Shield so words his version of the story as to make it doubtful
whether the shot was fired by Claverhouse himself. In the "Cloud of
Witnesses" it is not even made certain that Claverhouse was present. At
the close of the year in which this alleged murder was committed Sir
John Dalrymple brought his action against Claverhouse. It is not likely
that so shrewd a lawyer would have overlooked such a chance as this, a
case of murder committed in his own country; for murder it would
certainly have been, were Defoe's story true. In 1682 military
executions had not been sanctioned by law; and for a soldier to shoot a
man offering to surrender would have been as clear a case of murder as
was the butchery on Magus Moor. Yet throughout Dalrymple's indictment is
no hint of any such offence. Claverhouse is accused of oppression by
excessive fines and illegal quartering of troops, of malversation, and
so forth; but of taking man's life unlawfully there is no single word.
Another of Defoe's victims is Matthew Mekellwrath. Claverhouse, he says,
riding through Camonel in Carrick, saw a man run across the street in
front of the soldiers, as though to get out of their way, and instantly
ordered him to be shot, without any examination. In the "Cloud of
Witnesses" an epitaph is quoted to show that the man was shot for
refusing the abjuration oath.
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