The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Seeing red: The crimes and death of George Chalmers
With his red beard, ruddy complexion , stoop and stammer, George Chalmers was not hard to identify.
The 45-year-old vagrant from Fraserburgh went on the run after bludgeoning tollbooth keeper John Miller to death in his home at Blackhill tollhouse near Braco in Perthshire.
Chalmers had burst through Mr Miller’ s unlocked door and smashed the 46-year-old bachelor on the head with a crowbar several times before stripping him and leaving him to die in agony.
He then ransacked Mr Miller’s home, stealing a silver watch, 20 shillings and his clothing, which included a pair of tweed trousers, a shooting coat and a single-breasted vest, before fleeing the scene.
Mr Miller was discovered the following day in a pool of blood, with horrific head wounds and the bloodstained crowbar lying next to him.
Chalmers had ditched his own set of grubby clothing at the scene of the brutal attack on December 21 1869.
Luckily a local policeman recognised the garments. He had seen them being sported by a tramp who had recently been released from Alloa jail after serving 10 days for theft.
A description was circulated for Chalmers which described him as a “native of Aberdeenshire who carried out casual farm work” and being “known for falling foul of the law”.
His mugshot was posted across Perthshire, complete with coloured- in ginger beard and rosy cheeks.
The efforts paid off and he was arrested on May 25 1870, still wearing some of the dead man’s clothing.
He denied committing the crime and was paraded through towns and villages in the stolen garb to see if more people recognised him.
Family members were consulted and some claimed Chalmers – who worked as a whaler before falling on hard times, then sang on the streets for money – had endured a troubled life .
They cited alcohol problems and mental health issues as a result of “sunstroke and brain fever”.
His defence of insanity was rejected and he was found guilty of the murder of Mr Miller and sentenced to be executed at Perth Prison on October 4 1870.
A newspaper report on September 15 1870 stated: “Chalmers as yet has made no confession... he conducts himself in a very quiet but somewhat depressed manner.
“He has a person with him both night and day in the condemned cell but Chalmers is not very free in his conversation.
“He is attended daily by the Rev Archibald Fleming, of St Paul’s Church, Perth, to whose instructions and admonitions the condemned man apparently pays the greatest attention.”
Chalmers maintained his innocence right to the end. He was hanged by executioner William Calcraft at 8.08am on October 4 1870 within the walls of Perth Prison, his body obscured from view by a screen.
The Executioner
Born near Chelmsford in 1800, Calcraft was a cobbler by trade who became the official executioner for the City of London and Middlesex and was in great demand across the country.
Some considered him in competent and inhumane, due to his controversial use of the “short-drop” hanging technique in which the condemned person was slowly strangled to death, taking several minutes to die. He would sometimes pull theatrically on legs or climb on shoulders in an effort to break a victim’s neck and hasten death.
Critics said Calcraft used these methods partly to entertain the crowds, sometimes numbering 30,000 spectators or more.
Reporting on Calcraft’s visit to Dundee to perform an execution there on May 1 1873, The Times observed that “if their visitor had been a royal personage, or an eminent statesman, he could hardly have been treated with greater consideration”.
On that occasion, Calcraft left the city without performing any executions – the prisoner, Thomas Scobbie, a murderer from Kingennie who had been condemned to death, was given a reprieve and taken from Dundee Prison to Paisley Jail before word had reached Calcraft.
Chalmers was not so fortunate. His was the first private execution to take place in Scotland – public executions had been abolished in 1868 after the House of Commons decided they were degrading and led to “scandalous and revolting scenes” – and he was buried in the prison grounds in an unmarked grave.
He was also the last person executed in Perth in the 19 th Century. Only three more executions took place at the prison, in 1908, 1909 and 1948.
A new purpose- built execution shed was completed in 1965. Known as the Hanging Block, it was never used because the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 abolished capital punishment for the crime of murder.
It was subsequently used as offices and a training facility until its demolition in 2006.
A total of 273 people were publicly hanged in Scotland between 1800 and 1868, comprising 259 men and 14 women.
The last man hanged in Scotland was Henry John Burnett. He was executed on August 15 1963 at Craig inches Prison in Aberdeen.
It was the only execution within Craiginches.