Transcription
THE MURDERED MAN, ROBERT TENNANT. WILLIAM PEDDIE. Copy of the Melancholy and Sorrowful LAMENTATION of ROBERT
TENNANT, the young man who is now confined in the Jail of
Stirling, and who is to be Executed there on the morning of
Wednesday the 2d of October, 1833, for the bloody Murder
of William Peddie, an old man, about 70 years of age, on
the high road between Beancross and Kerse Toll, parish of
Falkirk, on the evening of the 3d of August last. ROBERT TENNANT is a young man about 24 years of age, was a labour-
er, and employed in breaking stones on the toll road, between Beancross
and Kerse Toll, in the parish of Falkirk, when the unfortunate circumstances
of the murder took place. William Paddie, the deceased, was about 70 years
old, a labourer also, and likewise employed on the same road, on which he was
foreman. On the forenoon of the 3d of August, the day on which the murder
was committed, Peddie was instructed to dismiss Tennant from the work, by
Mr Borth wick, the superintendant of that district of road, because that, although
the deceased had before prevailed on the superintendant to keep him on the
road, it was evident that his drinking and irregularity rendered him unfit to be
longer employed, and had been at that moment, 12 o'clock noon, lying drunk
on the footpath opposite the toll, apparently fast asleep. When he awoke, and
this instruction was communicated to him, the altercation commenced, which
ended in the murder of the poor old man, Ye fellow men, pray view the end, Of those who live in crime,
They range abroad without a friend, And die before their time.
The dreadful scaffold does unfold A lesson to the young ;
It paints in language seldom told, That crime will stop the tongue.
When pinion'd fast, the awful view Does damp the prisoner's heart,
But little thought spectators take, It leaves no lasting smart. But as I shortly suffer must, My sentence justly due,
I leave this last advice to all That my sad end may view.
You mothers that have tender hearts, Your children watch with care;
Instruct them early in those parts That lead from sinful snare.
Now from my dark and dismal cell, I warn this sinful race,
To fly from crime, and strive to dwell In unity and peace.
May God above support you all, And guide you by his grace,
Till you arrive, both great and small, In realms of endless peace.
And when my awful end you view, Take warning by my fate,
And every day the thought renew, Before it be too late.
0 Saviour of mankind, stretch forth Thine everlasting arms,
And save me from the second death With all its dire alarms. Justice now has overtook me,
Stopp'd me in my wicked race ; Guilt and Horror has pursued me,
And now look me in the face. Judge of judges ! King of Glory ! 0 ! how dreadful is my fate,
Summon'd to appear before thee, In this guilty awful state,
On the third of August last, I to a fair did go, Which was the awful cause of all My bitterness and woe.
At Grangemouth this fair was held, Listen to what I say,
Peddie I met when I returned, And him I then did slay.
If my days were to begin again, I to the world would show,
That I would shun the paths of sin, Wherein destroyers go. But O ! these days are past and gone, In fetters here I lie,
In a strong cell I am confin'd, By men I am doom'd to die.
Because God's laws I did transgress, And would not walk therein,
But shun'd the paths of righteousness. And trod the paths of sin.
My days are now fast fleeting by, The hour draws on apace,
No earthly mercy now is nigh. Death stares me in the face.
Farewell, my friends, we now must sever, The thought lies heavy at my heart,
Forget my awful end for ever, I from you soon must part.. EDINBURGH :,...Menzies, Lawnmarket.,...Price One Penny.
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