Trial of Duncan Terig

by Walter Scott

  (Signed)

  Ch. Areskine.

  Donald Farquharson, in Glendee, married man, who being solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial council, and interrogate, depones, That in summer one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, Arthur Davies, late serjeant in General Guise's regiment, was with a serjeant's command of soldiers stationed in Dubrach, in Glendee, in Braemar, in Aberdeenshire; and the Serjeant, with his wife, the preceding witness, stayed in the house of Michael Farquharson, the deponent's father, where the deponent also stayed: Depones, That the Serjeant was a sober well behaving man, very civil to the country, and, so far as the deponent knew, had the good-will of the country: That he was a good manager of his money; and the deponent has seen with him a good deal of gold, which he commonly kept in a long purse, either blue or green, the deponent does not remember which, and he had also another purse, in which he kept his silver: That he had a silver watch, with a seal hanging at it, and silver buckles in his shoes, and knees of his breeches: That the deponent has seen two vests with him, one with a white stripe, and the other of a roe's skin; and that he had a set of silver buttons for a vest, which he used with the one or other as he had occasion: That he had also two rings, which he told the deponent were gold, the one of them a large coarse ring, with a knob on the one side of it, either of the shape of a seal or a heart, the deponent does not remember which: Depones, That when Serjeant Davies went a-shooting or fishing, he was commonly dressed in one of the above vests, and a blue meet upper coat, or surtout, with highland brogues, which he had purchased for the purpose, and had caused to be made so as to be tied with silver buckles: Depones, That on the above gold ring with the knob, there was upon the upper side of the knob some scores that the deponent did not understand the meaning of: Depones, That the Serjeant was wont frequently to take out his purse, either in paying or receiving money, or some time even in playing with children; and that when he went a- hunting or shooting, he always wore a laced hat, with a silver button: Depones, That the last time the deponent saw him was on Wednesday the twenty-seventh day of September, one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, the deponent having gone that day to the fair at Kirkmichael, eighteen miles from his father's house, and did not return till Saturday thereafter: Depones, That at his return, passing by the house where the soldiers were quartered, one of them named Patrick Ogilvie, asked the deponent whether he had seen Serjeant Davies at the fair? and the deponent having answerd that he did not see him, and that certainly he had not been there, or he would have seen him, Ogilvie then said he was afraid of him, for that he had gone away upon the Thursday to meet a patrol from Glenshee, and had not yet returned; that they supposed he had gone with that patrol to the fair, but that since he was not there, he suspected he had been murdered; and the deponent never saw him alive since that time: Depones, That the captain of that command to whom the Serjeant belonged, hearing that he was amissing, sent a party of men on the Sunday to Dubrach to search for his body, and went with them for three or four following days, but without any success: Depones, That in the month of June seventeen hundred and fifty, the deponent was told by the people in his father's house, that Alexander Macpherson, alias M'Gillas, had been there inquiring for him, and wanted much to see him, and desired the deponent would go to his master's sheilling in Glenconie, about two miles' distance from Dubrach, and that he wanted much to speak to him: That after some days the deponent went to him, when Macpherson told him that he was greatly troubled with an apparition, the ghost of the deceased Serjeant Davies, who insisted that he should bury his bones; and that he having declined to bury them, the ghost insisted that he should apply to the deponent, saying that he was sure Donald Farquharson would help to bury his bones: That the deponent could not believe that he had seen such an apparition, upon which Macpherson desired him to go along with him, and he would show him the bones, and the place where he had found them: That the deponent went along with him, which he did the rather that he thought it might possibly be true, and if it was, he did not know but the apparition might trouble himself: Depones, That they accordingly found the bones in a peat-moss, where peats had been casten above ground, and near to the top of a hill: That the place was distant from Dubrach between two and three miles, between Glenchristie and Glenconie, and about half a mile from the road the patroling parties commonly take from Dubrach to Glenshee: That the spot where the body was lying had the surface of the ground entire, and no peats had been casten there: That the flesh had been mostly consumed from the bones, and the head separated from the body, and the hair lying by itself, separated from the head; and depones, that the hair was of the same colour with the Serjeant's hair, a mouse colour: That they also found some blue cloth, all torn in rags, some of it under the body, and some of it lying by the body; and it appeared to the deponent to be of the same kind of cloth with that of the blue coat that the Serjeant commonly wore when he went a-shooting: Depones, That the bones were not all lying together, but were scattered asunder, particularly some of the joints of his arms, and one of his legs; and that some of them were scattered at the distance of several yards: Depones, That Macpherson told him that when he first found the bones, which was about eight days before, that they were lying farther off, under a bank, and he drew them out with his staff: Depones, That they also found a pair of brogues, which appeared to the deponent to be of the same kind with what the Serjeant wore, only with this difference, that the taggs for the buckles were cut away, which seemed to have been done with a knife: Depones, That he asked Macpherson whether the apparition had told him by whom he had been murdered: That Macpherson said he had asked the question, and the apparition answered, that if he had not asked him, he would have power to have told him: That the deponent also asked him if the apparition had given him any orders about carrying his bones to a churchyard: Depones, That Macpherson said he had given no answer, and thereupon they agreed to bury him in that place; and accordingly they dug a hole in the moss, with the shaft of a shovel that Macpherson had, and buried the bones there, and laid a part of the blue cloth under the bones, and a part of it above it, and covered all with some turfs that they had tore up from the moss; and being showed a fusee, depones, that one day the Serjeant and the deponent went out a-deer-hunting, and the Serjeant, in loading his gun, which was either a French or a Spanish piece, happened to put in a ball that was too large for the bore, so that he could not, with the ram-rod, drive it down to the powder: That the deponent advised him to go to his father's sheilling to get a stronger ram-rod; but the Serjeant, being impatient to go about his diversion, fired the fusee, and cracked the barrel about the middle; and having examined the fusee now produced, observed that the barrel is cracked about the same place, and, so far as appears to him, may be the same barrel: Depones, That there appears to be some alterations made upon the stock since the Serjeant had it: That the but was thicker than it is now, and clad with iron at the end; and there was also another ring for the keeping of the ram-rod, other than that now shown him: Depones, That the gun was shown to the deponent on Wednesday last by James Growar, son to Donald Growar in Glendee, who told him that he found it in the hill in sight of Glenconie: Depones, That after Serjeant Davies was killed or amissing as aforesaid, he saw yellow rings on Elizabeth Downie's fingers, spouse to the prisoner, Duncan Terig alias Clerk, one of which had a knob upon it, as Serjeant Davies's ring also had, but does not remember the shape of either of these knobs: Depones, That he asked her whether it was gold, and she said it was: Depones, That he saw this ring upon Elizabeth Downie's finger before she was married to the prisoner; but it was then reported in the country that he was in suit of her for marriage, and has at several times, before and since Serjeant Davies was amissing, seen other yellow rings upon her fingers, but never saw the ring with the knob upon her finger till after the Serjeant was amissing, nor never saw it on her finger after she was married; and being asked whether it did not strike him, when he saw the ring with the knob on it upon Elizabeth Downie's hand, that it was Serjeant Davies's
ring, Depones, that it did not; and further depones, that he has known Elizabeth Downie change her rings every other year: Depones, That after she was married, the deponent asked her if she had a gold ring, and she answered she never had one but one which was her mother's, which made the deponent suppose that the said ring with the knob had been her mother's; and depones, that the panel, her husband, was in prison when he asked her this question: Depones, That at first there was a report in the country that Serjeant Davies had deserted, then it was supposed that he had been killed by the thieves, but last of all, the report was, that he had been killed by the prisoners, and that has continued to be the report of the country for these three years: And being asked what he took to be the grounds of that report, Depones, that he took it to be, that Macdonald, as Lord Bracco's forrester, had a warrant for carrying guns for killing of deer, and he carried Clerk alongst with him, and none other of the country had any warrant to carry arms; but he heard that some of the people in the country suspected that the ring with the knob that he had seen on Elizabeth Downie's finger was Serjeant Davies's ring; and being interrogate as to the character of the two panels, depones, that he has heard Clerk habite and repute a sheep-stealer, but that he never heard any thing of Macdonald, but that he once broke the chest of one Corbie, and took some money out of it: Depones, That he never heard Clerk get the character of a good deer-stalker, though he could shoot wild fowl: Depones, That Alexander Macpherson, before mentioned, once served the deponent's father, and is accounted an honest lad; but on the panel's interrogatory, Depones, that he has been charged with telling of stories, and that all is not to be believed that he says; though that is the general character, the deponent knows no reason for it: Depones, That Duncan Clerk once pursued his accusers before a Sheriff Court at Braemar, and freed himself at that time, and, as he heard, got some mends of his accusers, but what it was he knows not: That the only particular act of theft he heard him accused of, was the stealing of a parcel of sheep from Alexander Farquharson in Inverey, and which was the ground of the process before mentioned before the Sheriff: Depones, That the Sabbath before the Serjeant was amissing, a woman came to the deponent's father's house, and told them that, coming through the hills, she had seen four thieves in arms, who had separated fourteen of his father's cattle, upon which the Serjeant, with a party, went in quest of them immediately, but could find none of them, they having, it seems, gone off and left the cattle: Depones, That upon the Friday, the twenty-ninth of September, the corporal stationed at Glenshee met with the deponent at the fair of Kirkmichael, while the deponent was buying a pair of shoes, and he told the corporal that they were for Serjeant Davies, and the corporal told him that he had parted with the Serjeant the day before at the Water of Benow; the Serjeant, after that, was going to the hill to get a shot of the deer; which Water of Benow is about half a mile's distance from the place where the patrolling parties used to meet: Depones, That the prisoner Clerk was a common dealer in buying of sheep and cattle; and the deponent has seen him both buying and paying the price, and his father was reputed one of the richest tenants in Inverey's grounds. Causa scientiæ patet; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God.