disappeared; but by a sort of fatuity, often evinced
by persons similarly situated, he gave clues to his
own discovery. He remained in London till the
zgrd of March. He took his passage on board the
Leith smack Endeavorfr for that port, disguised as
an old man in bad health, and under the name of
John Dixon ; but on getting out of the Thames,
according to some previous arrangement, he was
landed at Flushing, and from thence reached
Ostend. On board the smack he was rash enough
to give in charge of a Mr. Geddes letters addressed
to three persons in Edinburgh, one of whom was
his favourite mistress in Cant?s Close. Geddes,
full of suspicion, on reaching Leith gave the documents
to the authorities. Mr. Williamson was once
more on his track, and discovered him in Amsterdam,
through the treachery of an Irishman named
Daly, when he was on the
eve of his departure for
the halter destined for himself j? and well might he
do so with terrible interest, as he was to be the
jrst to know the excellence of an improvement he
had formerly made on that identical gibbet-the
substitution of what is called the drop, for the
ancient practice of the double ladder. The ropes
proving too short, Brodie stepped down to the
platform and entered into easy conversation with
his friends.
This occurred no less than three times, while
the great bell of St. Giles?s was tolling slowly, and
the crowd of spectators was vast. Brodie died
without either confessing or denying his guilt ; but
the conduct and bearing of Smith were very different.
In consequence of the firmness and levity of the
former, a curious story became quickly current, to
the effect that in the Tolbooth he had been visited
by Dr. Pierre Degraver,
LANTERN AND KEYS OF DEACON ERODIE.
IFrom tke Scofti?h Anfiarurrian Museum.)
America; and on the 27th
of August, 1788, he was
arraigned with Smith in
the High Court of Justiciary,
when he had as
counsel the Hon. Henry
Erskine, known then as
?Plead for all, or the
poor man?s lawyer,? and
two other advocates of
eminence, who made an
attempt to prove an dibi
on the part of Brodie,
by means of Jean Watt
and her servant, but
the jury, with one voice, found both guilty, and
they were sentenced to be hanged at the west
endof the Luckenbooths on the 1st October, 1788.
Smith was deeply affected; Brodie cool, determined,
and indifferent His self-possession never forsook
him, and he spoke of his approaching end with
levity, as ??a leap in the dark,? and he only betrayed
emotion when he was visited, for the last time, by
his daughter Cecil, a pretty child of ten years of
age. He came on the scaffold in a full suit of
black, with his hair dressed and powdered. Smith
was attired in white linen, trimmed with black.
?Having put on white night-caps,? says a print
of the time, ?Brodie pointed to Smith to ascend
the steps that led to the drop, and in an easy manner,
clapping him on the shoulder, said, ?George
Smith, you are first in hand.? Upon this Smith,
whose behaviour was highly penitent and resigned,
slowly ascended the steps, followed by Brodie, who
mounted with briskness and agility, and examined
the dreadful apparatus with attention, particularly
a French quack, who
undertook to restore hiin
to life after he had hung
the usual time, and that,
on the day before the execution,
he had marked
the arms and temples of
Brodie, to indicate where
he would apply the lancet.
Moreover, it was said
that having to lengthen
the rope thrice proved
that they had bargained
secretly with the executioner
for a short fall.
When cut down the
body was instantly given to two of his own
workmen, who placed it on a cart, and drove at
a furious rate round the back of the Castle, with
the idea that the rough jolting might produce
resuscitation! It was then taken to one of his
workshops in the Lawnmarket, where Degraver
was in attendance; but all attempts at bleeding
failed j the Deacon was gone, and nothing remained
but to lay him where he now lies, in the north-east
corner of the Chapel-of-ease burying-ground. His
dark lantern and sets of false keys, presented by the
Clerk of Justiciary to the Society of Antiquaries, are
still preserved in the city.
He had at one time been Deacon Convener
or chief of all the trades in the city, an ofice of
the highest respectability. His house in Brodie?s
Close is still to be found in nearly its original state;
the first door up a turnpike shir; and this door,
remarkable for its elaborate workmanship, is said
to have been that of his own ingenious hand. The
apartments are all decorated; and the priicipal one,
