Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1855-08-29
Scott,sh Traditions.

Mr.. Hugh Miller, IN his recent Work ehtllieu
'My Schools and Schoolmasters, says: 81 have
seen at least two men who have fought at Cullo-
den-one on the side of the King, The other on
that of the Prince-and, with these, not few
who witnessed the battle from distance. have
conversed with an aged woman that had converS
ed, in turn, with an aged man who had attained
to mature manhood when the prosecutions OF
Charles and James were at their height, and re
membered The general regret excited by the death
of Renwck My eldest maternal aunt-the
mother Of cousin George-remembered old John
FeddeS, turned of ninety al the time and Johns
buccaneering expedition could not have dated la
ter than the year 1857. have known many who
remembered the abolition of one hereditary jurls-
diction and have listened TO stories of executions
which took place on the gallows hills Of burghs
and sheriilsdoms, and of witch buildings perpetra
led on town links and baronal laws. And have
felt strange interest in these glmpses of a past
so unlike the present when thus presented to the
mind as personal "reminiscences, or as well attest
ed traditions, removed from the original witness
es but by single stage All for instance. which
have vet read of wiich-burnings has failed to
impress me 50 strongly as the recollections of an
old lady who in 1922 was carried in her nurses
arm's-for she was almost an infant at that time
to witness a witch execution in the nelghbor-
hood of DornUch-the last which took place in
Scotland.
"The lady well remembered the awe struck
vet excited crowd, the lightning Of the fire, and
miserable appearance of the poor fatuous creature
whom it was knded TO consume, and who seem
ed to be so little aware of her situation that she
held out her thin shrivelled hands TO warm them
at the blaze. have heard described, too, by
man whose father had witnessed the scene, AN ex-
ecution which took place, after brlet and made
quate trial, on the burgh gaows of Tam. The
supposed cnlprit, Straihcarron Highlander, had
been found lurking about the place, noting ,as was
supposed where the burglars kept their cattle ,and
was hung as a spy; but they all, after the eXecu-
ton. came to deem him innocent, from the clTcum-
stances that, when his body was dangling In the
wind, white pigeon had come flying the way,
and as it passed over, half encircled The glbbet.
My grandiather's recollectlons OF Gull
loden were merely those of an Observant boy OF
fourteen, who had witnessed the battle from dis
tance The day, he has told me, was drizzIy and
thick and on reaching the brow of the Hill of
Cromarly, where he found many of his towns
folks already assembled, he could scarce see the
opposite land. But the fog gradually cleared a.
way; first one hill came into view, and then an
other, till at length The long range OF coast, from
the opening of the great CaledOnian valley''o the
promontory ofBurghead, was dimly visible through
the haze.
"A little after noon there suddenly rose round
white cloud from the Molr f Culoden, and then
second round white cloud beside it. And then
the two clouds mingled together, and went roll
ing slant ways on the wind toward the west and
he could hear the rattle of tie smaller fire arms
mingling with tire roar of the artillery. And
then in what seemed an exceeding brief spice OF
time. the cloud dissipated and disappeared, the
boom Of the greater guns ceased, and sharp IN
termittent pauer of musketry passed on to lnver-
ness. But the battle was presented TO the imagl
naou. in hese old personal narratives, in many a
diverse form. have been told by an ancient wo-
man, who, on the day of the fight, was engaged
in tending some sheep on solitary common near
Munlochy, separated from the Moor of Culloden
by the Firth. and screened by lofty hill, that she
sat listening in to the boom of the cannon but
that she was even still more scared by the contn
uous hos ling of her dog, who sat upright on lis
hauches all the time the firing lasted, with his
neck stretched out towards The battle, and looking
if he saw SDirit y