Crime & punishment > Whinny Park murder

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the confidence his master reposed in him ; and said
that Mr Millie wanted them in Edinburgh on account of
the law proceedings we have mentioned. It is remark¬
able that, though he can write sufficiently well himself,
he frequently chose to have the parcels or letters sent to
his master directed by some one else—in order, it is sup¬
posed, to make greater ostentation of the correspondence
which he pretended to carry on with him.
Immediately before the discovery of the murder, he
went to Mr Taylor, Lord Leven’s agent, and presented
a draft for f 18, due from his Lordship to Millie : pay¬
ment was at first refused, the draft not being indorsed.
He returned with it next day, with Mr Millie’s signa¬
ture affixed, and received the money, thus adding forgery
to his other crimes.
With many persons the reasons alleged for Mr Millie’s
absence continued to pass current. In Auchtermuchty
however (where his associates chiefly resided) it began to
be noticed that the man was spending a great deal more
money than a weaver’s earnings could possibly afford ; at
one time he hired a gig to go on some jaunting excur¬
sions ; at another he made a dinner for a number of peo¬
ple of his own caste at one of the public houses there ;
he bought some musical instruments; and was seen to
have a watch : his former appearance had been mean in
the extreme. All this attracted notice, and began to cause
much suspicion ; still no qne thought he had a right
to interfere, and the more so, as Millie’s aversion to the
intermeddling of neighbours was generally known. On
one occasion, indeed, one of the special Constables in
Collessie, seeing Henderson spending money in one of
the public houses, said to him, “ You rascal, how do you
come by all this?—you must have murdered your mas¬
ter,--and have buried him in his own yard, I have no
doubt,” Mr Farmer of Pathcondie (Millie’s near neigh¬
bour, and a tenant on the Melville estate,) entertained
fears of the same kind, and went more than once to look
at the premises. Still these suspicions, though held by
numbers, had no distinct foundation ; and as the reason
given for Millie’s absence was both plausible in itself, and
somewhat agreeable to his usual habits, it continued to
pass unquestioned. Henderson continued, however, at