thereby, married, solemnly sworn, purged of malice partial, counsel
examined and interrogated, depones time and place libelled--the deponent
being then upon his collection as collector of excise. He went to bed about
ten o'clock, and about an hour and a-half thereafter, he was waked out of
sleep by a noise and some chapping at the door of the room where he
lay--which door he had secured before he went to bed by screwing down the
sneck of the door--which noise the deponent at first imagined was
occasioned by some drunken people in the house; but afterwards, upon the
strokes on the door being repeated with violence, the deponent jumped out
of his bed, and heard the under part of the door of the bed-room giving
way, upon which the deponent laid hold upon two bags of money, which, with
the deponent's breeches, in which were about L.100 in gold, and bank notes
and silver, the deponent had put below his head when he went to bed; and
the deponent did then, in the confusion in which he was, put the table and
some chairs to the back of the door to stap the gap, and thereafter opened
the window, and returning to find the bags of money and his breeches, he
could only find one of the bags of money, and being in fear of his life, he
jumped out at the window with one of the bags of money, and fell at the
foot of the stair, the said window being just above the entry to the house,
and recovering himself a little, he went towards the corn-yard, and hearing
a person call out "Hold him," the deponent apprehending the voice to be
before him, he returned a few paces, and then perceiving a man standing or
walking at the foot of the stair, the deponent returned again to the yard,
where he hid the bag of money, and thereafter coming back towards the house
to hear what was a-doing, the deponent heard a knocking in the room where
he had been lodged, and thereupon retired to the yard again--lay covered
with some straw till about four in the morning--and then returning to the
house saw the panel, William Hall, in custody of some soldiers; and the
deponent having said to him that he had given him a cold bath that night,
William Hall answered that he was not to blame, being only hired, and had
no hand in it, but that Andrew Wilson and George Robertson had come there
of a design to rob the deponent that night, and that this design had been
formed several months before by Andrew Wilson, and particularly at the
preceding collection at Elie; and further depones that soon after the
deponent got out of the window as aforesaid, he heard the clock strike
twelve; that when the deponent was first awakened out of his sleep as
aforesaid, he heard Mrs Fowler, the landlady, call to the persons who were
breaking open the deponent's bed-room, "What are ye doing?" or "Why do ye
this?" and the deponent heard them at the same time cursing and swearing
and making a great noise; and the deponent having only carried one bag of
money along with him as aforesaid, he left in said bed-room the money and
goods following, viz., the deponent's breeches, in which was a purse with
fifty-two and a-half guineas, betwixt six and seven pounds in silver, and a
pocket-book with one and forty pounds in bank notes, which purse and
pocket-book the deponent exhibits in court; that besides the bank notes,
there were several bills and other papers in the pocket-book, and that
there was likewise in the deponent's breeches, a seal, a pair of silver
shoe-buckles, and a penknife, which the deponent likewise exhibits; the
deponent likewise left in his room a cloak-bag with some linens in it,
which cloak-bag the deponent likewise exhibits in court; as also a bible, a
pair of pistols, which the deponent likewise exhibits; that upon the
deponent returning to his room as aforesaid, he found the door of the room
broken up, and saw a press in the room which had been broken up, and found
his breeches empty and all the several particulars above enumerated
amissing; and thereafter, about seven o'clock in the morning, the deponent
having gone to Anstruther-Easter, he soon thereafter saw the three panels
in custody; and the deponent did then see in the hands of the magistrates
of Anstruther, the seal, the buckles, and penknife above mentioned; depones
that upon Monday following, being the 12th of January last, William Hall,
panel, told the deponent that he had informed Alexander Clerk, supervisor
of excise, where the purse of gold was to be found, whereupon the deponent
desired the supervisor to go in quest of it, which he did, and having found
it, he restored it to the deponent with the whole gold in it; and that the
bible was returned to the deponent by one of the soldiers who apprehended
Hall; that on Saturday night the 10th of January, the deponent got back his
pocket-book and bank notes, with the other papers in the said pocket-book,
from Bailie Robert Brown in Anstruther-Easter. _Causa scientiae patet. _And
this is truth, as he shall answer to God. (Signed) James Stark; Andrew
Fletcher.
Alexander Clerk, supervisor of excise at Cupar-Fife, being solemnly sworn,
and depones time and place libelled, the deponent was lodged in the room
next to Collector Stark, and went to bed about ten, and was wakened about
twelve by persons rapping either at his door or that of the collector's;
and heard a cry of "Murder the dogs and burn the house!" upon which the
deponent swore that the first man that came in he would put a pair of balls
in him. The deponent then put on some of his clothes and got out at a
window at the backside of the house,[D] and walked to Anstruther, about a
mile, and awakened the serjeant who commanded a small party of soldiers
there, and with the serjeant and two of the soldiers set out for
Pittenweem, and left orders for the rest of the party to follow as soon as
possible. As they passed the entry to Sir John Anstruther's house in
Easter-Anstruther,[E] they met with some men who having challenged the
deponent, "Who comes there?" the deponent desired them to give an account
of themselves, and upon their running off, the deponent ordered the
soldiers to seize them, upon which the serjeant with his halbert hooked one
of them, the rest escaping, which afterwards proved to be William Hall, one
of the panels, and whom the deponent carried along with him to the excise
office at Pittenweem, and having brought him into the house of Mrs Fowler,
Jean Finlay, servant to Mrs Fowler, upon seeing the said Hall, said, "This
is the villain that broke my head a little while ago;" and Thomas Durkie,
another servant in the house, said, "This is one of the persons who robbed
the collector the night;" and the soldiers who brought Hall produced a bag
of linen and a bible which they said they had taken up as Hall had dropped
them by the way; and William Geddes, clerk to the collector, did then say,
"This is the collector's bible, and there are his linens," whereupon Hall
confessed that he had been guilty of robbing the collector; and the
deponent thereupon telling Hall that he was now _in for it_, and that the
best way for him was to discover the rest, which, if he would do, the
deponent would do his endeavours to get him made an evidence, and having
then asked if he promised to get him a pardon? depones that he understood
it so, but does not remember that he used the word _pardon_; upon which
Hall told deponent he would get these other persons whom he named;
remembers particularly that he named Andrew Wilson, panel, to have been one
of them. That they had come upon four horses that morning from Kinghorn,
and that he would find them all in the house of James Wilson in
Anstruther-Easter, or in a house twenty yards on this side of it, which the
deponent understood to be Bailie Andrew Johnston's.[F] By this time the
rest of the party having come up from Anstruther, the deponent made some
search for the collector, but could not find him, and thereafter the
deponent carried up Hall to the room where the collector had lodged, the
door of which he saw broken in the under part, and left Hall prisoner there
in custody of some of the soldiers and the rest of the party, and Thomas
Durkie and William Geddes. The deponent then went east to Anstruther in
search of the rest of the robbers, and having surrounded the house of James
Wilson there, he found three men in a room there, viz., Andrew Wilson and
George Robertson, panels, and one John Friar, and having shown them to the
above Thomas Durkie, he declared that they were two of the persons who had
robbed the collector; upon which the deponent having applied to Bailies
Robert Brown and Philip Millar, both in Anstruther-Easter, he got the
accused committed to prison; and further depones that as the panels were
being carried prisoners to Edinburgh, and while they were halting at
Kirkcaldy, the deponent asked George Robertson, panel, what was become of
the collector's purse of gold, George answered that Andrew Wilson, the
other panel, told him that William Hall got the purse; upon which the
deponent inquired at Hall about it, and added that unless he confessed and
discovered where the purse was, he could not expect that the promises made
would be kept to him; when after some entreaty Hall told deponent that he
had dropped it upon being seized in a wet furr near a dung-hill, and
accordingly the deponent went back to Pittenweem, and upon application to
Bailie Andrew Fowler, of Pittenweem, and in his presence the purse was
found near to a dung-hill between Anstruther-Wester and Pittenweem, in the
spot described by Hall, with fifty-two guineas and a-half in it, which
purse and gold was given to the deponent, and the purse exhibited in court
being shown to him, he thinks it is the very same purse. And all this is
truth, as he shall answer to God. (Signed) Alexander Clerk; Andrew
Fletcher.
John Galloway, servant to Patrick Galloway, horse-hirer in Kinghorn, aged
twenty-six, depones that at the time libelled, William Hall came to the
deponent's master's house in Kinghorn, and desired him to get two horses,
one for himself and one for the deponent, telling him that they were going
to Anstruther to get some brandy; and that George Robertson and Andrew
Wilson were to be their masters and pay their expenses; and desired him to
go to the houses where they then were. The deponent having gone
accordingly, and spoken to the said persons, George Robertson desired to
get their horses ready, and Hall and the deponent to go before and they
would overtake them; that about six o'clock at night they came to
Anstruther-Easter, and set up their horses in James Wilson's house, where
he found Andrew Wilson before him; and after they put up their horses they
went to Andrew Johnston's there, where they found Robertson and Wilson
drinking punch. Depones that the three panels and the deponent went from
Anstruther to Pittenweem on foot, between ten and eleven o'clock at night.
Depones that when they came to Pittenweem, he (the deponent), Hall, and
Wilson went into a house, but does not know the name of the landlord, where
they drank a bottle of ale, and it was agreed while they were there that
Robertson and the other panel should walk on the street; that when they
came out of that house, the three panels and the deponent went to Widow
Fowler's house, where they drank some ale and brandy. Andrew Wilson having
asked the landlady if she could lodge any casks of brandy for him, she
desired him to speak low, because the collector was in the house; upon
which Wilson said, Is he here? She answered, he was. Robertson, the panel,
called for a reckoning, and all four went down stairs, at least went to the
stair-head. Robertson, Hall, and the deponent went out to the street, and
as the maid was going to shut the outer door, Andrew Wilson pushed it open
and went in, upon which the deponent and William Hall went in also; and
George Robertson drew his cutlass and stood at the outer door, saying that
no person should go out or in of that house but upon the point of that
weapon. Depones when they went in to the house they saw Andrew Wilson
standing at the door of the room where the collector was lodged, and the
lower part of the door broken; that upon seeing the door broken, he, the
deponent, asked Wilson what it meant? or what he would be at? to which
Wilson answered, that he had lost a great deal of money, and understood
that there was some of it there, and was resolved to have it back again;
upon which the deponent said to him, that he would have nothing to do in
the matter. Depones that after the door of the collector's room was broken
open as aforesaid, Andrew Wilson went into the room, and brought out a pair
of breeches, and shewing them to the deponent, said, "Here is a good deal
of money;" the deponent telling him that he would have nothing to do with
it, the said Andrew took out several handfuls of money, and put it into the
deponent's pocket; which money, except a few shillings, the deponent
delivered back to the said Andrew Wilson in the house of James Wilson in
Anstruther. Depones that Andrew Wilson went again into the room, and
brought out a cloak-bag, which he desired the deponent to carry, which he
refused to do. The said Andrew then carried the cloak-bag himself, till
they came to the end of the town, together with a pair of pistols, which he
then delivered to William Hall, who carried it half way to Anstruther, and
then Andrew Wilson desired Hall to set it down, that they might see if
there was any bank-notes in it; and Hall, having opened the cloak-bag, took
out some linens and a bible, which he stowed about himself. That at the
same time he saw Andrew Wilson take out of his pocket the pocket-book, out
of which he took several bank-notes and put in his pocket, and then threw
the pocket-book on the floor. Depones that Andrew Wilson and the deponent
went out of Wilson's house, and threw one of the pistols and some linens
which they had brought from Pittenweem in among some straw in a barn-yard;
thereafter the deponent, Bailie Thomas Brown, Anstruther-Easter, and some
soldiers, went to the place where the cloak-bag was left, and to the
barn-yard where the pistols and linen were thrown, where they were all
found. Being further examined, depones that as Wilson and Hall and the
deponent were on the road from Pittenweem to Anstruther, a little to the
west of Sir John Anstruther's house, they met Mr Clerk, the supervisor, and
some soldiers, who, having challenged him who they were, one of the
soldiers seized Hall with his halbert, upon which Andrew Wilson and the
deponent made their escape. Depones that the cutlass now produced is the
same that George Robertson had in his hand at Widow Fowler's house. _Causa
scienticae patet._ And this is truth, as he shall answer to God, and depones
he cannot write. (Signed) James Mackenzie.
Upon the indictment against the panels being read in court, they all pled
"Not guilty," and certain defences were offered for them.
And first, in opposition to what the indictment alleged with regard to
Andrew Wilson having formed a design to rob Collector Stark, and having
taken Hall and Robertson, his associates, from Edinburgh that morning, it
was stated that they did not set out from Edinburgh in company, but met
upon the water in the passage between Leith and Kinghorn, where two of
them, Wilson and Hall, were passing in a yawl, and Robertson was crossing
in a passage boat; that instead of leaving Edinburgh and going to the East
Neuk on the criminal design libelled, they had each of them lawful business
in that part of the country, viz., for buying goods in which they
ordinarily dealt, and which it was neither criminal nor capital to buy and
sell; and particularly George Robertson, who kept an inn near Bristo Port
in Edinburgh, where the Newcastle carriers commonly put up; that having
occasion to buy liquors in the east of Fife, he agreed to take share of a
cargo with Andrew Wilson, and with that view got a letter of credit from
Francis Russell, druggist addressed to Bailie Andrew Waddell, Cellardyke,
for the value of L50 sterling; and further, he carried with him an accepted
bill of John Fullerton in Causeyside, to the like extent, as a fund of
credit for the goods he might buy; and William Hall, the third panel, was a
poor workman in Edinburgh, commonly attending the weigh-house, who was
carried along to take care of and fetch home the goods; that accordingly,
as soon as they came to Anstruther, and put up their horses at James
Wilson's, they went to a respectable man, Bailie Johnston, and bought goods
to the value of L46 10s., and whilst making the bargain they drank some
quantity of liquor; that after this, not finding at Anstruther all the
sorts of liquor they wanted to purchase, they went on foot to Pittenweem,
when they first went to the house of ---- Drummond, another respectable
merchant, and drank some time with him, desiring to buy some brandy of him,
but he told them he could not furnish them at that time; that after this
the panels went into the house of Widow Fowler, where, calling for a room,
they were shown into the kitchen, and inquired at the landlady if she could
furnish them any place for lodging the goods they had bought, and there
they drank both ale and punch, till, with what they had got before at
different places, they became all very drunk; that at this place it was
told by the landlady or servants, in conversation, that there was money to
a considerable value in the next room, and if any part of the facts
libelled were committed by the panels, Wilson and Hall, it must have been
done upon occasion of this purely accidental information, when they were
insane from strong drink: it was more like a drunken frolic than a
preconcerted robbery. As a further evidence of this fact, it appeared by
the libel itself that they acted like persons in such a condition; for
they, as well as the other panel Robertson, were all seized in an hour or
two thereafter, before the effects of the liquor had worn off, and before
they had time to come to themselves, and without any of them taking the
most rational and obvious measures to make their escape.
As to the case of George Robertson, it is not said that the inhabitants
gathered together upon the streets, came there to save or rescue what was
contained in the room; on the contrary, it was admitted on debate that the
inhabitants of small coast towns are not very ready on these occasions to
lend their assistance to the officers of justice; and if George Robertson
had truly said to the persons whom he met on the street that he was by fear
obliged to leave the house, it might very possibly have been true, and an
argument of his innocence, and therefore ought not to be turned into a
circumstance of his guilt.
Our space will not admit of further argument. Suffice it to say that the
jury unanimously found Andrew Wilson and William Hall guilty, and George
Robertson art and part on the crimes libelled; and the Lords of Justiciary
passed sentence of death on all three, which sentence they appointed to be
executed on Wednesday the 14th of April 1736.
Leaving the criminals in the condemned cells, where they are to remain five
weeks before being executed, let us, in the meanwhile, in order to the
better understanding the case, and forming a clearer opinion in reference
to the nature and origin of the Porteous mob--one of the most extraordinary
events recorded in history, and which arose out of the trial and sentence
against Andrew Wilson and the others before narrated--let us endeavour to
give a brief sketch of Mr Porteous' history, from his birth till the time
of which we write, namely, the recording of the sentence of death against
Wilson and his associates.
John Porteous, one of the captains of the Edinburgh City Guard, was son of
Stephen Porteous, a tailor in Canongate. The father held a fair character,
and was esteemed a good honest man in the whole conduct of his life, his
greatest misfortune was his having such a son as John.
The father early discovered in his son a perverseness of nature, and a
proneness to commit mischievous and more than childish tricks. The mother,
out of a blind affection for her child, took them all for growing proofs of
spirit and manliness, and as marks of an extraordinary and sprightly
genius.
Thus the family were divided upon the education of the son, and from being
often thwarted in his measures about him, the father lost his authority,
and for the peace of his family winked at the faults which the good man saw
it his duty to correct. The loss of parental authority begot want of filial
regard, so that the boy, shooting up with these vicious habits and
disregard of the father, advanced from reproaches and curses to blows,
whenever the unfortunate old man ventured to remonstrate against the folly
and madness of his son's conduct.
The mother saw, when it was too late, what her misguided affection had
produced, and how to her fond love in childhood the man made the base
return of threatening language and the utmost disregard; for he proved too
hard for both father and mother at last.
The father having a good business, wanted John to learn his trade of a
tailor, both because it was easiest and cheapest for the old man, and a
sure source of good living for the son, whether he began business for
himself or waited to succeed the father after his death; but as he grew up
his evil habits increased, and at last when checked by his father in his
mad career, he almost put the good old man to death by maltreatment.
At last, provoked beyond all endurance, the father resolved to rid himself
of him by sending him out of the country, and managed to get him engaged to
serve in the army under the command of Brigadier Newton.
While in Flanders, he saw, in passing along with one of his brother
soldiers, a hen at a little distance covering her chickens under her wings,
and out of pure wanton and malicious mischief he fired his musket and shot
the hen. The poor woman to whom it belonged, startled by the shot, went out
and saw her hen dead; and following the young soldier, asked him to pay the
price of the hen and chickens, for both were lost to her, and they formed a
great part of her means of subsistence; but the unfeeling youth would not
give her a farthing--threatening if she annoyed him he would send her after
her hen; upon which the injured old woman predicted, "that as many people
would one day gaze in wonder on his lifeless body as that hen had feathers
on hers."
Young Porteous afterwards left the army and returned to London, where he
wrought for some time as a journeyman tailor; but his evil habits brought
him to poverty, and he was found in rags by a friend of his father's, who
wrote to the old man to remit L10 to clothe him and defray his travelling
charges to Edinburgh, which, moved by the compassion of a father, he did,
and when John appeared, the kind-hearted old man received him with tears of
joy, and embraced him with all the warmth of paternal affection. Vainly
hoping that his son was a reformed man, he gave up his business to him, and
agreed that he should only have a room in the house and his maintenance and
clothes.
Young Porteous, thus possessed of the house and trade of his father, and of
all his other goods and effects, began by degrees to neglect and maltreat
the old man, first, by refusing him a fire in his room in the middle of
winter, and even grudging him the benefit of the fire in the kitchen. In
addition to this, he disallowed him a sufficiency of victuals, so that he
was in danger of being starved to death with cold and hunger. In this
unhappy condition he applied for admission into the Trinity Hospital.
John Porteous having been for some time in the army, and being known to be
possessed of no small courage and daring, was selected by John Campbell,
lord provost of Edinburgh, in the memorable year 1715, to be drill-sergeant
of the city-guard, as it became necessary to have the guard well
disciplined and made as effective as possible in that eventful period, for
the support of the government and the protection of Edinburgh. In this
office he discharged his duty remarkably well, and was often sent for by
the lord provost to report what progress his men made in military
discipline. This gave him an opportunity of meeting sometimes with a
gentlewoman who had the charge of the lord provost's house and family, with
whom he fell deeply in love; after paying his addresses for some time, and
proposing to her, he was accepted, and they were married. From a grateful
sense of her services, as well as from a conviction of Porteous's ability
for the office, the lord provost proposed that John Porteous should be
elected one of the captains of the city-guard, and it was agreed to.
This was a situation of trust and respectability, and would have enabled
the young couple to live in comfort and ease if the husband had conducted
himself properly. The gentlewoman was a person of virtue and merit, but was
unlucky in her choice of a husband--Porteous was no better a husband than
he had been a son. They were not long married when he began to ill-use her.
He dragged her out of bed by the hair of the head, and beat her to the
effusion of blood. The whole neighbourhood were alarmed sometimes at
midnight by her shrieks and cries; so much so, indeed, that a lady living
above them was obliged, between terms, to take a lodging elsewhere for her
own quiet. Mrs Porteous was obliged to separate from her husband, and this
was her requital for having been the occasion of his advancement.
His command of the city-guard gave him great opportunities of displaying
his evil temper, and manifesting his ungovernable passions. Seldom a day
passed but some of his men experienced his severity. The mob on all public
occasions excited his naturally bad temper; and on all days of rejoicing,
when there was a multitude from the country as well as from the town, the
people were sure to experience offensive and tyrannical treatment from him.
The hatred and terror of him increased every year, and his character as an
immoral man was known to everybody, so that he was universally hated and
feared by the lower orders both in town and country.
This was the position in which Captain Porteous stood with the people when
he was called upon to take charge of the execution of the law in reference
to Andrew Wilson, whose case it has been thought proper to detail before
proceeding to narrate the extraordinary events that followed, and which,
indeed, partly serves to explain the cause of these events.