?Calling the two boys to him, he upbraided
them with their informing upon him, and told them
that they must suffer for it. They ran off, but he
easily overtook and seized them. Then keeping
one down upon the grass with his knee, he cut the
manner the remaining one.?
By a singular chance a gentleman enjoying his
evening stroll upon the Castle Hill obtained a perfect
view of the whole episode-most probably
with a telescope-and immediately gave an alarm.
Irvine, who had already attempted, but unsuccessfully,
to cut his own throat, now fled .from his pursuers
towards the Water of Leith, thinking to drown
himself, but was taken, brought in a cart to the
tolbooth of Broughton, and there chained down
to the floor like a wild beast.
In those days there was a summary process in
Scotland for murderers, taken as he was-red hand.
It was only necessary to bring him next day before
the judge of the district and have sentence passed
upon him. Irvine was tried before the Baronbailie
upon the 30th of April, and received sentence
of death.
In his dying confession,? supposed to be unique,
it is recorded that ?he desired one who was present
to take care of his books and conceal his
papers, for he said there were many foolish things
in them. He imagined that he was to be hung in
chains, and showed some concern on that account.
He prayed the parents of the murdered children to
forgive him, which they, very christianly, consented
to. At sight of the bloody clothes in which the
children were murdered, and which were brought
to him in the prison a little before he went to the
place of execution, he was much affected, and
broke into groans and tears. When he came to
the place of execution the ministers prayed for him,
and he also prayed himself, but with a low voice. . . . . Both his hands were struck off by the
executioner, and he was afterwards hanged. While
he was hanging the wound he gave himself in the
throat with the penknife broke out afresh, and the
blood gushed out in great abundance.?
He was hanged at Greenside, and his hands were
stuck upon the gibbet with the knife used in the
murders. His bodJ? was then flung into a neighbouring
quarry-hole.
In February, 1721, John Webster, having committed
a murder upon a young woman named
Marion Campbell, daughter of Campbell of Kevenknock,
near the city wall, but on Heriot?s Hospital
ground, was taken to Broughton, and condemned
to death by the Baron-bailie; and in the same
year the treasurer of the hospital complains of
the expense incurred in prosecuting offenders in
some other cases of murder committed within the
barony; but these onerous and costly privileges
?Domestic Annals,? vol. iiii
other?s throat, after which he dispatched in like
abolished all hereditable jurisdictions, and a few
years afterwards the governors granted the use of
the ancient tolbooth to one of their tenants as a
storehouse, ?reserving to the hospital a room for
holding their Baron Courts when they shall think
fit.?
Though demolished, some fragments of the old
edifice still remain in the shape of cellars, in connection
with premises occupied as a tavern in
Broflghton Street.
The minute books of this ancient barony are still
preserved, and contain a great number of names of
persons of note who were made free burgesses of
the burgh, several of these having received that
honour in return for good deeds conferred upon it.
During the insurrection of I 7 I 5 the inhabitants
of the regality obtained leave to form a nightguard
for their own protection, but to be under the
orders of the captain of the Canongate Guard.
The magistracy of this burgh consisted of a
Baron-bailie, a senior and junior bailie, high sheriff,
treasurer, clerk, dean of guild, surgeon, bellman,
and captain of the tolbooth. The first-named
official, ?? on high occasions, dons a crimson robe
and cocked hat, displaying at the same time a
grand official chain with medal attached. These,
with a bell, ancient musket, sword, and some other
articles, compose the moveable property of the
corporation.?
The lodge of Free Gardeners of the Barony of
Broughton was instituted in the year 1845, by a
number of citizens of the ward, and as regards the
number of its members and finance is said to be
one of the most successful of the order in Scotland.
In 21 Broughton Street, there resided about the
year 1855 a hard-working and industrious literary
man, the late William Anderson, author of ? LandscapeLyrics,?
The Scottish Biographical Dictionary,?
? The Scottish Nation,? in three large volumes,
and other works; but who died old, poor, unpensioned,
ahd neglected.
The village, or little burgh, appears to have been
situated principally to the north of where Albany
Street stands, comprising within its limits Broughton
Place and Street, Barony Street and Albany Street.
The houses, with few exceptions, were two-storeyed
though small, having outside stairs, thatched roofs,
and crow-stepped gables, each having a little
garden or kailyard in front. They seem to have
(Steven?s ? Hist. Heriot?s Hospital.?)
? were eventually abrogated in I 746, by the Act which
