Charles Macpherson - "The Daring Street Robbery in Aberdeen"

Anyone who has ever been in the position of taking a large sum of money to or from the bank will know the accompanying sensation of vulnerability along with that irrational little voice in your head that keeps warning of your imminent mugging, until you safely reach your destination. This feeling must have been all too familiar to Alexander Black, the unfortunate lad who was tricked into handing over the equivalent of a little over £10,000 by Charles Macpherson at the junction of Windmill Brae and Bath Street on the 10th December 1891. The details of what happened were reported in the Aberdeen Evening Express of the 31st December that year:

 "In connection with the recent daring street robbery from a boy while on the way from the Market Street branch of the North of Scotland Bank to the office of Messrs. Ben. Reid & Co., two other arrests have been made. It will be remembered that on the 10th inst., the boy was sent to the bank for money with which to pay the weekly bill of wages. He got the money and was returning with it in a bag, when a young man, with a pen behind his ear, and without a hat, came running after him and said, "There is something wrong with the cheque: give me the money back and take that letter to your cashier. The bank will be kept open for a quarter of an hour for your return". That this was one of the clerks of the bank did not appear the slightest doubt, so the young man gave back the money and straightway took the "letter" to his cashier. Alas! The "letter" was a blank piece of paper! At the bank there was nothing found wrong with the cheque. But by this time the thief - who, of course had no connection with the bank - had disappeared. It was believed at the time that the thief, who decamped with the sum of £77, took a train for the south but subsequent discoveries have led to the belief that this was not the case. Before Sheriff Hamilton-Grierson in chambers at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today, Charles Macpherson, shoemaker, Justice Mill Lane, Aberdeen, and Robert Kirkland, tailor, North Broadford, Aberdeen, were charged with having, on the 10th December last, at the junction of Windmill Brae and Bath Street, Aberdeen, stolen a bag, a bank book, and £77 of money from Alexander Black, South Mile End, Pitmuxton, Aberdeen. These men were arrested on Tuesday morning, and according to the allegations of the prosecution, they acted in concert in the robbery and have been "doing very well" since - i.e., they have not been at all pinched so far as monetary matters are concerned"

 

The scene of the crime - the junction of Windmill Brae and Bath Street

Ordnance Survey, Aberdeenshire LXXV.11 (Aberdeen) 

Revised: 1899 to 1900, Publication date: 1902  

Map reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland 

https://maps.nls.uk/ 

In a report of Charles Macpherson's trial on the 19th January 1892, mention is made that Charles had a previous conviction for a theft in 1886 for which he was sentenced by the Sheriff Court at Banff to nine months' imprisonment. The Aberdeen Press & Journal of 25th August 1886 reported the crime as follows:

"Yesterday, Charles Macpherson, a shoemaker, lately residing in Aberdeen, was brought up at the second diet of a Sheriff and Jury Court - Sheriff Scott Moncrieff on the bench - charged with having on the 19th July last stolen from the dwelling house of May Cruickshank, grocer, Union Street, Keith, the sum of £4 in bank notes belonging to the said May Cruickshank. The offence was aggravated by previous convictions...The evidence went to show that on the evening in question the accused had gone to the shop of May Cruickshank, and represented that he was the son of a doctor, that he had induced her to go out for a pint of beer for him, that she had seen where she took the money from, and that shortly after he had left she missed the £4. The jury, after an absence of about half an hour, returned a verdict of guilty".

The common denominator between the two offences in 1886 and 1891 is that on both occasions Charles Macpherson brazenly impersonated someone else in order to get his hands on money.

The photograph of Charles that appears in the 'Register of Returned Convicts for Aberdeen' is very similar in style to others that were taken in Peterhead prison around that time. When I get the opportunity I will have to check the registers for Peterhead to confirm this, but it is highly likely that Charles was incarcerated there between 1892 and his discharge on licence in May 1894. For the remainder of 1894, Charles lives at two addresses in Aberdeen: Pirie's Lodgings on Guestrow and then at 87 Barron Street.