Book description
In March 1866, Janet Rogers travelled to the Perthshire-based farm
of her brother, William Henderson, to help with chores while he looked
for a new domestic servant. Three days later she was found dead in the
farm kitchen, killed by multiple blows from an axe. Ploughman James
Crichton was suspected of the atrocity, and after a lengthy
investigation was arrested and tried in Perth, with the case duly
found non-proven. Was Crichton the guilty party? If not, why did
William Henderson try to frame him? Why was the previous servant on
the farm sacked, and why did she wait eight months to accuse Crichton
of being responsible? And what led to Henderson being driven insane,
ultimately to end his days in a Perthshire lunatic asylum? The murder
investigation remains the UK's oldest unsolved murder case. Just who
was the killer at Mount Stewart Farm?
Chris Paton is a former BBC Scotland television
producer/director specialising in history-based programmes. He holds a
Postgraduate Diploma in Genealogical Studies and runs Scotland's
Greatest Story family history service. He has regularly written for
Ancestors, Family History Monthly, Practical Family History, Your
Family Tree, and his own Scottish Genealogy News and Events.
