CHAPTER XII.

Martyrdom at Crossgellioch-Hugh Hutchison-Campbell of Dalhanna -Hair and Corson-Brown and Morice.

"Some time this summer" (1685), says Wodrow, “four men were coming from Galloway, where they had been hearing Mr Renwick in the fields, to the shire of Ayr-Joseph Wilson, John and Alexander Jamison, and John Humphrey. A party of soldiers overtook them at Knockdon Hill, and upon their confessing that they had been hearing a sermon, they immediately shot three of them. What were the reasons of sparing Alexander Jamison, I know not." Such is the account given by the historian of the death of these martyrs. The tradition, however, is much more valuable than the meagre outline of the historic narrative.

Crossgellioch, and not Knockdon Hill, was the place where these martyrs fell, and where they lie interred. Knockdon, however, is in the immediate neighbourhood. Crossgellioch is an oblong hill on the farm of Daljig, situated on the western boundary of the upland parish of New Cumnock. The ascent on three sides is very steep, but on the north the declivity is gentle. The top of the hill is generally flat, and interspersed with deep and rugged moss-hags, which were frequently occupied as hiding-places by the worthies of the suffering period. It was in the broken morass on the summit of this mountain that the individuals above mentioned sought, about the time that they were slaughtered by their enemies, a hiding-place. They had formerly sought a retreat in a place called Tod Fauld, below Benbeoch Craig, where they lay for some time; but, being informed by one Paterson, who was himself a refugee, that a reward was offered for their apprehension, they retired to the more secluded locality of Crossgellioch. It was in this place that they were ultimately found, after having one day returned

from a conventicle at Carsphairn. Claverhouse, it appears, had been in pursuit of the wanderers in that neighbourhood; and they, in order to elude his search, took up their accustomed abode among the dark and shaggy heath on the mountain. In this seclusion they remained for several weeks in comparative safety, because, from their lurking-place, they' had a view of all around, and therefore they could easily perceive the approach of the enemy. This shelter became to them a place of encampment, from which they sallied out at convenient times to visit their brethren in the country around. In this way they could occasionally hold intercourse with their fellow-sufferers, and also furnish themselves with provisions, on which to subsist in their solitude. Their hiding-place, it would seem, was known to none in the vicinity, save to one young man of the name of Hugh Hutchison. This youth was their almost daily visitant, and from them he learned the nature of those principles for which they suffered; and he, who formerly sympathized with them from feelings of humanity, in a short time became one with them on religious grounds, and experienced the higher sympathy of Christian brotherhood. His heart being now knit to the sufferers in the bond of a common faith, he made their cause his own; and he conscientiously observed the sacred duty of visiting them in the day of their distress. It was his occupation to attend the horses and cattle that were grazing on the hill; and hence he had ample opportunity of meeting with them without interruption or suspicion. One day, as he was traversing the bent in the way of his calling, he heard the loud report of fire-arms on the top of the hill, in the distance; and not knowing what might be the matter, he hastened to the spot. When he reached the summit, and cast his eye along the mossy level, he saw a party of fierce dragoons on the spot where his friends used to conceal themselves; and Alexander Jamison (whom tradition names James Jamison) in full flight along the heath. On observing the scene a little more narrowly, he saw the other three weltering in their blood, shot by the merciless troopers, the firing of whose pistols had drawn him to the place. As he stood gazing in mute astonishment on the tragic scene, he was observed by the soldiers. He instantly fled; and the dragoons called on him to stop, otherwise he should instantly share the fate of those whose lifeless bodies lay stretched on the heath. The youth, however, paid no attention to their commands, but ran at his utmost speed for his life. To gain the heart of the impassable morass before his pursuers on

horseback should come up to him he found to be impracticable, and therefore pursued his way adown the steepest part of the hill in the direction of the Nith. He crossed the river by a ford above Daljig, and then pursued his way along Dalricket Moss and endeavoured to reach Daleccles Burn; but finding that his pursuers, in spite of all his efforts, were fast approaching, he changed his purpose, and passing over Auchengeehill, by the farm of Braehead and Rigfoot, he reached what is called the Lane. When he arrived at this place, the softness of the ground obliged him to dismount and flee on foot. The same circumstance, however, which retarded his progress on horseback, retarded that of the dragoons. Having passed over the yielding and sinking ground on foot, he succeeded in hiding himself in the wooded banks of the Lane. The dragoons searched long and eagerly for their fugitive, but without success. The God to whose people he ministered in the day of their distress, and in whose sufferings he sympathized, shielded him from those who thirsted for his blood, and preserved him for further service. He remained in his hiding-place till the soldiers retired; and, with a feeling of security, he observed them marching along the heights of Lane Mark, and moving onwards to the defile of the Afton. When all fears about his safety for the present were removed, he left his concealment, and returned to Daljig. With a heart full of concern and sorrow, he informed the family of what had happened; and in company with a number of others, he visited the scene of martyrdom, to ascertain the true state of matters. When Hugh and his party arrived at the spot, they found that three out of the four worthies had fallen by the murderous arm of their persecutors. When they were killed, they were left by the savage troopers unburied on the moss. This appears to have been the universal custom; they left the bodies of the slaughtered saints exposed on the face of the open fields, and if others did not choose to inter them, they might, for anything that they cared, become a banquet to the ravens or the eagles of the desert. It is stated in the Book of Revelation, that the murderers of the witnesses would not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves; and truly those who shed the blood of God's saints so profusely on the moors and mountains of Scotland, acted a part akin to this. The sufferers, however, wanted not friends to perform for them this last office; and there is no doubt, though it is not mentioned, that Hugh Hutchison and his companions dug their graves where they fell, and on the identical spot in the moss that

had received their blood from the hands of their persecutors. Their place of sepulture is still conspicuous in the dark morass, where a monument was lately erected over their ashes, for the purpose of keeping in memory the tragical fate of these holy and devoted men, who sealed their testimony with their blood. It is worthy of notice here, that when the monument alluded to was reared, about twelve years ago, the following discovery was made:-In digging down and levelling the place for the foundation, the workmen came upon the bodies of the martyrs, imbedded in the moss. They were lying in their clothes, which were undecayed-the identical apparel in which they were shot. The raiment was a sort of strong home-made cloth of the colour of the moss, and appeared in some parts as if originally dyed with heather. The bodies themselves, in a state of good preservation, were of a dull, sallow appearance. Part of the garments, and a lock of long yellow hair, were preserved as relics by the labourers. The hair was obviously that of a young man-very fine and soft. The bodies of these Christian patriots and martyrs were thus seen, after the lapse of nearly one hundred and sixty years, shrouded in their hosen, in their coats, and in their bonnets, exactly as they fell by the murderous hand of their persecutors. Their resting-place is in the dreary solitude and in the wilderness, where no man dwells; but their souls are in the paradise of God, with Christ their glorious Head, for whose kingly supremacy they suffered the loss of all things, and for whose sake they counted not their lives dear unto them, that they might finish their course with joy. O ye who sought to obtain martial renown by slaying the people of God in multitudes, where now is your fame? Your names are a dishonour and a reproach among men, and will ere long be forgotten, or remembered only to be despised; while those whom ye vilified as the offscouring of all things, and oppressed and killed, as pestilent and worthless men, are honoured in heaven, and virtuously esteemed on earth. Sleep on, ye bleeding bodies of the saints: sleep in your gory bed; sleep in the martyr's winding-sheet. While ye sleep, ye shall not be unattended; posterity will guard your lonely couch, and point out your dormitory to the inquiring stranger; and He in whose cause ye suffered, and in whose sight the blood of his saints is dear, will at length raise you from your lowly bed to shine among the sons of light in God's own house, and in his own presence throughout a whole eternity.

It is probable that the friends who were killed in the moss

had issued from their concealment, to meet the conventicle convened by Mr Renwick, and that, in returning, they had been followed by the dragoons to the place where they fell. The individual who on this occasion escaped, namely, the brother of John Jamison, was afterwards seized by the enemy, and carried prisoner to Cumnock. No sooner did the report of this reach Hugh Hutchison, than he hastened to Cumnock, to visit his friend. The anxiety and solicitude manifested by him about the fate of Jamison attracted the notice of the persecutors, who began to suspect that he was one of the party. When Hutchison observed that he was noticed by them, he withdrew from the place, and betook himself to flight. This circumstance confirmed the suspicion of the soldiers, who instantly pursued. Hutchison, however, fled with winged speed over moor and moss, and at last succeeded in concealing himself in a cavern in the neighbourhood of Dalmellington, and escaped the breathless pursuit.

But to return to the first pursuit. When Hugh was so keenly chased by the troopers, at the time they shot the three men in the moss, it is said that he observed them from his retreat passing over the heights of Lane Mark, and then descending in a straight line to Dalhanna, a small estate on the romantic banks of the Afton, about two miles above its confluence with the Nith. James Campbell was at this time laird of Dalhanna, and a warm friend to the covenanted cause. The approach of the dragoons was on this occasion observed by the worthy laird, who, suspecting their mission, left his house, to seek a hiding-place in the fields. There was, in the neighbourhood of his dwelling, a rising ground densely covered with broom, among the pliant bushes of which he hid himself. When the party arrived at Dalhanna, they inquired for the master of the house, and not finding him, they left the place, and began to ascend the hill close by the "broomy knowe," and so near his hiding-place, that he expected every moment they would discover him; and discovered he was, but by one who had too much humanity to disclose the secret. When the troopers were marching past the thicket, one of them, who happened to be straggling behind, observed Campbell in the heart of a bush, and, standing still, looked at him for a moment, shook his head, and passed on in silence. This soldier, it would appear, who was less hardened than his fellows, did not think himself obliged to make a discovery, where the party had made none, and left the honest man safe in his hiding-place, where