Post by Elly on Aug 9, 2005 23:06:30 GMT 10
The Appin Murder
This event was made famous by Robert Louis Stevenson in his novel Kidnapped. A granite monument to the south of the Ballachulish Bridge marks the spot where James of the Glen was hanged in 1752 for "... a crime of which he was not guilty".
Appin was Stewart country, and after the '45 Rising, the Stewart lands were confiscated by the Government. Colin Campbell of Glenure was the Government Factor in Appin and for years he had been evicting Stewart tenants from their crofts on the more productive lands and replacing them with Campbells.
On the day of the murder, Colin Campbell and his party crossed the Ballachulish ferry armed with eviction orders; yet more Stewarts were to be removed from Appin. They rode along the coast road through Kentallen and it was here that Campbell was shot in the back by an unknown assailant who made his escape without being seen.
At the time of the shooting James of the Glen, who had himself been evicted from his farm in Glen Duror, was sowing oats on his smallholding in Acharn and was the first person encountered by Campbell's servant who had gone looking for help. As an important Campbell had been murdered, James, an outspoken critic of the evictions and a half-brother of the exiled chief of the Stewart clan, was arrested to satisfy the Campbells' need for revenge. James's trial is remembered in the Highlands as a notorious case of legal injustice. At this time, the Campbells were the Hanoverian Government's Scottish agents. The trial took place at Inverary before the Duke of Argyll, the Lord Justice General in Scotland and the Chief of the Campbell clan.
The Duke chose the jury, which included 11 Campbells, and, with no evidence of guilt produced, the inevitable result was that James Stewart was hanged at Ballachulish on 8th November 1752. His body was chained up and left hanging there under guard for two months until it was reduced to bare bones and started falling apart. The bones were then wired together again and re-hung. It was late the following year before his bones were finally laid to rest. It is generally accepted that the name of the real murderer was known to the leading Stewarts of Appin, and that this secret has been handed down through the generations. Because the outcome was that an innocent man was allowed to hang for a murder he did not commit, it is unlikely that this secret will ever be divulged.
This event was made famous by Robert Louis Stevenson in his novel Kidnapped. A granite monument to the south of the Ballachulish Bridge marks the spot where James of the Glen was hanged in 1752 for "... a crime of which he was not guilty".
Appin was Stewart country, and after the '45 Rising, the Stewart lands were confiscated by the Government. Colin Campbell of Glenure was the Government Factor in Appin and for years he had been evicting Stewart tenants from their crofts on the more productive lands and replacing them with Campbells.
On the day of the murder, Colin Campbell and his party crossed the Ballachulish ferry armed with eviction orders; yet more Stewarts were to be removed from Appin. They rode along the coast road through Kentallen and it was here that Campbell was shot in the back by an unknown assailant who made his escape without being seen.
At the time of the shooting James of the Glen, who had himself been evicted from his farm in Glen Duror, was sowing oats on his smallholding in Acharn and was the first person encountered by Campbell's servant who had gone looking for help. As an important Campbell had been murdered, James, an outspoken critic of the evictions and a half-brother of the exiled chief of the Stewart clan, was arrested to satisfy the Campbells' need for revenge. James's trial is remembered in the Highlands as a notorious case of legal injustice. At this time, the Campbells were the Hanoverian Government's Scottish agents. The trial took place at Inverary before the Duke of Argyll, the Lord Justice General in Scotland and the Chief of the Campbell clan.
The Duke chose the jury, which included 11 Campbells, and, with no evidence of guilt produced, the inevitable result was that James Stewart was hanged at Ballachulish on 8th November 1752. His body was chained up and left hanging there under guard for two months until it was reduced to bare bones and started falling apart. The bones were then wired together again and re-hung. It was late the following year before his bones were finally laid to rest. It is generally accepted that the name of the real murderer was known to the leading Stewarts of Appin, and that this secret has been handed down through the generations. Because the outcome was that an innocent man was allowed to hang for a murder he did not commit, it is unlikely that this secret will ever be divulged.
