example of the mother, and were, with her, frequently convicted of petty
crimes, being among the most expert and notorious thieves in London.
They all lived till within a few years of James's death, notwithstanding
their abandoned and vicious lives. The younger brother, Benjamin, was
executed in 1786 for street-robbery; but the eldest, John, was always
fortunate in eluding justice, though well known as a notorious
character. He was frequently tried for various offences, but uniformly
escaped conviction.
James Mackcoull received a very limited education, and could just read
and write. At school he was frequently detected purloining the
playthings of other boys; and at a very tender age he robbed a poor man
who sold cats'-meat through the streets. The young villain saw the
vender of offal put his money, as he received it, into a bag which hung
on the handle of his barrow, and, watching his opportunity, when the
owner's back was turned, he cut the cord, and carried off the booty.
Emboldened by success, he ventured again and again, and soon associated
himself with gangs who were known to infest the entrances to theatres
and places of amusement.
The father, ignorant of the vicious habits of the son, bound him
apprentice to a leather-stainer, in Clerkenwell; but James, encouraged
by his mother, adhered to his former comrades, and soon gave occasion to
his master to discharge him.
He now became a notorious thief, and, by shifting his quarters,
continued to elude detection; but, having been engaged with another in
snatching the seals of a gentleman's watch in St. James's Park, they
were pursued. Mackcoull's companion was apprehended; and he only escaped
detection by going at night on board the Tender, at Tower Hill, and
entering as a volunteer.
For two years he remained on board the Apollo frigate, in the character
of an officer's servant, and afterwards on board the Centurion, in the
same capacity. In the absence of temptation even a rogue may be honest;
and Mackcoull acquired so good a character in the navy, that he was in a
few years appointed purser's steward, and in the course of nine years
saved a considerable sum of money. In 1785 he returned to London, where,
in a short time, he dissipated all his earnings in the society of the
dissolute and abandoned, and to repair his finances had recourse to his
former habits of dishonesty. He soon eclipsed all his companions in
iniquity, and shone pre-eminent as a pugilist, horse-racer,
cock-fighter, gambler, swindler, and pickpocket. To carry on his
depredations with success he assumed various characters, and succeeded
in all. Not even the sanctuary of religion was free from his desperate
villany; for he frequently went there to pick pockets, and on one
occasion deprived the preacher of his watch, on his way from the pulpit.
The knowledge and acuteness he displayed, as well as the successful
manner in which he avoided discovery, procured him among his associates
the appellation of "The Heathen Philosopher."
His fortunes, like those of more celebrated individuals, were
precarious; and after various successes and disappointments, in his
twenty-eighth year he married the mistress of a brothel, and assisted
her in furnishing her house in Clifford's Inn Passage, which, in
addition to its being a receptacle for unfortunate women, he made a
depot for stolen property. He was not destined to remain long unknown in
his new avocation, however; and his secret depository having been
discovered, he was compelled to quit London to avoid his being taken
into custody. He subsequently, in 1802, went to Germany, where he passed
as an English merchant named Moffat; but being compelled to have
recourse to his original trade of picking pockets, as the only means of
obtaining a living, he was suspected and at length, in 1805, after
having visited most of the continental towns, was obliged to make a
precipitate retreat home again. London, however, he soon found was no
stage for him to act upon, and he proceeded to Scotland, where for a
long time he carried on his "profession" under the mask of his being a
leather-seller. The idea of the possibility of the robbery of the Scotch
bank having struck him, it was carried out, with the aid of White and a
man named French, in the manner which we have already detailed; and
having by his ingenuity succeeded in securing his own safety, as well
as the possession of 8000_l._ of the stolen money, he retired into
private life. By many it was supposed that he was now gone to the West
Indies; but, in fact, he was industriously employed in Scotland in
passing the notes of which he had retained possession. In 1812 he again
visited London, but having broken faith with the bank in retaining the
8000_l._, he was apprehended and sent to Glasgow, where he arrived on
the 8th of April 1812, and was committed to jail. While here he did not
seriously deny the robbery, but offered to make restitution to the bank,
and promised their agent 1000_l._, and gave them a bill for 400_l._ The
bank not being at this time prepared to substantiate his guilt, he was
discharged in the following July, and the agent of the bankers
absolutely received from Mr. Harmer, of London the 1000_l._, which
however Mackcoull subsequently recovered by suit at law from that able
solicitor, he having paid it without sufficient authority.
Mackcoull now considered himself beyond all danger, and in company with
one Harrison, made several trips to Scotland, and purchased commercial
bills in the name of James Martin, a merchant, and everywhere introduced
his friend Harrison as a most respectable person. In 1812 he opened a
deposit account with Messrs. Marsh and Co. bankers, in the name of James
Ibel, and had in their hands at one period above 2000_l._
In March 1813, he again visited Scotland to vend more of the stolen
notes, but was taken into custody, and bills and drafts, in favour of
James Martin, to the amount of 1000_l._, which he had purchased, taken
from him.
He was, however, soon afterwards again discharged out of custody, the
money being retained in the hands of the bankers.
In 1815 he resolved to recover the bills and drafts from the
magistrates, by whom they had been taken from him; and as they refused
compliance with his request by letters, he visited Glasgow in person,
and demanded, in the most insolent manner, the restitution of what he
called his property. This being refused, he commenced an action against
them, which, more than any other case that ever came before a court of
justice, proves the glorious uncertainty of the law; for it continued to
be litigated for five years; and, the bankers having become the
defendants, the country, for the first time, witnessed the singular fact
of an acknowledged thief contending with persons for the property he had
actually stolen from them.
During the progress of this protracted case, Mackcoull attended the
courts of law in person, and gave instructions to his agent. He always
conducted himself with the greatest _sang froid_, and treated with
contempt and derision the allusions made by counsel to his character. At
length it was ruled that Mackcoull should be interrogated in person
before the court; and after some hesitation he consented. This
circumstance was no sooner known, than crowds flocked to hear his
examination, which lasted for several days. He behaved in the most cool
and determined manner; and when his absurd replies elicited a laugh in
court, he always smiled with seeming self-approbation. The account he
gave of himself was that he traded as a merchant, and that he chiefly
transacted business with one James Martin, whose residence he could not
tell. He objected to many questions put to him with the acuteness of a
lawyer, and at length the session rose without having come to any
decision; and Mackcoull returned to London in great spirits, to arrange
with his brother John with respect to his future proceedings.
The bank was at this time in a critical situation: unless they proved
Mackcoull's participation in the robbery, and that the bills &c. were
purchased with notes stolen from the bank, they would have to deliver up
to Mackcoull not only the bills, &c., but to pay all attendant expenses,
besides incurring the disgrace of losing the action--an action
unparalleled in the annals of any court of Europe, brought by a public
depredator--a convicted rogue and vagabond--who was at large, and who
was prosecuting with their own money a respectable banking company, for
attempting to keep part of the property of which he had robbed them. But
this was not all. Mackcoull's intention, if successful, was to follow up
the decision with an action for damages, in which it was the opinion of
many that he would also succeed.
In December 1819, Mackcoull and his agent urged the matter so
strenuously, that the trial was fixed for the 20th of February 1820; and
the issue to be tried was, whether Mackcoull was concerned in the
robbery.
To prepare for the trial, the bank sent Mr. Donovan, an intelligent
officer in Edinburgh, from Glasgow to London, to trace the route the
robbers had taken nine years before, and to procure witnesses. Donovan
was successful, and brought down with him Scoltop, who had prepared the
instruments by means of which the robbery was effected, Mrs. Huffey
White, several waiters at inns, and even Mrs. Mackcoull, who consented
to give evidence against her husband. The most eminent lawyers at the
Scotch bar were engaged on each side; and on the morning of the trial,
May the 11th 1820, every avenue to the court was crowded to excess, so
intense was the interest excited by the case. The result was against
Mackcoull, for the witnesses completely established his guilt; and so
unexpected was the appearance of some of them to him, that he frequently
ran out of court, and on seeing Scoltop actually swooned away.
Mackcoull's career of villany was now near its end. On the 19th of June
he was indicted for the robbery, in the High Court of Justiciary; and
the same witnesses being again examined, the jury returned a verdict of
Guilty--Death. Towards the conclusion of the trial Mackcoull often
looked about him with a kind of vacant stare, and was observed
frequently to mutter and grind his teeth. When the verdict was announced
he gave a malignant grin; and when sentence was passed, he bowed
respectfully to the court. On being carried back to jail his fortitude
forsook him, and he appeared overwhelmed with despair. At this moment he
said with emotion, "Had not the eye of God been upon me, such a
connected chain of evidence never could have been brought forward!" His
spirits, however, soon returned, and he received the number of visitors,
who were led by curiosity to see him, with great cheerfulness.
Although he had treated his wife with great unkindness, she now came
forward and supplied him during his imprisonment with every luxury in
profusion. She also made application for a reprieve; and whether from
her exertion or not, on the 14th of July a respite arrived, and in three
weeks after a reprieve during his majesty's pleasure.
In the month of August, the wretched prisoner fell into a natural
decline, and his mental faculties completely forsook him. In the course
of a short time his hair, which had been previously nearly jet black,
became a silver gray, and at length he died in the county jail of
Edinburgh on the 22nd day of December 1820, and was decently interred at
the expense of his wife, in the Calton burying-ground.
DAVID HAGGART, _alias_ JOHN WILSON, _alias_ JOHN MORRISON, _alias_
BARNEY M'COUL, _alias_ JOHN M'COLGAN, _alias_ DANIEL O'BRIEN, _alias_
THE SWITCHER.
EXECUTED FOR MURDER.
David Haggart was born at a farm-town called the Golden-Acre, near
Cannon Mills, in the county of Edinburgh, on the 24th of June 1801. His
father was a gamekeeper, and lived in the service of a gentleman of
large fortune and great respectability. The first depredation committed
by young Haggart was that of stealing a neighbour's bantam cock, and
from this small beginning he was guilty of nearly every crime referred
to in the Statute book. To go through a history of all his offences
would be nearly to fill our volume, and we shall therefore give only a
short sketch of his brief career. Having, after the commencement of his
depredations in the manner we have described, quitted that restraint to
which his parents had hitherto subjected him; he found himself, at the
age of sixteen, plunged into the very depth of misery and crime. He soon
formed an acquaintance with a lad name M'Guire, who was a native of
Ireland, and was of a bold enterprising spirit, of surprising strength,
and besides an experienced pickpocket. Instructed by this veteran in the
arts of wickedness, they agreed to travel to England together, and share
the fruits of their unlawful occupation. It was when in company with,
and encouraged by the daring acts of this lad, that he first attempted
to pick a pocket in open day-light; and this attempt was made on a race
ground, on the person of a gentleman who had been very successful in his
bets. Haggart was so eager on his prey as to pull out the pocket along
with the money, and the gentleman turned quickly round and examined his
hands; but the booty was already passed to his companion, and the
gentleman appeared satisfied of his innocence, but said that some one
had picked his pocket. The produce of this his first public achievement
was eleven pounds.
The scenes of most of the depredations which he subsequently committed
were the fairs and races held in the north of England, and in Scotland;
and he followed his new business with varied success. Kendal and
Carlisle afforded him admirable opportunities of pursuing his avocation,
and having secured a good booty, he proceeded with M'Guire to Newcastle,
where they obtained lodgings in the family of a respectable widow lady,
who had three daughters, by whom they were supposed to be respectable
persons, travelling for pleasure, and in whose society they assumed the
names of Wilson and Arkinson. Although they were admitted to the table
and society of this lady, they continued to exercise their profession;
and not unfrequently when they had accompanied their landlady's
daughters to the theatre, did one of them retire, leaving his companion
in care of the young ladies, while he proceeded to attack some
gentleman, from whom he supposed he might be able to secure a booty.
In January 1818, on their way to Durham, to attend a fair, they came to
a house in a lonely place, and determined to break into it. They entered
it by a window, and met a strong resistance from the master of the
house; but, having knocked him down, they succeeded in binding him hand
and foot, and gagging him with a handkerchief. The rest of the family
were females, and were too much terrified to interrupt them, and they
proceeded to rifle the house. Having taken about thirty pounds, they
went to Durham, where Haggart was apprehended the next day; but having
changed his clothes, and considerably disguised himself, the man whose
house they had entered could not identify him; and he was liberated, and
returned to Newcastle.
In two or three days they were both apprehended, and carried back to
Durham, having on the same clothes in which they had committed the
burglary; and the man whom they had robbed having then immediately
recognised them, he was bound over to prosecute. They were tried under
the feigned names of Morrison and Arkinson, and were found guilty, and
sent back to prison, in order to be brought up for sentence of death at
the end of the assizes.
They, however, lost no time in contriving their escape, and after long
deliberation with their fellow-prisoners, they resolved on the attempt.
They set to work on the wall of their cell, and had got out to the back
passage, when the turnkey made his appearance. They seized him, took his
keys, bound and gagged him; and having gained the back yard they scaled
the wall, but Barney and another prisoner fell, after gaining the top:
by this time the alarm was given, and the two latter were both secured;
but Haggart having made his escape, returned to Newcastle, in company
with a Yorkshireman, where he obtained a tool with which to assist
M'Guire in making his escape; and they were returning to Durham when
they were pursued by two officers, who got close to them on a wild part
of the road unobserved. Just as they were springing on Haggart, he laid
one of them low with his pistol, and left him, uncertain whether he had
his murder to answer for. The Yorkshireman knocked down the other, and
they then proceeded to Durham; where, in the night-time, Haggart, by
means of a rope-ladder, got over the back wall of the jail, and conveyed
a spring saw to M'Guire, who made his escape that same night, by cutting
the iron bars of his cell window, and followed Haggart to Newcastle, and
thence accompanied him to Berwick-on-Tweed, Dunse, and Coldstream. At
these places they lost no opportunity of plying their trade; but on
their reaching Kelso, M'Guire was secured while in the act of picking a
farmer's pocket, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment.
Being now left without an associate, Haggart returned to Newcastle,
where he resided for four months, in the house of his old friend, Mrs.
A----. During his stay there, one of the young ladies was married to a
respectable shopkeeper, when Haggart took the lead in conducting the
festivities of the wedding. One evening, having accompanied one of the
Miss A----'s to the theatre, on their return, a gentleman much in
liquor attempted to insult the young lady; struggling in her defence,
Haggart contrived to pick the pocket of his antagonist of nineteen
guineas, with which he escaped unsuspected. At length having, as he
conceived, remained as long as was expedient in this place, he took his
departure in the month of June, and he then proceeded to Edinburgh,
where he pursued the occupation of a shop-lifter. At this time, it
appears, that he was suddenly seized with a severe and dangerous fit of
illness, and being struck with remorse at his past conduct, he returned
to the house of his parents; but he was soon after apprehended on a
charge of shop-lifting, of which he had been previously guilty, and
being sent to jail, all his determinations to be more circumspect and
honest, were put to flight. On his release he joined one of his fellow
prisoners, named Graham, and with him recommenced the system of plunder,
by means of which he had before supported himself.
Having stolen a pedlar's pack, and several articles of linen drapery and
hosiery, Haggart assumed the character of a pedlar, and travelled the
country to dispose of his ill-gotten goods. After this he returned to
Edinburgh, where he remained till January 1820, committing depredations
of every description. On the 1st of March he was arrested at Leith, in
company with an accomplice named Forest. The offenders made a desperate
resistance, but were at length secured and committed for trial. The
confinement was too much for our hero, however, and on the evening of
the 27th of March, having obtained a small file, he cut the irons from
his legs, and then forced up the door of his cell, and got into the
passage. He next set to work upon a very thick stone wall, through which
he at length made a hole, and got on the staircase just as the clock
struck twelve. He had still the outer wall to penetrate, on which he
fell to work with great caution, lest he should be heard. Having made
considerable progress, he returned to the room where his companion
Forest was, and brought him to his assistance; he also awoke one of the
debtors whom he knew, and obtained his assistance in removing his
handcuffs, having all along been working with them upon him. After great
labour and violent pain they succeeded in wrenching the chain in two
pieces. He then renewed his operations on the outer wall, and, having
removed a large stone, got out a few minutes before five o'clock in the
morning. When he gained the outside stair he saw a man coming towards
him, and, supposing him to be an officer in pursuit of him, he leaped
over the back of the stair; but recollecting that Forest had yet to get
out, he prepared to give the man battle, lest he should attempt to seize
Forest; but the man said to him, "Run, Haggart, run; I won't touch you."
Forest then came out, and he took hold of his hand, and ran off at full
speed, pulling him along with him.
Although he had thus extraordinarily succeeded in escaping from jail, it
was not long before he was again secured for a new offence, committed in
company with his old companion M'Guire, whom he had met at Dumfries.
While the latter, however, was again convicted and received sentence of
transportation for fourteen years, the former again obtained his
liberation from prison, but under circumstances which eventually cost
him his life. He was detained in the jail of Dumfries, and a fellow
named Laurie, who was confined in the adjoining cell, suggested to him
the possibility of their making their escape, by knocking down the
jailor and taking the keys from him. Haggart, however, opposed a scheme,
which he deemed unnecessarily violent, for he had already made
arrangements, by which he hoped to secure his own safety; but another
prisoner, named M'Grory, who was under sentence of death, urging the
absolute necessity of violent means, he consented to seize and gag
Thomas Morrin, the head turnkey, and to take his keys from him, and then
to open the doors for all the prisoners to fly. Laurie, however, still
persisted that they should use violence, and he employed a debtor, who
was in the same jail, to procure him a large stone, with which he
expressed an intention of attacking the jailor; and it appears that
Haggart now agreed to his proposition. Hunter, the keeper of the jail,
having gone to the races, it was determined to seize the earliest
opportunity, and Simpson and Dunbar, two other prisoners, were made
acquainted with the plot. M'Grory's irons having been removed, Morrin
was called up on some pretended errand, and Haggart immediately burst
upon him. He struck him one blow with the stone, dashed him down stairs,
and without the loss of a moment, took the key of the outer door from
his pocket. Dunbar picked up the stone, but it appears that no more
blows were given, although Morrin received some other wounds in falling.
Dunbar was standing over him, apparently rifling for the key which
Haggart had already secured, Simpson had hold of Morrin's shoulders, and
was beating his back upon the stairs, when Haggart rushed past them,
crossed the yard as steadily as he could, took out the key, and opened
the door. On getting out he ran round great part of the town; Dunbar
overtook him, and at that moment they saw an officer coming directly up
to them. They wheeled round and ran, but in a moment Haggart had the
mortification of seeing his fellow-adventurer secured. He at first
thought of rushing in to rescue him, but the crowd was too great to
allow him to make the attempt; so he consulted only his own safety, and
ran nearly ten miles in less than an hour. He then got on the high road
to Annan, when he saw a post-chaise at full gallop almost within twenty
yards of him; upon this he threw off his coat, and leaped a hedge into a
field where some persons were employed in digging potatoes. They all
joined the officers who had got out of the chaise in pursuit of him; but
he fled across the field with amazing speed, and made for Cumlangan
wood. The pursuers followed him into the wood, but he kept concealed
close to the edge, and although they were very near him, he thus eluded
their pursuit.