Trial of Deacon Brodie

The LORD ADVOCATE--My Lord, the parole evidence on the part of the Crown being now closed, the declarations and other writings, which have been authenticated in the presence of...

The sentence of the Justices of Peace of Stirlingshire, it has been said, forms no objection to the admissibility of this witness, because it was pronounced without a jury, as a...

And, being shown a parcel of ropes which the declarant is now told were found in his house, declares that the declarant has no doubt but that they are the same ropes which were...

[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 wa...

But, my Lords, I contend that this witness is inadmissible from the particular circumstances attending his case. For, according to the information which I have received, when th...

This woman and her servant, Peggy Giles, have no doubt deposed that it was eight o’clock when Mr. Brodie came to their house; but, gentlemen, even supposing them to be swearing...

The DEAN OF FACULTY--My Lords, the common use of language, as well as the technical and legal description of the writing on the table, join in supporting this objection. That th...

The desire of the petition was granted by the Sheriff on the 26th of July; and, on the 28th of that month, the Sheriff-substitute, with the Procurator Fiscal, and Mr. Bruce, wen...

But, gentlemen, while I mentioned the situation which Mr. Brodie once held in life, his family, his fortune, his friends, I must admit, however degrading to him the acknowledgme...

But though his having connected himself with them afforded a plausible colour to their charge, it does not follow that this connection affords either a proof or a presumption of...

The diet having been called “at the instance of Ilay Campbell, Esquire, His Majesty’s Advocate, for His Majesty’s interest, against William Brodie, sometime wright and cabinetma...

WITNESS--I was some time ago foreman to the pannel, Mr. Brodie, and I remember to have been sent for by him upon the Sunday morning, the 9th of March, at eight o’clock, after it...

Saturday morning, received a message from Mr Rich,--most of the magistrates gone to their country-houses,--nothing could be done till Monday;--Mr Rich entertained no doubt, but...

My unfortunate client is a very poor man; and although he was in a situation, before he was apprehended on suspicion of this crime, to support himself and his family upon the pr...

The LORD JUSTICE-CLERK then addressed the prisoners as follows:--William Brodie and George Smith, it belongs to my office to pronounce the sentence of the law against you. You h...

WILLIAM TAIT, advocate (died 1800), was the second son of Alexander Tait, one of the principal Clerks of Session, who is referred to in “The Court of Session Garland” (1839, p....

He domineered over the prisoners, the counsel, and his colleagues alike. Devoid of even a pretence to judicial decorum, he delighted while on the bench in the broadest jests and...

Had young Brodie been satisfied with the legitimate and very ample convivialities afforded by the Cape Club it would have been better for himself. But he became a frequenter of...

In pursuance of this arrangement, Ainslie left first for the scene of action in Chessel’s Court, carrying with him the coulter, and, having taken up his position within the “pal...

Mr. JOHN CLERK--My Lord, I mean to offer a special objection to the interrogatory mentioned by my Lord Advocate, on which I have not yet been heard, nor do I understand that any...

It is interesting to note in passing that during this period--the winter of 1786-7--Deacon Brodie had for an opposite neighbour no less a person than Robert Burns. While the poe...

Of the Royal, and Bank of Scotland £194: 9: 0 British Linen Company 362: 2: 0 Dumfries 126: 0: 0 Glasgow Notes 64: 10: 0 General Bank of Perth 32: 0: 0 Dundee Notes (Jobson’s) -...

On Sunday, 23rd March, that “constant trader,” the sloop “Endeavour,” of Carron, John Dent, master, bound for the port of Leith, lay at her anchor at Blackwall. About twelve o’c...

I think, my Lords, that it ought to be repelled for the reasons your Lordships have already heard, and because no injury can be done to the pannels from these articles not havin...

2. The | Trial | of | William Brodie | Wright and Cabinet Maker in Edinburgh, | and of | George Smith Grocer there, | Before the High Court of Justiciary, | Held at Edinburgh on...

At a quarter to nine o’clock the prisoners were brought from the Tolbooth into Court. “They were conveyed, upon their request, in chairs, but each having a sentinel of the City...

The above Ludovick Brodie, our Sixt Child, died the 3d of June 1756 (being Thursday) att four o clock in the morning of the Small Pox, aged 5 years 7 months and 6 days, and was...

On 24th November, 1784, “pursuant to a late remit to the Magistrates to consider as to fitting up a place adjoining to the Tolbooth of this city for the execution of criminals,”...

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 n...

As none of my relations can stand being present at my dissolution, I humbly request that your Lordship will permit ---- to attend, it will be some consolation in my last hour; a...

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 W...