letterpress in “Kay’s Portraits” (1877, vol. 1., pp. 262-3), on the authority of an eye-witness of the execution, that Brodie had been visited in prison by a French quack, Dr. Peter Degravers, who undertook to restore him to life after he had hung the usual time; that, on the day preceding the execution, this individual had marked the Deacon’s temples and arms with a pencil, in order to know the more readily where to apply his lancet; and that with this view the hangman had been bargained with for a short fall. “The excess of caution, however, exercised by the executioner in the first instance in shortening the rope proved fatal by his inadvertency in making it latterly too long. After he was cut down his body was immediately given to two of his own workmen, who, by order of the guard, placed it in a cart and drove at a furious rate round the back of the Castle. The object of this order was probably an idea that the jolting motion of the cart might be the means of resuscitation, as had once actually happened in the case of the celebrated ‘half-hangit Maggie Dickson.’ The body was afterwards conveyed to one of Brodie’s own workshops in the Lawnmarket, where Degravers was in attendance. He attempted bleeding, &c., but all would not do. Brodie was fairly gone.”
The irregular practitioner above mentioned was certainly in Edinburgh about that time, for we read in the newspapers of the day advertisements, which he issued from his rooms in Charles Street, offering his professional services to the public at the moderate fee of half-a-crown “in all cases.” Judging by the testimonials from grateful patients which he also published, the doctor must have given wonderful value for the money; but in the somewhat exceptional circumstances of the Deacon’s case he would, if successful, have surely been entitled to a larger fee.
A more picturesque, if less probable version of the same story is given by the author of “Reminiscences of Glasgow,” on the authority of Æneas Morrison. It is there stated that any attempt to effect the Deacon’s rescue by overpowering the City Guard or breaking into the Tolbooth having, after due consideration, been abandoned by his friends as hopeless, the following elaborate scheme was to be attempted to save his life. Shortly before the hour of his execution, the Deacon was to beg that he might speak to certain of his friends alone for a few moments upon his private affairs. This request being complied with, the opportunity should be seized for introducing into his throat and mouth a small silver tube made for the purpose, with the view of preventing suffocation, and wires were to be carried down his sides from head to foot to save the jerk from the scaffold. The executioner was to be induced to give him a short drop, and other liberties were to be taken with the fatal rope. A surgeon—doubtless the philanthropic Degravers—was to be in attendance to bleed him as soon as the body was cut down; and, if this succeeded, the Deacon was to lie quiet in his coffin, exhibiting no symptom of life, till such time as it could be safely removed to his own house for presumed interment by his relatives. Whether or not this remarkable programme was ever carried out is not recorded.
It would appear from these reports that an attempt of some kind was made with a view to resuscitate the Deacon; and there is no doubt that many people believed at the time that he had “cheated the wuddy” after all. It was said that he had actually revived and made good his escape from Scotland; that he was afterwards seen and conversed with in Paris. His coffin was certainly interred in the north-east corner of the burying-ground of St. Cuthbert’s Chapel of Ease—now Buccleuch Parish Church; but there is a tradition that, on a subsequent occasion, the grave was opened, when no trace of his body could be found.
These stories are probably apocryphal; but they are curious as showing the exceptional interest which the Deacon’s strange career aroused in the minds of his fellow-townsmen. And although his mortal remains, wheresoever situated, must long since have crumbled into dust, the name and doings of Deacon Brodie are indissolubly associated with the annals of that ancient city in which, to a conclusion so disastrous, he played his double part.
THE TRIAL
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WEDNESDAY, 27th AUGUST, 1788.
The Court met at Nine o’clock.
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Judges Present—
| THE LORD JUSTICE-CLERK (Lord Braxfield). LORD HAILES. LORD ESKGROVE. | LORD STONEFIELD. LORD SWINTON. |
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Counsel for the Crown— The Lord Advocate (Ilay Campbell). The Solicitor-General (Robert Dundas). William Tait and James Wolfe Murray, Esqs., Advocates-Depute. Agent— Mr. Robert Dundas, Clerk to the Signet. ——— Counsel for the Pannel William Brodie— The Dean of Faculty (Hon. Henry Erskine). Alexander Wight and Charles Hay, Esqs., Advocates. Agents— Mr. Robert Donaldson, W.S., and Mr. Alexander Paterson, Writer, Edinburgh. ——— Counsel for the Pannel George Smith— John Clerk and Robert Hamilton, Esqs., Advocates. Agent— Mr. Æneas Morrison, Writer, Edinburgh.
CURIA JUSTICIARIA S. D. N. Regis, Tenta in Nova Sessionis domo de Edinburgh, Vicesimo Septimo die Augusti millesimo septingentesimo Octogesimo octavo, Per Honorabiles Viros; Robertum M‘Queen de Braxfield, Dominum Justiciarium Clericum; Dominum Davidem Dalrymple de Hailes, Baronetum; Davidem Rae de Eskgrove; Joannem Campbell de Stonefield; et Joannem Swinton de Swinton, Dominos Commissionarios Justiciariae dict. S. D. N. Regis.
Curia Legitime Affirmata.
INTRAN. William Brodie, sometime Wright and Cabinetmaker in Edinburgh, and George Smith, sometime Grocer there, both prisoners in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh,
Pannels.
INDICTED and ACCUSED at the instance of Ilay Campbell, Esq., His Majesty’s Advocate for His Majesty’s Interest, for the Crime of Theft attended with House-breaking, in manner mentioned in the Criminal Indictment raised against them thereanent, bearing as follows:—
WILLIAM BRODIE, sometime Wright and Cabinetmaker in Edinburgh, and GEORGE SMITH, sometime Grocer there, both prisoners in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, You are indicted and accused at the instance of Ilay Campbell, Esq., His Majesty’s Advocate, for His Majesty’s interest: THAT ALBEIT, by the laws of this, and of every well-governed realm, THEFT, more especially when attended with house-breaking, and when committed by breaking into a house used or kept as an Excise Office, or other public office, under cloud of night, and from thence abstracting and stealing money, is a crime of an heinous nature, and severely punishable: YET TRUE IT IS, AND OF VERITY, That You, the said William Brodie, and George Smith, are both, and each, or one or other of You, guilty actors, or art and part, of the said crime, aggravated as aforesaid: IN SO FAR AS, upon the night of the 5th day of March, last, in this present year of our Lord 1788, or upon one or other of the days or nights of that month, or of February immediately preceding, or of April immediately following, You, the said William Brodie, and George Smith, did, by means of false keys, or other instruments, wickedly and feloniously break into the house in which the General Excise Office for Scotland was then kept, in Chessels’s buildings, on the south side of the High-street of Canongate of Edinburgh, within the royalty or liberties of the city of Edinburgh, and county of Edinburgh, and did thence feloniously abstract and steal money, to the amount of Sixteen pounds Sterling, or thereby, consisting partly of Bank-notes, and partly of silver and halfpence. And You, the said George Smith, having been afterwards apprehended, and brought before Archibald Cockburn, Esq., Sheriff-depute of the county of Edinburgh, did, in his presence, emit three several declarations; the first of date the 8th day of March, the second of date the 10th day of March, and the third of date the 19th day of March, all in this present year of our Lord 1788: And having afterwards been brought before John Stewart, Esq., Sheriff-substitute of the said county, You did, in his presence, emit a fourth declaration, of date the 17th day of July, likewise in this present year 1788: The first of which declarations was signed by the said Archibald Cockburn, the second and third by you, the said George Smith, and the said Archibald Cockburn, and the fourth by you, the said George Smith, and the said John