THE  APPIN  MURDER

Great Tale of Scottish History

The story of The Appin Murder is one of the great tales of Scottish history. Made famous the world over by Robert Louis Stevenson in Kidnapped and Catriona, it concerns the trial and execution of James Stewart of the Glen for the murder of Colin Campbell (which he did not commit). Although it happened in the Summer of 1752 it lives in the minds of the inhabitants of Appin as though it were yesterday. Only three of the old families in the area still possess the famous 'secret' of the true identity of the murderer, although several others claim to do so.

Re-dedication of the Murder Cairn

Wood of Lettermore, 25 September 1996

The Stewart Society has played a part in the life of the Murder Cairn on three occasions. There has been a cairn of loose stones on the spot where the murder took place almost from the time of the event itself. Who began it is not clear, but we must suppose that it grew gradually by the usual custom of passers-by placing a stone on it each time they passed, as still happens at the Cairn-na-Caillach at Achnacone to this day. It is probable that people on both sides of the debate added stones to it. Those sympathetic to the victim would have done so out of reverence and remembrance while those who approved of the deed would have done so in a spirit of a different kind.

After the passing of 158 years, that is to say in 1910, a proposal was made to the Stewart Society by Colonel Alexander Kenneth Stewart of Achnacone to rebuild the cairn. This was part of a larger project of his to mark several sites in Appin and district, including the Battle of Stalc and the tomb of Donald-nan-Ord. In 1911 the Murder Cairn was rebuilt, thanks to a donation of funds from the Stewart Society. By 1952, the bicentenary of the murder, the cairn had again fallen into disrepair and once more the Stewart Society (this time prompted by Achnacone's son, Brigadier Ian Stewart) stepped in and provided funds for a rebuilding it with lime mortar. This lasted tolerably well until the 1990s when it became clear that a more permanent restoration was necessary. For a third time the Stewart Society gave a donation (though this time not the whole sum required) and a long-lasting rebuilding operation was successfully carried out. The then President (Brigadier Stewart's son-in-law, Henry Steuart Fothringham of Grantully) unveiled the re-dedicated cairn on 25 September 1996. With luck it will be many years indeed before the Society is again called upon to provide the wherewithal for another refit and a future laird of Achnacone is called upon to make a speech at the unveiling.

Several people and bodies were involved on the last occasion. Bruce Tulloch, a member of The Stewart Society, was the prime mover and organiser, in his capacity as Secretary and dynamo of the Duror and Kentallen Community Council. Lochaber Limited (the local enterprise company), the LEADER Project and Forestry Enterprises all contributed their part. Not least should be mentioned The Stewart Society itself, whilst the actual rebuilding of the cairn was expertly carried out by Gordon Rigby.

In his 1996 address the President said:

'Preserved here is not merely something from the past, done for nostalgia's sake; we are also providing something for the present and for the future, as a place which will bring people to the area to see for themselves part of the history of Appin which has never been forgotten by its inhabitants. Two people present at this re-dedication know the 'Secret' of the true identity of the killer of Colin Campbell; thus the history and the folklore and the legend still live on side by side as if the incident had happened only yesterday'.

The Legend of the Gibbet

The President then went on to narrate the entertaining, though unhistorical, Legend of the Gibbet:

The following improbable local tale is still remembered and told in Appin in various versions. It is not history and conflicts with the facts so far as they are known, but it is a good story all the same. It was passed down by oral tradition in Appin well into the 20th century and was written down by Stewart of Achnacone, who had it from the mouth of John Black, joiner in Appin, in January 1925. John Black, who was then 65 years old, stated that he was told it by his grandmother, who was a Livingstone and who had been born in Appin at the end of the eighteenth century, within less than fifty years of the event. John Black's story is as follows:

The history of the final resting place of James Stewart of the Glen and his gibbet, believed by some in Appin to this day: There was a half crazy roving pedlar, known as Mad McPhee, who dwelt for a time at Ballachulish. Hearing James's bones rattling together on the chains above as they were swayed by the wind, and being kept awake at night by the rattling, McPhee, muttering oaths and prayers alternately, climbed up to the site of the gibbet and putting his shoulder to it, being powerful in body though somewhat weak in mind, he heaved the whole thing out of the ground. He then took it down and cast it into the sea on the outgoing tide-race. The tide took it to Keil, near old Keil Church, and everybody there, knowing it only too well, reverently interred the bones in the corner of the old church and then thrust the gibbet back into the sea. Now it went ashore at Benderloch and was found by the blacksmith who, very pleased with his find, commenced to work on it at once, but the saw merely bounced off the evil wood and he nearly cut his finger off before he understood what he had got hold of. He thereupon immediately again consigned it to the waters as an evil thing. It next came to shore at Taynuilt [most improbable but thus the story goes], where the finder, recognising it, immediately cast it across a stream of running water to form a bridge, thus robbing it of its evil powers.

Achnacone's Diaries, 14/2019 (1925)