22. William Middleton, indweller in Edinburgh, called in and sworn.
Witness—I am in the employment of the Sheriff-Clerk’s Office. I have been acquainted with John Brown alias Humphry Moore for some time past, and I remember the robbing of the Excise Office. Brown came to me upon Friday, the 7th of March last, about eleven o’clock at night, and informed me that he wanted to make some discoveries concerning that robbery and the other late robberies which had been committed in this place. I desired him not to give me any information, but to keep his mind to himself, and I would take him to a person to whom he might communicate whatever he had to say. Accordingly I conducted him that same night to Mr. Scott, the Procurator-Fiscal, and afterwards, at his own desire, to the bottom of Salisbury Crags, where Brown pointed out a place in which we found a number of false keys under a large stone. These we brought to town with us to the Procurator-Fiscal’s house. The next day I was sent into England along with Brown in search of the goods belonging to Messrs. Inglis & Horner, silk mercers, which had been stolen from their shop; and Mr. Frier, a partner of that house, accompanied us.
The Dean of Faculty—My Lords, it is not proper that the witness should be allowed to speak of facts that have no relation to the present trial.
The Lord Justice-Clerk—William Middleton, you are to confine yourself to such facts as relate to or are immediately connected with the breaking into the Excise Office, which is the charge brought against the prisoners.
Witness—Upon Sunday, the 16th of March last, the prisoner, George Smith, was carried at his own desire to the bottom of Warriston’s Close,[5] and I accompanied him, along with Alexander Williamson and James Murray, sheriff-officers. Smith there pointed out a hole in a wall where a false key, a pair of curling irons, and a small iron crow were hid, which, he said, had been used in breaking open the Excise Office; whether they were covered with earth or not I cannot say, as the prisoner himself put in his hand and brought them out. [Here a false key, a pair of curling irons, and a small iron crow were shown the witness.] These are the same articles that were so found. [The counsel for the pannels here repeated the objection against adducing the iron crow, the curling irons or toupee tongs, and dark lanthorn, as mentioned in the general objection and interlocutor before taken down.] I was present at the search that was made in Smith’s house; there was nothing found in it. I was likewise present on the day following at a search that was made in Brodie’s house and yard, when one part of a dark lanthorn was found in a necessary house, and another part in a pen where fowls or game-cocks had been kept. [Here the dark lanthorn libelled on was shown to the witness.] These are the two parts of the dark lanthorn which were so found. The prisoner, George Smith, informed me that the small crow was used in breaking into the Excise Office.
Cross-examined by the Dean of Faculty—Did Brown inform you, previous to your going to England, that the prisoner, William Brodie, had any concern in the robbery of the Excise Office?
Witness—He told me that there was a gentleman whom I knew, and whom I little suspected, concerned in it, but he did not mention his name.
Alexander Williamson
23. Alexander Williamson, sheriff-officer in Edinburgh, called and sworn.
Witness—I was present, along with George Williamson and James Murray, when there was a search made in the house of William Brodie, the prisoner, upon the 10th of March last, and in the course of the said search I saw a pair of pistols wrapped in a black stocking taken from under the earth in the fireplace of a shed in his yard. [Here the pistols libelled on were shown to the witness wrapped in a green cloth.] These are the pistols, and they were found in that green cloth. [The counsel for the pannels here repeated the objection against adducing the pistols, as mentioned in the general objection and interlocutor before taken down.]