Court of the Exchequer

Written by Alexander Gunn, A Native of Badbea, and published in the Northern Ensign, May 25, 1882  Part A

Berriedale old cemetery where lie the remains of Marion Gunn

 Summoned 

"In my last I described a brewing adventure and a surprise by the gaugers. There was none of the malt found in the possession of anybody, and the scattering of it among the heather and the grass was the worst result of the day’s adventures, as far as we could judge. M’Dougal, the local gauger, seems to have thought differently, as he lodged information against my father, charging him with being the owner of the malt, and grounded his charges on his having seen a woman leaving the hills, who, he said, was my mother, a circumstance altogether impossible, as my mother was dead seven years before this. My father was summoned to Wick, where he attended, having engaged Mr Miller, late town clerk, to defend him, and he succeeded in getting the case decided in his favour by the justices". 

"The Excise appealed to the Quarter Sessions, who also decided in my father’s favour; but the Excise determined to carry the case to the Court of the Exchequer, where my father was not able to follow it and defend himself, and, as might be expected, it was decided against him on the evidence of a man who swore that he saw a woman who was seven years in her grave come out of the kiln where the malt was found". 

Murdoch Mackenzie a Customs and Excise officer (wearing a kilt) with his men at an illicit brewing bothy near Gairloch. Source: Am Baile

"I cannot tell whether M’Dougal is still in the land of the living or not, but if his story has not met him already, it will meet him at a future tribunal. I need not say where the malt was, but my father was unjustly dealt with at that time, as he had no more connection with it than the man in the moon".

To be Continued.

My Comments:

The Court of the Exchequer was formerly a distinct part of the court system of Scotland, with responsibility for administration of government revenue and jurisdiction of adjudicate on cases relating to customs and excise, revenue, stamp duty and probate. It changed over time and was described as inconvenient and troublesome in the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act in 1856.

Marion Gunn died in 1837 making 1844 the date she was claimed to have ‘appeared in apparition'.

This excise story is so bizarre, resting on the appearance of a woman who had been dead for years that it seems impossible that it got to the Court of the Exchequer in Edinburgh but also that poor John Gunn who could not even defend himself would be dealt with unjustly. 

While we are not told exactly what was the unjust result to John Gunn (he was probably fined) we do know that in 1845 Donald Horne evicted him from his home in Badbea where he had lived for many years with his late beloved wife Marion and their large family.