July 4th 1846

Suspicious end to James McLellan

James McLellan, a weaver from Dunning, married somewhat late in life a woman nearly thirty years younger than himself. From the first it was a somewhat stormy union and when Janet, his wife, gave birth to twins as a result of a liaison with a lodger, the relationship became even more strained.

At family prayers James was in the habit of making pointed references to Janet’s moral transgressions and on one occasion she became so infuriated that she pursued him from the room with an axe.

This rather unhappy state of affairs continued for a while until on the morning of July 3rd 1846, immediately after breakfast James McLellan was taken ill and took to his bed. Up until this time his health had been excellent. By the next morning feeling “a good deal settleder” he got up as usual , took breakfast and was again violently ill. He infuriated his wife by vomiting in the vessel containing the sow’s meal. Continuing to vomit and in great pain he asked his wife to fetch a doctor. She at first refused but eventually called a Dr Young who suspected arsenical poisoning. Later he detected arsenic in the vomit in the sow’s meal vessel. That night James McLellan died.

Under the circumstances it was not surprising that Janet was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband. If he had died of arsenical poisoning there was plenty of evidence that Janet had made efforts to obtain it. She had herself applied to Dr Young for arsenic “to poison rats” but he, being aware of the domestic situation, had refused.

Janet had then sent a young girl to Dr Martin with the same request. She also was refused. Then twice within a week of the death Janet obtained 2d worth of arsenic from a chemist. When questioned about this she said that the new lodger, a mason, “had tramped upon the saucer in which the former quantity had been placed.” It was a claim denied by the lodger. If arsenic had been put down for the rats there were certainly no traces of it found in the house. On the other hand, Dr Thomas of Perth and Professor Christison both found arsenic “to a considerable extent” in the stomach, liver and lungs of James McLellan. They were both certain that it was the cause of his death.

For the defence, Dr Martin’s assistant mentioned that immediately after the twins were born Mr McLellan had asked him for poison, also “to kill the rats.” He refused. An old admirer of Mr McLellan was also produced to testify that thirty years previously she had refused his offer of marriage and he had then threatened to commit suicide. The implication that he might have since committed suicide was firmly stamped upon by the judge in his summing up. In fact, the case against Janet McLellan seemed to be both damning and comprehensive.

But juries are wonderfully unpredictable bodies. Perhaps they detected qualities in Janet that are not apparent in the written reports, perhaps they chose not to believe the “evidence.”

Whatever, the causes, they returned a verdict of Not Guilty and Janet was triumphantly acquitted.