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previous imageThe Trial of Katharine Nairn & Patrick Ogilvie…, 1765
The trial of Katharine Nairn and Patrick Ogilvie, for the crimes of incest and murder: containing the whole procedure of the High Court of Judiciary, upon the 5th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th days of August 1765. 134 pp. (Edinburgh–London, 1765).
About the Case
In January 1765, in the town of East Miln, Scotland, nineteen-year-old Katharine Nairn married forty-year-old Thomas Ogilvie. She soon fell in love with his younger brother Patrick. In June 1765, Thomas Ogilvie died, after a sudden terrible illness. Katharine and Patrick were arrested and convicted of murder by poisoning. Patrick Ogilvie was hanged, but Nairn’s hanging was delayed when she was found to be pregnant. She took the opportunity to escape from prison and fled to Holland.