Alexander Edmundstone was convicted of the murder of Michael Swinton Brown who was a sixteen year old clerk from East Wemyss, Fife. 

On the 16th  February, Brown went to the Royal Bank of Scotland to collect the wages for the linen manufacturers where he worked. He never returned and his body was later found in a public lavatory, brutally beaten.

A handkerchief was tightly knotted around his neck, a cap was stuffed down his throat, his skull had been smashed in and he had been robbed of around £85 which in 1909 was a great deal of money. 

Edmunstone had aroused suspicion by his sudden disappearance and was later arrested at a guest house in Manchester after a tip off from another lodger who had recognised him from a police 'wanted' poster. He was taken back to Perth and at his two day trial in June, he offered a feeble plea of insanity.

The jury took just ten minutes to find him guilty and he was hanged by John Ellis on the 6th July 1909.  He was only a young man of 23 himself when he died.

Real-Crime.co.uk