A COMPLETE COLLECTION STATE OF TRIALS, &c. &c. 529. The Trial of JAMES STEWART,* in Aucharn in Duror of Appin, for the Murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure, esq. Factor for his Majesty on the forfeited Estate of Ardshiel; before the Circuit Court of Justiciary, held at Inverary in Scotland, on Thursday the 21st, Friday the 22d, Saturday the 23d, and Monday the 25th of September, by his Grace Archibald Duke of Argyll, Lord Justice-General, and the Lords Elchies and Kilkerran, Commissioners of Justiciary: 25 GEORGE II. A. D. 1752. THE CRIMINAL LETTERS; LIBEL OR INDICTMENT. GEORGE, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith. To our lovits, macers of our court of justiciary, messengers at arms, our sheriffs in that part, conjunctly and severally, specially constitute, greeting. Forasmuch it is humbly meant and complained to us, by our right trusty William Grant of Prestongrange, esq. our advocate, for our interest, and also by our lovit Janet Mackay, daughter to the hon. Hugh Mackay of Bighouse, esq. and relict of the deceased Colin Campbell of Glenure, for herself, and on behalf of Elizabeth and Lucy Campbells, her infant children, with concourse of our said advocate, for our interest, upon * See some observations on this Case in Mr. Burnett's "Treatise on various branches of the Criminal Law of Scotland," chap. 14. Of this and many other remarkable Cases before the Justiciary, no account was given by Mac Laurin in his Collection, because reports of the trials had been previously published. See his Preface, p. 4, contents, p. 15. Azealous partisan of Stewart published, under the title of a Supplement to the Trial of James Stewart," a warm and spirited arraign meat of the proceedings upon this Trial. I have made some extracts from his publication, of which I know not the date. FOL, XIX. James Stewart in Aucharn in Duror of Appin, commonly known or reputed to be the natural brother of Charles Stewart of Ardshiel, attaint ed, and present prisoner in Fort-William ; and upon Allan Stewart, commonly called Allan Breck Stewart, son to Donald Stewart alias Vic Ean Vic Allister, sometime in Invercbomrie in Rannoch; and since, or sometime after the 18th day of April, 1746, a cadet or soldier in the French king's service, or reputed in this country to have been such. That whereas, by the law of God, and the laws of this and all other well-governed realms, murder is a most heinous crime, and severely punishable, especially when the same is committed deliberately, and by lying in wait, and from a malice conceived against the person so murdered, on account of the faithful discharge of the duty of his office. Yet true it is, and of verity, that the said James Stewart and Allan Stewart, commonly called Allan Breck Stewart, complained upon, are guilty, actors, or art and part of the said heinous crime of murder, aggravated as aforesaid, in so far as the barons of our Court of Exchequer in Scotland having, by commission dated the 23d day of February, 1748-9 years, appointed the said Colin Campbell of Glenure to be factor upon the lands and estate of Ardshiel, forfeited to us by the attainder of the said Charles Stewart, and lying within the shire of Argyll, and in the neighbourhood of Glenure, the house of the said Colin Campbell, and also B - appointed him factor on that part of the forfeited estate of Lochiel, called Mamore, lying in the shire of Inverness, and in the neighbourhood of Fort-William, and upon the forfeited estate of Allan Cameron of Callart, in the shire of Inverness, adjoining to the said lands of Mamore, and lying betwixt Fort-William and Appin; he, the said Colin, entered upon the said office, and proceeding in the faithful execution thereof, did, among other things, at Whitsunday 1751, cause to be removed the said James Stewart from Glenduror, a farm or possession that had been held by him on the said estate of Ardshiel: and in the month of April, in this present year 1752, the said Colin Campbell had taken measures for causing to be removed at the term of Whitsunday, or 15th day of May, now last by past, certain other persons who were tenants or possessors of farms upon the said lands or estate of Ardsbiel; which proceeding was by the said James Stewart, for reasons known to himself, so much resented, that, without any warrant or authority from the tenants, or persons themselves, so intended to be removed, he the said James Stewart, in the month of April last, came in person to Edinburgh, and caused to be presented, in name of the said tenants, to our lords of session, a bill of suspension of the said intended removing, upon divers affected reasons, that were either false or frivolous; and having procured an order for answering the said bill, and a sist of execution in the mean time, he returned into the country, and caused the tenants intimate the sist to the said Colin Campbell; who thereupon repaired to Edinburgh, where an answer having been made to the said bill, the same was refused by the lord ordinary, and the said Colin Campbell returned to his own house at Glenure, where he might be in the way to attend the duty of his office, and to cause the said removing to be put in execution, and the new tenants introduced to the lands on the said 15th day of May last.-And on account of the said Colin Campbell's accepting of the said office, and of the above-mentioned and other his proceedings in the faithful discharge of the duty thereof, the said James Stewart, and Allan Breck Stewart, conceived a most groundless and unjust resentiment, malice, and enmity against him, and at length entered into a wick-rates the country of Appin on the south, from ed conspiracy, barbarously to murder the said Colin Campbell, and to bereave him of his life by the hands of the said Allan Breck Stewart, who had but then lately come back from foreign parts into that country, and intended soon to go again beyond sea; and, during his said last abode in the country, had chiefly frequented the house and company of the said James Stewart. And, in prosecution of this wicked conspiracy, upon Monday the 11th day of May last, on the morning of which day the said Colin Campbell left his own house of Glenure, to go to Fort-William, in the country of Lochaber, about the distance of 16 computed miles northward, in order to transact some busimess relating to his factory on the estate of Lo chiel, and from whence he was certainly expected to return to the lands of Ardshiel before Friday in the same week, being the 15th day of the said mouth, when certain tenants on the lands of Ardshiel were to be removed, as abovementioned, and others introduced in their room; the said Allan Breck Stewart went from the house of John Stewart of Fasnacloich, which lies near to Glenure, to the house of the said James Stewart at Aucharn, lying in the same neighbourhood, at the distance of about four miles northward; and there the said James Stewart was informed, either by the said Allan Breck Stewart, or by his own son Charles Stewart, or by Stewart, daughter to the said John Stewart of Fasnacloich, that they heard, or were informed, that the said Colin Campbell of Glenure was to go to Lochaber that day, and that he was to persist or proceed in the intended removing of the tenants of Ardshiel (as the said James Stewart has, among other things, acknowledged in bis judicial declaration taken before the sheriff-substitute of Inverness ;) and there, after receiving such advice, in the evening of the same day, the said Allan Breck Stewart laid aside his own clothes, which he had brought with him, being a blue coat, scarlet vest, and black breeches of shag or velvet, which were believed to have been brought by him from France, and which was a remarkable or distinguishing dress in that part of the country; and then and there the said James Stewart furnished him, the said Allan Breck Stewart, with a suit of his, the said James's own clothes, being a dark coloured short coat, with silver buttons, trowsers, and a blue bonnet, in which the said Allan dressed himself that evening. And also next morning of Tuesday the twelfth of May last, when he Jeft the said James Stewart's house, where the said Allan left behind him his own French clothes aforesaid, together with his hat, and then set out, in order to lie in wait for the said Colin Campbell on his way, when he should return from Fort-William to the lands of Ardshiel, which lands are bordered on the northeast with the lands belonging to Alexander Stewart of Ballachelish, whose house stands near to the ferry of Ballachelish, upon a narrow arm of the sea called Lochlevin, that sepa that of Mamore, part of Lochiel's estate, on the north side of it, and by which ferry of Ba!lachelish it was known or expected, that the said Colin Campbell would pass, in his return from Fort-William; and, to the said place of Ballachelish, the said Allan Breck Stewart directly went from the house of the said James Stewart at Aucharn, on this Tuesday the twelfth of May last; and from thence, the same day, accompanied by James Stewart the younger of Fasuacloich, went to Glenco's house in Carnoch, about three miles farther eastward, where the dowager lady of the house is sister to the said Charles Stewart late of Ardsbiel, and to her the said James Stewart is natural brother; and, from thence, he went that same day to the house of Callart, which sometime belonged to Allan Cameron of Callart, attainted, and was still inhabited by Helen Stewart his widow, and also sister to the said Charles Stewart of Ardshiel, and to the said James Stewart, at which house he lodged all that Tuesday night; and next day, being Wednesday, the thirteenth of May last, the said Allan Breck Stewart came back, after calling again at Carnoch, to the house of Alexander Stewart of Ballachelish, near the ferry aforesaid, where he remained the night following—and, upon Thursday the fourteenth of the said month of May last, when it might be certainly expected, that the said Colin Campbell would return from Fort-William to the lands of Ardshiel, and country of Appin, by the said ferry of Ballachelish, the said Allan Breck Stewart waited about the said house, till about twelve of the clock that day; and then, under pretence of going a-fishing, walked up along a burn or rivulet near to the said house to the higher grounds, from whence he had a prospect of the high road leading from FortWilliam to the lands of Ardshiel, and access by a short passage into the wood of Lettermore, standing upon the lands of Ardsbiel, and adjoining to the said road on the south side, about a mile distant from the house and ferry of Ballachelish; and, having posted himself in the said wood, near to the high road, by which the said Colin Campbell was to pass, at a convenient station for his wicked purpose, where be had brought, or caused to be brought and placed, one or two guns, or muskets, loaded, with which he continued some time concealed in the wood; and, at length, about five or six o'clock in the afternoon of the said fourteenth day of May last, the said Colin Campbell having passed the ferry of Ballachelish, and been conveyed by the said Alexander Stewart of Ballachelish from the ferry to the entrance of the wood of Lettermore, as he continued his journey passing on horseback along, or through the said wood, accompanied by Donald Kennedy, a sheriff's officer of Argyll-shire, who was on foot, and had got some space before bim, the road being bad for horses, and by Mungo Campbell, writer in Edinburgh, a young man, who was then riding a little way before hima; and behind him, at some distance, was John Mackenzie, servant to the said Colin, and also on horseback. And then and there the said Allan Breck Stewart fired upon the said Colin Campbell from behind his back, and shot him through the body with two balls, of which wounds the said Colin Campbell died upon the spot, in less than an hour after. Whereupon the said Allan Breck Stewart absconded, and, from that time, appeared no Inger openly in the country; but, during the night following, or about three o'clock in the morning of Friday the fifteenth day of May last, he came to Carnoch, the house of John Macdonald of Glenco abovementioned, where he knocked at a window when the family were all in bed; and the said John Macdonald of Glenco, and Isobel Stewart his step-mother, got up, and went to the door to the said Allan, who then told them, that the said Colin Campbell had been shot dead the evening preceding, in the wood of Lettermore, and that he, the said Allan, was leaving the country, and going the Moor-road, and was come to take leave of them, the said lady, and Glenco her son-in-law, which he immediately did, and went away, without entering the house, though he was invited by the lady to come in, and take some refreshment there. That, in the mean time, the said James Stewart, complained upon, remained at his own house at Aucharu, from which, on the morning of Thursday, the 14th of May last, he sent a letter by John Maccol bis servant, to Charles Stewart, writer in Auchintour, in which, inter alia, he writes, "As I have no time to write to William, let him send down immediately 87. sterling, to pay four milk cows I bought for his use at Ardshiel." And as he, the said James, hath judicially declared, (when examined at Fort-William, on the 2nd of June last, in presence of George Douglas, sheriff-substitute of Inverness-shire) he did not see the said Allan Breck Stewart after the murder; but upon notice being brought to the said James Stewart, complained on, at his own house at Aucharn, immediately after it happened, on the said Thurs day evening, by the said John Mackenzie, servant to the said now deceased Colin Campbell, who, having left the said Mungo Campbell to attend the corpse where it lay, rode away to get help or assistance for transporting the same to some fit house or place; the said James Stewart, complained upon, appeared noways surprised or concerned at the news of the murder; and neither he, nor any of his family, went to look after the corpse, or to assist in the carrying it, as others of the neighbourhood did. And, upon the morning, or about noon of the day following the murder, being Friday the 15th of May last, the said James Stewart, complained upon, sent Alexander Stewart, travelling packman in Appin, to William Stewart merchant in Maryburgh, with directions to get from the said William 57. sterling, or 5 guineas; and then told the said packman, that his friend Allan Breck Stewart was going to leave the country; and that it was incumbent on him, the said James, to supply him with money; whereupon, the said packman, that same day, repaired to Fort-William, and delivered his said message from the said James Stewart, to the said William Stewart, who immediately caused his wife bring the packman three guineas,-with which the packman returned the next day, being Saturday, the 16th of May last, back to the said James Stewart's house at Aucharn; and, upon his arrival there, found the said James Stewart prisoner, in the custody of a party of soldiers; and the said packman being allowed to converse privately with the said James Stewart and his wife; and having informed him, that he had only received 3 guineas from William Stewart at Maryburgh, the said James Stewart took out of his purse 2 guineas, which he gave to his wife, desiring her to give the same to the packman; to go with these, and the three guineas he already had, and also with Allan Breck Stewart's clothes, to him, the said Allan: and, accordingly, on the evening of that same Saturday, after the said James Stewart had been carried off prisoner to Fort-William, his wife brought the said Allan Breck Stewart's clothes abovementioned, to the packman, and delivered the same tied up in a bundle to him, containing a pair of red breeches besides the black breeches above-mentioned, that were the property of the said Allan himself; and at the same time, delivered to the packman the two guineas above-mentioned, which she had received from her said husband for that purpose, and directed the packman to go with the clothes and the five guineas, and deliver the same to the said Allan Breck Stewart, whom he would find or hear of at the house of John Maccol, bouman, having the charge of milk cows upon a farm or shealing belonging to Dougal Stewart of Appin, at a remote or solitary place called Koalisnacoan; and the said packman, after getting his supper at Aucharn, set out on this errand accordingly that same night:-That, in the mean time, in the afternoon of the said Saturday, the 16th of May last, the said Allan Breck Stewart was seen by the said John Maccol, Appin's bouman, in the heugh of Cor. rynakiegh, a part of the farm of Koalisnacoan; where as the bouman was cutting fire-wood, he heard a whistle, and, looking about, observed a man, at a considerable distance, beckon to him, whom, upon his going up to him, he found to be the said Allan Breck Stewart, who saluted him, by asking him how he did? And the bouman returned the salute, and told the said Allan, he was afraid it was no good action occasioned his being in such a solitary place; upon which the said Allan asked him, what he meant by that? And the bouman answered, that he would, without doubt, be suspected of Glenure's murder, who, he heard, was shot in the wood of Lettermore; and that there were two men seen go from the place where the action was committed; to which the said Allan replied, That, if he was rightly informed, there was but one person concerned in the murder; and talking further of the matter, said, he did not doubt the family of Ardshiel would be suspected of the murder; and that he believed James Stewart and his son would be taken up, in consequence of their difference with Glenure about the lands; but that their being taken up, would not be of any consequence to them, as there would be no proof, unless their own tongues betrayed them: and, upon the bouman's say ing, that he wished he, the said Allan, would leave his neighbourhood, Allan tod him he could not, till he was supplied with money and victuals; and insisted with the bouman, that he should go to the Strath of Duror (where the said James Stewart's house of Aucharn lies) for money, and to the lady Glenco for a peck of meal; both which the bouman appearing to decline, the said Allap added, that be, the bouman, must go to Fort-William with a letter, (which the said Allan then wrote with a woodpigeon's quill he had gathered among the trees,) to William Stewart, merchant in Maryburgh, who, he said, would give him money upon receipt of the letter; and the bouman having also refused to comply with this proposition, giving for his excuse, that he heard that all that went to Fort-William at that time were taken into custody, the said Allau further told him, that unless he should be supplied, from some other quarter, before next day, that he, the bouman must go to Fort-William, notwithstanding these difficulties, and that he, Allan, was surprised there was no money sent him, though it was promised to be sent him to that place. That very early in the morning of Sunday, the 17th of May last, the said John Maccol, bouman, went out of his house, to look after some cattle that he apprehended were amongst his corns, and then observed, coming towards him from the westward, a man, whom, at a distance, he took to be Allan Breck Stewart; but, upon his nearer approach, found him to be the said Alexander Stewart, packman, who, upon his coming up to him, after the ordinary salutations, asked the bouman, if he had seen Allan Breck Stewart? which the bouman baving denied, the said packman told him, that he had money and clothes for the said Allan, which he (Allan) had trysted, (or agreed with some other person) to receive at that place from any one who should be sent after him with it; and then the bouman owned he had seen him, the said Allan, and that he was then in the heugh of Corrynakeigh, and told the packman, that if he went to an eminence, which he pointed out to him, and whistled, that the said Allan Breck would probably appear to him; but this the packman declined, complaining that he was so fatigued with travelling the whole night, that he would not go, having been lately upon his own business at Fort-William, and having been obliged to go there again on the said James Stewart's errand above-mentioned; and therefore desired the said bouman to deliver the five guineas, which he then gave him, to the said Allan Breck Stewart, together with a bundle of clothes, which he, the packman, had left at the root of a fir-tree then in their view, which he pointed out to the said bouman, who promised to deliver both to the said Allan as desired; whereupon the packman, being much fatigued, went to sleep in the bouman's house; and in the evening of the same Sunday, the seventeenth of May last, after the said John Maccol, bouman to Appin, was gone to bed, he was awaked by the said Allan Breck Stewart his knocking at the window of his the said bouman's house, whereby the board or shutter of his said window fell in; whereupon the said bouman got up from his bed, and went out, when he found the said Allan Breck Stewart retired at some distance from his house, who, |