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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A 
 COLLECTION MADE BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 1854-1919 
 
 AND BEQUEATHED TO 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 4839.K297R3 
 
 Remarkable convictions. 
 
 3 1924 013 492 255 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013492255 
 
REMARKABLE C0NYICTI0N8. 
 
 BY 
 
 A WKITEE TO THE SIGNET. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 WILLIAM P. NIMMO, 
 
 1865. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A GEEAT proportion of the trials reported 
 in the following pages, are cases which actu- 
 ally occurred, and were tried in criminal 
 courts, or investigated on the part of prose- 
 cutors. Names of persons and places, how- 
 ever, are generally changed or suppressed, 
 and in some of them the incidents are 
 slightly altered. Two or three of them 
 may be termed composite, being made up 
 of incidents gleaned from several other 
 known cases, and combined in one. The 
 
VI PEEPACE. 
 
 whole are intended to illustrate tlie eflfect 
 of circumstantial evidence, and to shew how 
 often facts of an apparently trivial nature, 
 and wholly unexpected, turn up, bringing 
 home guilt to an accused party, even in the 
 face of an able and ingenious defence. 
 Thus, a foot-print, the dropping of a glove, 
 a button, a knife, a handkerchief, or the 
 like, have frequently turned the scale of 
 evidence against a prisoner. Nothing in 
 the investigation of crime is more difficult 
 to deal with, or requires the exercise of more 
 caution, than circumstantial evidence. In- 
 deed, in the absence of direct proof, it ought 
 to be so abundant and full, as to preclude 
 the possibility of any mistake or doubt. 
 The maturest consideration of an intelligent 
 jury, aided by the charge of an able judge, 
 are necessary to determine the effect of 
 testimony afforded by mere circumstances 
 independently of direct facts. Incautious 
 
PEEFACE. VU 
 
 conduct in weighing proof of this description 
 has sometimes been known to consign an 
 innocent party to lengthened imprisonment, 
 and even to the gibbet. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE BLUE OLOAK, .... 
 
 MtTHDEE, AND CONCEALMENT OF THE BODY, 
 
 DETECTION OF MURDER BY NATIVE AUSTRALIANS, 
 
 MISTAKEN IDENTITY, 
 
 THE FALSE CONSPIRACY, . 
 
 THE DEAD REVIVED, 
 
 THE STOLEN HEIRESS, 
 
 THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLER, 
 
 THE CANINE THIEF, . 
 
 THE PIRATE, 
 
 THE RING AND CAP, . 
 
 THE WHOLESALE FORGER, . 
 
 INSANE CRIMINALS, . 
 
 THE BIGAMIST, . 
 
 THE FATAL DREAM, . 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 26 
 
 37 
 
 52 
 
 70 
 
 89 
 
 104 
 
 123 
 
 140 
 
 153 
 
 179 
 
 204 
 
 221 
 
THE BLUE CLOAK. 
 
 In the year 1804, Michael Milligan, an itinerant 
 Irish tinker, was tried before the Western Circuit 
 Court of Justiciary (Assizes) in Scotland, charged 
 with the murder of his wife. The Scotch forms 
 in criminal prosecutions differ entirely from those 
 in England, the prosecution being conducted at the 
 expense of the Government by a Crown lawyer, 
 termed the Lord Advocate, whose duties resemble 
 those of the Procureur de Eoi in Prance, and who 
 has a number of deputes who conduct the causes 
 when he is absent. 
 
 The indictment charged the prisoner with striking, 
 beating, and thereafter pushing Margaret Eeilly 
 
2 THE BLUE CLOAK. 
 
 his wife, into the Crinan Canal, at or near a place 
 called Carnbane, whereby she was drowned, or other- 
 wise deprived of life ; and that the said Michael 
 MUligan thereby murdered his said wife. The 
 prisoner having pleaded not guilty, a jury was 
 impannelled. 
 
 In adducing evidence in Scotland, the prisoner 
 is placed at a considerable disadvantage, as he 
 does not hear what the witnesses for the crown 
 have to say, or is confronted with them, till the 
 trial proceeds, unless he can bear the heavy expense 
 of obtaining a precognitijon, being merely furnished 
 with a list of their names and addresses ; whUe in 
 England he sees them, and hears what they have 
 to state, and may cross-examine them by himself 
 or his law adviser previous to his committal. This 
 defect was conspicuous in the present trial. A 
 number of witnesses were examined who saw the 
 murder committed from a hUl on which they stood, 
 several miles distant, and where they were engaged 
 cutting copse-wood. They stated that they saw a 
 man first beating, and afterwards throwing or push- 
 ing a female into the canal, and on hastening to 
 
THE BLUE CLOAK. 3 
 
 the spot they fouad the body of the woman drowned, 
 and identified it as that of the accused's wife, but 
 they were too far distant to identify the prisoner as 
 the person who committed the murder — the mur- 
 derer having run off in an opposite direction the 
 moment after the act was perpetrated. The prisoner 
 and his wife were well known by the witnesses ex- 
 amined, and by all the inhabitants throughout that 
 and the adjoining district, as itinerant pedlars who 
 had for many years traversed the country selling 
 horn spoons, tin jugs, and other articles of their own 
 manufacture. This itinerating class are a numerous 
 body in Scotland, and, like the gipsy tribes, have 
 seldom any fixed place of abode. They generally 
 confine themselves to two or three districts, and 
 being known to all the farmers and other inhabit- 
 ants, to whom they make themselves useful in the' 
 way of their trade, they claim and obtain lodgings 
 from each farmer in a barn, kiln, or other outhouse. 
 It was proved that the prisoner and his wife, who 
 belonged to the class referred to, were in the habit 
 of periodically visiting the district where Carnbane 
 is situated. It appeared, however, from the cross- 
 
4 THE BLUE CLOAK. 
 
 examination of the witnesses, that though they 
 more generally travelled together, they not un- 
 frequently, to save time and labour, traversed each 
 a separate district, and that on these occasions the 
 wife often had a male relative or friend along with 
 her. 
 
 Another point in the case arose out of a coarse 
 blue cloak which was worn by the man who com- 
 mitted the murder. The witnesses all swore that 
 he had on such a cloak, but that when he saw them 
 hastening to the spot, he ran to make his escape, 
 and, in order to increase his speed, threw off the 
 cloak, which they found on the banks of the canal. 
 It was also proved that the accused in travelling 
 usually wore such a cloak, but though the cloak was 
 produced in court, none of the witnesses who saw 
 the murder committed, could say that it was the 
 cloak of the accused ; and it so happened that, at 
 that period, coarse blue cloaks of the same fabric 
 and pattern were very commonly worn by almost 
 all the lower classes in Scotland. The prisoner 
 made no attempt to prove an alibi, which it was 
 thought he might have done had he been innocent, 
 
THK BLUE CLOAK. 5 
 
 (although the burden of proof rested with the 
 Crown ;) but this circumstance, coupled with the 
 others, made the case amount only to one of strong 
 suspicion. The prisoner and his counsel, therefore, 
 thinking the proof concluded, were confident of an 
 acquittal. 
 
 At this stage of the case, a little o^^ man, the 
 last name in the list of witnesses, was placed in the 
 witness-box, on the part of the Grown. The pri- , 
 soner's counsel paid little regard at first to this 
 witness, thinking that he was merely one of those, 
 of whom there were many already examined, who 
 had seen the murder from a distance. On being 
 sworn and examined, this witness said he was a 
 tailor by trade, lived in the parish of Southend, 
 seventy miles distant, knew the prisoner, in whose 
 neighbourhood he resided for a number of years, 
 and made dothes for his family. He was next 
 asked if he had ever made a cloak for the prisoher. 
 He said he had made a blue cloak for him about 
 twenty years before, and that he would know it at 
 onee if he saw it. He was asked how he could iden- 
 tify it as the cloak made by him so long ago, seeing 
 
6 THE BLUE CLOAK. 
 
 that such cloaks were so much alike.. The case 
 now assumed a thrilling interest, it being plain that 
 the life of the prisoner hung upon the identification 
 of the cloak, and the prisoner and his counsel, who 
 had previously looked all confidence, now seemed 
 to exhibit much anxiety. '' I would," said the 
 witness, "know that cloak among ten thousand. 
 There was too little cloth given me to make it, and, 
 to add to the difficulty, the cloth was in two separate 
 pieces ; and I remember I never had greater dif- 
 ficulty in completing any piece of dress. The con- 
 sequence was, there were a great many 'eiks' or 
 joinings in it. Several of these occurred near the 
 buttons and button-holes, and there are two trian- 
 gular pieces of cloth of a different kind, and lighter 
 in the colour than the rest of the cloth, under the 
 cape ; the cape was also smaller than usual." The 
 keenest anxiety was now evinced on the part of the 
 audience to have the cloak examined. The parcel 
 containing it was accordingly produced, and on be- 
 ing unfolded, the witness pointed out the two trian- 
 gular joinings under the cape, of which he had 
 spoken, the colour of which differed considerably 
 
THE BLUE CLOAK. 7 
 
 from the rest of the cloak, and also the joinings in 
 front, at the buttons and button-holes. He also 
 exhibited the cape, which was much smaller than 
 usual ; and he swore that this was the identical 
 cloak made by him for the accused twenty years 
 before. A murmur of astonishment, mingled with 
 abhorrence, escaped from the audience. The pri- 
 soner became Hvidly pale, and the confident look of 
 his counsel was wholly abandoned. After a short 
 address from the Advocate Depute on the part of 
 the Crown, and from the counsel for the defence on 
 the part of the panel ; the jury, after the judge had 
 summed up the evidence, having retired for half- 
 an-hour, returned a unanimous verdict of wilful 
 murder against the prisoner, who was afterwards 
 executed at the county town of Inverary.* 
 
 * The case above noticed actually occurred in the Western 
 Justiciary Circuit in Scotland, about the beginning of the 
 present century. The late Lord Justice General Boyle was the 
 Advocate Depute, who conducted the cause on the part of 
 the Crown. 
 
MURDER, AND CONCEALMENT OF 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Soon after the gold discoveries in Australia, exten- 
 sive immigrations of Chinese took place into that 
 colony, and owing to their known industry and per- 
 severance as labourers, great numbers of them 
 obtained employment from the stockholders and 
 other settlers. Their services were more generally 
 in demand than would have been the case under 
 ordinary circumstances, owing to the European 
 servants of settlers having, in considerable numbers, 
 deserted the service of their employers, and gone 
 to the gold-diggings, leaving the stocks without 
 shepherds and completely deserted, their agricul- 
 
MUEDEE, AND CONCEALMENT OP THE BODY, 9 
 
 ture at a stand, and their crops uncut and un- 
 secured. 
 
 The Europeans in the employment of Mr Sime, 
 a stockholder, on a station in the district of Bligh, 
 on the Castlereagh river, in the colony of New 
 South Wales, having all left him, and gone to the 
 gold-fields, he engaged sixteen Chinamen at Sydney, 
 to supply their places. Accordingly, with the ex- 
 ception of his overseer, James Bennet, a faithful 
 and valuable servant, and two female domestics, 
 his whole establishment of servants were Chinamen. 
 They proved, as was expected, industrious, and, in 
 many respects, useful; but, like most of their coun- 
 trymen, greatly, addicted to petty thieving, and 
 from there being no other than Chinamen on the 
 station, (except the overseer,) the detection and pre- 
 vention of such offences became extremely difiicult ; 
 accordingly, pilfering was carried on to a great 
 extent. The overseer having at length detected 
 several individuals in the act of thieving, two of 
 the offenders were dismissed the service. Some of 
 the remaining party were heard to express their 
 strong disapprobation of the overseer's conduct. 
 
10 MUEDEE, AND CONCEALMENT OF THE BODY. 
 
 and their hatred of him ; they also let slip some 
 threats that they would take an opportunity to be 
 avenged on account of the dismissal of their two 
 countrymen. 
 
 In two or three days after the dismissal of the 
 two thieves, the overseer disappeared, and could 
 nowhere be found. A thorough search was made 
 for him throughout the run in every place that 
 could be thought of. Every stream, and pond, and 
 aU the woods and places of concealment were 
 minutely examined. Inquiries were instituted at 
 all the neighbouring stations, but to no purpose. 
 Nobody had seen or heard of him. Advertisements 
 were put into the Sydney newspapers, with similar 
 results, and after the lapse of some weeks his dis- 
 covery was despaired of. The Chinamen all de- 
 clared they had not seen him since the time he was 
 observed going to his house the evening before his 
 disappearance. Though Mr Sime had the strongest 
 suspicion that his Chinese servants had murdered 
 his overseer, yet he could not find the slightest 
 trace of such an act; and a favourite dog of the 
 overseer having disappeared at the same time, led 
 
MUBDEE, AND CONCEAXMENT OF THE BODY. 11 
 
 to the inference that he must have, for some 
 unknown cause, gone off during the night, accom- 
 panied by his dog. 
 
 Whilst matters were in this position, Mr Sime 
 was one day alone, examining some fences to be 
 repaired in one of his large sheep-pens, in which 
 the sheep in Australia are placed every evening for 
 security against native dogs and thieves. His eye 
 happening to rest on the gate-way entering into 
 the pen, it occurred to him that the ground at the 
 entrance was not so smooth as usual, and a little 
 more elevated ; but as the surface was walked over 
 every morning and evening by droves of sheep, it 
 was only after minute examination he discovered 
 that the earth had been very recently dug or turned 
 up. It instantly flashed on his mind that the over- 
 seer had been murdered by the Chinamen, and his 
 body cunningly buried at the entrance to the pen, 
 so that all traces of digging wOuld be immediately 
 eifaced by the constant walking of a large body of 
 sheep over the spot. Yet the disappearance of the 
 dog, (the destruction of which by the Chinamen 
 never occurred to him,) gave rise to many doubts 
 
12 MUEDEE, AND CONCEALMENT OP THE BODY. 
 
 and difficulties. It was, however, plain that the 
 ground had been recently dug, without his know- 
 ledge and for some unknown purpose, and he was 
 therefore resolved to investigate the cause. 
 
 Mr Sime found it necessary to proceed with great 
 caution. He sent a private express to the superin- 
 tendent of police of the district, to be in attendance 
 on the second day thereafter, accompanied by a 
 magistrate with a sufficient force, at an hour when 
 all the Chinamen would be sent to different remote 
 parts of the station. The superiutendent and party 
 arrived accordingly, and having dug the spot at the 
 pen gate, there they found poor Bennet's body fear- 
 fully disfigured with wounds. They found in the 
 same grave the carcase of his favourite dog with its 
 master's head resting on its body. It thus appeared, 
 that by the most thorough adroitness and cunning, 
 the murderers had destroyed the dog, knowing that 
 it would scent out the spot where its master's body 
 was deposited. The police next apprehended each 
 of the Chinamen as they could be found ; and 
 having confined each in a separate apartment, they 
 were examined by the magistrate separately. The 
 
MUEDEE, AND CONCEALMENT OP THE BODY. 13 
 
 better conducted of them were' first examined, and 
 a complete disclosure was obtained. 
 
 It appeared that of the fourteen Chinamen then 
 in Mr Sime's employment, ten were actively engaged 
 in the murder. Two or three of them stabbed 
 Bennet from behind, and the others beat him with 
 clubs as he lay on the ground senseless, till life was 
 completely extinct. They next stabbed and beat 
 the dog till it was dead ; and having with cunning 
 discrimination, devised the plan of digging a hole 
 at the entrance of the pen, where large droves of 
 sheep were driven over every evening and morning, 
 and all trace of their operations thus prevented, 
 there they buried poor Bennet and his faithful dog. 
 The whole party, with the exception of three or four 
 who took no active part in the murder, were sent to 
 Sydney, and brought to trial before the Supreme 
 Court there. The two female domestics in Mr 
 Sime's employment, proved the thefts committed 
 by the two feUow-servants of the accused — their 
 detection by Bennet — the strong hatred of him, and 
 threats expressed by them in consequence thereof, 
 and the total absence from the station of any other 
 
14 M0EDBE, AND CONCEALMENT OF THE BODY. 
 
 person on whom the slightest suspicion could rest. 
 Mr Sime, the superintendent, and constables, proved 
 the finding of the body at the gateway where the 
 accused were constantly engaged. The four China- 
 men who were not directly engaged in the murder, 
 though they might be chargeable as accessories, 
 were admitted as approvers, and gave evidence for 
 the prosecution. 
 
 The murder being thus clearly proved, the 
 prisoners were unanimously found guilty by the 
 jury. Seven were hanged at Sydney, and three 
 were sentenced to work upon the roads for ten 
 years.* 
 
 * The murder here narrated actually occurred at the place 
 mentioned. Seven of the prisoners were hanged as stated. The 
 event occasioned a great sensation in the colony from the num- 
 ber of Chinese that were employed there at that time. Many 
 stockholders would give them no employment after the occur- 
 rence referred to. 
 
DETECTION OF MURDER BY NATIVE 
 AUSTRALIANS. 
 
 The power possessed hy the native Australian in 
 tracing fugitives or discovering anything lost or 
 hidden is highly remarkable. This proceeds from 
 the extreme acuteness of their external senses of 
 smell, sight, and taste. Hence, when cattle, sheep, 
 or horses have been stolen, if a native be employed, 
 without much time being allowed to elapse, he can, 
 in general, trace the ' thieves as well as the stolen 
 property, with the greatest precision, for hundreds 
 of miles ; or if any stolen property be hidden for 
 the purpose of avoiding immediate detection, and 
 of being subsequently removed at convenience, a 
 
16 DETECTION Of MUEDEE 
 
 native seldom fails in tracing and finding it 
 wherever it is concealed. 
 
 In a remote part of the colony of Victoria, in 
 the year 1851, Mr P , a stockholder, had occa- 
 sion to go from his station to Melbourne, distant 
 from a hundred and fifty to two hundred miles. His 
 way for a number of miles lay through his own run, 
 where there were, at considerable distances from each 
 other, huts occupied by his shepherds. He travelled 
 on horseback, starting early in the morning, as is 
 the practice in Australia during the hot season, 
 and carried a large sum of money, a circumstance 
 which happened to be known to his own servants. 
 
 On the morning after his departure his family 
 were thrown into a state of alarm by finding that 
 his horse had returned home, and was standing 
 at the stable-door without the rider, the saddle, 
 or bridle. A party immediately set out in quest 
 
 of Mr F , but as no trace of him could be 
 
 found, they returned home. The horse tracks were 
 observed to near the confines of his own lands, 
 but beyond this no mark or trace could be dis- 
 covered. It thus appeared that the horse had not 
 
BY NATIVE AUSTRALIANS. 17 
 
 gone beyond the boundary of Mr F 's own 
 
 run, whatever became of himself, his saddle, or 
 bridle. The road which he was discovered to have 
 taken passed close to a hut, near to the boundary 
 of the ■ rim, in which two of his own shepherds 
 resided. They stated, on being asked, that they 
 had not seen their master or the horse pass, and 
 knew nothing of him. 
 
 In this state of matters, a native, who was occa- 
 sionally employed as a labourer about the station, 
 volunteered his services to assist the searching 
 
 party in finding out what had become of Mr F . 
 
 The party accordingly resumed their search, accom- 
 panied by the native, who traced the horse's track 
 with great dexterity, scanning with his eye, and 
 now and then applying his nose to, the ground. 
 After passing the shepherd's hut already referred 
 to, near the boundary of the run, he made a new 
 discovery. He observed that, besides the horse's 
 track, there were the tracks of two men. His eye 
 at once discovered certain additional derangement 
 of the grass, and, on applying his nose, said, " Two 
 white mans walk here." On proceeding ten or 
 
18 DETECTION OF MUEDEB 
 
 twelve yards further, he again stopped, and, going 
 from side to side of their course, he exclaimed in a 
 state of great excitement, " Here fight ! — here large 
 fight ! " On examining the spot, the grass had evi- 
 dently been pressed down as if by several men's feet. 
 A few paces further on the native again stopped, and 
 after first looking at the ground, and then applying 
 his nose, exclaimed, in a state of still higher excite- 
 ment, "Here kill! — here kill!" The spot was 
 minutely examined, and on removing some loose 
 earth and sods which had evidently been newly 
 placed there, a great quantity of clotted blood was 
 foimd. The whole male servants on the run — more 
 than a dozen in number — were with the searching 
 party, and, amongst the others, the two shepherds 
 
 who lived ia the hut which Mr F had passed 
 
 near to the limits of the run. Several of the party 
 remarked that these two shepherds appeared much 
 agitated when the above discoveries were made. 
 It seemed now quite plain that at this spot Mr 
 
 F had been murdered and robbed ; but what 
 
 became of his body, or of his saddle and saddle- 
 bags, the party could not conjecture. The place 
 
BY NATIVE AUSTRALIANS. 19 
 
 where the blood was discovered was near a small 
 
 stream, which formed the boundary of Mr F 's 
 
 run ; but it did not appear that he or his horse had 
 crossed that stream, or proceeded further in that 
 direction than the place where the blood was 
 discovered. 
 
 The party resolved to continue the services of 
 the native in endeavouring to trace the body of 
 
 Mr P . In se^arching about, accordingly, the 
 
 native discovered certain tracks of several men 
 leading down the side of the small stream bound- 
 ing the run. By a long period of dry weather the 
 stream was reduced to a tiny size, and was in 
 some places lost in the sand, and apparently dried 
 up. As in most Australian streams, there were 
 here and there creeks or pools of more or less 
 extent, presenting the appearance of a series of 
 ponds, which, from the smallness of the stream, 
 were nearly stagnant. The party proceeded down 
 this stream for upwards of a mile, the native de- 
 claring that he saw several men's tracks. The two 
 shepherds referred to endeavoured to dissuade the 
 party from going further, alleging that they had 
 
20 DETECTION OF MUEDEE 
 
 already searched every place in the neighbourhood 
 without finding the body. The native, however, 
 insisted on proceeding. At length, after travelling 
 several miles, they came to some copsewood in a 
 deep hollow, where the stream formed a large pond, 
 apparently of great depth. The native said the 
 men's tracks had ceased to be perceptible beyond 
 the banks of the pond. He, however, went round 
 and round it. On one side there appeared floating, 
 as in most stagnant ponds, a quantity of dark scum, 
 which the breeze had blown towards the margin. 
 The native took up some of this substance in his 
 hand, and, after several times tasting and smelling 
 it, at length said, pointing to the pond, " White man 
 here." Grappling-irons, and spears with length- 
 ened shafts, were speedily procured ; a raft was 
 formed of trees, and, after an hour's search, one 
 of the grappling-irons caught something in the 
 bottom of the pond, which, on being brought to 
 the surface, proved to be a large sack, and, on 
 cutting it open, to contain the mangled remains 
 
 of poor Mr F . One end of the sack was 
 
 filled with heavy stones to prevent the body from 
 
BY NATIVE AUSTRALIANS. 21 
 
 floating to the surface ; and it was found difficult to 
 raise it on ■account of its great weight. 
 
 A short time before the discovery of the blood 
 above referred to, the searching party were joined 
 by a magistrate, and several police constables ; and 
 oa discovering the blood, and observing the agita- 
 tion of the two shepherds, suspicion of the latter's 
 guilt was immediately excited. The magistrate, ac- 
 cordingly, accompanied by two constables, dropped 
 unobserved from the party, and went to the shep- 
 herds' hut, where a thorough search was made. 
 Before commencing it, however, a very old female, 
 who had been employed to knit stockings, and who 
 had slept in the hut during the past week, was sent 
 off in charge of a constable, to be lodged at some 
 distance, in order to prevent her from being tam- 
 pered with, in case her evidence should be after- 
 wards required. Nothing calculated to criminate 
 the parties was found within the hut itself ; but in 
 a small outhouse, containing a quantity of old 
 timber, was found concealed a coat, and vest, and 
 two pairs of trousers, with stains of blood on all of 
 them, appearing to have been recently received. 
 
22 DETECTION OF MTTEDEE 
 
 A warrant was immediately issued, and the two 
 shepherds were arrested, and examined by the 
 ma^strate, with a law-agent to assist them, who 
 advised them to say nothing, but to reserve their 
 statements for the trial. They were then conveyed 
 by an escort to Melbourne prison. 
 
 The saddle and its appendages were still undis- 
 covered, and recourse was once more had to the 
 native labourer, whose services had already proved 
 so valuable. He and the party thereupon made a 
 long search in every place within and without the 
 hut, likely to conceal the lost articles, but to no 
 purpose. At length the native discovered, by sight 
 and smell together, the new tracks of two men's 
 feet, proceeding in a northerly direction from the 
 hut. After travelling about a mile, they came to a 
 sequestered spot in a hollow or gully, where a 
 stream seemed to have run in the rainy season, and 
 where was a mass or cairn of large stones. The 
 tracks were traced to a stone on one side of the 
 cairn, where the native asserted he smelt leather. 
 One stone was removed, and then another, when 
 the saddle, saddle-bags, and bridle, were found. 
 
BY NATIVE AXTSTEALIANS. 23 
 
 carefully wrapped up, and pushed into an open 
 space betwixt two stones. The bags contained 
 
 £2000 in money, the sum which Mr F was 
 
 conveying to Melbourne, and they remained un- 
 touched. The money was doubtless left here for 
 safety and concealment, and that it might be re- 
 moved at a convenient time. 
 
 The body of Mr F being thus found and 
 
 identified, as well as his saddle, bridle, and saddle- 
 bags, and a number of suspicious circumstances 
 being discovered against the two shepherds, who 
 were examined and committed, the trial took place 
 at Melbourne on an early day thereafter. The 
 tracing of Mr F 's horse-tracks to the neigh- 
 bourhood of the hut, the marks on the grass of 
 a struggle having taken place, the finding of the 
 clotted blood, and the agitation of the accused, 
 were all proved by several witnesses. The stren- 
 uous attempts made by them to dissuade the party 
 from continuing the search for the body, and the 
 finding of the bloody clothes, were next proved. 
 It was also established by several witnesses, that 
 one of the pairs of trousers, and the coat, were worn 
 
24 DETECTION OF MUEDEE 
 
 by the one prisoner the day before the murder, and 
 the remaining pair and the vest were identified by 
 the same witnesses, as having been worn by the 
 other prisoner on the same day. A chemist in 
 Melbourne swore to having analysed the blood on 
 the stained clothes, and to its being human blood, 
 and not that of any inferior animal. This formed 
 a complete answer to an allegation of the prisoners' 
 counsel, that the blood-stains were caused by the 
 blood of sheep, which the prisoners had killed for 
 use. The old female who had resided in the house 
 at the time of the murder, was next examined. 
 She swore that the prisoners had not gone to bed 
 the night before the murder, but had sat up all 
 night watching some person who was to pass the 
 hut. She likewise stated that while awake in bed 
 early in the morning, she heard the noise of a 
 horse's feet passing, and noticed the two prisoners 
 at the same time leave the hut, and that they did 
 not return for some hours. Several of the search- 
 ing party proved that on their questioning the 
 accused when the search first commenced, the latter 
 said that they had been in bed all night, and had 
 
BY NATIVE AUSTRALIANS. 25 
 
 not risen till a late hour in the morning. Another 
 important piece of evidence was that relative to the 
 tracks of feet discovered from the hut of the accused 
 to where the saddle, saddle-bags, and money were 
 found. 
 
 After the counsel' for the prosecutor and that for 
 the prisoners had respectively addressed the jury, 
 the case was minutely gone into in an able charge 
 by the judge, and the jury returned a unanimous 
 verdict of guilty against both prisoners, who were 
 afterwards executed at Melbourne. One of the 
 prisoners was a ticket-of-leave convict ; the other 
 was a deserter from a regiment in England. Such 
 are the characters who compose a great part of the 
 servants of settlers in the Australian colonies. 
 
MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 
 
 In Scotland, as in England, nothing is guarded by 
 proprietors with more intense anxiety and deter- 
 mination than their game and fishings. A number 
 of statutes have accordingly been passed for their 
 protection, and to punish poachers. This is effected 
 in a somewhat anomalous way; for game being 
 wild animals (/ercB naturce ) are not the property 
 of anybody. Hence it is necessary to prosecute 
 the poacher who takes or kills game, not for theft 
 or robbery, but for a trespass. An ordinary tres- 
 pass by merely walking on the ground of another, 
 is considered in law a very trivial offence, and is 
 punishable by only a small fine. In proceeding 
 against a poacher, however, it is necessary to prose- 
 
MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 27 
 
 cute him under the statute for trespassing with 
 intent to takb or kill game. Accordingly, in 
 addition to the simple trespass, it is necessary to 
 prove the intent. This may be done by proving 
 the possession of a gun, the firing of a shot, or 
 beating the cover with a sporting dog, or similar 
 acts. 
 
 The amount of fine or length of imprisonment 
 is greater or less according to circumstances. A 
 second ofi'ence involves a higher punishment than 
 a first one. Poaching at night after sunset is also 
 much more severely punished by statute, than if 
 committed during the day. 
 
 In the east of Scotland a prosecution was raised 
 
 against Mr F B for trespassing on the 
 
 lands of a nobleman whose game was strictly pre- 
 served. Mr B was the son of an extensive 
 
 farmer, and was much respected on account of his 
 intelligence and superior attainments. The case 
 accordingly excited much interest in the neighbour- 
 hood. The charge was indignantly denied by the 
 defendant, who was defended by an able solicitor. 
 The act of trespass by a man, whom the witnesses 
 
28 MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 
 
 saw on the ground, was clearly proved, as was the 
 fact of killing game, by seeing the trespasser shoot 
 and appropriate a partridge. But some difficulty 
 was experienced in proving the identity of the 
 trespasser with the prisoner. It was during the 
 night that the trespass was committed, and though 
 there was moonlight, it was somewhat cloudy, and 
 it was not easy to distinguish the features of the 
 trespasser. One of the keepers, who was examined 
 as a witness, and who passed nearest to the tres- 
 passer, swore unqualifiedly that the person who 
 committed the offence was the accused, and that 
 he thoroughly recognised him. Another swore that 
 he thought it was the accused, but could not be 
 perfectly certain. All the witnesses adduced to 
 prove the trespass swore to the fact that the tres- 
 passer was dressed in a light gray shooting-coat and 
 vest, dark trousers, and a red neckerchief, with a 
 light coloured wide-awake hat, and that they saw 
 him proceeding in the direction of the residence of 
 the accused's father, and disappear among some 
 copse near the house. Three or four other wit- 
 nesses proved that the dress spoken to was iden- 
 
MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 29 
 
 tically that which the accused had worn for some 
 time previous to the trespass. 
 
 If there be any portion of evidence in regard to 
 which witnesses, judges, and juries should exercise 
 more scrupulous caution than any other, it is that 
 which relates to the identity of the accused with 
 the party committing the offence. Want of caution 
 on this point may lead to the most serious and 
 deplorable results. It may consign an innocent 
 party not only to prison, or penal servitude, but 
 even to the gibbet. Two witnesses were adduced 
 
 on the part of Mr B to prove an alibi, but both 
 
 on very material points of the case broke down. 
 The one swore to having seen him at home during 
 a great part of the evening on which the trespass 
 took place, but could not speak to the particular 
 time of the evening when he so saw him. He 
 also swore that he thought he had on a dark coat 
 and vest, but could not say positively. The other 
 witness swore that the accused was at home during 
 the whole evening, but admitted, in cross-examina- 
 tion, that he could not say but he might have been 
 absent during that evening for an hour or an hour 
 
30 MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 
 
 and a half, and could recollect nothing of the dress 
 worn by him. 
 
 Night-poaching being a grave ofifence, the case 
 was tried before the sheriff with a jury. The so- 
 licitors for the prosecutor and for the defence hav- 
 ing respectively addressed the jury, the sheriff next 
 charged them, and being of opinion that the evi- 
 dence was sufficient to convict the accused, he 
 directed the jury accordingly. The jury thereupon, 
 by a large majority, (a bare majority in Scotland is 
 sufficient to convict,) returned a verdict of guilty 
 against the prisoner, who was thereupon sentenced 
 by the sheriff to three months' imprisonment. 
 
 Although, from the high character of the accused, 
 and the estimation in which he was held, tVeo or 
 three of the fifteen jurymen dissented from the 
 others, yet it was generally believed by the public 
 in that quarter of the country that he was guilty. 
 Poaching is usually practised only by the idle 
 and profligate portion of the community, and is 
 considered highly disreputable, more especially 
 night-poaching. The accused, therefore, felt deeply 
 aggrieved and touch chagrined at the result. By 
 
MISTAKEN IDENTITr. 31 
 
 three months' imprisonment among criminals, he 
 felt that he was stigmatised as a felon, and would 
 cease to hold the respectable position which he had 
 previously maintained. He therefore resolved, on 
 the close of his imprisonment, to leave his native 
 country for ever, and push his fortune in a foreign 
 land. With this view he got a friend to procure 
 for him a situation in a commercial house at the 
 Cape of Good Hope, to which colony he sailed a 
 few weeks after his liberation from prison. 
 
 About a month after Mr B had sailed for his 
 
 new home, the two keepers who had seen the act 
 of poaching, and been the principal witnesses at 
 the trial, happened to be in the county town where 
 the trial had taken place, on business of their 
 master. On passing along the street they saw a 
 crowd of people following two police officers, and 
 on coming up they found the officers had a pri- 
 soner in custody, whom they were conveying to the 
 county buildings for examination, on a charge, as 
 they were told, of theft of poultry from a farm in 
 a neighbouring parish, and that his name was 
 Hammond. Curiosity led the keepers to approach 
 
32 MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 
 
 nearer the i^risoner to get a sight of his face. The 
 one who got the first sight of him, and who was 
 the witness who swore decidedly to the identity of 
 
 B with the poacher at the trial, immediately 
 
 started back a,nd said to his neighbour, the other 
 keeper, " That is the man whom we saw poaching. 
 
 I now fully recognise him, and it was not Mr B , 
 
 at all. Mr B was taller and stouter, and I am 
 
 positive that this is the man." The other keeper 
 on examining him arrived at the same conclusion. 
 He had, when examined at the trial, expressed him- 
 self as not fully satisfied that B was the man. 
 
 He merely said that the poacher was like B , 
 
 and that he thought it was he, but was not per.- 
 fectly certain. Both keepers were now convinced 
 , that Hammond was the man whom they saw poach- 
 ing, and not B . On returning home, they 
 
 immediately went to the factor on the estate, and 
 informed him of their discovery. The factor in- 
 stituted a searching investigation, the result of 
 which was that another witness was discovered, 
 who, the night on which the trespass took place, 
 had seen and conversed with Hammond ; was in- 
 
MISTAKEN IDENTITY. S3 
 
 formed by Mm tkat he (Hammond) was going to 
 the very place where the trespass occurred, to " get 
 
 a shot;" and that after B 's trial was over, 
 
 Hammond, who was greatly amused dt the mistake, 
 told him that it was he who had poached and 
 
 killed the partridge, and that B was not there 
 
 at all. Lastly, Hammond, who was in prison on 
 commitment, awaiting his trial for theft, knowing 
 that he would not be tried for poaching, since a 
 trial had already taken place on the subject, made 
 & full confession that he was guilty of the act of 
 
 poaching of which B had been convicted. 
 
 The noble proprietor of the estate was informed 
 
 of the occurrence, and B 's father being one 
 
 of his principal tenants, his lordship became most 
 anxious to do everything in his power to repair 
 the injury which his tenant had sustained. Having, 
 accordingly, obtained the son's address at the Cape 
 
 of Good Hope, Mr B was no less surprised 
 
 than gratified to receive one morning from Lord 
 , his father's landlord, the following letter : — 
 
 " Dear Sie, — It is with much satisfaction, 
 
 c 
 
84 MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 
 
 mingled however with regret at the injury you 
 have sustained, that I have this day received a 
 
 letter from my factor at , informing me of 
 
 his having procured complete evidence of your 
 entire innocence of the act of night-poaching, of 
 which a conviction was unfortunately obtained 
 against you in November last. The prosecution 
 took place in the ordinary course of business, and 
 the result originated in a pure mistake. I now, 
 however, write to state that I shall be happy to do 
 everything in my power to repair the injustice of 
 which you have accidentally been the victim. I 
 have taken care to give instructions that the fullest 
 publicity be given of the discovery of your inno- 
 cence throughout the district where you resided. 
 Should you think of returning home, your former 
 position cannot be in the least degree impaired ; 
 and it will afford me great pleasure if I can in 
 any manner promote your interests. — I am," &c. 
 
 The mercantile house in which B had ob- 
 tained a situation was one of wealth and high 
 standing. He had just begun to be employed in 
 
MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 35 
 
 the management of an important department of 
 the business, and, having incurred a considerable 
 expense in making his arrangements to emigrate, he 
 did not incline to return to Scotland. He also felt 
 some repugnance at the idea of returning to a place 
 where he had been subjected to such unmerited 
 degradation. He accordingly wrote to the noble 
 lord, thanking him for his kind communication, 
 and stating his reasons for not at present returning 
 to this* country. 
 
 After the lapse of some years, Mr B became 
 
 a partner of the house where he had, since his 
 arrival in the colony, been merely a clerk, and 
 speedily realised a large fortune. He married the 
 daughter of a wealthy merchant at the Cape, and 
 soon ranked among the most respectable merchants 
 of that colony. Having in a short time returned 
 with his wife and family to Scotland, and visited 
 
 his native county, Lord , the prosecutor in 
 
 the poaching case, heard of his return, and, in 
 addition to other attentions paid to him, gave 
 him a grant for life of a right to shoot over a 
 large section of his extensive estate. 
 
36 MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 
 
 Such was the final result of a prosecution which, 
 however bitterly felt at the close of the trial, proved 
 in the end the means of promoting the accused 
 party's wellbeing and happiness beyond his most 
 sanguine hopes* 
 
 * The above narrative is in substance what actually occurred 
 some years ago, though not in the east of Scotland. The 
 gentleman who was the temporary victim of the prosecution is 
 stOl in life. He visits Scotland periodically, and enjoys the 
 right of shooting above referred to. 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 Me James was a respectable commission- 
 agent and house-factor in the town of Dundee. In 
 the latter capacity he had charge of a great number 
 of tenements of houses in different parts of the 
 town, including the letting of these to tenants, re- 
 moving of tenants, and collecting the rents. Among 
 others, there was a house in a retired and somewhat 
 mean part of the town, let to a Mrs Turnley, who 
 followed the occupation of a broker, dealing in 
 articles of dress, pieces of old furniture, and mis- 
 cellaneous articles. She did not bear a peculiarly 
 high character, and was reputed to be occasionally 
 addicted to inebriety ; but she was young, and some- 
 
38 THE FALSE CONSPIEACY. 
 
 what attractive in appearance. Being considerably 
 
 in arrear of rent, Mr sent her notice that he 
 
 would call at twelve o'clock the Priday following 
 for payment of the rent, and intimated that unless 
 payment of the arrears were made, he would be 
 compelled by his employer's instructions to apply 
 for a sequestration, and remove her from the pre- 
 mises. He called accordingly, but soon after enter- 
 ing the house a great noise and struggle was heard, 
 and loud cries by Mrs Turnley. Three men, who 
 were drinking in a small public-house in the neigh- 
 bourhood, kept by a Mrs Dale, hearing the cries, 
 came to her assistance, and found her lying on 
 the floor with her hair all dishevelled, her dress 
 in disorder and partly torn, and James 0— — be- 
 side her. There were several marks of blood on her 
 face and neck, and a small shawl or handkerchief 
 which she had on her neck was stained and satu- 
 rated with blood. Two police-constables were sent 
 for, but the case was of such a nature that it was 
 at once placed in the hands of the procurator-fiscal, 
 with an information on the part of Mrs Tumley, 
 apparently calculated in every way to found a charge 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIRACY, 39 
 
 of assault with intent to ravish. The procurator- 
 fiscal, however, proceeded with great caution. He 
 
 knew the character of Mr to be highly 
 
 respectable, while there was an odour in regard to 
 that of Mrs Turnley of a tendency in some measure 
 the reverse. He therefore teste_d all the evidence 
 tendered by Mrs Turnley with the greatest care; 
 and, on the other hand, he gave every facility to 
 
 Mr to prepare his defence. After the usual 
 
 examination before the sheriff, Mr was 
 
 committed for trial for the crime of assault with 
 intent to ravish, but he was admitted to bail. Mrs 
 Turnley at the same time raised a civil action for 
 
 reparation against Mr before the Sheriff 
 
 Court. 
 
 Mr 's trial came on before the Court of 
 
 Justiciary soon after his commitment. The indict- 
 ment charged biTn with assaulting Mrs Turnley to 
 the efiusion of blood, and serious injury of her 
 person, and that with intent to ravish her. The 
 prisoner pleaded not guilty. The facts of the case 
 will be best gathered from the short epitome of the 
 evidence as given on the trial. 
 
40 THE FALSE CONSPIEACT. 
 
 Mrs Tumley was first sworn and examined. She 
 said, " I fdlow the occupation of a broker, and live 
 
 in Street of Dundee. I occupy a house there, 
 
 for the proprietor of which the prisoner is factor. 
 The prisoner occasionally comes to my house for 
 the payment of rent, and regarding other matters 
 connected with the house. He was there on Priday 
 the 20th February last,, for the purpose of getting 
 payment of some rent which was due by me. After 
 entering the house he began to use liberties with 
 me, and made an indecent proposal, which I indig- 
 nantly rejected, cautioning him that he must behave 
 himself properly. He thereupon seized hold of me, 
 and threw me down violently on the floor, attempt- 
 ing most improper conduct. I struggled with all 
 my might to put him ofl" me, and called aloud for 
 assistance. At length three men, who happened 
 to be in a public-house in the neighbourhood, came 
 to my assistance, and I was rescued. My dress 
 was torn; I was wounded in the neck and arms, 
 and lost a great deal of blood." Examined for the 
 prisoner, she said, " I cannot shew the marks of the 
 wounds on my neck and arms, as they are healed 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIEACY. 41 
 
 up. I got no blood whatever from a butcher on the 
 night of Thursday the 19th, or morning of Friday 
 the 20th of February, or at any other time. I may 
 have been in Mrs Dale's house the forenoon of the 
 
 day when Mr called. I may have seen 
 
 there, and spoken to the three men who afterwards 
 came to my rescue." (Admonished by the prisoner's 
 counsel.) " Eecollect you are upon oath ; I do not 
 ask whether you may have been there — but; were 
 you or were you not in Mrs Dale's house, and did 
 you see and converse with these three men ? " 
 Witness : " I was in Mrs Dale's house, and saw the 
 three men there." Prisoner's counsel: "Did you 
 sit in company with them and partake of spirits?" 
 Witness : " That is an improper question ; it is 
 nothing to you what I did." Presiding judge : 
 " You must answer the question, it is of import- 
 ance." Witness : " I think I did speak to them, 
 and partook of some of their whisky." Prisoner's 
 counsel: "Did you pay for the whisky?" Wit- 
 ness : " I do not recollect." Question repeated. 
 " I think I did pay something." Prisoner's 
 counsel: "Did you pay for all the whisky they 
 
42 THE FALSE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 had ?" Witness : " I am not sure, I paid for some 
 of it." Prisoner's counsel : " Did you arrange with 
 these men that they were to call on you about ■ 
 twelve o'clock, and to go up when they heard loud 
 cries by you ?" Witness : " No, I made no arrange- 
 ment whatever." 
 
 The three men who were in Mrs Dale's house, 
 and came to Mrs Turnley's on heariiig her cries, 
 were next examined. They all three confirmed her 
 statements as to the condition in which she was 
 when they entered her house — with her dress torn, 
 bleeding profusely, and the prisoner on the top of 
 her, holding her down. But while one of the men 
 admitted, on cross-examination, after being pressed, 
 that Mrs Turnley was in his and that of the other 
 two men's company, and drinking spirits with them 
 in Mrs Dale's public-house, the other two denied 
 that they had seen her that day, until they went 
 to her own house, in consequence of hearing loud 
 cries of distress. 
 
 Great suspicions were thus cast upon the last 
 three witnesses, by their contradiction of each other 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIEACY. 43 
 
 respecting their meeting with Mrs Turnley ; and 
 not a little suspicion was attracted to the evidence 
 of Mrs Turnley herself, owing to the evasive answers 
 which she gave, and her extreme reluctance in giving 
 them. The following exculpatory evidence was next 
 led on the part of the prisoner : — 
 
 James Steedman, sworn and examined, said, " I 
 
 am a butcher in Street of Dundee. My shop 
 
 is in the immediate neighbourhood of the house of 
 Mrs Turnley, whom I see here to-day. I remember 
 of hearing, one day in February last, that Mrs 
 Turnley was attacked that forenoon in her house, 
 
 and maltreated by Mr . I went to her 
 
 house and saw her, and she had all the appear- 
 ance of a person who had been attacked. Her 
 dress was out of order and torn, and some stains 
 of blood were upon her arms, hands, and neck. 
 The night before this attack took place, I recollect 
 of her coming to my shop with an empty bottle, 
 and asking for some blood. I had no blood in the 
 shop, but I sent and got it for her. I wondered 
 what she was going to make of a bottle of blood. 
 
44 THE FALSE CONSPIEACT. 
 
 and I asked her for what she wanted it, but I do 
 not remember what she said. I charged nothing 
 for it, as she was a customer/' 
 
 Mrs Isabel Dale, sworn and examined, said, " I 
 
 keep a public-house in Street, next door to 
 
 Mrs Tumley's house. I remember of three men 
 coming into my house in February last,' between 
 ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon. Mrs 
 Tumley was along with them. She called for half- 
 a-mutchkin of whisky, and treated them. She also 
 took part of it herself. She then called for more 
 whisky. I wondered what business they were going 
 to transact, as they were talking in whispers. After 
 taking the whisky she spoke louder, and, as I was 
 sitting in a room adjoining the one they were in, 
 and to which there was a door leading to their 
 apartment, I heard what passed. I overheard Mrs 
 Tumley say, ' I will do for him ; I will pull him 
 on the top of me, and keep a hold of him, and 
 cry as loud as I can. Eun you up then, and 
 you will see him upon me.'" This piece of 
 evidence created a great sensation in court. " I 
 did not understand at the time what she meant. I 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIEACT. 45 
 
 thought it was some acquaintance she meant to 
 play a trick upon for their amusement. She ^hen 
 added, ' I will let him off, if he gives down all the 
 rent, and pays me £5.' She also said, ' I have got 
 some blood to sprinkle myself with, and they will 
 think he treated me with great violence.' After I 
 heard what had taken place in Mrs Turnley's house 
 
 the same day, and that Mr was taken into 
 
 custody, and to be tried, I knew at once what the 
 conversation in my house meant ; I now saw plainly 
 that Mrs Turnley and those three men had made 
 
 up a plan to bring a false charge against Mr , 
 
 with the view of extorting money, and that she 
 
 might get quit of her rent. I knew Mr was 
 
 much respected in the place, and I thought it a 
 most abominable affair." 
 
 Mr A , surgeon and chemist, was next exa- 
 mined. He said, " I am a surgeon and chemist. 
 I am accustomed to analyse chemically, and have 
 much experience in chemistry. I examined minutely 
 the small shawl on the table, labelled as belonging 
 to Mrs Turnley, and a number of deep stains of 
 blood thereon. I applied a powerful microscope 
 
46 THE FALSE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 to these different stains, and I can swear decidedly 
 that the blood thereon is the blood of a cow or 
 some other inferior animal, and is not human 
 blood. The globules composing human blood are 
 entirely different from those in the blood of the 
 inferior animals." Here the foreman of the jury 
 interfered, and said the jury were unanimously of 
 opinion that they need not trouble the court any 
 further, and that there was not only no evidence 
 against the prisoner, but that there was complete 
 evidence of his entire innocence. They therefore 
 begged to return a verdict of not guilty ; and they 
 at the same time took the opportunity to express 
 their great abhorrence at the conduct of the wit- 
 nesses for the Crown, who had plainly entered into 
 a foul conspiracy for the purpose of destroying the 
 character of a respectable and innocent man. After 
 a suitable address from the judge, expressive of his 
 entire concurrence with the opinion of the jury, and 
 informing the prisoner that he would leave the bar 
 without the smallest stain on his character, he was 
 dismissed from the bar. 
 
 Immediately after the intimation by the jury, the 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIEACT. 47 
 
 judge told the public prosecutor that he ought to 
 cause the four Crown witnesses to be taken into 
 custody, judicially examined, and, if necessary, com- 
 mitted for trial. This course seemed so palpably 
 necessary, that the advocate-depute had sent for 
 the procurator-fiscal, and got the complaint and 
 warrant prepared before the judge had made the 
 suggestion. Mrs Turnley and her three accomplices 
 were accordingly examined, and committed for trial 
 on the grave charge of false conspiracy. 
 
 The trial for false conspiracy having come soon 
 afterwards before the Court of Justiciary, it was of 
 
 short duration. Mr himself was the leading 
 
 witness, and was followed by Steedman the butcher, 
 Mrs Dale, the public-house-keeper, and the medical 
 witness who proved the nature of the blood on Mrs 
 Turnley's shawl. The three last witnesses simply 
 repeated the evidence they had already given on 
 Mr 's trial. The only new evidence, there- 
 fore, was that of Mr himself, and which 
 
 was to the following effect : — " I sent notice to Mrs 
 Tarnley that I would call on Friday following, the 
 20th February, at twelve o'clock, for payment of 
 
48 THE FALSE CONSPIEACY. 
 
 her arrears of rent, and that if these were not paid, 
 I would be obliged to sequestrate and remove her. 
 I called, accordingly, and found her extremely com- 
 plaisant. She said I was a great stranger — that 
 she would be glad if I would call oftener ; and said, 
 in a half whisper, she would be much pleased if I 
 would come up and stay all night, and she would 
 make me comfortable — it would be so nice. I 
 said to her I had no taste for such things. She 
 said she must give me a taste. She then put her 
 arms round my neck, and began to kiss me, which 
 I resisted ; upon which she, suddenly falling on the 
 floor, pulled me on the top of her, and immediately 
 called out murder, and for help. I thought she 
 had become mad, either with excessive drinking or 
 otherwise. I never thought of a conspiracy till I 
 saw the three men enter the apartment. I then 
 saw at once that Mrs Turnley and they were acting 
 in concert. One said, seizing hold of me, ' What 
 blackguard conduct to a decent woman ! You 'U 
 be hanged !' Another said, ' We '11 take you to the 
 jaiL' The third said, ' See the blood on the poor 
 woman, from your knocking her about.' On look- 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIRACY. 49 
 
 ing, I was quite astonished to see a great deal of 
 blood on her neck, and her shawl all stained. I 
 knew there was no violence at all, except what she 
 herself created by pulling me on the top of her; 
 and I could not understand where the blood came 
 from. I was so much taken by surprise that I 
 could hardly believe my own senses. I never be- 
 fore met with such daring conduct. I was almost 
 unable to say anything from utter surprise, and 
 from not seeing at the time the object in view. 
 The men said they would go for the police. I, 
 however, observed Mrs Turnley motioning to them 
 to leave the room, and they left, accordingly ; but 
 I observed that they went into an adjoining room. 
 She then said to me in a whisper, 'If you give me 
 down all my rent, and pay me £5, there will be 
 nothing more about this.' I told her I would 
 neither give down nor pay her one farthing ; that 
 she and these blackguards might do their worst. 
 She then went out of the room, bringing back two 
 of the men, and a third went and brought two 
 police constables, who took me into custody." 
 Mr Steedman, Mrs Dale, and the medical practi- 
 
50 ' THE FALSE CONSPIBACY; 
 
 tioner being next examined, gave the satne evidenc 
 as in the former trial. The jury, as was done b 
 
 the other jury on the trial of Mr , at th 
 
 close of the evidence of the medical witness, intei 
 posed, and declared themselves fully satisfied wit 
 the evidence already given as amply sufficient t 
 convict the four prisoners, unless the latter had an 
 exculpatory evidence. The prisoners' counsel, wh 
 saw from the outset that his labour was in vaii 
 stated that he had no exculpatory evidence to ac 
 duce. The jury thereupon returned a verdict ( 
 guilty against all the prisoners. 
 
 The judge, in pronouncing sentence, addresse 
 the prisoners in the strongest terms. He remarke 
 as follows ! — " It is wholly out df my ppwer t 
 embody in language anything at all calculated pre 
 perly to characterise the enormity of the crime yo 
 have committed. You all four banded yourselve 
 together for the purpose of utterly ruining th 
 character and position of a respectable man, an 
 consigning him- to infamy and disgrace. If sue 
 conduct were permitted, no individual, howevt 
 irreproachable his character or elevated his jios 
 
THE FALSE CONSPIEACY. 51 
 
 tion, would be safe for a single moment. He 
 might in a single day be utterly degraded, and 
 classed with the kwest of felons. It would be a 
 state of things whereby society would be utterly 
 unhinged by the most wicked, unprincipled system 
 of wholesale fraud and perjury. The sentence of 
 the court is, that all of you be sept to penal 
 servitude for ten years from this date." * 
 
 * This is substantially the report of a case which occurred 
 some years ago, and was tried in the Court of Justiciary ; but 
 Dundee was not the scene of the transaction. 
 
THE DEAD REVIVED 
 
 About the beginniDg of the present century, th 
 owner of a fishing-smack in Eyemouth, engage( 
 in the herring and mackerel-fishing, sent Josepl 
 Ridgeby, Edward Ferrie, and John Brown, th 
 three hands composing the crew, one evening, to ; 
 distance of seven or eight miles, to fish for mackere' 
 The night was dark, and therefore highly favour 
 able for net-fishing, a clear night being always con 
 sidered unfavourable, enabling the fish to see th 
 net and avoid its meshes. Like many of the fisher 
 men on that coast, Eidgeby and Ferrie were mucl 
 addicted to inebriety, and although, like the rest o 
 their brethren, they received large wages, the whol 
 
THE DEAD REVIVED. 53 
 
 were usually expended by them in drink. The con- 
 sequence was that they were usually in debt, and 
 pressed for money. Brown, on the contrary, was 
 a sober, steady man, and never in straitened cir- 
 cumstances. He had that afternoon received from 
 his master twelve pounds of wages. The other 
 two observing that he had received that sum, im- 
 mediately applied to him for a loan. He was 
 perfectly aware, in the first place, that whatever 
 sum he gave them would be expended in drink, 
 and in the next, that if he complied with their 
 request, he never would again see a farthing of the 
 loan. He therefore refused their request, alleging 
 that he had himself occasion for the money. Both 
 Ridgeby and Ferrie were much disappointed and 
 exasperated, as they had urgent demands upon 
 them for certain monies that very morning. Hav- 
 ing failed to induce Brown to lend the money, and 
 observing that he had the amount received by him 
 in a pocket-book which he carried in Ms side- 
 pocket, and had with him while going on board 
 the smack to proceed to the fishing-ground, they 
 secretly devised the wicked scheme of robbing him 
 
54 THE DEAD EEVITED. 
 
 after getting out to sea, and of afterwards murde 
 ing him to prevent detection. Ferric at firs 
 though he agreed to the robbery, objected strong 
 to the murder, proposing to leave Brown in son 
 place where he might be picked up by a vess 
 bound for a foreign port, and so be prevented fro 
 returning to Eyemouth. Ridgeby pointed out th 
 this course was unsuitable, as they could not ca 
 culate on a vessel bound for a foreign port passii 
 in their course, and would not in a dark night si 
 what description of vessels did so. Brown, mor 
 over, could not in any event, if left alive, fail 
 find his way back to Eyemouth, when the robbe: 
 would be at once divulged, and they prosecuted ai 
 punished. In these circumstances, Ferrie at lengi 
 consented to be a coadjutor in the murder as w« 
 as in the robbery. Accordingly, after reaching tl 
 fishing-ground eight miles distant, and shootii 
 and drawing the nets several times, and bringk 
 in some considerable hauls of mackerel, Ridgeb 
 who, as well as Ferrie, had fortified his resolutic 
 by large potations of gin, commenced to pick 
 quarrel with Brown for refusing the loan, and wi 
 
THE DEAD EETIVED. 55 
 
 joined by Ferrie. Ridgeby next taking up the tiller, 
 dealt him a severe blow, intended for his head, but 
 which, by his partly avoiding it, fell upon his 
 shoulder. Brown, at length, considering that his 
 antagonists,- who were both very powerful men, 
 would easily overpower him, and perceiving that 
 they intended either to murder him or do him very 
 serious injury, entreated them to spare his life, and 
 he would give them all he was possessed of. He 
 immediately pulled out his pocket-book, containing 
 the twelve pounds, his watch, and a purse, in which 
 he had a quantity of silver, and laid the whole be- 
 fore them. Upon this, Ridgeby, having his knife 
 in readiness for the purpose, and strongly impressed 
 with the truth of the saying that dead men tell no 
 tales, gave him a thrust with it in the side with 
 great force. On this. Brown exclaimed, "0 God, 
 you have done for me at last!" and fell to the 
 bottom of the boat. Both his antagonists then 
 took hold of him for the purpose of throwing him 
 overboard, but perceiving their intention, he cried, 
 "Tor Heaven's sake let me die in the boat!" His 
 cries were of no avail. They lifted him up, and 
 
56 THE DEAD EEVIVED. 
 
 after looking about them in case any vessel might 
 be near, and finding there was none, threw him 
 into the sea. Having thus disposed of their victim, 
 they immediately set sail and returned with the 
 breeze towards the Berwickshire coast, reaching 
 Eyemouth about two o'clock in the morning. They 
 had thus possessed themselves of upwards of twelve 
 pounds in money and a valuable watch ; and having 
 stabbed the owner, mortally, as they supposed, and 
 tossed his body into the German Ocean, so far from 
 shore, in a pitch dark night, where he could not 
 save himself, even if he had not been stabbed at 
 all, they felt completely secure from the slightest 
 risk of discovery. They told their master and 
 Brown's friends at Eyemouth that while shooting 
 the nets he had fallen accidentally overboard and 
 been drowned ; that owing to the extreme darkness 
 of the night they could not save him, notwith- 
 standing every exertion on their part to do so. 
 Their story was fully credited, and poor Bro_wn'3 
 friends and acquaintances lamented his death as 
 that of one who had lost his life by an unfortunate 
 accident. 
 
THE DEAD REVIVED. 57 
 
 For a Week or two after this occurrence, Ridgeby 
 and Ferrie were observed to be more than usually 
 well supplied with faoney, and to be constantly 
 iadulging in evening potations. An intimate friend 
 of Brown, whom Eidgeby had one evening treated 
 in a tavern to some whisky-toddy, remarked on 
 seeing him take out his pocket-book to pay the 
 reckoning, that that pocket-book belonged to poor 
 Brown. Ridgeby said, with some confusion, that 
 it resembled Brown's, but was not his. It had 
 several unmistakeable distinctive marks, however, 
 which Brown's friend at once noticed, and by 
 which he recognised it as the property of Brown. 
 About the same time, a friend of Feriie's landlady, 
 who was also an intimate associate of Brown, hap- 
 pening to be one evening in the landlady's house 
 when Ferrie was not at home, was asked to go into 
 the apartment where the latter slept, to see a new 
 watch, which she said he had got. He did so, and 
 instantly recognised the watch as Brown's. It 
 immediately became known to every person in Eye- 
 mouth that Ridgeby and Ferrie were in possession 
 of Brown's pocket-book and watch, and to have a 
 
58 THE DEAD EEVIVED. 
 
 much larger supply of money than usual These 
 discoveries could not fail to excite the gravest sus- 
 picions. It seemed obvious to every one that if 
 Brown was drowned by accidentally falling over- 
 board as was stated, his watch and pocket-book 
 must have been lost with him. He could not, 
 under any circumstances, be supposed to have 
 taken them off his person in an open fishing-smack, 
 in a dark night. Every one was therefore strongly 
 impressed with the belief that Brown must have 
 been robbed and then murdered. These suspicions 
 were in no way allayed by Eidgeby and Ferrie, 
 both asserting that the watch and pocket-book 
 were not the property of Brown at all, though 
 several persons had, on the contrary, fully recog- 
 nised them as having belonged to him at the time 
 he met with his death. The general aspect of the 
 whole affair finally determined Brown's relations to 
 lodge an information with one of the procurators- 
 fiscal of the sheriff-court of Berwickshire. 
 
 A full investigation was immediately instituted 
 by the procurator-fiscal, who speedily came to Eye- 
 mouth for the purpose of taking a precognition. 
 
THE DEAD EEVIVED. 59 
 
 It is remarkable on how improved a footing a case 
 is placed by professional experience and systematic 
 procedure, compared with the aspect it assumes 
 when it only rests on the loose inquiries of a private 
 party. The procurator -fiscal, after apprehending 
 Eidgeby and Eerrie on a sheriff's warrant, and 
 examining them, obtained a remand for further 
 examination. He also got a warrant to search for 
 the watch and pocket-book, which he accordingly 
 recovered. He next examined the friend of the 
 deceased John Brown, who observed the pocket- 
 book in the possession of Eidgeby, and obtained 
 a complete description of the characteristic marks 
 by which it was identified. He explained that the 
 pocket-book was of a purple colour, that the strap 
 which surrounded and closed it, had been partially 
 broken off", and the part so removed was replaced 
 by another portion of strap, black in the colour, 
 and clumsily fastened on with light-coloured thongs. 
 He also identified the watch as that of the deceased. 
 It was still more thoroughly identified by the watch- 
 maker at Eyemouth who sold it to Brown, and 
 spoke to its number, and description, and the 
 
60 THE DEAD EEVIVED. 
 
 maker's name. Several fishermen were examined, 
 who saw Brown with the watch upon him about 
 half-an-hour before going on board the smack. 
 The prisoners were next judicially examined a 
 second time. Eidgeby denied positively that the 
 pocket-book belonged to' Brown. He said it was 
 bought by himself in Edinburgh some years before. 
 Perrie, in his declaration, also denied that the 
 watch was Brown's, and said that he bought it 
 lately before, from an English fisherman whom he 
 met in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Both prisoners were 
 finally committed for trial. 
 
 After the commitment of the two prisoners, 
 several important discoveries were made by the 
 public prosecutor. In particular, it was discovered 
 that both prisoners made difierent payments to 
 merchants in Eyemouth the day after Brown's dis- 
 appearance ; while several witnesses proved that 
 they had no money two days before, and could 
 not meet the claims of debt that were made against 
 them. A five-pound note was discovered which 
 Eidgeby had paid to a merchant in Eyemouth to 
 whom he owed an account ; and his master, the 
 
THE DEAD EEVIVED. 61 
 
 owner of the smack, declared on precognition, that 
 it was one of the notes forming part of the twelve 
 pounds which he had paid to Brown. The suspi- 
 cions being very strong against the prisoners that 
 they had murdered Brown in order to prevent 
 detection of the robbery, the warrant of commit- 
 ment was obtained on the alternative charges of 
 murder, robbery, or theft. The solicitor, however, 
 into whose hands they placed their case, informed 
 them that he was decidedly of opinion that the 
 charge of murder could not be proved against 
 them, even if they had committed such a crime, 
 as, without the production of Brown's body, or 
 other very strong evidence, the corpus delicti, as 
 it is called in law language — that is, the fact of 
 any murder at all having been committed — could 
 not possibly be established. But he told them 
 that, by the law of Scotland, any person finding 
 the property of another, and keeping possession 
 of, or using it without delivering it up, is held 
 to be guilty of theft. Being thoroughly convinced, 
 therefore, that Brown was safe in the bottom of 
 the sea, and that beyond the possession of the 
 
62 THE DEAD EEVIVED. 
 
 money and articles referred to, there was not a 
 tittle of evidence against them, they felt perfectly 
 secure against every charge except that of theft, 
 and even that of a mitigated kind. In the mean- 
 time, the procurator -fiscal discovered some most 
 extraordinary testimony — as unexpected by him as 
 it was by the accused — which will be noticed in 
 the sequel. 
 
 The prisoners were tried before the Court of 
 Justiciary. In the indictment served upon them, 
 they were surprised to find that the charge of 
 murder was abandoned, and that instead of it wa.s 
 substituted that of aggravated assault, with intent 
 to murder, and to the effusion of blood and danger 
 of life. They were also charged with robbery of 
 the watch, pocket-book, and money. They imagined, 
 however, that the charge of murder was abandoned 
 merely because the body could not be found ; and 
 they considered any attempt to prove an assault 
 equally hopeless as that to establish a murder. 
 The trial having come on, their counsel finding 
 that there would be a complete identification of 
 the watch, advised them to admit that it was 
 
THE DEAD EETIVED. 63 
 
 Brown's property, but that they had found it on 
 board the smack where he had laid it. They denied 
 that the money and pocket-book were his, and 
 asserted that they belonged to Eidgeby. Defences 
 having been lodged to this effect, and a jury em- 
 pannelled, a great many witnesses were examined 
 to prove the identity of the different articles, and 
 particularly of the notes, several of which, besides 
 the five-pound note, were recovered, traced to the 
 prisoners, and proved to have belonged to Brown. 
 A long list of witnesses was appended to the indict- 
 ment; but the prisoners and their counsel paid little 
 regard to it, being satisfied that they could only be 
 adduced to prove the identity of the money and 
 other articles. To a great extent this was the case, 
 as nearly the whole list was composed of witnesses 
 brought forward with this view^ At length a wit- 
 ness was called near the end of the list. A thin, 
 pale figure advanced towards the witness-box. 
 There were a number of Eyemouth people in court, 
 many of whom had been examined as witnesses 
 at the previous part of the trial, and had now 
 mixed with the audience. Others had attended 
 
64 THE DEAD EEVIVED. 
 
 from curiosity to hear the proceedings. No sooner 
 had the light fallen on the face of the pale figure 
 who was entering the witness-box, than an ex- 
 clamation of surprise, followed by a shout of 
 applause, burst from a large portion of the spec-, 
 tators when they saw, in propria persona, John 
 Brown, the man supposed by all but the public 
 prosecutor to have been murdered as well as 
 robbed. Had a thunderbolt struck the prisoners, 
 they could not have been more astounded or ap- 
 palled. Perrie fainted away, and Eidgeby became 
 deadly pale. Their counsel was taken completely 
 by surprise. The name of John Brown, residing 
 in a street in London, among a numerous list of 
 witnesses, never drew his attention, the name being 
 one so very common ; and it was a perfectly settled 
 point in their minds that John Brown of Eyemouth 
 was long since drowned and dead. 
 
 Ferrie being restored to consciousness by the aid 
 of cold water, and Brown being sworn and ex- 
 amined at great length, gave his evidence with 
 much clearness. After relating the attempt by the 
 prisoners to borrow money from him, the subse- 
 
THE DEAD EEVIVED. 65 
 
 quent quarrel which they fastened on him, the blow 
 with the tiller, the delivery by the witness of his 
 money and watch, the stab by Eidgeby, and of both 
 having seized and thrown him overb6ard,'as noticed 
 before, he gave evidence as follows : — " When 
 thrown into the sea the night was very dark, and 
 the boat from which I was thrown immediately 
 disappeared from my view. I was weak from loss 
 of blood, but managed to float on my back for 
 some time. In about ten minutes I felt something 
 touching me, and grasping it with great eagerness, 
 I found it was a large plank of wood. I managed, 
 by great exertion, first to get my breast and body 
 placed upon it, and afterwards to sit on it, with a 
 leg on each side. I then got a cravat from my 
 pocket, which I tied firmly round my body, so as 
 to prevent, if possible, the flow of blood from my 
 wound. In about half-an-hour after getting on the 
 plank, the night became clear, and I soon observed 
 the disc of the moon rising above the horizon. To 
 my unspeakable joy, I observed a sail some miles 
 distant, which I noticed was coming in my direc- 
 tion. I at length called as loud as I could, but 
 
 E 
 
66 THE DEAD REVIVED. 
 
 for some time I was unheard. At last, when about 
 a mile distant, I was heard, and a cry was made in 
 answer. I soon thereafter saw a boat with four 
 oars advancing. I was picked up and taken on 
 board the ship, which proved to be the Hope of 
 London, from Cronstadt, bound to the former port 
 with a cargo of goods. I was treated with great 
 kindness by the master, who furnished me with dry 
 clothes, gave me hot negus, and put me to bed. 
 My wound was examined and dressed by a surgeon 
 who was on board. He said the wound was deep, 
 but not dangerous, though, had the knife not met 
 with many obstructions, which diverted the course 
 of the thrust, it would certainly have been fatal. 
 The thick, tough clothing which the knife had to 
 penetrate, weakened to a great extent the force 
 of the thrust, and, the point of the knife having 
 glanced on one of the ribs, was diverted to the 
 fleshy part of the side, which it entered, without 
 penetrating the internal part of the body. The 
 tight bandage of a cravat round my waist, coupled 
 with the coldness of the night, he said, had stopped 
 the flow of blood from my wound, otherwise I might 
 
THE DEAD EEVIVED. 67 
 
 have perished from loss of blood. In about a week 
 the ship arrived in London. From the weakness 
 caused by the loss of blood, and the intense cold 
 which I endured, a fever ensued, and I was sent 
 to Bethlehem Hospital, from which, by careful and 
 attentive nursing and skilful treatment, I was able 
 to remove in about six or seven weeks. I only left 
 the hospital about ten days ago." 
 
 The surgeon and master of the Hope were also 
 examined, who confirmed Brown's testimony in 
 every particular. The former spoke to the danger- 
 ous state of the wound, and the condition in which 
 he was picked up. 
 
 Brown was listened to with the most intense 
 interest by the audience, the court, and the jury. 
 The jury were addressed by the advocate-depute for 
 the Crown, foUowed by the counsel for the prisoner. 
 The presiding judge next addressed the jury in a 
 clear and luminous charge, minutely analysing the 
 whole evidence. The jury returned a verdict find- 
 ing the prisoners guilty of robbery as libelled, and 
 of assault to the serious injury of the person, danger 
 of life, and with intent to murder. 
 
68 THE DEAD EEVIVED. 
 
 In awarding the punishment of transportation, 
 the judge addressed the prisoners as follows: — 
 " Joseph Eidgeby and Edward Ferrie, after a long, 
 protracted trial, you have, by a most respectable 
 jury, and evidence as clear as could be adduced in 
 any case, been found guilty of the crimes of robbery 
 and most aggravated assault, with intent to murder. 
 The circumstances of your case are such as I cannot 
 find language sufficiently strong to express my ab- 
 horrence of, and to stigmatise as it deserves. In 
 point of unprincipled wickedness, atrocious, cold- 
 blooded, and heartless cruelty, it finds no parallel 
 in any case that has ever come before me. The 
 innocent and unsuspecting object of your dreadful 
 schemes was your own associate and fellow-servant. 
 The end to be gained was to possess yourselves of 
 his hard-earned wages, of which and his watch you 
 first robbed him. Then one of you, with a sharp 
 knife, wielded with determined force, inflicted a 
 severe wound, intended to deprive him of life. In 
 this helpless, maimed, and apparently dying state, 
 both of you next seized and threw him overboard, 
 where you left him to perish in the dead hour 
 
THE DEAD EEVIVED. 69 
 
 of night in the depths of the ocean, far from land 
 and from the chance of rescue. But a more power- 
 ful arm than yours was then present. The deadly- 
 weapon was diverted from its course. Though con- 
 signed to the deep, and beyond the verge of human 
 hope, he was sustained and preserved in a most 
 providential manner, and brought to a safe asylum, 
 where, by kind and skilful treatment, he has been 
 restored to health, and placed here this day to 
 confront you — scattering your false statements to 
 the winds, and laying opeij to the light of day your 
 fiendish plans for his destruction. Luckily for you, 
 a change has taken place in the law of punishments, 
 else you could not have escaped the extreme penalty 
 of death. As it is, the highest punishment which 
 the law allows shall be inflicted, namely, that you 
 be transported beyond seas for the whole period 
 of your natural lives." 
 
THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 
 
 Child-stealing, termed " plagium " in the Eoman 
 law, has always been viewed and treated by the 
 law of Scotland as the most aggravated species of 
 theft, and was formerly punished uniformly with 
 death. The loss by theft of a living obj§ct, on 
 whom a parent has centred his or her fondest affec- 
 tions, is an afOicting wrong, the extent of which 
 none but a parent can estimate. 
 
 Mr Campbell of , a proprietor in the west of 
 
 Scotland, had a daughter, an only child on whom 
 he and his wife set their warmest affections. She 
 was a little past two years of age, could speak and 
 prattle, and climb eagerly on the knees of her 
 
THE STOLEN HEIEESS. 71 
 
 parents in quest of the much-valued kiss. These 
 and other engaging acts made little Cecilia the idol 
 of her parents. The latter went one Sunday morn- 
 ing to attend worship in an Episcopal chapel 
 situated at a considerable distance from home, 
 leaving two female servants in the house, the one 
 being the nursery-maid, whom they left in charge 
 of their little darling daughter, and the other in 
 charge of the house. The remaining servants were 
 attending the Presbyterian services in the parish 
 church two or three miles distant, from which they 
 did not return till the termination of the afternoon 
 service. Mr and Mrs Campbell did not return for 
 several hours afterwards. On their return they 
 were amazed on ringing the door-bell for some time 
 to gain no admission. At length the cook made 
 her appearance in a state of great agitation. She 
 informed them that the nursery-maid had gone to 
 walk with little Cecilia in the forenoon, and while 
 speaking with some acquaintance whom she met on 
 the road, her little charge had disappeared, and she 
 could not find her after the most anxious search. 
 The housemaid and she had searched every place 
 
72 THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 
 
 they could think of, and been joined in the search 
 by all the other servants on their return from 
 church ; and they must be stiU engaged in the 
 search, as none of them had returned since they had 
 joined the nursery-maid and house-maid. The 
 intelligence operated like a thunderbolt on poor 
 Mrs Campbell, who fainted away. On her husband, 
 whose nervous system was more powerful, though 
 equally appalled by the intelligence, the effect was 
 differ^t. On seeing his wife properly attended to, 
 he instantly left the house, roused all the inhabi- 
 tants in the neighbourhood, including those of a 
 neighbouring fishing village, who searched every 
 place for a number of miles round, but without 
 success. It baffled all their endeavours to find the 
 slightest trace of little Cecilia. There was no place 
 of great danger in the neighbourhood where she 
 could have been lost, and no pool, pond, or stream, 
 into which she could have fallen without her body 
 being at once found. Even had she been run over 
 and killed, or injured by any carriage or horse on 
 the public road, her remains could not fail to be at 
 once discovered. The decided conclusion come to. 
 
THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 73 
 
 therefore, by Mr Campbell and every one engaged 
 in the search, was that she must have been stolen 
 and carried off by some person or other passing 
 along the road. It was ascertained on inquiry that 
 the acquaintance who had engaged the nursery- 
 maid's attention, was a male admirer who was in 
 the habit of visiting her, with whom she had walked 
 in a wood for a considerable time, leaving Cecilia 
 alone near the public road, where she lay amusing 
 herself with some flowers, and on returning about 
 half-an-hour or more afterwards to take her home, 
 she was nowhere to be seen. Mr Campbell accord- 
 ingly became satisfied that his little daughter 
 must have been stolen by some person passing 
 along the public road, but by whom such a daring 
 act was performed he could not conjecture. The 
 search, which was carried on for a number of hours 
 by several hundred persons of every age, was active 
 and most anxious, now terminated by darkness, 
 and Mr Campbell with a sore heart returned home 
 to tell his wife that their darling child had not been 
 found. 
 
 By the earliest glimmering of dawn next morn- 
 
74 THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 
 
 ing, Mr Campbell was mounted on horseback. His 
 own horses and every other on the estate were put 
 in requisition. All his servants, with his whole 
 tenants and their servants, turned out to renew the 
 search of the preceding day. There were three 
 different roads which it was considered necessary 
 to pursue in order to ensure success in the search. 
 Of these, two led towards the Firth of Clyde, and 
 one in an easterly direction. Mr Campbell himself, 
 with about ,a dozen of mounted attendants, took the 
 most frequented of the two former, while other two 
 sections of the party took each one of the other 
 two roads. It was ascertained that a numerous 
 party of tinkers or gipsies, with donkies, had passed 
 along the road near Mr Campbell's house the day 
 before, during the forenoon church service. They 
 consequently became convinced that the tinkers 
 must have stolen the child while the nursery-maid 
 had so culpably left her alone near the public road. 
 They further ascertained that the gipsies had sepa- 
 rated into two parties after passing Mr Campbell's 
 residence, and that the foremost party had travelled 
 at a much quicker rate than the other. This was 
 
THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 75 
 
 another suspicious circumstance. Mr Campbell 
 and his party accordingly pushed on with all the 
 speed in their power, and received information at 
 different places as they went along that the two 
 parties of gipsies had passed in that direction the 
 evening before. At length Mr Campbell overtook, 
 in the course of the afternoon, the last or rear party 
 of the gipsies in the neighbourhood of Greenock. 
 They were six or seven in number, and had two 
 donkies and four or five children ; but little Cecilia 
 was not among them, as they found after a thorough 
 search. They seemed to give a prompt and distinct 
 account of all their proceedings the day before. 
 They admitted at once that they came from the 
 north of Argyleshire, and had passed Mr Campbell's 
 residence the day before, early in the forenoon, that 
 they were then in company with another party of 
 tinkers or gipsies, who had parted with them, hav- 
 ing gone on before and travelled with dispatch for 
 the purpose of overtaking and attending some 
 market in the east of Scotland. But they denied 
 having seen any of their party take a child from 
 the road-side, or from any place in their route, or 
 
76 THE STOLEN HEIKESS. 
 
 that they saw any child whatever of the description 
 mentioned. They also expressed much surprise 
 at the theft of such a child being suspected, as they 
 said they did not think any one would dare to com- 
 mit such an offence, especially on the child of a 
 gentleman of rank. Mr Campbell was, however, 
 resolved to overtake the party who had gone to- 
 wards the east, and having dismissed all the party 
 who accompanied him except his own servants, he 
 proceeded towards Glasgow, communicating with 
 the county police at different stations. Several 
 parties of gipsies or tinkers were found in Lanark- 
 shire, and between that and Edinburgh, but all of 
 them denied having been in the direction of Mr 
 Campbell's residence ; and though they were all 
 searched, no child of the description of little Cecilia 
 was found in their company. The chief constables 
 of all the towns and counties were communicated 
 with, and enjoined to make every investigation, and 
 to offer rewards of large amount for the recovery 
 of the child. Advertisements describing her, and 
 offering large rewards, were inserted in all the 
 principal newspapers in Scotland and England, but 
 
THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 77 
 
 all without any result. A superintendent of police 
 at Greenock had given information that a party of 
 tinkers or gipsies had been seen entering a steamer 
 for the coast of Ireland at an early hour one morn- 
 ing about the time when the child was missed ; but 
 the father paid no attention to the information, 
 conceiving it perfectly out of the question that any 
 child could be stolen in Scotland, for the purpose 
 of being conveyed to Ireland, where hundreds of 
 children would be parted with gratuitously to any 
 person who would maintain them. After making 
 every effort that could be thought of for many 
 successive months, without the slightest trace of 
 his little daughter, being discovered, the father, 
 with a heavy heart, was obliged to abandon the 
 work as hopeless. The poor mother, after being 
 in a state of mind approaching to distraction, sunk 
 into a state of fixed melancholy. All hope of meet- 
 ing the darling object of her affections in this world 
 having vanished, she cherished only the hope of 
 doing so in the regions of eternal bliss. 
 
 Mrs Campbell's state of mind having induced 
 delicate health, her husband found it necessary 
 
78 THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 
 
 every summer to take her on some excursion, with 
 the view, if possible, to divert her mind from the 
 bitter reflections consequent on her sad bereave- 
 ment. These excursions were varied every year, in 
 order that novelty of scene and objects might aid 
 his intentions. Nearly ten years elapsed from the 
 time of the child's loss, when chance directed them 
 one summer on an excursion to the north and west 
 of Ireland. The weather was very fine, and the 
 scenery in that quarter, always beautiful, was that 
 season peculiarly attractive. After passing through 
 the north, and part of the west of Ireland, they 
 entered the county of Fermanagh. By travelling 
 one or two stages longer than usual, in passing 
 through the county of Donegal, Mrs Campbell 
 became over-fatigued, and found it necessary to 
 rest for some days at the first suitable hotel or 
 inn they could find. Having, therefore, found an 
 extremely neat and clean stage inn, near the foot 
 of Loch Erne, they resolved to sojourn there for 
 a week. Besides being a stage inn, it was much 
 frequented by anglers and other sportsmen. The 
 provisions and beds were both excellent, and the 
 
THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 79 
 
 attendance extremely good. Mrs Campbell directed 
 that she should be supplied each morning and even- 
 ing with warm milk fresh from the cow. The land- 
 lady arranged, accordingly, with a respectable farmer 
 in the neighbourhood, who supplied the inn with 
 milk and other provisions, to send the supply of 
 milk required. The young female who brought it 
 went with it direct to Mrs Campbell's room. She 
 was apparently about twelve years of age, elegant 
 in figure, and exquisitely beautiful. There was 
 something in her appearance and manner that 
 attracted Mrs Campbell's attention to her in a way 
 she could not explain. She remarked this to her 
 own maid, an old servant,' who had been long in 
 her employment, and who said that was precisely 
 her own feeling. She added that she could not 
 help remarking that her face, in some of its 
 features, bore a strong resemblance to the pretty 
 face of little Cecilia. As her style and dress were 
 superior to that -of a common servant, Mrs Camp- 
 bell asked her on her next visit if she was the 
 daughter of Mr Monigail (the farmer who supplied 
 the milk.) She answered, in a somewhat embar- 
 
80 THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 
 
 rassed manner, that she was not, — she was his 
 niece. She then added, with great naivetd, " At 
 least, Mrs Monigail calls me her niece; but, in 
 reality, I am no relation of Mr and Mrs Monigail. 
 I am an orphan. My father and mother, as I under- 
 stand, are both dead. I came from Scotland when 
 I was a child of only two years old. Mrs Monigail, 
 who has no family of her owri, has brought me up 
 and educated me as her own daughter, and treats 
 me with the utmost kindness.'' 
 
 After her departure, Mrs Campbell, who was 
 much excited by what she heard about her having 
 come from Scotland when a child, now expressed 
 her belief that Eliza Monigail (the name given to 
 the young milk-maid) was really her daughter 
 Cecilia. Her maid expressed herself still more 
 thoroughly convinced of the fact. " But," said 
 Mrs Campbell, " what proof have we ?" " I can 
 ascertain and prove it in one minute," said the old 
 maid. " Don'j; you remember that little Cecilia had 
 a large mole on her right side, of the size and form 
 of a plum ; and she also had on her back, near the 
 spine, two peculiar-looking moles close to each other, 
 
THE STOLEN HEIEESS. 81 
 
 one large, and of a round shape ; the other smaller, 
 and of an oval shape. These marks are never effaced ; 
 and if she has them, she is assuredly no other than 
 Cecilia Campbell." Mrs Campbell clearly remem- 
 bered the marks, and was delighted at the idea of 
 at once ascertaining whether her conjectures were 
 well founded. Her anxiety was so intense, that she 
 could not wait till Eliza's ordinary visit in the even- 
 ing, but sent a message to request that she would 
 call in half -an -hour, as she wished to see her. 
 Eliza attended punctually. She was better dressed 
 than when acting the milk-maid, and looked, what 
 she really was, a most lovely girl. Mrs Campbell 
 requested her to be seated, and began to converse 
 with her in presence of her old maid. The former, 
 however, between hope and the fear of disappoint- 
 ment, was so agitated that she could hardly speak. 
 At length, on somewhat recovering her self-posses- 
 sion, she said, in as bland terms as possible, " Eliza, 
 you must not be annoyed at what I am about to 
 ask you, as I have some idea that I have seen you 
 before. May I ask if you have a large mole on 
 your right side, about the size and shape of a plum 
 
82 THE STOLEN HEIEESS, 
 
 or large strawberry?" Eliza's countenance, which 
 expressed the utmost surprise, was immediatelj 
 sufi'used with a crimson blush. She at ^length 
 answered, " Yes, ma'am ; but I don't understand 
 how you know that." " I will tell you by and by,'' 
 said Mrs Campbell ; " but answer me this one othei 
 question. Have you two moles on your back, neai 
 the spine ?" " Yes, I have indeed," said the aston- 
 ished girl ; " and the one is round, and about the 
 size of a silver penny; the other is smaller, and 
 of an oval shape." Mrs Campbell was perfectlj 
 delighted, but asked if she would kindly allow hei 
 and her rnaid to see the marks by undoing hei 
 dress ; with which request she at once complied 
 Mrs Campbell and her maid instantly recognised 
 the well-known marks, and were thoroughly satis- 
 fied that Eliza Monigail was no other than Cecilis 
 Campbell. The old domestic said, " These are the 
 real marks, and these are the real features ; I would 
 know her among a million." Mrs Campbell tool 
 Cecilia to her arms, and pressed her to her bosom 
 exclaiming, " My own, my long-lost Cecilia, I have 
 found you at last ! " 
 
THE STOLEN HEIEBSS. 83 
 
 Mr Campbell, who had been angling in the lake, 
 just returned after this scene had ended. He was 
 surprised, on entering the parlour, to see his wife's 
 face lighted up with a joyous expression, to which 
 for many years it had been a stranger. " What," 
 said he, " makes you so happy? — have you had 
 letters from Scotland?" "No," said she; "but I 
 wish to introduce you to a young friend of mine," 
 (turning to Cecilia,) " Miss Cecilia Campbell of 
 
 ," (naming his own estate,) " from Scotland." 
 
 He was then informed of the evidence by which 
 the identification had been made complete. Sharper, 
 however, than his wife or her maid, he at once recog- 
 nised the features of his own daughter, and embraced 
 her with the most enthusiastic joy. The day was 
 one of u'nmingled happiness. Poor Cecilia was per- 
 fectly bewildered in the vortex of passing events, 
 and could hardly realise her position. She by and 
 by proposed returning to Mr Monigail's house. 
 To this her mother strenuously objected, and said 
 she would on no account part with her any more. 
 Mrs Monigail was accordingly sent for, and the 
 discovery fully and satisfactorily explained. While 
 
84 THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 
 
 she, on the one hand, expressed herself highly de- 
 lighted at Eliza's elevation, she was, on the other, 
 overwhelmed with grief at parting with her, being 
 as devotedly attached to her as if she had been her 
 own daughter. 
 
 Mrs Monigail next proceeded to explain how Eliza 
 became an inmate in her family. She mentioned 
 that there was an old woman named Sarah M'Cann, 
 who resided about twelve miles distant, who, in 
 company with some others, had for many years 
 traversed the country as a tinker or gipsy, and 
 who had long been in use to supply her and her 
 husband with spoons, articles of tin-ware, and other 
 things in the line of her business as a tinker. She 
 had told the woman, about ten years ago, that, as 
 she (Mrs Monigail) had no family of her own, she 
 would very willingly adopt and educate any nic( 
 female child whose parents, from inability to main- 
 tain her comfortably themselves, would agree t( 
 part with her on condition that she should bi 
 maintained and brought up comfortably, and wel 
 educated. She told her also that, if any nice child 
 who was an orphan, — without father, or mother, o 
 
THE STOLEN HEIEESS. 85 
 
 near relations, — were found, she would willingly 
 engage to adopt and educate her in like manner. 
 She likewise promised Mrs M'Cann to remunerate 
 her for her trouble. But, she said, it never for an 
 instant entered into her (Mrs Monigail's) mind that 
 the woman would steal a child, much less the child 
 of a man of rank. When she brought little Eliza 
 to her, she was so highly pleased at receiving such 
 a beautiful child, that she gave her five pounds for 
 her trouble. She informed Mrs Monigail that the 
 child was an orphan who had lately lost both 
 parents, and been left without any means of sup- 
 port, and that the parish authorities had given her 
 possession of the little girl on the assurance that a 
 lady in Ireland had agreed to take and bring her 
 up in a comfortable way. 
 
 Mr Campbell now became determined that Mrs 
 M'Cann should not be allowed to escape unpun- 
 ished. He sent for a proprietor in the county of 
 Fermanagh, who had been an associate of his at 
 the university, and who was a county magistrate, 
 to assist him. They discovered that an old woman 
 named Stewart, and her daughter, who lived a few 
 
86 THE STOLEN HEIEESS. 
 
 miles distant, had been of the party who accom- 
 panied Mrs M'Cann at the time that she carried off 
 little Cecilia, and that both saw her do so. Mr 
 Campbell lost no time, after making this discovery, 
 in communicating with the procurator-fiscal of his 
 own county in Scotland, where the theft took place. 
 The result was that a sheriff's warrant from Scot- 
 land immediately arrived, and being endorsed by 
 a magistrate of Ireland, the woman M'Cann was 
 apprehended and transmitted to the prison of the 
 county in Scotland where she committed the off'ence, 
 it being necessary that all cases should be tried at 
 the locus delicti, or place where the offence is com- 
 mitted. 
 
 A full precognition having been taken by the 
 procurator-fiscal of all the witnesses necessary to 
 prove the case for the Crown, the prisoner was in- 
 dicted before the High Court of Justiciary for the 
 crime of child-stealing. Having pleaded not guilty, 
 and a jury being impannelled, the old woman 
 Stewart and her daughter, and a man who was also 
 of the party, proved directly the act of theft, which 
 they saw committed, having been aU three present 
 
THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 87 
 
 on the occasion. Mr and Mrs Monigail proved 
 having received the child from the accused, and 
 having paid her five pound^ Mr and Mrs Camp- 
 bell, the old waiting-maid, and a number of other 
 servants and friends, proved incontestably the iden- 
 tity of Eliza Monigail with Cecilia Campbell. The 
 evidence was so complete that the jury, without 
 retiring, unhesitatingly returned a verdict of guilty 
 against the prisoner. The presiding judge, after a. 
 most severe address to the prisoner on the enor- 
 mity of her crime, sentenced her to transportation 
 beyond seas for life. 
 
 In the course of the investigation, it was dis- 
 covered that Mr Campbell had committed two 
 mistakes at the outset of his search for his little 
 daughter. One was, that he did not follow the 
 party of tinkers who had taken their passage in the 
 Irish steamer, though informed of the fact by the 
 superintendent of police at Greenock. The other 
 was, giving credence to the story of the band of 
 tinkers whom he overtook there. It turned out 
 that the story was a pure fiction. They actually 
 saw the theft committed, and knew that M'Cann 
 
88 THE STOLEN HEIRESS. 
 
 and her associates, who hastened on with so much 
 precipitation, had taken their passage in an Irish 
 steamer, but, in order to deceive and mislead Mr 
 Campbell, had got up the story about their being 
 to attend a market in the east of Scotland. What 
 was remarkable in the case, was the extreme firm- 
 ness of the one set of tinkers, in opposition to their 
 own interests, in supporting and screening the other 
 set in their nefarious conduct. The tinkers over- 
 taken by Mr Campbell at Greenock were fully 
 assured of a handsome reward had they told the 
 truth about the other party, yet they exerted them- 
 selves to support and screen them. 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLER. 
 
 About forty years ago the laws for tlie prevention 
 of smuggling were extremely lax and ineffectual. 
 A party detected in the act of distillation usually 
 forfeited the still and the materials employed, with 
 such whisky already manufactured as was found in 
 his custody. Some years later, the laws became 
 much more stringent. The duty on whisky was 
 greatly lowered, while, on the other hand, the penal- 
 ties imposed for smuggling were made extremely 
 heavy. The result was that, superior whisky being 
 to be had at a comparatively cheap rate, the gains 
 of the smuggler were diminished ; and any attempt 
 to smuggle was so hazardous, involving as it did 
 
90 THE INDUSTEIOUS SMUGGLER. 
 
 a ruinous penalty, that smuggling became nearly 
 exploded, and almost unknown. Hence the former 
 vigilance of the excise officials became lulled, the 
 existence of whisky-smuggling being considered at 
 an end. 
 
 Mr T. E , a farmer from Ireland, about 
 
 thirty years ago took a large arable farm on the 
 west 9oast of Scotland. He was an active, indus- 
 trious man, a skilful agriculturist, and his farm, 
 though extending to many hundred arable acres, 
 was in a few years placed in first-rate order. The 
 house and farm-steading stood on the brow of a 
 declivity gently sloping towards the south-east. 
 Closely behind the house, and between it and the 
 sea, stood a steep craggy ridge, the side of which, 
 toward the north-west, had a descent towards the 
 sea very steep and rugged. Near the house, and 
 close to the brow of the ridge, was a limekiln, which 
 was observed to be almost always in use, and, owing 
 to its elevated situation, its smoke was seen by all 
 the inhabitants of the adjoining part of the country 
 to a great distance. This caused no surprise, as 
 every one knew that he used much lime, as well 
 
THE INDTJSTEIOUS SMUGGLER. 91 
 
 as other manures, in following out his system of 
 high farming. He was held up to all his neigh- 
 bours as a paragon of skill and industry. A 
 
 number of years passed, till T. E 's lease was 
 
 drawing to a close ; the smoke from the kiln con- 
 tinued to curl in the air, and the farm and crops 
 to improve in appearance. 
 
 Along the side of the ridge next to the sea there 
 ran a stream of considerable size, which, during 
 rain, was usually much swollen, and diminished to a 
 tiny rivulet in dry weather. It slanted along the 
 side of the ridge till it came to nearly opposite the 
 
 back of E 's farm-steading, where, turning 
 
 abruptly at a right angle, it descended straight to 
 the sea, forming a deep gully with a bed of large 
 stones, and its steep banks were densely covered 
 with br,ushwood and whin-bushes. At the junction 
 of this stream with the sea there was a point of 
 land about a hundred yards in length, projecting 
 into the sea. There being a considerable depth of 
 water on the one side of this point, a quay was 
 formed for the more convenient shipment of Mr 
 E 's farm produce, as well as for receiving loads 
 
92 THE INDUSTEIOUS SMUGGLER 
 
 of coal, tiles, timber, and other necessaries required 
 
 by him. The quay being on Mr E 's ground, 
 
 it was entirely in his private occupancy ; but he 
 sometimes, though seldom, gave permission to some 
 of the neighbouring farmers to use it. A private 
 road, for the exclusive use of his farm, branched off 
 from the public road, passing along the shore and 
 the base of the ridge to the private quay where it 
 terminated. Though E 's house and farm-stead- 
 ing were thus close to the sea-shore and the quay, 
 the craggy ridge only being between them, yet, from 
 the precipitous nature of the ridge, the shore was 
 wholly inaccessible for either carriages or foot- 
 passengers, except by a circuitous route of two or 
 three miles, which had to be travelled with carts 
 when the farm produce or other effects were to be 
 conveyed to or from the quay. 
 
 A year or two before the end of E 's lease, a 
 
 cask or two of whisky had been seen at the quay 
 by some fishermen, and which were soon after 
 removed by some party or other unknown ; but 
 though it was supposed by the excise officers, to 
 whom the circumstance became known, that E 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLER. 93 
 
 or his people could not fail to have seen the casks 
 there, and to be cognisant of the fact of some one 
 having landed them from a boat or vessel, and 
 subsequently removed them, they did not deem it 
 prudent to adopt any measures on the occasion. 
 No other mode of the casks coming there but by 
 sea occurred to the officers ; and as they had no 
 information or evidence as to the party who landed 
 
 them, and no direct evidence against E or his 
 
 servants, they judged it safer to say nothing on the 
 subject, but quietly to vratch any suspicious craft 
 that might land similar casks. 
 
 No other discovery was made by the excise until 
 
 a month or two before the close of E 's lease. 
 
 About that time some men, who were privately 
 employed by the revenue officers to watch suspicious 
 vessels, discovered in the gully near the quay, con- 
 cealed among the brushwood, a number of whisky- 
 casks, and on watching to see who would come to 
 remove them, they observed, about three o'clock in 
 
 the morning, Mr E 's overseer and two of his 
 
 servants coming in a stealthy manner, and remov- 
 ing the casks on board a sloop which was moored 
 
94 THE INDUSTEIOUS SMUGGLER. 
 
 at the quay, and which had the day before received 
 
 on board a quantity of Mr E 's bags with grain. 
 
 The watchers' authority did not extend to making 
 seizures. They, however, immediately hastened to 
 inform their employers of what they had seen ; but 
 before a party arrived to seize the vessel, she had 
 sailed, and was out of sight, and nobody could say 
 in what direction she had proceeded, as she had 
 set sail early in the morning, when the casks were 
 shipped. 
 
 Notwithstanding the failure to seize the vessel, 
 
 evidence was thus obtained that Mr E was 
 
 engaged in smuggling. Accordingly, after the lapse 
 of three weeks in endeavouring, but in vain, to 
 procure evidence as to the place whence the whisky 
 came, and where it was manufactured, it was at 
 
 length resolved to apprehend Mr E , and bring 
 
 him to trial on the grave charge of smuggling, on 
 account of his servants having been seen shipping 
 the casks. The evidence of one man was also ob- 
 tained who had seen Mr E looking on during 
 
 part of the time when the shipment was taking 
 place. Luckily for him, he received private infor- 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLEE. 95 
 
 mation of all that was going on, and during these 
 three weeks, accordingly, he was by no means idle. 
 He had for some time back, and before any ques- 
 tion of smuggling arose, determined on emigrating 
 to the colonies or the United States at the close of 
 his lease. Now that he was likely to be involved 
 in a smuggling prosecution, he not only was fully 
 confirmed in his previous resolution, but determined 
 that his destination should be the United States of 
 America. He had for a year before been busy dis- 
 posing of his furniture and effects, except what was 
 required for his immediate use till his departure. 
 In about three weeks after the discovery last re- 
 ferred to, a party of officers with two constables 
 
 arrived at E 's house with a warrant for his 
 
 apprehension. He affected the utmost surprise at 
 any suspicion being entertained against him, and 
 still greater at the authorities considering it neces- 
 sary to apprehend him, seeing that his position and 
 means were a sufHcient guarantee that he would 
 appear to answer any charge, and undergo any trial 
 to which he might be subjected, if they really, after 
 mature deliberation, resolved on such a measure. 
 
96 THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLER 
 
 The supervisor of excise of the district, who was 
 present, and who was on intimate terms of friend- 
 ship with E , informed him that nobody could 
 
 doubt his respectability and perfect sufficiency to 
 pay any iine that would be imposed, but that the 
 revenue authorities followed certain fixed rules in 
 the case of all parties, whether of rank and wealth 
 or otherwise, — that no distinction was drawn in any 
 case, and that one invariable rule followed was to 
 apprehend every person against whom a prosecu- 
 tion for smuggling was intended. He complained 
 loudly of the inconvenience which he would sus- 
 tain — that he was engaged shipping a cargo of 
 barley at the quay — that he had a number of 
 letters to answer, and must be allowed time to pack 
 clothes and necessaries to take with him to the 
 
 town of , whither the officers were to convey 
 
 him. He therefore entreated to be allowed from 
 two to three hours to make his arrangements. He 
 further remarked, that he would prefer to avoid 
 
 entering the town of in broad daylight in 
 
 custody as a prisoner, and hoped they might convey 
 him thither after it was dark. His requests were 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLER. 97 
 
 considered reasonable, and were at once complied 
 with. The supervisor went to the inn, several miles 
 distant, leaving the officers and constables behind 
 with special instructions — which are always issued 
 on such occasions — to guard the house in case of 
 any attempt at escape, and to bring their prisoner 
 into the town after it became dark. 
 
 After the supervisor's departure, an ample supply 
 of food and other refreshments were provided for 
 the officers and constables. Two of them partook 
 of the refreshments at a time, while the other two 
 watched outside, the latter being relieved by the 
 former, and regaled in their turn. At length, two 
 hours and a half having elapsed, the officers knocked 
 at the door, and desired the servant to ask if her 
 master was ready, as it was time to go. She went 
 in, accordingly, and came back saying that he was 
 busy writing a letter, but would be ready in 
 about twenty minutes. Another half hour having 
 passed, the officers once more knocked, and in- 
 formed the servant that they could not wait longer, 
 and, according to orders, must now go. She affected 
 much surprise, saying she thought she had heard 
 
98 THE INDUSTEIOUS SMUGGLEE. 
 
 h'er master coming out to them since they had last 
 knocked. She then went to the room behind, 
 where he had been, but came back saying he was 
 not there, and must have come out. The officers 
 and constables all insisted that he had not, and 
 said that he could not have passed them without 
 their knowledge. They immediately entered the 
 house, and, after calling him loudly by name, and 
 searching every cellar and place about the house 
 where they thought he might be concealed, but all 
 to no purpose, one of the officers hurried off to 
 inform the supervisor of what had happened, the 
 remainder of the party continuing to keep watch 
 at the house, where, they were persuaded, he still 
 remained concealed. The supervisor sent a number 
 
 of persons who knew Mr E by sight in every 
 
 direction, and through all the neighbouring towns 
 and villages, with the view of tracing him, but to no 
 purpose. They neither saw him themselves, nor 
 any person who had done so, or heard anything 
 of him. A fuU investigation and precognition, 
 therefore, took place, both with the view of ascer- 
 taining where the whisky discovered was manufac- 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLBE. 99 
 
 tured, and of obtaining grounds for a judgment by 
 
 default against Mr E . The first thing done 
 
 immediately after E 's disappearance, was to 
 
 employ tradesmen to examine minutely every cor- 
 ner and part of the dwelling-house, to ascertain 
 whether there was no place of concealment where 
 he might be lurking. About the same time, , one 
 or two of his servants who still remained — though 
 most of them disappeared at the same time with 
 himself — were fully examined in precognition. Seve- 
 ral other persons intimately acquainted with him, 
 and with his affairs, were examined at the same 
 iime, when the following facts were fully brought 
 ;o light : — 
 
 The tradesmen employed to examine the house, 
 ifter a minute investigation in every apartment and 
 iloset on the premises, at length came to a press in 
 
 he parlour where E usually sat. On removing 
 
 he wooden lining of this press, they were surprised 
 find a door behind it, and, having opened it, they 
 ound a dark stair leading down to a subterraneous 
 lassage. On procuring lights, and advancing about 
 :fty yards, the passage expanded into a large apart- 
 
100 THE INDUSTEIOUS SMUGGLER. 
 
 ment cut out of the solid rock. It was situated 
 close to the lime-kiln, from which it was ventilated 
 by apertures, and into which a flue passed to convey 
 the smoke from a large fire-place in the apartment. 
 Here they found the traces of where a large still 
 was recently placed and at work, but which had 
 been removed evidently a short time before. Going 
 to one end of this apartment, they found a door 
 leading into another of equal size, which was fitted 
 up as a store for containing many hundred casks ; 
 and it appeared to have been recently used ; but 
 the casks were all removed. Every step now seemed 
 to throw more light on the proceedings of the fugi- 
 tive. At the corner of the cask store another 
 door was discovered leading to a sloping passage 
 cut through the rock, with occasional steps of stairs, 
 and occasionally some yards of an inclined plane. 
 At length, after advancing some distance, the inves- 
 tigators heard the noise of a running stream, and, 
 pushing aside one or two large flags, which were 
 placed there to conceal the outlet of the passage, they 
 found themselves on the banks of the deep gully, 
 and about thirty or forty yards from the quay on 
 
THE INDUSTEIOtJS SMUGGLER. 101 
 
 the sea-shore. Here was most unexpectedly but 
 fully discovered a private place of concealment of 
 ihe most cunning construction that probahly was in 
 ixistence in the days of Dirk Hatterick. Its dis- 
 covery threw complete light on the proceedings of 
 E- ; and if anything was wanting in its com- 
 plete development, it wa^ thoroughly supplied by 
 ;he different parties who underwent precognition. 
 
 Mr E appeared to have commenced the occu- 
 pation of smuggling almost from the beginning of 
 lis lease. The curling smoke proceeding from 
 lis lime -kiln, instead of being produced by the 
 burning of lime, proceeded from the distillery. A 
 little lime was occasionally burned to avert suspi- 
 cion ; but nearly all the large quantities of lime 
 ised on the farm were brought from Larne in 
 [reland, and the vessels which brought it were 
 •eloaded with whisky, conveyed by the private 
 passage through the gully to the quay, whence it 
 !ras conveyed to Ireland, and there privately dis- 
 Dosed of. It was ascertained that he had disposed 
 )f vast quantities of whisky in this manner, and 
 nust, from first to last, have realised prodigious 
 
102 THE INDUSTEIOUS SMUGGLER. 
 
 profits. He paid large wages to his servants, who 
 accompanied him in his flight. The nest was now 
 discovered, but the birds were all flown. 
 
 E had private notice of the excise autho- 
 rities' intentions about a month before the attempt 
 was made to apprehend him, and he made his pre- 
 parations with the utmost assiduity and despatch. 
 He collected the amount of every account due to 
 him, and disposed of all his remaining crops, and 
 of his cattle and horses. This excited no suspicion, 
 since it was known he was to remove at the next 
 term of Whitsunday, which was in a couple of 
 months thereafter. He raised all his money from 
 the banks in which it was deposited, and got gold 
 instead of paper money, on the allegation that he 
 was to remove to England. He next packed up all 
 the articles of value and furniture about the house, 
 leaving only such of the latter as was bulky and of 
 least value. Within a day or two of the time when 
 the ofiBcers called to apprehend him, he had the 
 whole, including his money, conveyed down the 
 secret passage to the quay, and placed on board 
 a sloop, which was brought there ostensibly to 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS SMUGGLER. 103 
 
 convey a cargo of barley to market. Immediately 
 after the officers called with the warrant, instead 
 of writing letters, as he pretended, he and three or 
 four of his men-servants conveyed the remainder 
 of the articles intended to be shipped, down the 
 private passage, put them on board the sloop, and, 
 embarking themselves, within half an hour or an 
 hour after the officers called with the warrant, took 
 advantage of an east wind, and immediately set 
 sail. A larger vessel was chartered by certain other 
 parties in Ireland, who were to proceed along with 
 him to the United States. They were met, accord- 
 ingly, by the larger ship on the coast of Ireland. 
 
 and E 's effects and himself and servants being 
 
 taken on board, they set sail with all despatch 
 across the Atlantic, and proceeded to the Far West, 
 where they were soon located far beyond the reach 
 of Scotch excisemen or constables. 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 Sheep-stealing in Scotland has always stood high - 
 as an offence in the scale of aggravation, and pre- 
 vious to the statutes limiting the punishment of 
 death, a conviction under this class of thefts uni- 
 formly involved the death of the criminal. 
 
 About sixty years ago, several of the store farmers 
 in the Ochil Hills missed sheep from their farms. 
 They employed persons to watch aU the outlets from 
 those hills to the turnpike road leading along their 
 base from Kinross to Stirling, as well as the road 
 through Strathearn. This precaution, however, 
 proved of no avail, for no thefts were discovered 
 to have taken place by these outlets, yet sheep con- 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 1 05 
 
 inued to be missed from the !farms. Having at 
 Bngth adopted the plan of watching on the hills 
 hemselves where the sheep were grazing, a dis- 
 overy was speedily effected. Two shepherds who 
 rere one night watching the hill of Tillicoultry, 
 ibserved, about three o'clock in the morning, a 
 mall parcel of sheep, about thirty in number, col- 
 ected together and moving westward along, or 
 mmediately behind, the ridge forming the summit 
 )f the hUl. They could not discover any person 
 Iriving them, but on approaching nearer they ob- 
 erved a dog driving, them along and occasionally 
 noving round about them to keep them together. 
 Che watchers were satisfied that the dog was acting 
 mder instructions, yet they could not perceive any 
 )erson near, though they saw westward to the dis- 
 ance of nearly two miles. In order to discover 
 whether the dog was really acting under orders, 
 ir merely for its own amusement, one of the 
 catchers, unaccompanied by any dog of his own, 
 rent up to the parcel of sheep, and affected to turn 
 hem in an opposite direction to that in which the 
 log was driving them. This immediately caused 
 
106 THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 the dog to make up to the man who thus interrupted 
 him, and to bark at him as if intending to attack 
 him. This shewed clearly that the dog was acting 
 under orders from his master, which he did not 
 choose should be countermanded by a stranger. 
 
 It may be necessary here to explain that shep- 
 herds' dogs are of two descriptions. One kind is 
 that which is employed ia driving or hunting sheep 
 or cattle, so as to make them move away from the 
 person who hounds or sets on the dog for that pur- 
 pose, as in the case of sheep or cattle trespassing 
 on any lands, when the owner of the lands hounds 
 a dog on them and sends them back to their own 
 pasture. The other kind of sheep-dogs is what are 
 termed wearing dogs, which, on being directed to 
 do so, collect and bring sheep or cattle, however 
 distant, back to their masters. The latter class are 
 by far the more valuable, and the dog which the 
 watchers now saw removing the sheep was of this 
 class. The two watchers acted with great caution ; 
 the object being, according to their master's instruc- 
 tions, to discover the thief or thieves by whom the 
 depredations were committed, more than to take 
 
THE .CANINE THIEF. 107 
 
 mmediate possession of the sheep. With this view, 
 ihey allowed the dog to proceed with his drove, and 
 "ollowed him at some distance. It seemed quite 
 akin that the dog's master walked along the route 
 ;vhich he intended the sheep should take, and when 
 ;he dog lost sight of him he kept the 'track by the 
 icent. The watchers were amazed by the extreme 
 lagacity of the dog, as they saw him keep the sheep 
 logether before him and drive them on for several 
 niles. On reaching the hill of Alva, they noticed 
 )n a small eminence, fully three miles ahead of the 
 log, a man making a motion with his arm, and 
 ooking towards the dog. The latter on noticing 
 he signal, accelerated his speed, and drove the sheep 
 )efore him at a quicker pace. The watchers, in case 
 hey might be seen by the dog's master, immediately 
 aid themselves down flat a.mong some ferns near 
 vhere they stood, occasionally peeping out from 
 heir cover to see the course that both master and 
 log would take. At length, on finding that they 
 vere sufficiently distant, they rose from their lair 
 md followed the sheep, taking care to move with 
 ircumspection. The sheep were by this time more 
 
108 THE CAIJINE THIEF. 
 
 than a mile before them, and they lost sight of the 
 dog's master altogether. At length the sheep passed 
 the hill of Demyat driven by the dog, and having 
 begun to descend from the west shoulder of the hill 
 in a southern direction, it became evident that they 
 vrere about to emerge from the Ochil Hills on the 
 turnpike road, where the roads from Strathearn and 
 Callender unite a little to the east of Dunblane. 
 The master having taken that route, the dog tracked 
 him thither, driving the sheep before him. The 
 route was extremely well selected, for numerous 
 droves of sheep arrive at that point both from 
 Strathearn and from the direction of Callendar, 
 and not a few at the same point by the road from 
 Kinross along the south side of the Ochil Hills. As 
 suspected, the sheep were driven to the point men- 
 tioned near Dunblane. On their reaching the 
 Bridge of Allan, a few miles further south, the 
 watchers, who had followed the dog and sheep 
 closely, and were now on the public road a little 
 way behind them, saw the dog's master turn back 
 and go among the sheep, being evidently about to 
 take possession of them and drive them before, him. 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 109 
 
 The watchers thereupon rushed forward and took 
 bim into custody, and having got assistance at the 
 Bridge of Allan, where they found a constable, they 
 got the sheep put iato a pen, and, with the aid of 
 the constable, conveyed the dog's master to Stirling, 
 where he was brought before the sheriff-substitute 
 on a complaint by the procurator-fiscal charging him 
 with sheep-stealing. 
 
 The procurator-fiscal having precognosced the two 
 shepherds as witnesses, the owner of the dog was 
 next judicially examined. His name was James 
 Crichton, and he was well known about Stirling 
 and the neighbourhood as a small drover or dealer 
 in sheep and cattle, who periodically visited that 
 district to purchase sheep and cattle for the southern 
 markets. 
 
 The declaration he emitted was as ingenious as 
 the plan he adopted in removing the sheep. He 
 denied most pointedly having anything whatever 
 to do with the removal of sheep from the Ochil 
 Hills. He said that he had occasion to be in Strath- 
 earn in the course of his business, and being hurried 
 in order to overtake the Lockerbie market, he took 
 
110 THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 a short cut across the Ochil Hills ; that on his way 
 through the hills he lost his dog, which appeared 
 to have fallen behind; and having turned to seek 
 him about the hill of Alva, he saw him with some 
 sheep at the distance of some miles, when he mo- 
 tioned to him with his hand to bring him away 
 from the sheep, and called to him as loud as he 
 could. He said he thought he had left the sheep, 
 and expected that he would soon come up to him ; 
 that he (Crichton) at length came to the public road 
 near the Bt'idge of Allan, where he determined to 
 turn back and search for his dog; that, when 
 returning, he saw the dog on the road with a few 
 sheep, which he went to examine, and intended to 
 leave them at the Bridge of Allan in charge of the 
 innkeeper, to be given to the owner, whoever he 
 might be, when he was taken into custody. This 
 version of his conduct was so plausible that the 
 sheriff, notwithstanding the evidence of the two 
 shepherds, had some difiBculty in committing the 
 accused. He, however, did so, and the case was 
 reported, as is usual in important eases, to the 
 Crown lawyers in Edinburgh for instructions. A 
 
THE CAITINE THIEF. ■ 111 
 
 mmunication was received in a few days from 
 e Crown agent, bearing that the evidence seemed 
 sufficient, and directiilg that the accused should 
 set at liberty. 
 
 Crichton, on being liberated from prison, caused 
 3 agent to address a letter to the tenant of Tilli- 
 ultry farm, threatening an action for reparation, 
 I account of his apprehension -and imprisonment ; 
 d, emboldened by success in his acquittal, he re- 
 ived again to try his hand on the Ochil flocks, 
 e thought that the owners, intimidated by his 
 reatened action, and despairing of a conviction 
 ter what had taken place, would not trouble 
 emselves further in sending persons to watch the 
 Us. He accordingly renewed his visits. The store- 
 asters of the Ochils, however, so far from relax- 
 y, redoubled their exertions. They ascertained 
 at the sheep were generally missed about the 
 ne of, or immediately before, the Dumfries and 
 )ckerbie markets. Before the first Lockerbie 
 irket, therefore, which took place in a few weeks 
 ;er Crichton's liberation, they resolved to adopt 
 ery means in their power to procure proper 
 
112 THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 evidence of any theft that might occur. They saw 
 clearly that the two watchers had acted rather pre- 
 cipitately in pouncing upon Crichton at the Bridge 
 of Allan, before he had actually taken possession of 
 the sheep, or driven them some distance before 
 him on the road. They accordingly secured the 
 services of an able detective at Stirling to watch 
 when Crichton came up. They did the same thing 
 at Falkirk and Beattock, taking care at the same 
 time to watch on the hills as formerly, but with stiU 
 greater privacy. The watchers were clothed in 
 green dresses of the colour of the grass, and caps 
 of the same description, for the purpose of aiding 
 their concealment. Two watchers so clothed, who 
 were concealed among some stunted brushwood on 
 the hill of Menstrie, observed, one morning between 
 two and three o'clock, a parcel of upwards of thirty 
 sheep driven by the identical dog of Crichton 
 which the Tillicoultry shepherds had formerly de- 
 tected. He was driving the sheep westward, as 
 before. One of the watchers having remained to 
 follow at a distance, and watch the progress of the 
 dog and sheep, the other descended the hill to 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 113 
 
 jnstrie village, from whence an express was sent 
 
 a pony to the detective at Stirling, informing 
 n of what had been discovered. The watcher who , 
 nained on the hill followed the sheep to Demiet 
 11, but did not observe either Crichton or any 
 ler person in front of the drove. It would seem 
 it Crichton had determined to avoid being seen 
 
 the hill near to the sheep, and, trusting to the 
 j's admirable training and sagacity, he kept a 
 tnber of miles ahead, while the dog drove the 
 !ep before him, and tracked with great precision 
 
 scent the course that his master took, without 
 dating from it. The dog and sheep, after coming 
 Demiet, went round the shoulder of the hill, and 
 erged on the public road, as formerly, near to 
 : junction of the Perth and Callender roads. The 
 tcher, however, who now approached the sheep 
 i dog, could not, as formerly, perceive the dog's 
 ster near the sheep. . The dog, however, drove 
 m before him along the road towards Stirling, 
 
 watcher following at a considerable distance, 
 being now sbf o'clock in the morning, and it 
 ng impossible to avoid crossing the bridge at 
 
114 THE CANrNE THIEF. 
 
 Stirling with the sheep, and passing through the 
 town, it was evident that the dog could hardly 
 drive the sheep alone through the streets of a large 
 town. Accordingly the watcher, who knew Crichton 
 by sight, saw him watching for the dog at the end 
 of the bridge, and on the drove coming up he took 
 possession of it, and proceeded to drive the sheep 
 through the town of Stirling. 
 
 The Stirling detective, along with another trusty 
 man whom he employed, had from several points 
 watched the movements of the dog, and sheep, and 
 of Crichton, from the time they left the hills and 
 came upon the public road, and they were quite 
 prepared to procure the evidence required. The 
 person whom the detective employed, was a man 
 engaged to assist the fleshers at the Stirling 
 slaughter-house. He had been a number of years 
 a shepherd at Alva, and knew all the sheep-marks 
 on the different farms in that neighbourhood. He 
 also was an acquaintance of Crichton, whom he had 
 often met at Doune and other markets. The detec- 
 tive got himself dressed in the habit of a small 
 country farmer, or farm-overseer, and by arrange- 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 115 
 
 it waited in a small inn at the foot of Broad 
 eet, while the employee was to make up to 
 chton as if by accident, and to bring the detec- 
 i to him as a customer. The employee accord- 
 ly walked along the street, passed the sheep, 
 I noticing Crichton as if by accident, after the 
 al salutations, complimented him on his nice 
 ve, and asked him the news from the north. He 
 [1 said, "By the by, there was a man at the 
 tghter-house about an hour ago, like a country 
 ner, who said something about his wanting a few 
 ep, if he has not left the town perhaps you and 
 might deal. He was at Shaw's Inn ; I think he 
 I he came from Campsie. He did not say what 
 1 of sheep he wanted, but if you like I will go 
 'n and get him to come up if he is not gone 
 y." Crichton, delighted at the idea of getting 
 ; of his drove without further trouble, at once 
 roved of the suggestion and promised the other 
 re for his trouble. The latter went off accord- 
 y, and brought the alleged Campsie farmer up 
 where Crichton waited with his drove. The 
 ler, aided by his assistant the slaughter-house 
 
116 THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 employee, examined the whole stock minutely, the 
 latter noticing carefully the marks all the while, and 
 ascertaining that they belonged to the farms of Alva 
 and Menstrie. The pseudo farmer at length said 
 that what he wanted was gimmers (two year old 
 ewes,) but he observed there were only two in the 
 drove. He said he would have given him an excel- 
 lent price for the whole drove had they been all 
 gimmers. They therefore parted, the detective as 
 well as his assistant having noted carefully the ear- 
 marks ^nd face-burns of the different sheep. 
 
 Crichton now drove the sheep through Stirling, 
 and proceeded along the road towards Palkirk with- 
 out interruption. He observed, in a park close to 
 the road-side near Falkirk, a man, apparently a 
 country farmer, with his coat off and a spade in his 
 hand, and a younger man in a coarser dress also 
 without his coat, and a pick in his hand. The latter 
 seemed the servant of the former, and they both 
 appeared to be engaged clearing an open drain or 
 sewer close to the road. The farmer, after saluting 
 Crichton in the ordinary way, asked if he was 
 going far south, to which he replied he was going to 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 117 
 
 3 Lockerbie market. The farmer asked him if he 
 )uld sell any of his drove here, and if he had any 
 e-hogs in the lot. He said he would sell to any 
 rson, but that he had only four hogs, and of these 
 ly two were ewes. He (the farmer) said he wanted 
 score, otherwise he might have dealt with him. 
 3 examined the drove, and complimented him on 
 e good quality of the different animals. He took 
 ecial notice of the marks, which he observed were 
 . of two kinds. After some other indifferent con- 
 rsation, Crichton moved on with his drove. The 
 pposed farmer was no other than the Falkirk 
 tective, and the man supposed to be his servant 
 is his assistant or concurrent. The latter knew 
 ■ichton well by sight from having often seen him 
 ,Palkirk and Stirling markets, though Crichton 
 d not recognise him. Crichton little thought how 
 any traps had been laid for him. The same even- 
 g the detective at Stirling arrived in Falkirk, and 
 ined by the one there and his assistant, all three 
 irted at an early hour in the morning, and over- 
 king Crichton some mUes to the north of Beattock, 
 ok him into custody. The Stirling detective told 
 
] 18 THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 him that he liked his company so much when he 
 last saw him that he wished to cultivate his further 
 acquaintance, and the Falkirk detective asked him 
 ironically if he had not yet got a score of hogs for 
 him. Nothing could exceed the chagrin and con- 
 sternation of Crichton when he saw how completely 
 he had been circumvented and entrapped. When 
 he was shewn the warrant of a justice of the peace 
 for apprehending and for conveying him to Dum- 
 fries, and the handcuffs were put on him, his bold 
 demeanour entirely forsook him. He was certainly- 
 clever and not without quickness of apprehension. 
 His present daring conduct, therefore, after the 
 former proceedings seems inexplicable. Yet it is 
 what often occurs in the history of crime. When 
 a criminal once defeats a prosecution and escapes 
 conviction, he generally becomes bold and daring, 
 and not unfrequently acts so as to place himself 
 in the very grasp of criminal authority. This would 
 seem to be the origin of the apothegm, " Quern 
 Deus vult perdere prius dementat" — " Whom God 
 wishes to destroy he first renders mad." One 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 119 
 
 ould certainly suppose that Crichton's sanity of 
 lind had on this occasion wholly forsaken him. 
 The two detectives from Stirlingshire being joined 
 f him at Beattock, they got the sheep placed in a 
 irk, and conveyed their prisoner to Dumfries, 
 here he was dealt with by the procurator-fiscal 
 ad sheriff, and, after a remand and full precogni- 
 on, taken partly in Stirlingshire and partly in 
 •umfriesshire, he was finally examined and com- 
 litted for trial. In Scotland, when a party com- 
 lits a theft in one county, and brings the stolen 
 Sects into another, it is optional to have him 
 ommitted and tried either in the county where 
 de effects were originally taken possession of by 
 lie accused, or in any other county into which he 
 as brought them. In this case, therefore, the 
 ffects having been brought to Dumfriesshire, it 
 ras determined to have the case disposed of there, 
 nd it was set down for trial at the Dumfries 
 lircuit Court of Justiciary. 
 The case excited great interest throughout the 
 istrict, not more on account of Crichton being 
 
120 THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 famed as a notorious and dexterous sheep-stealer, 
 than the great celebrity of his dog for its sagacity 
 and wonderful exploits. It was an object of much 
 curiosity, and considered one of the wonders of the 
 county. It was known to track its master, and 
 drive sheep after him, when he was five or six 
 miles distant, and had, it was understood, enabled 
 the master to effect many thefts with impunity. 
 Hence crowds came to see so famous an animal. 
 On the indictment being read charging the prisoner 
 with the theft from Alva and Menstrie farms, he 
 pleaded not guilty, and the trial proceeded accord- 
 ingly. The proof of guilt was clear and decisive. 
 The two watchers proved having seen the dog driv- 
 ing the sheep along the hills from Menstrie, and 
 tracing them to Stirling Bridge. They identified 
 the dog, which they knew as that of the prisoner. 
 They likewise swore to having seen the sheep taken 
 possession of by the prisoner, whom they knew to 
 be Crichton, and now identified at the bar. They 
 also swore to the sheep so taken being part of the 
 stock of Alva and Menstrie farms. The Stirling 
 detective and his concurrent proved the marks of 
 
THE CANINE THIEF. 121 
 
 the sheep, and that the prisoner had them in his 
 possession, and was driving them on , the streets of 
 Stirling, and had oifered them for sale. The con- 
 current also proved that they were part of the stock 
 of Alva and Menstrie. Similar evidence was given 
 by the detective at Falkirk and his concurrent. 
 Intense interest was excited in a crowded court 
 when the dog was brought in to be identified as 
 the dog that drove the sheep, and as belonging to 
 the prisoner. The case was so clearly established 
 that, after a short address from the advocate- 
 depute, and a short but effective charge from the 
 judge, (the prisoner's counsel declining to say any- 
 thing,) the jury, without leaving their seats, re- 
 turned a unanimous verdict of guilty against the 
 prisoner. The prisoner was condemned to be 
 hanged, and was accordingly executed at Dumfries 
 the following month. 
 
 The public at large were satisfied that Crichton 
 had met with his just deserts ; but immediately 
 after the execution an act was perpetrated by some 
 inferior parties connected with the prison or burgh 
 that created general indignation. The poor dog, 
 
122 THE CANINE THIEF. 
 
 SO faithful to his master's behests, was hanged in 
 
 the court of the prison, as if the poor, dumb animal 
 
 could know to whom the sheep belonged, which, 
 
 from fidelity to his master, he removed from their 
 
 owners. Had the occurrence taken place some years 
 
 later, the parties engaged in this reckless piece of 
 
 cruelty might have been smartly punished under 
 
 Mr Martin's Act.* 
 
 * The above narrative is substantially true. The thefts, trial, 
 and execution took place about si.\ty years ago, and Crichton 
 was the real name of the convict who was executed at Dumfries, 
 as stated. The exploits of the dog excited great curiosity ; and 
 the poor animal was barbarously destroyed, as mentioned. 
 
THE PIRATE. 
 
 Between thirty and forty years ago, the merchajit 
 ship Hecla of London sailed from Quebec for the 
 Thames. She was ship-rigged, of 800 tons burden, 
 a substantial and commodious craft with great 
 breadth of beam, in which ample capacity was more 
 studied in the construction than velocity in sailing, 
 and she was better adapted for stowing a large cargo, 
 and comfortably accommodating passengers than 
 making quick voyages. A considerable part of her 
 was occupied with a cargo of flour, grain, and hides, 
 and the remainder was engaged by the government 
 to convey between thirty and forty soldiers of the 
 regiment of infantry, in charge of a lieutenant, 
 
124 THE PIE ATE. 
 
 with a dozen of artillerymen, being a remnant whom 
 a transport lately dispatched to England could not 
 accommodate, and also a quantity of government 
 stores. There were twelve cabin passengers, and 
 a crew of about thirty seamen. The weather was 
 fine, and being at a season when the St Lawrence 
 with its wooded banks and islands was peculiarly 
 attractive, they weighed anchor in high spirits, and 
 glided down the river with a gentle breeze, as if 
 moving through fairy-land. At length they entered 
 the Gulf of St Lawrence, exhibiting an expanse of 
 water second only to the ocean in extent. Here a 
 dead calm retarded their progress for some days. 
 This afibrded the opportunity to four of the cabin 
 passengers, who were determined sportsmen and 
 dexterous hands at the fowling-piece and rifle, to 
 amuse themselves and greatly improve the supplies 
 of the ship's larder. Having' first employed some 
 time in an open boat, large quantities of wild duck, 
 widgeon, wild geese, and other aquatic fowls were 
 bagged. They next landed on the shores and one 
 or two islands, where they killed a number of deer, 
 racoons, wUd turkeys, and partridges. By the time 
 
THE PIKATE. 125 
 
 the breeze sprung up, at the end of three days, the 
 ship's larder was filled ' to overflowing with game 
 sufficient to supply the table of the first cabin dur- 
 ing the whole voyage. 
 
 A breeze having at length sprung up from the 
 north-west, the Hecla got under way and com- 
 menced to beat down the gulf, making considerable 
 progress, though the wind was not fair. In a. few 
 days they passed the island of Anticosti on their 
 left, and bade adieu to the Canadian shores. The 
 ssme steady breeze continuing, nothing new occurred 
 for nearly a week. They passed between Newfound- 
 land and Cape Breton, and were at length fairly 
 ushered into the broad Atlantic, steering a point or 
 two to the south to catch the gulf stream. When 
 about a hundred and fifty miles to the west of Cape 
 Breton, the captain and some of the cabin passengers 
 were amusing themselves on the quarter-deck look- 
 ing through a' powerful Dolland spy-glass belonging 
 to the ship. They noticed a far way off a small 
 speck on the southern horizon, Vehich appeared to 
 be increasing in size, and which the captain's ex- 
 perienced eye soon discovered to be a sail. On its 
 
126 THE PIEATE. 
 
 approaching a few miles nearer, the captain, on 
 again looking towards it, became extremely sus- 
 picious of its character from its movements. It did 
 not seem to be steering for Europe, nor yet for the 
 American coast, but to be pointing directly towards 
 his ship, or at right angles to its course. He further 
 observed that it was of a sharp build, fitted to sail 
 with speed, and having crowded sails was making 
 great way. The master therefore did not lose a 
 moment in holding a council with his two mates, 
 also with the lieutenant in command of the infantry 
 soldiers, and the sergeant of artillery in charge of 
 the artillerymen. Two of the most intelligent of 
 the cabin passengers were likewise requested to 
 attend. The master, who was a man of great ex- 
 perience and energy, informed them of what he saw, 
 and strongly suspected in regard to the approach- 
 ing sail. He said from her build, rig, and general 
 appearance, and above all from the course in which 
 she was sailing — right upon the Hecla — he could 
 not doubt that she intended mischief. He therefore 
 suggested, that for their own safety as well as that 
 of the vessel and cargo, they should use their utmost 
 
THE PIKATE. 127 
 
 exertions to aid him in repelling the attack which 
 he had no doubt would be made. He said his ship 
 had only one swivel — a nine-pounder, on the fore- 
 castle, but he observed that part of the government 
 stores included two pieces of ordnance — a twenty- 
 four and a twelve-pounder, which were stowed on 
 deck. He suggested that these should be imme- 
 diately placed in a proper position on deck, and 
 if there was powder and shot among the government 
 stores on board, that they should be immediately 
 got up on deck, and the two guns charged. The 
 sergeant told him there was an ample supply of 
 powder and shot on board, both grape and round 
 shot, and that he would inmiediately get the two 
 guns placed in position near the centre of the ship, 
 one on each side of the mainmast. The artillerymen 
 were therefore immediately set to work, and in a 
 very short time the guns were placed in position and 
 fully charged, as was also the swivel. The captain 
 next addressed himself to the lieutenant in com- 
 mand of the infantry, suggesting that his men 
 should have their muskets all loaded and ready to 
 fire on the crew of the pirate at the proper time. 
 
1 28 THE PIEATE. 
 
 The lieutenant heartily assented, and said that 
 besides their own muskets which each soldier had 
 in his custody, there were 100 stand of muskets in 
 the government stores on board, and a large supply 
 of ball cartridge. He would therefore, he mentioned, 
 give each of his men, in addition to his own musket, 
 another one from the store, so that each could fire 
 off two muskets. He would thereafter have about 
 sixty muskets still remaining in the store, which 
 could, with a corresponding supply of ball cartridges, 
 be distributed among such of the crew and passen- 
 gers as were able to use them. This was speedily 
 accomplished. The muskets and cartridges were 
 unpacked and got on deck, and the soldiers supplied 
 each with an additional musket and twelve roimds 
 of baU cartridge. The remainder of the muskets 
 were given to the cabin passengers and about two- 
 thirds of the crew, the remaining third being in 
 charge of the ship and sails. The four sportsmen 
 who had so effectually stocked the larder, preferred 
 their own rifles and fowling pieces, but were amply 
 s\ipplied with powder. In this way there were 
 thirty-seven soldiers, twenty seamen, and twelve 
 
THE PIKATE. 129 
 
 passengers supplied each with two loaded muskets 
 and twelve rounds of ball cartridge, and of large 
 guns there were in charge of the artillerymen, a 
 twenty-four, a twelve, and a nine-pounder cannon, 
 fully loaded with grape-shot. Everything was there- 
 fore prepared to give the pirates a warm reception. 
 At the outset of these preparations, the captain 
 adopted the judicious plan of concealing as much 
 as possible from the pirates his condition of de- 
 fence, and of inducing them to believe that there 
 was no ordnance, and very few small -arms, on 
 board the Hecla. With this view, he erected an 
 awning amidships, where the artillerymen were 
 placing the two large guns, so as completely to 
 conceal both guns and men. The swivel was in 
 like manner concealed by some bales of goods being 
 placed near it, and a tarpaulin thrown over the 
 whole. It was next suggested by the captain that 
 the soldiers should all doff their coats, so as to 
 conceal their military uniforms, which injunction 
 was carefully attended to, a circumstance which 
 created no inconvenience, from the fineness of the 
 weather. The captain made another important sug- 
 
130 THE PIRATE. 
 
 gestion, which the parties consulted, also agreed to 
 ■ adopt. This was, that a party should be assembled 
 on board the Hecla, as if for the purpose of board- 
 ing the pirate, and that they should deport them- 
 selves in such a way as to induce the belief on the 
 part of the piratical crew that boarding was their 
 intention, and that they should go through the 
 process of lowering one of the boats, as if to be 
 used for the purpose. Where a crew is numerous, 
 but without ordnance or other fire-arms, or slen- 
 derly provided with them, it is the usual, and often 
 the only possible resource, to board the vessel of 
 their opponent. To present th^ appearance of being 
 about to follow this course was, therefore, part of 
 the captain's scheme, to induce the belief that they 
 were wholly helpless as regarded fixe-arms. Some 
 dozens of the crew and passengers were accordingly 
 stationed on the larboard side of the ship. They 
 were provided, some with cutlasses, others with 
 swords, a few with carving-knives and miscellaneous 
 weapons. These arrangements being completed, the 
 master gave orders to direct the vessel's course due 
 north instead of east, so as to give the Hecla the 
 
THE PIEATE. 131 
 
 appearance of attempting to make her escape from 
 the pirate, and thereby affording another indication 
 that the former was without the means of defence. 
 
 These arrangements being all completed, the 
 pirate, which made nearly double the way of the 
 Hecla, was now only about three miles distant. 
 She was barque-rigged, apparently about four hun- 
 dred tons burden, and seemed to have a numerous 
 crew for her size — numbering, probably, between 
 forty and fifty men. She had now hoisted the 
 flag of the Chilian Republic, — the unmistakeable 
 ensign of nearly all the pirates in those seas. She 
 was gaining fast on the Hecla, and in three- 
 quarters of an hour more, being only about a 
 furlong distant, she hailed her, demanding "Prom 
 whence and whither bound 1 " The master replied, 
 " From Quebec, for London ; " and in the same 
 breath asked, " Whence are you, and whither 
 bound?" "From Valparaiso," replied the pirate, 
 "and bound for hell;" and added,, "What cargo 
 have you got?" "Why do you ask?" said the 
 master of the Hecla ; " do you wish to buy provi- 
 sions?" "No," said the pirate; "but you must 
 
132 THE PIRATE. 
 
 surrender your ship and cargo, or I '11 blow you to 
 pieces." "No, I won't," said the captain of the 
 Hecla, in the most defiant tone ; " we will die first." 
 This was followed by a shot of grape from one of 
 the pirate's guns, which damaged part of the com- 
 panion of the Hecla, and slightly wounded one of 
 the seamen on the left shoulder. This was the 
 time for the pseudo boarding party to show them- 
 selves ; and accordingly, on a concerted signal they 
 immediately assembled on a conspicuous part of 
 the forecastle, flourishing their cutlasses, swords, 
 knives, &c., and another party at the same time 
 lowered and launched one of the Hecla's boats. 
 The pirates at once came to the conclusion that 
 the Hecla had no guns, though a very numerous 
 crew, and that they were determined, as a derniere 
 ressource, if possible to board and take the pirate 
 by dint of numbers. The pirates, therefore, did not 
 fire any more guns at present ; but the gun which 
 was discharged was immediately reloaded, and it 
 and other two guns, — all they were possessed of, 
 and which appeared not to exceed the calibre of 
 nine-pounders, — were kept pointed to the water, 
 
THE PIEATB. 133 
 
 waiting till the boardiiig-boat of the Hecla should 
 come alongside the barque, when, by taking a pro- 
 per aim, they felt confident of sinking her. The 
 whole hands on board the pirate were likewise 
 assembled in a dense cluster about the waist of 
 the vessel, on the larboard side, and all provided 
 with boarding -pikes, thinking doubtless that the 
 boarding would for certain be attempted there; 
 and, in case the guns should fail to sink the boat, 
 that they would next repel the boarding. While 
 the whole hands on board the pirate were thus 
 employed, clustered in one dense mass, watching 
 till the boat would come round either end of the 
 Hecla to attack them, — both ships being only 
 about twenty yards apart, — the awning and other 
 obstructions pn the deck of the Hecla were re- 
 moved, and instantly the three heavy guns, with 
 a well-directed aim by the artillery-gunners, poured ^ 
 a broadside on the devoted crowd of pirates who, 
 one would suppose, had massed themselves on one 
 spot to be exposed to wholesale destruction. Simul- 
 taneously with the fire of the heavy guns, there 
 were poured into them with deadly effect seventy 
 
134 THE PIEATE. 
 
 shots from mustets, to which were instantly added 
 seventy other shots from the additional musket 
 supplied to each man. At so unexpected and fatal 
 an attack from the Hecla, the pirates utterpd loud 
 yells of terror and despair, and in a few seconds, on 
 the smoke clearing away, an appalHng scene pre- 
 sented itself. The three heavy guns, which were 
 loaded almost to the muzzle with grape-shot, and 
 aimed with perfect precision, actually ploughed three 
 broad avenues through the crowd of unfortunate 
 pirates placed so near them, and in so exposed a situ- 
 ation. The twenty-four-pounder was placed right 
 opposite to the pirate's mainmast, and after deal- 
 ing destruction to a number of the hands crowded 
 near the mast, the shot hit the mast and broke it 
 about two feet from the deck. It fell over, accord- 
 ingly, in a half-broken state, with its yards and 
 sails, to the one side of the ship, destroying the 
 ship's trimming, and impeding her sailing. The 
 crew of the pirate were forty-six in number. Of 
 these, eighteen were shot dead by the first -broadside 
 of the Hecla, and as many more severely wounded, 
 ten of them mortally, so -that only ten hands re- 
 
THE PIEATE. 135 
 
 mained to work the ship. They therefore thought 
 of nothing now but how to make their escape. 
 The carpenter, though wounded, and another sur- 
 vivor, were attempting with hatchets to cut away 
 the mainmast, when a ball from the rifle of one 
 of the four sportsmen on board the Hecla shot 
 the carpenter dead. Another hand having taken 
 up the carpenter's hatchet, at length managed, with 
 the assistance of the other man, to cut away the 
 mainmast; but by the time it was partially got 
 overboard, both men were severely wounded by 
 musket-shots from the Hecla. Another hand who 
 took the wheel, and several who ascended the 
 shrouds to adjust the sails, were all hit and severely 
 wounded. 
 
 The Hecla had now got all her guns reloaded, 
 and was prepared to give as effective a broadside 
 as the first ; but after fully reconnoitering the con- 
 dition of the pirate, and observing that the crew 
 were in a state next to annihilation, the captain 
 called on them instantly to surrender, or that he 
 would sink the barque. The surviving pirates, 
 . however, knew the alternatives proposed was offer- 
 
136 THE PIEATE. 
 
 ing a mere choice of deaths. They were aware 
 that, if captured and carried to England, they would 
 be hanged as pirates; while, should they fail to 
 make their escape from the Hecla, they would be 
 shot or sunk; and, on the other hand, if by any 
 chance they could make their escape, they would 
 be saved. They therefore firmly resolved to turn 
 their back to the vsdnd's eye, and, with what sails 
 they could still command, if possible make their 
 escape. They therefore gave a decided refusal to 
 the summons to surrender. Observing that the 
 man at the wheel was constantly selected for the 
 shots from the small-arms, of the Hecla, they piled 
 bales of goods and other articles round the wheel 
 for his protection. They also got four of the most 
 active of the survivors to run up the ratlines with 
 the utmost speed to adjust the sails. But by the 
 time this was only partially effected, all four were 
 hit and compelled to descend, one of them falling 
 mortally wounded before he reached the deck. In 
 their present condition, therefore, the pirates found 
 that their speed of sailing was hardly equal to that 
 of the Hecla. The master of the latter now formed 
 
THE PIRATE. 137 
 
 the resolution of boarding the enemy's barque in 
 reaUty, which he thought their crippled state would 
 enable him to effect without much danger. He 
 accordingly got a boat launched, and manned with 
 three dozen of picked men from the soldiers, artil- 
 lerymen, and crew, and from a few volunteers of 
 the cabin-passengers. Each of these was armed 
 with a cutlass or sword, a pistol, and a revolver. 
 The boat, which was in command of the first mate, 
 was directed to remain close at the stern of the 
 Heda until a broadside of the large and small guns 
 should be given to the pirate, and immediately 
 thereafter to make for the larboard of the pirate's 
 waist, and efiect a boarding before the confusion 
 consequent on the broadside should terminate. A 
 broadside was now 'given with even more efiect 
 than formerly, the vessels being nearer to each 
 other. The boarding party immediately made for 
 the larboard side of the barque, as arranged, and, 
 after a feeble resistance, and the exchange of a few 
 pistol-shots, inflicting one or two slight wounds, 
 succeeded in boarding the barque, and, overpower- 
 ing the seven or eight who, alone of the whole 
 
138 THE PIRATE. 
 
 crew, remained effective, they disarmed and bound 
 them. Ou examining the pirate's decks, a fearful 
 sight presented itself. To the eighteen who were 
 killed outright by the first broadside, eight more 
 were since added who died of their wounds, or 
 were killed by the fire of the Hecla, and the whole 
 still lay on deck, as they had originally fallen, 
 in pools of blood and gore. Ten or a dozen lay 
 on deck badly woimded, and many of them in a 
 dying state. Among the dead was the captain, 
 who had been mortally wounded by the first broad- 
 side, and had since died. The first mate also lay 
 dead. The second mate survived, and was one of 
 the prisoners. The second broadside completely 
 annihilated the mizzenmast, which went by the 
 board ; and the pirate, which a few hours ago was 
 a weU-rigged, tidy craft, now lay a dismantled 
 hulk, with only the foremast remaining. The dead 
 bodies being consigned to the deep, and the wounds 
 of the survivors being dressed, and their wants at- 
 tended to, the prisoners were transferred to the 
 Hecla. A jurymast was fitted up in the pirate, 
 which, with the foremast, carried sufficient sail to 
 
THE PIEATE. 1 39 
 
 bring her to England. Ten of the crew of the 
 Hecla were placed on board the pirate to navigate 
 her, and both vessels sailed to England in company. 
 
 A large amount of gold and silver specie was 
 found on board the pirate ; also a prodigious quan- 
 tity of silver-plate of every description, — doubtless 
 the plunder of many vessels, as well as of houses 
 on shore. 
 
 On reaching England, judicial proceedings were 
 instituted against the pirates. The vessel was con- 
 demned as piratical, and the surviving pirates being 
 brought to trial, were found guilty of piracy on the 
 high seas, and condemned to death. Eour were 
 executed, but after due inquiry into antecedents, 
 the sentence of the remainder was commuted to 
 banishment for life. 
 
 It is impossible not to admire the great ingenuity 
 and wonderful tack of the captain of the Hecla, in 
 so completely outwitting the pirates, whereby a 
 most formidable, well-armed, and dangerous enemy 
 was not only placed entirely ia his power, but the 
 lives of his own men and aU bloodshed on their 
 part, as well as his ship,' completely saved. 
 
THE RING AND CAP. 
 
 A GEEAT proportion of burglaries have been traced 
 to the perpetrators by means of some relic left in- 
 cautiously behind them, or some foot-priats or other 
 signs forming links in the chain of circumstantial 
 evidence. 
 
 Early one morning notice was sent to a police 
 station in Liverpool that the premises of Messrs 
 
 H & Co., an American house in Street, 
 
 had been broken into, and that some merchandise 
 and a considerable sum of money had been stolen. 
 
 Inspector D , an able and sharp detective, was 
 
 instantly on the spot. The articles stolen were a 
 box of dollars of the value of £200, twenty pounds 
 
THE EING AND CAP. 141 
 
 weight of cigars, and money in bank-notes and gold to 
 the amount of £220. An entrance had been effected 
 to H & Co.'s premises from the floor imme- 
 diately above them, which had been formerly occu- 
 pied as a warehouse by another company, but was 
 then empty. The burglars cut a hole through the 
 
 floor and descended by a rope. Inspector D 
 
 first examined narrowly the floor above, where were 
 several footmarks, and which, though somewhat 
 indistinct, were sufficient to shew that the foot- 
 marks were of different lengths, and therefore, that 
 at least two persons were engaged in the operations. 
 The money was taken from a small desk which they 
 had forced open, but it would seem that they must 
 have been scared by some noise, and, in the fear of 
 being discovered, had made a sudden retreat. They 
 left nearly the half of the money in the desk with- 
 out removing it. They also took only one box of 
 dollars, though another stood beside it which they 
 must have observed and might have taken at the 
 same time. Other signs of a hurried retreat were, 
 that a ring and a foraging cap were dropped on the 
 floor. The ring was probably taken off his finger 
 
142 THE KING AND CAP. 
 
 by one of the parties when in the act of hoisting 
 himself up by the rope to the floor above, when 
 taking their departure from the premises. The 
 foraging cap must have been dropped at the same 
 time. Every part of the cap was examined, outside 
 and in, but no name or initials were found on it. 
 It was, however, somewhat peculiar. It was of a 
 bright green colour, though parts of it were much 
 faded. An unusually large button on the top was 
 of a blue coloui", and the ribbons for fastening under 
 the chin were of a bright purple. The leather shade 
 in front of it was square and unusually peaked at 
 the corners. In forcing the desk from which the 
 money was abstracted, the burglars seeni to have, 
 in the first place, tried to gain admission by cutting 
 the wood near the lock, and in doing so left about 
 a quarter of an inch of the point of a knife in the 
 wood. This piece of the knife was taken possession 
 
 of by Mr D , and wrapped up along with the 
 
 ring and foraging cap, but no other memorial of the 
 thieves could be found on the premises. On exa- 
 mining the ring it proved to be a diamond ring of 
 great value. There were heads of an antique style 
 
THE RING AND CAP. 143 
 
 carved on either side of the hoop, and inside were 
 the initials F. S. W. 
 
 The first essay to discover the culprits was made 
 by means of the foraging cap. It was thought that 
 some of the police force might recognise the cap on 
 account of its colour, and be able to identify the 
 owner. Two of them accordingly, whose beats were 
 near the docks, recognised the cap as worn by a man 
 whom they had seen several times issuing from a 
 lane near the docks. He was usually in the garb of 
 a seaman, and smartly dressed with new clothes. 
 One of them had also seen him with different clothes 
 from that of a seaman, but though they remem- 
 bered his general appearance, both of them had 
 doubts if they could be certain of recognising him 
 without the green cap. They were directed to keep 
 a look-out, however, but on no account to arrest him 
 or make up to him unless they were sure of their man, 
 and even then they were enjoined to follow him at a 
 distance and ascertain where he resided. One of them 
 saw a man, whom he took to be he that was sought 
 for, enter a river steamer one day, but neither of 
 them could thereafter see him or any one like him. 
 
14.4 THE EING AND CAP. 
 
 After the lapse of ten days, inspector D , as 
 
 his next course,, fell upon the plan of advertisiag for 
 the owner of the ring. He represented it as found 
 on the street, selecting a street between that in 
 
 which Messrs H & Co.'s place of business was 
 
 situated and the docks, so as to lead the owner to 
 suppose that he must have dropped it on his way 
 
 home after getting out of H & Co.'s premises. 
 
 The advertisement ran thus : — "Found in Street 
 
 a valuable diamond ring with certain initial letters 
 thereon. It wUl be restored to the owner on his 
 calliDg at the shop of & Co., Lord Street, to- 
 morrow or next day between twelve and one o'clock, 
 identifying the same, and paying the charge for 
 advertising and other expenses." 
 
 Next day at the appointed hour Inspector D 
 
 was at the shop mentioned, wearing a moustache and 
 other disguises, and habited as a smartly- dressed 
 shopman. In a short time a dashingly-dressed lady 
 called and asked for the ring, which she said was 
 hers, and she gave the true initials (F. S. W.) and 
 
 otherwise described it accurately. Mr D at 
 
 once recognised her as Jess Holway, a lady of the 
 
THE filNG AND CAP. 145 
 
 town, though she did not recognise him. He said 
 to her, " Oh, I 'm sorry I left the ring at home, or 
 you might have got it, but if you leave the address 
 I can send it to-morrow. But," said he, "it is a 
 gentleman's ring, surely you don't wear it, — perhaps 
 it belongs to your husband. If so, I should like to 
 deliver it into his own hands, as it is very valuable." 
 She replied, "Oh yes, it belongs to my husband. 
 He's from home to-day, but will return late this 
 evening or to-morrow morning." "You can just 
 
 leave the address then," replied Mr D , " and to 
 
 save your calling again I will send the ring to- 
 morrow by one of the lads, who will get your hus- 
 band's receipt for its delivery. There will be a few 
 shillings to pay for advertising and a trifle for por- 
 terage, which can be paid at the same time." She 
 then gave the address of her husband, " Mr William 
 
 Hood, No. 41 Lane." Mr D then said 
 
 in an indifferent manner, as if the remark had been 
 accidental, " Oh yes, I think I have seen you pass 
 down this street in "company with a gentleman who 
 was probably your husband ; I think he wore a 
 green foraging cap." " Oh no,'' said the lady, " that 
 
146 THE EING AND CAP. 
 
 was not my husband, that was Jack Taylor, an 
 intimate friend of his, who generally resides with 
 us. He lives with us at present, but is gone with 
 my husband to the country, and will return along 
 
 with him." Mr D had thus acquired some 
 
 most important information. He had not only got 
 the name of the owner of the ring, but that of the 
 owner of the cap, and had also got the address of 
 both. He was therefore determined to lose no time 
 in following up the advantage he had obtained. 
 
 Having doffed his assumed disguise, Mr D 
 
 dressed himself in a plain suit and went direct to 
 
 Lane, in which resided Jess Holway and her 
 
 pseudo husband Bill Hood, and their friend Jack 
 Taylor. He called upon a tavern-keeper whom he 
 knew, and on whom he could depend, who lived 
 nearly opposite the residence of the above parties* 
 The tavern-keeper knew well both Hood and Taylor, 
 who were frequently in his house. He said' that 
 the girl Holway and Hood lived together as man 
 and wife, though all the neighbourhood knew her 
 to be a street-walker, and in Hood's absence she 
 
THE EING AND CAP. 147 
 
 cohabited with Taylor. It is a remarkable circum- 
 stance in the history of crime that a majority of the 
 most determined thieves and burglars have female 
 companions whom they keep and support, but who 
 at the same time cohabit with other men according 
 as it suits the convenience of their purse or their 
 Fancy. The tavern-keeper said that both Hood and 
 Taylor bore a bad character, and were often sus- 
 pected of nefarious proceedings. He identified the 
 ring at once as Hood'^, having often seen it on his 
 finger, and having been permitted by him to examine 
 it, and he knew the engraved letters on the inside. 
 He recognised the green cap as Taylor's, and knew 
 it at once when he saw it. These facts were so 
 
 important that D resolved next day to appre- 
 
 tiend Hood and Taylor and to search their premises 
 for the stolen property. 
 Next afternoon the constable, within whose beat 
 
 Lane was situated, sent a message to D 
 
 nforming him that Hood and Taylor had returned 
 
 iiome. D , who was waiting the message, was 
 
 it once in attendance with two active oflficers. They 
 
148 THE RING AND CAP. 
 
 found the two men sought for over a bottle of wine. 
 On stating the object of the visit, both seemed 
 greatly disconcerted and alarmed, not having the 
 slightest idea that their proceedings were known or 
 suspected by anybody. They in words stoutly 
 denied all knowledge of the robbery, while their 
 manner and alarmed looks wholly betrayed them. 
 On their being informed that their premises were 
 to be searched they shewed the greatest reluctance 
 to permit it, saying that there was no authority for 
 such a proceeding, and that the officers had no right 
 to turn over their property in such a manner. 
 
 D said his instructions were peremptory on the 
 
 subject. The search therefore proceeded, a police 
 officer being left to watch at the door in case of an 
 exit. On entering the dressing-room of the lady' 
 the soi disant Mrs Hood, they found a vast pro- 
 fusion of valuable trinkets and ornaments of dress 
 of every description. These, however, being appa- 
 rently in use, and there being no evidence that they 
 were stolen, were left untouched. On entering 
 Hood's bedroom, there was found in a press a 
 
THE EING AND CAP. 149 
 
 number of implements used for housebreaking, 
 embracing crowbars of diiferent sizes, screw-drivers, 
 pincers, skeleton keys, implements for picking locks, 
 &c. Among the same articles was found a knife 
 with the point broken off. On, afterwards trying 
 it with the fragment of a knife-point found in the 
 desk from which the money was abstracted in the 
 
 premises of H & Co., the two were found to 
 
 fit exactly, thereby proving that the knife found 
 in the press was the same that was employed in 
 opening the desk in question. In searching the 
 rest of the house there was found in the secret 
 drawer of a portable desk, which was not at first 
 noticed on opening it, the bank-notes and part of 
 
 the gold stolen from the premises of H & Co. 
 
 The notes all remained, but part of the gold seemed 
 to have been used or spent. Two of the notes which 
 
 were twenty pound ones were fully identified, H 
 
 & Co. having had a note of the numbers, which they 
 gave to the police. After a lengthened search, 
 which was just about to be abandoned without any 
 further discovery, there was found sunk in the 
 
150 THE EINCJ AND CAP. 
 
 bottom of the water-cistern by which the house was 
 supplied with water, the box of dollars taken from 
 
 H & Co.'s premises. In an unoccupied dark 
 
 closet, beneath a number of empty boxes, was found 
 a large box fiUed with valuable silver-plate, most of 
 it of antique patterns, and with family arms and 
 crests engraved thereon. These were evidently the 
 produce of thefts very recently made from private 
 houses. Having secured and sent away the differ- 
 ent articles which they found, the officers next 
 conveyed Hood and Taylor themselves to the 
 police - oflSce, and they were brought up for 
 examination before the sitting magistrate next 
 morning. 
 
 The testimony against the two prisoners before 
 the magistrate was so strong as utterly to amaze 
 the accused themselves. The proof of the owner- 
 ship of the diamond ring and the foraging cap, 
 and also the identification of the knife used to 
 cut the desk, by means of the broken fragment, 
 were achievements to them almost incomprehen- 
 sible. They were advised by their counsel to make 
 
THE EING AND CAP. 151 
 
 no statement before the magistrate, and so they 
 reserved their statements till their trial. 
 
 At their trial, they stood charged not only with 
 the burglary and theft from the premises of Messrs 
 
 H & Co., but also with the theft of a number 
 
 of pieces of valuable plate, part of what was found 
 in the box in Hood's house, important evidence 
 having been discovered as to it from parties from 
 
 whose houses it was taken. Inspector D and 
 
 the two officers proved having found the diamond 
 ring, foraging cap, and portion of the broken knife, 
 
 in H & Co.'s premises. The ownership of the 
 
 ring and cap was fully proved by the tavern- 
 keeper and several others, and the finding the 
 knife, from which the fragment was broken, in 
 
 Hood's bedroom, was proved by Inspector D 
 
 and several ofiicers. The same parties proved find- 
 ing, also in Hood's residence, the box of dollars 
 and the bank-notes. The ownership of the box 
 and part of the notes was proved by the partners 
 
 of H & Co. The theft of a portion of the 
 
 silver -plate from the difierent houses was fully 
 
152 THE KING AND CAP. 
 
 proved, a number of witnesses examined having 
 seen the prisoners lurking at night near the houses 
 from which the plate was taken. 
 
 The judge's charge was decidedly unfavourable to 
 the prisoners ; and the jury, after a short consulta- 
 tion, unanimously found them guilty of all the 
 charges. They were sentenced to transportation 
 for fourteen years. 
 
THE WHOLESALE FORGER. 
 
 The land-rights of Scotland have long held a 
 high place in public estimation, on account of the 
 thorough security which is afforded both to pur- 
 chasers and to lenders of money, by means of the 
 records of sasines. Yet experience has shewn that 
 the security even of that system may be to some 
 extent invaded by the devices of a fraudulent im- 
 postor. 
 
 Mr L , an old man who held a small farm 
 
 in a remote part of Roxburghshire, happened to 
 receive from a relative, who died abroad, a legacy 
 
 of £2000. Mr W. C , a law practitioner in 
 
 a town in Lanarkshire, who was acquainted with 
 
154 THE WHOLESALE EOKGEE. 
 
 the legatee, and had heard of his good fortune, 
 threw himself in his way, and the subject of the 
 legacy berog referred to, he offered his services 
 in procuring a good investment for the money. 
 He mentioned at the same time that a client of 
 his, a proprietor in Lanarkshire, required a loan 
 of £2000, and that if he chose he would apply to 
 him to take the money in loan, giving in return 
 the security of his estate, which, he said, was ample 
 for the sum in question. He also promised to 
 procure and send him the rental and aU other 
 particulars of the estate. 
 
 On returning home, Mr C sent the farmer a 
 
 description of the lands, with the names of the several 
 farms on the estate, and a statement of the yearly 
 rent of each, the aggregate amount of which was 
 £785 sterling. The farmer expressed himself highly 
 satisfied, and directed his new agent immediately to 
 get the bond prepared, infeftment passed, and th^ 
 
 instrument of sasine recorded. Mr C wrote 
 
 him in reply that' his instructions would imme- 
 diately be complied with, and the bond and sasine 
 sent him as soon as the latter was recorded. The 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOBGEE. 155 
 
 farmer immediately sent him the bank-deposit receipt 
 held by him for the £2000. In the course of a few 
 weeks he received in a packet a bond and disposi- 
 tion in security, subscribed by the person to whom 
 the money was to be lent, the instrument of sasine 
 following thereon, authenticated by Mr C him- 
 self as the notary who passed, the infeftment, and 
 bearing the certificate by the keeper of the register, 
 
 as duly recorded. Mr L placed the bond and 
 
 sasine in his strong box, thinking himself as secure 
 as if his money had been deposited in the Bank 
 of England. Several years passed. Mr L re- 
 ceived the interest of his money half-yearly , with 
 the utmost punctuality, and thought himself the 
 luckiest of men. 
 
 Mr C owned a small property near the 
 
 town whete his business was carried on, which 
 gave him a good position in society. He was 
 known to have considerable transactions in railways 
 and other joint-stock undertakings; and although 
 these do not always improve the fortunes of parties 
 
 engaged in them, yet, from 's own account 
 
 of his speculations, they were highly successful. 
 
156 THE "WHOLESALE POEGEE. 
 
 and had largely increased his fortune. While his 
 speculations proceeded, he frequently discounted 
 bills at different banking-houses, a circumstance 
 which caused no surprise, as his joint-stock trans- 
 actions, as well as his professional business ones, 
 were extensive and numerous, and the bills so pre- 
 sented were ia use to be regularly retired when 
 due. On one occasion he presented a bill for £200 
 
 to Mr M , a private bill-discounter in Glasgow. 
 
 It bore to be drawn by a party in Ayrshire on, and 
 accepted by, two highly respectable men, -one of 
 them a member of Parliament, in their capacity of 
 trustees for a deceased proprietor under his trust- 
 settlement. The bill bore to be blank indorsed by 
 
 the drawer to Mr C , who discounted it with 
 
 the private discounter referred to, and received the 
 money. The discounter's own law-agent happened 
 to call for him on other business just as the trans- 
 action was closed, and after C 's departure Mr 
 
 M mentioned casually to the former the bill 
 
 transaction, and, having the bill still in his hand, 
 he shewed it to him, remarking that the names were 
 substantial ones. His agent said there surely must 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 1 57 
 
 be some mistake; for he was pretty certain that 
 the trust mentioned was finally wound-up nearly 
 two years before. The discounter said that could 
 
 not be, and that C himself was a respectable 
 
 man, and a landed proprietor. On further reflec- 
 tion, however, the discounter judged it as well, as 
 the member of parliament referred to had an agent 
 in Glasgow, and as it could do no harm, to inquire 
 as to the trust being terminated. He accordingly 
 waited on the agent, and was told that the trust 
 was certainly terminated, and wound-up more than 
 eighteen months previously ; and he did not think 
 there could possibly be any new bill transactions. 
 
 Mr M triumphantly produced the bill, which 
 
 he brought with him, and said, (exhibiting it,) 
 " Seeing is believing." The agent, on examining 
 it, said at once that neither of the two signatures 
 were those of the trustees, but, on the contrary, 
 decided forgeries, and very clumsy imitations of 
 those which they were intended to represent. Mr 
 
 M felt confident that Mr C himself must 
 
 iave been imposed upon by the drawer of the bill. 
 The agent of the supposed acceptors told him he 
 
1 58 THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 
 
 was acquainted with the drawer of the bill, and 
 knew him to be a highly respectable and substan- 
 tial man; but as he did not know his signature, 
 he recommended that he should be at once written 
 to, and if he disclaimed the signature, then the 
 
 whole of the imposture must rest with Mr C . 
 
 Mr M wrote, accordingly, stating that he held 
 
 a bill, of which he was drawer, for £200, indorsed 
 
 by him to Mr C , of which Messrs (naming the 
 
 two trustees referred to) were the acceptors ; that 
 an acquaintance of his had informed him that the 
 trust in question had been wound-up, and begging 
 to know from him as drawer of the bill, the history 
 of the transaction. Mr M received the follow- 
 ing letter in reply by return of post : — 
 
 " Sir, — I have this moment received your letter 
 of yesterday's date with the most unqualified sur- 
 prise. I never had any bill transaction with the 
 trustees to whom you refer in my life, and never 
 drew or subscribed any bill to which they were 
 parties ; neither did I ever endorse any bill to Mr 
 C r, and never had any money or other business 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOKGEE. 159 
 
 transaction with him in all my life. There must 
 be some singular mistake in the names of the 
 parties, or else a most gross piece of fraud and 
 forgery, as to which you should institute immediate 
 inquiries. — I am, sir," &c. 
 
 This seemed a regular poser, and Mr M felt 
 
 truly nonplussed. He had ascertained that the 
 names of the two acceptors were forgeries, and not 
 only was the drawer's name also forged, but that 
 gentleman had declared by his letter that he never 
 
 had any transaction with Mr in his life. 
 
 What, therefore, was he to do. Matters looked as 
 bad as they could be, but he thought the most 
 
 prudent course was to write a note to Mr C , 
 
 desiring to see him immediately with reference to 
 an important matter connected with the biU which 
 he had discounted a few days previously, without 
 entering into any of the particulars which had 
 come to his knowledge. He wrote him a note to 
 that effect accordingly, but after waiting several 
 days no response came back. He next called at his 
 place of business, but was informed by the clerk 
 
160 THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 
 
 that he had gone from home in the morning of the 
 preceding day, and was not to return for some days. 
 He ascertained at the same time that his note 
 requesting an interview had been received the night 
 before he left home. All this in Mr M 's opin- 
 ion augured most unfavourably. The residence of 
 the latter was not far distant from that of Mr 
 
 C . The note .specified that he wished to see 
 
 him immediately on a matter of importance con- 
 nected with the bill, yet neither was the request 
 complied with, nor any instructions left with his 
 clerk on the subject. So after waiting three days 
 
 more, and finding that Mr C had not returned 
 
 home, he thought it right to place the bill and a 
 statement of the whole information he had received 
 regarding it, in the hands of his law-agent, a man 
 of great experience and professional skill. 
 
 In a few days Mr M received a letter from 
 
 his agent containing the most alarming revelations. 
 
 In the first place it was ascertained that Mr C 
 
 had on the morning of his departure gone in great 
 haste to the two banks where he kept his money 
 and drew out from both almost the whole amount 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 161 
 
 at his credit. He also took the greater part of it 
 in gold, alleging that he had been called to England 
 on railway business of great importance and urgency. 
 On the other hand his sister and two nieces who 
 resided in family with him knew nothing of his 
 movements, or at least they said they did not. In 
 the next place, it was found that besides the £200 
 bill there were other three bills in different banks, 
 and it was ascertained that the whole names in 
 two of these were forgeries. The last but not the 
 least alarming circumstance stated by the agent 
 was, that all these bills and the signatures attached 
 to them, including the £200 bill, were ascertained 
 on minute examination to be wholly in the hand- 
 
 writing of Mr C , although evidently much 
 
 disguised. 
 Every succeeding day revealed new circumstances 
 
 connected with C 's affairs. It was ascertained 
 
 that he took his passage from Greenock on board 
 a Liverpool steamer, that his luggage consisted of 
 two large trunks, several large portmanteaus, travel- 
 ling bags and boxes. It was discovered through the 
 servants that he had packed up all his trinkets 
 
162 THE WHOLESALE POEGEE. 
 
 and jewels, and some of the most valuable portions 
 of his silver-plate. 
 
 Mr M and several other creditors now pro- 
 ceeded without delicacy to take measures against 
 C 's estate for their security, by executing arrest- 
 ments of any money and effects they could find in 
 the hands of other parties, and executing inhibi- 
 tions against his heritable estate. The banking 
 companies who had discounted and held the forged 
 bills, gave information to the procurator-fiscal, by 
 whom a Justiciary warrant was obtained and des- 
 patched to Liverpool for the forger's apprehension. 
 It was found on applying to a shipping company, 
 one of whose vessels had sailed from the port of 
 Liverpool for the United States the day before, that 
 a gentleman answering precisely to the description 
 
 of Mr C had sailed on board of the ship under 
 
 the name of Webster, and, after considerable trouble 
 and inquiry, a gentleman from Glasgow was found 
 
 who knew Mr C by sight, and had been on the 
 
 quay the day before and seen him go on board, 
 busily superintending the shipment of a number 
 of trunks, portmanteaus, boxes, and other luggage. 
 
THE WHOLESALE POEGEK. 163 
 
 It was accordingly arranged to obtain a Secretary 
 of State's warrant for transmission to New York to 
 apprehend and bring him back. Such a warrant 
 was procured and immediately transmitted accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 After the lapse of three or four weeks, intelligence 
 was received that the vessel in which the soi disant 
 Webster had sailed was overtaken by a storm, had 
 sprung a leak, and was lost. About two-thirds of 
 the passengers and crew were saved, some of' them 
 by taking to the boats, and some by clinging to 
 planks and pieces of floating timber. The remain- 
 ing third were drowned. Those saved were picked 
 up by a trading vessel bound for Bristol, at which 
 port they were landed a few weeks after being 
 picked up. Soon after being landed at Bristol, a 
 number of the passengers were seated together in 
 a coffee-house, when a person entered the apartment, 
 who evidently had heard of their disaster and the 
 name of the ship, and inquired casually if any of 
 them knew a passenger on board of the name of 
 Webster. A gentleman of the party answered with 
 great promptitute that he did know such a gentle- 
 
164 THE WHOLESALE FOBGBE. 
 
 man, but that he was among the drowned. He 
 said he had gone below to attempt to save some 
 property, and on his coming on deck both the long- 
 boat and jolly-boat were filled, and he could not get 
 into either; that he again saw him attempting to 
 get at a piece of floating timber, but not being able 
 to swim he could not reach it, and he saw him sink- 
 ing. This statement immediately got wind, and 
 notices appeared in the Bristol papers, which were 
 copied into all the newspapers in the kingdom, that 
 
 C , the noted forger who had sailed for America 
 
 on boalrd the ship Enterprise, was drowned along ' 
 with a portion of the passengers and crew when that 
 ship sunk. His fate being thus stated with the 
 utmost confidence, the Government and the public 
 prosecutor took no further trouble in regard to his 
 apprehension. 
 
 Mr L , the old Eoxburghshire farmer, was 
 
 seldom or never from home, and had no intercourse 
 with Lanarkshire beyond receiving half-yearly a 
 letter remitting the interest of his bond. He was 
 
 therefore a long time in learning that had 
 
 taken French leave of his friends, and embarked for 
 
THE "WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 165 
 
 the western hemisphere.. He first heard of it from 
 a friend who had seen it announced in a Glasgow 
 newspaper, but he paid little attention to the cir- 
 cumstance, simply remarking that, he had nothing 
 to do with bills, that he held for his money a bond 
 and sasine over lands yielding a rental that would 
 pay his interest six times over, and he was quite 
 independent of everybody. He was, however, at 
 length persuaded by a friend to send his bond and 
 sasine to a respectable Glasgow law agent of expe- 
 rience, to examine them and see that they were 
 
 correctly drawn, since from Mr C 's conduct in 
 
 other respects even his accuracy was not to be 
 trusted. The agent he employed happened to be 
 
 Mr Fell, the agent of Mr M , the discounter of 
 
 the £200 bill. This was of great importance, seeing 
 
 that he was already weU acquainted with C 's 
 
 transactions. After perusing the bond and sasine, 
 what first attracted his notice was the name of the 
 estate and description of the lands. He was pretty 
 well acquainted in the parish in which the lands 
 were said in the description to be situated, yet he 
 never had heard of the lands described, and he 
 
166 THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 
 
 thought lands of that extent could hardly be situ- 
 ated in that parish without his having heard of 
 them. To majie more certain, however, he wrote 
 to the minister of the parish, with a copy of the 
 description of them, and the name of the proprietor 
 and granter of the bond, requesting to know if there 
 were such lands, and a proprietor of the name stated, 
 in his parish. The lands mentioned in the bond 
 and sasine were " Bailies Hill, Inchfauld, Holmriggs, 
 and Braemyre, with parts,. pendicles, and pertinents," 
 &c. &c., and the owner thereof and granter of the 
 bond was " James Treeling." The clergyman re- 
 turned an immediate answer in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 " Maksb of — -, Sd February 18 — . 
 
 "SlE, — I have received your letter of the 1st 
 instant. There are no lands of the names or de- 
 scription mentioned by you situated within this 
 parish, and no proprietor or person whatever of the 
 name of Freeling resident therein ; neither are there 
 any such lands or person of that name within any 
 of the adjoining parishes. I have been minister of 
 this parish for upwards of thirty years, and know 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 167 
 
 intimately all the lands and every proprietor in this 
 district of the county, and I can say with perfect 
 safety that there are no lands of the names given, 
 or any proprietor, great or small, of the name of 
 Preeling resident within the district. There must 
 therefore either have occurred some singular mis- 
 take, or more probably some gross fraud has been 
 practised. I shall be happy to afford you any 
 further information in my power, and shall be 
 curious to hear the result of your inquiries. — I 
 am," &c. 
 
 Mr Fell's worst fears were now realised. It 
 
 would seem that C had not only given his 
 
 unfortunate employer the names of fictitious lands, 
 and that of an imaginary owner who did not exist, 
 but had actually made out in that owner's name a 
 bond and disposition in security, and had adhibited 
 his name to it as the grantor. Yet the thing was 
 so perfectly unprecedented in the annals of convey- 
 ancing that for a long time Mr Fell could hardly 
 believe in so extraordinary a fraud, or fully realise 
 its existence. Indeed, on looking at the instrument 
 
168 THE WHOLESALE FOEGEB. 
 
 of sasine, he could not help clinging to the hope 
 that the name of the county of Lanark must be a 
 mistake, and that the lands would be found in 
 another county, for the sasine bore to be duly re- 
 corded, and had adhibited to it the certificate of the 
 keeper of the General Kegister of Sasines in Edin- 
 burgh. It was hardly conceivable that any man in 
 his senses would present and cause to be recorded 
 a sasine over fictitious lands, as the trick could not 
 fail to be speedUy discovered by one or other of the 
 numerous parties who are constantly engaged search- 
 ing the general record. To solve the doubt, there- 
 fore, Mr Fell went by coach to Edinburgh, carrying 
 with him the bond and sasine, and calling at the 
 General Register proceeded to examine the minute- 
 book. To crown his amazement, he found that the 
 sasine had never been recorded, and on exhibiting 
 it to the, substitute -keeper, whose name was ad- 
 hibited to the certificate of registration endorsed 
 thereon, he pronounced the certificate false and 
 fraudulent, and his signature a gross forgery. 
 
 Mr Fell was now fully enlightened, and his 
 astonishment knew no bounds. AfSxing one or 
 
THE WHOLESALE POEGEE. 169 
 
 more fictitious names to a bill was a thing he 
 had often heard' of, and was not unfreqnent in 
 the history of crime ; but here was one of the most 
 complicated pieces of fraud he had ever heard of, 
 or of which he could form any conception. A 
 bond had been made out with a description of 
 fictitious lands, with an imaginary owner, who bore 
 to subscribe it, and with the names of C— ' — 's 
 own clerks forged as the attesting witnesses. Then 
 an instrument of sasine was made out as following 
 on the bond, with the name of C himself pros- 
 tituted as the attesting notary, with the names of 
 two witnesses to the act of infeftment forged, with 
 a fictitious certificate by the keeper of the record, 
 certifying falsely that the instrument was duly 
 registered, and with the keeper's, signature thereto 
 also forged. The thing exceeded any act of swind- 
 ling and forgery hitherto known. 
 
 There next devolved on Mr PeU the unpleasant 
 
 duty of acquainting Mr L of the ruinous act 
 
 ' of swindling and fraud to which he had been sub- 
 jected, and of the total loss, so far at least as the 
 pretended security was concerned, of his £2000. 
 
170 THE WHOLteSALE FOEGEE. 
 
 He held out to him, however, the hope of recovering 
 a considerable part of his money by taking measures, 
 the same as the different holders of the forged bills 
 were doing, for attaching and selling C 's pro- 
 perty in Lanarkshire, consisting of a valuable farm. 
 Poor Mr L was thunderstruck at the intelli- 
 gence, but immediately authorised his agent to follow 
 
 the course recommended. Mr C had a law 
 
 agent in Glasgow who, it would seem, had had a 
 great deal of trouble in assisting him to manage his 
 pecuniary affairs. He had conducted a considerable 
 deal of personal and other law-suits on his behalf, 
 and had besides made large advances of money for 
 his accommodation. He informed the other credi- 
 tors and Mr Fell, that eighteen months previously, 
 
 having pushed C for a settlement of his claims 
 
 against him, he had got from him an heritable 
 
 security over his estate. C had previously 
 
 borrowed a sum of £4000 over it, but this, his agent 
 said, was paid up, and he had received a security 
 
 over it for £6000. His agent was shewn by 
 
 a discharge and renunciation of the £4000 debt 
 duly recorded in the Register of Eenunciations, upon 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 171 
 
 which the former took a bond for his debt of £6000. 
 He considered the property worth £8000, and he 
 informed the creditors that if it fetched £8000 there 
 would be a surplus of £2000 for division among 
 them after paying his bond of £6000. 
 
 In a short time 's agent, the holder of the 
 
 £6000 bond, was waited on by another practitioner, 
 the agent for one of the banking companies, who 
 held a bill for some hundred pounds which the bank 
 
 had discounted for C , and he informed him that 
 
 having considered it his duty to search the register, 
 he found in it the sasine for the £4000 debt, and 
 also that for his £6000 one, but he found no renun- 
 ciation recorded of the former of these sums. This 
 somewhat alarmed the bond-holder, but as he had 
 the renunciation of the first bond with a certificate 
 endorsed thereon by the keeper of the record, he 
 felt quite secure; nevertheless he went to the 
 register and turned it up at the date of the certifi- 
 cate, but found no renunciation there recorded. He 
 at once went to the keeper of the record, to whom 
 he shewed the renunciation and relative certificate, 
 who at once told him that the certificate was fie- 
 
172 THE WHOLESALE POEGEE. 
 
 titous and the signature to it a gross forgery. He 
 in the last place went to the creditor in the £4000 
 bond, who, on the renunciation being exhibited to 
 him, pronounced the signature of his name thereto 
 a most decided forgery. It thus appeared that 
 
 nearly every person concerned in C 's affairs 
 
 as creditors were grossly defrauded and serious 
 sufferers. His property in Lanarkshire was soon 
 afterwards brought to sale, and realised only £8000. 
 
 It thus appears that C 's own agent lost upwards 
 
 of £2000 ; the poor Roxburghshire farmer lost the 
 whole of his £2000 ; four different banking-houses 
 lost the amount of six discounted bills, amounting 
 in all to £4500 — making the whole loss thus amount 
 to £8500. So daring an instance of swindling and 
 forgery had not occurred since the case of Fauntleroy. 
 
 It only remains to mention the real fate of C . 
 
 He was not drowned as stated on occasion of the 
 wreck of the ship Enterprise, but, on the contrary, 
 was safely landed at Bristol along with the portion 
 of the passengers and crew that were rescued. When 
 a gentleman entered a coffee-room ^t Bristol where 
 a number of the persons rescued were seated, and 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 173 
 
 asked if a passenger named "Webster was known to 
 any of them, as noticed above, the person who 
 answered so promptly that he was drowned was no 
 
 other than Webster (0 ) himself He at once 
 
 perceived from the inquiry made that his case had 
 become a matter of public notoriety, and he acted 
 accordingly. He instantly made his way to Ply- 
 mouth and took his passage for the continent. A 
 number of years passed and his name and transac- 
 tions had almost been forgotten, it having been 
 universally understood that he was drowned on 
 board the Enterprise, when one morning a gentle- 
 man in Scotland, to whom he had on one occasion 
 done a special service, though he had afterwards 
 cheated him, received the following letter : — 
 
 " Bkussels, 6<A October 18 — . 
 " Deae Sie, — You will be surprised to receive this 
 epistle from one whom you doubtless for a long 
 time have thought to be numbered with the dead ; 
 and, alas ! the realisation of that event is now not 
 far distant. My life since I left Scotland has been 
 an extremely chequered one, and full of vicissitudes 
 
174 THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 
 
 and troubles. Instead of being drowned, as was 
 universally believed, I was among those who were 
 saved from the wreck of the Enterprise. Having 
 been landed at Bristol along with the other sur- 
 vivors, I immediately discovered that my name had 
 become notorious, and that a warrant had been 
 issued for my apprehension. To divert this catas- 
 trophe I caused it to be stated that I had been 
 drowned — a statement which I found entered all the 
 public prints, and to prevent discovery I imme- 
 diately left Bristol and went to the continent, living 
 at various towns under a feigned name. 
 
 " The first place where I made my debut on the 
 continent was Paris, the salons and society of which 
 were so attractive that, until admonished by the 
 speedy diminution of my finances, I lived for some 
 time in a state of elysian bliss, oblivious of the past 
 and regardless of the future. At length, to repair 
 my wasted exchequer, I in an evil hour resorted to 
 the gaming-table. The hells of Paris are proverbial. 
 The loads of gold which captivated the eye were 
 sights too exciting to be resisted by a needy and 
 reckless adventurer. Rouge et noir was the game. 
 
THE WHOLESALE FOKGEE. 175 
 
 Staking low at first and being successful, I increased 
 my stakes, and, strange to say, I left the table at a 
 late or rather an early hour one morning a large 
 gainer. Though I entered the house worth less than 
 £50, I retired from it the master of from £4000 to 
 £5000 sterling. Had prudence now come to my 
 aid and made me quit the allurements of gaming, 
 I might have lived in great comfort, but my evil 
 genius as usual had the mastery. I repaired to the 
 same den of vice for a number of evenings, and 
 being always more or less excited with wine, night 
 after night my finances gradually diminished, till, 
 alas ! one evening having experienced a continuous 
 run of bad luck, my large means were actually 
 diminished to a hundred francs, and staking the 
 whole of this sum in despair, it was swept from me 
 like the rest, and I was thus whoUy ruined and 
 rendered penniless. 
 
 " I will not trouble you with aU the details of my 
 subsequent career of life. I sought employment as 
 a menial of the humblest description, but my im- 
 perfect knowledge of the language was a serious 
 impediment. I managed, however, to procure em- 
 
176 . THE WHOLESALE POE«EE. 
 
 ployment as assistant boo'ts or porter at the most 
 inferior hotels or places of entertainment in different 
 towns. I at length found means of being employed 
 as assistant -waiter in an English hotel kept at 
 Brussels — a situation I managed to retain for some 
 years, tiU increasing habits of dissipation caused my 
 dismissal. I next descended to become marker in 
 a low billiard-room in one of the meanest localities 
 of this city, being barely able to earn a sum suf- 
 ficient for my sustenance in the plainest and poorest 
 style. I at length was seized with a fever which 
 prostrated me for some weeks, during which time 
 I was supported in an hospital as a pauper. I 
 recovered from the fever, but only to be the victim 
 of extreme weakness, and with my lungs almost 
 entirely gone. The medical attendants assure me 
 that I cannot survive beyond ten days or a fort- 
 night. 
 
 " It is a strange course to appeal to a gentleman 
 whom I once so seriously wronged and injured. 
 Yet looking' at the other side of the account, and 
 recollecting that I once rendered you a service, I 
 venture to appeal to your sympathy by requesting 
 
THE "WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 177 
 
 the remittance of a small sum to soothe, and in 
 some measure comfort a human being, the tide of 
 whose life is fast ebbing, during the few days that 
 remain to him on earth. I am at this moment a 
 wretched pauper in a foreign land, with hardly 
 a shred of clothing to cover my wasted frame, with 
 the scantiest pittance of coarse food, and sunk to 
 the greatest depth of misery and suffering. I feel 
 unable to write more. — I subjoin my address, and 
 remain, your afflicted friend, 
 
 " W C ." 
 
 The gentleman to whom this letter was addressed, 
 who was perfectly astonished at seeing it, lost no 
 time in writing to a friend in Brussels, enclosing a 
 considerable sum for the relief of the writer. He 
 received an answer giving the most affecting descrip- 
 tion of the miserable condition in which he found 
 the latter, stretched on a bed of straw among the 
 lowest of the diseased paupers, in an hospital set 
 apart for the poor of the meanest grade. Efe pro- 
 cured a comfortable lodging for him in the near 
 neighbourhood, with a proper bed, and all the neces- 
 
 M 
 
178 THE WHOLESALE FOEGEE. 
 
 caries of life suitable to his case, with a paid medi- 
 cal attendant. He only survived a fortnight, and his 
 remains were decently interred by the same gentle- 
 man who had attended to his comforts during the 
 last fortnight of his life. Such was the sad end of 
 the wholesale forger and swindler.* 
 
 * The above is substantially a true narratire of a case which 
 occurred twenty or thirty years ago. Several fictitious deeds 
 were made out and passed off as genuine by a person who fled 
 from justice, and the names of parties, witnesses, and keepers 
 of records were forged as above stated, as were a number of 
 bills that were discounted, and the holders defrauded of their 
 amount. But the names of the persons concerned are not given 
 above, nor are the places there mentioned the real loci delicti. 
 
INSANE CRIMINALS. 
 
 Of late years no part of criminal procedure has 
 caused greater difficulty or created more discus- 
 sion than that which occurs in determining what 
 amount of mental aberration entitles the accused 
 party to exemption from punishment. The range 
 is so vast between the condition of the furious 
 maniac and the man whose mind apparently ex- 
 hibits mere eccentricities of fancy, that a correct 
 estimate of a prisoner's state of mind is often the 
 most diflBcult of medical problems. The case of 
 that class of lunatics termed monomaniacs is often 
 so perplexing as to cause the most annoying puzzle 
 to medical men as well as to judges and juries. 
 
] 80 INSANE CEIMINALS. 
 
 Thus a man who mixes with society and manages 
 important affairs is often found on some one point 
 to be wholly incoherent and with his mind, com- 
 pletely distorted, while on every other it is appa- 
 rently sound and rational. Some instances of these 
 will be noticed. 
 
 I. THE IMAGINARY BAEON. 
 
 Mr J- B , a respectable inhabitant of a 
 
 fishing village in the west of Scotland, carried on 
 a considerable trade in herring-fishing and fish- 
 curing, being part owner of two fishing-smacks, 
 and occupying a store in which he conducted the 
 business of curing herrings. His business was 
 managed systematically and with success, and he 
 was respected by his neighbours. It was known, 
 however, to his nephew and niece, who lived in 
 family with him, and to his more intimate friends, 
 that his mind was afi'ected with the very singular 
 hallucination of imagining that he was a lord, and 
 the owner of an estate and castle in the neighbour- 
 hood, both belonging to a nobleman. So long as 
 the nobleman and his family did not come to reside 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 181 
 
 in the castle, B was perfectly quiet, but when 
 
 they did reside, which they frequently did, it was 
 with the utmost difficulty that his friends could 
 restrain him from going to the castle and using 
 violence for their expulsion. 
 
 On one occasion Lord and his family and 
 
 servants came to reside in the castle during part of 
 
 the shooting season. Mr B 's nephew and niece 
 
 happened to relax in their usual watchfulness, and 
 his lordship's arrival having come to B 's know- 
 ledge, he forthwith provided himself with ■ a large 
 bludgeon, and, proceeding with all despatch to the 
 castle, he rung the bell with great violence, and, after 
 pouring torrents of abuse on the servant who an- 
 swered the door, dealt him a severe blow with 
 his bludgeon on the head, which felled him to the 
 floor. The cries of the servant thus assaulted 
 
 speedily brought other two to his rescue, and B 
 
 being disarmed of his bludgeon, was secured until 
 two police constables were brought, who carried 
 him before a magistrate, by whom, after exami- 
 nation, he was committed for trial. It would 
 appear that the blow inflicted on the servant who 
 
182 INSANE CRIMINALS. 
 
 opened the door was very severe, and that his head 
 was seriously cut and injured. B was accord- 
 ingly cited for trial before the sheriff of the county 
 with a jury. The libel charged him with an aggra- 
 vated assault on Alexander Thomas, Lord 's 
 
 servant, to the effusion of blood and serious injury 
 of his person. The sheriff having explained to 
 
 B the nature of the charge against him, and 
 
 afterwards put the usual question whether he was 
 " guilty or not guilty," the latter, who was in a state 
 of great excitement, said in a loud voice, " I am not 
 guilty. Everybody has a right to protect his own 
 property, and to turn all intruders out of his house. 
 
 I am proprietor of the estate of and 
 
 Castle, and nobody has a right to take possession 
 of them without my leave." 
 
 This statement being technically a plea of not 
 guilty, a jury was empannelled to try the case. The 
 servant who was assaulted,- and his two fellow- 
 servants who came to the rescue, were examined, 
 and proved the assault. The prison-surgeon and 
 another medical man, both of whom had visited the 
 prisoner several times since his commitment, and 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 183 
 
 were also present in court from the beginning of 
 the trial, were next examined as to the state of the 
 prisoner's mind, and both swore that they considered 
 him to be affected with monomania. They were of 
 opinion that the prisoner, labouring under the ex- 
 traordinary delusion of believing that the estate and 
 castle referred to were his own, was unconscious of 
 having committed any wrong act, and was insane 
 at the time the act charged was committed. The 
 procurator-fiscal having addressed the jury for the 
 crown, and the solicitor for the prisoner for the de- 
 fence, the sheriff charged the jury, who returned a 
 verdict finding that the acts charged in the libel 
 were proved, but that the prisoner laboured under 
 insanity at the time he committed them, arid was 
 incapable of judging between right and wrong. The 
 sheriff, accordingly, in respect of his insanity when 
 the acts' were committed, found him not accountable 
 for them, but ordained him to be imprisoned subject 
 to the future orders of court. The prisoner was 
 subsequently sent on the proper warrant to an 
 asylum for lunatics, where he was permanently con- 
 fined. 
 
184 INSANE CEIMINALS. 
 
 What was peculiar in this case chiefly was, that 
 the accused, with the exception of a few slight pecu- 
 liarities, was not only perfectly sound on every point 
 except one, but even conducted a considerable busi- 
 ness with regularity and success for a number of 
 years* 
 
 II. THE IMAGINAEY PEINCE. 
 
 Eugene E. A. Whelps was tried before the High 
 Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh in July 1842, for 
 aggravated assault by means of stabbing and with 
 intent to murder, under the statute of George the 
 Fourth. He seems to have been a vagrant, and to 
 have come from England to Dunbar, where, having 
 partaken of some spirits and become disorderly on 
 the streets, he attracted a crowd of boys after him. 
 The keeper of the prison observing the disturbance 
 in the town took Whelps into custody, and while 
 doing so was stabbed by him with a knife. Whelps 
 was thereafter taken before a magistrate, examined 
 on the charge of assault, and finally committed for 
 
 * The author was present at the trial above referred to, and 
 the occurrences stated actually took place as mentioned. 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 185 
 
 trial on the above charge of assault, under the statute 
 applicable to assault by cutting and maiming. 
 
 On his examination he stated that he was a native 
 of London — a son of the late Duke of York — and 
 the true heir to the British crown ; that he had been 
 removed to Ireland for the purpose of preventing 
 him from succeeding to his uncle George the Fourth. 
 While from this part of his declaration, as well as 
 from other evidence, it plainly appeared that the 
 accused laboured under the delusion that he was 
 heir to the British throne, it on the other hand was 
 evident, from the remaining part of his declaration, 
 that on every other subject he was sound and free 
 from any illusion. Thus when questioned as to the 
 stabbing, he first parried the question and then 
 denied the charge. He admitted having had a 
 knife in his possession at the time he was appre- 
 hended, but he said though he may have taken it 
 out to frighten the prison-keeper, he did not stab 
 him or use it against him in any way. In short, he 
 seemed perfectly alive to the criminality of assault- 
 ing the keeper, and of the importance to him of' 
 preventing the charge from being proved. 
 
186 mSAJSTE CEIMINALS. 
 
 The public prosecutor having seen fit under the 
 circumstances to depart from the graver charge 
 under the statute, and he having addressed the 
 jury for the crown, and the prisoner's counsel for 
 the defence, the judge charged the jury. The assault 
 was fully proved, and the only point of difficulty in 
 the case related to the state of the prisoner's mind. 
 His counsel did not insist on the plea of insanity, 
 since it might involve the perpetual confinement of 
 his client. The jury accordingly found the prisoner 
 guilty of the assault, but though they considered 
 him sufiSciently aware, at the time of committing 
 the act charged against him, that he was infringing 
 the law, yet being of opinion that his intellect was 
 somewhat weak, recommended him to the lenity of 
 the court. The court sentenced him to six months' 
 imprisonment. 
 
 This case differed from that of the fish-curer 
 mentioned in the last section in this material re- 
 spect, — ^that in the case of the former, the offence 
 charged arose out of the matter in regard to which 
 the delusion of monomania existed, while in the 
 
INSANE CRIMINALS. 187 
 
 latter the delusion had no connexion with the act 
 charged.* 
 
 III. THE DEVOUT THIEF. 
 
 Monomania has not unfrequently been known to 
 assume the character of a propensity to steal, and 
 another remarkable feature of such a phasis of the 
 complaint is, that the propensity is often directed 
 to the theft of some particular article, while no 
 disposition is shewn to appropriate any other. 
 
 Upwards of thirty years ago, a great sensation 
 
 was created in Edinburgh by the Eev. D. M , 
 
 the clergyman of a Protestant chapel there, being 
 brought to trial for the crime of theft. The chapel 
 was well attended. The accused was considered 
 exemplary in his walk and conversation, zealous in 
 the discharge of his different duties, and much 
 respected by his hearers. Books had been fre- 
 quently missed from auction-rooms near the Univer- 
 sity where weekly sales took place, and where the 
 
 * This case is given in the printed reports of the Court of 
 Justiciary. 
 
188 INSANE CRIMINALS. 
 
 books were laid out for inspection the forenoon 
 before tlie sale. For a long time no clue could be 
 found to the theft. There was at that time a read- 
 ing-room in Hunter Square, with a small room at 
 the entrance-door, in which were usually left by the 
 subscribers their umbrellas, books, or parcels, which 
 they might have. A man of colour was door-keeper, 
 and had charge of the rooms. A gentleman con- 
 nected with the auction-rooms spoken of, who was 
 a subscriber at the reading-room, one day on comiug 
 out of it observed, while passing the small room, 
 the door-keeper, who usually sat there, reading a 
 book with which he seemed highly amused, and was 
 laughing. He asked what book it was which enter- 
 tained him so much. The door-keeper shewed him 
 an old Bible illustrated with numerous pictures. 
 The one at which he was so much amused was a 
 representation of the devil dragging a sinner into 
 hell. The gentleman on looking at the book, at 
 once recognised it as having been stolen from the 
 auction-rooms some days before. He asked the 
 door-keeper to whom it belonged, and was told that 
 it belonged to a clergyman, one of the subscribers 
 
INSANE CEIMINAIS. 189 
 
 who was then in the rooms, and had. left the book 
 along with his umbrella. On going back into the 
 
 room he at once saw and recognised Mr M , 
 
 who from his dress he perceived was the only clergy- 
 man in the room. He, however, resolved to proceed 
 with caution, and instead of at once speaking to the 
 reverend subscriber, went home and informed the 
 head of the auction establishment what he had seen. 
 The porter who had charge of the rooms where the 
 books were exhibited being spoken to, said he 
 noticed the Eev. Mr M in the rooms examin- 
 ing the books almost every time a sale was to take 
 place. He said he thought he saw him going away 
 once or twice with books under his arm, very like 
 those which were on the tables, but as he often had 
 one or more books under his arm on entering the 
 rooms, and as his profession placed him above sus- 
 picion, he was thrown entirely off his guard. The 
 auctioneer finally determined to apply for a warrant 
 to search the reverend gentleman's house, and on 
 obtaining it, he employed an experienced detective 
 with assistants to carry the warrant into effect. 
 Accordingly, in searching the library in Mr M 's 
 
190 INSAITE CRIMINALS. 
 
 house they found a great number of books which 
 were identified as having been stolen from the 
 auction rooms referred to, at different times, and 
 among others the Illustrated Bible which first led 
 to a detection. 
 
 The case now assumed so serious an aspect that 
 it was handed over to the procurator-fiscal of the 
 sheriff court, who got the reverend gentleman appre- 
 hended, examined, and finally committed for triaL 
 The accused's judicial declaration was confased and 
 contradictory. He could give no proper account of 
 where he bought some of the numerous books with 
 the theft of which he was charged, or how he came 
 by them, while in regard to others he admitted that 
 he may have taken them from the auction-rooms, 
 but assigned no reason why he took them, or did 
 not return them on finding that he had brought 
 away books not belonging to him, and he repeatedly 
 said that the books were his, and that he had a 
 right to them, and appeared quite indifferent to 
 the charge, expressing great surprise at his being 
 detained, and let slip one or two remarks that he 
 had a right to take books wherever he found them. 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 191 
 
 It was remarked by the sheriff and procurator- 
 fiscal, as a matter of siirprise, that he did not seem 
 to feel the vast importance to his case of account- 
 ing for the manner in which the books came into 
 his possession, and seemed to view the circumstance 
 of having the books iu his custody as a thing of the 
 most trivial consequence, and even as if he were 
 entitled to take them. 
 
 The trial took place before the Justiciary Court. 
 On the indictment being read over charging the 
 accused with the theft of a great variety of books, 
 his counsel entered a plea of not guilty. The auc- 
 tioneer at the college and other two booksellers 
 proved that the books produced were their property, 
 and that they were found in the prisoner's custody. 
 The crown counsel pointed out to the jury that the 
 prisoner, while admitting that he was in possession of 
 the books mentioned in the indictment, which were 
 proved not to be his own, could give no satisfactory 
 account of the manner in which he became possessed 
 of them. The Illustrated Bible, too, was dwelt on 
 as a damning circumstance, having been found two 
 days after being taken away in Custody of the 
 
] 92 INSANE CEIMINALS. 
 
 accused, who was carrying it by itself, and who must 
 have known that he Ijad taken it away, and to whom 
 it belonged. 
 
 Exculpatory evidence was adduced for the prisoner 
 of a number of men of the highest character and 
 standing. They spoke to his unaffected piety and 
 zeal in the discharge of his duties — his liberal con- 
 tributions to benevolent and charitable objects — his 
 untiring perseverance in visiting the sick — ^his per- 
 fect disinterestedness and the absence of every selfish 
 feeling in his conduct generally. Yet 'all this, to 
 the court and jury, and all who did not know him 
 intimately, only served to give a decided impression 
 that he was a most profound hypocrite. The pri- 
 soner's counsel touched on the confused state of his 
 client's mind, but was afraid actually to aver in- 
 sanity, since it might involve his permanent impri- 
 sonment, though he was perfectly aware he was a 
 monomaniac. The counsel on either side being 
 heard, and the presiding judge having charged the 
 jury, the latter, in conformity with the judge's 
 charge, returned a unanimous verdict of guilty. 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 193 
 
 He was sentenced to seven years' transportation 
 beyond seas. 
 
 All the prisoner's intimate friends were perfectly 
 aware of his peculiar distortion of mind in regard 
 to books. If he borrowed a book he would never 
 return it until it was called for and delivery de- 
 manded, yet in every other transaction he appeared 
 to be straightforward and punctual, and to exhibit 
 no selfish disposition, but quite the reverse. He 
 paid all monies due by him with perfect regularity 
 and promptitude. He was the collector and cus- 
 todier of numerous sums of money collected for 
 charities and benevolent institutions, all of which 
 he paid most accurately, though he might with ease 
 have appropriated portions of them without detec- 
 tion, and always added liberal contributions of his 
 own fully proportioned to his means. Neither did 
 it appear that he ever sold or disposed of, for money, 
 any of the books which he had taken, though no 
 fewer than four copies of a French dictionary, all 
 of them by the same author and of the same edition, 
 were among the stolen books. His intimate asso- 
 
 N 
 
194 INSANE CRIMINALS. 
 
 ciates were satisfied that a decided hallucination 
 pervaded his mind that it was his peculiar right 
 and his province to appropriate all books wherever 
 he could find them. 
 
 IV. THE LIVING MIEEOE. 
 
 Before the sitting magistrate of the Glasgow 
 Police Court, a respectably- dressed man, named 
 John Langford, was brought up one forenoon, 
 charged with being the cause of collecting crowds 
 on the streets, and obstructing the passengers. It 
 appeared, from the evidence of several constables, 
 that the accused imagined himself to be composed 
 of glass. He moved along the streets with great 
 caution; and in passing from the side pavement 
 to the centre of the street, with a view to cross 
 to the other side, he took hold of each limb alter- 
 nately with both his hands, raising them with great 
 caution, in case they should be broken. When he 
 observed any person coming in an opposite direc- 
 tion, running or walking fast, he appeared in great 
 trepidation, in case he might be jostled or knocked 
 over and broken in pieces by the faU. These 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 195 
 
 peculiarities, which became known to the public, 
 attracted crowds wherever he was seen, but more 
 especially in the more crowded thoroughfares; But 
 what principally attracted crowds was, that he not 
 only believed his body to be composed wholly of 
 glass, but he imagined that the front of his body 
 was a mirror. The consequence was, that crowds 
 of boys would assemble in front of him for the 
 pretended purpose of adjusting their neckcloths, 
 each affecting to do so while the others were wait- 
 ing their turn. The poor man would stand with 
 the utmost patience, with his arms expanded, to 
 allow the young rogues to perform their feigned 
 toilets. 
 
 Evidence to the above effect having been adduced, 
 and the accused called on for his defence, he said, 
 addressing himself to the sitting magistrate, " My 
 body is composed of glass, and the front of my 
 body is a mirror. If crowds foHow me, or make 
 use of me .as a mirror, it is no fault of mine. I 
 don't ask them to do so, and I make no disturbance 
 myself." It appeared from the evidence of the wit- 
 nesses who were examined, that the prisoner was 
 
196 INSANE CRIMINALS. 
 
 in no respect violent, but, on the contrary, perfectly 
 quiet and inoffensive. The disturbances on the 
 street arose from the peculiar delusions under 
 which he was known to labour having attracted 
 crowds on the streets to obtain a sight of him. In 
 these circumstances, the magistrate directed the 
 officer to deliver him over to some of his friends 
 who attended to witness the result of the case, 
 enjoining them not to allow him to traverse the 
 streets in future.* 
 
 V. THE GOVEKNESS. 
 
 Sir George and Lady L , who had a mansion 
 
 in the east of Scotland, resided there during a great 
 part of the year with their daughter, a young lady 
 
 of eighteen, their only child. Miss B- , a young 
 
 woman of six or seven and twenty years old, resided 
 
 also in the family ia the capacity of Miss L 's 
 
 governess, — a situation which she had filled for a 
 number of years. She was a highly accomplished 
 and intelligent person, with a refined taste and 
 
 * This is a real case. The author frequently saw the accused 
 on the streets of Glasgow. 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 197 
 
 extensive information. She was thoroughly con- 
 versant with most of the modern languages ; while 
 her attainments in music were of the highest 
 order. Her pupil was a talented young lady, and, 
 as might be supposed, had profited largely by the 
 
 tuition of Miss B , who was a most valuable 
 
 instructress, and a great favourite with the family, 
 and with all who knew her. 
 
 Miss B had been subject for some time to 
 
 neuralgia and nervous headaches, and was periodi- 
 cally confined to her room, and often to her bed, 
 by these distressing ailments. Soon after recover- 
 ing from one of them, she was observed to be some- 
 what excitable and restless. She could not settle 
 continuously to reading or any other occupation, 
 and her conversation, though not without import, 
 was sometimes incoherent, and her ideas appeared 
 often to, have no natural association. Her pupil, 
 on entering the parlour one morning where she and 
 her governess usually read and went through the 
 prescribed tasks of the former, was amazed to see 
 her instructress reclining on two chairs, with her 
 bare head out at a window, which she had opened 
 
198 INSANE CRIMINALS. 
 
 for the purpose, though it was a cold and damp 
 day in the month of November. She asked the 
 meaning of such a proceeding, and remonstrated 
 with her on her conduct, reminding her o| her 
 serious ailments, which such exposure to cold could 
 
 not fail to increase and aggravate. Miss B 
 
 remarked that a cool head was essential to the 
 health oi the body ; and that in order to prosecute 
 with success any occupation requiring mental exer- 
 tion, it was indispensable to have the head perfectly 
 cool. It was only on her pupil threatening to leave 
 the room that .she was induced to put down the 
 window. On entering the same parlour one fore- 
 noon, about a week afterwards, the pupil found 
 
 Miss B reclining on two chairs, with her feet 
 
 and legs projected a considerable way out at the 
 window. ' The morning was cold, and it rained 
 heavily, and her legs, stockings, and other parts of 
 her dress, were saturated with rain. The pupil 
 expressed her utter surprise, and renewed her re- 
 monstrances. The governess remarked, with great 
 earnestness, that by making the feet and legs in- 
 tensely cold for some hours, she meant to try the 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 199 
 
 effect of it on the system, and strongly recom- 
 mended to her pupil to follow the same^ course. 
 She said it would send the blood to the brain, 
 quicken thought, and sharpen the intellectual facul- 
 ties. The pupil said she could not stand such 
 extraordinary conduct any longer; that she must 
 complain to her mother, Lady L ; and pro- 
 ceeded to leave the room. On seeing this. Miss 
 
 B immediately pulled in her limbs, and closed 
 
 the window, but sat with her feet, limbs, and dress 
 soaked with water, without taking any means for 
 drying them, or shifting her stockings and clothes. 
 
 Miss L , though she did not leave the room 
 
 at the time, resolved to inform her parents of the 
 extraordinary conduct she had witnessed on the 
 part of her governess. She accordingly mentioned 
 it to her mother, who was greatly surprised, and 
 began to watch narrowly Miss B 's future con- 
 duct. She had been always somewhat pecuKar in 
 her maimer ; but observation shewed that she had 
 become greatly more so of late than formerly. She 
 had no apprehensions, however, of her conduct, 
 which seemed to have no violent tendency, being 
 
200 INSANE CEIMINALS. 
 
 in any way dangerous either to her pupil or to 
 any of the household. Her intelligence and accom- 
 plishments were so superior, and her instructions 
 had proved so valuable to her daughter, that Lady 
 
 L felt the utmost reluctance to remove her 
 
 from their famUy. Besides, she thought the recent 
 
 vagaries of Miss B the mere result of some 
 
 nervous excitement consequent on her late illness, 
 and which were mere eccentricities, that would soon 
 pass away as she convalesced. 
 
 Nothing further of any note occurred for several 
 weeks. The governess and pupil slept in the same 
 apartment, in separate beds. On one occasion, some 
 weeks after the occurrences referred to, about two 
 o'clock in the morning, the latter observed Miss 
 
 B rising from bed. She paid little attention 
 
 at first to the circumstance, as she used occasionally 
 to rise during the night for a glass of water. It 
 was clear moonlight ; and after the lapse of a few 
 seconds Miss L observed that, instead of pour- 
 ing out water, she took up a table-knife which lay 
 on the toilet-table, where it had been used by the 
 maid in cutting tape, and with one hand tried its 
 
INSANE CELMINALS. 201 
 
 sharpness, as if she meant to cut something. Miss 
 
 L thereupon said, " Miss B , what are you 
 
 going to do with the knife?" "Oh," replied she, 
 
 " I am going in to Sir George and Lady L 's 
 
 room to cut Sir George's throat ; it will save him a 
 great deal of trouble, as he has had several attacks 
 
 lately of bronchitis." Miss L was perfectly 
 
 shocked, and had nearly fainted away; but by a 
 great effort summoning resolution, and knowing 
 that the only chance of controlling a lunatic was 
 by affecting to humour them, she got out of bed 
 
 to the floor, and said to Miss B , with as 
 
 obliging an air as she could assume, " Oh, you had 
 better wait for a little, till I go for another knife, 
 and I will assist you. It will take two persons to 
 manage Sir George; and I wUl go and bring a 
 knife immediately." Miss B , thinking the pro- 
 posal very judicious, said, "Very well; I will wait 
 till you come back." The pupU accordingly left the 
 room; but the moment she got outside the door 
 she locked it after her, and, rushing into the adjoin- 
 ing room, she .pulled the bell three or four times 
 with the greatest violence. She next ran to the 
 
202 INSANE CRIMINALS. 
 
 staircase, and called over the bannister for help 
 at the very top of her voice. Sir George and Lady 
 
 L and the whole servants immediately started 
 
 ont of bed, and ran to the place whence they heard 
 the cries. The young lady explained to her father 
 
 as briefly as she conld that Miss B had become 
 
 insane, — was about to go to his room to murder 
 
 him, — and that she (Miss L ) bad got out of 
 
 the room by stratagem, and locked her in by turn- 
 ing the key in the door after her. Sir George 
 immediately armed himself with a sword, and the 
 male servants each with a poker, and, entering 
 
 Miss B 's room with lights, they found her in 
 
 a state of furious madness, and attempting to force 
 open the door. On seeing Sir George she instantly 
 made a thrust at him with the knife. He parried 
 the thrust successfully, and, striking her smartly 
 with the sword on the hand which held the knife, 
 she lost her hold of it, and it dropped on the floor. 
 It was picked up by one of the servants. Miss 
 
 B appeared in a state of fearful excitement. 
 
 Her face was flushed, and her eyes glared wildly 
 on Sir George and the servants when they entered 
 
INSANE CEIMINALS. 203 
 
 her room. , In short, she had became a furious 
 maniac. Sir George and the male servants seized 
 hold of her by the arms and hands, which they 
 were obliged to tie behind her back. They algo 
 tied her feet. She struggled all the time with her 
 whole strength, and tried several times to bite those 
 who held her. Early in the morning, two medical 
 men were sent for, who reported her to be insane, 
 and, after the usual preliminaries, she was consigned 
 to a lunatic asylum by a warrant of the sheriff.* 
 
 * A case similar to this in nearly all its circumstances oc- 
 curred some years since, but in a different part of the kingdom 
 from that stated above. 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 The laws of marriage are as various as the different 
 states in which they exist. In some states they are 
 extremely complex, in others much simpler. In the 
 former it is often necessary to enter the parties' 
 names in several registers, and to go through differ- 
 ent other forms and ceremonies, the omission of 
 any one of which will render the proceeding nuga- 
 tory, the parties still remaining in 'point of law 
 single and unmarried. 
 
 Mr Swainford, the son of a wealthy London 
 merchant, became intimately acquainted with Miss 
 
 F , who resided in a remote part of Wales with 
 
 her mother, the widow of a major in the army who 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 205 
 
 had died in India. The intimacy arose when Miss 
 
 F was visiting a family in London, relatives 
 
 of her father. The gentleman professed the most 
 devoted attachment to the young lady, and having 
 soon won her affections, asked her in marriage, and 
 was accepted. He stated a plausible reason for not 
 being able immediately to marry, but mentioned 
 that arrangements for the purpose would be made 
 in a few months. He proposed that in the mean- 
 time they might enjoy the society of each other for 
 a few weeks in some remote locality where they 
 would be unknown, and proposed that she should 
 meet him in Scotland the following week. Love 
 is proverbially bKnd. After objecting to the pro- 
 posal and declining it, she at length, blinded by 
 attachment and urged by his entreaties, imprudently 
 consented. Under the pretext to her mother that 
 she was to visit a family in Cheshire, she took ■ her 
 departure for Edinburgh. Having met there by 
 appointment, the lovers Uved together in the same 
 lodging for upwards of two months, occupying the 
 same bedroom and bed. The northern metropolis, 
 styled par excellence " the Modern Athens," and 
 
206 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 a, "City of Palaces," is noted for its beauty and 
 attractions. Its magnificent public buildings — its 
 undulating hills, constituting not one acropolis but 
 many — and studded with monuments and buildings 
 of rare architectural taste — its extensive prospects 
 of sea, river, and mountain-scenery, all combine to 
 make the visitor imagine he has realised the fanciful 
 descriptions of oriental romance. In such a locality 
 the golden hours of bliss passed with peculiar de- 
 light. The past was entirely forgotten by Miss 
 
 F , and her present real position never thought 
 
 of. But, 
 
 " Pleasures are like poppies spread : 
 You seize the flower, the bloom is shed." 
 
 Her mother had discovered that she was not in 
 Cheshire, atid hearing that Mr Swainford had disap- 
 peared at the same time, she dreaded what had 
 taken place. For some time she could not discover 
 the retreat of the parties; but having at length 
 done so, she repaired to Edinburgh, accompanied 
 by a male friend, and having called on the couple, 
 she upbraided the male runaway for his perfidy, 
 and lectured her daughter on account of her extreme 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 207 
 
 folly. The result was that Mr Swainford promised 
 faithfully to make immediate arrangements for his 
 
 marriage with Miss F , which he assured her 
 
 would be effected in three weeks. 
 
 In the meantime he departed for London, and 
 she returned home to Wales with her mother, to 
 make the necessary preparations on her part. Her 
 trousseau was prepared with great despatch, and by 
 the end of three weeks was completed. 
 
 After Mr Swainford went to London, he wrote 
 her several letters couched in most affectionate 
 terms. Nothing, however, was said by him in any 
 of them as to fixing the time for the marriage cere- 
 mony, though she had alluded to that point in every 
 one of her letters. Three weeks at length passed, 
 but no letter came from him since a week previously. 
 Both mother and daughter then wrote him, urging 
 that the time should be fixed for the marriage, but 
 
 no answer was received. Mrs F , after a lapse 
 
 of ten days, wrote to her husband's relative in Lon- 
 don, with whose family her daughter was on a visit 
 when the engagement between her and Swainford 
 took place, entreating him to see the latter, to ascer- 
 
208 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 tain the cause of delay in fulfilling his promise, and 
 to urge an immediate arrangement for the marriage. 
 
 A letter was received by Mrs P in a few days 
 
 from her friend in London, mentioning that, on 
 inquiry at Mr Swainford's father, he was told that 
 his son had gone to the continent about a week 
 before, with the view of making an extended tour, 
 and was not expected to return for at least six 
 months. Mrs F and her daughter, and espe- 
 cially the latter, were utterly astonished, and deeply 
 mortified at the intelligence. There could now be 
 no doubt as to the intentions of Swainford, and that 
 by grossly false and hollow professions of attach- 
 ment, he had heartlessly deceived and seduced the 
 young lady. 
 
 Mrs F herself and her daughter repaired to 
 
 London, and, accompanied by her husband's relative 
 already referred to, — the gentleman with whom she 
 had corresponded, — waited upon Mr Swainford's 
 father, and related to him the whole circumstances 
 of his son's conduct. The old gentleman professed 
 entire ignorance of the whole affair. His son, he 
 said, had never alluded to the subject or even men- 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 209 
 
 tioned Miss P 's name to him. He said he 
 
 coidd do nothing in the matter till his son's return, 
 and even then, as he was of age, and possessed a 
 considerable deal of property in his own right, inde- 
 pendently of him, (the father,) he could not concuss 
 him to marry the young lady, however anxious he 
 might be to do so. He concluded by asking, natu- 
 rally enough, (and this was the weak point of the 
 lady's case,) how she could reconcile it with pro- 
 priety to go and live alone with a young man in 
 Scotland. The imprudence of this was frankly 
 admitted, but the urgency of young Mr Swainford, 
 and her devoted attachment to him, were assigned 
 as excuses, and she pointed to the solemn promises 
 contained in his letters. 
 
 Matters remained in the same state for nearly 
 twelve months, a month or two before the end of 
 
 which time Miss F had born a son, the result 
 
 of her imprudent visit to Scotland. She was deeply 
 humbled, and overwhelmed with melancholy, — 
 whoUy secluded herself from society, and led the 
 ■ life of an isolated being. Soon after the period 
 referred to, the gentleman who had accompanied 
 
210 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 Mrs F to Scotland, called one day with a copy 
 
 of the Times newspaper, and pointed out the an- 
 nouncement of the marriage of young Swainford to 
 a lady in the south of England. Things had thus 
 come to a pretty pass. But the friend who brought 
 the Times mentioned, that when in Scotland, an 
 experienced professional gentleman to whom he had 
 told confidentially the circumstances attending Miss 
 P 's residence with young Swainford in Edin- 
 burgh, had given him some very important hints 
 on the subject of the marriage laws in Scotland, 
 and had expressed a somewhat decided opinion that 
 from the correspondence and all that had passed 
 between the parties while in Edinburgh, Miss 
 
 F could claim Swainford as her husband. 
 
 Matters being in such a state that they could not 
 be made worse than appearances then indicated, 
 Mrs F authorised her friend to repair to Edin- 
 burgh, and on a full statement of the circumstances, 
 to take the opinion of the most eminent counsel on 
 the whole case. He was furnished with all the 
 
 letters which Swainford had written to Miss F 
 
 from first to last, and with a minute and particular 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 211 
 
 statement of all that had occurred between the 
 parties, both in London and Edinburgh. The result 
 was an opinion by two most eminent counsel of the 
 
 Scotch bar, that Miss F was most decidedly, 
 
 by the law of Scotland, and by international law, 
 the married wife of Edward Swainford, and that 
 going through the ceremony of marriage with any 
 other woman was nothing more nor less than an 
 act of bigamy on his part. They held that a pro- 
 mise to marry, such as his letters contained, followed 
 by cohabitation, and by his holding out to every 
 person with whom they came m contact that Miss 
 
 F was his wife, clearly constituted a marriage 
 
 by the law of Scotland. 
 
 The opinion obtained in Edinburgh, and the 
 whole information and documents were next laid 
 
 befote Messrs H & S , London solicitors 
 
 of the highest character and experience, by whom 
 a case for the opinion of eminent English counsel 
 was prepared, and an opinion obtained confirming 
 that of the Scotch lawyers, and recommending an 
 instant prosecution for bigamy. The course recom- 
 mended was followed without delay. After a cor- 
 
212 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 respondence with the intelligent writer to the signet 
 in Edinburgh, who had obtained the Scotch opinion, 
 and by whom a full precognition was taken of all 
 the witnesses who could speak to the transactions 
 of the parties in Scotland, proceedings against 
 Edward Swainford were forthwith commenced, and 
 warrant obtained for his arrestment. He had taken 
 a splendid residence at Sussex Gardens, in the 
 neighbourhood of Hyde Park, where he resided 
 with his newly-married wife. 
 
 The constables who called to execute the warrant 
 found him engaged at lunch* with his wife and a 
 party of ladies and gentleman. He was much sur- 
 prised at finding it was a warrant for his arrestment. 
 On learning that the warrant was founded on a 
 charge of bigamy, he treated the matter with the 
 profoundest contempt. The idea that he was ever 
 
 married to, or could be the husband of. Miss F , 
 
 never entered his mind, and he treated it as an 
 attempt to extort money by a fictitious and un- 
 founded charge. It was with no small surprise, 
 therefore, to the gay party by whom he was 
 surrounded, and also. to himself, that he was con- 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 213 
 
 veyed in custody before a sitting magistrate. The 
 examination was of short duration. The prisoner 
 denied the whole charge, and, by advice of his coun- 
 sel, declined to answer any questions, reserving his 
 statements for the trial. The prosecutor's counsel 
 explained shortly but distinctly the law of the case, 
 produced the correspondence of the prisoner, and 
 two witnesses to prove the leading facts in regard 
 to the transactions in Edinburgh. He was there- 
 upon finally committed for trial before the Central 
 Criminal Court, but was, however, admitted to bail, 
 though on heavy recognisances. 
 
 The trial at length came on, and Edward Swain- 
 ford was placed at the bar arraigned on a charge 
 of bigamy, by reason of a marriage contracted by 
 
 him with Miss Eliza B , Emily F , his first 
 
 wife, being still alive. He treated the whole affair 
 as a farce, labouring under the delusion that no 
 marriage could be consummated except in church, 
 at an altar, or by a clergyman. He was, however, 
 extremely indignant and exasperated at the idea of 
 the exposure he must submit to by being placed in 
 such a position. 
 
214 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 A jury being sworn, a proof was entered into by 
 the counsel for the prosecutor at great length, hav- 
 ing first stated with great distinctness what the 
 marriage laws of Scotland were. He first produced 
 the whole letters of the prisoner addressed to Miss 
 
 I" , which were filled with promises of marriage, 
 
 and protestations of constancy. He next produced 
 the landlady in whose lodgings the parties resided 
 in Edinburgh, and her two servants. These proved 
 that the lodgings were expressly taken by the pri- 
 soner for himself and his wife — that they lived in 
 the lodgings for upwards of two months, occupying 
 the same bed — that he uniformly styled her Mrs 
 Swainford — that several persons called asking for 
 her under that name, and aU packages for her (which 
 were numerous) from shopkeepers and tradesmen, 
 were likewise addressed to her by that name. 
 Several shopkeepers and tradesmen were likewise 
 adduced, who swore that the accused had ordered 
 articles for his wife to be sent to the above lodgings, 
 and wrote her address with his own hand as " Mrs 
 
 Swainford." Miss F , the prosecutrix, was next 
 
 examined. Her youth and beauty, no less than her 
 
THE BiaAMIST. 21 £ 
 
 being the daughter of an officer whose name wa; 
 well known for valorous acts in several distinguishec 
 battle-fields, excited the greatest interest in court 
 A strong sense of her wtongs appeared to banish 
 her natural modesty and timidity, and she gave he] 
 evidence with distinctness and accuracy, detailing 
 all the facts as to her being treated in every respecl 
 as the prisoner's wife during the whole time of theii 
 residence in Edinburgh. She was next cross- 
 examined by the prisoner's counsel, who asked hei 
 if she had never lived with any other gentleman in 
 the same way she had done in Edinburgh with the 
 accused. This gave rise to a volley of hisses from 
 the audience. She replied with much indignatior 
 that she had not, and expressed a wish not to be 
 subjected to gross insults. The counsel next asked 
 if she considered it a correct course to live as she 
 did in Edinburgh with the accused. She answered 
 that strictly sp'eaking it might not be correct, "But,"' 
 said she, " when I did so, I thought I had a man oJ 
 honour and a gentleman to deal with, instead of an 
 unprincipled knave." The audience gave shouts oi 
 applause, which could hardly be suppressed, and the 
 
216 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 prisoner, quailing under the witness's answer, held 
 down his head and concealed his face. The pri- 
 soner's counsel perceiving that nothing favourahle 
 to his chent's case could be elicited from the 
 witness, and that such a line of examination would 
 only tend to prejudice the jury against the prisoner, 
 put no further questions. 
 
 Two eminent Scotch counsel were next examined 
 to prove the law of marriage in Scotland. They 
 were allowed to remain in court during the whole 
 trial, and to hear the evidence of all the other 
 witnesses. They gave it as their unqualified opinion 
 upon oath, that the facts brought out by the testi- 
 mony of the other witnesses clearly established that 
 
 a marriage between the prisoner and Miss ¥- 
 
 was fully constituted, and that, in point of fact, 
 they were married persons before leaving Scotland. 
 
 There was no evidence adduced on behalf of the 
 prisoner. 
 
 The second marriage with Miss B was next 
 
 proved by production of the register, and by two 
 witnesses. 
 
 The jury were addressed at great length, in a 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 217 
 
 clear and able speecli, by the prosecutor's counsel, 
 and in another, equally long and ingenious, by the 
 counsel for the prisoner. The judge next charged 
 the jury in a luminous speech, commenting fully on 
 the whole evidence, and applying the law of Scot- 
 land, agreeably to the distinct evidence of the 
 Scotch counsel, to all the facts elicited from the 
 witnesses. His charge bore strongly against the 
 prisoner. The jury, after a short absence, returned 
 a verdict finding the prisoner guilty of bigamy, as 
 charged. The announcement was followed by the 
 applause of the audience, which the judge could 
 only suppress with difficulty. 
 
 The judge then addressed the prisoner as fol- 
 lows : — " Edward Swainford, it is now my painful 
 duty to award the punishment adapted to the crime 
 of which you have been found guilty by an intelli- 
 gent jury, with whose verdict I most entirely coin- 
 cide. I regret to say that your case is one of the 
 most aggravated of the kind it has ever been my 
 lot to try in this court, whether I regard the 
 nature of the offence, or the character of the two 
 unfortunate young females who have been affected 
 
218 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 by your acts. It was not a sufiBcient protection 
 to the prosecutrix against your attempts at seduc- 
 tion, that she was young, modest, and of a highly 
 respectable famUy; neither was it siifficient that 
 she was the daughter of an officer distinguished in 
 the military history of his country. After the most 
 solemn protestations of your attachment, you gained 
 her afifections, promised her marriage, and obtained 
 a similar promise from her. Availing yourself of 
 the state of her affections, of which you artfully 
 obtained the possession, and having urged her by 
 every argument you could invent, you at length 
 prevailed on her to accompany you to Scotland, 
 \\here you resided as man and wife. Thereafter you 
 strove to desert her altogether, and to avoid having 
 any iutercourse with her, thinking that you had 
 merely committed a dexterous act of seduction. 
 Lucidly for her, however, the laws of the country 
 where you resided together are such, that in the 
 trap which you thought you had so -adroitly laid 
 for her, you yourself have been effectually caught, 
 and you and she are to all intents and purposes 
 man and wife. After deserting Emily F- , your 
 
THE BIGAMIST. 21 
 
 chosen and married wife, you next thouglit prope 
 to pay your addresses to another young woma: 
 
 of respectable connexions. Miss Eliza B , am 
 
 after gaining her affections in like manner, afa( 
 getting her to engage to marry you, you wen 
 through the , ceremony of marriage with her, an( 
 you and she have lived together, and cohabited ai 
 man and wife, for a considerable time. I need no 
 describe the sadly painful predicament into whicl 
 you have brought this unfortunate young woman 
 and what her feelings and those of her friends 
 must be at the disclosure now made of your un- 
 principled "proceedings. The sentence of the court 
 is, that you be imprisoned for two years from this 
 date, and then set at liberty." 
 
 The prisoner was now fully awakened from his 
 dream of security. Up to the. moment when the 
 verdict was returned he regarded the whole pro- 
 ceedings as a thorough farce. He then began to 
 look surprised; but on hearing sentence pro- 
 nounced he looked perfectly astounded. The strong 
 language of the judge affected him beyond measure, 
 and on hearing the sentence consigning him for two 
 
220 THE BIGAMIST. 
 
 years as a condemned felon, to be immured in a 
 criminal prison, he became deadly pale, and nearly 
 fainted away. 
 
 His conviction was followed by an action of 
 divorce at the instance of his wife, the prosecutrix, 
 who obtained judgment of divorce, and a large 
 annual allowance out of his estate. 
 
THE FATAL DR^AM. 
 
 Edwabd Bland and James Mapleson, two young 
 men belonging to Yorkshire, — the one the son of 
 a farmer near Skipton; the other the son of a 
 respectable and extensively-employed tradesman of 
 that town, — ^were educated at the Skipton Grammar 
 School, and, being under able masters, both received 
 a superior education. They were very much akin 
 in tastes and dispositions, and, being associated 
 from their infancy, their ties of friendship were as 
 close as that of two brothers. They had each read 
 of prairie life in the far west of the American 
 States, and of emigrant life in the backwoods of 
 Upper Canada, As generally happens in such cases, 
 
222 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 they looked at the fair side of the picture, and 
 hence, captivated by its romance, they became pos- 
 sessed with the most intense desire to cross the 
 Atlantic, and have their lot cast among the wilds 
 of Upper Canada. Extensive forests, buffalo, wild 
 deer, and racoon hunts, bagging wild turkeys, quails, 
 partridges, and the endless variety of game abound- 
 ing in the trackless woods of that colony, were 
 attractions too great in their estimation to be 
 resisted. Considerable opposition and reluctance 
 were exhibited by the parents of both to the pro- 
 posed exodus ; but it was at length overcome, and 
 their consent obtained. 
 
 The two youths, elated with their new project, 
 proceeded to make preparations for their departure. 
 Outfits of clothes, boots, shoes, and uU the other 
 appendages of an emigrant, were speedily obtained, 
 and a passage secured in an emigrant ship bound 
 for New York from Liverpool. They were advised 
 to take the route by New York, and thereafter to 
 avail themselves of the commodious and cheap 
 steamers plying on the Hudson Eiver and Erie 
 Canal. By this means they avoided the tedious 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 223 
 
 and dangerous navigation of the St Lawrence, and 
 arrived at their destination in half the time they 
 would have taken by the latter route. They 
 travelled in the intermediate or second cabin on 
 the voyage from Liverpool to New York, and also 
 in the steamers on the Hudson Eiver. The voyage 
 from Liverpool to New York was prosperous and 
 agreeable. There were a number of emigrants on 
 board, and of these seven or eight of the more 
 respectable were intermediate passengers. One of 
 them, — a young man from Cumberland, named 
 John Harling, whose destination was also Upper 
 Canada, — drew very much to Bland and Mapleson. 
 He was obliging in manner, and, having a con- 
 siderable deal of information in regard to the 
 , colony of Canada, the two Yorkshire yotiths found 
 him useful, and an intimacy between them soon 
 sprang up. Mapleson in particular became ex- 
 tremely intimate with Harling; but Bland, who 
 was much more shrewd and penetrating than his 
 friend Mapleson, did not fancy to the same degree 
 their new fellow-traveller. He thought him too 
 fawning and obseqifious, and imagined he had once 
 
224 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 or twice discovered a little duplicity in some of his 
 transactions. He had not that frank, open, and 
 candid manner which accorded with his notions of 
 an eligible associate. He did not, however, allow this 
 to disturb a certain amount of intimacy. Accord- 
 ingly, the three young men were close associates. 
 
 On reaching Toronto, the three youths repaired 
 together to the Government Land Office, and hav- 
 ing examined the plans of the numerous blocks of 
 land, and afterwards taken some days to visit them, 
 Bland and Mapleson at length fixed upon a large 
 block on the banks of the Huron Lake, near the 
 mouth of the Wye Eiver, about fifty miles from 
 Toronto, which they bought as copartners, and 
 named Skipton Valley. A portion of the claim 
 had been already cleared, and had a comfortable 
 house, — a circumstance which added considerably 
 to the price. Harling selected a block adjoining 
 that of his two friends, but which had no house, 
 but, or place of abode of any kind. He, however, 
 prevailed on them to allow him to reside in their 
 house along with them, bearing, of course, his share 
 of the living. This was a prodigious advantage to 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 225 
 
 him, since it saved him the heavy expense in the 
 meantime of building a residence for himself. The 
 parties began immediately to clear timber and culti- 
 vate their claims like other backwoodsmen, and to 
 construct sheds for their cattle. 
 
 There were a number of highly respectable settlers 
 in their neighbourhood, some of whom had exten- 
 sive runs, which they had possessed for a number 
 of years, and which were not only fully cleared, 
 but in a high state of cultivation. These settlers 
 the three new immigrants found extremely useful, 
 inasmuch as they not only gave them all necessary 
 information about the best system of management, 
 but lent them occasionally implements of husbandry 
 and horses. An intimacy, accordingly, sprang up 
 between the latter and former. One of the wealthiest 
 of these old settlers had an only daughter of sur- 
 passing beauty ; and, for the daughter of a back- 
 woodsman, remarkably accomplished. ' It was not 
 surprising, therefore, that she should, in a more 
 than usual degree, attract the attention of the three 
 new comers, whose removal to the backwoods had 
 nearly deprived them of ail society. The young 
 
226 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 lady, Eliza Fremont, was the daughter of Mr 
 Edward Fremont, formerly an extensive farmer in 
 the county of Norfolk, who had, five or six years 
 previous to the period of which we are speaking, 
 emigrated with his wife, a son, and daughter, to 
 the Canadian colony. Having brought a consider- 
 able capital with him, he speedily cleared several 
 large blocks of land, and had afterwards fenced 
 and got them into a state of thorough order and 
 cultivation. The United States had by that time 
 removed the serious restrictions formerly imposed 
 on Canadian produce, in the shape of import 
 duties; and hence Mr Fremont, the annual pro- 
 duce of whose claims — which consisted of wheat 
 and various grains, flour, cattle, horses, and different 
 other commodities — was extensive and valuable, 
 drew a yearly income of several thousand pounds 
 sterling. He had built a fine mansion, with offices, 
 and had a large walled garden, orchard, shrubbery, 
 and pleasure-grounds. Mr Fremont's known wealth, 
 therefore, and superior intelligence, gave him no 
 small position in the district where he resided. 
 On the very first visit of the three young emi- 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 227 
 
 grants to Finchleyhead, (the residence of Mr Fre- 
 mont,) the family there soon perceived that the two 
 Yorkshire youths were greatly superior to him of 
 Cumberland, in education, intelligence, and general 
 information. The latter, too, besides a good deal 
 of innate vulgarity, and the want of thorough edu- 
 cational training, had a fawning obsequiousness, 
 beneath which lurked a certain degree of sneaking 
 cunning, which became visible after a short acquaint- 
 ance. The society of the two Yorkghiremen, there- 
 fore, was more acceptable, and they met with much 
 more attention from the Fremonts than Harling 
 did. James Maplesofi, in particular, was a special 
 favourite. To a thoroughly useful and excellent 
 education, extensive reading and general informa- 
 tion, he added an open, frank, and pleasing manner. 
 He was also conversible and communicative. These 
 qualities were not a little enhanced by a handsome 
 face and elegant figure. Miss Fremont had too 
 much discernment not to appreciate both the mental 
 and persona,l graces which adorned young Mapleson. 
 It was evident, therefore, at every visit, that of the 
 triOj he was the favoured one. Attached as Bland 
 
228 THE FAT,4L DEEAM. 
 
 was to his friend, and being, moreover, a man of 
 principle and honour, he was well satisfied to see 
 a mutual attachment springing up between Eliza 
 Premont and James Mapleson. Not so, however, 
 was John Harling. He formed an ardent attach- 
 ment to Miss Fremont himself, and thinking that 
 his smooth fawning manner would infallibly give 
 him the preference in her estimation, he was greatly- 
 disappointed and exasperated to find another carry 
 the palm. In order to turn the tide, if possible, in 
 his favour, he tried the expedient of throwing , out 
 obscure hints, tending to prejudice his two associates 
 in the estimation of the family at Pinchleyhead. 
 Besides the bad taste displayed in such insinuations, 
 the family at once perceived its object, and it only 
 served to lower him extremely in their estimation. 
 They knew, moreover, the vast obligations he was 
 under to his two associates, for giving him, at incon- 
 venience to themselves, the share of a comfortable 
 house to live in gratuitously, when he had none 
 of his own. He accordingly became morose and 
 dejected, and made himself absolutely disagreeable 
 to the two friends from whom he had received so 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 229 
 
 much kindness. Mapleson thought that his dejec- 
 tion and disagreeable manner were caused by a slight 
 attack of ague, which he had had some days pre- 
 viously; but Bland, as usual, much more discerning, 
 had no difficulty in tracing the true source of their 
 new associate's conduct. He thought, however, 
 that, as happens in similar cases, it would soon 
 abate, and finally pass away. Though he did not 
 like Harling, and had no high opinion of him, yet 
 he thought in the main he was not void of principle. 
 Mapleson's visits to Finchleyhead were frequent, 
 and acceptable to the family. His attentions to 
 Miss Premont were marked and unremitting, and 
 at each successive visit were becoming more and 
 more acceptable to the young lady. One clear, 
 calm summer evening, he and she had a long walk 
 on the banks of the Huron Lake. They reached 
 a beautiful promontory, from which this magnificent 
 prince of lakes was visible as far as the eye could 
 carry. Its lovely blue surface lay at their feet, and 
 its numerous wooded' islands, as varied in size as in 
 form, feasted the eyes of the beholders. The tout 
 ensemble presented a picture of beauty and gran- 
 
230 
 
 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 deur baffling all powers of description. It was 
 while the happy couple were seated on a rock, 
 wrapped up in admiration of the fairy scene before 
 them, that Mr Mapleson ventured to put the delicate 
 question, the answer to which was to make Mm 
 happy or miserable. The lady's cheeks were imme- 
 diately iSufFused with crimson. She looked to the 
 ground, and remained speechless. At length he 
 said, " I presume I am to conclude that silence im- 
 plies consent." She still remained mute, but placed 
 her hand in his. He then took her to his arms, 
 pressed her to his bosom, and imprinted several 
 kisses on her crimsoned cheek. In a, few minutes, 
 her emotion subsiding, she recovered her speech, 
 and grasping his hand in both hers, she said, " 
 James, I am completely happy." The myrtle-bough 
 was thus fairly twined, an unmistakable compact 
 formed, and two lovers made as happy as the perfect 
 consummation of the wishes of both at this stage 
 of their career could make them. The parties 
 walked home slowly, but with the most pleasing 
 feelings in each other's society. It was the setting 
 sun only that admonished them how provokingly 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 1 231 
 
 swift time seemed to fly. At length, on arriving 
 at a turn of the road near Finchleyhead, they met 
 Mr Harling, who, instead of stopping as they did 
 to speak, brushed past with a slight inclination of 
 the head, and with an extremely sullen air. They 
 ascertained that he had called at Finchleyhead, and 
 seemed much disappointed on learning that Miss 
 Fremont had gone to walk with Mr Mapleson. 
 The cause of his manner and conduct, therefore, on 
 meeting the latter and Miss Fremont, it was now 
 impossible to mistake. After conducting Miss 
 Fremont to her father's residence, and promising, 
 at her urgent request, to call for her on the second 
 evening thereafter, Mapleson returned home to his 
 own station. 
 
 In a claim like that of Bland and Mapleson, 
 where a portion .of cleared land bearing crops 
 adjoins a wooded or uncleared portion, game of 
 every kind is always abundant, as the woods afford 
 them a secure retreat, and the crops growing on the 
 cleared portion an ample supply of food so conve- 
 niently placed. Hence trespassers or poachers in 
 quest of game from the surrounding country were 
 
232 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 constantly found on Bland and Mapleson's lands. 
 Though, in a country where game is so abundant, 
 poaching is not treated as a grave offence, or dealt 
 with as in the mother country, yet land-owners are 
 entitled, unless where they permit or encourage the 
 destruction of game, which they sometimes do, to 
 protect their lands and the game thereon, and to pro- 
 secute the trespassers. The above two immigrants 
 accordingly, who wished not only to supply their 
 own tables, but could turn the game to profitable 
 account, placed notices at the boundaries of their 
 lands prohibiting all trespassing under the threat of 
 a prosecution. Notwithstanding this precaution, 
 they received private information that several lum- 
 berers from the neighbouring rivers, and labourers 
 from the adjoining estates, were in the frequent 
 habit of coming with guns at night, particularly 
 in moon-light, and killing large quantities of game. 
 It was accordingly resolved by Bland and Mapleson 
 to watch the places where poaching occurred, and 
 to get the poachers prosecuted and fined. They 
 therefore fixed the following evening to watch the 
 intruders. They directed two of their servants 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 233 
 
 acquainted with the inhabitants of the neighbour- 
 hood to accompany them. Harling had become 
 sullen and disagreeable in his manner, and ex- 
 tremely disobliging, particularly to Mapleson ; and 
 his usual power of concealing his sentiments and 
 assuming a courteous manner, had apparently for- 
 saken him. Nevertheless it was judged proper by 
 the other two gentlemen to invite him to join the 
 party. Although the watching was not to take 
 place on his block, and although his lands were 
 differently circumstanced from theirs, only a small 
 portion of his being cleared, yet he had at least 
 some interest to put down poaching. He, however, 
 declined the invitation, on the ground that he had 
 occasion to go to the smithy and to see some la- 
 bourers whom he appointed to meet with. Accord- 
 ingly, a few minutes before they went to watch, 
 they saw him go away in the direction of the smithy. 
 Bland and Mapleson, accompanied by their two 
 servants referred to, set out for the spot where they 
 had arranged, after mature consideration and dis- 
 cussion, to go for the purpose of watching the tres- 
 passers. The mode of proceeding was arranged. 
 
234 THE FATAL DREAM. 
 
 and the spot where they were to remain concealed 
 was fixed upon, the night preceding, in presence of 
 Harling, who approved of their plans. It was 
 arranged that they should conceal themselves in 
 a small dense clump of maple trees close to the 
 edge of the cleared land. The two Yorkshire gentle- 
 men and their two servants accordingly took their 
 departure as already mentioned, soon after Harling. 
 They were all armed with fowling-pieces, and the 
 two gentlemen had, besides, each a revolver. Not 
 that they intended any violence to the poachers, 
 but simply for self-defence. Besides, almost all 
 persons going abroad in Canada, and particularly 
 at night, or entering woods, are generally armed, to 
 protect themselves from wild beasts. They entered 
 the wood as quietly as possible, and got into the 
 maple clump as had been . arranged. The moon 
 was full, and shone brilliantly from a cloudless sky. 
 After remaining concealed for about an hour in 
 the clump, they heard a rustling noise among the 
 fallen leaves, and footsteps as of a \ number of 
 persons in the wood, a little to the left of the spot 
 where they stood. In a short time, five men, each 
 
THE FATAL DKEAM. 235 
 
 with a fowling-piece, emerged from the wood, and 
 came out upon the cleared land, with the view, 
 doubtless, of finding game, of which there was a 
 great quantity on different fields close at hand. 
 They seemed to be in the garb of labourers. The 
 two servants were desired immediately to go forward 
 and endeavour to identify them. They advanced 
 accordingly, and the poachers were somewhat 
 startled, but did not attempt to run away. The 
 servants knew the whole party, and said they 
 were reputed steady respectable men. Two of 
 them were labourers from a property in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and the other three were lumberers on 
 the river Wye. They expressed their regret at 
 having trespassed — said they had not observed, the 
 notices placed on the lands — and did not know the 
 game was preserved. Bland and Mapleson next 
 emerged from their place of concealment, to ascer- 
 tain what the poachers were saying to their servants. 
 After they left the clump and got a little way on 
 the cleared laud, the report of a shot was heard, 
 and some smoke seen issuing from a thicket about 
 a hundred yards to their right, and immediately 
 
23G THE FATAL DKEAM. 
 
 Mapleson fell to the ground. Bland instantly saw 
 what had happened, and called out at the top of 
 his voice, " You blackguard, you have shot a gentle- 
 man." The five poachers, on seeing what happened, 
 ran forward along with the two servants to assist 
 Mr Bland in raising his friend. He was found, 
 however, to be in a dying state. The poachers 
 assured Mr Bland that the person who fired the 
 shot did not belong to their party. They were five 
 in number only, and were all present, and they 
 knew of no other. Leaving one of the servants 
 along with the poachers to attend to poor Mapleson, 
 Bland and the other servant took up their fowling- 
 pieces and ran off in pursuit of the assassin, in the 
 direction from which the shot came. They heard 
 his footsteps running away, but owing to the time 
 spent in attending to Mr Mapleson, he had got off 
 to some distance. They ran with all their speed, 
 and seemed for a time to be gaining upon him, but 
 after a time he seemed to be gaining ground upon 
 them. Therefore, after a run of some miles through 
 dense wood, they gave up the pursuit, and returned 
 to the dying man. About the same time that the 
 
THE FATAL DEBAM. 237 
 
 pursuit was commenced, one of the poachers volun- 
 teered his services to run for a surgeon of consider- 
 able skill, whom he had seen attending a female 
 patient at a house two miles off. The surgeon was 
 found, and arrived at the spot where Mapleson lay, 
 a few minutes after the return of Bland and the 
 servant. 
 
 On examining the wound the surgeon pronounced 
 it to be mortal. It was produced by a rifle-ball, 
 which had entered the right side, passed through a 
 portion of the liver, and had entered the regions of 
 the heart. There was an extensive internal haemor- 
 rhage which could not fail to terminate fatally. The 
 poor man had fainted several times — was becoming 
 weaker and weaker, and by the time his friend 
 Bland returned the tide of life was fast . ebbing. 
 He was reduced to a state of great weakness, but 
 was quite sensible. At length, fastening his eyes 
 on Bland, and stretching out his hand, which his 
 friend seized hold of, he said, "I am fast dying, 
 nothing can save me. My dear Bland, this is a 
 sad finale to my emigration schemes. Do see Eliza 
 Fremont. Tell her my last thoughts were of her. 
 
238 THE FATAL DEB AM. 
 
 and that my ardent and devoted attachment con- 
 tinued unabated to the last. Give her my diamond 
 ring and watch. Accept yourself my fowling-piece, 
 rifle, and revolver, and all my books. Send all my 
 other trinkets and valuables to my mother.'' He 
 then desired Bland to kiss him, and said, " Farewell, 
 my dearest and best friend, God bless and protect 
 you. I hope we vrill meet in another and better 
 world. I heartily forgive the assassin, whoever he 
 is." Bland's feelings so overpowered him that he 
 cried and sobbed like a child, and could not for 
 some time speak. At length recoveriag his power 
 of utterance, he said, " My dearest Mapleson, I can 
 hardly stand this scene. I would give everything 
 I am possessed of to restore you, but the Disposer 
 of all human events has ordered it otherwise. I 
 will faithfully obey all your instructions." Bland 
 again embraced and kissed him. He immediately 
 became insensible, and in about half an hour 
 breathed his last. As soon as poor Bland could 
 fully realise the events of the last few hours, he 
 became deeply melancholy, and seemed regardless 
 of everything passing around him. His best and 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 239 
 
 most amiable friend and companion lay stretched 
 beside him a piece of inanimate clay, and he felt 
 himself a solitary and friendless being in the wilds 
 of Canada. 
 
 Some of the poachers, all of whom really con- 
 ducted themselves with great propriety, had run 
 off to alarm the police and constables in the neigh- 
 bourhood, several of whom had started in quest of 
 the murderer. Bland and the servant who had 
 accompanied him in pursuing and attempting to 
 overtake the person who fired the fatal shot, dis- 
 covered from the sound of the footsteps that one 
 person only was engaged in the diabolical act. It 
 seemed also quite clear that the shot could not have 
 hit Mr Mapleson accidentally. It was fired from 
 a "spot close to the edge of the cleared land, and had 
 hit a person who was on the cleared land, a good 
 many yards from the edge of the wood. There 
 were not at or near the spot any wild quadrupeds, 
 at which alone a rifle would be fired by any person 
 using it for a legitimate purpose. There might be 
 winged game, but a fowKng- piece with common 
 small pellets only would be employed against them. 
 
240 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 Indeed, it was plain to demonstration that wilfal 
 murder was intended ; for the shot was no sooner 
 fired than the person who did so immediately ran 
 off with all his might: His footsteps were heard 
 running, and the branches of the trees moving, as 
 he quickly pushed his way through them. Yet 
 there was a strange mystery, and it for a time re- 
 mained unsolved. Suppose the assassin to be a 
 poacher, there was far too much game in Canada 
 improtected and easily to be had, to make it worth 
 a poacher's while to shoot at a proprietor for pre- 
 venting poaching. Besides, Bland and Mapleson 
 had never before watched or interrupted poaching ; 
 and so no poacher could come prepared with a rifle 
 to shoot any of them. They were also as plainly 
 dressed on the occasion as their servants, and no 
 strano-er could distinguish which was the master 
 and which the servant, or indeed whether they 
 might not be poachers as well as he. The five 
 poachers expressed their firm belief that the person 
 who fired the shot was not a poacher, but some 
 private enemy who knew of Mr Mapleson being 
 to be there, and came purposely to shoot him. They 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 241 
 
 said that a great mimber of the land-owners en- 
 couraged the destruction of game on account of their 
 crops, and every one who chose could get shooting 
 without any difficulty, and it was a thing quite 
 unknown for trespassers to attack land-owners. 
 The body of the murdered man was removed in 
 a waggon to his own and Mr Bland's residence, to 
 await the inquest by the coroner and jury. 
 
 The report of poor Mapleson's death spread 
 rapidly in all directions, and made a deep sensation 
 in the neighbourhood, where he was known to 
 everybody, and universally respected. It was also 
 known that he was about to become connected to 
 Mr Premont's family, which made him a still greater 
 object of interest. Crowds repaired to the spot 
 where the event occurred, to see how it took place. 
 Mr Premont, on hearing the report, rode over to 
 the deceased's house to ascertain if it was true, and 
 to learn the particulars. He discovered it to be too 
 true, and found poor Mapleson's remains stretched 
 on a table waiting the inquest. He resolved at 
 first to conceal the event from his daughter; but 
 perceiving, on reflection, that it could not be long 
 
 Q 
 
242 THE FATAL DREAM. 
 
 concealed, and that she must hear of it sooner or 
 later, his next resolution was to break it to her 
 by degrees. But on reaching home, he found that 
 the sad intelligence had already been communicated. 
 His daughter, observiag that some important news 
 had reached the servants, who were aU talking 
 together, made special inquiry at one of them, who 
 told her that it was reported that something had 
 happened to one of the gentlemen at Skipton 
 Valley, though she did not know to which of them, 
 or at least said she did not. Miss Fremont, of 
 course, became alarmed, and immediately after- 
 wards observing from the window a number of 
 the servants collected round a labourer belonging 
 to an estate in the neighbourhood, who happened 
 to be one of the five poachers above referred to, 
 she ran out, and inquiring at him what had hap- 
 pened at Skipton Valley, was informed by an eye- 
 witness of the catastrophe which had befallen her 
 lover. She instantly fainted away, was carried by 
 the servants into the house, and, after a succession 
 of similar fits, was conveyed to bed, where her 
 father found her on his return home. The shock 
 
THE FATAL DEE AM. 243 
 
 to her feelings resulted in a fever, whicli lasted 
 upwards of six weeks. Her health did not fully 
 recover the stroke for more than a year afterwards. 
 It has been already mentioned that the remains 
 of the unfortunate Mapleson were removed to his 
 own and Mr Bland's house at Skipton Valley to 
 await the inquest. The remains were placed in 
 a room where James Elman, one of the two ser- 
 vants who witnessed Mr Mapleson's death, and the 
 same who, along with Mr Bland, had pursued the 
 assassin, usually slept. There was a large room in 
 which three beds stood, whiph were occupied by 
 Bland, Mapleson, and Harling. The dead body 
 being placed in James Elman's room, and the door 
 locked, it was arranged that Elman should sleep 
 for a time in the large room, occupying the bed of 
 his deceased master. Harling returned in the course 
 of the evening. He said he had occasion to go to 
 a place, which he named, at a considerable dis- 
 tance, and seemed much fatigued. He mentioned 
 that he had heard at the smithy and several other 
 places on his way, of the sad fate of poor Mapleson, 
 and expressed his deep regret and sympathy. for all 
 
244 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 his friends. He asked to see the body, which he 
 examined, and seemed much affected. He then 
 commented on the imprudence of watching poachers 
 in these remote woods, and being exposed to the 
 attacks of any reckless characters, who might shoot 
 them unperceived and with impunity. After taking 
 supper, they repaired to bed, the two gentlemen and 
 the servant Elman occupying the large bedroom, 
 as had been arranged. The minds both of Mr 
 Bland and the servant were much excited by the 
 events of the evening, and for some hours sleep 
 forsook them. Harling for a short time was also 
 somewhat restless ; but in less than an hour he fell 
 fast asleep. He, however, became very disturbed, 
 and evidently had some very troublesome dream. 
 He kept tossing his legs and arms, and muttering 
 something which Bland could not make out. At 
 length, speaking louder and more distinctly, he 
 said, "Oh, I've shot him — I've shot him! poor 
 Mapleson ! I wish I had not done it. Oh, I 'm 
 sorry I did it. Eliza Fremont, it was for you 
 I did it ; I wish he had got you ! " Bland, on hear- 
 ing this remarkable soliloquy, slipped out of bed. 
 
THE FATAL DREAM. 245 
 
 and, moving quietly to the side of the servant's 
 bed, asked him in a whisper if he heard what 
 Harling had said. He replied that he had heard 
 every word of it. His master told him to be sure 
 to remember it, and to listen to any other state- 
 ments he might make. Bland returned quietly to 
 his bed. He had no sooner lain down than Harling 
 again commenced talking. " Oh, my rifle, my 
 rifle!" said he; "what if they search the large 
 holly tree, and find my rifle ; they will at once 
 know it is mine, and find me out. Oh, poor 
 Mapleson ! I am a sinful wretch." A number of 
 similar revelations were made by the sleeping man 
 in the course of the night, and aR very much to 
 the same efiect. Both Bland and his servant became 
 thoroughly convinced that the murderer of poor 
 Mapleson was no other than John Harling. Bland 
 again whispered to his servant to be sure not to say 
 a syllable to Harling himself, or any other person, 
 of what he had heard, till called upon by a magis- 
 trate or in a court of law. Soon afterwards they 
 both fell asleep. 
 
 Next morning, after a consultation with the ser- 
 
246 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 vant with reference to the rifle, Bland determined 
 if possible to ascertain for certain whether the rifle 
 was hid, as the dreamer had stated in his sleep. 
 He and the servants had seen Harling on the early 
 part of the previous evening with his rifle in his 
 hand on leaving the house ; but two of the other 
 servants, who saw him return late at night, said 
 he then had no gun of any kind in his posses- 
 sion. Bland therefore resolved, first by inquiries 
 in an indirect way,, to see what Harling would say 
 about his rifle. He told the servant to clean his 
 own rifle and revolver after breakfast. On Harling 
 entering the breakfast - parlour in the morning. 
 Bland said to him, " I have just been giving orders 
 to the servant to cl^an my rifle and revolver, as 
 there is no saying how soon we may be attacked, 
 even in the house, by some ruffian. Give yours 
 to him also!" And the servant being in the room 
 at the time, he said to him, " Go and get Mr 
 Harling's rifle and revolver, and clean them along 
 with mine." Harling replied, in a somewhat con- 
 fused manner, "Oh, in coming home last night I 
 had some things carrying, and, being tired, I left 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 247 
 
 my rifle at Miller's house at Grandford" (naming 
 the house of a settler three miles distant) "with 
 one of the servants." Bland lost not a moment 
 in seeing the servant vrho was cleaning the rifle, 
 being the same who slept in the gentlemen's bed- 
 room the night before, and heard Harling talk- 
 ing in his sleep. He told him he intended to ride 
 to Mr Miller's house, where Harling said he had 
 left his rifle, to ascertain if it really was there ; 
 that, after doing so, he meant to ride with aU 
 despatch to the place where the murder occurred. 
 He directed the servant to walk thither imme- 
 diately, and wait his (Bland's) arrival. Bland, 
 taking his horse, rode with the utmost speed to 
 Grandford. It was the breakfast hour, and all the. 
 servants on the claim, as well as Mr Miller himself, 
 were at home. Bland said his object in calling so 
 early was to ask for a rifle which Mr Harling had 
 left there with one of the servants the night before. 
 Mr Miller said he had not himself seen Mr Harling, 
 and had not heard of his being there, but that all 
 the servants were in the house assembled at break- 
 fast, and he would go and ask them. He did so, 
 
248 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 and, returning immediately, said there must be 
 some mistake, as none of them had seen Mr Har- 
 ling since the week before, and no rifle or gun of 
 any kind was left by him at the house. Mr Bland, 
 who deemed it prudent for the present to conceal 
 his object in making the inquiry, remarked that it 
 was of no consequence ; that Mr Harling had left 
 his rifle somewhere, and he thought it was there ; 
 that they were collecting all their arms, so as to 
 protect themselves, as there was no saying how 
 many assassins there might be lurking about the 
 woods at night. He, however, went away per- 
 suaded in his own mind that he had .obtained 
 an important link in a chain of evidence. He now 
 galloped with the utmost speed to the place where 
 his friend was shot, and found that his servant, 
 James Elman, had arrived a few minutes before 
 him. After informing Elman that Mr Miller told 
 him Harling had not left any gun at Grandford, 
 and had not been there at all, he asked him if he 
 recollected, the night before, of seeing a large holly 
 tree when they were pursuing the person who shot 
 Mr Mapleson. Elman replied, that he did observe 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 249 
 
 such, a tree, and could find it witli perfect ease. 
 He said, when he heard Mr Harling, the night 
 before, mention in his sleep that hiS rifle was con- 
 cealed there, he at once remembered passing such 
 a tree in pursuing the assassin. He further said, 
 he remembered that it was just about the time the 
 person pursued passed this tree that he began to 
 run with greater speed; and doubtless this arose 
 from his being, at that very spot, disencumbered of 
 his rifle. Poor Bland was so confused and stunned 
 at the time his friend was shot, that he paid no 
 attention to the trees or their appearance, being 
 intent only on overtaking the murderer. He 
 therefore received with great avidity the informa- ' 
 tion of his servant that he could so easily find the 
 large holly tree. Directing the servant to point 
 the way, they walked as quickly as possible, and, 
 after proceeding about a mile from the spot where 
 the shot was fired, they came to a large holly tree. 
 They searched round it, and, among some loose 
 leaves, they observed the but-end of a gun project- 
 ing, on taking up which they at once recognised it 
 as the rifle of Harling, and took possession of it. 
 
250 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 A thought next struck Mr Bland that they might 
 find traces of his footsteps ; but the holly-tree had 
 such a quantity of leaves blown round it, that no 
 footprints were discernible. On going, however, 
 to the thicket from which the shot was fired, they 
 were more successful. It was free of all leaves, and 
 in several places there were spots of bare clay soil 
 without any vegetation. They found, on several of 
 these spots, distinct impressions of feet wearing 
 coarse, heavy shooting -shoes or boots, with large 
 hob-nails. Most of the impressions were confused 
 by one set of steps effacing the others, from 
 frequent walking or treading over them. But they 
 found two places where the impressions were not 
 effaced, and where the person whose feet had made 
 them must have stood still for a considerable time 
 without moving. They were most distinct ; and 
 Elman, on seeing them, immediately pronounced 
 the impressions to have been made by Mr Harling's 
 boots, which he knew by being in the constant 
 habit of cleaning them. He said the boots Mr 
 Harling had on the night before were at home, 
 as he put on a drier pair in the morning on going 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 251 
 
 out to attend his labourers. Mr Bland gave Elman 
 his horse^ and directed him to ride home as fast 
 as possible, before Harling would return to dinner, 
 and bring the boots to the spot, and to bring 
 another of the servants vyith him. He at the 
 same time despatched a labourer vrhom he had 
 employed cutting timber close at hand, for a plas- 
 terer whom he was in the habit of employing, and 
 with instructions to tell him to come to him with 
 all despatch on urgent business, and to bring with 
 him two or three pounds of fine stucco. The two 
 servants with the boots were on the spot in half 
 an hour, and the plasterer arrived soon afterwards. 
 On placing the soles of the boots on the impres- 
 sions in the clay, they were found to fit exactly. 
 Indeed, besides the precise fit of the boots with 
 the impressions, there were important pecuKarities 
 in the soles which rendered the identification other- 
 wise complete. In addition to the row of nails, 
 with large square heads, round the edge of the 
 soles and heels of both boots, there was a star 
 formed of similar nails in the centre of each sole, 
 and a cross in the centre of the heel. These stars 
 
252 THE FATAL DREAM. 
 
 and crosses were distinctly impressed on the clay, 
 and, when tried, the nails in the boots fitted in- 
 to them with perfect precision. Nearly half a 
 dozen of witnesses saw this investigation. The 
 plasterer then took a stucco itapression from the 
 clay, which agreed mathematically with the soles 
 and heels of the boots. 
 
 Mr Bland had thus, with the aid of his servants 
 and others, obtained a chain of circumstantial 
 evidence as conclusive as can well be imagined. 
 He therefore determined that Harling should not 
 sleep another night under his roof, and, sending for 
 two constables, got him forthwith carried before 
 two justices, in a village then called Fowlerbank, 
 about four miles distant. Mr Bland, the two ser- 
 vants, and the plasterer repaired at the same time 
 to the court, where they were examined as witnesses. 
 An able solicitor was sent for, who conducted the 
 prosecution. Harling had also a solicitor as his 
 legal adviser. The court-room was densely crowded 
 by all the gentlemen and respectable persons in the 
 neighbourhood, including among others Mr Fremont 
 
THE FATAl DEEAM. 253 
 
 and Ms son. Mr Bland was first examined, and orf 
 mentioning the soliloquy pronounced by Harling 
 during sleep, in which he disclosed the fact of his 
 having committed the murder, and revealed the 
 place where his rifle was hid, Harling seemed nearly 
 petrified with fear and amazement. When his rifle 
 was produced, and his boots, and the stucco impres- 
 sions from the clay, his courage wholly deserted 
 him, and, except for the interference of his solicitor, 
 he would have confessed his guilt. Intelligence of 
 the singular nature of the evidence soon spread 
 from the court-room to the neighbourhood, and a 
 large crowd besieged the doors, who could not gain 
 admission. The two servants and the plasterer were 
 next examined, and confirmed the evidence of Bland 
 in every particular. One of the servants swore to 
 his having heard the soliloquy of the accused during 
 sleep — his hearing him falsely state next morning 
 that he had left the rifle at Mr Miller's — his being 
 present at finding the rifle at the holly-tree, and 
 discovering the footprints. Both servants identified 
 the boots, and the plasterer swore to the impressions 
 
254 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 on the stucco being faithfully taken from the foot- 
 prints. The accused was then fully committed for 
 trial to the jail of Toronto. 
 
 Next day the inquest of the coroner and jury 
 took place at Skipton Valley. A crowd was assem- 
 bled, but not so large as that at the court-room the 
 day before, a great many being averse to intrude 
 on the premises of a private individual. The same 
 evidence was adduced as that of the day before; 
 in addition to which was that of two medical men 
 who made a post mortem examination and had ex- 
 tracted the ball from the wound. An important 
 piece of evidence was brought out in connexion 
 with the ball. It appeared that it was a conical 
 shaped ball, used only in a minie rifle. This species 
 of rifle was at that time extremely scarce in the 
 district where the murder was committed, and in- 
 deed throughout the whole colony, having been only 
 recently introduced in the mother country. Except- 
 ing the rifles of Bland, Mapleson, and Harling, it 
 was proved that there was only one other minie 
 rifle within thirty miles of Skipton Valley. On 
 trying the ball which was produced, it fitted pre- 
 
THE FATAL DKBAM. 255 
 
 cisely Harling's rifle. This was another most 
 important piece of evidence, had that already ad- 
 duced not been amply sufficient. The jury had 
 no difficulty in returning a verdict of wilful murder 
 against John Harlirig. 
 
 The trial came on at Toronto some weeks after- 
 wards. The circumstances having all transpired 
 through the local newspapers, great interest was 
 excited, and there was intense anxiety to gain ad- 
 mission to the court-room, which was speedily filled 
 to overflowing. Harling, on being brought to the 
 bar, was pale and emaciated, and had a haggard and 
 dejected look. He had retained an able counsel to 
 conduct his defence. The same chain of remarkable 
 and powerful circumstantial evidence as had been 
 laid before the justices at the time of his committal, 
 and before the coroner and jury, was again adduced 
 on the part of the prosecution. Every exertion 
 was made by cross-examination to shake the evi- 
 dence of the witnesses, but to no pui-pose. As often 
 happens in such cases, it made the evidence more 
 decisive, and the facts more clear and explicit. 
 After able speeches from the counsel on both sides, 
 
256 THE FATAL DKEAM. 
 
 and a full, clear, and impartial charge from the 
 presiding judge, the jury, after a short consultation, 
 returned a unanimous verdict of guUty against the 
 prisoner. 
 
 Justice M , the eminent colonial judge who 
 
 presided at the trial, assuming the black cap, ad- 
 dressed the prisoner as follows : — " John Harling, 
 I question if it has ever fallen to the lot of any 
 judge in this colony to try an offender for a crime 
 of a nature so deeply aggravated in all its circum- 
 stances as the one of which you now stand con- 
 victed by an intelligent and respectable jury. In 
 most cases of murder there are circumstances more 
 or less palliating. It is sometimes the result of 
 temporary passion — of great provocation — of mo- 
 mentary temptation, or the like ; but in your case 
 no such motive is to be found. The mode of effect- 
 ing your diabolical purpose was planned after full 
 time for reflection, and after mature deliberation. 
 Your victim was a most amiable and respectable 
 man, who had treated you with much kindness, who 
 never gave you the slightest cause of provocation, 
 but to whom, on the contrary, you were under very 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 257 
 
 great obKgations. It has appeared, in the course 
 of these proceedings, that you had formed an attach- 
 ment to a respectable young lady in this district, to 
 whom you became a suitor, but who did not en- 
 courage your advances ; and that it was known to 
 you that this young lady was about to become the 
 wife of the unfortunate young man whom you so 
 barbarously and brutally murdered. Whether, there- 
 fore, you acted from invidious pique or vindictive 
 motives — whether you formed the desperate, selfish, 
 but hopeless scheme of obtaining this young lady's 
 hand after murdering the betrothed object of her 
 affections — or whether all these motives were com- 
 bined, are ' circumstances best knovm to yourself. 
 Not the least striking feature of these proceedings 
 is the providential manner in which you yourself 
 were made to reveal, during sleep, a number of cir- 
 cumstances that were the means of leading to full 
 and complete evidence of your guilt. Be specially 
 careful to improve the short time you will have in 
 this world to make your peace with your Maker, 
 by repenting of your transgressions, and seeking 
 pardon through the merits of your Eedeemer ; for 
 
258 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 rest assured, that no hope need be entertained by 
 you that your life will be spared. My only doubt 
 is, whether, from the awfully abandoned profligacy, 
 brutal and barbarous conduct, exhibited in your 
 case, I ought not, in pronouncing judgment, to 
 order your body to be hung in chaius, as a solemn 
 warning to parties, who, like you, are lost to every 
 feeling of humanity — ia whose bosom a sense of 
 gratitude, for even the most signal favours, has no 
 place, and who can coolly practice the most ruthless 
 atrocities. In the meantime, the sentence of the 
 court is, that you be taken from this bar back to 
 prison, detained there to the 3d day of June next, 
 and that on that day you be taken to the common 
 place of execution, and there hanged by the neck 
 tUl you be dead, reserving to give any future ia- 
 structions that may be found expedient for the 
 disposal of your body — and may God have mercy 
 on your soul ! " 
 
 The execution took place on the day appointed, 
 but no order was given as to hanging the body in 
 chains. Harling died penitent, and made a full 
 confession of his guilt. 
 
THE FATAL DEEAM. 259 
 
 It was some months after the death of James 
 Mapleson before poor Miss Premont ventured out 
 of doors, or was seen in public. The sacred pro- 
 mise of Edward Bland to his dying friend was 
 mentioned to Mr Fremont, but he thought it 
 prudent that for a time the message of her departed 
 lover should not be communicated to her, or the 
 memorials of his constancy and attachment placed 
 in her hands. She was still depressed in spirits, and 
 her wonted robust health not- fully re-established. 
 Time, however, and a good constitution restored 
 her, and her father at length admitted Mr Bland 
 to the requested interview. Notwithstanding that 
 the young lady was affected with deep melancholy, 
 she received the dying message as to her lamented 
 lover's attachment and constancy quietly, and with 
 a pleasing though sad satisfaction. When the 
 diamond ring and watch were placed in her hands 
 she shed tears, and pressed them to her lips. She 
 thanked Mr Bland most cordially for his great 
 kindness, and for the trouble he had taken on 
 behalf of his departed companion. She said she 
 would ever entertain for him the highest respect 
 
260 THE FATAL DEEAM. 
 
 and friendship, knowing Hm to be the dearest and 
 most attached friend and companion of James 
 Mapleson. 
 
 Several years passed, Mr Bland was on the most 
 intimate footing with the family at Finchleyhead, 
 and a frequent visitor. Miss Fremont's friendship 
 for him on account of her departed lover continued 
 unabated. His attachment to Miss Fremont, which 
 soon commenced, gradually iacreased, at length be- 
 came marked, and his attentions were assiduous. 
 His attainments and worth made him universally 
 esteemed, and he was both handsome and of polished 
 manners. Miss Fremont's friendship ripened into 
 a more tender affection, and both at length became 
 devotedly attached to each other. It is not remark- 
 able, therefore, that Eliza Fremont soon became 
 Mrs Bland, and Mr and Mrs Bland were the most 
 valued acquisitions to the society of the district in 
 which they resided, and occupied a high position. 
 
 BALLANTyiTE ASB COMPANY, PBINTER8, EDINBUHGH. 
 
 I