The Slippery Soldier

 In 1752 a 19yr old soldier called Ewan MacDonald was convicted of murdering a man in a public house on the Bigg Market, Newcastle. How does a 19yr old come to condemned to death? 

Ewan was a large man from the Scottish Highlands who wore a kilt with pride and honour. However, he was known to lash out if anyone spoke ill of his kilt and this gave him a reputation. Ewan was on a temporary stationing at Newcastle and he went out for some drinks. At some point that night after a few drinks an argument had started and escalated. It was saif that Ewan followed some men outside and stabbed Robert Parker through the neck and broke another man's arm. Some argued he was a killer, other argued it was self-defence. The 1752 Murder Act had come into law so people convicted had to be hanged within 2 days of judgement. Ewan was sentanced to be hanged, dissected and studied after being found guilty.

As Ewan made his way up to the scaffold he tried to break free of all restraints. He almost threw the executioner from the scaffold he was so strong. He has hanged, but, the drop did not kill him. It is said that Ewan awoke in the surgeon's hall about to be cut into. The surgeon had such a shock that he used a mallet repeatedly to kill him. He was known as Half -Hanged MacDonald. However the story of his revival only seems to have appear 70 - 80yrs after the event. People had a fear of dissection, of the surgeons. Maybe it was a tale later invented to scare :)