The vast majority of the criminals to feature in the blog thus far have been habitual and repetitive thieves, together with a couple of individuals convicted of culpable homicide. However, John McDonald is noteworthy in having been convicted of horse and cattle stealing on the 29th November 1869, a crime for which he was sentenced to eight years' penal servitude.
His trial was held at the High Court in Aberdeen and was reported in the Press & Journal of 1st December 1869 as follows:
At the High Court of Justiciary on Monday, John McDonald pleaded guilty to having stolen a horse from a stable in Harbour Street, Nairn, and a cow, the property of Mr. Robert Cowie, Windyhill, Chapel of Garioch, from the market stance of Cornhill, parish of Ordiquhill, in the County of Banff. He was sentenced to eight years' penal servitude.
Released on licence on 30th March 1876 with approximately eighteen months of his sentence still to go, John McDonald's entry in the "Register of Returned Convicts for Aberdeen" (below) is unusual in that no residence address is given. Indeed, it would appear that John's rehabilitation went awry almost immediately as on the 1st April 1876 he "Reported [to the police] while drunk", and then on the 3rd April he was "Apprehended for housebreaking and theft".
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