4th February 1869
The
Scotsman Newspaper features a letter to the editor entitled ‘Move On!’ –
‘Sir,
I have found a good deal of amusement and some instruction in
perusing
the discussion in your columns as to the relative drunkenness of
Scotland
and other countries, and have been greatly impressed by the stanch
patriotism
of several of the writers. Having taken up my residence here
(after
long residence abroad) within the last few months, I have seen a good
many
things in this beautiful city – I will not venture on the whisky theme –
that
I think would not be tolerated in any other place I have visited. There is
a
busy thoroughfare here connecting the North and South Bridges,
intersected
by the High Street of the city. At the intersection there is every
day
and all day long at each of the four corners of the pavement a mob of
dirty
and disreputable blackguards of the very lowest and worst sort, who
literally
block up the way. No respectable person, male or female, can pass
along
this great avenue of commerce without stepping into the road, and
passing
round the mob of unwashed; for not a man of them will stir an inch
to
accommodate passengers; and the police constable stands looking on hour
after
hour without daring to utter a “Move on!”. If any patriotic Edinburgh
man
will look on for ten minutes at the spectacle of this dirty mob, and their
bearing
towards the respectable passers by, he will probably come to think
that
perfection has not yet been attained here. That the tradesmen of the
Bridge
should quietly tolerate such a state of things shows that the abuse
must be of very ancient standing
indeed’.
11th February 1869
The
Edinburgh Evening Courant features a ‘Warning to Butchers’ – ‘At
the
City
Police Court yesterday – before Baillie Russell – a lad named James
Baxter,
a butcher’s apprentice, residing at Raeburn Place, was accused of
having
on the 5th of
this month contravened the 99th
section of the
Provisional
Order, by conveying along the streets in an open van the
carcasses
of animals slaughtered for sale without having them covered with
clean
cloths. Baxter pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to pay a fine of 5s, or
be imprisoned three days.’
16th
February 1874
In
the Sheriff Summary Court on this date, Andrew Howieson, a Joiner, was charged
with
a contravention of the Vaccination (Scotland) Act, in which it was alleged that
Howieson
had refused to allow his infant daughter to be vaccinated. Pleading guilty,
Howieson
stated that he considered one of his other children to have been poisoned as
a
consequence of the vaccination. He was fined 35s or the option of ten days
incarceration.
18th
February 1889
The Edinburgh Baby Murderer
A
young woman named Jessie King was placed at the bar at the High Court of
Justiciary
on this date, charged with the murder of three children. The details of the
charges
were that: in April or May 1888, in a house in Ann’s Court, Canonmills,
Edinburgh,
at that time occupied by Thomas Pearson, Jessie King murdered Alex
Gunn,
aged twelve months by strangling him; in September 1888, in a house in
Cheyne
Street, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, occupied by Thomas Pearson, Jessie King
murdered
Violet Duncan Tomlinson, aged six weeks old by strangling or suffocating
her;
also in October or November 1887, in a house in Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh,
occupied
by Thomas Pearson, Jessie King murdered Walter Anderson Campbell, aged
five
months, by strangling him. There was a large attendance of the public in the
court
that day, and King, who was 27 years old and originally from Glasgow,
admitted
the first two charges, but pleaded not guilty to the third charge. King’s
original
statement was read out to the court, in which she stated that she had adopted
the
child Gunn, and that her partner Thomas Pearson who at first was unwilling to
take
the child in, changed his mind when she told him that she had received £3 from
the
mother, at which time he agreed that the baby could stay for three or four
weeks.
King
said that they kept him from April until the end of May 1888, however when she
then
found she was unable to support the child, she attempted to get him admitted to
a
destitute
home, however this was refused on the grounds that the child was
illegitimate.
King stated that after this she had become very much the worse of drink
and
strangled the child, as she had no means to support it. When the child was
dead,
she
placed the body in a locked box, and kept it there until the next day, when she
took
it out and put it in a cupboard, where it remained for three days, after which
the
couple
moved from Canonmills to Stockbridge. At this point, the body was placed in
a
cellar in the Stockbridge house, later being removed from there at the
beginning of
October
and placed on a piece of vacant ground at Cheyne Street. King stated that
Pearson
had known nothing of this death, as she had told him she had managed to get
the
child admitted to a home. On the matter of the child Tomlinson, King said that
this
child had also been adopted by her, and this time she was paid the sum of £2
for
the
baby. King maintained that Pearson had known nothing about this at the time,
and
on
getting the child home, she gave her some whisky to keep it quiet. However, it
would
seem that the whisky was stronger that she thought and the child started to
choke.
King responded by placing her hand on the child’s mouth, killing her. This
body
was also placed in the cellar, where it remained until it was discovered by the
police.
On the third charge, the murder of Walter Campbell, many witnesses were
called,
with one witness, Janet Anderson, explaining that in May 1887, her sister
Elizabeth
Campbell, had died and King had offered to adopt the child if the father
would
pay a fee. The father, David Finlay, gave evidence that he had handed the
child
to King and Pearson and paid them £5. He stated that they told him their
surname
was Stewart. A neighbour from Dalkeith Road, where they were living at
this
time, gave evidence that they arrived home suddenly with a child at that time,
however
three months later the child disappeared, and when she asked King what had
happened,
King told her she had taken him home as he was ill. Shortly afterwards,
King
and Pearson left the locality. It seems that the house in Dalkeith Road was
thoroughly
searched and no remains of a child were found. The third charge was
eventually
disregarded and the jury found King guilty of the first two charges. The
judge,
putting on his black cap, sentenced Jessie King to be hanged within the Calton
Jail
on the 11th March. Whilst being
sentenced, King gradually subsided into a
hysterical
fit and had to be carried downstairs to the cells.
As
Jessie King was thought to be a ‘woman of very low intelligence’, there was
some
public
opinion that she had been tempted by others due to living in poverty and that
she
was bearing the blame for the wickedness of the others who gave their children
into
her keeping. King had also later stated that she had been induced to confess in
her
statement, being advised that if she did so, she would get off with a fairly
brief
prison
sentence. A petition was signed by 2000 persons asking for a reprieve for
King,
however this proved unsuccessful.
The
scaffold for the execution was erected close to a corridor between the male and
female
sections of the prison. Berry, the executioner had arrived in Edinburgh a few
days
previous to complete his preparations. King, a Roman Catholic, had been
attended
by a priest the night before the execution was to take place. On the morning
of
Friday 11th March 1889, at eight
o’clock, Jessie King was hanged, death was said
to
be instantaneous. A crowd of around 2000 people had gathered outside on the
Calton
Hill to see the black flag raised.
22nd February 1869
The
Edinburgh Evening Courant reports on an ‘Alarming
Fire in Lothian
Road
– Union Road Partially Destroyed’ – ‘Shortly after three o’clock
yesterday
afternoon, an alarm was raised that fire had broken out in the
Union
Hotel, Lothian Road, belonging to Mr Robert Kay. The alarm was
instantly
given, and the outbreak of the fire reported to the Police Main
Office
in the High Street; but meanwhile the increasing volume of smoke, and
the
progress the flames were obviously making, spread terror among the
inmates
of the whole building….In a very short space of time the fire engines
and
fire brigade had arrived, and were ready for action…..The fire and
|
A Victorian Fire Bucket |
water
together have worked much damage over the whole building….One little
boy made his appearance at the foot of the staircase drenched with water,
and his face blackened with the smoke, but carrying triumphantly a cat
with its kittens which he had saved. A temporary covering for furniture brought
to the street was found in Mr Quaglieni’s Curcus, the use of which
was
readily given by the proprieter.’ Lothian
and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, formed in 1824 following a series
of disastrous fires, is Britain’s oldest municipal fire brigade. Edinburgh
had particular difficulties for fire fighters due to the ‘built up’ and congested
nature of the old town. Most fire engines had been manoeuvred by
men until the mid-19th century, but with the introduction of horse-drawn fire
engines, response time to incidents was much improved. In the absence of
breathing apparatus, early firefighters had to grow beards to act as a form of
smoke filter, which gave them the name ‘smoke-eaters’.
23rd
February 1860
In
the Police Court on this date, the case of the ‘Snowball Riot’ of Edinburgh
came to
it’s
conclusion after a nine day trial. This case seemed to involve fourteen
students,
who
on the date of the incident, had come into conflict with the police in the form
of a
snowball
fight. The disturbance seems to have descended into a riot, due to what
many
witnesses describe as ‘rough usage’ by the police, who were reported to have
been
using their batons vigorously. For the throwing of snowballs, one student was
fined
£5, twelve other students were each fined £1 and the fourteenth student was
admonished.