Page:History of John M'Pherson, Dick Balf, and Gilder Roy.pdf/8



8                       cast their eyes upon a lone house in                        the country, wherein it was reported the owner kept a considerable sum of money, they had an itching to be at it; and ac- cordingly one night, having laid their scheme, (with their son Dick, not above                       fifteen years of age, and one more who                        was to assist them,) they entered the house by some stratagem, and the fami- ly being fast asleep, they thought it the safest way to dispatch them; so begin- ing with the servant maids, they cut both their throats with a knife, then go- ing to the servant man, served him in                       the same way, and also three children, who lay in a room adjoining; lastly, pro- ceeded to the apartment where the mas- ter and mistress lay; and consulting what method to take for that purpose, it was resolved to put the man to the torture, but his answer not satisfying the robbers, they dispatched them both, and fell to plundering the house. When they gathered together all the booty they could in the house, they marched off, but as it commonly happens, that mur- der is found out by one means or other, so this was happily discovered by the