The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-11-27
\ HORRIBLE RECITAL.
The Thrilling Story Of an OId.IIAI
Gang Of Murtlercrs and Robbers.

The following story is taken from
!" law book which is considered goot
~ authority, and was compiled from th,
" criminal records of the courts of Edin
burg, Scotland:
10 History contains no parallel TO the
G horrible cruelties and rObberies tha
w Were committed by one Sawney Beane
M Scotchman, in the reign of KIM
No James | before he came to the crow
No of England by the demise Of Queer
10 Elizabeth.
70 Sawney Beane was born about eighu
W or nine miles eastward OF the City q
M Edinburg, of parents who went 4
NJ hedging and ditchng for their daily
No bread, and who brought up thi thcil
bloody-mindcd child tG the same occu.
g patton but as he grew up, his dispO-
e sition to idlancss not permitting him
to follow an honorable employment,
he left his father and mother, and ran
. into the country, where, following a
most wicked life, and taking up with
. woman as vicious as himself, instead
. OF living in any city, town or village,
they took up their lodging on a rock by
the seaside, on the shore Of the Shire
OF Galway, where they lived for up
, ward OF twenty-five years, having
both children and grandchildren in
that time, whom they brought up 50
wickedly that they never separa .cd,
Kept no other company but themselves
ana supported themselves entirely by
robblng, and, what was worse, they
never committed Il robbery without
murder.
They never frequented any market
for provisions, but as soon as they
murdered any man. woman or child
they did not leave the carcasses be-
hind, but carried it to their den, where,
cutting it into quarters, they would
pickle them and live upon human
ileSh til they got another prey of the
same kind. But they had generally
superfiuity, inasmuch that they often
times in the night time, but at a great
distance from their sanguinary man
sion, threw legs and arms of some
they had killed into the sea, which
the tide frequently cast up at several
parts of the country, to the great
astonishment Of the beholders. Per-
sons who went about their lawful oc-
cupatlon fell often into the hands of
these merciless cannibalS and never
returned home again. This raised a
general cry among their friends and
relations, insomuch that the whole
! country was alarmed, and private
spies were sent out in all parts to find
out if possible how these melancholy
events happened. However, several |
honest travellers We're taken llp upOn
suspicion, and wrongfully hanged
upon bare circumstances, besides sew |
eral innocent inn-keepers, who were
also executed for no other reason than |
that persons who had been thus lost |
were known to have lain in their |
houses, and were supposed to have |
been robbed and murdered by thpm |
and their bodies privately buried in
obscure places to prevent discovery. |
After several had been executed and |
GallOWs, but declared that they were
innocent Of the crime for which they |
died, this rigorous way of proceeding |
was given up, and the finding out Of
the murderers left wholly to God.
Sawney Beane, with his wife, chill
dren and grandchildren still persued
their barbarous actions with impunity,
and being somewhat numerous, they
would attack four, five or six men to-
gether, if they were on foot. AS for |
hOrsemen, two were the most they |
would ever set on, and then with such |
caution that an ambuscade was laid to
secure them, ride which way they
would, provided one or both made
their escape from the first assailants.
Thus, whose misfortune soever it was
to fall into their barbarous hands, he
or she never came off with their lives.
The place was solitary where they in
an In -,
the water went for near two hundred
yards into their subteraneous habta-
ton, which reached almost Il mile
under ground so that if they were
seen thereabouts by any person, it |
was not in the least suspected that |
anything human resided in such Il
dismal place of perpetual horror and
darkness. The number Of people
they had killed was not exactly
known, but it was reckOned that in
the twenty-five years they had reign
ed in these inhuman slaughters they
had washed their hands in the blood of
above one thousand men, women and
children. The discovery of the cam
nibals was thus made:
A man and his wife, who was be-
hind him on the same horse, coming !
one evening from fair, and falling |
into an ambuscade of these merciless
wretches, they fell upon them in
most furious manner; the man, to
save hi nself as well as he could, fought
bravely against them with Il sword
and pistol, riding some Of them down
by main force of his horse, from which |
his wife, in the conflict, fell off, and
was presently murdered before the
husbands face; for the female canni-
balls forthwith cut her throat, sucking |
her blood with as great Il gustO as if 1t
had been wine, which unparalleled
barbarity made the poor man make the
more obstinate resistance, rs expecting
the same fate. Ii pleased Providence
that twenty or thirty passengers were
riding that way from the same fair
that he had been at, and Sawney
Beane and his blOOd-thirsty elan with
drew, made the best of their way
through a solitary wood, and 50 re-
tired to their den.
The man, who was the first that
ever came Off alive after falling into
their hands, told the passengers what
had happened, and showed them the
bloody spectacle of his wife, whom
the murders had dragged some miles
of, which struck them all with stupe-
faction and amazement. They carried
him with them TO Glasgow, aud relat-
ing the matter to the Provost of that
city, they Immediately sent 10 the
King about it, who, in three or four
days, came in pelsnn thither, being de
sirous of seeing the apprehending ot
this villain, who, for so many years,
had been the pest of the western part
of his Kingdom.
A body Of about fur hundred men
well armed, set out ON horseback with |
the King, who had several blood
hounds with him, and went with the .
man to the woods where he was at
tackled, but found no sign of habita- /
ton in il. They went through H. f.
which led down To the seaside, when, I
the tide being out, and going along I
the shore, they passed by the cave Of .
Sawney Beane without taking any
notice Of it a. a place Of habitation,
until some of the blood-hJunds run .
ming into il and setting up most F.
hideous barking, bowling and yelping,
the King and his attendants came
back and looked into it. Seeing moth
Is n l.