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Kay's Originals Vol. 2

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368 BI 0 Gl?, A P HI GAL S ICE T C HE S. verted the once courtly sedan. Formerly they were in (Treat demand about the Parliament Square, most members of the College of Justice having their stated chairmen in attendance. Lord Monbocldo, though he invariably went home on foot, used to employ a sedan, if it rained,.to carry his wig I The Society of Edinburgh Chairmen was instituted in 1740. No. CCXCIII. JAME S M’KEAN, AT THE BAR OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY. . THIS is understood to be a striking likeness of the prisoner, as he appeared at his trial-placed between two of the Old Town Guard-for the murder of Euchanan the Lanark carrier. The name of M‘KEAN is well remembered by the inhabitants of the west of Scotland ; and the circumstances of his crime are yet fresh in the memory of many old people of the district. . He was a shoemaker in Glasgow; and, though poor, had maintained a reputable character up to the period of the murder. M‘Kean was intimate with his victim, James Buchanan, the Lanark and Glasgow carrier, and was aware that he was in the habit of carrying money betwixt these places, On the 7th October 1796, the day on which the deed was committed, it appears he had obtained information that Buchanan had received a sum in charge : and immediately contemplated making himself master of it. With this view he invited him to his house in the evening to drink tea. The unsuspecting carrier accordingly called about six o’clock, and was ushered into a room perfectly dark, there being neither fire nor candle, Here M‘Eean accomplished his villanous design in the most deliberate and revolting manner. He then thrust the body of Euchanan into a closet; and on coming out of the room asked his daughter for a towel, which she gave him ; but, remarking that it would not do, he took up a piece of green cloth which covered the carpet, and again retired into the room. With this he attempted to dry up the immense quantity of blood on the floor ; but his wife, being attracted by the noise of chairs driven about, ran to the door, which was opened by M‘Kean. On discovering the blood, she shrieked “Murder ;” when her guilty husband, taking up his hat, instantly disappeared. The neighbours having caught the alarm, and hurried to the spot, found the body in the closet, and also the instrument of death lying upon a shelf in the room. M‘Kean fled from Glasgow, proceeding by the Kilmarnock road ; and on the This was a razor, tied with a rosined thread, so as to preveet it from yielding,
Volume 9 Page 489
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