38 THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES. 



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chant, Exchange; Dean of Guild Mackenzie; Councillor 

 Duncan Macdonald; Councillor W. G. Stuart; Mr. Wm. 

 Gunn, Castle Street; Mr. T. B. Snowie, gunmaker; Mr. 

 Donald Campbell, draper ; and Mr. Duncan MacBeath, 

 Duncraig Street all of Inverness. On the following day 

 the accused left Inverness for Skye by the 9 A.M. train, 

 accompanied to the station by several of their friends, 

 including the Reverend and venerable Dr. George Mackay. 

 The following account of the reception of the liberated 

 men on their return to Portree is taken from the Aberdeen 

 Daily Free Press, whose special correspondent, Mr. William 

 Mackenzie, was on the spot : 



The five men from the prison of Inverness arrived at Portree this 

 evening, and were received with unbounded enthusiasm. Early in the 

 day a telegram was received intimating that they had left Inverness in 

 the morning, and that the venerable pastor of the North Church, the 

 Rev. Dr. Mackay, gave them there a friendly farewell. Mairi Nighean 

 Iain Bhain, to whose poetic effusions on the men of the Braes and 

 Benlee, I have formerly alluded, went by the steamer from Portree in 

 the morning to meet them at Strome Ferry. She was accompanied by 

 Colin the piper, and on the homeward journey the men were inspired 

 with the songs of the poetess, the music of the Highland war-pipe, and 

 a scarcely less potent stimulant, the famous Talisker, It was known 

 far and wide that the men were to come to-night, and their fellow- 

 crofters in the Braes resolved to give them a hearty reception. The 

 Braes men accordingly began to straggle into the town in the afternoon, 

 and groups of them might be seen along the street eagerly discussing 

 the situation. Endeavours were made to induce the "suspects" to 

 leave the steamer at Raasay and row afterwards to the Braes. This 

 would, of course, deprive their friends of any chance to give them an 

 ovation at Portree, and lead outsiders to suppose that the Portree people 

 regarded the matter with indifference. The liberated men were, how- 

 ever, warned against being caught in the snare which was laid for them, 

 and they came straight on to Portree. The steamer did not arrive till 

 about eight o'clock, but whenever she reached the quay the assembled 

 multitude raised a deafening cheer, again and again renewed, which 

 completely drowned Colin's pipes. As soon as the steamer was brought 



