ten o'clock
at night
I am , my lords , your lordships ' most obedient , humble servant , -LRB- Signed -RRB- Holles , Newcastle . '' On receipt of this letter , the lords of justiciary granted warrant to the magistrates of Edinburgh for stopping the execution of Porteous till the 20th day of October following . The effect of this respite on the minds of the people of Scotland was to induce the belief that the government did not intend to carry out the sentence of death against Porteous at all -- that it was merely a preliminary step to his pardon and liberation -- and that , so far from condemning him , the government had rather taken up a prejudice against the town of Edinburgh , on account of the proceedings , and in some measure against all Scotland . A number of persons , therefore , who were never discovered , resolved to take the matter into their own hands , and on the 7th of September 1736 , a body of strangers , supposed to be from the counties of Fife , Stirling , Perth , and Dumfries , many of them landed gentlemen , entered the West Port of Edinburgh between nine and ten o'clock at night , and having seized the Portsburgh drummer by the way , brought along his drum with them , and his son . Some of them advancing up into the Grassmarket , commanded the drummer 's son to beat to arms . They then called out , `` Here ! all those who dare to avenge innocent blood ! ''