Quite enough was soon seen to make it necessary for Murdison and Millar, his shepherd, to be taken to Peebles, where bail was refused.  The case came on a few months later, in Edinburgh, before Lord Braxfield, and it created intense interest, not only throughout the Border but amongst the entire legal faculty.  It was proved that thirty-three score of sheep were found on Ormiston bearing Murdison’s buist branded over, and, as far as possible, obliterating, the known buists of other farms.  None of these sheep had been sold to the prisoners.  Many of the animals were known, and were sworn to, by the shepherds on sundry farms, in spite of brands and ear-marks having been altered with some skill.  It was proved also that Murdison had sold to farmers at a distance many scores of sheep on which the brands and ear-marks had been “faked.”  Evidence in the case closed at 5 P.M. on a Saturday, the second day of the trial; speeches of the counsel and the judge’s summing up occupied until 11 P.M. of that day; and the jury sat till 5 o’clock on Sunday morning, when they brought in a verdict, by a majority, against Murdison, and an unanimous verdict against Millar, his shepherd.  Both prisoners were sentenced to death, and though an appeal was made on various grounds, the sentences were eventually carried out.

Whilst he lay in prison under sentence Millar confessed the whole affair to a friend, and the story, as told by the shepherd, possessed some very curious features.  He and his master, Murdison, had jointly conceived a scheme by means of which it seemed possible to defraud their neighbours almost with impunity.  And, indeed, but for some mischance against which no one could guard, such as happened here when the ewe made back to her old home and her lamb, they might have gone undetected and unsuspected for an indefinite time.  The shepherd owned an extraordinarily clever dog, without whose help the scheme could not possibly have been worked, and operations were carried out in the following manner.

Murdison knew very well what sheep his neighbours possessed, and where on the hills they were likely to be running.  Millar, with his dog “Yarrow,” was sent by night to collect the sheep which master and man had determined to steal, and to one so familiar with the hills this was no difficult task.  The chief danger was that in the short nights of a Scottish summer he might be seen going or returning.  Therefore, when daylight began to appear, if the sheep had already been got well on their way towards Ormiston, Millar would leave “Yarrow” to finish the drive single-handed, a task which the dog always carried out most successfully if it could be done reasonably early, before people began to move abroad out of their houses.  But as soon as the dog caught sight of strangers he would at once leave the sheep and run home by a circuitous route.  One such instance Millar particularly mentioned.