Dead Man of Drumbeg

Monday 16 September, 9pm

In April 1830 a body is found in a Scottish Highland loch, wearing a tartan waistcoat. The investigators begin by matching the tartan to a clan to try to name the dead man. They identify the cloth as belonging to the Grant clan.

The investigators soon discover that the murder weapon was a blunt-edged iron instrument, such as a shoemaker's hammer or hatchet. And since no one locally recognises the dead man, it is concluded he must be an outsider.

When it is discovered that the man had been dead for one month before his body was found, ferry logs reveal a peddler called Murdo Grant as travelling on that date.

Although the victim’s identity has now been revealed, there are still few leads to the killer. Could it be the local schoolteacher whose superstitious refusal to touch the body arouses suspicion, or a previously impoverished local pearl fisherman who is reported to be spending a lot of money on drink.

Or could smuggler’s activities in the area be linked to the death?

Suspicion first falls on the schoolmaster, McLeod, who found the body. His refusal to touch the body is interrupted as a local belief that the corpse will bleed on the touch of the killer. However no link between him and the dead man can be found so he is discounted.

The fisherman is also discounted when his story about finding a large pearl is supported by questioning local experts.

Suspicion falls on George Ross (aka Mad Bull), who has a record for violence and is a local smuggler. He is also a cooper and would own a hammer of the sort thought to have been used to kill the victim.

When the peddler’s pack is pulled from the lake, confusion deepens. A hip flask with a bull emblem turns attention back to Ross (Mad Bull). Did he kill over competition to his illicit trade? And a book recording his movements, written in Gaelic, reveals that the schoolmaster owed him £3, even though McLeod denied knowing him.

The bull provided an incriminating link to McLeod’s clan, and a story of cold-blooded murder is then uncovered. McLeod liked to drink and he fell into debt with Grant. When the peddler demanded the money, the schoolmaster killed him with a hammer for fear of losing his reputation.

McLeod was hanged on 24 October 131 and confessed as he was about to be executed.

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