H. FOX
Rt. Honble. Mr. Pitt, Paymaster-General.
[Endorsed] War Office, 14th March, 1752. Mr. Fox to Mr. Pitt directing the Half Pay of Lieut. Willm. Henry Cranstoun to be Stopt. Ent. No. 1 W.P. Fo. 11.
[ APPENDIX IX. ]
THE CONFESSIONS OF CRANSTOUN.
(From No. 19 of Bibliography, Appendix XII.)
I.—Cranstoun's Own Version of the Facts.
Let us now return to Capt. Cranstoun, who as soon as he heard Miss was committed to Oxford Jail, secreted himself from the Publick, so that when Messengers were dispatched with Warrants to apprehend him, he was not to be found. In this concealment (either in Scotland, or the North of England) he lay for six months, that is from the middle of August, till a few days before Miss's Trial, which, came on the 2nd of March, when being well informed of the dangerous Situation she was in, and that his own Fate depended upon hers, his thought it high time to take care of himself; which he did by transporting himself to Bologn in France.
On his Arrival at Bologn, he found out one Mrs. Ross, whose Maiden Name was Dunbar and a distant relation to his family. To this woman he made his Application, told her the Troubles in which he was involved and entreated her to have so much compassion on him as to protect and conceal him till the storm was a little blown over, and to screen him from the Dangers he had just Reason to apprehend. Mrs. Ross was so affected by his disastrous condition, that in regard to the noble Family of which he was an unhappy Branch, she promised to serve him in the best Manner she could; but advised him to change his name, and to take that of Dunbar, which had been that of her own.