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gree of success. Several of the younger clergymen act as tutors to wealthy and distinguished families till a proper period arrives for their entering into orders, which they never do till they obtain a bencfice. While in this rank of life they bear the name of chaplains; and in this station Hunter lived about two years in the house of Mr. Gordon, a very eminent merchant, and one of the bailies of Edinburgh, which is a rank equal to that of alderman of London.

Mr. Gordon's family consisted of himself, his lady, two sons, and a daughter, and a young woman who attended Mrs. Gordon and her daughter; the malefactor in question, some clerks, and menial servants. To the care of Hunter was committed the education of the two sons; and, for a considerable time, he discharged his duty in a manner highly satisfactory to the parents, who considered him as a youth of superior genius and great goodness of heart. Unfortunately, a connexion took place between Hunter and the young woman, which soon increased to a criminal degree, and was maintained, for a considerable time, without the knowledge of the family. One day, however, when Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were on a visit, Hunter and this girl met in their chamber, as usual; but, having been so incautious as not to make their door fast, the children went into the room, and found them in such a situation as could not admit of any doubt of the nature of their intercourse. No suspicion was entertained that these children would mention to their parents what had happened, the eldest boy being not quite ten years of age; but, when the children were at supper with their parents, they disclosed so much as left no room to doubt of what had passed. Hereupon the female ser

vant was directed to quit the house on the following day; but Hunter was continued in the family, after making a proper apology for the crime of which he had been guilty, attributing it to the thoughtlessness of youth, and promising never to offend in the same way again.

From this period he entertained the most inveterate hatred to all the children, on whom he determined, in his own mind, to wreak the most diabolical vengeance. Nothing less than murder was his intention; but it was a considerable time after he had formed this horrid plan before he had an opportunity of carrying it into execution. Whenever it was a fine day he was accustomed to walk in the fields, with his pupils, for an hour before dinner; and, in these excursions, the young lady generally attended her brothers. At the period immediately preceding the commission of the fatal act, Mr. Gordon and his family were at their country retreat, very near Edinburgh; and, having received an invitation to dine in that city, he and his lady proposed to go thither about the time that Hunter usually took his noon-tide walk with the children. Mrs. Gordon was very anxious for all the children to accompany them on this visit; but this was strenuously opposed by her husband, who would consent that only the little girl should attend them.

By this circumstance Hunter's intention of murdering all the three children was frustrated; but he held the resolution of destroying the boys, while they were yet in his power. With this view he took them into the fields, and sat down. as if to repose himself on the grass, and was preparing his knife to put a period to the lives of the children at the very moment they were bu sied in catching butterflies, and ga

thering wild flowers. Having sharpened his knife, he called the lads to him; and, when he had reprimanded them for acquainting their father and mother with the scene to which they had been witnesses, said that he would immediately put them to death. Terrified by this threat, the children ran from him; but he immediately followed, and brought them back. He then placed his knee on the body of the one, while he cut the throat of the other with his penknife; and then treated the second in the same inhuman manner.

These horrid murders were committed in August, 1700, within half a mile of the castle of Edinburgh; and, as the deed was perpetrated in the middle of the day, and in the open fields, it would have been very wonderful indeed if the murderer had not been immediately taken into custody. At the very time a gentleman was walking on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh, who had a tolerably perfect view of what passed. Alarmed by the incident, he called some people, who ran with him to the place where the children were lying dead. Hunter now ad. vanced towards a river, with a view to drown himself. Those who pursued came up with him just as he reached the brink of the river; and, his person being immediately known to them, a messenger was instantly dispatched to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, who were at that moment going to dinner with their friend, to inform them of the horrid murder of their sons. Language is too weak to describe the effects resulting from the communication of this dreadful news: the astonishment of the afflicted father, the agony of the frantic mother, may possibly be conceived, though it cannot be described.

According to an old Scottish law, it was decreed that if a murderer

should be taken with the pinoɑ of the murdered person on his clothes, he should be prosecuted in the sneriff's court, and executed within three days after the commission of the fact.' It was not common to execute this sentence with rigour; but this offender's crime was of so aggravated a nature, that it was not thought proper to remit any thing of the utmost severity of the law. The prisoner was, therefore, committed to gaol, and chained down to the floor all night; and, on the following day, the sheriff issued his prccept for the jury to meet and, in consequence of their verdict, Hunter was brought to his trial, when he pleaded guilty, and added to the offence he had already committed the horrid crime of declaring that he lamented only the not having murdered Mr. Gordon's daughter as well as his sons.

The sheriff now passed sentence on the convict, which was to the following purpose: that, 'on the succeeding day, he should be executed on a gibbet, erected for that purpose, on the spot where he had committed the murders; but that, previous to his execution, his right hand should be cut off near the wrist; that then he should be drawn up to the gibbet by a rope; and, when he was dead, hung in chains between Edinburgh and Leith: the knife with which he committed the murders being stuck thro' his hand, which should be advanced over his head, and fixed therewith to the top of the gibbet. Mr. Hunter was executed, in strict conformity to the above sentence, on the 22d of August, 1700: but Mr. Gordon soon afterwards petitioned the sheriff that the body might be removed to a more distant spot, as its hanging on the side of the highway, through which he frequently passed, tendei to re-excite his grief for the occasion

THE

COMPRISING

INTERESTING MEMOIRS

OF

THE MOST NOTORIOUS CHARACTERS

WHO HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF OUTRAGES ON

The Laws of England

SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY;

WITH

OCCASIONAL ANECDOTES AND OBSERVATIONS,

SPEECHES, CONFESSIONS, AND LAST EXCLAMATIONS OF SUFFERERS.

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J. ROBINS AND CO. IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1824.

ASTOIN NEW-YORK

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