The Murder on the Hill of Cristie, 1749
An account taken from John Michie's 'Deeside Tales'.

Near White Bridge, on the River Dee, are the remains of the houses known as the Dubrach. It was here, the barn of Dubrach, a picket of Government troops was stationed after the 'Forty-five. This picket patrolled from Dubrach south-east into the hills, crossed Glen Christie and Glen Connie to Glen Ey, and proceeded south to the top of that glen. There they met a picket patrolling from Glen Shee westwards. Sergeant Arthur Davies, OF Guise's regiment, was stationed during the summer of 1749 with a detachment of men at Dubrach. John Michie, in his 'Deeside Tales', gives the following details of what happened to Davies.

"Twice a week it was Davies' duty to patrol the hills to the south and south-east, and meet about the head of Glen Ey a similar party whose headquarters were in Glen Shee. His beat thus traversed a wild and remote country. To Davies, however, the solitude had a particular attraction as affording him the better opportunity of a shot at the deer, of which sport he was passionately fond.

"Besides being a sportsman, Davies was a considerable dandy. He was dressed in a blue coat and a vest of 'stript lutstring', wore two gold rings on his fingers, large silver buckles on his shoes, silver knee-buckles, two dozen silver buttons on his vest, and carried a silver watch with a silver seal, and a purse with fifteen and a half gold guineas in his pocket. Such a figure must have been something of a novelty on the hills of Braemar.

"Thus accoutred, the unfortunate man left Dubrach before daybreak on the 28th September, followed soon after by four privates of his post. He had his gun and ammunition with him, his intention being to keep at some distance from the men and 'follow his sport.' All of them made for Glen Ey, and the rendezvous with the Glen Shee party. Soon after sunrise John GOWER, Inverey, came across DAVIES in Glen Connie... Going on his way, Davies is next heard of at the head of Glen Ey, where he met the Glen Shee corporal. After some talk, they parted, each of them setting out on the return journey to his headquarters. The four privates had completed the round by four o'clock, reaching Dubrach again at that hour, but Davies never returned, and, as far as his friends could learn, never was seen again.

"The night before the day when he disappeared, two men, Duncan TERIG, alias 'CLERK', and Alexander BAIN MACDONALD, had slept in a house owned by a John GRANT in Glen Ey. Clerk's father was farmer in Milton of Inverey, not far off' MacDonald was forester to Lord Braco, and lived in Allanquoich on the other side of the Dee. According to Grant, they rose early in the morning and set off to the hills (where Davies was also hunting) after deer. Both carried guns, though only MacDonald had permission to do so, and Clark wore the forbidden plaid, a grey tartan with red in it. Suspicion fell on these two as the murderers of Davies, but it was not till 1754, five years after, that they were brought to trial. The Crown relied mainly on the evidence of two witnesses and on certain suspicious circumstance. Clerk's sweetheart was said to have been seen wearing Davies' rings, and some of his property was traced to MacDonald's possession. Clerk also, 'though he was not possesst of any visible funds or effects which could enable him to stock a farm before the period of the murder, yet soon thereafter took a lease of farms,' for which he paid a considerable rental. But other evidence made out his father to be a man of means.

"The first witness was a young man MACPHERSON, alias MACGILLAS, in Inverey. The story he told was peculiar. About a year after the Englishman's disappearance, he said, a vision of a man appeared to him announcing himself as the ghost of Sergeant Davies, and requesting him to go to the HILL OF CRISTIE in Glen Ey and bury his bones. On his asking who had committed the murder and got the answer it was Clerk and Macdonald. At he specified spot he found human remains, which he recognised from the clothing and other things to be those of the sergeant. The rings, silver ornaments and money were all gone. On being asked what language the ghost spoke in, Macpherson replied, 'In as good Gaelic as ever I heard in Lochaber.'

"The next witness, Angus CAMERON, a man of Rannoch in Perthshire, had a more straightforward story to tell. In the year of the murder he had been living by the cateran trade. He belonged to a band which operated far and wide over the country. On the night of the 27th September, he and a companion had slept in Glen Bruar braes, ten miles distant from the scene of the murder, had risen before daybreak, and made their way to the HILL OF CRISTIE, where they had arranged to meet their leader and others of the band from Lochaber. Whatever their business was (and though Cameron does not say, there is little difficulty in supposing that a cattle-lifting job was on hand), it required secrecy. They lay hidden for the day in a hollow on the hill, keeping a look-out for their expected companions. About mid-day, Duncan CLERK (whom Cameron was acquainted with) and another man passed so close to them that Cameron easily recognised them, but they continued to lie quiet in their hiding-place. Later in the day, about an hour-and-a-half before sunset, they caught site of a man in blue, with a gun in his hand, within gunshot distance of them. Cameron's account of the scene that was then enacted runs as follows: 'That he saw Clerk and his companion meet with the man in blue, as he though, with his naked hand only, upon the breast; but, upon the stroke, he heard the man struck cry out, and clap his hand upon the place, turn about and go off; that Clerk and the other man stood still for a little and then followed after, and he saw the said Duncan and the other man, each of whom had a gun, fire at the man in blue and immediately he fell.' This thrilling spectacle, thrown in such a surprising manner before their eyes, was too serious for the caterans; they immediately got up and bolted, leaving the two men handling the dead body.

"In spite of this evidence, the Edinburgh jury were not satisfied of the prisoners' guilt. The counsel for the defence fastened, of course, on the ghost story and made great play with the English sergeant speaking 'good Lochaber Gaelic,' though, as Sir Walter Scott remarks, there was nothing more ridiculous in a ghost speaking a language which he did not understand when in the body than there was in his appearing at all. Anyhow, Clerk and MacDonald were assoilized simpliciter and dismissed from the bar.

"Such were the circumstances under which Davies met his death, as far as can be gathered from the published account. A careful reading of the evidence, however, leaves the impression that more might have been produced against the prisoners. Tradition enables us to complete the story.

"They were, as their advocate was convinced, guilty. Clerk, who was a determined and fearless man, was the prime mover' MacDonald, it is said, never fired at all. The people who were shearing their corn in Glen Ey had seen them setting out with their guns, and the spot where the deed was done was at no great distance from where they were working; indeed, the shots are said to have been heard by them. Macpherson at any rate, who happened to be on the hill, heard the firing close beside him and thought the hunters had shot a deer. Running forward over a hillock which obstructed his view, he was horrified to find them engaged in robbing a dead body. Clerk immediately ordered him to take a share of the spoil, and threatened to shoot him if he did not. Macpherson fled precipitately, and managed to escape owing to the fortunate interference of his dog, which seized and held Clerk.

"Scott's explanation of the ghost story agrees with the account current in Braemar. According to the traditional record, Macpherson had tried blackmailing Clerk, and, whether it was on the failure of this or from a more worthy motive, he determined to reveal what he knew. He felt that the sentiment of the country, though it did not actively approve of the murder, was in favour of letting sleeping dogs lie. He, therefore, invented the story of Davies' apparition having visited him and ordered him to bury his bones, well knowing that according to current Highland belief a ghost's commands must be obeyed whatever they might be."