Mr Sinclair nodded wearily and the witness was excused.
The next witness could hardly have struck a greater contrast to the clergyman. Archibald Ross’s appearance in the court-room caused a great deal of mirth in the gallery. He was dressed in the style of a country gentleman, in ‘a suit of yellow tweeds, quite obviously procured for the occasion’. He wore highly polished shoes with large square buckles and, round his neck, a green silk cravat. He was, wrote Mr Philby, ‘every inch the dandy, and his appearance might lead an observer to conclude that the far-flung village of Applecross, where he resides, must indeed be quite à la mode’.
After some preliminaries regarding Ross’s place of birth and occupation, Mr Gifford asked how he had made the acquaintance of the prisoner. Ross then described how he had met Roddy in the courtyard outside the stables of Lord Middleton’s house.
‘And what was the prisoner’s role that day?’
‘To carry a coffer up the mountain.’
‘And what did that coffer contain?’
‘Refreshments for the shooting party.’
‘And did the prisoner carry out this duty competently?’
‘That part of his duty, yes.’
‘After this day did you ever meet the prisoner again?’
‘I did.’
‘When did this meeting occur?’
‘Some weeks ago on the day of the Gathering.’
‘This was the 31st of July?’
‘If you say so,’ replied Ross with a grin.
‘Please tell us what occurred.’
Ross described how he had met the prisoner outside the inn at Applecross and how they had gone inside and drunk a quantity of ale. They had then walked to the Big House to watch the shinty match between the villages.
‘Were you inebriated?’
‘Perhaps to a small degree.’
‘Was the prisoner inebriated?’
‘I would say so.’
‘Did the prisoner divulge any intimacies to you?’
‘He told me that he wanted to go to Glasgow to make his fortune, but that he was reluctant to do so as he had become attached to a local girl.’
‘And who was this local girl?’
‘Flora Mackenzie.’
‘And this Flora Mackenzie was the daughter of the deceased Lachlan Mackenzie?’
‘Yes.’
This revelation caused an uproar in the gallery, which it took repeated threats from the bench to subdue.
‘And who is herself one of the victims of the crimes here charged?’
‘Yes.’
‘And did the prisoner tell you anything further concerning his relationship to the deceased Miss Mackenzie?’
‘He told me that she had rejected him and that, in any case, there existed some bad blood between their two families and their parents would never consent to them being wed.’
This brought further exclamations from the gallery.
‘You then watched the shinty match?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then what?’
‘We drank some whisky and then Roddy spotted this girl –’
‘Flora Mackenzie?’
‘Yes. He spotted her walking in the grounds of the Big House with a friend.’
‘And what did you do?’
‘I expressed the view that he should openly convey his feelings to the girl so that he might properly know where he stood with her.’
‘And did he agree?’
‘Not exactly, but I insisted and we caught up with the girls and introduced ourselves.’
At this point, Mr Philby reported, the ‘generally disinterested prisoner displayed some signs of agitation, hunching low over his knees, as if hoping that he might find a farthing on the floor of the dock’.
‘Then what happened?’
‘We walked a little way together.’
‘Where did you walk?’
‘To a small bridge among some trees.’
‘A secluded spot?’
At this point Archibald Ross made a ‘lewd wink’ to counsel and replied, to much laughter, ‘I construe that you are no stranger to such adventures.’
Mr Gifford ignored his remark.
‘And what happened there?’
‘In order that Roddy might be alone with the object of his affectations [sic], I led Flora’s companion onto the bridge and indicated to him that he should continue along the path.’
‘Then what?’
‘I made some conversation with the girl and then some time later, Flora Mackenzie came back along the path.’
‘Was she walking or running?’
‘She was running.’
‘And she was alone?’
‘Yes.’
‘How much time had elapsed?’
‘A matter of minutes.’
‘And what did she do?’
‘She took her friend by the arm and led her away.’
‘In which direction?’
‘Towards the Big House.’
‘And did she appear distressed?’
‘Perhaps. I could not say with any certainty.’
‘Was she weeping?’
‘I could not say.’
‘Were her cheeks flushed?’
‘Yes, but in my experience there are a good many reasons for a girl’s cheeks to be flushed,’ said Ross with a smirk.
The Lord Justice-Clerk at this point reminded the witness of the gravity of the proceedings and threatened to have him taken down if he made any more remarks of that nature. Ross made a low bow to the judge and offered an obsequious apology.
Mr Gifford continued his examination of the witness: ‘So, Miss Mackenzie went into the woods with the prisoner and returned – running – some minutes later, and took her friend with her back towards the Big House?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And where was the prisoner at this time?’
‘He was in the woods.’
‘And did he reappear?’
‘Yes.’
‘How many minutes later?’
‘Not many, one or two.’
‘And what was his demeanour?’
‘He seemed somewhat distressed.’
‘How do you know this?’
‘He was weeping.’
‘Did he tell you what had occurred?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Would you be so kind as to share what he told you with the court?’
‘He said only that his advances had been rejected and he was quite broken-hearted.’
‘“His advances” – were those the words he used?’
‘I cannot recall.’
‘But you understood that he had made some “advances”?’
‘Yes.’
‘And did the prisoner display any other sign of distress?’
‘His face was red on one side.’
‘And what was the cause of this?’
‘The girl had struck him.’
‘Did you see the girl strike him?’
‘No.’
‘So how do you know she struck him?’
‘Roddy told me.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘I tried to make light of what had occurred, but seeing that my friend was genuinely aggrieved, I proposed a glass of ale to cheer him up.’
‘And did he agree?’
‘He did.’
‘And you returned to the inn?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you there took some more ale?’
‘We did.’
‘And how was your friend – the prisoner – at this time?’
‘He was greatly revived in spirits.’
‘Did anything else of note occur that day?’
‘Why did this man set upon your friend?’
‘For no reason that I could see.’
‘Did you hear any words spoken between them?’
‘No, sir.’
‘And who was this “great brute of a man”?’
‘I learned later that he was Lachlan Mackenzie.’
‘The deceased Mr Lachlan Mackenzie?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what happened next?’
‘I took Roddy outside and set him on the road back to his village.’
The Solicitor-General then concluded his questioning and Mr Sinclair rose for the defence. He explained that he wished the witness to cast his mind back to the day of the deer-stalking party.
‘Was the hunt that day successful?’
‘It certainly was not,’ Ross replied with a laugh.
‘Why was that?’
Archibald Ross then described how Roddy had ‘swooped down upon the deer, waving his arms like a great bird and squawking like a banshee’.
‘This in order to startle the deer?’
‘Yes.’
‘What did you make of this behaviour?’
To loud laughter from the gallery, Archibald Ross pulled a comic face and tapped the side of his forehead with his finger. He was sternly reprimanded by the Lord Justice-Clerk and instructed to confine himself to verbal replies.
Ross then said, ‘I thought it was the most foolish thing I had ever seen.’
Mr Sinclair: ‘And had the prisoner given any indication prior to this act of what he intended to do?’
‘Not at all.’
‘It was quite sudden?’
‘Out of the blue.’
‘And prior to this act, what had been your impression of the prisoner?’
‘I had not formed any particular impression.’
‘There was nothing strange in his behaviour?’
‘No.’
‘Or in his speech?’
‘No.’
‘He was quite rational?’
‘Yes.’
‘Right up until the moment he scared off the deer?’
‘Yes.’
‘Now, you have testified to Mr Gifford that after the incident in the woods with Flora Mackenzie the prisoner was quite distressed?’
‘Yes.’
‘He was or had been weeping?’
‘Yes.’
‘And yet only a short while later, you testified that ...’ – he here consulted some written notes before him – ‘... he was “greatly revived in spirits”?’
‘Yes.’
‘What was the witness doing immediately before he was set upon by Mr Mackenzie?’
‘He was dancing a jig to a fiddle.’
‘Dancing a jig?’
‘Yes.’
‘And how much time had elapsed between the incident in the woods, which had apparently distressed the prisoner so much, and dancing this jig?’
Here Ross hesitated for some moments. ‘Perhaps an hour.’
‘More than an hour or less than hour?’
‘Less than an hour.’
‘And did it strike you as in any way strange that the prisoner might one minute be weeping and the next minute dancing a jig?’
‘I merely thought that his spirits had been enlivened by a glass of ale.’
‘You did not think that just as on the mountain when the prisoner was one moment entirely rational and the next doing the most foolish thing you had ever seen, that he was subject to quite extreme swings of behaviour?’
‘I did not think about it,’ said Ross. And with that Mr Sinclair concluded his questioning and Mr Ross was released from the witness box, not before, wrote Mr Philby, ‘waving flamboyantly to the gallery, quite as if he was an actor concluding a theatrical performance, which in a sense he was’.
The Crown then called Ishbel Farquhar, a girl, described in The Scotsman as ‘representing the best virtues of Highland womanhood, being of modest appearance and with a rosy hue to her cheeks’. She was dressed in a dark pinafore and had her hair neatly arranged in plaits. Her appearance seemed to cause Roddy some anguish. His eyes began to dart around the court-room, ‘alighting on everything besides the girl who then occupied the witness box’.
After some preliminaries, Mr Gifford asked, ‘Can you tell the court how you came to make the acquaintance of Flora Mackenzie?’
‘She came to work in the kitchens of the Big House.’
‘Where you were also employed?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And you became friends?’
‘Yes.’
Miss Farquhar answered in such a low voice that she was asked by the Lord Justice-Clerk to speak up so that the jurymen might hear her replies.
‘And you were with Flora Mackenzie on the afternoon of the Gathering in Applecross on the 31st of July?’
‘Yes, sir, I was.’
At the mention of her friend’s name, Miss Farquhar began to weep and Mr Gifford gallantly produced a handkerchief from his pocket and passed it to her. When she had composed herself, the Solicitor-General apologised for distressing her.
‘We are here, however, on the gravest business,’ he continued, ‘and it is necessary that you testify to those parts of the narrative which have a bearing on this case.’
‘I’ll do my best, sir,’ replied Miss Farquhar.
‘Did Flora ever speak to you about the prisoner?’
‘Yes, sir, she did.’
‘And what did she say?’
‘She had once or twice walked out with him and that she liked him well enough, but that he had some queer ideas and sometimes said strange things.’
‘What sort of queer ideas?’
‘I do not know.’
‘She did not tell you?’
‘No.’
‘Can you tell us what you were doing immediately before you met the prisoner and his friend, Archibald Ross, on the afternoon in question?’
‘We were taking a turn around the grounds of the Big House.’
‘And you were approached by Archibald Ross and the prisoner?’
‘Yes.’
‘And in what condition were they?’
‘They were drunk.’
‘Both of them?’
‘Roddy more so.’
‘How inebriated was he?’
‘He had difficulty speaking and he walked unsteadily.’
‘Nevertheless, you allowed them to accompany you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you went with them into the woods near the burn?’
‘Yes. There did not seem any harm in it.’ The witness again began to weep.
‘So you did not think of the prisoner as a dangerous character; as someone who might do harm to you or to Flora?’
‘I did not know him.’
‘Please tell the court what occurred in the woods.’
‘When we reached the burn, Mr Ross took my arm and told me that he wanted to show me something and led me onto the bridge.’
‘And did the prisoner and Flora Mackenzie accompany you onto the bridge?’
‘They continued along the path by the burn.’
‘What happened then?’
‘Mr Ross leaned over the bridge and started talking about the trout and salmon in the river and pointed to the water, but I could not see any fish.’
‘Yes?’
‘Then he tried to kiss me.’
‘Where did he try to kiss you?’
Miss Farquhar did not answer, but touched her neck with her hand.
‘And did you let Mr Ross kiss you?’
‘I did not.’
/>
‘What did you do?’
‘I drew away from him, but he held my arm and would not release me and then he made …’
‘Please continue, Miss Farquhar.’
‘He made an improper suggestion.’
‘A suggestion of a sexual nature?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘I see. And then?’
‘I was frightened because he was gripping my arm. Then Flora came back along the path and he released me and we went away together.’
‘Was she running or walking?’
‘She was running.’
‘And did Flora Mackenzie tell you what had occurred when she had been alone with the prisoner?’
‘She told me that Roddy had said some coarse things to her and that he had put her hands upon her and that she had slapped him.’
Mr Gifford apologised for pressing her and then asked, ‘Did she indicate where the prisoner had put his hands?’
At this point, reported Mr Philby, the prisoner ‘became more agitated than at any previous point in the trial. His cheeks became quite crimson and he twisted his hands in his lap and seemed to shrink inside his own skin. If he admitted to no remorse for the murder of three people, he certainly appeared to feel some for the advances he had made towards the unfortunate Miss Mackenzie.’
The witness kept her eyes cast down and refused for some moments to answer.
‘Did Flora say, Miss Farquhar, that he had put her hands on the intimate parts of her body?’
She nodded and the Lord Justice-Clerk ordered that the record show that the witness had answered in the affirmative.
‘Anything else?’
‘No, sir.’
Mr Gifford then thanked her and concluded his questioning. Mr Sinclair declined to cross-examine the witness and she was excused.
The final witness called by the Crown was Hector Munro, MD, ‘a small plump man with mutton chop whiskers and a ruddy complexion’. He gave every appearance, wrote the sly Mr Philby, of ‘being a close acquaintance of a certain Mr J. Walker, esq.’.
Dr Munro gave his profession as general practitioner and stated that he was employed on a regular basis as medical officer to Inverness gaol.
Mr Gifford: ‘And what are your duties in this employ?’
Dr Munro: ‘To attend to the general health of the prisoners.’
‘And in this capacity were you required to examine the current prisoner, Roderick Macrae?’
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