Jailbreak at the Tolbooth and the execution of John Campbell, 1824
On 5th April 1824, Stirling Town Council authorised its office-bearers to ‘examine the accounts relative to the escape of Campbell and other prisoners from the jail’. A reward was offered for their apprehension.
John Campbell was due to stand trial at the next Circuit Court along with David Ross, John Boax and James Smith. They were being held at the Tolbooth jail. Campbell was a notorious figure in the local area. Born in 1804 at Bridge of Kelty, Callander, he and his family moved to St Ninians when he was still very young.
As the upcoming trial loomed, the four prisoners planned their escape. They asked the wife of David Ross to bring them the required tools to break out. She smuggled into the jail a screw augur, two keys, a small hand pitcher and two small chisels. The plan almost came to an abrupt end when the wife of John Boax threatened to the tell the jailor of their plan. She refused to aid the prisoners in any way.
Undeterred, they broke through the cell door by cutting a number of holes in the door with the augur. They opened the next iron door with the key and broke its chain.
The men were now in the front passage and required access to the courtroom. A set of keys were required for the door. They checked the jailor’s room but found no keys. David Ross then headed down to the cellar where he found the keys along with some ale and bread.
Fortunately, the new set of keys opened the courtroom door and they headed towards the stairs. The door to the stairs were padlocked, but they broke through it easily. The point of exit was now clear: the stair windows. They went back to their cell, grabbed their blankets and escaped through the window.
The four men went their separate ways. John Campbell headed towards Edinburgh. His escape, however, was fleeting. He was apprehended by Sergeant Major McKenna of Edinburgh Police who found Campbell in a house in the Canongate. This arrest would be Campbell’s last.
Campbell was sentenced to death on 9th April. The decision may have come as a shock for someone so young, but for the Court, the escalation of his crimes in such a short space of time was a serious matter.
In his confession, Campbell admitted to stealing money, watches, whiskey, hides, cheese, butter, pistols, socks and spectacles in the space of two years. He also broke into various homes and businesses in Crieff, Stirling and St Ninians.
On 14th May, Campbell was executed by hanging. His father and brother were waiting with a horse and cart. His body hung for 35 minutes and was taken away by his father.
The Stirling Journal reported that the father had taken his body to a ‘medical man’ in St Ninians. They had hopes of reviving him. The ‘medical man’ had warned the father that there was no hope, but proceeded with some experiments. The ‘body was rubbed’ and the ‘usual methods adopted for producing circulation’. Veins were also ‘cut in the temple’.
Although the efforts of the surgeon were always going to fail, he believed that if Campbell’s body had been suspended for ’ten minutes less’, he was confident the outcome would have been very different.