Chapter X: Introduction (8)

I most earnestly beg of Mr. Nairn that my remittances be as liberal
as possible; for without money I can make but a poor shift; for,
you must think, my days for hard labour is near expiring, although,
with my constitution, I may be able to carry on business for many
years, and perhaps with success.

I have not yet received the trunk with my shirts and stockings, but
will write Mr. Walker to forward it to Ostend, where I will be
under the necessity of buying some things. And I hope by the time
I come to New York I will have some things waiting me there.
Whether it is best to send them by the Clyde or Thames, you and Mr.
Nairn will judge best. And I hope to have a long letter from each
of you, and one from my sister Jeany; and your’s will include your
wife’s. They may be put in with my things, and any other letters my
friends are pleased to send. Direct for Mr. John Dixon, to the care
of the Revd. Mr. Mason, at New York. I am not sure of settling
there, but will make for it as soon as I can.

I have no more time, the boat just going off for Bruges or Ostend.

I am, Dear Sir, Yours for ever, JOHN DIXON.

Wrote on the back thus--

Let my name and destination be a profound secret, for fear of bad
consequences.

(Addressed) Mr. Matthew Sheriff, Upholsterer, Edinburgh.

COPIES of two LETTERS, upon one sheet of paper, from William. Brodie to Mr. Michael Henderson.

Thursday, 10th April, 1788.

Dear Michael,

I embrace this opportunity of writing you, and I make no doubt but
it will give you, Mrs. Henderson, and a few others satisfaction to
hear that I am well.

Were I to write you all that has happened to me, and the
hairbreadth escapes I made from a well-scented pack of bloodhounds,
it would make a small volume.

I left Edinburgh Sunday, the 9th, and arrived in London Wednesday,
the 12th, where I remained snug and safe in the house of an old
female friend until Sunday, 23rd March (whose care for me I shall
never forget, and only wish I may ever have it in my power to
reward her sufficiently), within 500 yards of Bow Street. I did not
keep the house all this time, but so altered, excepting the scar
under my eye, I think you could not have rapt[14] to me. I saw Mr.
Williamson twice; but, although countrymen commonly shake hands
when they meet from home, yet I did not choose to make so free with
him, notwithstanding he brought a letter to me; he is a clever man,
and I give him credit for his conduct.

My female gave me great uneasiness by introducing a flash man to
me, but she assured me he was a true man, and he proved himself so,
notwithstanding the great reward, and was useful to me. I saw my
picture[15] six hours before exhibited to public view, and my
intelligence of what was doing at Bow Street Office was as good as
ever I had in Edinburgh. I left London on Sunday, 23rd March, and
from that day to this present moment, that I am now writing, have
lived on board a ship, which life agrees vastly well with me. It is
impossible for me at present to give you my address, but I beg you
will write me, or dictate a letter to Thom, and let it be a very
long one, giving me an account of what is likely to become of poor
Ainslie, Smith, and his wife; I hope that neither you, nor any of
your connections, has been innocently involved by those unfortunate
men, or by that designing villain Brown; I make no doubt but he is
now in high favour with Mr. Cockburn, for I can see some strokes of
his pencil in my portrait. May God forgive him for all his crimes
and falsehoods. I hope in a short time to be in Edinburgh, and
confute personally many false aspersions made against me by him and
others. Write me how the main went; how you came on in it; if my
black cock fought and gained, &c., &c. As I can give you no
directions how to write me, you’ll please seal your letter, give it
to Robert Smith, and he will deliver it to my sister, who will take
care that it be conveyed safe to me wherever I may happen to be at
the time, for I will give such directions that everything that is
sent to me shall be forwarded from place to place until it come to
my hand. I have lived now eighteen days on board of ship, and in
good health and spirits, although very bad when I came on board,
having my tongue and throat in one ulcer, not a bit of skin upon
either, and the medicines I took in my friend’s and by her
direction (for she is one of experience), just beginning to
operate; but I found it necessary, at all events, to remove, so I
underwent a complete salivation on board ship. During all my trials
since I left Edinburgh, my spirits nor my presence of mind never
once forsook me, for which I have reason to be thankful. My best
compliments to Mrs. Henderson, and I will order payment of the two
guineas as soon as I have accounts from the gentleman I have
intrusted with my affairs; let her not be anxious about it, for, if
I live, it shall be paid.

Dear Michael,

I am very uneasy on account of Mrs. Grant and my three children by
her; they will miss me more than any other in Scotland; may God, in
His infinite goodness, stir up some friendly aid for their support,
for it is not in my power at present to give them the smallest
assistance; yet I think they will not absolutely starve in a
Christian land where their father once had friends, and who was
always liberal to the distressed.

I beg you will order the inclosed to be delivered into her own
hand; and I will take it kind if Mrs. Henderson will send for her
and give her good advice. I wish she may be enabled to keep what
little furniture she has together.

I think she should endeavour to get her youngest daughter Jean sent
to Aberdeen to her friends, where she will be well brought up, and
I will order an yearly board to be paid for her, perhaps six pounds
per annum; it will be an ease to Mrs. Grant, and better for the
child. My eldest daughter Cecill should be put apprentice to the
milliner or mantua-making business; but I wish she could learn a
little writing and arithmetic first. I wish to God some of my
friends would take some charge of Cecill; she is a fine, sensible
girl, considering the little opportunity she has had for
improvement. I have been now eighteen days on board, and I expect
to land somewhere to-morrow. The ship rolls a good deal, and it is
with some difficulty I get this wrote, and my paper being exhausted
I shall conclude this epistle. Please make my compliments to Mr.
Clark, and a few other friends, and in particular, to Mr. Balmano,
and acquaint him I glimed the scrive[16] I had of him. He is a
gentleman I have a great regard for. Pray do not forget writing me
a long letter. I am,

Dear Michael, For ever your’s. W. B.

Pray do not show this scroll to any but your wife.

(Addressed) Mr. Michael Henderson, Grass-market, Stabler,
Edinburgh.

COPY of a LETTER or UNSIGNED SCROLL, in the handwriting of William
Brodie, and founded on in the Indictment, marked No. 1.

My dear Sir,

By short instructions sent me when I left London, which I think
were drawn up in my cousin Milton’s hand, I was forbid writing to
any one in Britain, Mr. Walker excepted, for a year or two; but
this order, if necessary, I find it not easy for me to comply with,
for I must correspond with my friends in whatever part of the
globe I am, and I hope they will do so with me, and write them when
an opportunity offers. I have gone through much, in every sense of
the word.--J. D. and M.

I wrote Mr. Walker from this the 12th current. I received an answer
the 18th, and wrote again the 23rd current, and upon receiving his
next I hope to be enabled to embark in the first ship for America,
to whatever port she is bound, which will probably be Charlestown,
South Carolina, as there is a ship lying-to for that port; and
notwithstanding the climate is very hot, and not so salutary to
British constitutions, especially at the time I will arrive, which
will be about the dog days. I will settle there if I think I can do
better than at Philadelphia or New York. Longevity to me is now no
object; but, at any rate, I will be at New York, and I hope to find
there letters, and, if possible, some clothes and tools, otherwise
I will be badly off indeed.

It grieves me to hear my creditors were so rigorous hasty, but well
pleased on hearing the deed and conveyance had the proper effect. I
hope all my creditors will be paid, and a reversion, which can be
no object to the Crown. Were an application made to the Solicitor,
and, if needful, a supplication in my name to his mother, and uncle
the Treasurer, perhaps it might be a means either of quieting or
getting easier through the threatened suit with the Crown; but this
is only my idea.

At any rate, if my clothes and tools must go to sale, a proper
assortment of tools, put into my best chest, might be put up in one
lot, and my wearing apparel and linens in another lot. They are
worth more to me than any one, and I think few in Edinburgh will
bid for them if known they are designed for me; but if any one bids
their value, in God’s name let them have them, otherwise I hope
they will be bought for me. I wish it were possible for me to know,
before I left this, if I might expect them at New York; if
otherwise, I will be under an absolute necessity of laying out what
little money may remain, after paying my passage and clearing my
board and lodging here, to my last shilling, and buying a few
necessaries, otherwise I will land almost naked; and, if possible,
to reach a few tools, both of which, I am informed, are 50 per
cent. dearer in America than here.

I received from Mr. Walker, in all, £12 16s., and he would pay
something for three days I slept in Mr. Rose’s, though I am at
present three guineas in debt to my landlord, and not a stiver in
my pocket for four days past. This is the dearest place I was ever
in.

I beg I may hear from you when at New York, and, if directed to Mr.
John Dixon, to the care of the Reverend Dr. Mason, I will
certainly receive it (as I know no other name there to desire you
to direct it to), for I will certainly call there, whatever part I
land or settle in, in expectation of letters, &c., and, in
particular, a long letter from you, in which please answer the
following questions without reserve. I am prepared to hear the
worst:--How does my dear sisters keep their health? I hope the
shock of my departure, and what followed, has not injured either of
them in health. How did they stand it? Where does my sister Jeany
live? I hope there is no alteration in Mr. Sheriff’s friends to my
dear Jamie. If money is an object, it is all in his favour. How is
Mr. and Mrs. Grant, and Mr. William, to whom I am for ever much
obliged for settling my passage. It was a deep cut, but the more I
am obliged to him and shall never forget it. He is a feeling and a
generous gentleman.

I am sorry I cannot say so much of my cousin Milton, although he,
too, was anxious for my off-going. How does my uncle and Mrs.
Rintoull keep their health? From his conduct and repeated
expressions, I never had much reason to expect anything from him,
but now far less, although I be more needful. I believe few at my
age ever went out more so. At present I am destitute of everything.
I can put every article I have upon my back, and in my pocket. How
does Mrs. Campbell and her son’s family?

Who were the most forward of my creditors to attach? How does my
affairs turn out in the whole? If Robert Smith is employed, has he
been active and attentive? He would need to be looked after,
although he may be useful; and any news or alterations relating to
my friends that may have happened.

What has been done, or likely to be done, with the two unfortunate
men, Smith and Ainslie, and the greater villain, John Brown _alias_
Humphry Moore? Was John Murray _alias_ Jack Tasker brought from
England?

Whatever these men may say, I had no hand in any of their
depredations, _excepting the last_, which I shall ever repent, and
the keeping such company, although I doubt not but all will be laid
to me. But let me drop this dreadful subject.

[Signed with the following initials]:--

S. W., T. L., R. S., J. M., J. S.

COPY of a LETTER or UNSIGNED SCROLL, in the handwriting of William
Brodie, founded on in the Indictment, marked No. 2.

Pray write me what is become of Anne Grant, and how is her children
disposed of. Cecill is a sensible, clever girl, considering the
little opportunity she has had of improving. My dear little Willie
will be, if I can judge, a brave and hardy boy.

Jean is her mother’s picture, and too young to form any opinion of.

What has become of Jean Watt? She is a devil and a ----. I can form
no opinion of Frank or his young brother; but pray write me how
they are disposed of.

If you please, write me what is become of the two unhappy men,
Smith, and his wife, and Ainslie. Are they yet? Is their trial come
on? and the greater villain John Brown _alias_ Humphry Moore? I
shall ever repent keeping such company, and whatever they may
alledge, I had no direct concern in any of their depredations,
excepting the _last fatal one_, by which I lost ten pounds in cash;
but I doubt not but all will be laid to my charge, and some that I
never heard of.

[The following is written at the foot of the page:--]

I often went in a retregard. I have been all my life in a
reteregard motion.

[What follows is written on the other side.]

Does Mr. Martin stand his bargain? Is any of my late property sold?
Who is making out my accounts? Has Robert Smith been useful and
active in my affairs? He is double and would need looking after.

Perhaps, in the course of making out and settling my accounts, some
questions may occur that I may solve. If there is any such, please
write them down, and I will answer them in course. Has any
settlement taken place with Mr. Little? I am afraid my affairs will
be a laborious task to you; but I hope all my creditors will be
paid, and a reversion.

If all my moveables are not yet sold, I beg my clothes and linen,
and a set of useful tools may be preserved for me; they are worth
more to me than another.

I wrote more fully some time ago to Mr. Walker on this head, and
also Mr. Sheriff, the 8th April; but I know not if he received it.
Pray let me know if he did, and how he stands affected towards me.
Whatever be his sentiments, I shall always esteem him and regard
him as my brother, but I shall never write another friend until I
hear from you, and have your opinion how they will take it.

Pray, did Captain Dent ever make any discovery who I was when he
arrived at Leith.

[Signed with the following initials]:--

J. L., J. M., R. S., J. S.

COPY OF AN ACCOUNT OR STATE, IN THE HANDWRITING OF WILLIAM BRODIE, FOUNDED ON IN THE INDICTMENT.

(Hitherto Unpublished.)

A State of my Affairs as near as I can make out at present from Memory, having no other Assistance.

===============================================================================
| | | | | |
1788 | | | | | |
| BONDS W. B. Dr. | |£ | Sh | d |
March| | | | | |
24 |To a bond due to my Sister Jean | 525| | | |
|To Do. to my Sister Jamie, now Mrs. Sheriff | 525| | | |
|To Do. to the Revd. Mr. John Nairn | 50| | | |
|To Do. to Mrs. Isobell Ramsay | 150| | | |
|To Do. to Mr. Jas. Innes | 300| | | |
|To Do. to Mr. Loch on the house in Worlds| | | | |
| end Closs | 400| | | |
|To Sir Willm. Forbes pr Cash Acct & Bond | 300| | | |
|To Interests due upon the above at this date | 50| | | |
| |====|2300| -- | -- |
| | | | | |
| BILLS | | | | |
| | | | | |
|To Willm. Grant Esqr | 50| | | |
|To Willm. Corbet Esqr | 50| | | |
|To Mr. Denovon ½ of a £20 Bill discounted | 10| | | |
|To Capt Miller at Kirkaldie | 35| | | |
| |====| 145| | |
|To open Accounts due by me, about | 305| | |
| +----+----+----+
| £|2750| -- | -- |
| |====|====|====|
|

==================================================================================
| | | |
1788| | | |
| CONTRA Cr. |£ | Sh | d
March| | | |
24 |By my tenement in Horse winde £87 pr Anum at 13 years }| | |
| purchase being a Substantiall building well furnished }|1131| -- | --
| and low rented }| | |
|By my three uper Storys of the new fore tenement and }| | |
| three Cellars below Do. at the Netherbow £45 pr Anum }| 585| -- | --
| at 13 years }| | |
|By a Tenemant of five Storys in the Worlds end Closs at }| 624| -- | --
| £48 pr Annum at 13 years purchase }| | |
|By two Storys in the Bank Closs at £21 pr Anum sold by }| | |
| Missives exchanged to Mr. Willm Martin, Bookseller, }| 320| -- | --
| the present possessor, payable at Whity first }| | |
| By Rents due at Whity 1788 | 112| -- | --
|By Open accompts & Bills due to me, but they may be more |1000| -- | --
|By the Produce of my Stock in trade consisting of ready made}| | |
| furniture, Glasses finished & unfinished, Bed Checks & }| | |
| Moreens, Hair & hair Cloth, brass & Iron work, Silvering }| | |
| Utensils, Benches & Shope toolls, Mahogony and other }| 400| -- | --
| Woods, ready made doors & windows, many of them }| | |
| Glased, and many other Articles not mentioned should }| | |
| bring at a very moderate computation }+----+----+----
| £|4172| -- | --
| |2750| -- | --
| +----+----|----
| Ballance in my favor |1422| -- | --
|By my Household furniture, Bed & table Linen, plate, | | |
| Pictures, Library of Books &c. worth at least | 378| -- | --
| +----+----+----
| Sum totall £|1800| -- | --
|
Omitted to charge the work newly done for Mr. Herron, } 40 -- --
Cowgate, which will amount to about £40 }

COPY of a LETTER from Messrs. Lee, Strachan & Co., merchants in
London, to Messrs. Emanuel Walker & Co., merchants in Philadelphia.

London, 1st May, 1788.

Messrs. Emanuel Walker & Co.

Sirs,

You will please to supply the bearer, Mr. John Dixon, with cash to
the amount of fifty pounds sterling, taking his bill on Mr. William
Walker, attorney in the Adelphi, London, for the same, which will
be duly honoured, and oblige,

Sirs, Your most obedient Humble Servants, LEE, STRACHAN & CO.

Messrs. Emanuel Walker & Co., Philadelphia.

Evidence for Defence.

[The counsel for Mr. Brodie here observed that the object of the exculpatory proof was to show that, on Wednesday, the 5th of March last, the night on which the robbery of the Excise Office was committed, Mr. Brodie was otherwise employed the whole of that afternoon and evening, which, if established, excluded the possibility of his being concerned in that robbery.]

[Sidenote: Matthew Sheriff]

1. MATTHEW SHERIFF, upholsterer in Edinburgh, called.

The LORD ADVOCATE--My Lords, this gentleman is the brother-in-law of the prisoner, and therefore is certainly a very improper witness. I am at all times very averse to object to a witness adduced for a pannel, but I thought it my duty to mention the fact to your Lordships, and to leave it with you to determine whether or not this gentleman’s evidence ought to be received.

Mr. WIGHT, for William Brodie--My Lords, this is the first time I have ever heard that a brother-in-law is not a competent witness in a criminal trial. This gentleman being brother-in-law to the pannel, is a circumstance which may, and which perhaps ought, to be attended to, as affecting his credibility, if his testimony stands contradicted by other proofs; but it is surely no objection to his admissibility.

The LORD JUSTICE-CLERK--What do you mean to prove by this witness?

Mr. WIGHT--My Lord, I mean to prove that he was in company with the prisoner until about eight o’clock of that night on which the robbery is said to have been committed.

The LORD JUSTICE-CLERK--You may call him in. The circumstance of his being brother-in-law to the pannel will no doubt go a great length to discredit his testimony, in so far as it may be contradictory of other evidence; but this will fall to be considered by the jury when they come to judge of the proof brought by both parties.

[The witness was then called in and sworn.]

WITNESS--I know that the prisoner left Edinburgh in March last, and I think it was on the 9th of March, the Sunday after the Excise Office was broke into. I dined with him in his own house on the Wednesday preceding--the 5th of March. I think I went there to dinner about a quarter before three

(_After Kay._)]

o’clock.[17] Mr. Brodie was then at home. I was in his house from dinner until within a few minutes of eight o’clock at night. There was present at dinner in company a stranger gentleman whose name I do not know, the prisoner’s two sisters, and an old lady, his aunt. We drank together from dinner to tea, which I think was brought in about six o’clock, and then the stranger gentleman went away. We sat in the same room all the while I was there. Mr. Brodie was dressed in lightish-coloured or grey clothes. Before I came away, Mr. Brodie pressed me to stay supper with him, but I declined his invitation, saying I was engaged. When I came away, I left Mr. Brodie in his own house. I went directly from his house to my own house in Bunker’s Hill.[18] Mr. Brodie dined with me next day (Thursday), and remained with me in my house from three o’clock until eleven o’clock at night.[19]

Cross-examined by the LORD ADVOCATE--What was the gentleman’s name who was in company with you?

WITNESS--I do not know; I do not remember his name.

The LORD ADVOCATE--Did you hear his name mentioned?

WITNESS--I may perhaps have heard him named while at table with him, but as he went away early in the evening, and as I had no reason at the time to pay any particular attention to his name, it has escaped me.

The _Lord Advocate_--When did you sit down to dinner?

WITNESS--We sat down to dinner about three o’clock.

The LORD ADVOCATE--Are you sure Mr. Brodie did not leave the room from dinner until you parted with him?

WITNESS--I am certain Mr. Brodie did not leave the room.

The LORD ADVOCATE--Did you, on your way home, hear any clock strike or bell ring? or how do you know that it was precisely a few minutes from eight o’clock when you left Mr. Brodie?

WITNESS--I do not remember to have heard any clock strike or bell ring on my way home, but I had a clock in my house and a watch in my pocket. I am sure that I reached my own house within a few minutes of eight, either before or after it, and I had occasion to remark the hour from Mr. Brodie being so immediately afterwards accused of having that night broke into the Excise Office, a thing which I did not then, and which I do not yet, believe.

[Sidenote: Jean Watt]

2. JEAN WATT, residenter in Libberton’s Wynd, called in and sworn.

The LORD ADVOCATE--I wish to know from this woman whether or not she is married. (To witness)--Are you married?[20]

WITNESS--No; I am not married.

[The examination was then allowed to proceed.]

I am well acquainted with the prisoner, William Brodie. I remember that on Wednesday, the 5th of March last, Mr. Brodie came to my house just at the time the eight o’clock bell was ringing, and he remained in it all night, and was not out from the time he came in until a little before nine o’clock next morning. We went early to bed, about ten o’clock, as Mr. Brodie complained that night of being much indisposed with a sore throat.

Cross-examined by the LORD ADVOCATE--How do you recollect that it was Wednesday night more than any other night of that week?

WITNESS--On the following Monday I heard that Mr. Brodie was suspected of being concerned in the breaking into the Excise Office; that his house had been searched for him; and that he had gone away on the Sunday. This made me particularly recollect, and also because it was the last night Mr. Brodie slept in my house. He slept with me that night. I have a family of children to him. I saw him again on the Saturday night afterwards, but not till then; and he was in my house in the forenoon of the Tuesday preceding.

[Sidenote: Peggy Giles]

3. PEGGY GILES, servant to Mr. Graham, publican at Mutton-hole, near Edinburgh, called in and sworn.

WITNESS--I was servant to Mrs. Watt, the preceding witness, last winter, and I remember that the prisoner, Mr. Brodie, came to my mistress’s house about eight o’clock at night of Wednesday, the 5th of March last, and that he slept there all night, and remained until about nine o’clock next morning. My mistress and Mr. Brodie supped together early, about half-an-hour after eight o’clock, on bread and beer and a piece of cheese, for which I was sent out soon after Mr. Brodie came in. I was out about ten minutes, and when I returned Mr. Brodie was still in the house. I remember when he came in to have heard the eight o’clock bell ringing.

GENTLEMAN OF THE JURY--Was it the Magdalen Chapel bell you heard ringing? or what bell was it?

WITNESS--It was the Tron Church bell.

Cross-examined by the LORD ADVOCATE--Are you sure of that?

WITNESS--I am very sure.

Mr. WIGHT--Pray, where does the Tron Church stand?

WITNESS--In the Parliament Close.[21]

The LORD ADVOCATE--How do you know that Mr. Brodie slept all night in your mistress’s house?

WITNESS--He was in bed when I arose in the morning, and I gave him water to wash his hands before he went out.

The LORD ADVOCATE--Did you see Brodie in your mistress’s house at any other time during that week?

WITNESS--He came back in the forenoon and again in the afternoon of the same day, that is of Thursday,[22] and likewise on the Saturday night following. Mr. Brodie was in use to sleep frequently at my mistress’s house.

[Sidenote: Helen Alison]

4. HELEN ALISON or WALLACE, spouse to William Wallace, mason, in Libberton’s Wynd, called in and sworn.

WITNESS--I reside in Libberton’s Wynd, and I know the prisoner, Mr. Brodie. I heard of his leaving Edinburgh in March last, and I remember to have seen him come down Jean Watt’s stair a little before nine o’clock on the morning of the Thursday before he went off--the 6th of March. I was then standing at my own door at the foot of the stair; and I had Francis Brodie, the prisoner’s son, a boy of about seven years of age, by the hand. As his father, Mr. Brodie, passed he put a halfpenny into the child’s hand, and clapped him on the head. I said to the boy, “Poor thing, thou hast been too soon out, or you would have seen your daddie at home”; he said, “No, I have not been too soon out, for my daddie has been in the house all night.” After my husband got his breakfast, I went upstairs to Mrs. Watt, and I said to her in a joking way, “You will be in good humour to-day, as the good man has been with you all night.” She answered, “He has; but, poor man, he has not been well of a sore throat.” On the Monday following, I heard that there were messengers upstairs in Mrs. Watt’s, searching her house for Mr. Brodie; and when I went up and was told what was the matter, I said to one Murray, a sheriff-officer, then present, “Dear sirs, who would have thought this would have happened, when I saw Mr. Brodie come downstairs and give a bawbee to his own son on Thursday last?” To which the man answered, “Indeed, few would have thought it.”

Cross-examined by the LORD ADVOCATE--How do you recollect that it was upon the Thursday you saw Mr. Brodie come down stairs? Can you give any reason for doing so?

WITNESS--Indeed, I can give a reason, but to be sure it is a very mean one to mention to your Lordships.

Lord ESKGROVE--Tell us the reason, good woman.

WITNESS--I had purchased three pair of shoes on the Wednesday in the market; that is, a pair for each of my sons, and one for my husband. On Thursday morning I missed my husband’s shoes, and, thinking they were stolen, I was waiting for my husband at the door at the time he usually returned to breakfast, which was about nine o’clock, to see if he knew anything of them; and had it not been for this I would not have been at the door nor seen Mr. Brodie come downstairs.

[Sidenote: James Murray]

5. JAMES MURRAY, sheriff-officer in Edinburgh, called in and sworn.

Examined by Mr. WIGHT--Do you remember having searched the house of Jean Watt, at the foot of Libberton’s Wynd, in the course of your pursuit after Mr. Brodie?

WITNESS--I do.

MR. WIGHT--What day was that upon?

WITNESS--It was upon the Tuesday after he left Edinburgh I searched the house--the 11th of March; but finding nothing in it, I ordered Mrs. Watt to come up to the Sheriff, and I waited until she got ready.

MR. WIGHT--Did you see any person in the house, except Mrs. Watt and her servant? and had you any conversation with her?

WITNESS--I saw Mrs. Wallace, who lives at the foot of the wynd, whom I saw among the witnesses just now, and she said, “Oh, Jean! who would have thought on Thursday morning, when Mr. Brodie came down this stair and clapped his son’s head, and put a halfpenny in his hand, that such a thing as this would be soon after here?” To which I answered, “Indeed, Mrs. Wallace, I dare say none would have thought it.”

[Sidenote: James Laing]

6. JAMES LAING, writer in the Council Chamber, Edinburgh, called in and sworn.

Examined by Mr. HAY--Do you remember of any process being brought before the magistrates against Mr. Brodie some time before he left this place, for using false or loaded dice?

WITNESS--I do.

Mr. HAY--At whose instance was the process?

WITNESS--At the instance of one Hamilton, a chimney-sweep in Portsburgh.

Mr. HAY--When was this process?

WITNESS--I do not exactly remember; but steps have been taken in it within these six months.

Lord ESKGROVE--I suppose this Mr. Hamilton is not a common sweep, but a master who keeps men and boys for the purpose?

WITNESS--He is a master, as your Lordship observes.

Cross-examined by the LORD ADVOCATE--Do you know Mr. Brodie to be a gambler?

WITNESS--I never gambled with him.

[Sidenote: Robert Smith]

7. ROBERT SMITH, wright in Edinburgh, sometime foreman to Mr. Brodie, called in and sworn.

(Showing the old Parliament House.)

(_After Kay._)]

Examined by Mr. HAY--Do you know that a spring-saw is a proper instrument for cutting off the natural spurs of game-cocks, in order to adopt artificial ones?

WITNESS--I do.

Mr. HAY--Did you ever see Mr. Brodie using a small spring-saw for that purpose?

WITNESS--Frequently.

Mr. HAY--Is a spring-saw a usual and necessary implement for all wrights and joiners, as well as smiths?

WITNESS--I have one myself, which I use for cutting off brass knobs and several other purposes.

Mr. HAY--Are old keys and pick-locks usual and necessary implements for wrights and smiths?

WITNESS--They are.

Mr. HAY--Do you know that a box of old keys was always lying open in the corner of Mr. Brodie’s workshop, to which you and the other men had access?

WITNESS--There was; and when a key of any of our customers was either broke or spoiled, we could often fit the lock from some of these keys.

[Here the witness was shown the keys libelled on.]

WITNESS--I never remember to have seen any keys of that kind before.

[Here it was proposed to show the witness a pick-lock, and to ask him whether or not joiners or cabinetmakers kept such an instrument, when the Lord Advocate admitted that it was not uncommon for a cabinetmaker to keep such articles as the above. There were several witnesses cited by Mr. Brodie to prove this fact.]

The exculpatory proof being closed a few minutes after one o’clock of the morning of the 28th day of August, the Lord Advocate then proceeded to address the jury.

The Lord Advocate’s Address to the Jury.

[Sidenote: Lord Advocate]

The LORD ADVOCATE--Gentlemen of the jury, it is now my duty to offer some observations on the import of the evidence which has been led before you, and as you have already had a very long and fatiguing sederunt, I shall endeavour to state what occurs to me in as few words as possible. It is with the greatest concern that I address you in this case--a case that is attended with circumstances which must occasion to all of us the most painful sensations; but public justice requires that these feelings should be repressed.

Gentlemen, the crime with which these prisoners stand charged is of a most dangerous and heinous nature. It is a crime which, until of late, was but little known in this country, though now it seems to be every day growing more frequent, and the practice of it is almost reduced into a system. It is no longer than fourteen days ago that two men received their sentence at that bar for a crime of the same nature with this--the robbery of the Bank of Dundee--which appeared to have been conducted and perpetrated by an association in that town, similar to the association which took place, in the heart of this populous city, between the prisoners at the bar and the other two men whom you saw this day give evidence against them; and which, had it not been discovered, threatened the inhabitants of this city with the most dangerous consequences. That now charged against these prisoners, though of the most flagrant nature, is but one of many in which there is good ground to believe that this association has been concerned. And it is your province, gentlemen, if upon careful examination of the evidence you think these men guilty, to do that justice to your country which the public safety requires, by returning a verdict against them.

It is perhaps of no consequence to inquire into what was the former situation of the prisoners, because that is a circumstance which can have no weight with you in determining what verdict you are this night to return.

As for George Smith, he is a stranger in this country, of whom we know nothing more than what he has been pleased to inform us in his different declarations, of which a part has not been read for the reasons you heard mentioned; but from thence you will be led to conjecture that the parts which were not read contained very little to his advantage. This man, gentlemen, had the appearance of following a lawful employment and carrying on trade in a shop in this city; but I am afraid there is too good reason to conclude that the character of a grocer, which he assumed, was only meant as a cover to him that he might escape the observation of the public while he was pursuing objects of a very different nature. His counsel have attempted no defence, such as the _alibi_ endeavoured to be proved by the other prisoner; no witnesses have been examined in his exculpation; and his different declarations, which though not legal evidence by themselves, yet when corroborated by the great variety of other evidence led this day, are so full and complete proofs of his guilt that I do not consider it necessary to add one word more as to him.

The other prisoner, Mr. Brodie, is in a different situation. He is known to us all; educated as a gentleman; bred to a respectable business; and removed from suspicion, as well from his supposed circumstances as from the rank he held amongst his fellow-citizens. He was far above the reach of want, and, consequently, of temptation; he had a lawful employment, which might have enabled him to hold his station in society with respectability and credit; he has been more than once officially at the head of his profession, and was a member of the City Council. If, therefore, he, too, is guilty, his situation, in place of alleviating his guilt, is a high aggravation of it. If he indeed prevailed upon himself to descend to the commission of the most detestable crimes, what excuse can be made for him? That he frequented bad company; that he had abandoned himself to gambling, and every species of dissipation; that he has by these means run himself into difficulties, is surely no apology for him.

But, gentlemen, I am not entitled to proceed without substantiating the crime libelled against him. I will go on to state the evidence; and if after a cool and dispassionate consideration, which you are bound to give, and which from the very great attention you have already bestowed, I can have no doubt you will give it; if you are not most thoroughly convinced in your minds that the prisoner is guilty, I do not desire that you should return a verdict against him. I can have no wish that is contrary to material justice.

It is totally unnecessary to go over the evidence tending to show that the Excise Office was actually robbed in the manner mentioned in the indictment, as I suppose that is a fact which will not be disputed, I will therefore recapitulate the heads of the evidence, so far as it appears to me to verify the charge.

Gentlemen, you have heard various objections stated by the prisoners’ counsel against the admissibility of the evidence of Brown and Ainslie, and therefore I will in the first place call your attention to the other evidence, against which no objection has or can be made, and which is, in my opinion, sufficient in itself to establish the guilt of the pannels; and I shall afterwards speak to the evidence of these two men.

The first circumstance which you have in evidence, and to which I call your attention, is the intimate connection between the prisoner Brodie and the other three, Smith, Ainslie, and Brown, who have all confessed themselves guilty of the crime charged; it is admitted by himself in his letters and declaration, and is confirmed by the evidence of Smith’s maid, who said that she had seen them often together in her master’s house; his being often in company with them, gambling with them in different houses, and particularly in Clark’s, a house which, from what we have heard of it this day, ought for the good of society to be razed to the ground or built up, as houses infected by the plague are in times of pestilence.

In the second place, gentlemen, the prisoner was in company with these men on the very night in which the robbery was committed. This is proved by the testimony of Smith’s maid, Grahame Campbell, a witness who it is not pretended had any temptation to perjure herself. She tells you that Brodie came to her master’s house that day in the dusk of the evening; that they were in the upper room all together, and had some cold fowl and herrings; that Brodie was then dressed in an old-fashioned black coat; that she mentioned this circumstance to her mistress; that he went out with Smith, Brown, and Ainslie; and that when he came back later in the evening, he had then changed his dress and had on light-coloured clothes. These are all circumstances highly suspicious, and they would have been likewise sworn to by Smith’s wife, if she had been allowed to be examined; but that is unnecessary, as the facts the witness has deponed to are all probable in themselves, and they are corroborated, to the extent I have mentioned, by the other evidence, and also by Smith’s declarations, which last I do not mean to found upon as evidence against Mr. Brodie, but it is a curious fact.

In the third place, gentlemen, you will observe that the Excise Office was robbed upon Wednesday, the 5th of March. On the Friday night following, information was given to the Procurator-Fiscal by Brown; on the Saturday, Smith and Ainslie were apprehended and committed to prison. And what happens? Brodie goes to the prison to visit them, but is denied access. Is it possible to suppose that a gentleman in Mr. Brodie’s situation would have done this had he been innocent? No, gentlemen, it is not to be supposed.

But attend to what follows. Early the next morning, Brodie sends for Robert Smith, his foreman, and asks him if he had heard any news concerning them; he tells Brodie that Smith, the pannel, and Ainslie were in prison, and so forth, and adds that he hoped his master was not concerned with them. Gentlemen, he knew that Smith and Ainslie were Mr. Brodie’s companions; and you cannot conceive that he would have presumed to put such a question to his master if he had not been convinced in his own mind of his master’s guilt. Mr. Brodie makes no answer to this question. Will it be said that a man conscious of his own innocence would have remained silent upon such an occasion? Gentlemen, I appeal to yourselves; how would any one of you have felt, or what answer would you have returned to a servant who dared put such a question to you?

Brodie at this time tells Smith that he is going out of town for a few days; but you have it in evidence that he left this country, and fled to Flushing. In order to account for this flight you are told a story of a prosecution against him, at the instance of a chimney-sweep, for using false or loaded dice. This is a very strange circumstance to bring in exculpation. I have no hesitation to say that it is the most ignominious defence I ever remember to have heard maintained by a prisoner at that bar; but you cannot believe that that prosecution was the occasion of his flight. He was in no greater danger from it then than he had been in for months before; no step had been taken in that process which could alarm him at this critical time; and it is mere mockery, it is altogether a joke, to pretend that from such a circumstance the prisoner at the bar could have taken up the resolution of banishing himself from his country for ever.

Besides, Mr. Brodie, in his declaration before the Sheriff, did not assign this as the cause of his flight. He said that, as he was intimate with Smith and Ainslie, he was afraid they would accuse him of being concerned with them in robbing the Excise Office. He did not so much as mention the defence now set up for him; but his counsel saw that it would be necessary to account for his conduct in some shape or other, and no other appearance of defence occurred but this process. It is impossible to believe this story; and indeed it is impossible to assign any cause for Mr. Brodie’s conduct consistent with his innocence of the crime charged against him.

I would, in the next place, gentlemen, have you to attend to the prisoner’s behaviour when he flies from this place to London. He secretes himself in London for several weeks; search is made for him, but he cannot be found; he admits in one of his letters that he knew that Mr. Williamson was in search of him, but he did not choose an interview; a vessel is freighted for him by some persons, contrary to the duty they owed to their country; she is cleared out for Leith; he goes on board of her in the middle of the night, with a wig on, in disguise, and under a borrowed name; he is carried to Flushing; he changes his name to John Dixon, and writes letters to people in Edinburgh under that false signature, explaining his whole future operations, in consequence of which letters he is traced and apprehended, just when he is on the point of going on board of a ship for New York. If he had been innocent; if he had had nothing else to fear than the story of the loaded dice, it is not possible that he could have conducted himself in this manner.

The letters he writes to Geddes are likewise very strong circumstances; but the other letters, or scrolls, found in his trunk are still stronger. You have had it clearly proven that all these letters are of his own handwriting, and in both of the scrolls he expressly acknowledges the crime for which he now stands at the bar. In one of them he says that he had no “direct” concern in any of the late depredations of Smith, Brown, and Ainslie, excepting “the last fatal one”; in the other the word “direct” is scored out, but in both of them he acknowledges his accession to the last act; by which he can mean no other than the robbery of the Excise Office; for it happened on the Wednesday evening, and Brown gave information of it on the Friday evening immediately after. It was, therefore, in all probability the last of the depredations of this dangerous combination; and Mr. Brodie’s having applied the expression “fatal” to it identifies it beyond all doubt.

Gentlemen, I beg leave now to bring under your consideration what happened in this city after Mr. Brodie absconded. You have it in evidence that his house was searched, and various articles of a very suspicious nature found. A pair of pistols, identified to have been used on the occasion of the robbery, is found under the earth, and the place where they were hid pointed out by the other prisoner Smith; also a dark lanthorn, the one half of it in one place and the other half of it in another. Gentlemen, if Mr. Brodie is really innocent, it appears to me passing strange that these articles should have been so concealed.

All these circumstances, gentlemen, are established by the most unexceptionable evidence; they are connected with and corroborated by each other; and they all point to this conclusion, independent altogether of the direct evidence of Brown and Ainslie, that Mr. Brodie is guilty of the crime charged. They cannot be accounted for upon any other supposition.

In the opposite scale, gentlemen, you have the proof of _alibi_ attempted by the prisoner, which is exceedingly defective and inconclusive. _Alibi_ is a defence seldom resorted to but in the most desperate circumstances, and little regard is in general paid to it, for this good reason that it resolves into an immediate falsification of the whole evidence brought in support of the charge. It is suspicious at all times, but it is peculiarly so when the _alibi_ is confined to the same town in which the crime was committed, within a few minutes’ walk of the place, and is deponed to by witnesses at a great distance of time.

The first witness, gentlemen, brought by the prisoner to establish this defence is Matthew Sheriff, his own brother-in-law, by no means an unexceptionable witness. This gentleman depones that he dined with Mr. Brodie on Wednesday, the 5th of March, and that he was in company with him until eight o’clock that night. He is brought forward singly to prove a fact, which, if true, Mr. Brodie could be at no loss to establish by other unexceptionable evidence. There was another gentleman, he tells you, who dined in company with the pannel that day; and what appears to me to be a very odd circumstance, this gentleman is not called as a witness; nay, more, although Mr. Sheriff recollects a great variety of other circumstances, he does not remember this gentleman’s name. Why is this gentleman not brought forward on this occasion? Why are not some of the servants of the house, or any other person, called to support Mr. Sheriff’s testimony? Mr. Sheriff, then, is only a single witness, and from his near connection with the pannel, he gives his evidence under circumstances that are suspicious, and therefore no weight can be allowed to it.

But even supposing Mr, Sheriff’s testimony to be true, it is by no means inconsistent with the guilt of the prisoner, nor affects the credibility of the prosecutor’s evidence. Grahame Campbell depones that Brodie did not come to Smith’s house until about eight o’clock; and allowing him to have remained with Mr. Sheriff until near eight, the expedition against the Excise Office was not then begun; and you will recollect that Brodie was the last who made his appearance at Smith’s, and that he was expected by his associates a considerable time before he arrived.

Jean Watt is the next witness adduced by the prisoner, who, by her own evidence, appears to be a woman of an abandoned character. She has a family to Mr. Brodie, and was denominated by him, in one of his letters, by the appellation of “a devil.” This witness and her maid no doubt concur most minutely in a very extraordinary fact, which, if it can be believed, amounts to a falsification of the whole other evidence, viz., that Mr. Brodie came to Watt’s house just at eight o’clock, as the bell was ringing, and did not leave her house again till nine o’clock next morning. No doubt she swears pointedly to the night, and so does her servant; but although these two witnesses agree in the day, the hour, and even the minute of Mr. Brodie’s coming to Watt’s house on the 5th of March, yet, when they came to be cross-examined, they did not even agree in days; for Jean Watt said that she did not see Brodie from the Thursday morning, at nine o’clock, till the Saturday afternoon following, yet her maid said that he was twice in the house on the Thursday, both in the forenoon and afternoon; though Sheriff said that Brodie was in his house on the Thursday from three o’clock in the afternoon till eleven o’clock at night. They can give no reason for fixing the night of his visit at Watt’s house to be Wednesday night, except the subsequent flight of the prisoner; and therefore it may have been any other night in that week as well as the one condescended upon.