Catalogue description Prisoner name: Mary McKinnon. Prisoner details: Aged 28 years, Innkeeper or...

Prisoner name: Mary McKinnon.

Prisoner details: Aged 28 years, Innkeeper or lodging-house keeper of Edinburgh.

Court and date of trial: High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, 14 March 1823.

Crime: Murder - of William Howat, writer's clerk to Thomas Johnstone, by stabbing him in the kitchen of her house at 82 South Bridge Street, Edinburgh on 8 February 1823.

Initial sentence: Death - date of execution 16 April 1823.

Annotated: '22 Mar 1823, rejected'.

Petitioner(s): 'O.R.'; James Beazley, present at the trial; Captain James Brown, late Superintendent of Police known to the convict; James Maitland, defence counsel; Bennet Duncan, friend; Mary McKinnon, the convict, undersigned by Thomas Maitland, defence counsel, five jury members and one other; F Jeffrey.

Grounds for clemency: The victim and several of his friends entered the convict's house in a drunken state intent upon rioting; no evidence of malice or intent to kill; the convict was not at home when the incident started; found guilty by a majority verdict only; recommended to mercy by the majority of the jury; remorse.

Other papers: Printed indictment. Bound judge's notes of the trial. Bound copy declarations of Mary McKinnon, convict, and William Howat, deceased victim. Unfavourable judge's report on the case. Note from A Forman, trial juryman, giving reasons why he voted not guilty. Note on behalf of Robert Peel, Secretary of State, restating his opinion that in this case he cannot interfere with the course of the law. Copy of the Caledonian Mercury newspaper fully reporting the trial. Letter from Thomas Matthew transmitting an affidavit by George Carr MD and William Dumbreck MD concerning injuries received by a witness to the crime, with a cover sheet annotated as to the delay in transmission. Letter from R Downie transmitting a note from one of the trial jurymen. Letter from Thomas Maitland, defence counsel, forwarding a letter of support from Captain James Brown, late Superintendent of Police. Cover sheet to the petition from Bennet Duncan. Two letters from F Jeffrey transmitting affidavits, one from John Wilkinson and Walter Grieve.