Millers, Murphy, Robert M'Turk, Billie Brown, John Elliot, the
Carmichaels, &c. &c. The Armstrongs were from Yorkshire; they bought
largely of our good beasts at Falkirk, Falkland, and Kinross. Their
credit was unlimited. They paid the cattle, not with Bank of England
notes, but with their own private bills; and whereas they left home
without more money than was necessary to pay the expenses of their
journey, they would return with hundreds of pounds. For example: they
would buy a lot of cattle for L860, give their acceptance for L1000,
and get the balance (L140) from the seller. At last, however, they
became bankrupt, and paid 3s. per pound. My father lost L3300 by them;
and a great many of the returned bills are still in my possession.
Messrs John and William Thom lost about the same sum. The Bannermans of
Perth lost L4000--in fact, were ruined by their loss. My father and the
Thoms stood out. The Thoms lost very heavily by the Millers also. My
father's losses by bad debts were fully L10,000 in all. John Thom of
Uras, Stonehaven, was also one of the firm that lost heavily, and has
always, to his credit, paid 20s. in the pound. It was a saying of an
old friend of mine that no great breeder or great cattle-dealer ever
died rich; and this has held good in the great majority of cases. John
Elliot and William Brown bought largely of our Aberdeen cattle, and
attended Aikey Fair as well as Falkirk. Brown, who was very clever, had
raised himself from being an Irish drover. He rented a farm in the
neighbourhood of Carlisle, and died a few years ago much respected.
Elliot was a Carlisle man, and so were the Millers. Elliot latterly
became a Smithfield salesman, but died many years ago. But Robert
M'Turk stood, in my estimation, at the top of the tree. I have known
him buy seventy score of Highlanders at the October Falkirk Tryst
without dismounting from his pony. I have seen seventy-five score of
Galloways belonging to him in one drove passing through Carlisle to
Norfolk. I have known him buy from a thousand to two thousand of our
large county cattle at Falkirk, sweeping the fair of the best lots
before other buyers could make up their minds to begin. He rented large
grazings in Dumfriesshire, where he wintered and grazed the
Highlanders, and which, I believe, his relatives still retain. He was a
warm friend, and very kind to me when I was almost a boy, and on a busy
day he trusted me to cull the beasts he had bought from myself. I shall
never see his like again at Falkirk or any other place. I have a vivid
recollection of the stout-built man upon his pony, buying his cattle by
the thousand; his calm and composed demeanour was a striking contrast
to the noise made by some jobbers at our fairs in even the buying of an
old cow. Although plain in manner, he was a thorough gentleman, devoid
of slang and equivocation. He was the Captain Barclay of Dumfriesshire,
and furnished an exception to my friend's remark, for he died in
independent circumstances. He paid for all his cattle ready money.
The Carmichaels were another extensive firm of English dealers; they
bought largely at Falkirk, Aikey Fair, and in the north. Robert
Carmichael, of Ratcliffe Farm, near Stirling, was many years appointed
a judge of Highlanders at the Highland Society's shows. But we had also
the Hawick Club, a set of giants--Halliburton, Scott, and Harper--a
very wealthy firm; and James Scott died the other year worth seventy or
eighty thousand pounds. As a company they seldom bought runts--a term
by which our Aberdeen cattle were known to the English jobbers; they
bought large lots of Highlanders, especially Highland heifers, in
October and November; but they were open at all times, when they saw a
good prospect of profit, to buy any number, or any sort. I once came
through Mr Harper's hands at a bad Hallow Fair with seven score of
Aberdeen runts in a way I should not like often to do.
The business of the "Club" was principally confined to the months of
October and November, but individually they had large stakes in the
country. James Scott was one of the largest sheep-farmers in Scotland,
and one of the greatest buyers of sheep at Inverness. I could tell many
anecdotes of the firm of Halliburton & Co., but I fear tiring my
readers. I will, however, venture on one or two. As I have already
mentioned, they were very powerful men. On one occasion Halliburton had
arrived at Braemar very tired to attend the fair. He had fallen asleep
on the sofa, and a thief was busy rifling his pockets, when he awoke,
took hold of the thief, held him with one hand as if he had been in a
vice, and handed him over to justice. It was told of James Scott, who
was a very quiet reserved man, that once when he was in the Highlands
he was insulted by a party of Highland gentlemen; from better it came
to worse, and ended in Scott nearly killing every man of them.
Halliburton was much respected, but he was a great declaimer as to
prices of cattle falling when he was a purchaser. At an Amulree market
he was very early on the market-ground. A soft-looking country man,
well dressed, came up with thirteen very fine polled cattle, which
Halliburton bought at a price that _satisfied even him_ as to
their cheapness. He took James Ritchie, an Aberdeen dealer, to see
them. On hearing the price Ritchie was astonished. "Oh," said
Halliburton, "I have often told you, James, what country men would do,
but you would not believe me." The seller was very anxious to get the
money, as he said he had horses to buy; but Halliburton told him horses
were dangerous, and he must wait his time. He began to be suspicious
that all was not right, and in a short time the seller was apprehended
for stealing the cattle from Wemyss Castle. He was tried at Perth, and
transported for fourteen years, and Halliburton and Ritchie had to give
evidence. The judge said to Halliburton at the trial at Perth, "You
surely must have known the cattle were too cheap." Halliburton
answered, "My lord, the next market would have proved if they were too
cheap or too dear."
The payments at Falkirk were all made through the bankers; there were
always from four to six bank-tents on the muir. When I took payment for
my cattle I went generally with the buyer to the bank-tent. This was
merely a common tent, with a bank-office attached. The banker
calculated the amount, and received the money, which he put to my
credit, and after I concluded my business I got an order for the amount
on Aberdeen. This avoided all risk of forged notes, &c. Strange
payments were sometimes offered. On one occasion an Irishman, who
appeared to have been "holding his Christmas," bought sixty horned
cattle from me, the best in the fair, at L14, 14s. a-head--a long price
at that time. The beasts were good, and the price was good. He
presented first L70 in gold; he then took out a handkerchief, the
contents of which were L100, L20, L10, L5, and L1 notes. Such a
miscellaneous payment I had never seen offered, and I believe no one
else had, at Falkirk or any other place. It would have been hopeless
for us to attempt counting it, and Mr Salmon, agent for the Commercial
Bank, took the business in hand. Looking first at the confused mass of
notes, all "head and tail," and then scanning the appearance of my
customer, he began his task; but with all his practice it took him a
quarter of an hour to assort the payment. He threw back two L1-notes to
the buyer, who got into a towering passion, and, with words that I
cannot put upon paper, asked him if he thought _he_ would offer
forged notes. Mr Salmon meekly replied that M'Combie might take them if
he pleased, he had got nothing to do with that, but he would not. Our
Irish friend then exchanged the notes, for he had no want of money. I
did not even know the gentleman's name; I never saw him before, and I
never, to my knowledge, saw him afterwards.
There were in such large markets as Falkirk and Hallow Fair great
chances of good prices to be had at times. When cattle were selling
dear, buyers from England, Wales, Ireland, and all parts of Scotland,
congregated at Falkirk: they were not all judges alike, and some
sellers at such a time were always sure of a good price. For the
amusement of my readers, I will give a few examples. On the second day
of an October Falkirk Tryst (I had sold out, as I generally did, the
first day), I was standing with a dealer from the north who had forty
or sixty--I think sixty--two-year-old polled stots to sell. He had just
parted with a customer for 2s. 6d. a-head, having offered them at L8,
15s., and refused L8, 12s. 6d. A gentleman's land-steward came through
the lot of cattle with a milk-white horse, and his eyes looked first to
the right and then to the left with wonderful quickness. He asked the
price of the cattle. I thought the seller's conscience a trifle lax
when he asked L13, 13s. a-head. Being very young I turned my back, as I
could not keep my gravity. The owner then asked what he would give.
L11, 11s. was the answer. No sooner were the words out of the man's
mouth than down came the clap, "They are yours." I could stand it no
longer, and drew back aghast. The buyer became suspicious that all was
not right; and my father, who was held in great esteem both by buyers
and sellers, acted as umpire, to whom both parties referred the
transaction. Being the only witness, I was closely interrogated by the
umpire, the buyer, and the seller. I told the price asked and the price
offered. The matter had now assumed a serious aspect. My father, after
hearing the evidence, which was not denied, and the price having been
fairly offered and accepted, could only decide one way. I recollect his
words when he gave his decision: "Well, sir, the beasts are dear
according to this market, but they are good growers, and you will soon
make them worth it; my decision is, you must take them." They were paid
for, and went across the ferry to Fife again. In a rising market I have
seen cattle raised L1 a-head; and if the jobber does not take a price
when there is a rise, and fairly in his power, he is a fool, for he
will soon find out that the buyers will have no mercy upon the sellers
when in their power. In all my experience, the above, in a dull day, or
any other day, was the most glaring start I remember.
I never attended the fairs in Angusshire, but on one occasion Mr Thom
hauled me off to Forfar market in the beginning of November, before
Hallow Fair of Edinburgh. We were in partnership at the time, and
bought seventy small polled stots to take to Hallow Fair, to which we
had sent off two or three droves the week before. We could get but one
drover, a townsman, to assist in lifting them, and had to turn drovers
ourselves. We had not gone above a mile on our way to Dundee with the
cattle when it came on a fearful night of rain, and got very dark. Mr
Thom quarrelled with the drover--a useless creature--and sent him about
his business, so that we were left alone with our seventy beasts in the
dark, on a road with which we were entirely unacquainted. We went on
for hours, not knowing where we were going, till at last we came to a
bothy, where we asked the servants what we were to do with our charge,
and if we were on the road to the ferry at Dundee. We were told, first,
that we had taken the wrong road, and were miles out of our way; and
second, that we might put the cattle into a field close at hand. We put
the cattle up accordingly, and went to a public-house near by, which
was kept by a very decent man, Edward, a cattle-dealer. We got supper,
and took an hour or two in bed; and between one and two o'clock in the
morning, the rain having abated and the moon risen, we started the
drove and had the beasts at Dundee and across the ferry by the first
boat at eight o'clock in the morning, with no assistance whatever. We
now started fairly on our destination for Edinburgh, and having got
food for the cattle and bread and cheese for ourselves, about three
miles up the south side of the Tay we hired a sort of drover, and bent
our way by Rathillet. About dark we arrived at ---- (Mr Walker's),
where we not only got as much turnips and straw to our beasts as they
could eat, but were ourselves treated like princes by Mr Walker. He
gave us the best bed in the house, would not let us go without a good
breakfast in the morning, and would accept of scarcely any
remuneration. We started for Lochgelly after breakfast, but Mr Thom
persuaded me to turn off and take Falkland market, which was held that
day, while he and the drover proceeded straight to Lochgelly with the
cattle. Falkland was far out of the way, but he assured me there were
plenty of horses to hire there, and that I could easily join him at
Lochgelly at night. When I got to Falkland I found there were only four
beasts in the market that suited our trade, which was not encouraging,
as I did not want plenty of money if I could have got anything to lay
it out on. I found also that Mr Thom had been mistaken about the
hiring. Not a horse was to be got at any price, and I had no help but
to set off on foot for Lochgelly, on a road I had never travelled. I
had scarcely left Falkland when I was overtaken by a heavy rain which
continued throughout my journey. I had first to climb a long steep hill
for about three or four miles, and when at last I got to the public
road, I found it one mass of mud, in consequence of the large coal
traffic, and the heavy fall of rain. I had a deal of money with me, and
as it was quite dark, I was rather uneasy about it, meeting so many
miners and coal-carters under such circumstances, and in a part of the
country with which I was utterly unacquainted. The road is a very long
one, and with such a protracted soaking in the mud, my feet began to
fail me. I at last reached my destination, however; and with
considerable difficulty--for I had never been in Lochgelly before--I
hunted up Mr Thom, whom I found comfortably quartered beside a good
fire, with supper before him. But my troubles were not yet over. One of
the servants at the place was leaving, and what was termed a "foy" was
being held that night. She had collected a great number of her friends,
who kept the house in an uproar the whole night. We went to bed, but
could get no sleep, the row these revellers made was so great, and our
bedroom door was all but broken open two or three times. Our
remonstrances had no effect, and sleep being out of the question, we
got up about one o'clock, hunted up our drover, and started our drove
once more, although the night was as bad as could be. By about nine
o'clock A.M. we arrived at Queensferry; but by this time I had strained
my leg, and was unable to proceed. I was therefore left on the north
side in charge of the cattle, while Mr Thom crossed to the south side
to procure the necessary food for the other droves during the market.
It will thus be seen that we droved the seventy cattle from Forfar
market all the way to Queensferry in two days and three nights during
the short day of November, going out of our way once as much as six
miles. I cannot say what the distance was exactly, but it must have
been at least seventy miles--a feat in cattle-droving unparalleled in
my experience. After a day's rest I crossed the ferry with the cattle,
assisted by the drover. The beasts were dreadfully jaded, and with
difficulty reached their destination, within a mile of the
market-stance. The journey had told severely upon them, and two went
down immediately on reaching the field. We tried every means to stir
them, but failed. They were hand-fed, and with great difficulty got to
the market, where they were quickly sold, though how they were got to
their destination I never learned.
At a very good Hallow Fair, I had forty small-horned Cabrach beasts and
forty small polled stirks standing alongside of each other. I had been
within 7s. 6d. a-head of selling them once or twice, when a stranger
priced them, a very well-to-do and apparently young man. My price was
L7, 7s. a-head for the eighty. He just took one look through them, and
said, "Well, I shall have them, and you meet me at the Black Bull at
eight o'clock, and I will pay you for them." It not being the _custom
of the trade_ to get all our askings, I was a little nervous about
my customer, but found he was all right. I met him at the Black Bull at
the hour mentioned. He was in great spirits, and paid me in Bank of
England notes.
Arthur Ritchie, Bithnie, a cattle-dealer from Aberdeen, used to tell
the following story: In a bad Hallow Fair, towards sunsetting, a
gentleman came round and asked the price of a lot of cattle. Arthur had
given him a large halter, and he got an offer which he accepted. It was
a great price for the market. The buyer refused afterwards to take
them, and my father was made umpire. The buyer said that a glimmer came
over his eyes, and he thought them better when he offered the price.
However, he got ashamed, and took the cattle. An old respected servant
of my own, who assisted me for years in the buying and selling of
cattle--James Elmslie, very well known here and in the south--had sold
twenty beasts very well at Hallow Fair for me. There was a "buffalo"
among them of the worst type--a great big "buffalo dog." The buyer,
when he paid them, said, "Well, James, if they had all been like the
big one, I would not have grudged you the price." "Ah, sir," said
James, "you would have difficulty in getting a lot like him!" I could
scarcely keep my gravity. A very grave and solemn conclusion to a sale
occurred to me at Hallow Fair. I had sold twenty beasts to a very rich
farmer near North Berwick, who had bought many lots from me. He had
employed a marker, who had just marked nineteen out of the twenty. The
buyer was joking with me about the dearness of the cattle, when, in a
moment, he dropped down dead, falling on his back, and never moving or
speaking more. The event created such a sensation, that no more sales
were made that day.
The English dealers seldom came north except to Aikey Fair. Then we had
the Armstrongs, the Millers, Murphy, and other English dealers, and it
was quite a sight to witness the droves going south; but Aikey Fair has
now lost its ancient glory, and is only the shadow of what it was. It
was a sight I shall never witness more to see the whole hillside
covered with innumerable herds of "Buchan hummlies." Mr Bruce of
Millhill showed the largest lots, and stood at the top as an exhibitor.
Talking of Buchan, the names of Bruce, Millhill, and Smart, Sandhole,
were household words at my father's board. My father and myself have
bought thousands of cattle from them; no agriculturists have ever been
more respected in Buchan. Mr Bruce, perhaps, was as solid, but Smart
was the more dashing man. I have never met any one who would do the
same amount of business with as few words as Smart, and do it as well.
As one example: He brought sixty beasts to Mintlaw market--cattle were
low-priced at the time. I had the first offer of them: he asked L12,
12s. a-head. I offered L12, and we split the 12s. The whole transaction
did not take up half of the time I require to write it. Mr Bruce and Mr
Smart were the best judges in Buchan. We had other great exhibitors, Mr
Bruce, Inverwhomrey; Mr Scott, Yokieshill; Mr Milne, Mill of Boyndie;
Mr Paton, Towie; Mr Milne, Watermill, &c. Mr Mitchell, Fiddesbeg, the
Browns, the Rattrays, Hay of Little Ythsie, and Wm. M'Donald, were all
extensive dealers in cattle in those days. The following anecdote of
William M'Donald was told by my father: It had been a very good
September Falkirk market, and Mr John Geddes, Haddoch, who was an
extensive home grazier and dealer, had a large stock of cattle on hand.
M'Donald and my father were both anxious for the chance to buy them,
and pushed through their business at Falkirk as fast as possible to get
to Haddoch. At that time the dealers accomplished all their journeys on
horseback, and prided themselves on the fleetness of their
saddle-horses. My father thought no one his match in the saddle. He
reached Haddoch on Wednesday at midnight--the first cattle-market day
at Falkirk being on Tuesday--but the first thing he observed on drawing
near to the house, which remains on the farm to this day, although a
new one has been built, was the main room lighted up. On coming nearer,
he heard voices fast and loud, and one was that of M'Donald! It was all
over! M'Donald had fairly beat M'Combie in the chase. My father got
hold of Mrs Geddes, worn-out and disappointed, and got quietly to bed;
and I have often heard him tell how M'Donald's peals of laughter rang
in his ears as the punch-bowl went round, even to the dawning of the
day. Neither M'Donald nor Haddoch knew my father was in the house. He
left in the morning for Clashbrae, where he bought some smaller lots
from the farmer there, who was a local dealer.
A word as to M'Donald: He was a stout-made middle-sized man, and spoke
so fast over the "bowl" that no one could follow him. He had a good
deal of mother-wit; and his great ambition was to be the owner of large
droves of cattle. I have seen a drove belonging to him a mile and more
long. Mr John Geddes was a man of high standing and great firmness of
character. He wore the broad blue bonnet, with a long blue coat and
clear buttons, and boot-hose, and rode a very fine cob pony with a long
tail. He was of great strength of constitution, and could have sat
twenty-four hours with the punch-bowl before him (it was always the
bowl at Haddoch), and risen as sober as when he sat down. Such were the
habits of those days. I never pass on the railway from Huntly to
Rothiemay, but on casting my eye over the old house I recall the night
described so graphically by my father. He and Haddoch had large
transactions. After a bad October Tryst, where my father had sixteen
score of Aberdeenshire cattle, and when he lost L4 a-head upon every
beast, Mr Geddes returned him L70 as a luck-penny upon a large lot he
had bought from him. There have few men appeared in the north of
greater influence or of higher moral worth than the late Mr John Geddes
of Haddoch. His landlord, the late Duke of Gordon, was proud of him, as
well he might be.
It was the general custom that the dealers came to the market-ground
with their cattle, and immediately before them, to the part of the
market-stance where they wished them to stand. It was quite a sight to
see Mr Geddes on an Old Keith market-day (Old Keith Market, like Aikey
Fair, is now only a shadow of its ancient greatness), with his broad
bonnet, the long blue coat, the overall stockings, and mounted on a
strong bay pony with its tail to the ground, at the head of a large lot
of heavy cattle. Every one made room for his cattle, as he rode before
them to the upper wall; it would have been of no use to resist, as the
weight of his animals would have soon cleared the road for themselves;
and as soon as the large black mass of horned cattle appeared in the
valley below, the cry was, "There comes Haddoch! We must clear the way,
or else his cattle will soon clear it at our expense." After the first
lot was stationed, another and another followed in succession, which
were placed beside the others, till perhaps there were 200 altogether;
the different lots being all kept completely separate for the
inspection of purchasers. Mr Geddes never went south with cattle, but
sold them all at home. In a bad year he once got as far south as
Tillyfour with 120 cattle in November. They were at Tillyfour a night,
and my father bought them in the morning, but they were about a mile on
the road before the bargain was struck. No one could have seen Mr
Geddes without pronouncing him a man of mark.