about eleven o'clock
But , come weel , come woe , I was still simple Nicol Middlemiss . Ne'er hae I been able to get the better o ' my easy disposition . It has made me acquainted wi ' misery -- it has kept me constantly in the company o ' poverty ; and , when I 'm dead , if onybody erect a gravestane for me , they may inscribe owre it -- `` THE SIMPLE MAN IS THE BEGGAR 'S BROTHER . '' On the 2nd of March 1736 , Andrew Wilson in Pathhead , William Hall in Edinburgh , and George Robertson , stabler at Bristo Port there , were indicted and accused , at the instance of Duncan Forbes of Culloden , then Lord Advocate , before the high court of justiciary at Edinburgh , of the crimes of stouthrief housebreaking and robbery , in so far as James Stark , collector of excise in Kirkcaldy , being upon his circuit in collecting that revenue , and having along with him a considerable sum of money collected by him by virtue of his office , upon Friday the 9th day of January then last , was at the house of Margaret Ramsay , relict of Andrew Fowler , excise-office keeper at Pittenweem ; and Andrew Wilson having formed a design to rob Collector Stark of the money and other effects he had along with him , and having taken William Hall and George Robertson as associates , they came together from Edinburgh that morning , and towards evening put up their horses in Anstruther-Easter , in the inn kept by James Wilson , brewer there ; -LSB- C -RSB- and after having had some deliberations upon their intended robbery , leaving their horses there , they went privately on foot to Pittenweem , and about eleven o'clock that night called at the house of Widow Fowler , and under the pretence of drinking , remained there until they were informed , or might reasonably presume Collector Stark was gone to bed ; and about twelve that night , or one next morning , Andrew Wilson and William Hall , or one or other of them , did impudently and in defiance of law forcibly and with violence break the door of the room where Collector Stark was lying in bed , and having knocked out the under pannel , Collector Stark suspecting an attack upon his life , for his safety jumped out at a window in his shirt ; whereupon Andrew Wilson and William Hall , or one or other of them , entered the room , and did feloniously carry off bank-notes in a pocket-book belonging to Collector Stark , and gold and money in his possession to the value of L. 200 , less or more , and did rob and take away a pair of pistols , a seal , a penknife , a cloak bag , a pair of silver buckles , a bible , several suits of linens and other goods belonging to Collector Stark and in his possession ; and when they went out of that room , did divide , disperse of , and distribute the gold , money , and other goods so robbed and taken away at their pleasure . And while the said Andrew Wilson and William Hall were committing the foresaid crimes , the said George Robertson was standing , sometimes at the door and sometimes at the foot of the stair of said house , as a sentinel and guard , with a drawn cutlass in his hand , to prevent any person from interfering and stopping the said violence and robbery , and did threaten to kill or otherwise intimidate the servants of the house when going towards the door of the collector 's room ; and when several of the inhabitants , alarmed by the noise , gathered together upon the street , and coming towards the door , inquired what was going on there ; he , George Robertson , did treacherously endeavour to persuade them not to attempt to enter the house , falsely affirming that he had tried to go up stairs , but being in danger of being shot , he was by fear obliged to leave the house . And in order to keep them still amused with his false suggestion of danger by entering the house , having gone along with them into the house of John Hyslop in Pittenweem , he detained them there for some time , until he judged that his associates might have made their escape with their spoil ; and soon afterwards William Hall was seized in the street of Anstruther-Easter , between twelve and one next morning , being Saturday the 10th January , having several of the goods and a purse of gold so robbed in his possession , which he dropped and endeavoured to conceal . And they , Andrew Wilson , and George Robertson , having met some short time afterwards in the house of said James Wilson in Anstruther-Easter , where they were informed that the house was beset , conscious of their own guilt , they , one or other of them , did deliver to said James Wilson the seal , the penknife , the pair of buckles , some money , and other things robbed , telling that if they were found in their possession they would be hanged or undone , or words to that purpose , expressing an apprehension of the utmost danger ; and immediately thereafter got into bed , as if they had lain all night asleep , where both were apprehended , and upon the top of which bed were found the bank notes robbed from Collector Stark , and his pocket-book above another bed in another room of the house , & c. Wherefore , on these crimes being confessed or proven , the parties ought to be most severely and exemplarily punished with the pains of law , in terror of others committing the like in time coming .