The Murder of the “ Red Fox “ - a mystery unsolved for over 250 years
Recreated likeness
Murder Site Memorial Cairn
To the memory of a man hanged in a travesty of justice
This tale is perhaps
geographically out with the normal range of this “ Blog “ but the recent press
coverage and general interest deem that I include it for
the wider audience .
As a schoolboy in those
so far off days I was nurtured on the works Stevenson and Scott as well
as the
more modern John Buchan . Buchan
just happened to have been a
pupil at the same establishment I attended albeit some
years prior ! Stevenson’s“ Kidnapped “ was
undoubtedly amongst the most
popular of the “ home readers”
we had to digest in the quest for
the basics of our Scottish heritage . “
Kidnapped “ introduced me to the tale of
the Appin Murder which is indelibly marked in the story of the great conflict
that was the ’45 Uprising .
James Stewart of the Glen ( Seumas a’ Ghlinne ) was
convicted and hanged for the murder of
Colin Campbell of Glenure – the” Red Fox “
- who was the Hanoverian Government’s Factor ( manager and rent collector
) . He was on his way to evict the ex
tenants of exiled Stewart chieftains .
James Stewart was a Jacobite who had
fought at Culloden . His arrest and subsequent trial and execution are still
regarded as total fix and set up that cannot be justified in terms of
Scottish law , Eleven out of the fifteen jurymen were Campbells – clansmen of
the murdered man . The trial was held in Inverary home of the Duke of Argyll –
Chief of the Clan Campbell and incredibly
the senior of the three judges on duty at the trial !
The Campbells were strong supporters of the Hanoverian establishment
and strongly opposed to any one or
anything connected with the Jacobite Stewarts ! After a non stop 53
hour session James Stewart was found
guilty . He was executed near the
southern end of where the present Ballachullish Bridge now
stands some distance to the east of
where the murder was committed .
For 18 months the body of James Stewart - James of the Glen
- was left to hang on the gibbet at an elevated and highly visible spot on the
south end of the Ballachulish Ferry.
It was a sinister aftermath to one of the most shameful
episodes in Scottish history - the Appin Murder. It claimed the lives of two
men - one killed by sniper fire, the second "judicially" murdered
after a rigged trial which paid no heed to justice, only the needs of vengeance
and political expediency. The gruesome
public display of the hanged man's remains was one of the final flourishes of
the bloody maelstrom that was clan warfare in Scotland.
Stewart unquestionably went to the gallows an innocent man.
His own clan family knew that from the beginning but refused to turn in the
guilty man. Instead, in one of the best kept secrets in history, the identity
of the killer was passed down to selected Stewarts through the generations before being revealed by one ,
Anda Penman , an 89 year old resident of an Inverness Nursing Home . She was a
direct descendant of the Stewarts of Appin and claimed that the real murderer
was Donald Stewart , son of Stewart of Ballachulish .
Amongst the suspects and
one identified by Stevenson in
his novel “Kidnapped “ was Ailean Breac Stewart ( Allan Breck of the novel )
whose likeness has just been replicated
by Professor Caroline Wilkinson of Dundee University . She has an international
reputation in the art of head reconstruction
or “ craniofacial identification “ .
The Appin Murder happened in May 1752, six years after the
Battle of Culloden. The dead man was Colin Campbell of Glenure, Argyllshire. Known
as "The Red Fox", he was the factor of several estates which had been
forfeited from pro-Jacobite clans and his challenging task was to collect taxes
from clan leaders.It has been claimed that on the day he was shot Campbell was
about to indulge in a spot of "ethnic cleansing" by evicting Stewart
families from their houses on the Ardsheal estate and replacing them with
Campbells. That claim has never been proved but post-Culloden, anti-Campbell
sentiment was rife in the west Highlands. The Campbells, living in the heart of
clan country, were however loyal to the Hanoverian monarchy and deeply
unpopular among those who had fought with Charles Edward Stewart, the Bonnie
Prince himself. They had also been seen to "do the bidding of their
English masters" at the Massacre of Glencoe 60 years earlier.
Colin Roy Campbell was 44 and ambitious. His work was
distasteful but the more fair-minded regarded him as a decent man who made the
best of a difficult job. At Ardsheal, James of the Glen helped him collect Stewart
rents and the two men often consulted.
On 14 May, Campbell and four others had just crossed Loch
Leven on the ferry and were passing the road at Lettermore Wood when a musket
shot rang out. Campbell lay dead and the killer disappeared into the rugged
countryside. Within two days James of the Glen had been arrested and taken for
trial .
One of those who fell under suspicion was Stewart's
half-brother, Alan Breck Stewart, described as a vengeful young hothead who had
stirred up anti-Campbell hatred among his clansmen. Robert Louis Stevenson
became so fascinated with the story that he based the novels Kidnapped and
Catriona on the episode - with Alan Breck as one of the leading characters.
Back in 1754 the sight of the remains of James Stewart was
too much for one of the locals . "Daft Macphee" is said to have
uprooted the gallows and thrown it into
Loch Linnhe and that it then floated into Loch Etive before coming to rest
further south near Bonawe. The wooden gibbet was used as a bridge across stream
and the bones of James of the Glen were carefully gathered and buried - by none
other than young Donald Stewart of Ballachulish.
This week ( the first one in September 2013 ) the Royal
Society of Edinburgh have organised a two day event to re examine the murder of Colin Campbell – the “ Red Fox
“. A number of eminent forensic science
, legal and academic figures will gather together and
applying modern techniques attempt to
threw some light on this macabre mystery !
Further Reading : I would recommend a superb book written by Dr James Hunter called Culloden and the Last Clansman published by Mainstream ( ISBN 1840184833) Jim Hunter grew up in Appin and as a child played in the ruins of the house of James of the Glen . He helped found the Scottish Crofters Union and for a number of years chaired the Board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise . He has written extensively on the Clearances and other matters concerning the Highlands .
Further Reading : I would recommend a superb book written by Dr James Hunter called Culloden and the Last Clansman published by Mainstream ( ISBN 1840184833) Jim Hunter grew up in Appin and as a child played in the ruins of the house of James of the Glen . He helped found the Scottish Crofters Union and for a number of years chaired the Board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise . He has written extensively on the Clearances and other matters concerning the Highlands .
Modern forensic techniques have been used in an effort to reveal evidence in the case.
As well as a reconstruction of Ailean Breac's face there has been a detailed examination of how the murder weapon would have fired.
The experts include forensic scientist Prof David Barclay, retired judge Lord Kenneth Cameron of Lochbroom and historian Prof James Hunter.
Prof Hunter, who as a boy played in the ruins of Seumas a' Ghlinne's house in Duror, wrote a book about the case.
In setting out the murder's historical context for the review, Prof Hunter said Ailean Breac and Donald were suspected of the shooting.
The historian said: "To be part of this review has been one of the most enjoyable things that I have done in a long time.
"To see work of the forensic experts and scientists, and the seriousness and amount of effort they have put in, has been fascinating."
The team has been presenting its findings during a two-day event in Fort William. It concludes later on Thursday.
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