That, when they broke into the Excise Office, the outer door was opened
by a key which the declarant had filed from the pattern
before-mentioned; that the plan of accomplishing this business was as
follows:--Ainslie was to keep on the outside of the office, hanging over
the palisadoes in the entry with a whistle of ivory, which was purchased
by Brodie the night before, with which, if the man belonging to the
Excise Office came, he was to give one whistle, and if any serious alarm
was perceived he was to give three whistles, and then make the best of
his way to the Excise gardens in the Canongate in order to assist the
declarant, Brodie, and Brown to get out at the back window of the hall,
it being determined in case of surprise to bolt the outer door on the
inside and make the best of their way by the window.
That Ainslie was armed only with a stick, which he left somewhere in the
court, and which stick was purchased by the declarant; that Brodie had a
brace of pistols, the declarant a brace and a half, and Brown a brace,
which the declarant borrowed from Michael Henderson; that these arms
were all loaded with double balls, as they were determined not to be
taken, whatever should be the consequence.
That the declarant and Brown were told afterwards by Brodie and Ainslie
that a person had come running down the court and gone in at the outer
door and upstairs; that upon this Ainslie had given the alarm by a
whistle, as was agreed upon, and made the best of his way, but none of
them in the inside heard the whistle, at least neither Brown nor the
declarant did, and Brodie said he did not; that when the door opened
Brodie was standing behind it, and, upon the person’s running up stairs,
Brodie made off; that the declarant and Brown, when in the cashier’s
room, heard the outer door open, but, trusting to Brodie’s being at the
door and staunch, they did not mind it; that the declarant and Brown,
when coming out of the cashier’s office, heard a person coming hastily
down stairs, which made them stop or they must have met him; that upon
this the declarant said to Brown, “Here must be treachery; get out your
pistols, and cock them,” which they did accordingly; that upon coming to
the outer door they found it shut, the declarant and Brown having seen
the person that came down stairs smash the door after him when he went
away.
That the declarant and Brown went down into Young’s Street, where Brown
gave the declarant a small crow, with some wedges, and a shirt, as also
a large chissel; that the chissel and the shirt were given to Brodie
afterwards, with the bank-notes, the declarant’s dark lanthorn, and two
bottles, which they had carried off from the Excise Office, and took for
wine; that the key with which the outer door was opened, the crow, and a
pair of curling irons with which the outer door of the cashier’s room
was opened, were all hid by the declarant in a wall between the Earthen
Mound and the North Bridge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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