THE TRYAL OF PHILIP STANDSFIELD SON TO SIR JAMES STANDSFIELD OF NEW-MILNS For the Murder of his Father and other Crimes Libel'd against him Published by Authority Edinburgh Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson Printer to the King 's most Sacred Majesty Anno Dom. 1688. The Tryal of Philip Standsfield Son to Sir James Standsfield of New-milns for the Murder of his Father and other Crimes Libel'd against him Curia justiciaria S. D. N. Regis tenta in praetorio Burgi de Edinburgh Sexto die Mensis Februarii 1688. per Nobilem Potentem Comitem Georgium Comitem de Linlithgow Dominum Livingstoun c. Justiciatium Generalem totius Regni Scotiae honorabiles viros Dominos Ioannem Lockhart de Castlehill Davidem Balfour de Forret Rogerum Hodge de Harcarse Ioannem Murray de Drumcairn Commissionarios Justiciariae dicti S. D. N. Regis Curia Legitime affirmata INTRAN Philip Standsfield eldest lawful Son to Umquhile Sir James Standsfield of New-milns Prisoner within the Tolbooth of Edinburgh INdyted and Accused at the Instance of Sir John Dalrymple younger of Stair His Majesties Advocat for His Highness Interest That where notwithstanding by the Law of God the common Law Law of Nations Laws and Acts of Parliament of this Kingdom and constant Practice thereof the expressing of malitious and seditious Words to the Disdain of His Sacred Majesties Person and contempt of His Royal Government such as Drinking or Wishing Confusion to His Majestie is high Treason particularly by the 2d Act 2d Sess Par. 1st K. Ch. 2d of ever Glorious Memory The Plotting Contriving or Intending Death or Destruction to the King's Majestie or any bodily harm tending to Death or Destruction or who shall by Writing Printing or other malitious and advised Speaking express and declare such their Treasonable Intentions after such persons being legally Convicted thereof they shall be Deemed Declared and Adjudg'd Traitors And the Cursing Beating Invading or Assassinating of a Parent by a Child above the age of sixteen years who is not Mad and Furious is punishable by Death and Confiscation of Moveables And of all other Murders Paricide is the most atrocious and unnatural And Murder under Trust is punishable as Treason with forfaulture of Life Land and Goods and particularly by the 20 Act 1st Sess 2d Par. K. Ch. 2d The King's Majesty and Estates of Parliament Considering how great and atrocious a Crime it is for Children to beat or curse their Parents and how the Law of God hath pronounced just Sentence of Death against such as shall either of these wayes injure either of their Parents Therefore the King and Estates of Parliament did Statute and Ordain That whatsoever Son or Daughter above the age of sixteen years not being Distracted shall beat or curse either their Father or their Mother shall be put to death without mercy And sicklike by the 51 Act 11 Par. K. Ja. 6. It is Statuted and Ordained That the Murder or Slaughter of whatsomever of the Leidges where the party slain is under the Trust Credit Assurance and Power of the Slayer all such Murder or Slaughter to be committed in time coming the same being lawfully Tryed and the person dilated found guilty by an Assise thereof shall be Treason and the person found culpable shall Forfault Life Land and Goods as in the saids Laws and Acts of Parliament at more length is contained Nevertheless it is of Verity that the said Philip Standsfield shaking off all fear of God the Bonds and Tyes of Nature and Christianity regard and obedience to the saids Laws and Acts of Parliament did dare and presume to commit the saids horrid and detestable Crimes in swa far as upon the first second third or one or other of the Days of the Moneths of June July August or September last by-past or one or other of them he did within the House and Kitchin of New-milns call for Ale to Drink some Healths and in the presence of John Robison then his Fathers Servant Agnes Bruce likewise his Fathers Servitrix and several others he did as a most villanous and avowed Traitor presume and dare to begin a Health to the Confusion of His Sacred Majesty his native Soveraign and did Drink off the same and caused others in His company do the like And sicklike Sir Iames Standsfield of Newmilns his Father having caused educat and bring him up decentlie and in plenty conform to his rank and qualitie and having left no means unessayed for his Literature Education and Subsistence Yet he being a profligat and debauched Person did commit and was accessorie to several notorious Villanies for which both at home and abroad he was apprehended and detained Prisoner as in the Marshall Sea-Prison in Southwark in the publick prisons of Antwerp and Orleance and several other places and tho his Father out of his natural compassion to him did cause release him out of these prisons in which he was so justly confined He no sooner had his Liberty than he of new invented and went about his villanous practices and debauches And his Father at last perceiving that nothing could reclaim him from these and the like proceedings having signified his inclinations to disherish him and in order thereto having disponed his Estate in Favours of John Standsfield his second Son The said Philip did thereupon conceive Harbour and Intertain ane Hellish Malice and Prejudice against the said Sir Iames Standsfield his Father and most barbarously did declare threaten and vow at several times that he would cut his Throat And particularly upon the first second third or remanent dayes of the moneths of the year 1680. within the house of Iames Smith in Nungate of Haddingtouw And upon the first second or third or one or other of the days of the Moneths of January February March and remnant moneths of the year 1687. within the house of Inmes Baikbie Fermorer in New-milns and within his Fathers own house of New-milnes and in the house of William Scot there And upon the first second third or one or other of the dayes of the moneths of January February March and remanent moneths of the year of God 1683. 1684. and 1685 years when he was both in Brussils and Breda and several other places both in Holland and Flanders and in prisons within which he was detained in the city of London and Southwark or upon one or other of the days of one or other of the Moneths of the saids years or either of them most wickedly unnaturally and bitterly rail upon abuse and curse the said Sir James Standsfield his natural and kindly Parent And being transported with rage and malice he did contrary to the light and tyes of nature not once but often and frequently curse his father by bidding and praying the Devil to take him and the devil rive him Goddamn him and swear if he had a sword he would run it through him and if ever he came to Scotland he would be avenged
it was when he was Drunk and after Cups and is so presumed especially it being as it is acknowledged by the Libel in a Drunken company 2o. As to the Act of Indemnity It is extended to all Crimes except the Arch-bishop's Murder and exceptio firmat regulam c. And the Act bears not that Clause excepting other Crimes which uses to be excepted 3o. As to the qualifications condescended on in my Lord Advocat's answer either they are Libel'd and so oppones the former answer And if they be not Libel'd they cannot be considered as qualifications 4o. Whereas it is alledged That the Pannal was in use to threaten to cut Throats when in passion the Argument is retorted For though he threatned nothing followed And so his Threatnings were but verba jactantia 5º As to the citation out of Mattheus that parties may be punished upon presumptions It is answered That the Case there stated is where the Person who commited the Slaughter was apprehended in the place where it was committed That he was all bloody and with a bloody Sword answerable to the Wound and that he became pale when he was apprehended and that he made no answer but in terrour fled away which are such Acts as do evidently make appear the Slaughter and could admit of no other construction but that cannot be pretended in this Case where all the Presumptions are remote and extrinsick and even in the Case instanced by Mattheus and others of that Nature they are only to take effect in order to an Arbitrary but not a capital Punishment which is the opinion of all Lawers who ever wrote upon the subject and particularly Muscard de prob conclus 123. Num. 30. and 31. where the Question is stated an plures praesumptiones conjunguntur in order to inferr a capital punishment And he concludes in the negative as a general conclusion by all Lawers but only to infer an arbitrary Punishment As to bleeding of the Body It is offered to be proven that the Pannal touched his Father's Body before the Incision and it did not bleed THe Lords Justice General and Commissioners of Justiciary Having considered the Libel pursued by His Majestie 's Advocat against Philip Standsfield the Pannal And the first part thereof anent the Treason libel'd they find the samen as it is lybel'd relevant to inferr the pain of Treason And as to the Pannal's cursing of his Father mentioned in the Inditement They find these Expressions or either of them viz. the Devil take him the Devil rive him God damn him relevant to inferr the pain of Death And repells the Defence founded upon the Act of Indemnity and finds the Pannal is not under or below the quality therein specified As to the Pannal's murthering of his Father mentioned in the Inditement they found the Libel as it is lybeled and qualified relevant to inferr the pain of Death and remits the same with the qualifications lybel'd to the knowledge of the Assise and allowes Witnesses to be led for the Pannal's proving his Father to have been Melancholy the day before the committing of the Murder and remits to the Assise to consider the Import thereof if it be proven and repells the whole other Defences proponed for the Pannal The Lords continues the Dyet against the said Philip Standsfield till to morrow at two of the Clock in the Afternoon And ordains him to be carried back to Prison and the Witnesses and Assisers to attend ilk Person under the pain of 200 Merks Edinburgh the seventh of February 1688. Philip Standsfield Prisoner being this day entered on Pannal dilated indyted and accused for the Treasonable drinking of the King's confusion cursing his Father and for the cruel and unnatural murdering of him in manner mentioned in his Ditty The Interloquitor above-written was this day read again in presence of the Pannal and the Assisers afternamed viz. William Bailly of Lamingtoun James Glen Stationer Alexander Reid elder Goldsmith Charles Charters Merchand David Hepburn of Humby Edward Gillespy Merchand Robert Sandilands Merchand Samuel Moncrief Merchand Thomas Lendall Merchand James Cleiland Merchand Hephurn of Beinstoun William Paton Merchand George Braithwood Stabler Iohn Marshal Merchand Alexander Edgar Chirurgion in Haddingtoun The Assise lawfully sworn no Objection of the Law in the contrary His Majesties Advocat for Probation adduced the Witnesses after deponing viz. Iohn Robertson late Servitor to Sir James Standsfield of Newmilns aged twenty four years unmarried purged of malice prejudice hatred ill will and partial Counsel and solemnly sworn Depones a little time before harvest last the Pannal being in the Kitchin of Newmilns in the deceast Sir James Standsfield's house where the Deponent was likewise present he saw the Pannal Philip Standsfield take a Cup of Ale and heard him say There is the Pope's confusion the Antichrists the Chancelours and the Kings confusion and put the Cup to his Head and drink a little and then gave it to Samuel Spofforth and commanded him to drink it and made him drink it on his knees depones that there were likewise besides Samuel Spofforth Jeremy Smith Agnes Bruce and Elspeth Jameson and depones that Philip Standsfield the Pannal was not drunk at the time Depones that at the naming of the several Confusions above-mentioned he still drank a little of the cup And this is the Truth as he shal answer to God The Deponent further depones that he said to the Pannal after the drinking of the saids Confusions that it was Treason and he answered ye dog what are you concerned ye do not understand to whom ye speak Sic subscribitur Iohn Robertson Agnes Bruce Servant to the deceast Sir Iames Standsfield aged twenty four years unmarried purged and sworn Depones That a little before Harvest last she being in the Kitchin of New-milns with Philip Standsfield the Pannal she saw him take a Cup of Ale and drink the confusion of the Pope and the King and heard him bid Samuel Spofforth sit down on his Knees and drink the same which accordingly he did after this the Deponent went up Stairs and knows no more what past at that time but heard they drank more confusions Depones that about a week after it being talked in the house that he had drunk the confusions aforesaid he said to the Deponent God damn him if he knew who divulged it he would be their Death And this is the Truth as she shal answer to God depones she cannot write Sic subscribitur Linlithgow Samuel Spofforth late Servitor to Sir James Standsfield of New-milns aged 19 years unmarried purged and sworn Depones that a little before Harvest last the Deponent was in the Kitchin of New-milns with Philip Standsfield the Pannal where he heard himdrink a confusion to the Pope Antichrist and the King and to the Devil and the Pannal prest the Deponent to drink the same confusions upon his knees Depones Iohn Robertson Agnes Bruce Jeremy Smith and Elspeth Jameson were all likewise present at
that all former differences if any were betwixt them were then taken away As to the third part of the Indytement in relation to the several Acts and Qualifications insisted upon To inferr that the Defender had accession to his Fathers death It is answered primo That the Indytement in so far as it is founded upon the 51. Act Par 11. K. Ja 6 in relation to the murder under trust which is declared to be punishable as Treason Is not relevant Because the Father cannot in Law be said to be under trust and assurance of the son and that Act of Parliament takes only place in Cases where a man is invited to his neighbours House or of an Traveller being in an Inn and that he be murdered under that trust the same Act of Parliament being founded on in the case of Swinton who killed his Wife in the year 1666. the Inditement was restricted to simple Slaughter And in the case of Master Iames Oliphant in the year 1665 The Lords of the Session found that a Sons killing his Mother was not Murder under trust and so he was not punishable by that Act of Parliament as guilty of the Crime of Treason 2º The Acts and qualifications condescended on to infer the Defenders Accession to his Fathers death are but very remote and uncertain for as to that expression That the defender is alledged to have threatned his Fathers death It is the opinion of all Lawers who have written upon the subject that that is but a very remot Presumption And as Carpzovius expresses it Part 3. Quast 121. Num 51. quod est indicium admodum periculosum quippe cum homines saepe nil minus faciant quam quod minasxequantur et ira cundia agitatus minas de crimine perpetrando saepe jactet ipso tamen animo fervore paulo post disscusse cohibeat manus et abstineat a facinore illo quod forsan ab alio postea committitur And Paris de puteo gives an instance in his Tractat de syndicatu upon the word Tortura and Boverius That a Woman seeing a Person going by her Window against whom she had a Prejudice and that another having a hatred against her and hearing that she had threatned to cut off that Persons Leggs the party that did hear the Woman use the threatning did the thing upon which the Woman that did threaten being challenged and put to the Torure did confess Yet thereafter it was found that she was altogether innocent and that another had done it 3o. As to the pretended Acts of the Defenders alledged Pursuing and Invading his Father and fireing Pistols at him at Lothian-burn and Culterallors in Annis 1683 and 1684. As it is most groundless so if need were it could be made appear by the Persons who were in company with him at that time That the Defender and his Father were then in intire freindship all alongst the journey and he was so far from making any such attempt That it can be made appear that the Defender did behave himself towards his Father with all the submission and respect that became a Son to have to his Father But as to these and all other Acts preceeding March 1685 the Defender is secured by the Act of Indemnity and as the Defender cannot be pursued for any Crime preceeding that time neither in Judgement nor out with the same they in effect being no Crimes being taken away by the Act of Indemnity they cannot be so much as made use of as qualifications or aggravations to infer another Crime posterior thereto 4o. As to that pretended qualification that when the Defender did touch his Fathers dead body after it was taken out of the grave the Corps did bleed It is answered that this is but a superstitious observation without any ground either in Law or Reason And Carpzovius relates part 3. quest 122. Num 31. That several Persons upon that ground had been unjustly challenged and that he in his own experience had seen a dead body bleed in presence of a person who was not guilty as also that he has seen the body not bleed in presence of the Person that was guilty And Mattheus de Criminibus is of the same opinion Tit 16. de Quaestionibus Num 12 de Sanguine porro de Cadavere profluente quod dicitur id de plurimis experimentis comprobetur tamen cum experimenta falsa sint ratio vero idonea nulla reddi possit non putaverim indicium ad torturam sufficiens esse non enim sapientis Judicis est incerto experimento credere quod certa ratione dirimendum est And the truth is the occasion of the dead bodies bleeding was that the Chirurgions that came out to visit the body did make an Incision about the neck which might be the occasion of the bleeding and also the very moving of the dead body when it was taken out of the grave and out of the Coffin might occasion the bleeding especially seing the body did not bleed for some time after which certainly was made by the motion and by the incision As also as a further evidence that it could not be the Defenders touching the body the Chirurgions did likeways touch the Body as well as he and several others present so that the bleeding could no more be ascribed to his touching than the touching of the other persons present 5o. As to the other Articles Lybel'd Relating to the pretended Murder They are but meer stories and the truth is and it is offered to be proven That the Defender having gone to his Chamber and Bed the night before his Father's death He did not stir out of his Bed nor out of the Roum till the next morning that John Robertson his Fathers Servant came to his Chamber where he was in Bed and told him that he had been in his Master's roum and that he could not find him Upon which the Defender immediatly arose and put on his cloaths and went out to see where his Father was And shortly after word being brought him by some Persons in the Town that they did see his Father's Body lying in the Water and it being generally concluded by all that he had thrown himself in the Water and the body being taken out and laid in a Low-Roum It was thought fit by all the neighbours about that he should be buried the next day 6o. The particulars Lybel'd to infer the Defenders accession to his Fathers Death being but remot and uncertain conjectures It is a certain principle in Law that ex praesumptionibus et conjecturis nemo criminaliter condemnari potest especially as to a Capital punishment As is clear from the common Law Leg 5. digest de paenis Jed nec de supplicationibus debere aliquem damnare satius enim est Impunitum relinqui facinus nocentis quam Innocentem damnare And which is the opinion of all Lawers writing upon the Subject As Bartol upon the foresaid Law and Farin part 3. oper Crim. Quaest.
86. and the Lawers by him there cited And Muscard de prob Conclus 223. layes it down as a certain conclusion quod Argumenta quantumcunque urgentissima etiamsi essent talia quae mentem indicantis adeo coactarent quod aliudcredere non possit non tamen sufficerent ad condemnationem paenae corporalis sed duntaxat pecuniariae 7o. The presumptions and qualifications Lybel'd cannot be sustained even to infer an Arbitrary punishment Because they may and are taken off by other presumptions That either the Father was not murdered but that in a Frainzie or melancholy fit he had thrown himself in the Water Or at least if he was Murdered that the Defender had no accession thereto and the presumptions condescended upon in behalf of the Defender to eleid the presumptions contained in the Inditement are these That it is notourlie known That his Father was subject to melancholy fits and that in the year 1679 the time of Bothwell-bridge It is offered to be proven that he was in a fit of distraction And at another time in his house at the Netherbow he was going to throw himself out over the Window If one Thomas Lend all had not come in at the time pulled him back by the Leggs when his body was half out at the Window And some few dayes before he went out of Edinburgh last he came to George Stirling Chirurgion and desired him to draw blood of him for a distemper in his head which he refused unless he had advice from a Physician As also a day or two before he went out of the Town he was seen reading upon the Book of Burtouns Melancholy And that day when he went out of the Town in company of Mr. Bell the Minister Aiton Merchant in Haddingtoun they observed him to be melancholy disordered and more troubled than ordinary Or if it could be made appear that the Father was murdered Yet it cannot be presumed that the Defender had any accession thereto or that he would have commited such an Act against the very ties and light of nature As also it appears by the foresaid letter written to the Defender by his Father that they were in intire Friendship As also when the furmise went abroad that his Father had been murdered if he had been conscious to himself that he had any accession thereto he would have certainly fled the Countrey and gone away But he was so far from that that upon the first rumor of it he came presently in to Edinburgb and several dayes thereafter It being told him that he was suspected to have accession to his Fathers Death he came voluntarly and entered himself in Prison that he might undergo the strictest and severest Tryal Which alone is fussicient if it were no more to take off all the presumptions Lybel'd and to convince the World of the Defenders innocence And it being a Principle in Law That una praesumptio tollit aliam The presumptions adduced for the Defender ought to be preponderat Mascard Conclus 1205. is positive That presumptiones quae stant pro reis praevalent As also that Praesumptio affectionis naturalis pravalet contrariis praesumptionibus So that upon both these considerations the presumptions alledged for the Defender ought to be sustained to take away the presumptions Lybel'd and to free him from the Crime His Majesties Advocat answers That the lybel consists of three Articles primo Treason by the Pannal's drinking the King's confusion and by the Murder under trust 2o. The cursing of a Parent 3o. The Qualifications inferring the Pannal's accession to the murder of his Father As to the first it cannot be denyed but that the drinking or wishing Confusion to his Majesty is the highest Act of contempt malice and disdain to his Royal person and as the Relevancy of this Article is not expresly contraverted so the atrocity of the Act and the forcing others to do the same upon the common Grounds of Law does clearly infer Treason and it cannot be expected that such extravagant words should either be exprest or particularly provided against by any Law in express terms But the nature of the words in express terms of our Law discharging all Speeches to the disdain of His Majesty the contempt of His Authority do clearly and naturally comprehend the words libeled and by the common Law ad leg jul Maj. crimen laesae Majestatis ad exemplum legis scriptae est vindicandum And whereas it is pretended that these words were inadvertantly said and that it appears by the tract of the Pannal's life and his readinesse to engage in His Majesties service that the words could not be deliberat and malitious It is Replyed That it is offered to be proven that the drinking Consusion to the King was openly and plainly proposed And that the Pannal did deliberately send out for Ale to drink certain healths that this health to the King's confusion was the first or second that it was no lapse or mistake in the expression But that he forced others to pledge drink that same Health And the malice and disloyalty is evident by the healths subsequent viz. Antichrists c. and it is not at all relevant after the reiterat deliberat expressing of these words that he had retracted or drank the Kings health for a crime once committed is not retracted or taken off by such inconsistent unconsequential Speeches But to shew the sense the Pannal had of the Importance of his own words the Pannal being informed that some of the persons present had divulged his having drunk the King's Confusion the Pannal did conjure them to secrecie and did menace the Witnesses with a great kane that he would beat and brain them if ever they told it Whereas it is answered in general as to all Crimes committed without the Kingdom that they cannot be cognosced or punished here It is Replyed That as to all Crimes against Nature or the Law of Nations as every party is Competent to be an accuser so every Judicature is Competent and therefore as to the Crimes of Treason or cursing of Parents wherever committed they are punishable by the Justices But because in Relation to the Crimes committed abroad there is no positive probation but Declarations and Testimonies Therefore as to these Crimes His Majesties Advocat does not insist on them as distinct Crimes per se but as Qualifications Documents and Evidences of the Habitual Debauchry and unnatural Malice exprest by the Pannal against his Father for a Tract of many years Whereas it is answered That as to all Crimes preceeding 1685. They are taken off by the Indemnity It is Replyed the Indemnity 1685. is no general Indemnity neither as to Persons nor Crimes but particular Crimes are Remitted and particularly enumerat without any general clause And as cursing of Parents is not particularly enumerat so by the Nature of that Crime it cannot be included or comprehended in any general Indemnity And the words of the Act of
Pannal could condescend and document that some other Person killed his Father he must be repute the Murderer 2º It is offered to be proven that Sir James Standsfield who was a Person of eminent sobriety and veracity did declare to several persons that his unnatural Son had attempted his life and offered violence to his person and particularly that he had pursued him on horse-back and fired Pistols on him and that same Friday before Sir James was Murdered he did declare that it was not his Debts or any thing under Heaven that troubled him but that his Son and Family were plotting and contriving his destruction and the next night he was murdered 3º It is offered to be proven that the Pannals mother declared That her Son had Vowed to be his Fathers death and that he was a vindictive Person and that she did apprehend he had Murdered him So as to this Article there is a concourse of the Pannals own oaths to murder his Father and of his Father and Mothers declarations that he had attempted and was still plotting the same The second qualification is that that Saturdays night Sir James Standsfield came home The Pannal would not come where his Father was either to Supper or Prayer and being expresly desired by several Persons to go to his Father and speak with him He declared that same night he was Murdered he could not endure to see or look upon his Father and he had been all that day closs with Thomson and his Wife and Janet Johnston So after ten hours at even after the Family was gone to Bed he came out to Thomsons house which is hard by the Gate and there in presence of Thomson his Wife and Jannet Johnston he declared that his Father would neither give him money nor cloaths and cursed his Father and declared that he would shortly make ridd of him which agrees with what he had several times said in other companies that he was to be Laird before Christmass And that he was shortly to be Master of all and none could think how soon As also shortly before Sir James's death the Pannal's mother falling in swound it wad said to him Philip ye will shortly want your Mother To which he answered by God his Father should be dead before her And eight dayes after his Mother falling again Sick he repeated the same words whereby it is evident the Murder was deliberat and determined 3º On the Sunday morning before Sir James's body was found Philip came to the Ministers Chamber and told him that his Father was gone out in the night and that he had been searching for him about the Pools and water side and when the Minister reproved him for making such insinuations against his Father he laughed at him and went away to the Pool and stood looking upon his Father in the water but made no discovery and thereafter a stranger coming by upon the high way like ways seeing Sir James's body in the water he came back and discovered the matter At which Philip seemed surprised and told that he had seen his Father's body in the water before but he did not think fit to be the first discoverer which shewes that he was conscious of his own guilt otherwayes upon the first sight of his Father in the water he would have gone to him but on the contrary he never laid a hand upon his Father's body either to pull him out of the water or to carry him into the house for the dread of some extraordinary discovery and did not allow the Corps to be brought within his Fathers gates but caused carry the Corps to the Wake-miln where to cover the appearance of strangling upon his body he intrusted Jannet Johnston with the care of woonding him who was known to be a person so odious to Sir James that he could not see her for her baseness with the Pannal and she did acknowledge that she had not been for three quarters of a year within the house before And yet this infamous Strumpet who has been tortured by order of the privy Council as accessory to the murder chiefly intrusted to see the naked body and the cloaths put on 4º The Pannal did refuse to send for a Chyrurgion and to let his Father's body be sighted though the Minister and others did expresly demand it And the English-men in the Manufactory who were acquainted with the Crowner-Laws they made a mutiny anent the Burial till the Corps were sighted Yet the Pannal caused bury the Corps that same night without shewing them The Corps being raised by order and incision being made whereby the Strangling did clearly appear and the Corps being dressed clean and Linens put on there did appear no blood but to take off all suspition the Corps were lifted up and the night-cap being wrong put on it was altered and changed and thereafter the Corps were laid down without any blood upon the Linen and the Pannal who to this time had never touched his Father's Corps being required to assist to lift the Body into the Coffin Having taken his Father by the right side of the Head with his left hand James Row bearing the left the Pannal's hand was altogether blooding as if his hand had been put in a Vessel of Blood which notwithstanding of all his Impudent resolution to the contrary had that horrible impression and conviction upon him that he let his Father's head fall to the ground and cryed out O God and run away and went to a Dask in the Church where he lay groaning and in confusion but durst never return to touch the Corps and as there can no natural reason be given but an ordinar and wonderful Providence of God in this Kind of discoveries of Murder So the Fact was never more evident and sure though half a dozen of Persons were bearing the Corps no mans andswere bloody but the Pannals and the Corps being two intire days in the Grave in that Weather season the Blood by the course of nature was become stagnat and congeal'd so that the former tossing and lifting of the Corps and even the incision it self had occasioned no such effusion but only some water or gore But upon the first touch of the Pannal the Murderer there appeared abundance of liquid florid Blood and though this per se might not be sufficient and as Mattheus is cited it should not inferr Torture yet Mattheus acknowledges that most part do sustain this as a violent presumption of times experimented yet in his opinion it is not sufficient for Torture Because Torture being in it self a punishment it cannot be used except where there is semiplena probatio or where the Conscience of the Judge is satisfied as to the truth of the Crime and therefore uses an extraordinar course to extort an confession which proves that this presumption is semiplena probatio per se according to their own grounds And whereas it is alledged that Capital punishment cannot be infered from conjectures
especially where upon Repentance the Father had remitted the Injury but the Father being in effect Judge of the Injury his remitting the same ought at least to Assoilzie the Child from any capital conclusion And as to the alledged habitual Cursing the same is denyed and the former Defence founded upon the Act of Indemnity is repeated and opponed and the Libel is opponed which doth not bear habitual Cursing but particular Acts at particular Times And as to the Qualifications alledged by my Lord Advocat for clearing that the Defunct Sir James Standsfield was murdered the Pannal is truely sorry that for his own Defence and for clearing of his own Innocence his Lawers should be necessitate to plead any thing relating to his Fathers Infirmities or way and manner of his Death But it is Duplyed That the whole Presumptions adduced by my Lord Advocat are allanerly fallacious Conjectures and can neither be separatim or complexly relevant to infer any such thing because 1o. That the Minister did hear a whispering noise and was thereby tertified his Terror and Consternation having as he himself pretends put him in a Disorder and Confusion he was thereby rendered incapable to observe or judge of any thing that happened 2o. That the Body was swiming above Water imports nothing the Defunct having a great Coat of think Cloth about him which was sufficient to keep him floating above 3o. The pretence that there was no Water in the Defuncts Body when the Chirurgions visited the same imports nothing because the Defuncts Body having been several times stirred before that time by which the water might have run out as it actualy did in case there was any water within it 4o. Albeit where a Man is drowned unwillingly and endeavors to breathe so long as he can his breathing may suck-in the Water Yet if a Man intend to drown himself he will certainly endeavour all means for quick dispatch of himself and thereby keep in his breath and the keeping in of the Breath after that manner was sufficient both to keep the Body floating and the water from coming in 5o. To put the matter beyond all question the Defunct was lying in the water a considerable space from the Bank And albeit the Ice was not so strong as to have carried a Child yet the Ice was whole and intire betwixt the Defunct and the Bank which demonstrats that the Defunct had Jumped in from the Bank to that place where he was lying 6o. As to that pretence that there was Blood about the Defuncts neck all lapper'd and bruised before incision was made the Defunct being pulled out of the water by an great Cleik the touching of the Neck with the Cleik when his breath was just gone out was sufficient to have made the Blood where that part was to lapper and congeal 7o. As to the declarations of the Physicians and Chirurgions they are only declarations ex auditu and upon report of one or two Chirurgions and hath no foundation but the ignorance or knowledge of the saids two Reporters neither can any such declarations be obtruded against the Pannal because not given out with the Libel But whatever may be inferred from these Presumptions whether the Defunct was Murdered or not the same does not concern the Pannal unless his accession to the Murder were instructed as is impossible it can be As to the qualifications alledged by my Lord Advocat for fixing the Murder or acession thereto upon the Pannal It is duplyed to the first That the Pannal's alledged vitious Life and the story at Treves his being Drunk in prison and Threatning to cut Throats upon smal provocations the same are extrinsick to the Lybel and cannot be respected 2o. As to the alledged threatning used in James Smith's House the Lybel is opponed bearing these expressions to have been used in the year 1684 or some year preceeding And therefore the former defence founded upon the Indemnity is repeated and opponed And whereas my Lord Advocat pretends that minae praecedentes cum damno sequuto is sufficient either to fix the guilt upon the Person who used the Threats or at least to burden him with the probation that another commited the Crime It is Duplyed 1o. That My Lord Advocat's position is absolutly denyed unless he can instruct some other positive accession against the Pannal and these pretended Threats being taken away not only by the Act of Indemnity but likwayes by dissimulation which is not only offered to be inferred from the Letter made mention of in the Defence but likeways by the Desuncts owning receiving intertaining furnishing and providing for the Pannal in every thing suitable as his eldest Son the same doth unundoubtedly take away all pretence that can be founded upon threatning so many years preceeding and by no Law can the Pannal be burdened to prove who were either Actors or in accession to his Fathers Murder As to the 2d qualification bearing that the Defunct said to several Persons that the Pannal offered to invade him denying the same the Fathers assertion could not infer a Crime against the Pannal unless the Crime it self were other wayes proven by witnesses and the same is Libeled to have been said by Sir James before the Act of Indemnity And Sir James's other assertion that he was in trouble for fear of prejudice from his Family cannot infer a Crime especially against the Pannal and far less can it be proven by the Relict and the other Son who in Sir James's apprehension were designing mischief against him and for their own vindication they would certainly depone partially against the Pannal And the same is repeated against the other expressions alledged spoken by the Mother And witnesses cannot be received to prove what another witness said As to the pretence that the Pannal refused to sup with his Father the night before his Death It is Duplyed the Pannal was not at all in use to sup except on Sundays night And the Pannal had no kindness for the Minister Because he and others of his Gang had endeavoured to keep up discord betwixt him and his Father As to the alledged Bleeding of the Corps the former Defences are opponed And albeit the Pannal did help to lift his Fathers Corps before the incision yet no Blood did appear till long thereafter that the incision was made and the Pannal did fall to grip that part of his Father's Head where the Incision was So that the Blood falling from the wound can neither be a Ground nor Presumption for guilt And though the Pannal was surprised to see his Father's Blood Yet the same did only proceed from natural Duty and affection and not from any apprehension of Guilt And these qualifications being all Libel'd and Debated upon It is humbly desired for the Pannal That the Lords of Justiciary would give a separat Interloquitor upon every particular qualification Sir Patrick Hume for the Pannal adds That as to the point of Treason It is offered to be proven that
that time and that these confusions were drunk severally And this is the Truth as he shal answer to God. Sic subscribitur Samuel Spofforth Iohn Robertson above design'd being Re-examined purged and sworn Depones That the Deponent being at Morum Castle after Harvest last in order to give a call to a Minister the Deponent having met with Philip Standsfield the Pannal he said to him ye are a wise lad if ye have subscribed that Bond the Devil take him and particularly the Devil take his Father and named his Father depon'd that at another time in the midst of Harvest last the Deponent and Sir James Standsfield the Pannal's Father being going to Smeitoun with a Minister the Pannal asked him where he and his Father was going and the Deponent answered that he was going to Smeitoun with his Father And the Pannal Philip Standsfield said Devil let never one of them come back again Horse nor Man depones further That several times and frequently when the Deponent has been seeking the Pannal to come to Dinner with his Father the Pannal's ordinar Answer was the Devil damn him and you both and Devil rive him for I will not go to him and if he had a sixpence a day he would not go near him for his Father girned upon him like a Sheep-head in a tongs and that he has heard him say sometimes God damn his Father And this is the Truth as he shal answer to God. Sic subscribitur Iohn Robertson William Scot Clothier in New-milns aged 30 years married purged and sworn Depones that betwixt Michaelmass and Martimass last the Pannal Philip Standsfield having come to the Deponent's Shop and asked for some Tobacco the Deponent said to Philip his Father would not let him want money to buy Tobacco and the Pannal Philip said the Devil take him and his Father both for there never came an honest man out of York-Shire Depones his wife was present with him when that Discourse past Depones he cannot write And this is the Truth as he shal answer to God Sic subscribitur Linlithgow Agnes Bruce above-designed being Re-examined Purged and Sworn Depones That she did hear the Pannal usually vow and swear he would kill any person that offended him and that the Pannal did haunt much with Janet Johnston George Thomson and his Wife and that he went frequently out of his Fathers House after Supper to these persons and further Depones that she has heard the Pannal frequently curse his Father and bid the Devil damn him and rive him and swell him and that she has frequently heard him express his hatred and abhorrence of his Father and that he could not abide to see his Father Further Depones that the Munday at Night before Sir James came to Edinburgh the last time he was in it being about a Fourth-night before his death the Deponent was ordered to call the Pannal to his Mother after he was gone to his Chamber and that accordingly she did it and when the Pannal came down the Deponent left him with his Mother alone and when she was without the Door she heard him say to his Mother several times God damn him if he did it not and desired his Mother to take a good Heart for as long as he had she should not want Depones she knows not what he meaned by these Words but knows there had been a little Quarrel betwixt Sir James and his Lady that same Night Further Depones that on Tuesday thereafter when Sir James Standsfield was going in to Edinburgh she did hear Philip Standsfield the Pannal say in his Mothers Chamber his Father not being present God let him never return God let him never see his Fathers face again the Devil go with him the Devil rive him and take him away and that there was no Body in the Roum at the time but the Pannal and his Mother and the Deponent was at the Door Further Depones that about a month before Sir James having reproved the Pannal upon the occasion of an Accompt given in by William Anderson Brewer she did hear the Pannal say in his Mothers Chamber Sir James not being present God damn him if he should not do ten times worse and that he could not endure to see his Fathers face and that he had hated his Father these six or seven years Further Depones that about a Fourth-night or twenty days before Sir James his death it being said that Philip was to go to Town with his Father she heard him say he would be hang'd ere he went with him let him go the Devil go with him and let him never return and this likewise in his Mothers Chamber and in her presence Depones the Pannal did ordinarly shift occasions of being in his Fathers Company Depones that the Friday before Sir James his death she knows the Pannal and Janet Johnstoun were a considerable time together in the Pannal's Chamber where the Deponent heard Janet Johnstouns tongue but doth not know if George Thomson and his Wife were with them Depones that on the Wednesday before Sir James his death Philip having cursed some of the Servants the Deponent said to him God be thanked he was not their Master and that he answered her with an Oath she knew not how soon he might be their Master Further Depones that she thought Sir James not so merry as his ordinar the night before his death but that he conveyed Mr. Bell to his Chamber and thereafter came down to his own and the Deponent having desired to speak with Sir James his servant John Robertson told her she could not because his Chamber-door was shut and he was gone to Bed and that she did then see Light in his Roum and when she was going away found the Hall-Door which was without his Chamber-door shut and that the Hall-Door was not usually closed in the night-time except Sir James had done it himself and which he did but once in the two or three Nights Depones that on the Saturdays night when Sir James came home he did go to his Ladies Chamber where he stayed not a quarter of an hour and that his Lady fell a quarreling of him for going to another House before he came there and that the Deponent came out of the Chamber and knows not what more past there Depones the next morning when Sir James was mist the Deponent went in to his Roum to put on a Fire and found the Bed better spread up than it used to be and the Curtains more drawen about it and the Candle which usually was at the Bed-head she found it standing on a Chair at the Bed-foot And further Depones that when the Defunct's Body was bringing up to the House the Deponent would have had him brought to his own Chamber but Philip swore that the Body should not enter there for he had not died like a Man but like a Beast Depones that the Body was then put in the Walk-miln but
knows not if Philip caused do it and that the Body from that was brought to a Cellar within the Closs where there was very little light Depones that she did not see any water come out of his Mouth and that when the Deponent lifted up the Linen-sheet which was over him in the Cellar some of them caused let it down again for it was not fit to let the Body be seen Depones that Ianet Iohnstown was present with the Body in the Cellar with the rest and though it was known that neither Sir James nor his Lady would look upon her for a good time before nor was she openly seen about the House yet that morning she went to the Ladies Chamber as soon as the Body was taken out and the Deponent was present and saw her come in and well enough taken with Depones she heard Philip after his Fathers Death Greet and Cry but saw no Tears Depones immediatly after his Fathers Body was found he would have forced his Fathers Chamber-door it being shut but the Key being gotten it was opened and he entred in and first took his Fathers Gold and Money out of his pocket and then got the Keys and searched the Cabinet and that within an hour after his Father was brought from the water he got the Buckles of his Father's shoes and put them in his Depones that on the Munday after Sir James's Death the Lady and Janet Johnstown having quarrelled together about some remains of the Holland of the woonding-sheet Philip came down out of his own Chamber and the Deponent heard him say to Janes Johnstoun hold your peace when I command you for he would reward her vvell for the kindness she had done to him at that Time Depones that when the order came from Edinburgh to raise the Corps again the Deponent did meet George Thomson the Taylor and perceived him shaking and trembling and asked him what troubled him and that his Answer was he heard the blackest Newes that ever he heard in his Life for Sir James's Body was to be raised again and said he would sew no more in the House of New-milns for the World and carried the Mournings to his own House Depones she knows nothing of false Keys made use of about the House only she heard the Lady say that there vvere Depones Philip had no lockfast place in the house except a little Coffer and that it once being opened the Deponent did see several Keys within it that he offered once the Key of one of the Roums to the Deponent but the Deponent took it not because she had the ordinar Key of the Roum Depones that Philip was in use to ly alone but that after his Fathers Death he would not ly in a Roum alone at Newmilns and that he declared to the Deponent that he was afraid to be alone in a Roum either Night or Day and that he sleept not the Night after his Father died and that he should not go into the Roum where his Father lay if once he had the Cabinet out of it Depones That a short time before Sir James died the Lady having fallen in a Swond and the Deponent having told Philip of it Philip came to his Mothers Chamber and that his Mother told him then that he was like in a short time to lose his Mother and that he answered in the Deponents hearing that his Father should be dead first and Depones that some few dayes thereafter in his Mothers Chamber again and in the Deponents hearing he renewed the same Words with an Oath Further Depones that two Nights after Sir James's Death the Lady told to the Deponent that something then came in her Mind which she had heard to wit that Philip before he went to London when he was in his Pomp having heard that Sir James was to give his Estate to his second Son in the House of James Smith in the Nungate had vowed to kill his Brother and the like or little less to his Father and that thereafter when they were coming in to Edinburgh the Lady renewed again to the Deponent the same words and added what if they should put her Bairn in Prison And this is the Truth as she shal answer to God. Depones she cannot write Sic subscribitur Linlithgow Iohn Shand sometimes Servitor to Sir James Standsfield aged 43 years unmarried purged and sworn Depones that a litle after Philip Standsfield the Pannals Marriage the Pannal and the Deponent being in James Smiths House in Nungate of Haddingtoun the Pannal did expostulat with the Deponent that his Father dealt too narrowly with him he being then married and the Deponent told the Pannal that his Father was in straits and exhorted him to be dutiful to his Father thereafter the Pannal said if I knew my Father would give his Estate to my Brother Iohn I would cut his Throat and the Land-lord of the House being by and present and surprized cryed out God preserve me what means the Man the Land-lord understanding by the word his his Father And though the Deponent took the Expression in the same sense as Iames Smith did yet the Deponent endeavoured to excuse it by saying it was not his Father that he meaned but his Brother or his man Donald and the Pannal being present said nothing for clearing of the Expression whereupon the Deponent went away and left the Pannal and could not endure to stay longer in his Company Depones the night before Sir James Death being the Friday the Deponent was with Sir James in his Chamber in Edinburgh where the Defunct was reading a Sermon-book and appeared to be sad and said to the Deponent I have no comfort in my Wife and Family And this is the Truth as he shal answer to God Sic subscribitur Iohn Shand. Mr. Roderick Mckenzie Advocat Being solemnly Sworn and Purged depones That about eight dayes before Sir James Standsfield's Death The Deponent and he having met in the Parliament Closs the Defunct invited him to take his morning Draught And when they were gone to Mr Sheil's house the Deponent perceiving him to be in some concern the Deponent asked him what troubled him the Defunct answered that he had no satisfaction at Home whereupon the Deponent said that People reported that he was partly the occasion of it having disherished his Son the Pannal and acquainted him therewith And the Defunct answered ye do not know my Son for he is the greatest Debauch in the Earth and that which troubles me most is that he twice attempted my own Person And this is the truth as he shall anser to God. sic subscribitur Rod. Mckenzie Archibald Dumbar Merchant in Edinburgh aged 26 years Married purged and Sworn Depones that the Deponent having met with the deceast Sir James Standsfield at Culter But he does not remember positively the time but it was either in the year of this Kings Parliament or the Harvest before and Sir James and the
his Servants to invite me but if those damn'd rogues would not do it what could he help it and yet did declare as is proved and as himself since confest before my Lord Advocate that he would not invite me assigning this as his Reason supposing that my self and James Marr had been Instruments of setting his Father against him which was a false suggestion All which particulars I have before the Lords of His Majesties Honourable Privy Council declared So by their Command I have in this sheet of Paper written it over with my own Hand and do hereby subscribe my Name the sixth of December 1687. Sic subscribitur per me Umphray Spurway Edinburgh the 7th of February 1688. In presence of the Justices and Assisers Umphray Spurway ownes his Declaration above-written to be Truth in all poynts As he shal answer to God Sic subscribitur Umphray Spurway Linlithgow Iames Mitchel Nephew to the deceast Sir James Standsfield aged 20 years unmarried purged and sworn Depones that about twentie dayes before Sir James Standsfield's Death being in company with Philip the Pannal he heard the Pannal say that if his Father did dispone his Estate by him he would kill him though he should die in the Grass-mercat for it Depones that several times about a moneth before Sir James's Death he heard the Pannal say that little thought the People had how soon the Pannal would be Laird and when he was he would then ride in their skirts that had been ill to him And this is the Truth as he shall answer to God Sic subscribitur James Mitchel Iohn Topping in Monkrig aged 25 years married purged and sworn Depones that upon the Sabbath-morning after Sir James Standsfield's Death the Deponent coming from Monkrig to New-milns by the side of the water he discovered a Body floating and saw Philip Standsfield looking to that place of the water where the Body was and the Deponent asked the Pannal whose Body that was in the water And the Pannal made no answer and when he came to New-milns he heard that Sir James's Body was found in the water Depones he saw the Body taken out of the water and went alongst with it near to the Walk-miln but observed no water come from the Body This is the Truth as he shal answer to God. Depones he cannot write Sic subscribitur Linlithgow James Dick in New milns aged fourty seven years married purged and sworn Depones that the Pannal Philip Standsfield and the Deponent being at Morum after taking up of the Corps and discoursing about the finding of the Body in the water the Deponent said to the Pannal that he saw something in the water when they were searching after Sir James but he did not suppose it to be Sir James's Body and the Pannal said I saw him before any of you Depones that he saw the Body after it was taken out of the water at the Brink of the Brae and went alongst with the Body a piece of the way and observed no water come from the Mouth And this is the Truth as he shal answer to God. Sic subscribitur James Dick. His Majesties Advocat desired that James Thomson son to George Thomson in New-milns and Anna Mark Daughter to Janet Johnstoun Spouse to the said James Thomson might be examined as Witnesses against the Pannal for proving his Accession to his Fathers Murder And the Procurators for the Pannal having alledged that the foresaids Persons were but children and so not by Law capable to be Witnesses the Boy not being above thirteen years of Age and the Girle not above ten years The Lords Justice General and Commissioners of Justiciary refused to receive them as Witnesses but in regard the Persons on the Inquest earnestlie desired the said James Thomson and Anna Mark might be examined anent their knowledge of the Pannal's Accession to the forsaid Murder they allowed the forenamed persons their Declarations to be taken for clearing of the Assise And accordingly the said James Thomson being examined in presence of the Justices and Inquest declared as after followes that Janet Johnstoun came to George Thomsons house betwixt nine and ten at night and Philip Standsfield the Pannal came there shortly thereafter and the House being dark the said Philip gave the Declarant a turnor to buy a Candle which he did in the neighbouring house and after the Declarant returned with the Candle his Mother ordered him to go to his Bed which was in the same Roum and beat him because he did not presently obey Declares he heard one come to the Door and inquire for Janet Johnstoun and desire her to come home and give her Child-suck Declares he knew by the voice that the Person who came was Agnes Mark the said Janets daughter and that Janet ordered her to go away and she should follow her Declares she stayed a considerable time thereafter and the said Thomsons wife was desired to go for a pint of Ale and Philip took out an handful of Money to see if he had any smal Money and finding he had none the Ale was taken on upon trust Furder Declares that the said George Thomson and his Wife and Janet Johnstoun did stay together and whisper softly a considerable time Declares he heard Philip Standsfield complain that his Father would not give him Money and pray the Devil take his Father and God damn his own Soul if he should not make an end of his Father and then all would be his and then he would be kind to them Declares Philip Standsfield and Janet Johnstoun went away about eleven and shortly after his Father and Mother came to the bed where the Declarant was lying crosse the Bed-foot and the Declarant in the night time perceived his Father and Mother rising out of the Bed and going out of the house and that they stayed a considerable time away about an hour and an half or two hours and that the Declarant was perfectly awake when they went and were away and he wondred what they were going about Declares his Mother came in first and came softly to Bed and within some time after his Father came in and put a stool to the back of the door without locking it for the lock made alwayes a great noise when they locked the door and the Declarants Father called to him whenever he came in but the Declarant made no answer that it might be thought he was sleeping and his Mother asked what had stayed his Father and thereupon his Father and Mother did fall a discoursing of several things and particularly his Father said that the Deed was done and that Philip Standsfield guarded the Chamber-door with a drawen Sword and a bendet Pistol and that he never thought a man would have died so soon and that they carried him out towards the water-side and they tyed a stone about his Neck and leaving him there came back to the little kiln and reckoned whether they should cast him in
who is accused of it is to die however for either of the two former Crimes are so far prov'd beyond all doubt that though he should escape this he cannot these And as to the probation of this Crime I must first represent to you that in occult or atrocious Crimes the Law has relaxed and remitted much of its scrupulousness in probation because in these the ordinary probation cannot be had and to admit none but such were to reject all And therefore in Hamesucken which is the beating a man in his own house but much more the murdering a man by way of Hamsucken in his own house wherein all means are used to cover and few can be got for discovering you must not expect two witnesses who saw the Murder committed but only such probation as can before God convince you that this Murder was committed by that man no Inquest ever failed to find the Murder of Children to be clearly prov'd though there were no witnesses that saw it committed the murdering Parents is a more atrocious Crime because we owe more duty to our Parents than any Parent does to a Child and never Son ow'd more than this did nor can be more believ'd to have killed a Parent For clearing whereof you are to consider first that he did not drown himself as was pretended but was murdered by some persons And as the Law violently presumes that no man would Murder himself so without the help of this presumption it is prov'd most convincingly by ocular inspection that he was strangled the marks of strangling viz. the congeal'd blood the dislocation of one of the vertebrae in his neck c. being visible signs prov'd in the ordinary way and we have added to this the opinion both of the Chirurgions and Phycisians who at once declare that he was not drown'd and that he was strangled The outward marks likwise of his not being drown'd appearing as visibly as that he was strangled so you must conclude that he was strangled except you can think that after he had strangled himself and broke his own neck he drown'd himself In the next place who could have murdered this Innocent and obliging Gentleman except some Person who had access to his house wherein he was murdered and had malice against himself And these two can meet in no person but this unnatural barbarous Son for one of the things that hightens his guilt is that he should abhorre a Father who engaged meer strangers to love him as a friend And we have prov'd that he not only hated his Father and that he had done so for many years but that he vowed he would take away his life before Christmass next and that in many various but clear expressions and at many several times for sometimes he swore if he made a disposition to his second Son he should take his life sometimes that he should be master of all before Christmass and he should use the servants as they used him That though his mother was like to die that his Father should die before her And he scarce ever spoke of his Father without swearing he would strike a Sword to his heart nor would his passion so much as suffer him to dissemble this even to his mother And he who durst own it to her durst certainly do it when ever he had occasion I proceed now to clear to you that I have prov'd that he not only design'd and vow'd in passion that he would Murder his Father but that he actually attempted to Murder him and for this I have Led these witnesses who prove that when his Father came from the Leaden-mines he fled in to Culter as a trembling Partridge pursued by a Haulk telling some Gentlemen that he had been pursued seven miles by his unnatural Son who accordingly came to the house and shot several Pistols in at the windows whereupon the Gentlemen who now Depone were forc'd to watch with his Father all the night and were forc'd to convoy him the next day near to Edinburgh We have also produc'd other Gentlemen to whom his Father declared that he attempted against his life and who will not believe the best of Fathers deponing against the worst of Sons Nor could any thing have drawn this from the Father save the terrifieing danger to which he was hourly exposed All the supream Courts of Europe have found the attempt to kill sufficient to inferr Paricide this is a higher degree of guilt than cursing yet that inferrs death to attempt to kill a Father is more villanous than to kill a stranger what shall be said then of frequent and deliberate attempts And thus you have this Son again prov'd guilty of death and even of Paricide That which hastned the perpetrating this crime was that his Father wearied out with his vallanies was at last forc'd to dispone his estate to his second Son and tho there be nothing more ridiculous than to ask what reason the son had to kill his Father as he now does for there can be no reason for so barbarous an action yet this was a motive to him and may be a proof to you for so kind a Father who had tryed all means and methods to reclaim his licencious Son had never proceeded to this unless he had been driven to it by those frequent attempts made by his Son upon his Life in hopes to enjoy his Estate by the death that he was to give To disapoint which hopes his Father design'd to settle the estate on the second Brother after which Settlement he could gain nothing but the gallows by killing his Father Whereupon he to prevent the delivery of the disposition did associat to himself _____ Thomson whom himself used to call the devils taylour Thomsons wife Janet Johnston who was his own concubine and his Fathers known enemie whom he could never have frequented except upon so barbarous a design Thomson denyed that he was in the house for eight days before and yet it is prov'd he was in Sir James's house the night the Murder was committed Johnston deny'd also before the Council that she was out of her house after nine a Clock that night and yet it is prov'd that she stay'd abroad till after twelve so that her husband was forc'd to send for a stranger to give suck to her Infant Why did they both deny or she abandon her Child at so suspect a time And it is ridiculous to pretend as they do that they forgot so extraordinary a circumstance in so extraordinary a night especially being examined upon it within two or three days thereafter By their assistance the Murder was design'd to be upon Saturday the _____ day of January But God to discover and revenge a Murder which he thought fit to suffer to be committed for the punishment of so many preceeding horrid Crimes inspired Sir James to bring with him that night a devout Minister for preparing the Father and proving against the Son And this pious and
grave man whose merit may be laid in ballance with many witnesses Depones that he heard that night the noise of many people within the house which was inconsistent with Sir James's drowning himself without it And Depones that his attention followed this noise until it died out towards the River into which he was thrown by them And the Brink is prov'd to have been broken and beat by many feet which fortifies much this deposition It is also prov'd that he refused that night to come to publick prayer with his Father swearing that he could not look upon him and that the next morning when all went to find out his Father he confessed he had first found him But that he came away without discovering that he had found him nor did he shew the least grief when he was found by others whereas if Nature had not been quit devour'd by Vice and guilt he had certainly thrown himself upon his dead Father and had lamented that fatal death which no man except he saw with dry eyes but whilst others were mourning for his Father this Miscreant would not suffer him to be carried in to his own house Saying that he died like a dog O Criminal moderation that never appeared in this passionat creature save upon the death of his Father O Cursed justice never showen or pretended to save in asserting that his Father deserved no respect because he drown'd himself Upon this villanous pretext he caused throw him into a remot house where none were allowed to see the body save his own accomplices to prevent all discovery by inspection of it and for the same reason caused bury him very suddenly in spight of a countermand from his freinds at Edinburgh But they fully perswaded that Sir James was murdered by his own Son sent out some Chirurgions and freinds who having raised the body did see it bleed miraculously upon his touching it In which God Almighty himself was pleased to bear a share in the testimonies which we produce that Divine power which makes the blood circulat during life has oft-times in all nations opened a passage to it after death upon such occasions But most in this case for after all the Wounds had been sewed up and the body design'dly shaken up and down and which is most wonderfull after the body had been buried for several days which naturally occasions the blood to congeal upon Philip's touching it the Blood darted and sprung out to the great astonishment of the Chirurgions themselves who were desired to watch this event whereupon Philip astonished more than they threw down the body crying O God O God and cleansing his hand grew so faint that they were forc'd to give him a cordial But least any shadow of difficulty might remain with you his Divine providence which oft-times reveals it self by the mouths of Babes and sucklings has brought us two little witnesses whom as no body could be so unworthy as to corrupt so none can be such Infidels as not to believe especially since they Depone against their own Parents and have owned firmly in their presence what they now depone in yours From them ye have an account how Philip that night came in to the house of their Parents and there svvore he would be ridd of his Father that very night how they went out at midnight and after their return made their reflections hovv easily Sir James had died and hovv briskly Philip had behaved by guarding of the door vvith a Pistol in his one hand and a Svvord in the other hovv they had hung a stone about his neck but had thereafter taken it avvay and hovv the mother durst not stay in her ovvn house vvhile Sir James's coat vvas there and if you had seen this little Boy upon his knees begging his father to confess vvith so much affection so much judgement so much piety you had needed no other probation but himself The Father himself before his death vvas convinced and frequently foretold that his Son vvounld kill him and the Mother hovv soon she heard of her Husband's death and some of the circumstances novv insisted upon and remembered vvhat she had heard her Son say to her self and vvhat he had said at Nunland concluded he vvas the murderer in spight even of that Criminal kindness vvhich she had for him almost the vvhole Nation vvas convinced of this before any probation vvas led And the Lords of the Privy Council among vvhom many of our Judges sit did declare that they thought that half of the probation vvhich vvas led before them sufficient to convince an Inquest Hovv then should the least scruple remain vvith you before vvhom so full so clear so Legal a probation has been led that like a Pend every part of it supports another like a Chain every link dravves on another I need not fortifie so pregnant a probation by laying out before you how often he and his complices have contradicted one another even how often he has contradicted himself in the most obvious and material points and how he denyes every thing with oaths and with equal confidence though never so clearly prov'd Albeit such as these are the chief things that make up the probation in other cases nor how he suffered the greatest indignities imaginable from his complices in presence of the Privy Council though this convinced many of their Lordships that he was at the mercy of those complices who were too far upon his secrets not to be slavishlie submitted to But I cannot omit how that since he came in to Prison he has lived so impiouslie and atheistically as shewes that he had no awe upon his Spirit to restrain him from commiting any Crime from a love to God or a fear to hell and that he constantly filled and kept himself drunk from morning till night thereby to drown the voice of his conscience and to make himself insensible of the terrors of the Almighty The Judges have declared what was necessary to be prov'd and you are only to Judge if we have prov'd what they thought necessary and therefore there is no place to doubt if a mans life may be taken away upon meer presumptions For the Judges have eased you of that scruple by finding the grounds in this qualified Libel relevant and his own Advocats have acknowledged this probation to be so strong unanswerable that before the half of it was led they went away and deserted a Client whom they found they could not defend nor should any man doubt of a probation which ones own Advocats think invincible If then such amongst you as are Fathers would not wish to be murdered by your own Children or such of you as are Sons would not wish the World to believe that you are weary of your Fathers You will all concur to find this Miscreant guilty of a Crime that God has taken so much pains to detect and all mankind has such reason to wish to be punished May then the Almighty God vvho form'd your hearts convince them and may this poor Nation cite you as the remarkable curbers of vice to all succeeding ages Thereafter His Majesties Advocat protested for an Assise of Error against the Inquest in case they should assoilzie the Pannal The persons who past upon the Assise of Philip Standsfield returned their Verdict in presence of the saids Lords whereof the Tenor follows The whole Assise called upon the Jury of Philip Standsfield upon the three Points following particularly lybel'd against him to wit the Crime of Treason the cursing of his Father and accession to his Father's Murder they unanimously in one voice by the Mouth of William Baillie of Lamingtoun their Chancelor finds the Pannal guilty of the foresaid three Crimes Sic subscribitur William Baillie of Lamingtoun Chancelor THe Lords Justice General and Commissioners of Justiciary having considered the Verdict of the Assise returned against Philip Standsfield they by the Mouth of John Leslie Dempster of Court decerned and adjudged the said Philip Standsfield to be taken upon Wednesday next being the fifteenth of February instant to the Mercat-cross of Edinburgh and there betwixt two and four a cloak in the afternoon to be hanged on a Gibbet till he be dead and his Tongue to be cut out and burnt upon a scaffold and his Right hand to be cut off and affixt on the East-Port of Haddingtoun and his Body to be carried to the Gallowlie betwixt Leith and Edinburgh and there to be hanged up in Chains and ordains his Name Fame Memory and Honours to be extinct his Arms to be riven forth and delet out of the Books of Arms swa that his Posterity may never have place nor be able hereafter to bruik or joyse any Honours Offices Titles or Dignities within this Realm in time coming and to have forfaulted amitted and tint all and sundry his Lands Heretages Titles Offices Tacks Steidings Roums Possessions Goods and Gear whatsomever pertaining to him to our Soveraign Lord to remain perpetuallie with his Highness in Property which was pronounced for Doom whereupon His Majesties Advocat asked and took Instruments Sic subscribitur Linlithgow Jo. Lockhart David Balfour Roger Hoge P. Lyon. Extracted forth of the Books of Adjournal by me Mr. Thomas Gordon Clerk to the Justice Court Sic subscribitur Tho. Gordon Which Doom and Sentence above-written was accordingly put to due execution upon the person of the said Philip Standsfield in manner above-prescribed FINIS
the Body it did appear that his said Father was cruelly strangled and murdered and not drowned and that he had been cast in the water of purpose to conceal the same And when his Fathers dead body was sighted and inspected by Chirurgians and the clear and evident signs of the murder had appeared the Body was sewed up and most carefully cleaned and his nearest Relations and Friends were desired to lift up his Body to the Coffin And accordingly Iames Row Merchand who was in Edinburgh the time of the Murder having lifted the Left side of Sir Iames his Head and Shoulder and the said Philip the Right side his Fathers Body though carefully cleaned as said is so as the least Blood was not on it did according to God's usual Method of discovering Murders blood afresh upon him and desiled all his hands which struck him with such a terrour that he immediately let his Fathers Head and Body fall with Violence and fled from the Body and in consternation and confusion cryed Lord have mercy upon me and bowed himself down over a seat in the Church where the Corps were inspected wiping his Fathers innocent blood off his own murdering Hands upon his Cloathes By all which it is manifest that he did most traitorously express his hatred and malice to his Majesties Sacred Person by wishing and drinking to his confusion and causing others do the same And likewise that he did not only unnaturally curse invade attempt to assassinate or beat his said Father but under trust and assurance barbarously and treasonably did strangle kill and murder him in manner forsaid and is actor art and part of the forsaids Crimes or one or other of them which being found by an Assyse he ought to be punished for the treasonable Crimes above-specified with fore-faulture of Life Land and Goods and for the other Crimes above-mentioned Capitally and with the pains of Death and Confiscation of Moveables to the Terror and Example of others to commit the like hereafter Pursuers Sir Iohn Dalrymple younger of Stair His Majesties Advocat Sir George Mckenzie Advocat Procurators in Defence Sir David Thoirs Sir Patrick Hume Mr. William Moniepenny Mr. William Dundass The Pannal's Procurators produced two Warrands of Privy Council Commanding them to compeir and plead the Pannals Defence SIr Patrick Hume for the Pannal always denying the Inditement and whole members and qualifications thereof alleadges That as to the first part of the Inditement in relation to the drinking an Health to the Confusion of his Sacred Majesty as it is most calumnious so it is not to be supposed that any man in his right wits would have been guilty of such a thing And it is positively offered to be proven that at or about the time lybel'd and several times before and after the Defender did most heartily and chearfully in several Companies drink the King's Health and upon all occasions he was ready to testifie his Loyalty to the King and particularly the time of the Invasion by the late Duke of Munmouth in England where he did enter himself voluntarly a Souldier in the Earl of Dumbarton's Regiment and continued in the King's Army till the Rebels were defeat and the voluntiers dismissed As to the second part of the Libel in relation to the pannal his alledged committing and being guilty of and accessory to many notour Crimes abroad and being detained Prisoner in London Antworp Orleance c. and that he vented and entertained malice against his Father and that he declared many times that he would cut his Throat and that he did rail against and curse his Father by many Imprecations It is answered primo That it is absolutely deny'd that the Pannal was guilty of or accessory to any notorious Crime abroad or put in Prison upon that account nor is there so much as any Crime condescended upon 2o. The Defender could not conceive any prejudice against his Father upon the account of Disponing his Estate to his second Son for he knew nothing thereof till after his Fathers decease that one Alexander Ainstie told him that his Father made such a Disposition 3o. As to the pretended expressions that the Defender should have had of Railing Cursing and using Imprecations against his Father in so far as the samen are lybel'd to have been done abroad in England Holland or other places he cannot be lyable to the punishment inflicted by the Law of this Kingdom because when a party commits a Crime in another Nation he is only to be punished according to the Law of the place where the Crime was committed and not according to the Law of the Nation where he is a subject or has his dwelling As is clear by the common Law Authentick God ubi de criminibus agi oportet Qua in provincia quis delinquit aut in qua pecuniarum aut criminum reus sit sive de terra sive de terminis sive de possessione sive de proprietate sive de hypotheca aut de alia qualibet occasione vel de qualibet re fuerit reus illic jure subjaceat quod jus est perpetuum In that Nation where any Person commits a Crime or is lyable to answer upon any account whatsoever he is to be judged by the Law of that place which is established as a perpetual Law and Mattheus de Criminibus in his title de poenis is express of the same opinion 4o. As to all those pretended expressions of railing cursing and threatning lybel'd that were before March 1685. The Defender is secured by the Act of Indemnity by which all Crimes are indemnified preceeding that time against the Government and Lawes 5o. As to any pretended Expressions of falling and cursing since that time they being but injuries alledged done to the Father he might and did remit the samen in so far he did not challenge and pursue the same in his own time and this is clear from the common Law Carpzov part 2. Quaest 65. Actio autem injuriarum nec active nec passive in Haeredes transit etiamsi mortuus illatas injurias ignoraverit Institut lib. 4. tit 12. part 1. de perpetuis temporalibus action leg 10. par 2. ff si quis cautionibus in judicio sisten And leg 13. ff de injuriis injuriarum actio neque haeredi neque in haeredem datur As also it is a principle in Law that dissimulatione tollitur injuria and if it could be made appear that the Pannal had any such Expressions the Father did dissimulat and pass from the same in so far as by a Letter dated in June last written by the Father to the pannal he orders him to take in his Chamberlain Accompts of the Rents of his Lands and of any money he had received from the Tennents or for the Corns sold and that he expects he will do the same exactly and recommends to him to be careful of all his Affairs and subscribes himself to be his Loving Father By which it is evident