James McPherson

Simmareve Fair, brought to Keith a notorious freebooter, James McPherson. For some reason, he had acquired a 'Robin Hood' reputation, so that his arrest by the Laird, Duff of Braco, was not universally popular. He did escape, but was finally recaptured, tried at Banff and sentenced to hang. At the foot of the gallows, he performed a rant and pibroch of his own composition, broke his violin, and threw it into the grave prepared for him. A cousin picked up the pieces, which are still in a museum in Badenoch. The story of the advancing of Banff Town Clock to hurry the execution and avoid a coming pardon is not universally believed - but try convincing a Keither. McPherson was, however, the only one of the band to hang, and was the last to hang in Banff.