History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

122 RAECLEUCH EVICTED FROM NEWBIE
The penalty as ordered by the King was a fine and to lose the right
hand ; and shortly afterwards a petition by the Governor of the Edinburgh
Tolbooth, and signed by his friends, is sent to the Privy Council, asking
pardon for a James Johnstoun, whose conduct in prison had been most exem-
plary, and whose only fault since the last respite had been carrying pistolets,
Walter Graham, a little earlier, was sentenced to be scourged through Edinburgh,
to lose his right hand, and to be expelled from Great Britain for fighting
in the precincts of the Parliament House while the members were sitting. But
such severity could not be enforced in Annandale.
In 1618 Ryehill and the Earls of Mar, Lothian, and Buccleuch, Lord Crichton
and James Johnstoun of Lochous, all curators and trustees of the young Laird
of Johnstoun, brought an action against Raecleuch to compel him to turn
out of Newbie Castle and give it up to the young Laird. The next year
the other curators and the young Laird, with Sir John Murray, brought an
action against Ryehill, his stepson (young Castlemilk), Raecleuch, and Westraw
to recover the Annandale Charter chest, which was in Ryehill's charge. It
was restored by Lady Wigton, the Laird's mother, to whom Ryehill had
transferred it, though it contained important papers connected with the Newbie
family, which have never been recovered by the heirs of the original owners.
In 162 1 Raecleuch still declined to leave Newbie, whereupon, as the
instrument of possession states, " the Right Hon. James Johnstoune of that
Ilk for himself, and Edward Johnstoune of Ryell for himself as one of the
curators to the said James Johnstoune of that Ilk, and also as procurator,
and in name and behalf of the remaining persons after specified, curators
to the said James, accompanied by the Sheriff-Depute and the messenger," with
two Johnstouns of Wamfray, " went to Newbie, and there lawfully removed,
ejected, output, and rid the said Robert of Raecleuch, Douglas, his wife,
Robert, his son, their goods and gear forth, and from all and sundry the said
lands and tower of Newbie, and admitted the said James and Edward Johnstounes
to the said tower house, etc., kindling new fires within the said house," but
owing to the great frost they could not dig or plough up the customary handful
of earth as a sign of possession.
Raecleuch retired to Mylnfield. His daughter, Sara, was married to
Fergus Graham, who with others, including Raecleuch's nephew, Robert,
tried to turn the Laird out again, and a trial ensued, with no result. Raecleuch,
the principal defendant, was cautioner for those who assisted him. The same
year his brother Mungo died, but the son claimed the debt with accumulated
interest.
Meanwhile the heir of the Newbies, Edward Johnstoun, called of Seafield
(Wyldcotray), was trying to recover his father's inheritance. Hoping to enlist
his uncle of Ryehill on his side, he signed a deed, witnessed by Thomas
Johnstoun of Castlemilk and William Graham of the Moat, promising, if he
gained his suit, he would give him proper title-deeds of Croftheid, Cummertrees,
Howmedow, and certain lands in Annan, which Ryehill had occupied himself,
or by others in his name, if Ryehill and his heirs " would renounce all right and