Examination of the claim of John Lindsay Crawfurd

JOHN LINDSAY CRAWFURD. 27
and that he was obliged to fly from his country, for having committed
a murder, or shooting a man in a duel."
The incident of the duel is alluded to in the deposition of Patrick Mr Beiis
M'Elhanon, and sworn to by Henry Fullarton ; and various other anTia
witnesses all connect James Crawfurd of Broagh with the family
of Kilbirnie ; but these will be more fully considered at a subse-
quent part of the case.
After Mr Bell had ascertained the authenticity of the affidavits
taken at Paisley, he proceeded to Kilbirnie, where he examined the
parish records, and took extracts of the baptisms and burials of
several members of the Kilbirnie family, and then adds — " After I iwa. P . 26.
had examined the Session's book, I made active enquiry among the
most opulent and intelligent inhabitants relative to the reputation of
the country, as far as it regarded the Honourable James Crawfurd ;
and was pleased to find, that the tradition of the neighbourhood of
Kilbirnie, Paisley, and Glasgow was, that the Honourable James
Crawfurd had been appointed when very young, through the power-
ful interest of his family, surveyor of the customs of Irvine ; and
having thus unfortunately acquired the means of gratifying his
passions before he knew how to curb them, led rather a dissipated
life, which involved him not unfrequently in quarrels, in one of
which, he unluckily and unfairly killed a young man of rank, having
fired before the signal was given. Distracted at the commission of
the fatal act, which was at that time punished with death and con-
fiscation in Scotland, no matter how or on what account the duel
originated, he had no alternative but to fly, or surrender to the exe-
cutioner. He fled first to Irvine, where, it is said, he seized what
public money he could lay his hands on, and then hastened to Dub-
lin. There he made himself known to Colonel Joshua Dawson, the
father of Arthur Dawson, one of the Barons of his Majesty's Court
of Exchequer in Ireland, and with whom Mr Crawfurd's father and
elder brother were intimately acquainted. Colonel Dawson, being
apprized of the danger of his situation, willingly received him into
his house ; and, for his better safety, immediately carried him to his
country residence at Castle Dawson, in the county of Londonderry,
where he appointed him his factor, the better to conceal his rank and