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William BrodieDeacon William Brodie (1741-1788) was a Scottish cabinet-maker and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a burglar, partly for the thrill, and partly to fund his gambling. At day, Brodie was a respectable businessman, member of the town council and deacon of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons. Part of his job in building cabinets was to install and repair their locks and other security mechanisms and repair door locks. He also served in a jury. At night, however, Brodie became burglar and thief. He used his daytime job as a way to gain knowledge about the security mechanisms of his clientele and to copy their keys. He used the illicit money to maintain his second life, including five children, two mistresses who did not know of each other, and a gambling habit. He reputedly began his criminal career around 1768 when he copied keys to a bank door and stole 800. In 1786 he recruited a gang of three thieves, Brown, Smith and Ainslie. The case that lead to Brodie's downfall begun later in 1786 when he organized an armed raid at an Excise Office in Chessel's Court on the Canongate. Brodie's plan failed and Ainslie was captured. Ainslie agreed to become King's Evidence and informed on the rest of the gang. Brodie escaped to Netherlands intending to flee to America but was arrested in Amsterdam and shipped back to Edinburgh for trial. The trial started August 27 1788. At first there was no hard evidence against Brodie before the tools of his criminal trade were found in his house; copied keys, a disguise and pistols. The jury found Brodie and his henchman George Smith, a grocer, guilty. Brodie and Smith were hanged at the Tolbooth October 1 1788, using a gallows Brodie had designed and funded the year before. According to one tale, Brodie wore a steel collar, had bribed the hangman to ignore it and arranged for his body to be removed quickly in the hope that he could be later revived. If so, the plan failed. Brodie was buried in an unmarked grave at the Parish Church in Buccleuch. The dichotomy between Brodie's respectable faade, and his real nature inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Brodie, William Brodie, William Brodie, William
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