go to his father's sheilling to get a stronger ram-rod; but the Serjeant, being impatient to go about his diversion, fired the fusee, and cracked the barrel about the middle; and having examined the fusee now produced, observed that the barrel is cracked about the same place, and, so far as appears to him, may be the same barrel: Depones, That there appears to be some alterations made upon the stock since the Serjeant had it: That the but was thicker than it is now, and clad with iron at the end; and there was also another ring for the keeping of the ram-rod, other than that now shown him: Depones, That the gun was shown to the deponent on Wednesday last by James Growar, son to Donald Growar in Glendee, who told him that he found it in the hill in sight of Glenconie: Depones, That after Serjeant Davies was killed or amissing as aforesaid, he saw yellow rings on Elizabeth Downie's fingers, spouse to the prisoner, Duncan Terig alias Clerk, one of which had a knob upon it, as Serjeant Davies's ring also had, but does not remember the shape of either of these knobs: Depones, That he asked her whether it was gold, and she said it was: Depones, That he saw this ring upon Elizabeth Downie's finger before she was married to the prisoner; but it was then reported in the country that he was in suit of her for marriage, and has at several times, before and since Serjeant Davies was amissing, seen other yellow rings upon her fingers, but never saw the ring with the knob upon her finger till after the Serjeant was amissing, nor never saw it on her finger after she was married; and being asked whether it did not strike him, when he saw the ring with the knob on it upon Elizabeth Downie's hand, that it was Serjeant Davies's ring, Depones, that it did not; and further depones, that he has known Elizabeth Downie change her rings every other year: Depones, That after she was married, the deponent asked her if she had a gold ring, and she answered she never had one but one which was her mother's, which made the deponent suppose that the said ring with the knob had been her mother's; and depones, that the panel, her husband, was in prison when he asked her this question: Depones, That at first there was a report in the country that Serjeant Davies had deserted, then it was supposed that he had been killed by the thieves, but last of all, the report was, that he had been killed by the prisoners, and that has continued to be the report of the country for these three years: And being asked what he took to be the grounds of that report, Depones, that he took it to be, that Macdonald, as Lord Bracco's forrester, had a warrant for carrying guns for killing of deer, and he carried Clerk alongst with him, and none other of the country had any warrant to carry arms; but he heard that some of the people in the country suspected that the ring with the knob that he had seen on Elizabeth Downie's finger was Serjeant Davies's ring; and being interrogate as to the character of the two panels, depones, that he has heard Clerk habite and repute a sheep-stealer, but that he never heard any thing of Macdonald, but that he once broke the chest of one Corbie, and took some money out of it: Depones, That he never heard Clerk get the character of a good deer-stalker, though he could shoot wild fowl: Depones, That Alexander Macpherson, before mentioned, once served the deponent's father, and is accounted an honest lad; but on the panel's interrogatory, Depones, that he has been charged with telling of stories, and that all is not to be believed that he says; though that is the general character, the deponent knows no reason for it: Depones, That Duncan Clerk once pursued his accusers before a Sheriff Court at Braemar, and freed himself at that time, and, as he heard, got some mends of his accusers, but what it was he knows not: That the only particular act of theft he heard him accused of, was the stealing of a parcel of sheep from Alexander Farquharson in Inverey, and which was the ground of the process before mentioned before the Sheriff: Depones, That the Sabbath before the Serjeant was amissing, a woman came to the deponent's father's house, and told them that, coming through the hills, she had seen four thieves in arms, who had separated fourteen of his father's cattle, upon which the Serjeant, with a party, went in quest of them immediately, but could find none of them, they having, it seems, gone off and left the cattle: Depones, That upon the Friday, the twenty-ninth of September, the corporal stationed at Glenshee met with the deponent at the fair of Kirkmichael, while the deponent was buying a pair of shoes, and he told the corporal that they were for Serjeant Davies, and the corporal told him that he had parted with the Serjeant the day before at the Water of Benow; the Serjeant, after that, was going to the hill to get a shot of the deer; which Water of Benow is about half a mile's distance from the place where the patrolling parties used to meet: Depones, That the prisoner Clerk was a common dealer in buying of sheep and cattle; and the deponent has seen him both buying and paying the price, and his father was reputed one of the richest tenants in Inverey's grounds. Causa scientiæ patet; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God.

Alexander M'Pherson alias M^cGillas, in Inverey, being solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial council, and interrogate, aged twenty-six years, unmarried, Depones, That in summer one thousand seven hundred and fifty, he found lying in a moss bank in the hill of Christie, a human body, at least the bones of a human body, of which the flesh was mostly consumed, and he believed it to be the body of Serjeant Davies, because it was reported in the country that he had been murdered in that hill the year before. That when he first found this body, there was a bit of blue cloth upon it pretty entire, which he took to be what is called English cloth; he also found the hair of the deceased, which was of a dark mouse colour, and tied about with a black ribbon: That he also observed some pieces of a stripped stuff, and found also lying there a pair of brogues, which had been made with latches for buckles, which had been cut away by a knife: That he, by help of his staff, brought out the body, and laid it upon plain ground, in doing whereof some of the bones were separated one from another: Depones, That for some days he was in a doubt what to do, but meeting with John Growar in the moss, he told John what he had found, and John bid him tell nothing of it, otherways he would complain of the deponent to John Shaw of Daldownie, upon which the deponent resolved to prevent Growar's complaint, and go and tell Daldownie of it himself; and which having accordingly done, Daldownie desired him to conceal the matter, and go and bury the body privately, as it would not be carried to a kirk unkent, and that the same might hurt the country, being under the suspicion of being a rebel country: Depones, That some few days thereafter, he acquainted Donald Farquharson, the preceding witness, of his having seen the body of a dead man in the hill, which he took to be the body of Serjeant Davies: That Farquharson at first doubted the truth of his information, till the deponent having told him that a few nights before when he was in bed, a vision appeared to him as of a man clad in blue, who told the deponent, "I am Serjeant Davies;" but that before he told him so, the deponent had taken the said vision at first appearance to be a real living man, a brother of Donald Farquharson's: That the deponent rose from his bed, and followed him to the door, and then it was, as has been told, that he said he was Serjeant Davies who had been murdered in the Hill of Christie, about near a year before, and desired the deponent to go to the place he pointed at,