Trial of Robert Hay

On Monday last, the Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here by Lords Hermand and Succoth.

After the usual preliminaries, the Court proceeded to the trial of Robert Hay, residing at Knockorth, in the county of Banff, accused of the crime of forgery. - This was a case of an extraordinary nature, of which the following is a brief outline: - In the month of July last, the pannel called at the Office of the Commercial Bank of Scotland in Banff, somewhat after Bank hours, and presented for discount a bill for L.30, purporting to be drawn by William Smart, in Kirkland of Forgue, upon and accepted by George Fordyce, Brae of Bognie, and Alexander Bartlett, Mains of Bognie, whose name he assumed.  The Agent for the Bank immediately detected the forgery, and desired the man to return on the following day; who, noways alarmed at the delay, and the probability of a discovery, said it would be inconvenient for him to remain in Banff so long, and that he would call at the Bank Office that evening, betwixt 6 and 7.  He accordingly returned in the evening, and the Procurator Fiscal, and Sheriff Substitute having been in attendance, he was charged with the forgery; and while the warrant for his committal was preparing, he laid violent hands upon the bill, (then lying within his reach) and put it into his mouth with the intention of destroying it. - Force was immediately used, to take it from him, and after a considerable struggle, he disgorged it, but so gnawed and masticated, that it was quite illegible.

When the case was called, Mr Jeffrey, and Mr Hope Cullen, appeared for the pannel; and Mr John Hope, Advocate Depute, for the Crown.

In this stage of the case, Mr Hope Cullen stated, on the part of the prisoner, an objection to the relevancy, in bar of trial.  The nature of this objection was, that the document or forged bill founded on, not being produced, it was incompetent to prove its tenor by parole evidence.  Mr Cullen, in a very distinct and perspicuous manner, drew the analogies, as far as applicable, between this and former cases which had been under the consideration of the Court; and shewed considerable research, in elucidating a point unquestionably attended with some difficulty.

On the part of the Crown, the objection was very ably answered by Mr Hope, Advocate Depute; who contended, that in a variety of cases formerly before the Court, the decisions had been uniformly against the relevancy of such objections.  However much the case for the Crown might be weakened by the absence of the forged document; yet the want of it was not sufficient to bar trial.  The pannel was not entitled to avail himself of his own tortuous act and deed, to screen himself from public justice; and where the Crown was deprived of the best evidence, viz. the forged document itself, it was the privilege, as well as duty, of the Public Prosecutor to adduce the next best evidence that might remain.

Mr Jeffrey replied, for the pannel, in a speech of much ingenuity, in which he displayed his wonted eloquence, to the admiration of a crowded court.

The Court, however, repelled the objection; and the usual interlocutor of relevancy having been pronounced, a jury was impanelled, in whose presence the prisoner pled not guilty.

The Advocate Depute then proceeded to call his witnesses; and after some evidence was taken, on the part of the Crown, Mr Jeffrey again rose, to object to a question put by the Public Prosecutor, which went directly to prove, that the bill, before its destruction by the pannel, was a forgery.  He stated that, although the Court had found that the objections made, in limine, were insufficient to bar the trial, as the case might be made out by other documents or collateral circumstances; yet he conceived it at variance with the Law of Scotland, to prove, from memory, the nature of a document  such as the present; more particularly as it went to affect the life of the unfortunate pannel at the bar.  Mr Jeffrey was equally luminous and eloquent on various other points of objection, but without effect.  He then stated to the Court, that so save farther trouble, he was authorised, on the part of the prisoner, to make a candid confession of his guilt; and the Advocate Depute having been advised to restrict the libel to an arbitrary punishment, a verdict of guilty was returned, in terms of his own confession.

[...]

Yesterday morning the Court met again; when Robert Hay, tried on Monday, received sentence of transportation for 7 years.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 29th September 1819.

Circuit court

On Wednesday, the Court met at ten o'clock, when William Leisk, grain dealer from Banffshire, accused of forgery, or uttering and using a Bill, knowing it to be forged, was put to the bar.  A material witness, the brother of the pannel, being absent, and his father, another witness, being allowed by the Court to decline giving evidence, the Public Prosecutor restricted the libel to an arbitrary punishment; and the libel having been found proven by the Jury, the Court sentenced the pannel to seven years transportation beyond seas.

Robert Stephen, accused of stealing 4 ewes, and a wedder, from Wm. Dickie, at Earlseat of Cruden, and of being habit and repute a thief.  The libel against him being restricted by the Depute Advocate, he pled guilty, and was sentenced to 14 years transportation beyond seas.

Peter Clark, accused of stealing a ewe and lamb from James Currie, at Braeach of Fordyce, having pled guilty, and the libel being also restricted, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in the Tolbooth of Banff.

William Strath and George Strath, from Boghead of Fyvie, and John Thom, flesher in Oldmeldrum, were indicted - the said William Strath for stealing, from a house in Inverury, a Silver Watch, with chains and seals; and George Strath and John Thom for aiding and assisting William Strath in breaking out of the jail of Inverury.  William Strath was outlawed for not appearing; George Strath being found not guilty and the libel against John Thom not proven, they were assoilzed and dismissed from the bar.

The diet against John Salman, alias Salomon, John McCraw, William Forbes, and John Duchison, accused of theft and housebreaking, and John Davidson, accused of theft, on account of the absence of a material witness, was deserted pro loco et tempore, and they were re committed on a new warrant.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 29th April 1818.

Circuit court case of John Petrie

Inverness, Oct. 3.

The Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here on Monday last, by Lord Reston; and in the course of the day the following criminal cases came before him.

John Petrie, accused of stealing, on the night of the 10th April, 1815, from a barn, in possession of James Younie, farmer at Calfirhill, parish of Rafford, two sacks, containing a boll of barley; and of stealing, on the following night, from a kiln in the occupation of David Duncan, farmer at Bomanhill, parish of Forres, six pecks of barley, and a bed-cover, and from a barn, three bags containing two to three bolls of oats, after having forcibly broke into it.  On being called upon to plead, the pannel stated, that though he was quite innocent, he was forced, from circumstances, to plead guilty.  The Court, however, explained to him that his answer could not be received, and on being again asked, he pleaded guilty.  A verdict was accordingly returned, finding him guilty in terms of his own confession, and the Advocate Depute restricted the libel to an arbitrary punishment.  After an admonition as to his future conduct, he was sentenced to transportation beyond seas for fourteen years.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 15th October 1817.

Circuit Court Cases

On Monday the Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here, by the Right Hon. the Lord Justice Clerk, and Lord Reston.

The first case which came before the Court was that of James Henderson and John Davidson, both young men belonging to this town, accused of house breaking and then, in having entered the house of Heathens, on the 25th March last, by forcing open one of the windows, and stealing therein a variety of articles.  John Davidson having failed to appear, sentence of fugitation was passed upon him, in the usual terms.  James Henderson pled guilty; and no objection having been found to the relevancy of the indictment, the case was remitted to a jury, who found him guilty in terms of his own confession.  The Advocate Depute restricted the libel to an arbitrary punishment, and he received sentence of transportation for 14 years, after a very proper address from the Lord Justice Clerk.

The next case was that of Bathia Sutherland, alias Gray, accused of the crime of bigamy, in having, on the 16th of February last, married James Lothwood, a Chelsea pensioner residing in Aberdeen, her former husband, William Crombie, Kirk Officer of the parish of Kemnay, being still in life.  She pled guilty; and on account of the long confinement she had already suffered, and her seeming contrition for her offence, she was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 24th September 1817.

Reward for the apprehension of William Lees

ESCAPE FROM PRISON,

AND

REWARD OF TEN GUINEAS.

WHEREAS yesterday evening, several Convicts, at present in confinement in the Jail of Aberdeen, under sentence of Transportation, having made an attempt to break out of Prison; and one of them, of the name of WILLIAM LEES, who was sentenced by the Circuit Court of Justiciary, held here about eight months ago, to transportation beyond the sea for seven years, for Stealing from the Shop of ARTHUR MILNER, Merchant in Aberdeen, having effected his Escape, on the foresaid occasion:

A REWARD OF TEN GUINEAS

Is hereby offered to any person, who shall apprehend the said William Lees, and lodge him in any of His Majesty's Jails; the Reward to be paid by Alexander Cadenhead, Advocate in Aberdeen, Procurator Fiscal for the City and Liberties thereof.

N.B. - - The said William Lees is a native of England - about 13 years of age - 5 feet 3 or 4 inches high - of a pale complexion - - light coloured short hair - - a little pitted with the small pox - - has rather a short neck, and is of a broad make, and speaks the English dialect - - was dressed when he made his escape, in a blue jacket and canvas trowsers, and a light coloured vest, without having any thing upon his head.

COUNCIL CHAMBER

Aberdeen, 25th November, 1816.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 27th November 1816.

Margaret Keith or Tough

In the month of June last, the Sitting Magistrate, on the complaint of the Procurator Fiscal, sentenced Margaret Keith alias Tough, (a notorious and incorrigible thief, who had formerly been brought to trial before the Circuit Court of Justiciary, and sentenced to seven years transportation) to be confined and kept to hard labour in Bridewell for Two Years, for stealing.  This woman is upwards of 70 years of age.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 10th July 1816.

Circuit court intelligence

William Lees, convicted of theft and assault, as mentioned before, received sentence of transportation for seven years, and David Kemp, convicted of theft, was sentenced to eighteen months confinement and hard labour in Bridewell.

William Strath, cattle dealer in Boghead, parish of Fyvie, accused of theft and assault, pleaded Guilty to the indictment, and was sentenced to a year's hard labour in Bridewell, and ordained to find caution to keep the peace for two years thereafter, under a penalty of 600 merks Scots.

William Forbes was indicted for the murder of John Allan, apprentice ship carpenter, on 16th March last, by stabbing him in the side with a pen-knife, on the road leading from Aberdeen along the Spittal to Old Aberdeen.  A number of witnesses were examined for the Crown, and several in exculpation of the pannel.  The Jury found, by a plurality of voices, the libel not proven; whereupon the pannel, after a suitable admonition from Lord Pitmilly, was dismissed from the bar.

William Hay, accused of theft, was upon his own petition, consented to by the Depute Advocate, banished from Scotland for life, under the usual certification.

The last trial before the Court was that of John Garden, alias Shockey de Garden, accused of three several acts of theft, and of being habit and repute a thief.  After the evidence had been gone through on the part of the Crown, the Advocate Depute restricted the libel to an arbitrary punishment, and admitted that the charge of habit and repute had not been proven.  The Jury, after deliberating for a few minutes, returned a verdict, finding the first charge not sufficiently proven, and the Pannel Guilty of the two last; whereupon he was sentenced to be transported beyond seas for seven years.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 24th April 1816.

Circuit court: cases of William Law, George & John Downie and Joseph MacHardy

On Monday last, the Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here by the Right Honourable Lord PITMILLY.

There were only two cases before his Lordship.  The first of which was that of William Law.  The libel against him was of a very formidable nature - not less than two separate charges of housebreaking and theft, aggravated by prison breaking.  The pannel pleaded guilty of the crime of prison breaking, but denied the rest of the libel.  Owing to the panel having acknowledged his guilt of one of the charges, by petitioning the Sheriff of Kincardineshire for voluntary banishment on a prior occasion, the Public Prosecutor departed from that charge, and confined himself to the charge against the pannel of breaking in to the house of Isabella Smith, in the neighbourhood of Stonehaven, and carrying off various articles narrated in the indictment.

It appeared that Isabella Smith had, about the end of the year 1812, left her house, and gone on a visit to a daughter in Arbroath; and during her absence, her dwelling house had been forcibly entered, and completely ransacked of every article of value.  Sometime after, a bed and bed-tick, the property of Smith, was traced to the house of John Duncan, broker in Montrose, and was clearly proved to have been purchased from the pannel; but none of the other articles were ever heard of.  The Public Prosecutor attempted to bring the housebreaking home to the pannel; but the evidence on this part of the libel, though strongly presumptive, was by no means conclusive on the point.  The Jury were enclosed, and returned a verdict yesterday morning, when they unanimously found the pannel, upon his own confession, guilty of prison-breaking, and of stealing a bed and bed-tick, the property of the said Isabella Smith; but found the other parts of the libel not proven.

His Lordship then pronounced sentence of transportation against the pannel for 14 years.

Thereafter came on the trial of George and John Downie, and of Joseph Machardy, accused of assaulting and deforcing Malcolm Gillespie, excise officer, to the effusion of his blood and danger of his life.  The Public Prosecutor passed from the charge in so far as related to Machardy; and the pannels, George and John Downie, pleaded "guilty in part" which was afterwards explained by their Counsel to import a denial of the deforecement, and a denial of having assaulted or beat the exciseman to the danger of his life; but they admitted, that they had been engaged in a scuffle with the said exciseman, and had struct him so as (they were since informed) to draw blood from his body.  The Advocate-Depute acquiesced in the accuracy of this qualified confession; and thereafter an appeal to the clemency of the Court and Jury was made on behalf of the pannels, in respect of their candid confession, - their submissive and voluntary appearance to meet the justice of their country, - and their previous good characters, of which a proof was offered by respectable witnesses then attending.  The Court judged it unnecessary to go into any proof on the matter of previous character, of which no impeachment had been made; and a Jury having been enclosed, they unanimously, and without leaving the box, found the pannels guilty in terms of their confession; but recommended them to the clemency of the Court.

Sentence of imprisonment in Bridewell for the period of nine months was pronounced upon them, after a suitable admonition from the Bench, and at the end of the period of their confinement, to find bail for their good behaviour for three years.

Counsel for the Crown, Mr Home Drummond; for the Pannels, Mr Gordon.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 28th September 1814.

Court cases of William Law, John Brebner & John Henderson

The Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here on Wednesday last, by the Right Hon. Lord Gilles.

William Law, sometime residing in Links of Arduthie, in the County of Kincardine, charged with house-breaking and theft, was outlawed for not appearing.

John Brebner, accused of Forging or Counterfeiting Notes of the Bank of Scotland, and of using and uttering the same, knowing them to be forged and counterfeited.  The prisoner denied the forging and counterfeiting, but pleaded guilty to the uttering and vending as libelled; and the Advocate Depute having restricted the libel to an arbitrary punishment, he was sentenced to seven years transportation.

John Henderson, late servant at the Printfield, Woodside, near this city, accused of one act of theft and house-breaking, and two other acts of theft, denied the first charge, and admitted the two last.  The Advocate Depute having also in this case restricted the libel to an arbitrary punishment, and no proof being led, the prisoner was accordingly found guilty upon his own confession, and sentenced to fourteen years transportation.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 29th September 1813.

Trials of James Elrick, Alexander Walker & George Lyon

On Monday last, the Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here by the Right Hon. the Lords JUSTICE CLERK and HERMAND.

The first case that occupied the attention of the Court was that of James Elrick, residenter in Aberdeen, accused of various acts of theft, and of being habit and repute a thief.  To the first part of the charge the Pannel pled guilty; and the libel having been restricted to an arbitrary punishment he received sentence of transportation for 14 years.

The Court afterwards proceeded to the trial of Alexander Walker, alias John Brown, accused of horse-stealing; as well as being habit and repute a thief, aggravated by his having returned from banishment for the same crime.  To the whole of this charge, the Prisoner pleaded guilty.  The Advocate Depute, from the state of Walker's mind, and other circumstances, was induced to restrict the libel in his case also to an arbitrary punishment.

Tuesday Morning, the Court met again, when Walker received sentence of transportation for life, after a suitable admonition from Lord HERMAND.

The Court next proceeded to the case of George Lyon, Vintner, and eldest Baillie of the Burgh of Inverury accused of malversation of office, in having celebrated Clandestine Marriages, and taken and received pecuniary recompence.  The libel proceded on the Act, 1661, cap. 34; and also on the Common Law. - JAMES GORDON and HUGH LUMSDEN, Esquires, Advocates, appeared as Counsel for Mr Lyon, and stated various objections to the relevancy of the libel, as laid in the indictment, the greater part of which, after considerable discussion, were sustained; and that part only of the indictment which charged the pannel with receiving pecuniary recompence was found relevant; Mr Lyon denied the whole of the charge; and his Counsel declared their readiness to meet the Public Prosecutor on it; but Mr HORNE, Advocate Depute, from various circumstances, moved the Court to desert the diet PRO LOCO ET TEMPORE.  The Lord Justice Clerk observed that, between the present case, and that which occurred at Jedburgh last circuit, there was a marked distinction, in so far as that the pannel in the latter, were accused, and found guilty, of assuming the clerical profession, and in that characater celebrating marriages according to the established forms of our national church; whereas in the present instance, no such accusation appeared. - Lord Hermand coincided in opinion with his Lordship, and Mr Lyon was dismissed from the bar.

Published in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday 23rd September 1812.