114 [Bmdie?r Close.
from, and tried it on the lock by way of experiment,
but went no further then.
On the 5th of March, Brodie, Smith, Ainslie,
and Brown, met in the evening about eight to make
the grand attempt. The Deacon was attired in
black, with a brace of pistols ; he had with him
several keys and a double picklock. He seemed
themselves in danger when they heard Mr. Bonar
coming down-stairs, they cocked their pistols, determined
not to be taken.?
Eventually they got clear off with their booty,
which proved to be only sixteen pounds odd, when
they had expected thousands ! They all separated I -Brown and Ainslie betook themselves to the New
in the wildest spirits, and as they set forth he sang
the well-known ditty from the ? Beggar?s Opera?-
? Let us take the road,
Hark ! I hear the sound of coaches!
The hour of attack
approaches ;
To your arms brave
boys. and load.
?See the ball I hold ;
Let chemists toil
like asses-
Our fire their fire
surpasses,
And turns our lead to
gold !?
The office was
shut at night, but
nowatchmancame
till ten. Ainslie
kept watch in
Chessel?s Court,
Brodic inside the
outer door, when
he opened it,
while Smith and
Brown entered the
cashier?sroom. All
save the first carwhistle
by which he was to sound an alarm if
necessary. In forcing the second or inner door,
Brown and Smith had to use a crowbar, and the
coulter of a plough which they had previously stolen
for the purpose. Their faces were craped; they
had with them a dark lantern, and they burst open
every desk and press in the room. While thus
engaged, Mr. James Bonar, the deputy-solicitor,
returned unexpectedly to the office at half-past
eight, and detection seemed imminent indeed !
?The outer door he found shut, and on opening it
a inan in black (Brodie) hurriedly passed him, a
circumstance to which, not having the slightest
suspicion, he paid no attention. He went to his
room up-stairs, where he remained bnly a few
minutes, and then returned, shutting the outer
door behind him. Perceiving this, Ainslie became
Town, Brodie hurried home to the Lawnmarket,
changed his dress, and proceeded to the house of
his mistress, Jean Watt, in Liberton?s Wynd, and
on an evening soon after the miserable spoil
was divided in
equal proportions.
By this time the
town was alarmed,
and the police on
the alert. Brown
(alias Humphry
Moore), who
proved the greatest
villain of the
whole, was at that
time under sentence
of transportation
for some
crime committed
in his native
country, England,
and having seen
an advertisement
offering reward and
pardon to any person
who should
discover a recent
Homer, one of the many transactions in which
Brodie had been engaged of late with Smith and
others, he resolved to turn king?s evidence, and
on the very evening he had secured his share of
the late transaction he went to the Procurator
Fiscal, and gave information, but omitted to mention
the name of Brodie, from whom he expected
to procure money for secrecy. He conducted
the police to the base of the Craigs, where they
found concealed under a large stone a great number
of keys intended for future operations in all
directions. In consequence of this, Ainslie, Smith
and his wife and servant, were all arrested. Then
Brodie fled, and Brown revealed the whole affair.
Mr. Williamson, king?s messenger for Scotland,
traced the Deacon from point to point till he reached
Dover, where after an eighteen days? pursuit he
