Shadow of the Noose

Three years later he murdered her.

The couple were unhappy from the beginning. In fact, within a few days of the wedding the couple had split up.

His wife tried to get on with her life but Bone had other ideas. He was obsessed with her and when she went into service - took on work as a household servant - he often showed up and created a disturbance. On one occasion, while she worked at Over Glaisnock Farm, he noised up the household and (as the Chronicle of the day had it) "behaved in an outrageous fashion". His behaviour was so outrageous, in fact, that he was arrested and sentenced to 40 days hard labour.

His spell at the hands of the penal system did not deter him from plaguing his young estranged bride and, in turn, he was duly sentenced to other terms of imprisonment for assault, breach of the peace and malicious mischief.

At the start of 1908 he was sent down for two months. When he was liberated, he could not settle down. Something within him was driving him back time and time again to his wife. It would drive him to her once too often.

He tried living in Skares and then New Cumnock. Finally, he found his way back to Glenbuck, taking up residence with an aunt. His mother-in-law saw him in the village and wrote to her daughter - then in service at Raith Farm near Monkton - asking her not to visit her as planned the following Wednesday.

The young woman did not receive the letter in time.

Bone spotted her in the village walking towards her mother and father"s house in Grasshill row and sent a message saying that he wished to speak to her. She hesitated at first but then agreed to meet him.

At around 2pm on Thursday April 2, they were seen walking over the hill towards the railway station. When the heavens opened the pair took shelter in a shed. A local shepherd was also in out of the rain and when he heard them arguing he suggested that they both go home. The couple walked back in the direction of Muirkirk.

That was the last time anyone other than Thomas Bone saw Agnes alive.

At around 3.05pm, Bone was seen walking towards the village alone. He crossed what was known as "the little burn" and there he washed his hands. What he was washing off can only be supposed. Then he returned to his aunt"s home in Slack Row. There he confessed what he had done to his aunt and her eldest son, who had just returned from his shift at a local pit. Cursiously he asked his cousin to shake hands with him before he was taken away. The cousin refused, saying that he would not shake hands with anyone who said he had done what Bone had done.

Bone seemed intent on confessing for he then called at his uncle"s house in Kerr"s Buildings and repeated his story. He said the same thing to neighbours but many did not believe him. It was something too horrible to even contemplate.

However, Bone was adamant that he killed his wife and he told them where her body lay. His brother heard the rumours on his way home from the pit and asked a few people to come with him to investigate.

A young miner called Alex Currie was the first to find Agnes"s body. She was lying on the footpath and the sight of her battered, bloody corpse was too much for the young man. He ran back to the rest of the men following and could barely speak. The brother was so horrified by what Bone had done he is said to have collapsed on the spot.

The police were called and, the local constable being on duty at Bogside Races, officers had to come from Muirkirk. Meanwhile, the killer walked calmly around the village talking to anyone would listen. "He seemed the coolest man in the place," it was reported.

A Sergeant Suttie and a Constable Middleton took Bone into custody and he was penned in Kerr"s Buildings until transport arrived. A large crowd gathered to watch him being taken away. Bone seemed more subdued now. As he was driven away, his hat was pulled down over his eyes and he deliberately kept his face lowered. He could not look anyone in the eyes. As he passed Grasshill Row, the local women turned out and "a perfect roar of detestation and indignation was hurled at the object of their hatred." As soon as the police and their charge had left the village, many of the men rushed over the hill to view the body. The Chronicle stated: "We prefer not to describe the spectacle that met the eyes of these people, suffice to say that strong men shuddered and wept at the sight, and it was, perhaps, well for Bone that he had been removed out of their reach. Later in the evening the remains of the poor girl were reverently removed to the home of her parents who were prostrated with grief. That night Glenbuck passed a sleepless night, and the indignation expressed towards Bone was very marked." Word of the brutal killing had already reached Muirkirk by the time the prisoner and his escort arrived. The vehicle carrying them had to force its way through a large and angry mob in order to reach the police station.

When news filtered out that Bone may be taken to Ayr by train that night, a larger crowd gathered. The news proved to be mere rumour, for Bone was tucked up safely in the cells. However, when he was taken to the train station on Friday morning "the maledictions of a large crowd of women were thrown at his head." It was later learned that a local farmer working at some distance from the crime scene saw Bone kicking at something lying on the ground.

The following Monday, Bone was remitted to the High Court. A solemn-voiced Sheriff Clerk Depute read out the indictment: "That on April 2, 1908, on an old road or footpath leading from Glenbuck village to the Muirkirk and Lanark Road, which road it strikes near to Glenbuck Railway Station, and at a part of said road or footpath about 500 yards in the southern direction from Glenbuck village, all in the Parish of Muirkirk and county of Ayr, you did assault your wife Agnes Campbell Bone, now deceased, did strike her with a blunt instrument, and did murder her." Bone pleaded not guilty and he was remanded for trial on May 7.

There were, however, surprises ahead....