Chapter I: Front Matter

_Notable Scottish Trials_

Deacon Brodie

PRINTED BY
WILLIAM HODGE AND COMPANY
GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH
1906

(_After Kay._)]

Trial of
Deacon Brodie

EDITED BY
William Roughead
Writer to the Signet

GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH
WILLIAM HODGE & COMPANY

TO
THE HONOURABLE LORD DUNDAS
THIS VOLUME
IS
BY KIND PERMISSION
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
THE EDITOR

PREFATORY NOTE.

The following report of this interesting trial is prepared from the original record, with additional particulars from contemporary sources. No connected account of the life of William Brodie having hitherto been attempted, the Editor has endeavoured to give in the introduction as complete a view as is now possible of his remarkable career.

To Sheriff Moffatt, Lanark, and Mr. William Brown and Mr. John A. Fairley, Edinburgh, the Editor is under obligation for the use of MSS., books, and prints in connection with the subject. His thanks are also due to Dr. Joseph Anderson, Keeper of the Scottish National Museum of Antiquities, who has allowed him to photograph Deacon Brodie’s lantern and keys and to make excerpts from the records of the Cape Club. For permission to publish for the first time facsimiles of Brodie’s letter to the Duchess of Buccleuch and the MS. register in his Family Bible, the Editor is respectively indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Alexander Anderson, Librarian of the Edinburgh University Library, and the Plans and Works Committee of Edinburgh Town Council.

Mr. Bruce J. Home has not only kindly permitted the reproduction of two drawings from his well-known work, “Old Houses in Edinburgh,” but has made a drawing of the old Excise Office, Chessel’s Court, expressly for the present volume.

W. R.

EDINBURGH, _November, 1906_.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction, 9

The Trial--

FIRST DAY--WEDNESDAY, 27TH AUGUST, 1788.

Indictment, 72 List of Witnesses for Prosecution, 74 List of Assize, 75 List of Witnesses for Defence, 76 Interlocutor on the relevancy, 78 List of the Jury, 79 Objection to specification of Crown productions, 80 Objection repelled, 87

_Evidence for Prosecution._

1. William Scott, 87 2. Joseph Mack, 88 3. Thomas Longlands, 89 4. John Geddes, 90 5. Margaret Tweddle or Geddes, 94 6. Robert Smith, 94 7. James Laing, 95 8. John Macleish, 95 9. John Duncan, 96 10. William Mackay, 96 11. Alexander Thomson, 97 12. Laurence Dundas, 98 13. Janet Baxter, 98 14. James Bonar, 99 15. Isobel Wilson, 99 16. John Kinnear, 99 17. Grahame Campbell, 100 18. Mary Hubbart or Hubburt called, 101

Debate as to the admissibility of Hubbart, 101 Objection that she is the wife of Smith repelled, 104 Witness withdrawn owing to misnomer, 106

19. Daniel Maclean, 106 20. John Clerk, 106 21. David Robertson, 107 22. William Middleton, 107 23. Alexander Williamson, 108 24. James Murray, 109 25. George Williamson, 109 26. Andrew Ainslie called, 111

Debate as to the admissibility of Ainslie, 111 Objection to Witness repelled, 115 Ainslie’s evidence, 115 Objection to production of Five-pound Note, 119 Objection sustained, 121

27. John Brown, _alias_ Humphry Moore, called, 122

Debate as to the admissibility of Brown, 122 Objection to Witness repelled, 132 Brown’s evidence, 132 Declarations of George Smith, 138 Declaration of William Brodie, 149 Letter, William Brodie to Matthew Sheriff, 150 Two Letters, William Brodie to Michael Henderson, 152 Copy Letter or Unsigned Scroll, No. I., 154 Copy Letter or Unsigned Scroll, No. II., 156 Account or State of William Brodie’s affairs, 158 Letter, Lee, Strachan & Co., to Emmanuel Walker & Co., 159

_Evidence for Defence._

1. Matthew Sheriff, 160 2. Jean Watt, 161 3. Peggy Giles, 162 4. Helen Alison or Wallace, 163 5. James Murray, 164 6. James Laing, 164 7. Robert Smith, 164

The Lord Advocate’s Address to the Jury, 165 Mr. John Clerk’s Address to the Jury, 174 The Dean of Faculty’s Address to the Jury, 181 The Lord Justice-Clerk’s Charge to the Jury, 197

SECOND DAY--THURSDAY, 28TH AUGUST, 1788.

Verdict of the Jury, 201 Plea in Arrest of Judgment, 202 Plea repelled, 208 Address to the Prisoners and Sentence, 209

APPENDICES.

I. Notes on the Trial of Deacon Brodie, 211

II. A brief Account of the Judges and Counsel engaged on the Trial of Deacon Brodie, 217