FullReads

(Signed) JOHN COOK.
HEW DALRYMPLE.

Compeared JOHN GRANT, in Altalaat, aged forty years and upwards, married, solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial council, examined and interrogate: Depones, That both the panels lodged in his house upon the night of the twenty-seventh of September, one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine: That next morning they breakfasted, after the sun rising, with him; and as he was going to a Michaelmas fair, when he came out of his house, he looked and saw the two panels at his door, each having a gun in his hand, and they told him that they intended to go a deer hunting, but did not mention to what place: That the deponent accordingly went to the fair, and returned in about four days home, and then heard that a soldier who had been upon some of the hills was amissing, and in a very short time heard it was Serjeant Davies: That at first it was rumoured that some of the Serjeant’s own men had killed him; and afterwards that he had been killed by some outlaws; and after that it was clattered that the panels had killed him: Depones, That the night the panels lodged with him as above, one of them talked of going the next morning in quest of horses for leading in corn, without mentioning from where. Causa scientiae patet. And this is the truth, as he shall answer to God. This deposition signed by Duncan Campbell, sworn interpreter.

(Signed) DUNCAN CAMPBELL.
HEW DALRYMPLE.

JOHN GRANT, son to the said John Grant in Altalaat, aged twenty years, solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial council, by the sworn interpreter aforesaid, and by him interrogate: Depones, That he knows the panels, and that they lodged with his father the night of the twenty-seventh of September, one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine: That next morning the panels, each of them having a gun, and Duncan Clerk a grey plaid about him, went up the water to the hill of Gleneye, which is about a mile and a half distant from the hill of Christie: That the road they took was not the direct road to the hill last named; and before they went they said they were going a deer hunting and for horses to lead in their corns: That three or four days after this, they heard that Serjeant Davies was amissing, and that he was killed in the hill of Christie; but the last part of this he did not hear till some time, a year or two thereafter. Causa scientiae patet. And this is truth, as he shall answer to God.

(Signed) DUNCAN CAMPBELL.
HEW DALRYMPLE.

ELSPETH MACARA, in Inverey, late servant to Duncan Clerk, one of the panels, aged thirty-two years; solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial council, as aforesaid, and interrogate, Depones, That she was fellow-servant, about three years ago, with Alexander Macgillies, a preceding witness, in Duncan Clerk, the panel’s house: That she once saw in the said Alexander’s hands a yellow ring, but knows not if it was gold, with a knob upon it of the same metal; which ring she frequently observed on the finger of the wife of the said Duncan Clerk. And further depones, That the said knob was bigger above and smaller below, and shaped something like a heart. Causa scientiae patet. And this is truth, as she shall answer to God. This deposition signed by the above interpreter.

(Signed) DUNCAN CAMPBELL.
HEW DALRYMPLE.

JOHN GROWAR, in Inverey, aged fifty years and upwards, a widower; who being solemnly sworn, purged of partial council, and interrogate, Depones, That upon the 28th of September, 1749, the deponent having gone to a glen called Glenconie, to bring home his horses to lead in the corns, he met with Serjeant Davies, of whom he had some acquaintance before; and he had at that time a good deal of conversation with him, particularly with relation to a tartan coat which the Serjeant had observed the deponent to drop, and after strictly enjoining him not to use it again, dismissed him, instead of making him prisoner: That the deponent went home with his horses, and saw no more of the Serjeant, who was alone; and that their meeting was about an hour after sunrising, to the best of the deponent’s knowledge: That some time thereafter, about four years ago, he was told by Alexander Macpherson alias M’Gillies, a former witness, that the Serjeant’s ghost had appeared to him, M’Gillies, and had desired him to bury his, the Serjeant’s, bones, and to bring Donald Farquharson, also a former witness, along with him; but M’Gillies at that time did not mention the place where the bones were to be found, but afterwards told the deponent that the Serjeant’s bones were found in the place to which the ghost had directed him; and one day the said M’Gillies and the deponent being in the hill together, he, M’Gillies, pointed to him the place where they were found, which was not far from the place in which he had formerly met Serjeant Davies, upon the 28th of September aforesaid; and that two years ago, in labouring time, the said M’Gillies told him that the said ghost came to M’Gillies’s master’s house, and the door flung open, and took M’Gillies out of the house, and told him that the panels had been his murderers. Depones, That about two years ago he had a conversation with M’Gillies, who told him, that one day coming from the hill with Duncan Clerk, the panel, then his master, and another time when in bed, he had a conversation with the said Duncan concerning Serjeant Davies’s murder, and all the answer Duncan made was, What can you say of an unfortunate man? Depones, That about ten or eleven years ago, Duncan Clerk, the panel, was said to have stolen some sheep from one Alexander Farquharson, in Inverey, and there was a Sheriff-court held upon that matter at the Mill of Achindryne, in which nothing was found against the said Duncan, but John Ewes alias M’Donald was fined, and the deponent became cautioner for him, that he should never speak about it again. Causa scientiae patet. And this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.