Edinburgh Bookshelf

Kay's Originals Vol. 2

Search

358 B I0 GR AP H I C AL S KET C HE S. of the murder, and collected many facts which tended to throw suspicion upon him. Mackcoull arrived in Dublin towards the end of November, or beginning of December, following the death of Begbie. Captain Moffat, frequented the gaming-tables, and was looked upon as a person of respectability, till detected in the act of picking a gentleman’s pocket in the pit of the theatre, for which he was committed to Newgate, but liberated before the sessions commenced, in consequence of the death of his prosecutor. About the end of October 1807 he returned to Edinburgh, took genteel lodgings in Mid Rose Street, dressed well, and went out much in public. He associated with many of the higher order of gamblers, and was frequently a guest at the table of young men of fortune. He seldom went to Leith, and when met by any of his former acquaintances, accounted for his absence by saying he had made a voyage to the West Indies. He pretended at this period to make his living by a new system of staining lamb and sheep skins; and he had a vat or two erected at his lodgings, the better to deceive his acquaintances. Not long after his return, the large notes of which Begbie had been robbed were found carelessly laid in the hole of an old wall in Bellevue grounds on the north side of the town then being taken down to make way for building. Mackcoull had been often seen walking in this direction, and it was conceived that, afraid to put the notes in circulation, he had adopted this mode of restoring them.’ Immediately after this, he changed his lodgings, taking up his abode at a gardener’s house, about a mile distant, on the opposite or south side of the city. This movement he accounted for on the score of ill health. Here he likewise carried his vats, and kept up the show of shining leather ; but it was observed that he always had plenty of money and wrokght very little. He was a great favourite in the neighbourhood-smoked, and drank, and joked with every one j and all his new acquaintances were fond of the “English gentleman.” Here his wife paid him a visit, and being a well-bred woman, and dressed in the first style of fashion, her appearance tended greatly to strengthen her husband‘s credit. At length, however, his good character waa blasted. The well-known vocalist, Incledon, having played a few nights at the Edinburgh Theatre, immense numbers flocked to see him, and it was !observed that Moffat was so fond of theatricals, “that although then very corpulent, he did not care how much he was jostled in the crowd.” On one of these occasions he was discovered in an attempt to pick a gentleman’s pocket. n e got off with the money, and Here he represented himself as ’ country. agreed to put a particular mark on their notes, in order to ensure detection. immediately intimated to the pmviucial banks and acted upon. the grounda of Bellevue. discovery. plaoe where the murder waa committed. not in Edinburgh at the time. A meeting of all the bankers in Edinburgh w a ~ held next forenoon, at which they This resolution waa 1 For more than three wekap&w, it was rumoured everywhere that they had been found in This report must have been circulated for the purpose of leading to their It is rather curious that the person who found them-a won-resided at the very He had no ditficulty in proving, however, that he was
Volume 9 Page 477
  Shrink Shrink   Print Print