervals — and
the position of the family, whose evidence was indispensable,
was peculiarly painful. Here, if anywhere, was the occa-
sion for a " coarse and dexterous ruffian " to let himself go.

(a) Trial of Deacon Brodie, 1906, pp. 177-180.

(b) Trial of Sir Archibald Gordon Kinloch, Edinburgh, 1795.

300 THE BI-CENTENAEY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

But Lord Braxfield conducted the trial with the utmost
discretion and tact, and his statement of the law applicable
to the facts, as laid down in his charge to the jury, strikes
the modern mind as singularly sound and enlightened.
Should the Advocatus Diaholi object that in this case Lord
Braxfield's natural ferocity would be tempered by the
social rank of the parties, in the third of my trials at least
he had a free hand. (a) It was his last chance, for shortly
thereafter his health broke down and the High Court of
Justiciary knew him no more. The prisoner was a sancti-
monious shoemaker who butchered a carrier for banknotes,
with every aggravation of craft and cruelty. He admitted
his guilt, but in view of the enormity of the crime Braxfield
directed evidence to be led, and the pannel was allowed to
cross-examine witnesses and to make a canting appeal for
mercy. My Lord, in pronouncing sentence, sought to bring
home to the wretch the dreadful nature of his act, and
earnestly exhorted him to repentance, in words which
might well befit a righteous judge of to-day.

I lack space for even a cursory examination of Lord
Braxfield's conduct of the trials for sedition in 1793 and
1794, of which I have elsewhere given some account,(?>)
and shall here confine myself to a brief relation of the
rebuttino- evidence offered to Cockburn's indictment of
the Lord Justice-Clerk. I wish that every reader of the
Memorials might supplement its perusal by a review
written on its publication with admirable sense and judg-
ment, which ought to be reprinted as a prophylactic
appendix in all future editions of that work.(c) The
defects under which Cockburn labours as an historian —
party prejudice and partiality for telling good stories — and
the errors and exaggerations into which he is thereby

(a) Report of the trial of James M'Kean, Caledonian Mercury^ 15th December
1796.

(6) The Riddle of the Ruthvens, pp. 56-63. See also Biographical Sketch in
the Scots Magazine, before cited, and the volume for n9i, passim.

THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXEIELD 301

betrayed, are convincingly exposed. I am not, however,
concerned with these faihngs further than as they affect
our " subject." As to his strictures upon Lord Braxfield's
behaviour on these occasions the reviewer says : —

We have examined the Reports, which are all to be found in Vol.
XXIII. of the State Trials, so ably and carefully edited by Mr. Howell,
and we find nothing whatever to maintain the charge against Lord
Braxfield. He concurs in the sentences moved and supported by his five
brethren ; and it must be observed of those sentences, that excepting in
the cases of Muir and Gerrald, perhaps also of Margarot, the sentences
about the same time pronounced in England were more severe, and even
long afterwards, for the same offences. . . . That Lord Braxfield had
any more prominent share in those sentences than his brethren does in no
manner of way appear. (a)

Of the " blasphemous " story before referred to about our
Saviour as a reformer, for which Cockburn is the sole
authority, the reviewer remarks —

Now we have made full inquiry into this most extraordinary assertion,
and we find that the words put into the judge's mouth were known in
Edinbui'gh to be a mere invention, a jest that passed current at the time
and was by all who heard it known to have — most men said — no founda-
tion at all, while some few believed, or affected to believe, one part of the
dictum, saying that Lord Braxfield might have muttered, " Muckle he
made o' that"; but all, without exception, utterly denied the grossly
indecent addition. . . . But for our peremptory contradiction of the
story we refer rather to what is well known to all who lived at the time,
that the speech was universally treated as a mere jocular invention, by
way of very gross caricature of the chief. (6)

The "checkmate"' anecdote was killed long ago; I
hope that this "blasphemous" myth may join it in limbo.
Finally, with regard to Cockburn's general vituperation of
the Justice-Clerk the reviewer observes —

The holding up Lord Braxfield as " the Jeffreys of Scotland " is if
possible more intolerable. None, even of that most able and learned,
though coarse and even violent judge's enemies, ever presumed to insinuate
the least suspicion of corruption against him. Nay, all who were
acquainted with him have borne testimony to his amiable and kindly
disposition. He is described by the late venerable Lord President Hope,

(a) 27ie Laiv Magazine and Law Review, 1856, i. 244.
(6) Ibid., p. 246.

302 THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

in a letter which appeared in the first number of the Law Review, vindicat-
ing him from another calumny circulated on Sir Walter Scott's authority
[the "checkmate" story], as a person of a kindly nature, and a warm and
steady friend. He is well known to have had an extreme abhorrence of
anything mean and base, and his feelings were more warm than even his
temper was hasty. That he was of the most scrupulous integrity, of the
highest sense of honour in all respects, both public and private, none have
ever doubted ; and this is the person whom Lord Cockburn, inspired with
the bitter feelings of party, thinks it fit to compare with the worst man,
the most profligate and corrupt judge, that ever polluted the Bench. (a)

Young's prophetic refutation of Cockburn's calumnies
may be read at large in my former article. His defence is
of great weight, as stated by an eyewitness, a lawyer, a
gentleman and a Whig ; its length forbids quotation here,
but the concluding paragraph, in which he sums up his
case, must be repeated —

Of all men that ever lived, I think the greatest injustice has of late
been done to the memory of Lord Justice-Clerk M'Queen. I knew him
intimately from the first moment I came to Edinburgh, and I can truly
declare that he was not merely a great lawyer and an excellent judge,
but a most humane, kind-hearted and benevolent man, a friend and
benefactor to all the lower classes, a most hospitable and excellent land-
lord ; and in my humble opinion, though he was a Tory and sometimes
rallied me on being a Whig, he never allowed political feelings to influence
his conduct as a judge. When he acted in that capacity in the trials of
the men, who are now termed the " Scots Martyrs," I do not remember
that there was any diff"erence of opinion betwixt him and the other judges
on the Bench. They all joined in the same exposition of the Scotch law
of sedition, nor did I then hear of one imputation on the characters of any
one of them, or of the imputed "martyrdom" of the poor enthusiasts
Muir and Gerrald, or the democratic agitator and blackguard Margarot.

Now, indeed, the Justice-Clerk is represented as having been an
unprincipled, despotic judge, and placed on the same level with Jeffreys
and those who had formerly figured in that line, whilst the most atrocious
falsehoods are daily circulated regarding his brutal conduct to criminals
in the Court where he presided ; all which I solemnly declare, as far as I
know, and I had the best cause of knowledge as to most of them, as I slmll
answer to God, are false and utterly destitute of truth.

When the sedition trials were discussed in Parliament,
Lord Mansfield, who then held the office of Lord Justice-

(«) The Laiv Magazine and Laiv Review, 1856, i. 247.

THE BI-CENTENARY OF LORD BRAXFIELD 303

General, said : "I have not the pleasure of personal
acquaintance with the Lord Justice-Clerk, but 1 have long
heard the loud voice of fame, that speaks of him as a man
of pure and spotless integrity, of great talents, and of a
transcendent knowledge of the laws of his country."(a)

Of my Lord in his social relations Cockburn declares
that his fellow judges " were no friends to Braxfield
privately. His mere indecency was sufficient to debar
much personal intercourse. Abercromby, in particular,
abhorred him."(6) Yet by his own account not any of their
Lordships were worthy of respect or likely to be nice in
their company. Dunsinnan and Henderland were "undis-
tinguished," Abercromby was "absurdly" called by Baron
Hume an ornament of the Bench, Swinton was " heavy and
slow," and Eskgrove " an avaricious, indecent old wretch. "(c)
It should be superfluous to add that all these gentlemen
were Tories. Lord Cockburn's judicial colleagues might
indeed pray to be delivered from the scope of his remin-
iscences. As Bosola says in the play —

The office of justice is perverted quite
When one thief hangs another.

We know from Alexander Young that Sir David Dairy mple.
Lord Hailes, a man of high lineage, wide culture and
acknowledged worth, was on the best of terms with Brax-
field, despite the fact that my Lord said of him that he
" kent naething o' a cause but the neuks"; and that the
only judge with whom he had no personal intimacy was
Lord Kames, whose charming vale to his brethren on his
retiral from the Bench — "Fare ye a' weel, ye bitches!" —
one might have expected to appeal to Braxfield.

Lord Braxfield was twice married. By his first wife,
a niece of Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, the last
hereditary Sheriff of Galloway, he had two sons and two
daughters. The elder son, Robert Dundas, was bred to
the Bar but never practised, married Lady Lilias Mont-

(a) Pari Hist., xxxi. 283. (6) Sedition Trials, i. 86, n. (c) Ihid.

304 THE BI-CENTENAKY OF LORD BRAXFIELD

gomerie, daughter of the twelfth Earl of Eglinton, succeeded
on his father's death to the lands of Braxfield, Broughton
and Hardington, and died without issue in 1816. John,
the second son, entered the Army, became a captain in the
28th Regiment of Foot, and married an Irish lady of good
family, their son succeeding to the entailed estates. Mary,
the elder girl, married Sir William Honyman of Armadale,
a Lord of Session; the younger, Catherine, married
Macdonald of Clanranald. By his second marriage with a
dauo-hter of Lord Chief Baron Orde, Braxfield had no
children. High alliances these, for Cockburn's "coarse
ruffian " and his family to compass.

New evidence as to the social consideration in which
Lord Braxfield was held came to light on the discovery,
during alterations at No. 13 George Square, of certain
visiting- cards and dinner invitations addressed to the
Justice-Clerk and his wife, which were found beneath the
flooring of one of the upper rooms. It is curious that by
the chance preservation of these pieces of pasteboard Lord
Braxfield's position in Edinburgh society should be ascer-
tainable. For particulars of this trouvaille I am indebted
to the article by Mr. Forbes Gray already cited. Among
the calling cards are those of the wife of Admiral Duncan,
the hero of Camperdown ; of Lady Christina Graham ; and
of Mrs. Brown, wife of the architect of George Square —
the latter, by the way, a forebear of the present writer.
The invitations include two from Sir James and Lady
Colquhoun of Luss to their house in St. Andrew Square,
one from the Lord Advocate and Mrs. Dundas, George
Square, and another from Mr. and Mrs. Macdonald of
Clanranald, Princes Street. For " an illiterate ruffian of
debauched habits" this company is pretty well.

One of Lord Braxfield's most intimate friends was Sir
Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, whose niece he afterwards
married, (a) The Justice-Clerk's relations with his first

(a) The Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, 1893, ii. 354 358.

THE r,r-CEXTEXAKY OF LORD BKAXFIELD 305

wife's family were always cordial, and when in 1789 Sir
Stair Agncw's daughter was to be married, all arrange-
ments as to settlements were placed in Lord Braxtield's
hands,(a) The only letter of liis which I have seen —
probably he was no great letter-writer — was upon this
occasion. Written in a clear, almost feminine hand, its
genial tone shows his Lordship's character in a benignant
aspect : —

Stirling, 10 l:iept. 1789.

Dear Sir, — Yours I received this morning. I have perused the scroll
with attention, and in general think it well drawn. However, in order
to prevent any dispute [he otters various pertinent suggestions, concluding
thus :] And now permit me to wish you and your daughter much joy
and happiness in the intended marriage. She is an amiable young person,
and possessed of the sweetest temper and disposition, which bids fair for
making a happy marriage. Indeed she is so much possessed of my good
opinion that if it should prove otherwise — which God forbid ! — I should
pronounce it not the fault of her. So there is no reason to be apprehensive
of any such event.

Mrs. M'Queen, who is with me here, desires to join with me in love
and best wishes to you and the bride. And I am, dear Sir, your most

obedient humble servant,

Robert M'Queen.
Sir Stair Agnew of Lochnaw, Bart. (ft)

I will leave it at that : the reader has now before him
both sides of the Braxfield case and can pronounce his
own judgment. Lord Cockburn has had the Bench to
himself lono' enouoh.

For two years before his death Lord Braxfield, whose
physical powers had been as great as those of his intellect,
fell a prey to a complication of diseases. Li the summer
of 1798 these complaints were much increased, and by the
New Year his condition was hopeless. He died at No. 13
George Square on 30th May 1799, having just crossed
the threshold of his seventy-eighth year, and on otli June
was laid to rest in the family burial-place at Lanark.

{a\ The llereditarij Sheriffs of (InUov-ay, 1893, ii. 387.
{b) Ibid., pp. 388-381).

306 THE BI-CEXTEXARY OF LOKD BEAXFIELD

What his fellow-countrymen thoug-ht of him as a citizen
and a judge may be read in his obituary notices. (a)

I made one autumn day a sentimental journey to bis
grave and birthplace. He lies beneath the ruined walls
of St. Kentigern's forsaken shrine, over against high Tinto
and the sunset. Strangely enough, although three of his
descendants are commemorated, the headstone does not
bear his name. The house of Braxfield stands upon the
pleasant slopes of a green and watered valley, shaded by
immemorial trees and girt about with undulating pastures,
while ever on the ear falls the murmurous song of Clyde.
The mansion, four square, with a courtyard in the centre —
the back said to be older than the front — is now unoccupied,
and fast tending to decay. With its many chambers,
curious stairways, and stone-vaulted passages, it would be
in the past a very paradise of childhood. At some personal
risk I penetrated to the subterranean secrets of the wine
cellar — a commodious catacomb, whither my Lord, candle
in hand, must often have preceded me in quest of buried
treasures. Bat the goodly bins hold nothing now save
cobwebs and the detritus of their ancient strength. At
some distance from the house, in a sheltered hollow of
the park, is a great old-world garden, its masoned walls
enclosing flower-embroidered borders and wandering alleys.
You can fancy the old judge pacing these paths on sunny
afternoons in vacance time, unmindful of Lord Stair and
of the Dutch civilians. For it is here, amid the scenes so
close to his affections where every hour he could command
was spent, that his memory peculiarly abides. The Edin-
burgh that he knew has vanished ; George S(|uare is trans-
formed, the courtroom in which he so long held sway is
gone. Only here, under these age-old trees beside the
ageless river, would Lord Braxfield's spirit feel at home.

By a singular irony of circumstance Braxfield House
was after 1808 tenanted for a time by Robert Owen (1771-

{a) Edinburgh Magccdne, July 1799, p. 80; Scots Mayazine, July 1799, p. 496.

THE BT-CENTENARY OF LOKD liEAXFIELD 307

1858), the father of* New Lanark, a pioneer of Socialism
and a harbourer of Iladicals.(a) How my Lord would
have regarded this invasion of his sacred hearth may be
awfully imaoined. In 1914 the property passed from the
Braxfield f^xmily into other hands. Of the last M'Queen
of Braxfield, John Rainier M'Queen, great-grandson of the
Justice-Clerk and last lineal inheritor of his lands and Tory
principles, an interesting account is given by Mr. Bernard
Holland. (/j) It is the end of " an aidd sang."

I have ever pitied the hard fortune of the dead in their
incapacity to combat posthumous aspersion. The nimble
brain, the ready arm, so vigilant to justify and to defend,
no longer guard the citadel from presumptuous foes. Once
a man is buried any dog may bark about his grave. Our
memories are at the mercy of the first comer minded to
cast a stone, and our hope rests only in the charity of our
survivors. De mortuis is comfortable counsel ; but Sir
Thomas Browne's plea for civility to the ashes of our
forefathers too often falls upon deaf ears. Elsewhere
I have sought to rescue Robert Fergusson from the
opacities of purblind editors. Li the present case my task
has been less onerous : on the one hand is the white
light of contemporary evidence ; on the other, the partial
ra}^ of Lord Cockburn's Whiggish lantern. "Whoever
puts Fergusson right with fame," wrote Stevenson once,
"cannot do better than dedicate his labours to the memory
of Burns, who will be the best delighted of the dead."
Wherefore I am bold to devote to the creator of AVeir of
Hermiston this essay in vindication of his great exemplar.

((() Life of Robert Owen, 1857, passim.

(h) Blackwood's Magazine, December 1913, pp. 816-823.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BV

NEILL AND CO., LTD.

EDINBURGH.

By the Same Author

The Riddle of the Ruthvens

AND OTHER STUDIES

By WILLIAM R0U6HEAD

With 13 Illustrations. 8vo, 544 pages, buckram, 10s. 6d. net

CONTENTS

The Riddle of the Ruthvens

The Real Braxfield

The Husband of Lady Grange

The Pack of the Tkavelling Mek-

CHANT

auld auchindrayne
"Antique " Smith
The Abduction of J^an Kay
The Witches of North Berwick
Bargarran's Daughter

The Devil in Pittenwekm
The Law and Mrs. Yelvekton
NicoL MuscHET : His Crime and Cairn
The Master of Sinclair and the

Fifteen
The Toll of the "Speedy Return"
The Adventures of David Haggart
Mackcoull and the Begbie Mystery
With Braxfield on the Bench
A Note on Robert Fergusson

SOME PRESS OPINIONS

The Bookman. — "Mr. Roughead is a lawyer after Scott's own heart. Had Sir
Walter been alive to-day it is easy to conceive how these two perfervid investigators
would have worked to each other's hands, and the collaboration would have been a
fortunate one for Scottish Letters. Mr. Roughead is a perfect mine of information on
the criminal annals of Scotland. In that connection he has already done important and
admirable service. Had ]\Ir. Lang lived to read this latest volume, he would have
rejoiced over it as a contribution to Scottish Criminology unsurpassed by the in-
defatigable Pitcairn himself. Mr. Houghead is not merely a diligent researchei' in a
domain which he has made peculiarly his own. He is also au accomplished literary
stylist, and has in him the makings of an acceptable and successful novelist were he so
minded to turn his pen in that direction. Witliin his vast and erudite storehouse — the
gatliering of years — there is no lack of material in respect of intrigue, and incident, and
human characterisation, for tlie business of a modern romantic. Mr. Lang, as one
happens to know, peru.sed Mr. Roughead's ' Trials" with avidity ; and it is certain that
H. L. Stevenson, no less than Walter Scott, woidd have been glad to seek for treasure in
the same rich and varied fielil. All'. Roughead, however, confines his attention almost
entirely to the purely legal aspect of his studies and only to what is genuinely historic

in the episode with wiiich he is dealing An exceptionally notable jiiece of work.

It is by far the best thing Mr. Roughead has done. There is not a dull page in his
book, nor can there be a reader who will not ask for yet another series of these so
satisfying and fascinating mystery tales of a country that contains so much of the
mysterious and romantic elements."

The Spectator. — "Mr. Andrew Lang is no longer here to guide us down tiie
byways of .Scottish history, but he has a worthy disciple in Mr. Roughead, wliose new
book is of absorbing interest. Mr. Roughead is well known to students of criminology
by his editions of famous trials, including tliose of Captain Porteous and of Deacon
Brodie, and by his collection of Twelve Scots Trials. In his new volume he begins with
the grim mystery commonly known as tlie Cowrie Conspiracy, and discusses other
episodes that receive passing mention from the historinn. But h^ also deals with some
of the stranger cases in Scottish triminal records, which will lie new, we imagine, even
to most Scottish readers. His concluding chapter on Robert Fergusson, the gifted
young Edinburgh poet wlio might, had he lived, have rivalled Burns, is interesting and
sympatlietie

"Mr. Roughead's fascinating book includes, among other tilings, the murder of a
travelling pedlar in Assynt, Sutherland, by a young schoolmaster, notable for the fact

SOME PRESS OPINIONS— contmued

tliat the j)efllar's missing pack was discovered by means of a dream. In tliis case the
evidence was purely circumstantial, Imt the criminal, after being condemned, made a
full confession. There is, too, the strange matrimonial case of Mrs. Yelverton, which
interested our fatheis in the "sixties.' We must add, in conclusion, that the author's
vindication of Lord Braxfield is convincing."

The Saturday Review.— "Scotch crime is not yet exhausted. The present
volume consists of studies reprinted from the Juridical Jli:ineu\ with one added from
the Scottish HUtiirircil. There is no want of variety. Tlie Gowrie Mystery, the
Yelverton Case, the character of Lord Braxfield, the murder of Begbie, the Bank Porter :
these are specimens. The book begins and takes its title from the Gowrie conspiracy :
that is the riddle of the Ruthvens . . . ,

"'The Real Braxfield,' along with 'Braxfield on the Bench,' a latei- essay, puts
forward a new view of the great Lord Justice Clerk, Mr. Rfiughead's volume reminds
us, often, of Paget's Paradoxes and Puz.Ics ; and as that acute historian added to his
collection of old crimes a study of "Whig exaggerations in Macaulay, so Mr. Roughead
sets himself to correct the similar, though much slighter, injustice of Henry Cockburn
towards the judge who took such pleasure in trying Friends of the People for
sedition

" But this notice of ilr. Roughead is turning into mere repetition of his stories ; and
what el.se can one do] One must not stop, however, without acknowledgment and
thanks for the last essay in the book, which is the story of Robert Fergusson, the young
Edinburgh poet, including plenty of quotations, and helping (as Mr. Roughead indicates)
to make up the strange omission of the poet's name, and neglect of his valuable evidence
by ' Edinburgh '.« Latest Historian.'"

The Outlook. — "Mr. Roughead is already well known as the author of Twelve
Scots Trials and other books dealing with crimes and criminals, and any work from his
pen is assured a ready welcome from the reading public. In the present book Mr,
Roughead opens with the story of the Gowrie 'Conspiracy,' that mysterious attempt
upon the life and liberty of James VI., Avhich has occupied the attention of the curious
and the sceptical for many years

" Interesting, however, as is this story of the Gowrie conspiracy, and good as are those
of other crimes, involving lesser people, which follow, the most valuable papers in the
book are those in which quite a new light is thrown upon the character of Robert
M'Queen, Lord Braxfield, who. vilified by Cockburn, and libelled by almost everyone
who has written of him, has been immortalised by Stevenson in IFeir of Hermiston.
The figure that emerges from Mr. Roughead's inquisition is that of a great lawyer, a
shrewd if coarse wit. a just judge, and a man of strong and respectable character, A
man, in fact, whose mental and moral attitude is in harmony witli his physical appear-
ance as handed down to us by Raeburn. Of the other papers that go to make up a most
interesting volume, we may single out for especial mention, 'The Pack of the Travelling
Merchant,' which deals with the murder of Murdoch Grant, a Scots pedlar, by a young
schoolmaster ; and the story of ' Antique Smith,' whose forgeries of valuable autographs
in the last decade of the last century cre;ited considerable stir in Edinburgh. But, after
all, these are but two out of many, all good. The book, indeed, should prove a mine of
wealth for the novelist and playwright."

The Times Literary Supplement. — "This is an ingenious and entertaining
book, by a wiiter who has already introduced large numbers of interested und often
amused readers to the intricacies of Scots law and the complexities of Scottish murder
cases

" In ' The Toll of the " Speedy Return" ' .Mr, Roughead deals with the once famous
case of Captain Green, an English mariner who was hanged in Edinburgh in 170r>, on a
charge of piracy. The English Government did not dare to advise Queen Anne to send
a reprieve ; if she had done so ' there is little doubt that the Porteous tragedy would
not have lacked a preeedent,' so strongly did po}iular feeling run against the prisoner.
ilr. Roughead brings fresh evidence to show that Green was probably a pirate ; but he
agrees with previous investigators that he was not proved to be guilty of the particular
otience for which he suffered death, Mr. Roughead deals largely with cases of witch-
craft. These, indeed, are less of a puzzle than they were ; for incidents in the 'spy
mania' of the early years of the war have shown that the sources of human credulity, in
times of excitement, are not yet dried uj), and it is easy to understand how the accusa-
tions against the witches received credence. In "'A Note on Robert Fergusson' he
touches a theme outside the general purport of the book and gives us a sketch wliich errs
only in being too short and is full of understanding knowledge."

W. GREEN AND SON, LIMITED, EDINBURGH

By the Same Author

Twelve Scots Trials

By WILLIAM ROUGHEAD

With 13 Illustrations. 8vo, 302 pages, buckram, gilt top, 7s. 6d. net

CONTENTS

The Parson of Spott, 1570

The Doom of Lady WAraiisTON, 1600

Touching one Major Weik, a Wak-

LOCK, 1670
The Ordeal of Philii- Stanfield,

1688
The Gho.st of Sergeant Davis, 1754

Katharine Nairn, 1765

Keith of Northfield, 1766

"The Wife o' Denside," 1827

Concerning Christina Gilmouk, 1844

The St. Fergus Affair, 1854

The Dunecht Mystery, 1882

The Akran Murder, 1889

SOME PRESS OPINIONS

The Spectator.— " Tlie dark places of Scots ciinjiiiolo<j;3' have already yielded
literary treasure to those who, like Scott and Stevenson, knew wjiere to look lor it. But
the store is iuexhaustiblu, and personally we tind a flavour about the criminous annals of
the nortliern kingdom which is absent from the Newgate Calendars of more populous
lands. Mr. itougliead, wlio has done some excellent work in this branch of historical
research, gives us in the present volume a collection of short studies ranging from the
days of the Reformation to the recollection of our own age. He has precisely tlie kind of
style which is suited for a legal historian who would also be popular — clear, urbane,
witty, pleasantly allusive, reminding us now of J, B. Atlay and now of Andrew Lan^.
Indeed, of all writers living he seems most to have caught Lang's curious grace. He is
also an excellent teller of a story — no small gift in the chronicler. The studies, as we
liave said, cover a wide area, and embrace crimes into which some element of strangeness
entered, crimes which are still obscure, and crimes where the guilt is not seriously in
doubt."

The Saturday Review. — "Mr. Roughead, an able Scottish lawyer, has won a
reputation for his talent in the kind of work of which these trials are so excellent an
example. xMr. Andrew Lang claimed him as a fellow-student of legal and historical
mysteries, and these 'criminal biographies' were suggested by J\lr. Lang ; they were read
by him in manuscrijit, and he had intended to write an Introduction. They are not
edited reports, but studies by .Mr. Roughead based upon the facts, the personages, and
the times of tl;e particular trials. Most of them owe very much of their interest to
Scottish historical, legendary, and traditional events, and to public and family ejtisodes
and })ersonages which give a picturesque and more than a forensic environment to the
actual trial. Mr. Roughead is, in short, as much antiquary as student of criniinolofy,
and he has a literary taste which avoids tlie unnecessarily sordid and brutal. None of
these trials is hackneyed ; they are all unfamiliar and of first impression."

The Outlook. — "Mr. Houghead has secured a great reputation for hi.s admirable
editing of notable Scottish trials, especially those of Deacon Brodieand Captain Porteous ;
and in the present volume, in spite of the fact that the recorded trials are of less intrinsic

consequence, he has fully maintained the high quality of his previous work

Each case presents some peculiar point of interest, either of evidence or criminal
psychology, and the analysis of the motives for the crimes and the evidence j)roduced
is excellent. Mr. Amlrew Lang read the book in manuscriiit. and had he lived would
have contributed an Introduction ; and we cannot give the author higher praise than to
say it is, in our opinion, a work in eveiy way worthy of the commendation of that line
connoisseur of mysteries and keen sifter of evidence,"

W. GUKEN A.\D 80^', LLMITED, KDIJN ULKGH

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