The Appin gun

The Appin gun

Highlands

This gun by tradition is the Appin murder weapon. The Appin murder took place on 14 May 1752 in the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It is an infamous and unsolved murder, and the story became the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped. Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure, Argyllshire, also known as The Red Fox was murdered. He was the factor of several estates which had been forfeited from pro-Jacobite clans and had the challenging task of collecting taxes from the defeated clans. James Stewart, also known as James of the Glen, helped Campbell collect rents. On the day of the murder Campbell was collecting taxes. When he was passing the road at Lettermore Wood he was shot with a musket ball and died on the spot. Within two days, James Stewart had been arrested and taken to Inveraray to face trial. No real evidence was presented to prove he had been involved in the murder, and the main witness could only state that he had seen a man with a gun some distance away but was unable to identify who the man was. The presiding judge was the chief of clan Campbell, the Duke of Argyll. The jury of 15 contained 11 Campbells. James Stewart was found guilty of the murder, and sentenced to death. Who actually committed the murder remains a mystery, although Stewart's half-brother, Allan Breck Stewart, was suspected. This gun was given to the museum as the "Gun of Appin”. Legend has it that after the murder it was hidden in a tree then taken to a croft house. Eventually it ended up at Dalness House, Glen Etive. In November 1937 the Earl of Antrim gifted the gun to the West Highland Museum.

18th century

eulac3d

Physical Object

50

16/12/2020

L 1730 mm x W 450 mm (hilt)

West Highland Museum

find,56.5616731,-5.358878;

West Highlands Museum

TEXT

150

steel, wood

912