Part 7
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,” estimates by Convener Jameson and Deacon Hill (who were members of the new Council) were accepted for the mason and wright work respectively. On 11th April, 1785, estimates by the same two Councillors were accepted for rebuilding the shops affected by the proposed alterations, “exclusive of the wright work for the platform and the machinery for an execution, conform to a former estimate.” On the 13th of the same month, the Dean of Guild having inspected the work and reported favourably upon it, the magistrates passed an Act of Council appointing the west end of the Tolbooth to be the common place of execution in all time coming; and ordained Archibald Stewart, then under sentence of death for housebreaking, to be executed there in pursuance of his sentence. The execution was accordingly carried out on 20th April, 1785, but not, it would appear, upon the moveable platform or drop. On 7th September of that year, five months after Stewart’s death, the Council for the first time authorised Deacon Hill “to make a _moveable_ platform for the execution of criminals in terms of his estimate”; and among certain accounts ordered to be paid by the City Chamberlain on 13th September, 1786, we find one due “To Thomas Hill for erecting a _second_ platform, west end of the Tolbooth, twenty-one pounds, seven shillings and elevenpence halfpenny”--his account for the former work being also mentioned.
This was, without doubt, the drop upon which, two years later, Deacon Brodie was to suffer the penalty of the law. It is possible, and indeed, from the contemporary evidence already quoted, probable that he himself designed the model, adopting the improvement recently introduced in England. He may even have sent in an estimate for the work, but, as he was not that year a member of Council, Deacon Hill had the better chance of securing the contract, and certainly obtained it.
It was, therefore, on the platform above referred to that the execution of William Brodie and George Smith took place, at half-past two o’clock on the afternoon of Wednesday, 1st October, 1788, in presence of an immense crowd of spectators, great numbers having come from all parts of the country to witness the event. The _Caledonian Mercury_ observes--“The crowd on this occasion was the greatest ever known; the whole space from the prison to the Castle Hill being filled with spectators, pressed together in one compact and immoveable column.” The proceedings were conducted with more than usual solemnity; the magistrates attended in their robes of office, “with white gloves and white staves”; ministers of divers denominations were present in their gowns and bands; and the City Guard formed a cordon round the place of execution. We read that “the great bell tolled during the ceremony, which had an awful and solemn effect.” This is said to have been the first occasion of the kind on which the bell of St. Giles’ Church was tolled. It is characteristic of the man that, on his last public appearance, we are informed, “Mr. Brodie appeared in a handsome suit of black clothes, and had his hair powdered and dressed with taste.” Twice, owing to some defect in the adjustment of the ropes, did the Deacon descend from the platform and enter into conversation with his friends; but, notwithstanding this dreadful delay, his fortitude remained unshaken, and he met his fate with a courage and equanimity worthy of a better cause:
Nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it.
With his hand thrust carelessly into the open front of his vest, as we see him in his portrait, the Deacon calmly took that step out of the world which his own ingenuity is said to have shortened.
The _Edinburgh Evening Courant_ of 2nd October, 1788, voices the popular sentiment of the time as follows:--“Thus ended the life of William Brodie, whose conduct, when we consider his situation in life, is equally singular and contradictory. By the low and vicious connections he formed he had everything to lose--he could gain little even if successful; for, from the moment he embarked in the enterprises of his desperate associates, his property, his life, was at their mercy. Indeed, his crimes appear to be rather the result of infatuation than depravity; and he seemed to be more attracted by the dexterity of thieving than the profit arising from it. To excel in the performance of some paltry legerdemain or slight-of-hand tricks, to be able to converse in the cant or flash language of thieves, or to chant with spirit a song from the ‘Beggar’s Opera,’ was to him the highest ambition. Those who knew him best agree that his
disposition was friendly and generous, and that he had infinitely more of the dupe than the knave in his composition; and was, indeed, admirably fitted for designing and wicked men to work upon.” The Deacon, even in his own day, did not lack apologists. And though there may be some diversity of opinion regarding the precise shade which that unhappy gentleman had stained a character in other respects not without redeeming traits, there can be none as to the monstrous injustice of the penalty exacted by the law for his offence. In these more merciful times, when conscientious juries hesitate to convict the guilty upon a capital charge, and rather than deliver a fellow-being to an irrevocable doom will sometimes evade responsibility by the _via media_ of “not proven,” it is difficult to realise the callous indifference to human life for which our criminal code was formerly notorious. At that period a man might, literally, as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb; and that the Deacon should suffer a punishment so disproportionate to his deserts would, however repugnant to modern feeling, seem natural enough to his stoical contemporaries.
* * * * *
In explanation of the singular degree of coolness exhibited to the last by Deacon Brodie, a curious story became current. Much anxiety had undoubtedly been shown both by himself and others that his body might not be detained in prison, but should be delivered to his friends so soon as the execution had taken place. With this view the Deacon, on the forenoon of the fatal day, addressed to the Lord Provost the following remarkable letter:--
“Edinburgh Tolbooth, “Oct. 1, 1788, Eleven o’clock.
“My Lord,
“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; and that your Lordship will please give orders that my body after be delivered to and by no means to remain in gaol; that he and my friends may have it decently dressed and interred. This is the last request of
“Your most obedient but most unfortunate,
WILL. BRODIE.”
“Both of which requests,” we are told, “his Lordship most readily granted.” It is said, by the author of the letterpress in “Kay’s Portraits” (1877, vol. 1., pp. 262-3), on the authority of an eye-witness of the execution, that Brodie had been visited in prison by a French quack, Dr. Peter Degravers, who undertook to restore him to life after he had hung the usual time; that, on the day preceding the execution, this individual had marked the Deacon’s temples and arms with a pencil, in order to know the more readily where to apply his lancet; and that with this view the hangman had been bargained with for a short fall. “The excess of caution, however, exercised by the executioner in the first instance in shortening the rope proved fatal by his inadvertency in making it latterly too long. After he was cut down his body was immediately given to two of his own workmen, who, by order of the guard, placed it in a cart and drove at a furious rate round the back of the Castle. The object of this order was probably an idea that the jolting motion of the cart might be the means of resuscitation, as had once actually happened in the case of the celebrated ‘half-hangit Maggie Dickson.’ The body was afterwards conveyed to one of Brodie’s own workshops in the Lawnmarket, where Degravers was in attendance. He attempted bleeding, &c., but all would not do. Brodie was fairly gone.”
The irregular practitioner above mentioned was certainly in Edinburgh about that time, for we read in the newspapers of the day advertisements, which he issued from his rooms in Charles Street, offering his professional services to the public at the moderate fee of half-a-crown “in all cases.” Judging by the testimonials from grateful patients which he also published, the doctor must have given wonderful value for the money; but in the somewhat exceptional circumstances of the Deacon’s case he would, if successful, have surely been entitled to a larger fee.
A more picturesque, if less probable version of the same story is given by the author of “Reminiscences of Glasgow,” on the authority of Æneas Morrison. It is there stated that any attempt to effect the Deacon’s rescue by overpowering the City Guard or breaking into the Tolbooth having, after due consideration, been abandoned by his friends as hopeless, the following elaborate scheme was to be attempted to save his life. Shortly before the hour of his execution, the Deacon was to beg that he might speak to certain of his friends alone for a few moments upon his private affairs. This request being complied with, the opportunity should be seized for introducing into his throat and mouth a small silver tube made for the purpose, with the view of preventing suffocation, and wires were to be carried down his sides from head to foot to save the jerk from the scaffold. The executioner was to be induced to give him a short drop, and other liberties were to be taken with the fatal rope. A surgeon--doubtless the philanthropic Degravers--was to be in attendance to bleed him as soon as the body was cut down; and, if this succeeded, the Deacon was to lie quiet in his coffin, exhibiting no symptom of life, till such time as it could be safely removed to his own house for presumed interment by his relatives. Whether or not this remarkable programme was ever carried out is not recorded.
It would appear from these reports that an attempt of some kind was made with a view to resuscitate the Deacon; and there is no doubt that many people believed at the time that he had “cheated the wuddy” after all. It was said that he had actually revived and made good his escape from Scotland; that he was afterwards seen and conversed with in Paris. His coffin was certainly interred in the north-east corner of the burying-ground of St. Cuthbert’s Chapel of Ease--now Buccleuch Parish Church; but there is a tradition that, on a subsequent occasion, the grave was opened, when no trace of his body could be found.
These stories are probably apocryphal; but they are curious as showing the exceptional interest which the Deacon’s strange career aroused in the minds of his fellow-townsmen. And although his mortal remains, wheresoever situated, must long since have crumbled into dust, the name and doings of Deacon Brodie are indissolubly associated with the annals of that ancient city in which, to a conclusion so disastrous, he played his double part.
THE TRIAL
WEDNESDAY, 27TH AUGUST, 1788.
The Court met at Nine o’clock.
_Judges Present_--
THE LORD JUSTICE-CLERK (_Lord Braxfield_). LORD HAILES. LORD ESKGROVE. LORD STONEFIELD. LORD SWINTON.
_Counsel for the Crown_--
THE LORD ADVOCATE (_Ilay Campbell_). THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL (_Robert Dundas_). WILLIAM TAIT and JAMES WOLFE MURRAY, Esqs., _Advocates-Depute_.
_Agent_--
Mr. ROBERT DUNDAS, Clerk to the Signet.
_Counsel for the Pannel William Brodie_--
THE DEAN OF FACULTY (_Hon. Henry Erskine_). ALEXANDER WIGHT and CHARLES HAY, Esqs., _Advocates_.
_Agents_--
Mr. ROBERT DONALDSON, W.S., and Mr. ALEXANDER PATERSON, Writer, Edinburgh.
_Counsel for the Pannel George Smith_--
JOHN CLERK and ROBERT HAMILTON, Esqs., _Advocates_.
_Agent_--
Mr. ÆNEAS MORRISON, Writer, Edinburgh.
CURIA JUSTICIARIA S. D. N. REGIS, Tenta in Nova Sessionis domo de Edinburgh, Vicesimo Septimo die Augusti millesimo septingentesimo Octogesimo octavo, Per Honorabiles Viros; ROBERTUM M‘QUEEN de Braxfield, Dominum Justiciarium Clericum; Dominum DAVIDEM DALRYMPLE de Hailes, Baronetum; DAVIDEM RAE de Eskgrove; JOANNEM CAMPBELL de Stonefield; et JOANNEM SWINTON de Swinton, Dominos Commissionarios Justiciariae dict. S. D. N. Regis.
Curia Legitime Affirmata.
INTRAN. William Brodie, sometime Wright and Cabinetmaker in Edinburgh, and George Smith, sometime Grocer there, both prisoners in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh,
PANNELS.
INDICTED and ACCUSED at the instance of Ilay Campbell, Esq., His Majesty’s Advocate for His Majesty’s Interest, for the Crime of Theft attended with House-breaking, in manner mentioned in the Criminal Indictment raised against them thereanent, bearing as follows:--
WILLIAM BRODIE, sometime Wright and Cabinetmaker in Edinburgh, and GEORGE SMITH, sometime Grocer there, both prisoners in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, You are indicted and accused at the instance of Ilay Campbell, Esq., His Majesty’s Advocate, for His Majesty’s interest: THAT ALBEIT, by the laws of this, and of every well-governed realm, THEFT, more especially when attended with house-breaking, and when committed by breaking into a house used or kept as an Excise Office, or other public office, under cloud of night, and from thence abstracting and stealing money, is a crime of an heinous nature, and severely punishable: YET TRUE IT IS, AND OF VERITY, That You, the said William Brodie, and George Smith, are both, and each, or one or other of You, guilty actors, or art and part, of the said crime, aggravated as aforesaid: IN SO FAR AS, upon the night of the 5th day of March, last, in this present year of our Lord 1788, or upon one or other of the days or nights of that month, or of February immediately preceding, or of April immediately following, You, the said William Brodie, and George Smith, did, by means of false keys, or other instruments, wickedly and feloniously break into the house in which the General Excise Office for Scotland was then kept, in Chessels’s buildings, on the south side of the High-street of Canongate of Edinburgh, within the royalty or liberties of the city of Edinburgh, and county of Edinburgh, and did thence feloniously abstract and steal money, to the amount of Sixteen pounds Sterling, or thereby, consisting partly of Bank-notes, and partly of silver and halfpence. And You, the said George Smith, having been afterwards apprehended, and brought before Archibald Cockburn, Esq., Sheriff-depute of the county of Edinburgh, did, in his presence, emit three several declarations; the first of date the 8th day of March, the second of date the 10th day of March, and the third of date the 19th day of March, all in this present year of our Lord 1788: And having afterwards been brought before John Stewart, Esq., Sheriff-substitute of the said county, You did, in his presence, emit a fourth declaration, of date the 17th day of July, likewise in this present year 1788: The first of which declarations was signed by the said Archibald Cockburn, the second and third by you, the said George Smith, and the said Archibald Cockburn, and the fourth by you, the said George Smith, and the said John Stewart. AND FURTHER, You, the said William Brodie, having, in the month of March last, when the said George Smith was committed to prison, left Edinburgh, and fled from this country; and having afterwards been brought back, and taken into custody, did, upon the 17th day of July, in this present year 1788, in presence of the said Archibald Cockburn, Esq., emit a declaration, which was signed by you, the said William Brodie, and the said Archibald Cockburn; the whole of which declarations, together with a letter written by You, the said William Brodie, and signed John Dixon, dated at Flushing, Tuesday, 8th April, 1788, twelve o’clock forenoon, and addressed to Mr. Matthew Sheriff, upholsterer, Edinburgh; another letter, or two letters, on one sheet of paper, written by You the said William Brodie, and signed with your initials, dated Thursday, 10th April, 1788, and addressed to Mr. Michael Henderson, Grass-market, stabler, Edinburgh; an unsigned scroll, or copy of a letter, in the hand-writing of You, the said William Brodie, marked No. 1. without date or address; another unsigned scroll, or copy of a letter, in the hand-writing of You, the said William Brodie, marked No. 2. without date or address; an account, or state, in the hand-writing of You, the said William Brodie, entitled, “A state of my affairs, as near as I can make out at present from memory, having no other assistance”; a letter, dated London, 1st May, 1788, signed Lee, Strachan, and Co. and addressed to Mess. Eml. Walker and Co., merchants, Philadelphia; a gold watch, with a chain, seal, and key; a chest, or trunk, containing various articles; a five-pound bank-note; an iron coulter of a plough; two iron wedges; an iron crow; a pair of curling irons or toupee tongs; a spur; a dark lanthorn; a pair of pistols; several false keys and pick-locks; and two spring-saws; are all to be used in evidence against You the said William Brodie and George Smith; and, for that purpose, will be lodged in the hands of the clerk of the High Court of Justiciary, before which You are to be tried, in order that You may have an opportunity of seeing the same: AT LEAST, time and place foresaid, the said house in which the General Excise Office for Scotland was then kept as aforesaid, was feloniously broke and entered into, and a sum of money feloniously and theftuously taken and stolen therefrom as aforesaid; and You the said William Brodie, and George Smith, above complained upon, are both, and each, or one or other of You, guilty thereof, actor or actors, or art and part. ALL WHICH, or part thereof, being found proven by the verdict of an assize, before the Lord Justice-General, Lord Justice-Clerk, and Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, You, the said William Brodie, and George Smith, OUGHT to be punished with the pains of law, to deter others from committing the like crimes in all time coming.
ILAY CAMPBELL.
LIST OF WITNESSES TO BE ADDUCED IN THE TRIAL FOR THE PROSECUTOR.
1. John Brown _alias_ Humphry Moore, sometime residing in Edinburgh, present prisoner in the Tolbooth of Canongate of Edinburgh.
2. Andrew Ainslie, sometime shoemaker, present prisoner in the Tolbooth of Canongate of Edinburgh.
3. Mary Hubbart or Hubburt, spouse of the said George Smith.
4. Grahame Campbell, sometime servant to the said George Smith.
5. Alexander Thomson, accountant of Excise in Edinburgh.
6. Peter M‘Farlane, clerk in the office of the cashier of Excise there.
7. Adam Pearson, assistant secretary of Excise in Edinburgh.
8. Janet Baxter, servant to the said Adam Pearson.
9. William M‘Kay, porter in the Canongate of Edinburgh.
10. John Duncan, doorkeeper to the Excise Office, Edinburgh.
11. Laurence Dundas, housekeeper of the said Excise Office.
12. Margaret Black, late servant to the said Laurence Dundas.
13. Margaret Bain, late servant to the said Laurence Dundas.
14. James Bonar, deputy-solicitor of the Excise, Edinburgh.
15. Robert Smith, wright in Edinburgh, late foreman to the said William Brodie.
16. Isobel Gilmour, spouse of John Gilmour, ropemaker in West Bow, Edinburgh.
17. Daniel M‘Lean, waiter to William Drysdale, innkeeper in the New Town of Edinburgh.
18. Patrick Taylor, smith in Edinburgh.
19. Charles M‘Leod, apprentice to the said Patrick Taylor.
20. Jacobina Pearson, spouse of Hugh Macpherson, shoemaker in Duddingston, near Edinburgh.
21. John Kinnear, servant to the Earl of Abercorn at Duddingston.
22. Robert Tait, servant to the Earl of Abercorn there.
23. Isobel Wilson, spouse of Adam Robertson, wright in Duddingston.
24. John Clerk, book-keeper to William Drysdale, innkeeper in the New Town of Edinburgh.
25. David Robertson, merchant in Edinburgh.
26. John Geddes, tobacconist in Mid-Calder and county of Edinburgh.
27. Margaret Tweddle _alias_ Geddes, spouse to the said John Geddes.
28. James Laing, writer in Edinburgh.
29. John M‘Leish, clerk to Mr. Hugh Buchan, City Chamberlain of Edinburgh.
30. George Williamson, messenger-at-arms in Edinburgh.
31. William Middleton, indweller in Edinburgh.
32. James Murray, sheriff-officer there.
33. Alexander Williamson, sheriff-officer there.
34. James Fraser, sheriff-officer there.
35. Archibald Cockburn, Esq., Sheriff-depute of the county of Edinburgh.
36. John Stewart, Sheriff-Substitute of the said county.
37. William Scott, Procurator-Fiscal of the county of Edinburgh.
38. William Augustus Wishart, clerk to the said William Scott.
39. Joseph Mack, writer in the Sheriff-Clerk’s Office, Edinburgh.
40. Alexander Fraser, grocer and change-keeper in the New Town, Edinburgh.
41. Laurence Blair, servant to Mr. Charles Hope, advocate.
42. Thomas Longlands, solicitor-at-law in London.
ILAY CAMPBELL.
LIST OF ASSIZE.
1. Andrew Bonar, banker in Edinburgh. 2. Alexander Houston, banker there. 3. Robert Forrester, banker there. 4. Robert Allan, banker there. 5. Henry Jamieson, banker there. 6. John Hay, banker there. 7. William Creech, bookseller there. 8. James Carfrae, merchant there. 9. William Gillespie, merchant there. 10. William Simpson, banker there. 11. George Kinnear, banker there. 12. John Black, merchant there. 13. Francis Blair, merchant there. 14. Elphingston Balfour, bookseller there. 15. Peter Forrester, merchant there. 16. John Thomson, insurance-broker there. 17. Thomas Elder, merchant there. 18. Edward Innes, confectioner there. 19. John Balfour, merchant there. 20. William Fettes, merchant there. 21. John Milne, founder there. 22. Dunbar Pringle, tanner there. 23. Peter Robertson, goldsmith there. 24. Thomas Campbell, merchant there. 25. William Turnbull, merchant there. 26. Alexander Brown, merchant there. 27. Charles Cowan, merchant there. 28. David Paterson, insurance-broker there. 29. Francis Sharp, merchant there. 30. James Donaldson, printer there. 31. John Hutton, stationer there. 32. John Balfour, papermaker there. 33. Robert Young, upholsterer there. 34. John Learmonth, junior, tanner there. 35. Thomas Cleghorn, coachmaker there. 36. Thomas Hutcheson, merchant there. 37. James Craig, corn merchant there. 38. Alexander Bruce, merchant there. 39. Benjamin Yule, baker there. 40. William Smellie, printer there. 41. Orlando Hart, shoemaker there. 42. James Ranken, merchant there. 43. William Young, baker there. 44. William Brown, grocer there. 45. Alexander Weir, painter there.
ROB. M‘QUEEN. DAV. DALRYMPLE. DAV. RAE.
LIST OF WITNESSES TO BE ADDUCED IN EXCULPATION OF WILLIAM BRODIE.
1. Robert Smith, wright in Edinburgh, late foreman to the said William Brodie.
2. George M‘Intosh, also wright, and late journeyman to the said William Brodie.