Unto the Right Honourable the Sheriff-Depute of the County of Edinburgh, or his Substitute, The PETITION of JOHN and ANDREW BRUCE, Merchants in Edinburgh. HUMBLY SHEWETH, That on the night betwixt the 24th and 25th days of December 1786, the petitioners shop, at the head of Bridge Street, was broke into, and several gold watches, seals, rings, and other articles, were carried off, to the value of about £350 Sterling. The petitioners applied to the Procurator Fiscal upon this occasion, who assured them that every step should be taken to endeavour to find out the persons who had robbed them of their property. No intelligence, however, could be got respecting this business till the beginning of March last, when Brown gave information of him and his associates, Smith, Ainslie, and Brodie, being the persons who had committed so many offences of that kind; and, accordingly, the Procurator-Fiscal presented a petition to your Lordship, stating the fact of the petitioners’ shop being broke, and referring to a list of articles stolen therefrom; and that there was reason to believe that Smith and Ainslie were the persons guilty of that crime, upon which they were apprehended, and incarcerated in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, where they have remained ever since; and Smith and Brodie are now indicted to be tried for certain crimes, other than that of breaking the petitioners’ shop. When the petitioners learned that no notice of their shop was taken in the indictment, they applied to the Procurator-Fiscal to know what facts had come out in the precognition regarding the breaking of their shop, when he informed them that not a word respecting their shop had been taken down in the precognition, though he admitted, when Smith was examined before your Lordship, he had acknowledged the fact that he was the person who had broke the petitioners’ shop, with the knowledge, and by the advice of Brodie: That Brodie had actually got part of the articles stolen therefrom, particularly some gold seals, and a gold watch-key, and some rings. In these circumstances the petitioners were at a loss to know how to conduct themselves, in order still to get an examination of Smith, Brodie, and their associates, as there might be some difficulty in the matter, now that Smith and Brodie were indicted. However, as they are indicted for other crimes, the petitioners took the liberty of stating the matter in a memorial to His Majesty’s advocate who is of opinion that Smith, Brodie, and all others concerned, or suspected, might still be examined with regard to the breaking into the petitioners’ shop; and desired that the present application might be made to your Lordship for that purpose.