Star.
London, England, 1817-09-15 00:00:00

HIGH COURT oivusnet,4RY,

CHARGE OF ASURPER•
On Tilesday last, the Court proceeded to the trial
of John Jytky ar Jefir's , I:int- of the Prince Edward
Revenue colter, accused of the crime of murder
" In so far as, upon Tueiday the 15th day of March last, he
being in command of a boat Klonging to the slid cutter, the
crew of which were armed, dilland upon the island of Arritn,
for the purpose or searching fir arntigiled whisky; and hiring
discovered Form casks secreted in the muir grotruil of the firm of
Sbonocily, he did aeize the same; and in conveying it with the
party under his command to the shore, a number of persons in
the neighbourhood having assemble)! hom curiosity, did follow
the prisoner and his party; and he linvhig conceived a causeless
malice and 111-will agsinst the said person, d:d felimiously and
barbarously himself fire a pistol loaded with ball at the persons
so assembled, and did repeatedly order Ow party under Ilk
command to lire, by which William Nl,Kinnon, one of the
tenants of the fawn of Torrylii., parish of Kilmory; Donald
11.1.Kinnon, son of the said William IVE'Kinnon, and Isabel Nis )1,
daughter of Peter Nicol, tenant in High Kilmory, were mortally
wounded, and did in a short time thereafter die; and were all
and each at them murdered by the prisoner."

To this indictment the prisoner pleaded Not Guilty.
The following witnesses were then called :
Daniel McKinnon, nephew of the deceased Wm.
PKineon, remembers the crew of a cutter coming
en shore on the south end of Arran, on the farm of
Shanechy. They went after some whisky, which had
been landed from a boat, ani t:.ken up the country
to Shanochy muir. They found the whisky, lour
casks, and carried it off towards their boat. Some
boys and men followed the party. arc some of them
were speaking to the mate. William McKinnon Was
one of them. The people seemed afraid ~1 the cut-
ter's crew, and kept away from them. Isobel Nicol
laid hold of woe of the crew by the breast. Witness
saw a boy with a stone in his hand, which he threw, but
it did not strike any one. Vid not see any other stone
thrown. The mate then gave orders to fire, and the
witness ran away. William M'Kinnon ran away
also, saying, " For GOD'S sake make your way."—,
There was more than one shot fired, and William
tsic Kinnon said, cc Good GOD, Donald, I am gone l"
Witness saw him fall to the ground, and went to his
Assistance. The ball had gone in at his right side,
and out at his left. When assisting his uncle, one of
the crew fired at him. The ball went past him, and
struck a boy, Peter Crawford, on the knee. Witness
remained with his uncle until life parted from hint.
He lived about an hour. Witness came down to
Archibald Murphy's house, where his cousin Daniel
M'Kinnon was ; he was shot through the breast, and
died in about a quarter of an hour after.
Cross-examined.—The crew of the cutter told who
they were; the mate had on his uniform coat. Wit-
ness saw the smugglers bring up the whisky, and he
helped to hide it. It belonged to the men who were
shot. The mate more than once desired the people
folllwing to keep back, saying, if they did not, he
would be obliged to use his arms. There were two
shots fired before Bell Nicol laid hold of the man ;
they hart nobody. When Bell Nicol laid hold of the
man by the breast, orders were given to fire, and
they fired at her. There were about forty persons
there at the time, mostly women and children ; not
one-third of the number were men. The witness was
thinking they were meaning to take back the whisky.
The mate had a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in
the other, which he waved, and desired the people to
keep back.
James Cook, farmer at Kilbride-Bennan, in the
island of Arran, remembers the cutter being off the
island. Saw her fire some guns ; saw the boat's crew
afterwards in the muir ; there were ten and the mate.
They had four casks. There were some boys and
lasses, and a few men and women following them,
about forty or fifty altogether. The cutter's men
fired two guns first; the people still followed them.
Witness saw Bell run in amongst the crew, and she
fell upon the ground before the firing began. Several
shots were then fired, and the witness ran off. Be•
fore the firing witness saw some of the school-boys
throw some stones.

Cross-examined.—Witness went to the shore, to
try if he could save any of the whisky. He assisted
in carrying it up from the shore; he saw the casks
laid upon the muir, there were about eight or nine
men there. Witness left the muir, but came back
again after the cutter's men bad got the whisky.
Witness continued to talk to them until they came to
the Shanochy houses, when he was afraid to go any
farther, as the crowd began to press in upon them,
and they were getting angry. The mate said, ,6 For
God's sake stay back." Witness never thought the
intention of the crowd was to take back the whisky
by force. When the two first shots were filed, the
people kept back for a little, and the cutter's men
went on. There was some noise of shouting and
hallooing.
Peter Mackenzie lives at Yilmory ; saw the cutter's
party at Shanochy ; cannot say the prisoner was one
,of them; the persons following the cutter's men had
no sticks; he saw some lads, about twelve years of
age, throw some stones ; one of the crew, who had a
gun and bayonet, ran at a lad, and witness laid hold
of him by the back of the neck us keep him back ; lie
then ran away, and was fired at, and the shot carried
away a piece of the sleeve of his jacket. Saw none
of the Cutter's men on the ground.
Cross•examincd by Mr. JcsantEv.—When Bell Ni-
col was pushed off by the man the had laid hold of,
she was struck by another with a musket and knocked
down, and witness believe: Daniel M' Kinnonithen went
up to save her, and at that time he was pushed at
with the bayonet. There were five shots fired in all,
besides the two first. The man he laid hold of by
the back of the neck might have fallen. Witness
d.d not strike him.

Daniel Kerr, tailor, at Kilbride-Bennan, in Arran,
saw the cutter's men in the muir, bringing down four
casks : they were armed, and a number of the coun-
try people, men and women, were along with them.
Witness came down along with them; they were
conversing good humouredly together. Atter they
crossed a ditch, two shots were filed over the people,
which did no harm. Witness afterwards saw Bell
Nicol struggling with some of the King's men, and
immediately the Officer commanding gave orders to
fire. Witness, then ran towards his own house.—
Witness returned to see if any of his brothers or sisters
had been wounded, and he found the two M'Kinnons
and Bell Nicol lying on the ground, and a boy
wounded on the knee. Saw two women have stones
in their hands, which the deceased William M' Kin-
non ordered them to lay down. Witness saw no vio-
lence offered to the patty, or any stones thrown.—
Before the firing took. place, witness hard the Offiser