The six crofters belonging to Lochs who were tried before
Lord Justice Clerk Moncreiff and an Edinburgh jury on Monday and Tuesday for shooting the deer, trespassing on the deer-forest, and intimidating those who were appointed to protect them, were on Tuesday unanimously acquitted by the jury, and carried in triumph to their lodgings. It is, however, stated on the other side that the verdict of the jury was not a lawless one, intended to absolve these crofters from a real offence by ignoring the evidence, but was the consequence of a blundering indictment, which mixed up crime and trespass. Neither the trespass nor the shooting of the deer was a criminal offence,— deer being wild animals,—and as this offence, of which the crofters were apparently guilty, was mixed up with that of "mobbing and rioting," of which there was not thought to be sufficient evidence, they obtained a verdict of "Not guilty." That, at least, is the explanation of the Edinburgh correspondent of the Times. We heartily trust that it is the true explanation, and that Scotland has not taken up the role of Ireland.
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