12 SCOTS TRIALS
THE ARRAN MURDER
THE Isle of Arran, as most readers lznow, lies
in the estuary of
the Clyde, between the pleasant shores of Carrick and Kintyre.
To the north, beyond the Kyles of Bute, are the sea-lochs, moors,
and mountains of Argyll ; southward the Craig of Ailsa stands
sentinel in the wider Firth. The first prospect of the island,
whether from the Ayrshire coast or from the deck of some
passing vessel in the fairway, is unforgettable--the majestic
outline of the serrated peaks, soaring out of the sea to pierce
the rain-clouds too often wreathed about their summits, the
sunlight gleaning on their granite flanks, wet from some recent
shower, and over all, austere and solitary, the great grey
cone of Goatfell, "the mountain of the winds." Amid these
formidable giants are many glens, some bare and savage as
themselves, others domesticated, as it were, by the kindly uses
of man ; while at their feet lie certain bays whose yellow sands,
beloved by generations of children, are, alas! no "undiscovered
country" to the excursionist.
At the time of which we write the moral and
physical
atmosphere of the island was above reproach; wickedness and
manufactories were alike unknown. The larger villages boasted
each its own constable, who embodied the law in some peace-
ful cottage, incongruously labelled "Police Station"; but these
officers led a life of ease and dignity among the blameless lieges,
being only called upon to exercise their functions now and then
on the person of an obstreperous tripper. Yet this fortunate
isle was to become the scene of a crime, characterised at a later
stage as "unprecedented and incredibly atrocious."
On the forenoon of Friday, 12th July 1889,
the once famous
Clyde steamer Ivanhoe, in the course of her daily run to Arran
from the upper reaches of the Firth, called at Rothesay, the
[273]
"capital" of Bute. Among the passengers who then joined the
vessel was a party from Glenburn Hydropathic, including a
young Englishman named Edwin Robert Rose, a clerk in the
employment of a Brixton builder, then spending his fortnight's
holiday in Scotland. He was thirty-two years of age, of light
build, five feet seven in height, of athletic, active habits, and in
the best of health and spirits. On the sail to Arran he struck
up an acquaintance with a fellow-passenger, a young man who
gave his name as Annandale, and they landed together at
Brodick for an hour or so until the steamer's return from
Whiting Bay. Apparently they had decided to take lodgings
in the village, for shortly after the steamer's arrival Annandale
presented himself at the house of Mrs. Walker, Invercloy, and
inquired for rooms. Invercloy is the name of the village,
Brodick that of the district. It was then the Glasgow Fair
week, and the limited accommodation available was taxed to
its utmost limits. Mrs. Walker, however, was able to offer
a room with one bed, in a wooden structure adjoining her
house, having a separate entrance from the outside. Annandale
agreed to take it for a week, stating that he came from Tighna-
bruaich, and that his room would be shared by a friend who
could not remain. longer than the following Wednesday. It
was arranged that they should occupy the room next day, and
that Annandale was to take his meals there, while Rose got
his at Mrs. Woolley's tea-shop in the village. They returned
together to Rothesay that afternoon, and Annandale accom-
panied Rose to the Hydropathic, where the latter introduced
him to some of his friends.
Two of these, named Mickel and Thom,
who also intended
spending the week-end at Brodick, left for Arran by the Ivanhoe
on Saturday, the 13th, and were joined on board by Rose and
Annandale. Mickel and Thom were unable to fnd rooms, and
slept on a friend's yacht in the bay. From the Saturday to
Monday the four men saw a good deal of each other, walking
and boating together, and occasionally meeting at meals in
[274]
Woolley's shop. Mr. Mickel formed an unfavourable opinion of
Annandale, who struck him as singularly silent and uncom-
municative, and as he could neither find out who that young
man was nor where he came from, Mickel more than once
strongly advised Rose to get rid of him, even if he had to leave
his lodgings, and in particular not to climb Goatfell in his
company, as he had proposed to do. Rose promised accordingly,
and at half-past three in the afternoon of Monday, 15th July,
Mr. Mickel and his friend left by the Ivanhoe, Rose and
Annandale being on the pier to see them off.
Both Mickel and Thom spoke highly of Rose
as a young
fellow of agreeable manners, very frank and open, and "ready
to take up with strangers." So far as they knew he seemed to
have plenty of money. He had a watch and chain, and carried
a pocket-book, containing a return half ticket to London, and
his luggage consisted of a black leather Gladstone bag. His
wardrobe included a chocolate and brown striped tennis-jacket,
a grey felt hat, and a white serge yachting-cap.
Mrs. Walker saw nothing further of her lodgers
that day,
as, from the situation of their room, they could go out and in
without her knowledge. At eleven o'clock on the Tuesday
morning she knocked at their door. Getting no answer, she
entered and found that the visitors had vanished, together with
the two bags which they had brought with them when they
came. The room appeared to have been occupied overnight by
two persons. A straw hat, a pair of slippers, a waterproof,
and a tennis-racket had been left behind. Such incidents are
probably not unknown to Arran landladies, and the worst that
Mrs. Walker anticipated was the loss of her rent. She did not
report the matter to the police.
Rose's holiday expired on Thursday, 18th July,
on which
day his brother went to the station in London to meet him,
His relatives, alarmed at his non-arrival, telegraphed to the
Reverend Mr. Goodman, the son of Rose's employer, who was
staying at Glenburn Hydropathic, from whom they learned
[275]
that Rose had gone to Arran with an acquaintance a few days
before, and had not returned. On Saturday, the 27th, Rose's
brother, accompanied by the Chief constable of Bute, arrived
at Brodick. They ascertained that, in spite of Mickel's warn-
ing, the missing man had gone up Goatfell on the 1Monday
afternoon with the mysterious Annandale, who had been seen
to leave Brodick alone next morning by the early steamer, and
it was believed that Rose had never left the island.
On Sunday, the 28th, a search was .organised,
every able
man willingly taking his share of the work, and various parties
began systematically to beat the district. No one unacquainted
with the nature of the ground can form any idea of the
difficulties attending their efforts. Upon the north and west
Goatfell is bounded by a congregation of jagged mountain
ridges and fantastic peaks, with deep shadowy glens and grim
ravines, the bleak sides of whichare furrowed by innumerable
gullies and abrupt watercourses--a scene in its awful solitude
and grandeur so wild, dreary, and desolate as hardly to be
matched in Britain. Day after day the search was continued
among the barren screes and boulder-strewn corries, day after
day the weary searchers returned unsuccessful to their homes,
nor till the evening of the following Sunday, 4th August, was
the object of their quest attained.
That day the search party, consisting of upwards
of two
hundred persons, was divided iinto three portions, one of which
was scouring the east shoulder of Goatfell, at the head of Glen
Sannox. FrancisLogan, a Corrie fisherman, being high up on
the mountain-side, near a place named Corrie-na-fuhren, noticed
an offensive odour which he traced to a large boulder some dis-
tance further up the slope. Built up about its face was a heap
of smaller rocks and stones, with pieces of turf and heather
inserted between the clefts. On examining this structure more
closely, Logan saw among the stones part of a human arm. He
at once raised a shout, and Sergeant Munro with others of the
search party, including the lost man's brother, were quickly on
[276]
THE BOULDER
AT CORRIE-NA-FUHREN
From the photographs produced in court
the spot. When the stones, forty-two in number, were removed,
in a cavity beneath the boulder was seen the dead body of a
man. The screen of stones which had concealed it, the largest
being over a hundredweight, was obviously the work of human
hands. Dr. Gillmour, Linlithgow, a summer visitor at Corrie,
was sent for as the nearest medical man, and until his arrival
the body, which was guarded by the police, remained untouched.
When the doctor reached the boulder about eight o'clock he
first examined the position of the body, which lay at full length
upon its face, and was fully clothed, the skirt of the jacket being
turned back over the head, probably to conceal its ghastly
appearance while the stones were piled around it. The body
was then lifted from beneath the boulder, and having been
identified by Mr. Rose as that of his missing brother, a thorough
examination was made by Dr. Gilmour, Nothing was found
upon the body; all the pockets were empty, and one of them
was turned inside out. On examining the head and face, Dr.
Gilmour found both "fearfully and terrible smashed." Practi-
cally the whole of the face and left side of the head was
destroyed and in au advanced stage of decomposition, but the
body otherwise was uninjured, excepting a fracture of the top
of the left shoulder-blade.
While those who found the body were awaiting
the doctor's
arrival, a search of the surrounding ground was made. Above
the boulder the hill slopes steeply upward to the ridge, at an
angle of about 40 degrees, on the line of a deep gully and
watercourse, often dry in summer, but in which there was then
a small stream. The ground is composed of slabs of granite,
rough heather, sand, and gravel, strewn with boulders and loose
stones. The following articles, afterwards identified as Rose's
property, were found higher up the gully at various distances
from the boulder :--a walking-stick, lying head downwards, as
if dropped; a waterproof, split into two pieces, "huddled
together in a dub, as if they had been trampled upon"; a knife,
pencil, and button, and a cap, folded in four, with a large
[277]
heavy stone on the top of and almost completely concealing it,
in the centre of the bed of the stream. On one side of the
gully, above where the cap was found, was a clear drop of
19 feet, while on the other side, lower down, above where the
knife and pencil were found, was a similar fall of 32 feet.
About nine o'clock the body was placed in
a box and taken
to the coach-house of Corrie Hotel, where a post-mortem
examination was made next day by Dr. Gilmour and Dr.
Fullarton of Lamlash, after which it was buried in the ancient
and picturesque burying-ground of Sannox, at entrance to the
glen. On 27th September the body was exhumed by warrant
of the Sheriff, to enable Sir Henry (then Dr.) Littlejohn and
Dr. Fullarton to examine more particularly the condition of
the internal organs. The conclusion arrived at in the various
medical reports as to the injuries which caused death were,
that these had been produced by direct violence of repeated
blows on the left side of the head, inflicted with some heavy,
blunt instrument.
We shall now see what, so far as ascertained,
were the
movements of the mysterious Annandale on the day of the
murder.
From the sea-level at the old inn of Brodick--now
used in
connection with the estate--on the north side of the bay, the
way to Goatfell lies through the gro«nds of Brodick Castle,
past the Kennels, and through the woods to the open moor,
whence the climber has a clear view of the task before him.
Two relatives of Mrs. Walker, who knew her lodgers by sight,
returning from Goatfell that afternoon, met, Annandale and
Rose in the castle grounds about four o'clock. One of them
noticed that Rose was wearing a watchchain. Shortly there-
after the Reverend Mr. Hind, with two other visitors from
Lamlash, who had left Brodick about three o'clock to climb the
fell, were overtaken on the open hill beyond the castle woods
by two young men. One of these (afterwards identified by a
photograph as Rose) walked with the party for about half-an-
[278]
hour. The other kept steadily some yards ahead, and spoke to
no one. Rose mentioned that he came from London, and had
been staying at Rothesay. A shower coming on, Mr. Hind's
party took shelter behind a boulder, but the others, who had
waterproofs, continued the ascent. The party could see them
going up in front, and when they themselves gained the top
about six o'clock, they saw Rose and his companion standing
upon the further edge of the plateau from the point at which
they reached it. The view from the summit is one of the most
extensive and magnificent in Scotland. After enjoying the
prospect for about a quarter of an hour Mr. Hind's party
descended the mountain by the way they came, reaching
Brodick in time for the 8:30 steamer to Lamlash. They saw
no more of the young men on the way down, and wondered
what had become of them. Two brothers named Francis were
photographing on the hill that day; one sat down to rest, while
the other went on. After the first reached the top he was
joined by his brother, following the two young men, walking in
single file. Rose had some conversation with the brothers
about the scenery. When they left the summit at 625 they
saw these young men standing on a boulder, with their backs
to Ailsa Craig, and pointing in the direction of Glen Sannox, as
if discussing the way down. This is the last that was seen
of Rose alive. The brothers, we may here anticipate, at the
trial identified the prisoner as his companion.
There are two recognised routes in descending
Goatfell--
the direct and comparatively easy one to Brodick, which is
that usually taken; and the much longer and more arduous
descent by "The Saddle," the lofty ridge connecting Goatfell
with its giant neighbour Cir-Mhor, and forming the head of the
two great glens of Rosa and Sannox, which run almost at right
angles from each other. A third way, rarely taken by anyone
before this case occurred save by shepherds or others familiar
with the hills, is to go straight down into Glen Sannox from
the ridge of North Goatfell by the wild and lonely gully of
[279]
Corrie-na-fuhren. By either of these last routes the climber,
having descended into Glen Sannox, follows that glen eastward
to its entrance at Sannox Bay, three and a half miles from the
ridge, returning to Brodick by the coast road and the village of
Corrie, a further distance of seven and a half miles.
At half-past nine o'clock that Monday evening
a shepherd
named Mackenzie was talking to two servant girls near the old
burying-ground of Sannox, when he saw a man coming out of the
glen and going in the direction of Corrie. MZackenzie remarked
at the time that the man was "awful tired and worn-out like,
and seemed to have had a heavy day's travelling on the hills."
This is the first that was seen of Rose's late companion
after they were left together upon the mountain top shortly
before half-past six. A few minutes after ten o'clock a visitor
standing at the bar of Corrie Hotel was accosted by a stranger,
who asked the visitor to order a drink for him, which he could
not get himself as it was after closing time. The barmaid
supplied him with some spirits in a bottle, which he took away
with him, remarking that he had to walk the six miles to
Brodick. He was afterwards identified by his impromptu
host.
Next morning (Tuesday, 16th July) Mary Robertson,
who
had been staying in Invercloy, went to Brodick pier at seven
o'clock to take the early steamer to Ardrossan. Between
the village and the pier she overtook a man, whom she later
identified, carrymg two bags, one black, the other brown, on
his way to the boat. It happened that on the Saturday before
the murder Mickel and Thom had introduced Rose and Annan-
dale to a friend named Gilmour. By a curious chance Mr,
Gilmour was returning to Glasgow that morning, and on going
on board the Scotia at Brodick pier the first person he saw
was
Annandale, nearing a grey felt hat. They travelled to Greenock
together, and Mr. Gilmour offered to help Annandale to carry
his luggage. He noticed particularly the black leather bag,
which his companion took into the compartment with him
[280]
when they left the steamer at Ardrossan. This, so far as
the evidence goes, was the last that was seen of Rose's bag.
0n Saturday, 6th July, ten days earlier, a
young man, whose
card bore the name of "John Annandale," had taken a room for
a fortnight in the house of Mrs. Currie, in Iona Place, Port Banna-
tyne, Rothesay. His luggage consisted of a brown leather bag.
On Friday, the 12th, he told his landlady that he was going
to Arran for a few days, and left, wearing a straw hat and
taking the brown bag with him. On the afternoon of Tuesday,
16th July, he reappeared at Port Bannatyne, wearing a grey
felt hat, and carrying a paper parcel containing, as his landlady
afterwards found, a white serge yachting-cap and a chocolate
and brown striped tennis-jacket. These articles he wore during
the remainder of his stay. He talked "quite pleasantly" to
Mrs. Currie about his visit to Arran, saying that he had been
up Goatfell and had enjoyed himself. His time expiring on
Saturday the 20th, he asked her to have his bill and dinner
ready at one o'clock. He went out, however, in the forenoon
and never returned ; all that Mrs. Currie got for his fortnight's
board and lodging was the yachting-cap and a pair of tennis
shoes, which were afterwards identified as Rose's property.
Even as Mrs. Prig, on a certain historic occasion,
boldly
expressed her disbelief in the existence of the immortal Mrs.
Harris, so may the discerning reader have had his own mis-
givings regarding the genuineness of Mr. Annandale. These
may now be justified by the statement that this name had been
temporarily adopted, for what reason does not appear, by a
man named John Watson Laurie, twenty-five year's of age,
employed as a pattern-maker at Springburn Works, Glasgow.
Since 8th June of that year he had been living in lodgings
at l0 North Frederick Street there, until he went to Rothesay
on 6th July. While at Rothesay he met an acquaintance
named Aitken, who knew him as Laurie. To him Laurie
pointed out Rose as a gentleman with wlom he was going to
Arran. Aitken saw him again on Sunday, the 20th, when Laurie
[281]
was leaving Rothesay for Glasgow. He was then wearing a
yachting-cap which struck Aitken as very like the one he had
seen Rose wear. Aitken asked, "How did you and your friend
get on at Brodick?" to which Laurie replied, "Oh, very well."
He returned to his Glasgow lodgings and resumed his work
as usual on 22nd July. He mentioned to a fellow-lodger that
he had a return half ticket to London. On Wednesday, 31st
July, Aitken met him accidentally in Hope Street. That week
the fact of Rose's disappearance had been published iln the
Glasgow newspapers, and Aitken accosted Laurie with the
startling question, "What do you know about the Arran
mystery?" Laurie "hummed and hawed" ; and Aitken said,
"Dear me, have you not been reading the papers? Was not Rose
the name of the gentleman with whom you went to Brodick?"
Laurie said it could not be the same man, as his Mr. Rose had
returned with him and had since gone to Leeds. Aitken then
strongly advised him to communicate what he knew to the
authorities, and asked him whose cap he was wearing when
they last met at Rothesay. Laurie replied, "Surely you don't
think me a . . ," and did not complete the sentence. He
excused himself for leaving Aitken at the moment, as he saw
someone approaching whom apparently he wished to avoid, but
at Aitken's request he agreed to meet him at his office that
evening at six o'clock to give him further particulars. Laurie
did not fulfil the engagement, and Aitken never saw him again.
Four days later Rose's body was found, and Aitken, so soon as
he learned the fact, gave information to the police.
Evidently realising that Glasgow was now no
place for
one in his peculiar circumstances, Laurie that day applied
to the foreman at the Springburn Works for his wages,
saying that he was leaving to be a traveller in the grain
trade. He also informed a fellow-worker that he was going
to Leith as an engineer, that he had a return half ticket to
London, and that he had been spending his holiday at Brodick
with a friend whom he euphemistically added, "he had left
[282]
in Arran." The same day he sold his pattern-maker's tools
to a broker in the Commercial Road for twenty-five shillings,
and disappeared from Glasgow. His landlady there, more
fortunate than those who had enjoyed his patronage at
Brodick and Port Bannatyne, received on 3rd August a
letter from him, posted at Hamilton, enclosing a remittance
for rent due."There are some people trying to get me
into trouble," he wrote,"and I think you should give them
no information at all. I will prove to them how they are
mistaken before very long." She afterwards communicated
with the police, and delivered to them certain articles which
Laurie lad left in his room.
Laurie was next heard of at Liverpool, where,
on Tuesday,
6th August, he took lodgings at 10 Greek Street, paying a
week's rent in advance. On the morning of Thursday, the
8th, however, he informed his landlady that he was leaving
that day, as he had got a situation in Manchester as a
traveller in the cotton trade. He left behind him a box
he had brought from Glasgow which, when taken possession
of later by the authorities, was found to contain some white
shirts, identified as Rose's property, having the name "John
W. Laurie" impressed thereon with a stamp, also found in
the box. It does not appear from the evidence led at the
trial why Laurie left Liverpool so suddenly, but the
Liverpool Courier that day published the fact of his identity
with "Annandale," together with an account of his recent
movements, which plainly showed that the police were upon
his track.
Since the discovery of the body, the Glasgow
newspapers
had been full of "the Arran Murder," and the hunt for the
perpetrator had been followed with keen interest, so when
the North British Daily Mail received and published a letter
from the wanted man, the local excitement was intense.
This letter was dated 10th August, and bore the Liverpool
postmark. "I rather smile," he wrote, "when I read that
[283]
my arrest is hourly expected. If things go as I have
designed them I will soon have arrived at that country
from whose bourne no traveller returns, and since there
has been so much said about ine, it is only right that the
public should 1know what are the real circumstances. . .
As regards Mr. Rose, poor fellow, no one who knows me
will believe for one moment that I had any complicity in
his death . . . . We went to the top of Goatfell, where I left
him in the company of two men who came from Loch Ranza
and were going to Brodick." He admitted that he himself
returned by way of Corrie, and had been in the hotel there
about ten o'clock.
The renewed outburst of newspaper articles
and correspond-
ence produced by the publication of this letter drew a further
protest from the fugitive. in a second communication, dated
27th August and bearing to have been posted at Aberdeen,
addressed to the Glasgow Herald, he complained of the "many
absurd and mad things" appearing about himself in the
papers, which he felt it his duty to correct. "Although I
am entirely guiltless of the crime I am so much wanted for,"
he wrote, "yet I can recognise that I am a ruined man in
any case, so it is far from my intention to give myself up.
. . .When I saw from an evening paper that Mr. Rose had
not returned to his lodgings, I began to arrange for my
departure, for I had told so many about him. Seemingly
there was a motive for doing away with poor Rose; it was
not to secure his valuables. Mr. Rose was to all appearances
worse off than myself; indeed he assured me that he had
spent so much on his tour that he had barely sufficient to
last till he got home. He wore an old Geneva watch with
no gold albert attached, and I and sure that no one saw him
wear a ring on his tour . . . . As I am not inclined to say
any more, I hope this will be the last the public will hear
of me." Both letters were signed "John W. Laurie," and
were proved to be in his handwriting.
[284]
It is difficult to see what induced Laurie
to
write these
letters. He seems to have lost his head at finding himself
the suhject of so much of the popular attention which, that
August, was divided between himself, Mrs. Maybrick, then on
her trial at Liverpool, and "Jack the Ripper," whose mysterious
crimes were horrifying humanity. Be that as it may, the
first letter enabled the police to get the box left by him at
Liverpool; but they considered that the posting of the second
at Aberdeen was intended as a blind, and that Laurie had
returned to his old haunts, as he was reported to have been
seen at Uddingston and also at Coatbridge. How much
money Rose actually had upon him at the time of his death
was never proved, but at least there must have been enough
to enable his murderer so successfully to elude the vigilance
of the police during the five weeks which elapsed between
his absconding and apprehension.
On Tuesday, 3rd September, a man entered
the railway
station at Ferniegair, which is the first out of Hamilton on
the Lesmahagow branch of the Caledonian line. He was
about to take a ticket, when he saw a police constable on
the platform ; he at once left the station and made for the
Carlisle road. The constable followed, as the man resembled
Laurie whom he had previously known. Laurie, for it was
he, realising that he was being shadowed, began to run;
crossing a field and the railway, he reached the Lanark road,
and running along it till he came to a wood called the Quarry
Plantation, near Bog Colliery, about three miles from Hamilton,
was lost sight of by his pursuer. The constable who had been
joined by some of the workmen from the colliery, got them
to surround the wood, which he himself began to search,
and presently found Laurie lying under a bush, with an open
razor beside him and a superficial wound in his throat. His
hand had been less certain than at Corrie-na-fuhren. He was
then arrested, and having received the usual caution said,
"I robbed the man, but I did not murder him." On the
[285]
following day the prisoner was taken to Rothesay,
he was examined before the Sheriff on the charge of
murdering Rose, upon which he wasduly committed for
trial, and was removed to Greenock prison. There on the
11th he was further examined before the Sheriff. In his
first declaration the prisoner admitted his identity, adding,
"I have nothing to say to the charge in the meantime." In
his second, being shown the cap, waterproof, and other things
found near the boulder, he declared, "I wish to say nothing
about any of these articles."
The trial of John Watson Laurie for the murder
of Edwin
Rose took place before the High Court of Justiciary at Edin-
burgh on Friday the 8th and Saturday the 9th of November
1889. So greatly had public interest been excited and sus-
tained by the unusual and mysterious character of the crime,
the circumstances in which the body was found, and the sub-
sequent hue and cry after the murderer, that long before the
opening of the doors the entrance to the Court was besieged by
a crowd, estimated by the Scotsman of the day to consist of
about two thousand people. Specially stringent regulations,
however, had been made regarding admission to the Court-
room, and only a privileged few were able to witness the
proceedings when the Lord Justice-Clerk (Lord Kingsburgh)
took his seat at ten o'clock. There appeared for the Crown the
Solicitor-General, Mr. (afterwards Lord) Stormonth-Darling,
assisted by Mr. Graham Murray (now Lord Dunedin) and
Mr. Dugald M'Kechnie, Advocates-Depute ; the counsel for
the defence were the Dean of Faculty, Mr. John Blair
Balfour (the late Lord Kinross), and Mr. Scott Dickson.
According to the theory of the prosecution,
Laurie, who
was familiar with the locality, having induced Rose to descend
by Corrie-na-fuhren, struck him down by a blow with a stone
upon the left side of the head, delivered from above and behind,
as they clambered down the steep incline; then, as he lay on the
ground, his face and head were furiously battered so as to pre-
[286]
vent recognition, the injury to the top of the shoulder-blade
being caused by a blow which missed the head and struck the
top of the shoulder. Laurie had hereafter rifled the body and
buried it beneath the boulder, close to which the deed was done.
Why he did not also conceal in the same hiding-place the cap
and other articles found in the gully the Crown failed to
explain. Possibly he overlooked them until he had finished
building up the turf-and-stone dyke about the body, when even
he may have hesitated to re-open the cavity, preferring to place
the cap under the large stone in the stream where it was found,
and let the rest take their chance of discovery. The waterproof
was split up the back into two pieces. No reason was given for
this, but it looks as if it had been thus torn from the body (for
Rose when last seen alive was wearing it) and then rolled up
and trampled into the pool. The stick, knife, pencil, and button
were either dropped, unnoticed by Laurie, during the assault,
or thrown away by him afterhe had searched the pockets of
his victim.
The theory of the defence was that all the
injuries to the
body were produced simultaneously as the result of a fall over
one or other of the steep rocks before referred to, further up the
gully. On the left side, above the place where the cap was
found, as already mentioned, was the 19 feet drop, 156 yards
beyond the boulder; the 32 feet drop was on the other side, 40
yards lower down, above where the knife and pencil were found.
The former fall was that favoured by the defence. There was
no indication on the body or clothes of its having been dragged
from thence down to the boulder, which, looking to the nature
of the ground, must, if done, have left unmistakable signs of the
process. Indeed, the only injury to these, apart from the head,
was that of the shoulder-blade, with corresponding damage to
the flesh, the clothing, and the waterproof. If killed further up
the gully, the body of Rose must therefore have been carried
down to the boulder. The prisoner in his letter to the Mail
had
stated that he left Rose on the top of the mountain with two
[287]
men from Loch Ranza, and the defence maintained that Laurie
never saw him again, alive or dead. Even if the death were the
result of an accidental fall, the robbing and elaborate burial of
the body and the folding and concealment of the cap proved the
presence of another person, and the defence could do no more
than deny, with the prisoner, that these acts were the work
of his hands. The unlikelihood of any third party finding and
robbing the dead body, and thereafter running the needless and
fearful risk of burying it, is obvious, while the suggestion of
the learned Dean that the stone (which, by the way, weighed
between seven and eight pounds) might have been carried
down by a freshet, was negatived by the witnesses wlzo saw
its position upon the folded cap.
On the first day of the trial the prosecution
was mainly
concerned to prove that Rose met his death by murder; on the
second, they sought to establish the prisoner's connection with
the crime. The members of the search party who had seen the
body found, one and all denied that the descent was dangerous
or specially difficult, or that a man going down by the left side
of the gully, which was the natural way, would have any occa-
sion to go near the steep rocks at all. In cross-examining the
police witnesses, the Dean elicited the curious fact that, after
the post-mortem examination on 5th August, the boots removed
from the body were taken to the shore at Corrie and there
buried below high-water mark. The constable who had done
this was severely pressed by the Dean as to his reason for so
disposing of them, the Dean holding that their condition as
regards nails and heels was most important with reference to
the question at issue, but the witness could give no more satis-
factory answer than that he had been ordered by his superior
officer "to put them out of sight." It has been said that
the object of this irregular act was to prevent the dead
man's spirit from "walking," which, if true, would seem
to imply some deficiency of humour on the part of the
authorities.
[288]
The medical evidence as to the cause of death
was the real
battle-ground of the case. The skilled witnesses for the crown
were Drs. Gilmour and Fullarton, who saw the body at the
boulder and performed the post-mortem examination, and Sir
Henry (then Dr.) Littlejohn, who examined the body later on
its exhumation. Into the ghastly details of the injuries to the
head and face it is unnecessary here to enter; it is sufficient to
say that the three medical witnesses concurred in stating that
these had been produced by direct violence, in the manner
alleged by the prosecution. The limbs and extremities were
free from fractures and dislocations, and there was no indica-
tion of blood either upon the body or clothes. The injured
parts were horribly decayed, and the fact that the highest of
the cervical vertebrae was lying loose when first seen by.
Gilmour was attributed by that gentleman to the advanced
decomposition of the neck. The whole of the upper jaw was
detached in one piece. These injuries, in his opinion, must
have been due to repeated impacts, whether by blows or falls.
All the injuries were confined to the left side; and in the case
of a sheer fall the injuries to the face would not, he said be
present. Dr. Fullarton stated that the extent and severity of
the fractures were the result of repeated blows with a blunt
instrument; he had never seen a head so smashed except by
a machinery accident. The injury to the shoulder confirmed
his view, for any conscious person falling would have had his
hands before him, and the injuries, which in this case were all
localised in one spot, would have teen different. He thought
the first blow had been given while the man was standing, and
the others when he was on the ground. Dr. Littlejohn stated
that the condition of the cranium as seen by him was at once
suggestive of direct violence by blows. A heavy stone in the
hand would be an instrument likely to have caused the injuries.
The severity of the bruises would stop hemorrhage, and
absence of hemorrhage would account for the speedy decom-
position. The detachment of the cervical vertebra, as described
[289]
in the first medical report, might be consistent either with
dislocation or decay of the tissues. A fall would not have
inflicted such localised violence without producing severe
injuries to the extremities and to the internal organs of the
abdomen, which in this case were intact and uninjured, and
the latter remarkably well preserved. He had considerable
experience of falls from heights such as the Dean Bridge and
the Castle Rock, Edinburgh, but he never saw injuries like
these so caused. A fall of such severity must have implicated
the liver, the condition of which was normal, and there would
also be other injuries not present in this case.
The medical experts for the defence were Sir
Patrick (then
Dr.) Heron Watson and Drs. M'Gillivray and Alexis Thomson,
none of whom had the advantage of seeing the body. They
were therefore called to give their opinion solely upon the
medical reports and evidence adduced for the Crown. Dr.
Heron Watson stated that the injuries which he had heard
described were, in his view, more consistent with a fall than
with repeated blows, and he considered that they had been
produced instantaneously. All the probabilities were in favour
of a fall upon the vertex. The vertebrae of the neck were
probably broken, and there would be little bleeding, which, in
the case of blows, would have been copious. The fact that the
liver was not ruptured did not affect his opinion. He described,
as the result of certain grisly experiments, the difficulty of
fracturing the human skull by blows, so as to produce the
extensive smashing present in that case. He suggested that
Rose had slipped on the slope, and, turning round before he
reached the edge, fell over the cliff headlong, backwards, and
leftwards. If the head alighted on a granite boulder on which
there was a nodule of some size, this would account for the
injuries to the face and shoulder. The other two medical
witnesses for the defence concurred generally in the opinion
of Dr. Heron Watson as against that of the Crown doctors.
With regard to the conflict of medical testimony,
it is note-
[290]
worthy that upon cross-examination neither side absolutely
negatived the possibility of the other's theory; and it occurs
to the lay mind that perhaps, as Mr. Mantalini remarked in
another connection, they may "both be right and neither
wrong," in the sense that Laurie may have first pushed Rose
over the rocks, and, having stunned him, then completed the
deed with a stone.
The several chapters of the story which has
here been
briefly told were elicited from the various witnesses. The
identity of the prisoner and "Annandale" was clearly estab-
lished; the property of the dead man found in his possession
was duly identified by relatives and friends; and his move-
ments, as well before as after the murder, were traced beyond
all manner of doubt. It was proved that to go from the top
of Goatfell to the boulder took half an hour, and that to walk
at an ordinary pace from the boulder to Corrie Hotel took an
hour and forty minutes, while the prisoner had spent four
hours upon the way. In addition to their medical men the
defence called only four witnesses: one, an Italian fisherman,
to give expert evidence as a guide regarding the dangerous
character of the descent by Corrie-na-fuhren ; another, a girl
who had known Laurie at Rothesay, to say that she found him
"chatty and agreeable " on his return from the excursion to
Arran. It appeared, however, on cross-examination, that the
guide, who had only been three years in the island, had never
been in Glen Sannox till after the body was found; while the
girl admitted that on her asking Laurie how long he had taken
to climb Goatfell, he avoided the question and made no reply.
The other two witnesses called were the servant girls who had
been with Mackenzie at Sannox burying-ground. They did not
remember Mackenzie's remark as to the man, but admitted that
it might have been made.
At a quarter past five on the second day of
the trial the
Solicitor-General rose to address the jury on behalf of the
Crown. After drawing their attention to the exceptional
[291]
features of the case, he remarked, that if this was a murder,
it was undoubtedly one of a peculiarly atrocious character.
The salient facts of the case were these: Two young men went
up the hill together. Only one came down. The other was
found, after an interval of weeks, with his body horribly
mutilated, hidden away among the rocks of the hillside, and all
his portable property removed. The survivor was seen within
a few hours of the time when the death of his friend must
have been accomplished. He returned to the place from which
they both started, and gave no sign or hint of anything having
happened to his friend, or that he had not returned with him,
The next morning he left Arran and resumed his ordinary
occupation, which he continued until the hue and cry arose.
Then he fled, and when he was about to be arrested, attempted
to cut his throat. The Solicitor-General then reviewed the
evidence led for the Crown bearing upon the movements of
the prisoner, from his arrival at Rothesay under a false name
and his subsequent association with Rose until his return to
their Brodick lodgings alone. Laurie spent the night in the
room which he and his friend had shared, and left next morning
by the first available steamer, before the people of the house
could see him, without paying his bill, and leaving the room
in such a state as would suggest that it had been occupied
by two persons. When he left, he obliterated every trace of
Rose except the tennis-racket, which, as it bore Rose's name,
would have been awkward to take with him. He returned to
Rothesay wearing Rose's hat and carrying other property of his
in a parcel, while certain things which also had belonged to
Rose were found in the trunk left by the prisoner at Liverpool.
The watch and chain and pocket-book, which Rose was known
to have upon him, were missing, and though they did not know
how much money he had in his possession, it must have been
sufficient to pay his way during the remainder of his holiday.
The question was, Whose hand rifled the pockets and put the
body under the boulder? He thought they would have little
[292]
difficulty in coming to the conclusion that the prisoner was
with Rose down to the end. The suggestion of the defence
that these two parted on the top of the mountain was excluded
by the facts of the case. If, then, the prisoner robbed and
buried the body, was his the hand that caused the death? The
supposition that Rose's death was the result of an accident, and
that the robbery and secretion of the body was the work of the
prisoner, was so inherently, so wildly improbable that, even
apart from the medical evidence, the jury must hesitate to
give it credence. If such were indeed the fact, it indicated a
depravity of mind but little removed from that which led to
murder. The Solicitor-General then discussed the nature of
the locks and the character of the injuries to the body, and
examined the conflict of medical testimony. The prisoner's
own behaviour, he said, afforded the readiest solution of what
had really happened. He asked them to apply to it the
ordinary standard of human conduct, and to say if any man
could have so acted who was not the murderer of Rose. As
to motive, the prisoner probably expected to get more by the
murder than he actually got, but having done it, he had to
go through with it. Finally, counsel submitted that the
prosecution had established beyond reasonable doubt that the
prisoner at the bar was guilty of the crime with which he was
charged.
The Dean of Faculty then addressed the jury
for the
defence. He agreed with the prosecutor that if the case
were true, this was a murder unprecedented and incredibly
atrocious. If so, the onus of proof was all the heavier upon
the Crown. Every probability, he might say every possibility,
was against it. Even if they came to the conclusion that
murder had been committed, of which he hoped to show there
was no evidence, they must consider whether there was sufficient
proof that the murder was committed by Laurie. They would
bear in mind that suspicion was not proof. Before they could
arrive at a verdict of guilty, they must be clear in their minds
[293]
upon both these points. He then described the injuries to the
body, and pointed out that there were no signs of any struggle
or of the body having been dragged, nor was it suggested that
any instrument had been found in the neighbourhood to which
the infliction of the injuries could be attributed. All these were
upon the left side. No right-handed man would have attacked
Rose upon that side, and it was not suggested that the prisoner
was left-handed. He argued that the fractures of the skull and
the injury to the shoulder, involving as it did the clothing,
together with the severance of the highest joint of the back
bone, all supported the theory of the defence. Near the spot
they had two declivities such as would bring about these results
if a man fell over either of them. He did not know where the
Crown said the murder was committed. If at the boulder, how
came the various things at the places where they were found ?
Concealment could not have been the object, for they were left
lying perfectly open, and their position was much more con-
sistent with Rose's pitching over the rock and the things flying
in all directions. His first point against the Crown was that
they had failed to prove a murder, and that the probability on
the medical testimony was that the injuries were due to causes
other than wilful infliction o£ violence. With regard to the
prisoner's conduct, the Dean remarked that there was nothing
in Laurie having called himself "Annandale" when he went to
Rothesay; he was not then aware of Rose's existence, and he
was seen and known as Laurie there by other persons. Their
meeting was casual, and the visit to Brodick in company was,
in the circumstances, quite natural. Laurie could then have
had no murderous design. The reticence of the prisoner, as
described by some of the witnesses, was due to his suffering
from toothache. There was no evidence that Rose and Laurie
were ever together in this world again from the time they were
seen on the top of Goatfell. Whoever removed the body, the
jury would understand that their verdict must not proceed upon
the suggestion of the Solicitor-General that it was the theory of
[294]
the defence that the prisoner had done so. No one knew by
whom it was done, but at those Fair holidays there were plenty
of other people on the island who might have robbed the body
and put it where it was found. That the prisoner alone and
unaided could have lifted, carried, and piled the heavy stones
upon it was most unlikely; two men would be required to do
that. When Laurie arrived at Corrie Hotel he had no appear-
ance of being a red-handed murderer, but if the Crown case
were true there must have been some traces of the deed upon
him. He left the island next day, and it was proved that he
improperly took away with him some things belonging to Rose.
He made no secret of it, for he wore these things at Rothesay
among people who knew them both. If this were a charge of
theft, these circumstances might be important; but what con-
nection had they with the murder of Rose? Not one article
which Rose had with him on the day of his death had been
traced to the prisoner. If he had murdered his friend would
he have gone back among people who had seen them both
together, and afterwards have quietly returned to his work?
Not until Aitken showed that he suspected him did Laurie
realise that, having been seen with Rose in Arran, he might
himself be held responsible for his disappearance. If he had
expected this charge he would not have waited till 31st July
before leaving Glasgow. He would realise later that his dis-
appearance then had only tended further to compromise him,
so he continued in hiding, and when about to be captured he
attempted to cut his throat. When he said, "I robbed the man,
but I did not murder him," it was certainly not a confession that
he had rifled the body, but had reference to the things which he
had taken away from the lodgings. In conclusion, the Dean
maintained that the Crown had failed to prove, first, that there
was any murder, and, secondly, if there had been, that Laurie
was the murderer. He asked the jury to return a verdict which
would acquit the prisoner of that most terrible and appalling
charge.
[295]
At twenty minutes to nine o'clock the Lord
Justice-Clerk
began his charge to the jury. His lordship described the
case as one of the most remarkable that had ever come
before a Court of Justice. Both the theories which had
been set up presented points almost inconceivable to the
ordinary mind. As this was a case of purely circumstantial
evidence, he proposed in the first place to go over the facts
as to which there was no doubt. His lordship then reviewed
the evidence as to the movements of Rose and Laurie till
they were last seen together on the top of the mountain.
It was proved that the deceased was then wearing his
watch-chain, and they also knew that he had in his
pocket-book a return half ticket to London. It was quite
certain that neither of them descended by the same way
as they came up. They took a route which, though not the
ordinary one, was proved not to be dangerous to any person
taking reasonable care. Now, on the way down Rose
unquestionably met his death by violence of some kind,
and after death his body was carefully hidden by someone
under the boulder. If he died by falling over one or other
of the rocks further up the gully, it must have been a work
of great labour and difficulty to bring the body down to the
boulder and conceal it with the stones. His cap was found
folded up, with a heavy stone placed upon it, his waterproof, cut
in two, was rolled together near the burn, his pockets were
rifled, his watch, money, and return ticket were gone. All
that must have happened within a few hours of a summer
evening. The prisoner was seen coming out of the glen at
half-past nine, and again at Corrie Hotel about ten o'clock.
He returned to Brodick, and, without any intimation to the
people of the place, left the next morning, taking with him
Rose's bag, and wearing his grey felt hat. On his return to
Rothesay the prisoner was seen wearing Rose's tennis jacket
and yachting-cap. His lordship then referred to the incident
of the prisoner's conversation with the witness Aitken, to
[296]
the fact that Laurie had stated to others that he had a
return half ticket to London, to the circumstances of his
flight to Liverpool with a box containing property proved to
have belonged to Pose, to the letters which he addressed to
the newspapers, and finally to his apprehension and attempted
suicide. These were facts about which there could be no doubt,
and the Crown said they all pointed to the prisoner as having
committed the crime with which he was charged. The defence
was that the death of Rose did not take place in presence
of Laurie, that they, having gone up Goatfell together, did
not descend together, although the one met his death on
the way by Glen Sannox to Corrie, and the other reached
Corrie by way of Glen Sannox. Laurie must have been
surprised to find that his friend did not return to their
lodgings, but the effect which Rose's non-arrival had upon
him was, that without saying a word to anyone, he went off
with his own and Rose's luggage. The defence maintained
that Rose had fallen over one of the rocks at a considerable
distance from the boulder, and that it would have been impos-
sible for one man to have brought the body down and buried
it. His lordship was afraid there were two views as to that,
for the Crown's contention was that Rose was done to death
by blows with a stone, which could have happened close to
the boulder. The Dean had asked, if Rose was killed there,
how came the various articles to be found below the rocks
further up the gully? Again his lordship was afraid that
if Rose in fact was killed at the boulder, the person who put
him to death might so have disposed of the articles as to
suggest that Rose had fallen over a precipice. His lordship
pointed out that the hiding of the cap and the cutting up
of the waterproof must have been done by a human hand
after Rose's death. The defence being that Laurie and Rose
were never seen together after they left the top of the hill,
it was extremely remarkable that the prisoner did not reach
Corrie Hotel till ten, while the witnesses who left the top
[297]
at the same time reached Brodick before half-past eight. The
jury must consider if they could reconcile all these facts
with the idea that Laurie was not present at Rose's death.
If he was, there was no escape from the conclusion that his
was the hand that folded the cap, cut off the waterproof,
and hid the body; and then they would have to consider
could these acts possibly have been done by a man who had
witnessed a terrible and accidental death. With regard to
Laurie's possession of a return ticket to London, it was in
evidence that Rose had such a ticket in his pocket-book.
It had been urged for the defence that the prisoner openly
wore the coat and hats of Rose, and that no person anxious
to conceal a crime would have done so, but it was his duty to
point out that such rashness on the part of criminals often
formed the very threads of the web of justice. They must
take the whole facts of the case together, and say whether
it led to a conclusion that was reasonable and just. His
lordship then reviewed the medical evidence, and observed
that those who saw all the details and examined them were
necessarily in a better position to give their evidence and
opinions than those who merely based their statements upon
evidence which they heard. It was not the province of the
jury to decide between the medical opinions, but to find
what, taking the whole facts and incidents along with that
evidence, was the most probable cause of death. If they
came to the conclusion that the prisoner was present and
that his hand buried the body, that would tend very much
against the theory of the defence. The case was purely one
of facts, and it was the jury who had the responsibility and
duty of coming to a conclusion on those facts which would
commend itself to their consciences as reasonable and experi-
enced men.
At a quarter to ten, on the conclusion of
the judge's charge,
the jury retired to consider their verdict, and after an absence
of forty minutes. they returned to Court, when the Foreman
[298]
announced that their verdict was "Guilty, by a majority." It
was afterwards ascertained that the verdict was arrived at by
a majority of one, eight voting for "Guilty " and seven for
"Not Proven." So soon as the Lord Justice-Clerk had pro-
nounced sentence of death the prisoner, who stood up to receive
judgment, turned round in the dock and, facing the crowded
benches, said in a clear, firm voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, I
am innocent of this charge !" His lordship at once intimated
that the prisoner could not be allowed to make a speech. Laurie
was then removed to the cells below, and the Court rose at
twenty minutes to eleven o'clock.
No one who witnessed the closing act of this
famous trial
can forget the impressive character of the scene. Without, in
the black November night, a great crowd silently awaited the
issue of life or death. The lofty, dimly-lighted Court-room, the
candles glimmering in the shadows of the Bench, the imposing
presence of the Justice-Clerk in his robes of scarlet and white,
the tiers of tense, expectant faces, and in the dock the cause
and object of it all, that calm, commonplace, respectable figure,
the callous and brutal murderer whom Justice had tardily
unmasked.
On Monday, the 11th, the convict was conveyed
from
Edinburgh to Greenock, where the sentence was to be executed
on 30th November. This was a distinction which the magis-
trates and citizens of that town viewed with anything but
satisfaction, for since its creation as a burgh of barony in 1675
only four executions had taken place there, the last being in
1834, and it was hoped and expected that the sentence would
be carried out in Edinburgh.
A movement was at once set on foot in the Coatbridge
district, where Laurie's relatives were well known and respected,
to obtain a commutation of the death sentence. Various meet-
ings were held, and a petition to Lord Lothian, the Scottish
Secretary, was adopted. Apart from the stereotyped objections
to the verdict common to such documents, the petitioners stated
[299]
that there had been, and then was, insanity in the convict's
family; that he himself had shown from infancy decided
symptoms of mental aberration, which accounted for the extra-
ordinary and eccentric character of his conduct both prior and
subsequent to the 15th of July; and that the petitioners were
prepared to adduce proof of such aberration if required. This
petition, which was widely signed in Glasgow and the West of
Scotland, was duly despatched to Dover House on Friday, 22nd
November. Meanwhile, pending the result of this application,
the Greenock magistrates proceeded to make the necessary
arrangements for carrying out the sentence, and thriftily
borrowed the Glasgow scaffold. Laurie, who still maintained
the cool and calm demeanour which he had preserved through-
out the trial, was said to be confident that his life would be
spared.
On Saturday, the 23rd, on the appointment
of Lord Lothian,
the convict was visited by Sir Arthur Mitchell, K.C.B., Dr.
Yellowlees, of Glasgow Royal Asylum, and Professor (afterwards
Sir William) Gairdner, of Glasgow University, with a view to
examining and reporting upon his mental condition. It was
stated in the newspapers at the time that Laurie had himself
written a letter to Lord Lothian to the effect that Rose was
killed in his presence by an accidental fall from a rock, and that
his (Laurie's) subsequent actions arose from his dread that he
would be charged with murder, and, owing to the absence of
witnesses, might be unable to prove his innocence. This was
at least a more plausible explanation than that afforded
by the defence at the trial; but it is understood that
the line of argument then taken was the prisoner's deliber-
ate choice, and was adopted by his counsel at his own
request.
On Thursday, the 28th, two days before that
fixed for the
execution, the local authorities were informed by telegraph that
in consequence of the Medical Commission having reported that
the convict was of unsound mind, the Secretary for Scotland
[300]
had felt justified in recommending a respite. The terms of the
Commissioners' report were not disclosed.
The death sentence having been formally commuted
to
penal servitude for life, Laurie was removed on 2nd December
to Perth Penitentiary, the scaffold was returned to Glasgow,
and the Greenock magistrates were left to pay the bill.
The Glasgow Herald of 3rd December
1889 published an
interesting account of the unfavourable impression made by
Laurie upon those who were in close contact with him during
his confinement, from which the following passage may be
quoted:--"His references to Rose were not marked by any
exhibition of sympathy for that unfortunate gentleman. On
the contrary he spoke of him as a vain, proud man, always
boastful of his money, and desirous of making his hearers
believe that he was wealthy. The significance of Laurie's
comment upon this point is striking; with singular callousness
he added that Rose had not very much after all."
Four years elapsed before public attention
was again directed
to the Arran murderer. On 24th July 1893, Laurie, who had
been removed to Peterhead Convict Prison, made a bold bid for
freedom. He was employed as a carpenter, his behaviour had
been exemplary, and, having a good voice, he was, as a news-
paper reporter records, "the mainstay of the Presbyterian choir,
leading the praise with great enthusiasm." But the old Adam
was not wholly eradicated. That morning a gang of convicts
under a civil guard was early at work upon an addition which
was being made to the warders' houses outside the prison walls,
and Laurie was carrying planks for the scaffolding. There was
a dense sea fog; so, seizing his opportunity, he leapt a fence
and made for the public road. He was then seen by the civil
guard, but before the latter could fire the fugitive had dis-
appeared in the fog. An alarm was instantly raised, and guard
and warders started in pursuit. One warder, mounted on a
bicycle, speedily overtook the running man. He struggled
violently, but other warders arriving on the scene, he was
[301]
quickly handcuffed and marched back to prison. On the way,
says our reporter, "Laurie characterised his captors in language
wholly inconsistent with the ecclesiastical office which he fills."
Human nature was too strong for the precentor.
In 1909, on the completion of twenty years
of his sentence,
echoes of the old story were heard in the press, and persistent
rumours were circulated that the convict was about to be
released. But on 28th April 1910 Laurie was removed from
Peterhead to Perth Criminal Asylum, where he still remains
(1913).
In the ancient burying-ground of Sannox, briers
and
brambles have striven to conceal the granite boulder which,
with a somewhat painful propriety, marks the resting-place
of Edwin Rose; and year by year the tourists visiting that
beautiful and lonely spot leave, with better intention than taste,
their calling-cards upon the stone.
[302]
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