causeyside

And first, in opposition to what the indictment alleged with regard to Andrew Wilson having formed a design to rob Collector Stark, and having taken Hall and Robertson, his associates, from Edinburgh that morning, it was stated that they did not set out from Edinburgh in company, but met upon the water in the passage between Leith and Kinghorn, where two of them, Wilson and Hall, were passing in a yawl, and Robertson was crossing in a passage boat; that instead of leaving Edinburgh and going to the East Neuk on the criminal design libelled, they had each of them lawful business in that part of the country, viz., for buying goods in which they ordinarily dealt, and which it was neither criminal nor capital to buy and sell; and particularly George Robertson, who kept an inn near Bristo Port in Edinburgh, where the Newcastle carriers commonly put up; that having occasion to buy liquors in the east of Fife, he agreed to take share of a cargo with Andrew Wilson, and with that view got a letter of credit from Francis Russell, druggist addressed to Bailie Andrew Waddell, Cellardyke, for the value of £50 sterling; and further, he carried with him an accepted bill of John Fullerton in Causeyside, to the like extent, as a fund of credit for the goods he might buy; and William Hall, the third panel, was a poor workman in Edinburgh, commonly attending the weigh-house, who was carried along to take care of and fetch home the goods; that accordingly, as soon as they came to Anstruther, and put up their horses at James Wilson's, they went to a respectable man, Bailie Johnston, and bought goods to the value of £46 10s., and whilst making the bargain they drank some quantity of liquor; that after this, not finding at Anstruther all the sorts of liquor they wanted to purchase, they went on foot to Pittenweem, when they first went to the house of Drummond, another respectable merchant, and drank some time with him, desiring to buy some brandy of him, but he told them he could not furnish them at that time; that after this the panels went into the house of Widow Fowler, where, calling for a room, they were shown into the kitchen, and inquired at the landlady if she could furnish them any place for lodging the goods they had bought, and there they drank both ale and punch, till, with what they had got before at different places, they became all very drunk; that at this place it was told by the landlady or servants, in conversation, that there was money to a considerable value in the next room, and if any part of the facts libelled were committed by the panels, Wilson and Hall, it must have been done upon occasion of this purely accidental information, when they were insane from strong drink: it was more like a drunken frolic than a preconcerted robbery.

- Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 17