Transcription
A Full and Particular Account of the Trial and Sen- tence of GEORGE LAIDLAW, who is to be Executed at Glasgow, on Wednesday the 29th of October, 1823, for the crime of Housebreaking and Theft. ON Friday the 26th September, 1823, at Glasgow, before the Circuit Court of Justiciary, came on the Trial of GEORGE LAIDLAW, and GEORGE SPITTAL or SPITTEL, charged with having, on the morning of the 30th March, 1823, broken into the shop of Messrs Solomon and Hadkins, jewellers, Nelson Street, by means of false keys, and stolen a number of gold and silver watches, keys, seals, rings, snuff boxes, a coral necklace, breast pins, and other articles of jewellery ; Laidlaw pleaded Not Guilty, Spit- tal,Guilty. Moses Solomon, being of the Jewish persuasion, was sworn with the Old Testament in his hand, and his hat on. I am a partner in the firm of Solomon and Hadkins. I recollect of the shop being broken into on the 29th March. I that night locked the door, and secured the window on the night previous. I tried the locks seve- ral times before I left the door. The jewellery was all in the glass cases, but the watches had been taken out of the window, and put into a desk, which was locked up. I got information that the shop was broken on the evening of the 30th. I went straight to it, and there I found Brown the policeman and several people in it. The shop was stript of jewellery and watches, except some small articles which had been lying about. The door was open, but the clasp was on the door, and the padlock was on the clasp, so that the door had the appearance of security. I made out an inventory of the goods stolen on that occasion, and I am quite certain they were in the shop the night before. The whole value of the articles stolen would run upwards of £600...that is from 6 to £700. About three weeks before the robbery, Laidlaw used to come frequently about the shop. Donald M'Donald brought a seal to my shop, which I instantly recognized as my property. These seals are part of the property stolen. I saw a small part of the stolen property in the shop of Crookshanks. (Here the witness identified a number of the articles stolen, and stated that they were referred to in the inventories.) Henry Savage, shopboy to Solomon and Hadkins. I have seen Laidlaw in the shop. He used to come when I had got the door opened, and he would lift the keys and tell me to put them past. About a month before the shop was broken into I met Laidlaw near the Post-office. I had the key of the door and the key of the padlock. He came forward and asked to see if my key would an- swer his warehouse. Laidlaw took my key up two or three stairs in Bnchannan Court. I went up a part of the stair, and I met Laidlaw coming down again. He was not long away. When he came down he said the key would fit his door, and he told me to come away with him and buy a key the same. We went into the shop of M'Callum in the Saltmarket, and he got a key just the same. I got my own key, and went to the shop. About a week afterwards he got the padlock of the shop door itself from me. He said he wanted it to ascertain what he would pay for one of the same size. I gave him the padlock, and he had it away about a quarter of an hour. Mary Drummond.---I was going from Glasgow to Greenock one day in a steam-boat. I saw Laidlaw there. He began to converse with me. He had a broad ring on his finger, and I asked a look of it. A gentleman put it one my finger, and said by the way of a joke " Miss, it suits your finger very well." I kept it a little, and when I offered it back to Laidlaw, he refused it, and I kept it till I heard of his apprehension, and I took it to Mr Solomon's shop. I saw a watch and seals on that occasion, but I cannot say those are them. David Stewart, shopman to Crookshanks, Saltmarket, I recollec- ted of hearing of the robbery of Solomon's shop. I know Laidlaw. He came and sold some articles of jewellery in our shop to my master after the robbery, while I was present. These are the arti- cles. There was a search made afterwards, and all the articles we got from Laidlaw were taken off. The declarations of the pannels were then read, Laidlaw stated that the robbery of the shop was planed and executed by him and Spittal alone. The Jury gave in an unanimous verdict, finding Laidlaw Guilty, and Spittal Guilty in terms of his own confession. After an impressive admonition from Lord Hermand, Laidlaw, was sentenced to be executed on the 29th October, and Spittal is to be transported for life. His Lordship strongly advised the pannel Laidlaw to make the most of the short time he was to remain on this earth, for there was not the least hope of Royal mercy being extended unto him. Edinburgh : Printed for Allan Grant....Price One Penny.
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1823 shelfmark: F.3.a.14(3b)
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