[ "Narrative of Law and Crime" / Household Words ]
Household Words was a weekly magazine created, edited, and partly owned by Charles Dickens; it ran from 1850 to 1859. It published primarily fiction and non-fiction, often concerned with social issues of the time.
One regular feature was a "Narrative of Law and Crime" (part of the "Household Narrative of Current Events") section which reported on various legal and criminal matters. The very first issue of Household Words (January 1850) included the following incident in that section:
At the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, on Saturday the 5th, Andrew Forrest, a youth of eighteen, was tried for the Murder of a Gamekeeper, named Kirby, at Cambuslang. There was no doubt, from the youth's confession as well as other evidence, that he killed the man; the trial turned upon the question whether he did it wilfully. Forrest was out with a gun, intending to poach; on the road he encountered Kirby, who had two dogs in a leash, one a very fierce creature, a cross between a Newfoundland and a bull-dog. Some altercation ensued, and probably the savage dog seized Forrest's leg, for it was wounded by a dog; then the youth fired – as he said, at the dog; but the man was killed. The dog might have torn the prisoner after he had fired; or, on the contrary, the lad's story might be true. The Lord Justice Clerk summed up very favourably for the accused; severely censuring the gamekeeper's practice of leading about the savage dog. The Jury returned a verdict of "Not proven." (Vol. 1, no. 1, [Jan. 1850], p. 7)