Pitcaple Castle (7)
Continuing with the story of the Tragedy of Frendraught:
"This mysterious and melancholy event was of course calculated to increase the heats and animosities then prevailing in the north of Scotland, and to occasion doubts and prejudices as to the authors of the conflagration which was considered as a willful and premeditated act, and not the result of accident.
That Frendraught or his family were implicated in this atrocious act, does not appear to be within the reach of probability. The Leslies were with more reason suspected, they and their adherents having not only threatened to burn the House of Frendraught, but had, as was proved before the Lords of Council, entered into negociations (sic) to that effect with the notorious James Grant, the cousin-German of Pitcaple, and whose lawless character induced them to select as a fit instrument on such an occasion. The parties immediately employed in instigating Grant to commit this crime were John Meldrum of Reidhill and Alexander, the brother of Pitcaple.
In consequence of a strong representation made to Council by the Marquis of Huntly, the Bishops of Moray and Aberdeen, Lord Carnegie and others were ordered to investigate into the circumstances that occasioned the fire; and accordingly these personages were met on the 13th April 1631 at Frendraught, by the Lords Gordon, Deskford and Ogilvie, who proceeded to examine the ruined tower and all parts of the building, to ascertain, if possible, the cause of the catastrophe. After diligent search, they arrived at a conclusion that the conflagration could not have resulted from accident, that it was very probable it could have been occasioned by external application and that it must have been raised by some means employed, within the vaults or chambers of the tower; probably the latter, for it is unlikely that a fire lighted in one of the vaults, constructed as they were in those days, could have spread so rapidly over the whole building, as to have rendered escape in many cases impracticable.
Great suspicion attached to John Meldrum, who was apprehended and conveyed to Edinburgh, where he was afterwards tried, condemned and executed. His conviction must have resulted more from the circumstances under which he was placed by his own quarrel with Frendraught, as well as his having warmly taken up that of his brother-in-law James Leslie, than from any proof adduced of his having committed the act. The evidence of two of James Grant's men, who swore to the fact of Meldrum having tampered with that rebel, wishing him to undertake the burning, must also have weighed against him; but great writers on the Criminal Law of Scotland have expressed doubts as the the guilt of Meldrum, or of the sufficiency of proof to have occasioned a verdict positively identifying him with the horrible crime for which he suffered.
A prediction of Meldrum's expressed to Sir George Ogilvie of Banff, on the evening before the fire, was certainly presumptive evidence against him, namely, that "unless a reconciliation was immediately effected between him and the laird, it would never happen, as the house of Frendraught would be burned before morning." When brought out for execution, Meldrum to the last protested his innocence, although he fully admitted the conversation with Sir George Ogilvie.
(James Leslie, shot in the arm by Robert Crichton of Conland and "carried home apparently in a dying state", lived on another 20 years. He came by the property of Aquhorsk, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Patrick Hay of Meigens, and had two sons. He was killed, fighting as a Colonel, at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.)
Pitcaple Castle (7)
Continuing with the story of the Tragedy of Frendraught:
"This mysterious and melancholy event was of course calculated to increase the heats and animosities then prevailing in the north of Scotland, and to occasion doubts and prejudices as to the authors of the conflagration which was considered as a willful and premeditated act, and not the result of accident.
That Frendraught or his family were implicated in this atrocious act, does not appear to be within the reach of probability. The Leslies were with more reason suspected, they and their adherents having not only threatened to burn the House of Frendraught, but had, as was proved before the Lords of Council, entered into negociations (sic) to that effect with the notorious James Grant, the cousin-German of Pitcaple, and whose lawless character induced them to select as a fit instrument on such an occasion. The parties immediately employed in instigating Grant to commit this crime were John Meldrum of Reidhill and Alexander, the brother of Pitcaple.
In consequence of a strong representation made to Council by the Marquis of Huntly, the Bishops of Moray and Aberdeen, Lord Carnegie and others were ordered to investigate into the circumstances that occasioned the fire; and accordingly these personages were met on the 13th April 1631 at Frendraught, by the Lords Gordon, Deskford and Ogilvie, who proceeded to examine the ruined tower and all parts of the building, to ascertain, if possible, the cause of the catastrophe. After diligent search, they arrived at a conclusion that the conflagration could not have resulted from accident, that it was very probable it could have been occasioned by external application and that it must have been raised by some means employed, within the vaults or chambers of the tower; probably the latter, for it is unlikely that a fire lighted in one of the vaults, constructed as they were in those days, could have spread so rapidly over the whole building, as to have rendered escape in many cases impracticable.
Great suspicion attached to John Meldrum, who was apprehended and conveyed to Edinburgh, where he was afterwards tried, condemned and executed. His conviction must have resulted more from the circumstances under which he was placed by his own quarrel with Frendraught, as well as his having warmly taken up that of his brother-in-law James Leslie, than from any proof adduced of his having committed the act. The evidence of two of James Grant's men, who swore to the fact of Meldrum having tampered with that rebel, wishing him to undertake the burning, must also have weighed against him; but great writers on the Criminal Law of Scotland have expressed doubts as the the guilt of Meldrum, or of the sufficiency of proof to have occasioned a verdict positively identifying him with the horrible crime for which he suffered.
A prediction of Meldrum's expressed to Sir George Ogilvie of Banff, on the evening before the fire, was certainly presumptive evidence against him, namely, that "unless a reconciliation was immediately effected between him and the laird, it would never happen, as the house of Frendraught would be burned before morning." When brought out for execution, Meldrum to the last protested his innocence, although he fully admitted the conversation with Sir George Ogilvie.
(James Leslie, shot in the arm by Robert Crichton of Conland and "carried home apparently in a dying state", lived on another 20 years. He came by the property of Aquhorsk, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Patrick Hay of Meigens, and had two sons. He was killed, fighting as a Colonel, at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.)