Ann McGuire, 27, needed five shillings urgently, so she took the money from her live-in lovers coat pocket, while he was still in the pub. When George Patterson, 31, arrived home and found the money missing, he went berserk. He stripped Ann naked, took a red-hot poker from the fire and thrashed her with it.
Doctors counted 50 severe burns on her body and her head when she was taken to hospital, where she died two days later.
Patterson claimed that he was insane, and that his madness was brought on by the sunstroke he suffered while on military service in India. This must have had some effect on the jury, who voted for a murder verdict by a majority of only eight to seven, and recommended mercy on the grounds of provocation.
Glaswegians were confident that with Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee coming up, Patterson would be spared. They were wrong. He was hanged on Monday, June 7th, 1897, at the Duke Street Prison.