HANGMAN'S BRAE. Crime and Punishment in and around Bygone Aberdeen

Paperback. A book which traces the history of crime and punishment in Aberdeen until the end of the century. Witch-burnings, beheadings, hangings and terrible riots are vividly described. The author tells of the bloody work of 'The Maiden', a decapitating machine that was used in Aberdeen 200 years before the French guillotine; the outrage of Queen Victoria at the grisly theft of the Earl of Crawford's body from the family vault at Dunecht House, and the macabre scandal at Nellfield Cemetery. The dark and secret world of the official executioner is revealed. John Justice, the Aberdeen hangman who was paid 6s 8d for executing a witch; Johnny Milne, criminal turned hangman who went on 'strike' at his first execution, and William Calcraft, the famous London hangman who loved children and pets, and who carried out several hangings in Aberdeen. The municipal gallows he used was hired by other Scottish cities. The adventures of an Aberdeenshire criminal officer make enthralling reading. He always got his man and even spent two nights chained to a brutal murderer. Illus. + Bibliog. 133pp. Nr. F. p/back, from the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate