June 15th 1750

'Til death do us part...

It started in September 1749 when a dog was seen running through the streets of Muthill with part of a human leg in its mouth. There was naturally much alarm in the village and on the advice of the local minister the dog was tied up for twenty four hours and then let loose and watched. As expected he ran straight back to the spot where he had made his first find. This turned out to be a shallow grave in Pitkellony Park where was discovered a green skull and women’s clothes. In the body of the gown there was a quantity of putrid flesh and a child’s frock. The belief soon spread that the murdered woman was Alison M’Owan of Comrie and Alexander M’Owan was arrested and charged with the murder.

He was found guilty and thereafter made a full confession. He had been Alison’s sweetheart for some time but when she told him she was pregnant, he enlisted, left her and went abroad. On returning he again stayed with her and she bore him another child but, becoming tired of her, he left her again and took up with a Catherine Robertson, daughter of a woman who kept a public house. But Alison continued to be a trouble to them both and he decided to murder her. With this end in view he proposed marriage to her.She told some friends of the marriage and borrowed thirteen shillings to defray the expenses of the marriage in Edinburgh.

On Saturday evening he went to her house, stayed till it was dark and then they set off to Edinburgh. When they came to Pitkellony Park, near Crieff, he suggested she should rest as “she must be tired and weary with the child on her back.” He “pretended great fondness for her and drawing his dirk stabbed her in the back.” He then cut the throat of the sleeping child with a razor, took what money Alison had together with her wedding shift and stockings, laid the two dead bodies together and covered them with her plaid. He then returned to Comrie to give the glad news to Catherine Robertson who assured him that all would be well as no one had seen the murders.

He was sentenced to be hung. His right hand was first struck off with an axe and he was then hung, though not before the rope attached to the gibbet broke and he had to be hoisted up by a pulley. His body was hung in chains and his right hand nailed to the top of the gallows.