Darien Scheme - Hangings

Hangings

Thomas Green, the twenty-five year old master of an English merchant ship, the Worcester, which he brought into Leith in July 1704, had been given the command aged twenty-one. A liking for strong drink was to be his downfall. Mackenzie convinced himself that Worcester was an East India Company ship and should be seized in reprisal for the Annandale. He succeeded in getting legal authority and Green watched over the next three months as the cargo was impounded and the sails, guns and rudder were stripped. In December the crew was arrested for piracy. Although many in Scotland were delighted it soon became clear to the directors of the Darien company that Mackenzie's charges were not supported by any kind of valid proof and it seemed that the men would be released. However, Mackenzie suddenly claimed to have ascertained from the crew of the Worcester that Green had drunkenly boasted of taking the Speedy Return, killing the Drummonds and burning the ship. Despite a total lack of real evidence Green and two of his crew, John Madden and James Simpson, were sent for trial.

The prosecution case, which was made in medieval Latin and legal Doric, was unintelligible to jury and accused alike. The defence advocates seem to have presented no evidence and fled after the trial. There was hardly anyone in Scotland who was disinterested but some jurors resisted bringing in a verdict of guilty. The men were convicted nonetheless and sentenced to death by hanging. The Queen advised her 30 Privy Councillors in Edinburgh that the three men should be pardoned, but the common people demanded that the sentence be executed. Nineteen of the Councillors made excuses to stay away from the deliberations on a reprieve, fearing the wrath of the huge mob that had arrived in Edinburgh to demand that the sailors be put to death. Although they had affidavits from London by the crew of the Speedy Return, which proved Green and his crew had no knowledge or involvement in the fate of the ship, the Councillors declined to pardon the men.

Green, Madden and Simpson were subjected to derision and insults by the mob before they were hanged, being mockingly huzza'd by the huge crowd on the way to the gallows on Leith sands. Green had complete faith that, as an innocent man, he would be reprieved and was still looking to the Edinburgh road for a messenger as the hangman placed the hood over his head.