Trial of Deacon Brodie

As suggested by the title, the subject of this work deals with the trial of William Brodie, a talented cabinet-maker and a member of the Town Council and head of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons. But the fact little known by many is that Brodie had a secret night-time job as the leader of a gang of burglars. Brodie's final crime and eventual defeat was an armed raid on His Majesty's Excise Office in Chessel's Court on the Canongate. Although Brodie had planned the burglary himself, things went catastrophically wrong. His accomplices got caught, but Brodie fled to the Netherlands, where he was arrested in Amsterdam and returned to Edinburgh for trial, which started on 27 August 1788. This report of the absorbing trial of Deacon Brodie was prepared with the help of the original records, along with some extra facts from that time's recent sources. There was no attempt at discussing the life of William Brodie.