Appin Murder

Statue of Allan Stewart (left) and the fictional David Balfour (right), from Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, on Corstorphine Rd in Edinburgh

Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure (1708-1752), nicknamed "The Red Fox", was the government-appointed factor to the forfeited lands of the Clan Stewart of Appin in north Argyllshire. During the Highland Clearances in the aftermath of the rising of 1745 and in violation of dùthchas, the principle that clan members had an inalienable right to live in their clan's territory, Campbell had ordered several mass evictions of members of Clan Stewart and their replacement by members of Clan Campbell.[3] On 14 May 1752, while on the way to enforce another mass eviction, Campbell was shot in the back by a marksman in the wood of Lettermore near Duror.[2]

While fictional versions of the Appin Murder have Campbell accompanied by a body of regular soldiers, contemporary accounts refer only to three mounted companions. One of these was his nephew Mungo Campbell, a lawyer. While a single shot was heard by these witnesses two wounds were reportedly found in Colin Campbell's body. Slouching on his horse Colin Campbell cried out “Oh, I am dead - take care of yourselves". Mungo Campbell close by the victim, sighted a figure on a hill at some distance, in dark clothing and carrying a musket.

Shortly before his murder, Colin Roy Campbell was mentioned by Jacobite poet Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair in his Anti-Whig satire An Airce. In the poem, the ghost of a beheaded Jacobite who prophesies that his Campbell clansmen will soon be punished for committing high treason against their lawful king. Ironically, Colin is one of the few Whigs for whom the ghost confesses a certain respect:

The search for the killer targeted the Clan Stewart. The chief suspect, Alan Breck Stewart having fled, James Stewart of the Glens, the tanist of the Stewarts, was arrested for the crime and tried for the murder[2] in a trial dominated by the pro-Hanoverian Clan Campbell: the chief (Scottish Gaelic: MacCailein Mòr) Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll was the presiding judge and the 15-man jury contained Campbell clansmen.[2] Although the trial showed that James had a solid alibi, he was found guilty "in airts and pairts" (as an accessory before the fact; or an aider and abetter).[5]

James Stewart was hanged on 8 November 1752 on a specially commissioned gibbet above the narrows at Ballachulish, now near the south entrance to the Ballachulish Bridge. He died protesting his innocence, lamenting that people of the ages may think him capable of a horrid and barbarous murder. Before mounting the scaffold, James of the Glens drew upon the tradition of Reformed worship in the Gàidhealtachd and sang the Metrical version of the 35th Psalm in Scottish Gaelic:

"False witnesses rose; to my charge things I not knew they laid. They, to the spoiling of my soul, me ill for good repaid." ~Psalm 35

To this day in the Highlands, it remains known as "The Psalm of James of the Glens".

Similarly to the usual practice after the hanging of pirates, James of the Glens' corpse was left hanging at what is now the south end of the Ballachulish Ferry for eighteen months as a warning to other Clans with rebellious intentions. Over those months, it was beaten and battered by winds and rain. As it deteriorated, his skeletal remains were held together with chains and wire.[6][7][8]

In Walking With Murder: On The Kidnapped Trail (2005), Ian Nimmo has addressed the mystery of who shot Colin Campbell, applying modern police methods to the documents in the case, including two post-mortem reports. According to Nimmo, Alan Stewart did not pull the trigger, and the secret of who did has been handed down through the Stewart family for 250 years. Nimmo chose not to reveal it, stating that "it is not mine to give away".[9]

In 2001, Amanda Penman, an 89-year-old descendant of the Clan Chiefs of the Stewarts of Appin, alleged the murder had been planned by four young Stewart tacksmen without the sanction of James of the Glens. There was a shooting contest among them and the assassination was committed by the best marksman among the four, Donald Stewart of Ballachulish.[6][10] According to some accounts, Donald desperately wanted to turn himself in rather than allow James to hang and had to be physically held down to prevent this. Several years after James's execution, when the body was finally returned to the Stewart Clan for burial, Donald Stewart of Ballachulish was responsible for washing the bones before the Reformed funeral.[6]

In his 2004 examination of the evidence, Lee Holcombe also concluded that Donald Stewart of Ballachulish, rather than Allan Breck Stewart, is far more likely to have been the actual shooter.[6][10] However, he also concluded that James of the Glens, despite his eloquent denials, was indeed guilty of ordering the murder of Colin Campbell.[11]

There is a movement afoot to gain a pardon for James of the Glens. In 2008, Glasgow lawyer John Macaulay asked the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to reconsider the case on the grounds his study of the trial transcripts shows there was "not a shred of evidence" against Stewart.[2] but was denied due to the case being so old it was not in the interest of justice.[12] As of 2010, the application lies with the Scottish government.[2]

• Boztas, Senay (27 August 2005), "New Appin murder investigation reveals Jacobites plotted to kill", Sunday Herald
• Holcombe, Lee (2004). Ancient Animosity, The Appin Murder and the End of Scottish Rebellion. Bloomington, IN: Author House. ISBN 978-1-4184-2828-0.
• Lundy, Ian (3 October 2005). "The Appin murder: who killed Red Fox?". The Scotsman. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
• McMee, Elizabeth (25 January 2004), "Bloody Scots whodunit is 'solved' by US academic", Sunday Herald, archived from the original on 5 May 2013, retrieved 9 December 2011 (backup site (page 5))

• Blaikie, Walter Biggar (1921). "The Appin Murder, 1752: The Cost of Execution". The Scottish Historical Review. Edinburgh University Press. 18 (72): 249–252. JSTOR 25519353.
• Nicholson, Eirwen E. C. (2004). "Stewart, Allan (fl. 1745–1752)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 52. London: Oxford University Press. p. 628. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62076.
• Nimmo, Ian (2005). Walking with Murder: On the Kidnapped Trail. Birlinn Ltd.
• Gibson, Rosemary (January–February 2003). "The Appin Murder". History Scotland. 3 (1).

• William Grant, Lord Prestongrange the chief prosecutor.
• Keppoch murders

• "In pictures: The Appin Murder". BBC. 8 November 2002.
• Lyrics to "The Red Fox" (Big Country song about the murder) (Archived 25 October 2009)