George Campbell was no stranger to a courtroom. One of his appearances before the Circuit Court of Justiciary for the Counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine took place on Tuesday April 22nd 1873. The day was also notable for a death that occurred in the courtroom, as reported by the Aberdeen Press & Journal of April 23rd, which also gives a sense of the ceremony and occasion that accompanied the proceedings:
"The court opened yesterday morning at ten o'clock. The usual procession of the county and municipal authorities, the military and police, took place from the Douglas Hotel to the Court House. When the court was seated, a very melancholy incident occurred, which caused at the time a profound sensation amongst all present, as it will be heard of with regret by a large number of the citizens. The Rev. Thomas Dewar, of the South Parish Church, whose turn it was as one of the city clergy, to open the Court with prayer, had just arrived and taken his seat, preparatory to engaging in the solemn service, when he was seized with a sudden illness, and almost immediately expired. The rev. gentleman, we understand, had found it necessary to walk at an unusually rapid pace, in order to be in time for the Court, and had thereby excited the cause to which his death is attributed, viz., apoplexy".
These days, apoplexy would usually be referred to as a stroke. Far from bringing the business of the court to a premature conclusion, the prison chaplain, a Mr. Baxter, is called upon to stand in for the newly deceased Rev. Dewar to say the opening prayer - thereafter the court carries on as usual.
That day, George Campbell was charged with having stolen a coat on the 18th March belonging to a gardener, James Henderson, from premises near Kettock's Mills, Oldmachar. The charge was further aggravated by the fact that George had a previous conviction for which he had been sentenced to seven years in prison. The jury was unanimous in its verdict, finding George guilty as charged. In his summing-up, Lord Deas rails against the practice of liberating prisoners before their full term had been served as he felt they invariably reverted to their old ways. As evidence for this pattern, Lord Deas cited the case that the court had dealt with immediately prior to George Campbell, that of the habitual thief, Ann McGovern, who has featured in a previous edition of this blog.
The offence for which George received his seven year sentence was also reported in the Aberdeen Press & Journal, appearing in the newspaper under the headline "Theft By Shipbreaking" on 26th September 1866:
"George Campbell (36) was charged with (1) on the 21st day of July last, stolen from a shed on Waterloo Quay, fifty-two lbs. weight or thereby of iron or other metal rivets, the property of Messrs. Leckie, Wood & Munro, engineers and iron shipbuilders, Torry; and (2) with having, on or about the 31st day of July, broken into the cabin of the schooner 'Cheviot', of Aberdeen, then lying at Regent Quay, and stolen a copper, or other metal, funnel, belonging to the owners of the vessel, as also a flannel shirt and cloth cap, the property of John Laing, mate of the vessel. Three previous convictions for theft stood against Campbell in the Sheriff Court of Aberdeen, and one before the Circuit Court of Justiciary at Aberdeen".
In passing sentence, the presiding judge, Lord Cowan, mentioned that George's sentence would have been more severe, but that his previous convictions occurred a number of years ago and that he had been in the army in the intervening period.
Whether he was forced into crime by circumstances, or whether he couldn't help himself, George appeared before a court once more in January 1882, shortly after he was released from his ten-year stretch on 17th August 1881. The image below of the full page from the Register of Returned Convicts for Aberdeen shows that George initially stayed at the Victoria Lodging House at number 45 Guestrow, now Provost Skene's House. He was supposed to report to the police on a monthly basis, but the note accompanying his photograph records that he failed to do so. He next comes to the attention of the authorities in January 1882 when he assaulted a police constable on Guestrow, as reported by the Aberdeen Press & Journal on the 25th January 1882:
"At the Aberdeen Police Court yesterday - Baillie Macdonald on the bench - George Campbell, labourer, was charged with having on Monday, in Guestrow, assaulted William Connon, police constable, by striking him with a stone a severe blow on the head. He pleaded guilty and was fined 30s., with the alternative of ten days' imprisonment".
Because he had failed to report himself to the police following his discharge on licence, George was sent back to prison to serve the remaining fourteen months of his ten-year sentence.
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