Hearing that old Mrs. Beverley Ross had just sold two pigs, and figuring that she must therefore have money in her cottage at Kittybrewster, Aberdeen, George Christie, 53, a farm worker, broke in and killed the old lady and her five-year-old grandson with his axe. The victims were cut to pieces and were beyond human recognition.
Christie still had blood on his clothes when he was arrested. He was found guilty at Edinburgh High Court and hanged outside Aberdeen Prison on Wednesday, January 13th, 1853, before a crowd said to number tens of thousands.