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,