which the notorious Frank
Levitt was committed for trial at Lancaster assizes. It was supposed the
evidence of the accomplice Thomas Tuck, commonly called Tyburn Tom, upon which
the woman had been convicted, would weigh equally heavy against him; although
many were inclined to think it was Tuck himself who had struck the fatal blow,
according to the dying statement of Meg Murdockson.«
    After a circumstantial account of the crime for which she suffered, there
was a brief sketch of Margaret's life. It was stated that she was a Scotchwoman
by birth, and married a soldier in the Cameronian regiment - that she long
followed the camp, and had doubtless acquired in fields of battle, and similar
scenes, that ferocity and love of plunder for which she had been afterwards
distinguished - that her husband, having obtained his discharge, became servant
to a beneficed clergyman of high situation and character in Lincolnshire, and
that she acquired the confidence and esteem of that honourable family. She had
lost this many years after her husband's death, it was stated, in consequence of
conniving at the irregularities of her daughter with the heir of the family,
added to the suspicious circumstances attending the birth of a child, which was
strongly suspected to have met with foul play, in order to preserve, if
possible, the girl's reputation. After this she had led a wandering life both in
England and Scotland, under colour sometimes of telling fortunes, sometimes of
driving a trade in smuggled wares, but, in fact, receiving stolen goods, and
occasionally actively joining in the exploits by which they were obtained. Many
of her crimes she had boasted of after conviction, and there was one
circumstance for which she seemed to feel a mixture of joy and occasional
compunction. When she was residing in the suburbs of Edinburgh during the
preceding summer, a girl, who had been seduced by one of her confederates, was
intrusted to her charge, and in her house delivered of a male infant. Her
daughter, whose mind was in a state of derangement ever since she had lost her
own child, according to the criminal's account, carried off the poor girl's
infant, taking it for her own, of the reality of whose death she at times could
not be persuaded.
    Margaret Murdockson stated that she, for some time, believed her daughter
had actually destroyed the infant in her mad fits, and that she gave the father
to understand so, but afterwards learned that a female stroller had got it from
her. She showed some compunction at having separated mother and child,
especially as the mother had nearly