1-158-806 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

The First Interview in 1786' between Deacon Brodie and George Smith, 1788. William Brodie (d1788), a respectable Edinburgh cabinet maker and deacon councillor of the city, became leader of a gang of burglars which included George Smith. In 1788 the gang broke into the Excise Office in Canongate. They were caught and one of the gang turned King's evidence to escape execution, but Brodie was hanged. The story became the subject of the play Deacon Brodie by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1880. From Original Portraits, with Biographical Sketches by John Kay. (Edinburgh, c1810).