Three Shillings and a Life: The Brutal Killing of Elizabeth Campbell

This week we examine the tragic murder of Elizabeth Campbell in 1932 in Glasgow, and the investigation that led to the arrest of two young men. The episode also looks at the trial, including witness testimonies and the public petition for clemency, and brings to life the complexities of the case, providing listeners with a compelling insight of a lesser-known Scottish murder.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm really sorry we weren't able to release this episode
last week as planned. I know we've been about erratic
with releasing episodes, but we'll try and be more consistent.
But I hope everybody is subscribed to Scottish Murders so
you don't miss any new episodes when they do get released.
So just a week update about what have been up
to last week myself and Murty from the Mum's Mysteries

(00:22):
and Murder podcast. Recently we're invited by Katie McGrath to
attend Airree Library for their monthly Killers and Coffee event,
and we actually did our first ever live recording where
we told the case of the murder of Alien Printy
in nineteen eighty one in Edinburgh, which was a case
suggestion by one of our listeners. But for the life

(00:42):
of me, I cannot find the message that was sent. Honestly,
the older I get, the worsh my memory and organizational
skills get. So if it was you that wrote in
and recommended that we cover the Alien Printy case, please
message me again so I can give you a proper
shout out when we released the episode. Thanks again so
much for suggesting the case. I hadn't heard of it

(01:03):
before and it does raise so many questions despite many
believe in including the police, that the case is closed.
It was the perfect case to cover at Airdrey Library
and we had such a fantastic time. Everyone was so
welcoming and really engaged so much with the case. There
were so many theories, suggestions and opinions shared and discussed

(01:24):
around the case. We can't thank everyone who was at
the Killers and Coffee event for our live recording enough,
for being so friendly and welcoming, for all your support
as Martin and I were pretty nervous, and for being
so opened as recording your questions and thoughts. Will be
releasing that episode at the end of July, so again,
don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss this super

(01:46):
special episode. Now onto this week's case, just before today's case.

(02:19):
As you know, Scottish Murders has been part of the
dark Cast Network for quite some time now, and the
network is constantly adding new and bingeworthy podcasts podcasts with
a bit of a dark side. One new podcast of
the dark Cast Network that I wanted to tell you
a bit about is called Box in the Basement, which
is an investigative series created by Arlene, whose life was

(02:40):
forever changed by a family tragedy. The tragedy being the
unsolved murder of her uncle, Leon Lorellis. Arlene decided to
create this podcast, Box in the Basement as she was
disturbed by the lackluster investigation into her uncle's death and
the mystery that still surrounds this case. In this podcast,

(03:01):
Arlene does a deep dive into the detail surrounding her
uncle's story and murder, uncovering many problems with the investigation. However,
Arlene doesn't stop there. She not only covers the tragedy
of her uncle's murder in Box in the Basement, but
also other unsolved cases in Central Texas in the hope
of finding answers and getting justice in the overlooked and

(03:23):
forgotten cases in her local community. This is such a
compelling podcast and I've been enjoying listening to it and
wanted to share it with you. So if you're all
caught up with your other podcasts and looking for another
podcast to binge, then go and have a listen to
Box in the Basement. So this week's episode is the
murder of thirty or thirty one year old Elizabeth Campbell

(03:45):
in nineteen thirty two in Cowcaddin's in Glasgow. Elizabeth or
Lizzie Campbell was blind in her right eye and deaf
in one ear, and her family had been stricken with
great misfortune over the years. According to an article in
This Scotsman, on the first of February nineteen thirty two,
eight years prior to Lizzie being found murdered, Lizzie's mum

(04:06):
had died suddenly, and shortly afterwards Lizzie's father apparently fell
down in the street, receiving head injuries, and he died
shortly thereafter. Two years later, Lizzie's youngest brother, Thomas, apparently
fell against an electric box and again died from head injuries,
and then not long after that, another of Lizzie's brothers, Joseph,

(04:28):
died from pneumonia. Upon Lizzie losing her mother and father
in quick succession, she moved in with her elderly uncle
Thomas and aunt Margaret ather home in Wings Street, Calcaddin's
in Glasgow. At the time of Lizzie's murder, she was
not only working full time for a firm of confectioners
in Port Dundas, which is about a seventeen minute walk

(04:48):
northeast of where she lived in Calcaddin's and she was
reported to thoroughly enjoy this job. She was also working,
and had been for some months, on weeknights and Saturday afternoons,
cleaning office on Hope Street for her aunt, as her
aunt had been in ill health for some time and
had been unable to keep up her cleaning duties, and
so on Saturday, the thirtieth of January nineteen thirty two,

(05:11):
Lizzie sat down for lunch with her family as usual,
telling them that she planned to welt that night to
the cinema with her friend Betty, and so she would
be back from her cleaning job about five pm. After
clearing up after lunch, Lizzie then left her home about
three pm and made her way to Hope Street, no
more than a ten minute walk away, to clean the

(05:31):
offices of Messrs Ferguson Brothers, who were dealers in carbon
papers and typewriter ribbons. At five pm, prompt, Betty arrived
at Lizzie's home ready for heading out to the cinema.
Lizzie's aunt and uncle told Betty that Lizzie wasn't back yet,
but Lizzie wouldn't be long, and they told Betty to
come in and wait, which she did. Two hours later,

(05:53):
Betty was still waiting for her friend Lizzie to arrive,
with worry and anxiety growing at each passing minute. Lizzie's aunt,
uncle and Betty began to worry if maybe Lizzie had
been the victim of a street accident, owing to her
being deaf in one ear, and so Betty said she
would go and see if there was any sign of Lizzie.
Betty then made her way to the offices on Hope

(06:15):
Street where Lizzie was cleaning, hoping that maybe Lizzie had
been held up for some reason. But when she got there,
the offices were in darkness and the doors were locked.
There was nothing to arouse Betty's suspicions when she peeped
through the window, but she still had an uneasy feeling.
She returned to Lizzie's aunt and uncle's home and told
them that there was no sign of Lizzie, at which

(06:36):
point Betty went home. Betty later said in a newspaper
article that Lizzie had been her closest friend for years,
and that when she had gone to Hope Street premises
to look for Lizzie. Everything had been in order and
there was absolutely no trace of any tragedy. Lizzie's aunt
and uncle stayed up late on Saturday night hoping that

(06:56):
Lizzie would turn up, but they eventually went to bed
for a restless night's sleep, telling themselves that Lizzie would
be fine, that she had likely just forgotten she was
going out with Betty and had visited other acquaintances and
had decided to stay the night with them. However, by
Sunday morning, there was still no sign of Lizzie, and
when the friends Lizzie's aunt and uncle had thought she

(07:18):
might have visited and stayed with on the Saturday night,
arrived at Lizzie's home to see her. Telling Lizzie's aunt
and uncle that they had not seen Lizzie at all
on the Saturday night and that she had definitely not
stayed with them, Lizzie's aunt and uncle's fears turned to alarm.
Lizzie's uncle and Lizzie's brother William decided to firstly visit
Hope Street again just in case Lizzie was there, but

(07:40):
again they found the doors locked and could see nothing amiss.
When they looked through the windows and so with a
heavy heart, Lizzie's uncle went to the police station and
told an officer about their concerns, saying that he was
beginning to worry that maybe Lizzie had taken a seizure
in the offices at Hope Street. Being quite a close
knit community, the keys to the Hope Street offices were

(08:02):
immediately sought and the police officer and Lizzie's uncle and
brother made their way back to Hope Street. The police
officer entered first, with Lizzie's uncle and brother following behind. Initially,
everything appeared to be in order, nothing was out of
place until the officer opened the door to an inner
room and went inside. They immediately ushered Lizzie's uncle and

(08:24):
brother back out of the premises and made a call
to the Central Police station. Lizzie's body had been lying
behind the door of the ground floor in her office.
Her hands had been bound tightly in front of her
with string, a ball of which was later found in
the office. There was a handkerchief in her mouth, gagging her.
She had abrasions under her chin and on her nose,

(08:46):
and her head lay in a pool of blood, with
it later being reported that she had been battered in
the head with a round ebony ruler so badly that
her head was crushed. It was reported that Lizzie's body
was in such a position that it could actually be
seen through the window by pissers. By when the police
had lit up the premises, with her legs and feet protruding,

(09:07):
pissed the side of the typewriter desk that Lizzie's body
was lying behind, which did surprise me, as both Betty
and Lizzie's uncle said they saw nothing when they peeped
through the windows, but apparently the offices were so dark
that it was almost impossible to see inside except when
the lights were on. Following the constable making a call
to the Central police station about Lizzie's body being found,

(09:30):
according to an article in The Scotsmen on the first
of February nineteen thirty two, the entire resources of the
city's crime detection forces were on the scene within fifteen minutes,
including for the first time a microphotography expert, and Lizzie's
body was photographed from every possible angle. A thorough examination

(09:50):
of the premises were then undertaken, and a number of
pieces of furniture were seen by the many many people
who had gathered to watch the proceedings to be removed
and taken to the police station for closer scrutiny. Also
taken from the scene was the suspected murder weapon, the
heavy black ebony ruler, which was found under Lizzie's body

(10:11):
and covered in blood. It was also reported that police
had found hundreds of valuable fingerprints. However, after careful comparison
to the fingerprints held on police file, no matches were found.
Lizzie's body was eventually removed from the premises and examined
by Professor John Glaister and the casualty surgeon at the

(10:31):
Central Police Station, doctor Kivlikan, and Lizzie's death was estimated
to have been between six and seven pm on the
Saturday night. It was felt, going by the evidence, that
the attack on Lizzie would have taken place just as
she was leaving the premises, as the offices were clean
and tidy and all the cleaning equipment had been put away,

(10:51):
suggesting that Lizzie had finished for the evening and was
about to head home, likely having just opened the doors
to leave when she had been pushed back in side
by someone waiting outside Lizzie was also wearing her outdoor
coat and one glove when her body was found, and
the keys to the premises were found lying near her head.
It was also believed that Lizzie had put up a

(11:13):
tremendous and likely unexpected fight, as a set of Lizzie's
false teeth were also found on the floor near her,
as well as a number of her hairpins, and she
was found to be in a disheveled state, suggesting a
fierce struggle. It was believed that Lizzie had likely been
bound and gagged first, before she then struggled to get

(11:33):
to her feet to raise the alarm, and only then
being struck repeatedly on the head. An article in the
Dundee Courier was of the opinion that presumably Lizzie's assailant
had merely intended to gag and bind her, but due
to Lizzie putting up a tremendous fight, her assailant had
been driven to a state of panic, and in this

(11:54):
panic he had seized the ruler and battered her over
the head as she lay helpless. I'm sure that this
article didn't mean to suggest that Lizzie had been murdered
because she'd put up a fight, perhaps meaning that Lizzie's
attacker hadn't brought a weapon with him and had just
grabbed the heavy roller as it was to hand, But
it certainly read to me that they were suggesting Lizzie

(12:16):
was somehow to blame. Now, while the police were busy
thoroughly examining the premises where Lizzie's body was found, press
representatives from the Scotsmen were busy conveying to Lizzie's Inton
uncle the circumstances around Lizzie's death, as at that time
they had only been told that she was dead. The
press representatives then reported that Lizzie's Inton uncle were extremely

(12:40):
upset upon hearing this information. I don't know. They make
it sound like they were doing a good thing by
informing Lizzie's family of just how Lizzie had been killed.
But was it out of the goodness of the heart
or was it more likely to get a story. I
find I'm being very cynical in this episode. It's not
really like me, So do tell me if I'm just
reading things wrong and you can see things from a

(13:02):
different point of view. So following the place, carrying out
a thorough investigation, of the ground floor offices. It was
reported that robbery was likely the motive, as two cash
boxes and a tin box had been taken from the
safe in the office, the keys of which were in
a desk drawer, and it was obvious that the thief
or thieves had carried out a thorough search, as desk

(13:23):
drawers and cupboards had been left open. The place were
still trying to determine if it had been one man
who had committed this crime or whether there had been
more at work, although early indications did appear to suggest
that more than one person had been involved. The Place
were also considering whether this crime had been premeditated or
whether it had just been a spur of the moment crime.

(13:45):
As the windows on the ground floor offices where Lizzie
was cleaning were below street level, it was very easy
to see straight into the premises when the lights were on,
so someone walking piss could have seen Lizzie working away
and decided to enter the premises to see what they
could find of value. However, Lizzie did clean these particular
offices at the same time each week, so someone could

(14:07):
have been planning to enter these premises for the purpose
of robbery. For some time to try and ascertain who
could have been behind this horrific murder. Police appealed for
anyone who had been around Hope Street on the Saturday
afternoon to come forward if they had seen anyone loitering
in the vicinity of the offices the place. Were very
hopeful of receiving a good amount of information as Hope

(14:30):
Street was very busy street. On the other hand, they
could also not understand how nobody heard Lizzie's cries for help,
being as it was such a busy street. A witness
did come forward, according to the Book of Glasgow Murders
written by Donald M. Fraser, to say that she had
been walking along Hope Street about five thirty pm on

(14:50):
Saturday when she saw two men coming out of the
offices where Lizzie was cleaning. She said they stopped momentarily
to lock the doors behind them before walking off down
Hope Street. She said one of the men was carrying
a box about the size of a biscuit tin. This
witness provided a description of these men and an appeal
was made for anyone with information about who these men

(15:12):
could be to come forward. A large squad of CID
men began another line of investigation while waiting for information
to come in by visiting and thoroughly combing lodging houses
and poorer class hotels in the city in the hope
of finding their culprit or culprits. Despite spending well into
the early hours on this on the day Lizzie's body

(15:35):
was found, there received no relevant information and no arrests
were made. Not to worry though, as on Wednesday, the
third of February, three days after Lizzie's body was found,
three men appeared in court charged with Elizabeth Campbell's murder.
But before that, on Tuesday, the second of February, it

(15:55):
was reported in the Western Mail that both cash boxes
that were missing from the sea had been found under
a bush in Kelvengrove Park by a young gardener who
worked there. Initially, upon finding the cash boxes, this young
gardener didn't associate them with Lizzie's murder, as it had
not been disclosed by place at this time that the
safeboxes had been taken from the offices, with police simply

(16:18):
saying that nothing of value had been taken from the scene.
But upon detectives arriving at the park to question people
about Lizzie's murder. The gardener then put two and two
together and informed the place of his find. The two
cash boxes had contained National insurance cards and stamps, and
the tin box had contained a total of three shillings

(16:38):
and thruppence about fifteen pence or twenty cent in today's money,
so a very small amount of cash. Due to this
cash box being found and thought to have been discarded
at the park that morning sometime between six thirty and
eight am, after the park employees came on duty, it
was believed that Lizzie's attacker or attackers were still in

(17:00):
the city, and it turns out they were. As like
I said. On Wednesday, the third of February, three days
after Lizzie's body was found, eighteen year old George McCudden,
seventeen year old Andrew Cameron in twenty year old John
Curtain appeared in court and were officially charged with having
on the thirtieth of January nineteen thirty two, at the

(17:22):
offices at Hope Street, assaulted Elizabeth Dodge Miguel Campbell and
seized hold of her, beat her on the face and
head with their fists, knocked her down, bound her, gagged
her and beat her on the head with an ebonite
ruler and murdered her, and of stealing two cash boxes
in a tin box containing National Insurance cards, stamps, and

(17:45):
three shillings and thruppins. The three pleaded not guilty and
were remanded in custody. However, on the eighteenth of April
nineteen thirty two, day one of the murder trial, only
nineteen year old George McCudden and eighteen year old Andrew
Allison Cameron appeared at Glasgow High Court on trial for
Elizabeth Campbell's murder and of having burgled the offices at

(18:08):
Hope Street, with Judge Lord Blackburn presiding. So what changed
that only two men were now on trial for Elizabeth
Campbell's murder. Well, I'll get to that as first. There
was a bit of drama upon the jury being selected
for this trial. According to the Book of Glasgow Murders,
the defense teams for both George McCudden and Andrew Cameron

(18:30):
objected to the eight women that had been selected to
serve on the jury, using up all of the eight
challenges they were allowed. A further female was then selected
to serve, However, as she would have been the only
female on the jury. The judge said that if she wanted,
she could be excused from serving, and the women accepted
this offer, and therefore another male was selected to serve instead,

(18:53):
meaning the jury consisted of fifteen men. Obviously, the defense
teams thought having any women on the jury might sway
the decision making against their clients, but would having an
all male jury help the defense. Okay, so before we
hear about who took to the stand of the trial
and what they had to say, first, let me tell

(19:13):
you how Elizabeth's killers were caught, as well as why
there were now only two men on trial for Elizabeth's
murder instead of the three who had originally been charged.
While it all started with an anonymous note being received
by Detective Superintendent John Forbes, who was leading the murder inquiry,
on the Tuesday after Lizzie's body had been found. The

(19:35):
note was very short and simply said that if you
question the boy McCudden who works in the offices on
Hope Street, you may find out something in connection with
the Hope Street murder. George mccuddon had already been questioned
by police as he actually worked on Mondays and Tuesdays
in the Ferguson Brothers office, the same office where Lizzie
was attacked and murdered, and he had apparently given a

(19:57):
satisfactory account of his movements. Upon receiving this anonymous letter,
Detective Superintendent John Forbes again visited George mc cudden to
question him, and he was actually at work in the
same offices where Lizzie had been murdered. George mc cudden
was taken to the police office and again questioned before
being arrested and formally charged with Elizabeth Campbell's murder, at

(20:20):
which point he allegedly made a voluntary statement in reply
to this charge, which read, I did not mean to
do anything to her. I tried to keep her quiet,
but did not mean to hurt her or cause blood.
It is a pity for we Andy Moffatt. This was
apparently a name that Andrew Cameron was also known by.
The alleged statement by George mc cudden went on to

(20:41):
say he meant no harm. I wish I had not
told Berney this man. Burney would go on to be
a witness for the Crown. The alleged statement apparently ended
with he must have squealed. It was only done on
the spur of the moment. I would not do it again,
but I wanted money. So that was the confession the
police needed and what led Detective John Montgomery then going

(21:04):
to Andrew Cameron's house to arrest him, with detectives believing
him also to be involved, as George McCudden had alleged
in a statement. Upon Andrew Cameron being arrested and formally
charged with Elizabeth Campbell's murder, he apparently said, that's right,
but we did not mean to kill her. During George
McCudden being questioned, he also mentioned the name John Curtain

(21:26):
as also having some involvement, and so he too was
visited at home and arrested and charged with Elizabeth's murder,
following all three men being remanded in custody until the
murder trial. According to the Book of Glasgow Murders, both
George McCudden and Andrew Cameron made statements saying that John Curtin
had played no part in the murder and that he

(21:48):
had only been the lookout, staying outside the offices at
all times, and that he had been unaware any violence
had been used. Following this, John Curtin was released from
pro and all charges against him were dropped, at which
point he then became the prosecution's chief witness, going on
to give damning evidence against both George mccuddin and Andrew

(22:12):
Cameron at the trial. Okay, so back to the trial
and first to take to the stand was the lead
detective in the murder inquiry, who told the jury, according
to the Book of Glasgow Murders, but Elizabeth Campbell had
been struck on the head and face almost twenty times,
that her glasses had been broken and torn from her face,
and that her false teeth had been knocked from her mouth.

(22:34):
Lizzie's post mortem results were then read out and according
again to the Book of Glasgow Murders, Lizzie had died
due to shock and heart failure, which had been brought
on by the severe injuries she had sustained to her
head and face, and due to the amount of blood
she had lost. It was reported that on some parts
of Lizzie's face there were clear boot or shoe indentations,

(22:57):
suggesting she had been kicked extremely There were a living
separately recorded blows to Lizzie's face and a further seven
wounds or injuries to her head and skull area. It
was stated that these injuries could not have been caused
by Lizzie merely falling over. Then taking to the stand
was twenty year old John Curtain. He stated that on

(23:21):
Wednesday evening, days before Elizabeth Campbell was murdered, he and
George McCudden and Andrew Cameron were together in a billiard's room,
and George and Andrew began talking about the plan to
enter the offices on Hope Street, with George saying that
the lady who cleaned the offices on the Saturday was
stone deaf, so she wouldn't cause them any problems that

(23:42):
they could hide until she left, before then turning to
John Curtain and asking him to watch cop, which apparently
meant to look out for the police. John said that
he agreed, and on the Saturday afternoon, he, George and
Andrew went to the building where the offices were located
on Hope Street and began again walking around and around
for a long period of time, taking different routes so

(24:05):
they would not create suspicion. John Curtain said at this
point that he became frightened and told George and Andrew
that he no longer wanted to watch cop, and then
he left apparently he met up with Andrew Cameron later
on the Saturday evening, at which point Andrew told John
that both he and George mccuddin had done the job,

(24:26):
going on to tell John that the woman who was
cleaning the offices, Lizzie, had flown at them when they
entered the building and had put up a terrible fight.
Andrew Cameron then apparently showed John his sleeves which had
blood on them, and he told John the blood had
come from the cleaning woman's head, before advising John that
they had managed to steal three shillings. John clarified that

(24:49):
while Andrew didn't see what had been done to the woman,
Andrew apparently did say that she had been quite comfortable
when they left her. John then went on to say
that he had also seen George McCudden later the same
evening again at a billiard's room, and that George had
shown John his left hand, which John said had been
badly swollen, and George told John that this was due

(25:13):
to the cleaning woman in the office having bitten him
so hard that her false teeth had fallen out. George
apparently went on to tell John that he had struck
this woman with a mallet and a ruler to quiet
in her, and that he had also put his handkerchief
in her mouth. John Curtain was then asked what his
movements were the next day, to which John replied that

(25:35):
he and Andrew Cameron, along with another boy named Matthew mckenn,
had walked down Hope Street to sell newspapers, and as
they were passing the window of the office where the
attack on Lizzie had taken place the previous night, John
said that the boy Matthew mckenn had looked in and said, oh,
she is dead, but apparently he was joking. He said

(25:56):
that Andrew Cameron also looked through the window and his
reply to Masthsthew mckenn's comment was she must be away,
she is not there. John said that he didn't react
to either comment or look in the window as he
didn't want to be involved with what had taken place.
On John Curtin been cross examined, it was suggested to
him that he himself had actually dared George McCudden to

(26:19):
do a job, as in carry out a robbery, but
John denied this, going on to say that George McCudden
had talked to him once or twice about robberies, but
he had just thought George was bragging or making these
stories up. Matthew mckenn also took to the stand and
confirms what George Curtain had said, adding that when he
had met John Curtin later on the Saturday evening and

(26:41):
asked him how the job had gone, John Curtain had
replied there were too many policemen about. He went on
to say that he had seen Andrew Cameron the day
before the murder and said that Andrew had told him
that he, George McCudden and George Curtin planned to do
a job on the morrow, with Matthew saying he believed
they meant to break into a shop to steal money.

(27:03):
He had advised that he had also seen Andrew Cameron
on the evening of the murder, at which point Andrew
confirmed the job had gone ahead by apparently saying that
they had bound and gagged a woman and had managed
to steal cash boxes, and that upon opening them they
had only found three shillings, with Andrew apparently being disgusted
by this fact. Matthew went on to say that he

(27:26):
hadn't believed what Andrew had said about attacking the woman,
despite Andrew showing Matthew his sleeves with blood on them.
When Matthew was asked if Andrew had confirmed the blood
belonged to the woman he had apparently bound and gagged,
Matthew replied no. Matthew went on to advise that he
had also seen George McCudden on the Saturday evening again

(27:47):
in a billiard's room, and that George had told him
that he and Andrew had jumped at the woman and brought
her down, with George saying that he had clubbed her
two or three times over the head. When Matthew was
asked to what George said Andrew had done, Matthew replied
that George had told him Andrew had tied up the
woman and gagged her to prevent her from screaming. George

(28:09):
also confirmed that there had been blood coming from the
woman's head after the blows. George also apparently told Matthew
that after the attack he had gone over the premises
with his handkerchief to remove all traces of fingerprints, which
was strange considering the police said they had found hundreds
of fingerprint impressions at the scene. In the Book of

(28:31):
Glasgow Murders, It is stated that Matthew mckenn had actually
received a share of the postage stamps found in the
cash boxes given to him by George mccuddin, and that
Matthew had also been arrested due to this, although following
him handing over the stamps to the police, he had
been released from custody. Another witness to take to the
stand for the prosecution was a man named John Alexander Burney,

(28:55):
a spirit salesman whose evidence proved to be quite dramatic.
He had apparently also been at the billiard room on
the Saturday evening, and he too had seen George McCudden there,
and he knew both George and Andrew quite well. He
said that he too was shown the swollen left hand
of George McCudden, but George apparently told him that he

(29:16):
had been in a fight in the Hope Street offices
where he worked when he had gone there to get
some money, but that the cleaner had been there and
had challenged him, so he had struck her, gave her
a good hiding, gagged her and left her. John Burney
said that he didn't take him too seriously, as nearly
everything that came out of George mccuddin's mouth was American

(29:38):
gangster stuff. The trial lasted three days where numerous other
witnesses took to the stin for the prosecution, all placing
both George McCudden and Andrew Cameron on Hope Street, outside
or near the offices where Lizzie was found murdered on
the afternoon of her murder before The prosecution then summed
up saying that the two youths charge with Elizabeth Campbell's

(30:01):
murder showed a degree of callousness so incredible that even
the associates of the boys refused to believe the story
they were telling about Elizabeth's attack and murder, ending by
saying that there was absolutely no justification for the argument
the defense had put forward that they accused were not
normal in their intelligence. Both George McCudden and Andrew Cameron were

(30:24):
examined by a professor while in custody awaiting trial, and
they were found to be perfectly normal and competent, and
that they exhibited absolutely no evidence of any mental abnormality.
Three witnesses were called for the defense, George mccudden's sister,
his scoutmaster, and the chief medical officer at the prison.

(30:45):
George had been held at the jury then retired for
fifty minutes before returning with their verdict. So what do
you think, having listened to the evidence and heard what
they had apparently done to Elizabeth? Do you think that
all male jury would have compassion for the two youths
and return any other verdict than guilty. No, they didn't.

(31:07):
George McCudden and Andrew Cameron were found guilty of murdering
Elizabeth Campbell by a majority, and they were sentenced to death.
Although the jury had recommended that they receive clemency. Judge
Lord of Blackburn, however, told they accused not to attach
too much importance to the jury's recommendation, as they had
carried out a most brutal and callous murder. He then

(31:30):
fixed their execution for the eleventh of May nineteen thirty
two in Glasgow. It was reported in the Daily Mirror
after the trial that both of the accused had listened
with perfect composure as Lord Blackburn sentenced them to death,
and that they had maintained a stoic cam throughout the trial.
Perhaps the two had a feeling that they wouldn't be executed,

(31:52):
as within days of them being found guilty and sentenced
to death. A public petition was in full force, with
tables being set up in several places in the Calcaddan's
district of the city where not only George McCudden and
Andrew Cameron had resided, but also where Elizabeth Campbell and
her family resided, and members of the public were encouraged

(32:14):
to sign the petition to reprieve Elizabeth's killers. Now, I'm
not a fan of executions, but I'm not sure how
I would have felt if I had been Elizabeth's family
members seeing the scramble to get a reprieve for two
people who had, without thought or care, brutally killed one
of my family members, especially as it had been reported
in The Scotsman that Elizabeth had been well known in

(32:36):
the district and that great sympathy had been expressed to
her relatives by the community for the tragedy of Elizabeth's murder. However,
both George McCudden and Andrew Cameron received a reprieve two
days before their execution date, with the petition being signed
by almost sixty thousand people, and they were instead sentenced

(32:56):
to penal servitude for life. And that was the murder
case of the Shy timid and always obliging Elizabeth Lizzie
Campbell murdered all for the grand sum of three shillings
and thruppens. As usual, I use the British newspaper archive
for most of my research into this case. You can
find all of the resources I used for this episode

(33:18):
by visiting Scottish Murders dot com slash Elizabeth Campbell and
the link will be in the show notes. Don't forget
to subscribe so you don't miss any of the episodes
coming up, including our live recording at Airdree Library about
the murder of Alien Printy in nineteen eighty one and
possibly a more detailed episode about the murder of George

(33:39):
Martin Nixon in nineteen seventy, a case I slightly touched
on in a previous Scotland Then episode. So thanks for
listening to another episode of Scottish Murders. I've been your host, Dawn.

(34:23):
Scottish Murduch is a production of Chlorine Tone