Sgt Davies was murdered in Glen Cristie in 1749. This is the account recorded in the tales of Deeside:
Near White
Bridge, on the River Dee, are the remains of the houses known as the Dubrach.
It was here, the barn of Dubrach, a picket of Government troops was stationed
after the 'Forty-five. This picket patrolled from Dubrach south-east into the
hills, crossed Glen Christie and Glen Connie to Glen Ey, and proceeded south to
the top of that glen. There they met a picket patrolling from Glen Shee
westwards. Sergeant Arthur Davies, OF Guise's regiment, was stationed during
the summer of 1749 with a detachment of men at Dubrach.
"Twice
a week it was Davies' duty to patrol the hills to the south and south-east, and
meet about the head of Glen Ey a similar party whose headquarters were in Glen
Shee. His beat thus traversed a wild and remote country. To Davies, however,
the solitude had a particular attraction as affording him the better
opportunity of a shot at the deer, of which sport he was passionately fond.
"Besides
being a sportsman, Davies was a considerable dandy. He was dressed in a blue
coat and a vest of 'stript lutstring', wore two gold rings on his fingers,
large silver buckles on his shoes, silver knee-buckles, two dozen silver
buttons on his vest, and carried a silver watch with a silver seal, and a purse
with fifteen and a half gold guineas in his pocket. Such a figure must have
been something of a novelty on the hills of Braemar.
"Thus
accoutred, the unfortunate man left Dubrach before daybreak on the 28th
September, followed soon after by four privates of his post. He had his gun and
ammunition with him, his intention being to keep at some distance from the men
and 'follow his sport.' All of them made for Glen Ey, and the rendezvous with
the Glen Shee party. Soon after sunrise John GOWER, Inverey, came across DAVIES
in Glen Connie... Going on his way, Davies is next heard of at the head of Glen
Ey, where he met the Glen Shee corporal. After some talk, they parted, each of
them setting out on the return journey to his headquarters. The four privates
had completed the round by four o'clock, reaching Dubrach again at that hour,
but Davies never returned, and, as far as his friends could learn, never was
seen again.
"The
night before the day when he disappeared, two men, Duncan TERIG, alias 'CLERK',
and Alexander BAIN MACDONALD, had slept in a house owned by a John GRANT in
Glen Ey. Clerk's father was farmer in Milton of Inverey, not far off' MacDonald
was forester to Lord Braco, and lived in Allanquoich on the other side of the
Dee. According to Grant, they rose early in the morning and set off to the
hills (where Davies was also hunting) after deer. Both carried guns, though
only MacDonald had permission to do so, and Clark wore the forbidden plaid, a
grey tartan with red in it. Suspicion fell on these two as the murderers of
Davies, but it was not till 1754, five years after, that they were brought to
trial. The Crown relied mainly on the evidence of two witnesses and on certain
suspicious circumstance. Clerk's sweetheart was said to have been seen wearing
Davies' rings, and some of his property was traced to MacDonald's possession.
Clerk also, 'though he was not possesst of any visible funds or effects which
could enable him to stock a farm before the period of the murder, yet soon
thereafter took a lease of farms,' for which he paid a considerable rental. But
other evidence made out his father to be a man of means.
"The
first witness was a young man MACPHERSON, alias MACGILLAS, in Inverey. The
story he told was peculiar. About a year after the Englishman's disappearance,
he said, a vision of a man appeared to him announcing himself as the ghost of
Sergeant Davies, and requesting him to go to the HILL OF CRISTIE in Glen Ey and
bury his bones. On his asking who had committed the murder and got the answer
it was Clerk and Macdonald. At he specified spot he found human remains, which
he recognised from the clothing and other things to be those of the sergeant.
The rings, silver ornaments and money were all gone. On being asked what
language the ghost spoke in, Macpherson replied, 'In as good Gaelic as ever I
heard in Lochaber.'
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| LR Track to Glen Cristie |
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| In search of Sgt Davies Stone |
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| Returning to Carn na Moine |
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| A cold lunch break at Carn na Moine |
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