Prince Charles-High Treason The Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois), Saturday, July 02, 1887 Contact: Myrtle Bridges May 4, 2016
AN ACCOUNT OF THE ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES AFTER THE DEFEAT AT CULLODEN The reader will find in Our Curiosity Shop book for 1885, a comprehensive account of the battle of Culloden. After this battle the young Pretender fled, accompanied by a few faithful followers, to the western coast. Hunted hither and thither, he wandered on foot, or cruised restlessly in open boats among the many islands along the shore. The barren isle of Benbecula sheltered him for a month. A price of 30,000 pounds had been set upon his head, and he was relentlessly tracked by spies, but the generosity and loyalty of the people never failed him, and he was freely given shelter and food by rich man or peasant, who alike put themselves in peril of their lives to protect a selfish youth, that would never give them so much as a grateful thought in return. At last, disguised in woman's clothes, he was aided by the devoted and courageous Flora Macdonald to escape to the Isle of Skye. He remained there for some time, but no opportunity for escape by sea occurring he went to the mainland again and took refuge with a band of outlawed Jacobite free-booters, with whom he was for a time safe. Five months after the fatal battle at Culloden, hearing that a French ship was in waiting for him at the port of Lochnahaugh, he hastened thither and embarked with speed for France. Lord Balmerino, Lord Lovat, and others who were taken at Culloden were tried for treason, convicted, and executed according to the barbarous law then in force, by being hanged, then cut down alive and disemboweled. Had Washington, Adams, or Hancock, or any of the active patriots of the Revolution been captured, it is extremely probable that they would have been tried for treason, and, if convicted of the crime, there is little doubt that they would have suffered the same penalty which the Scottish rebels endured.
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