Broadside entitled 'Trial and Sentence'

Transcription

Trial and Sentence

A Full and .Particular Account of the Trial and Sen-
tence'of CHARLES M'EWEN, who is to be Exe-
cuted at Edinburgh, ou Wednesday the 7th of April.
1824,for the Barbarous Murder of Margaret Mo-
ney, and his body to be given for dissection.

YESTERDAY, March 1, 1824, came On before the High Court
of Justiciary, the Trial of Roders M'Leod, alias John M'In-
tyre, alias Charles M'Intosh, alias Charles M'Ewen, alias Charles
M,Kay, accused of the wilful murder of Margaret Money, with
whom he had previously cohabited as man and wife, by striking
her on the head with a small iron anvil, on Thursday the 9th of
October, 1823, on the uninhabited, moor or mountain, commonly
called the Firmonth, and at a part near to the junction of the shires
of Aberdeen and Forfar, and in the immediate vicinity of a Loch
called. Lochmavens..

The prisoner pled Not Guilty.    The anvil, a coat, and pair of

trowsers, stained with blood, with various articles of women's

wearing apparel, all stained with blood, were brought before the

court,    Two declarations, emitted before the Sheriff substitute of

Aberdeenshire, and two surgical reports, dated and, signed, were

also produced to the court.

The List contained 42 witnesses, but a few were only examined.
The evidence showed that the murder was deliberately commit-
ted, without any provocation ; it was proved by the people of the
house, where they slept the night previous to the murder, that they
both left, the house in good humour; and he had taken the most
unfrequented part of the road to commit the horrid deed.

Three witnesses who were present when Dr Garie compared the
anvil with the wounds,.proved either that they corresponded exactly,
or that they were as near alike as any one would expect or imagine.

Two ather witnesses deposed that they saw the deceased and the
prisoner together proceeding towards Firmouth. On his arrival at
the the first-house his trowsers were dripping with rain and blood,
and there were marks below his knees as though he had knelt in
blood. Ae was restless of night, and frequently called for. whisky.
On the Saturday he asked his landlord if he had heard of the wo-
man being killed on Firmouth ; and on the witness's saying he did
not believe it he said it was certainly true, for he had seen her all
over blood, as he passed, and she surely had been murdered.

The Lord Justice Clerk having summed up the evidence at full
length, with his usual clearness, the jury without leaving the box,
returned as unanimous verdict of Guilty against the pannel.

His Lordship, after a most impressive address, in which he re
commended to the prisoner to employ the few remaining days
he is allowed on earth in the important works of repentance, and
to endeavour, by the deepest contrition and heartfelt sorrow for.
his past offences, to make his peace with that God against whom
he had so heinously sinned, by the perpetration of a crime, of all
others the most foul and detestable: after the address, the panel
asked liberty to speak for a minute, which was not granted.

His Lordship then proceeded to pronounce upon the unfortunate
man the awful sentence of the law, which was, that he is to be
hanged by the hands of the public executioner, on Wednesday the
7th day of April next, at the head of Libbertons's Wynd, betwixt
the hour of eight and ten in the morning; and his body thereafter
to be given to Dr Alex. Monro to be dissected and anatomized.
The prisoner then said, " Thank your Lordship, but I'll die in-
nocent.

M'Ewan is a tall,stout-made man, and stood with a firmness,
and composure bordering on hardenednes, during the address
and. pronouncing of the sentence.                                             

Edinburgh, Printed, for James Doghety, Price One Penny.

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