Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Lewis
HUTCHINSON
A.K.A.: "The Mad Master of Edinburgh Castle"
Classification:
Serial Killer
Characteristics:
Murdered
for pure sport, what may be described as a thrill killing, as
passers-by from all races, shapes, sizes, and incomes were fair
game
Number of victims: 1 - 43 +
Date of murder: 1760s - 1773
Date of birth: 1733
Victim profile:
Travellers
Method of murder:
Shooting
Location: Jamaica
Status:
Executed by hanging
in Spanish Town on March 16, 1773
Edinburgh Castle situated in Pedro district, St.
Ann, was built by Lewis Hutchinson, who is Jamaica's earliest recorded
serial killer. Hutchinson, a Scottish Doctor came to Jamaica in the
1760's. The two storey 'castle' has two circular loop holed towers
placed diagonally at opposite corners.
Lewis Hutchinson, also known as "the mad doctor",
with a single shot would kill any lone passer-by. He would then force
his slaves to throw the body of his victim in a sinkhole located on
the property. In his worst dementia he would invite his victims to his
castle where they would be entertained before being killed.
After a time the Doctor seemed to have become more
daring as he shot his neighbour and a soldier in full view of a white
colonist. The "mad doctor" tried to make good his escape on a ship
about to set sail. However, he was captured, tried and hanged at the
Spanish Town Gallows in 1773.
The final count of people murdered by Hutchinson
will never be known. However, upon searching his home after his arrest
forty three (43) watches and a large amount of clothing were found.
Lewis Hutchinson, a Scottish immigrant to
Jamaica, was the first recorded serial killer in Jamaica's history and
one of its most prolific.
Hutchinson, better known as the Mad Master and Mad
Doctor of Edinburgh Castle, was born in Scotland in 1733 where he is
believed to have studied medicine. In the 1760s, he came to Jamaica to
head an estate called Edinburgh Castle. He was said to have legally
obtained the house (now a ruin) but to have maintained his group of
cattle through the theft of strays from neighbours. This would not be
the only accusation made of Hutchinson.
Shortly after Hutchinson's arrival in Jamaica,
travellers began to disappear and suspicion started to mount. For many
miles, Edinburgh Castle was the only populated location on the way
from Saint Ann's Bay and, not knowing that they would become the
target of Hutchinson's rifle, travellers would rest at the castle,
only to succumb to the Mad Doctor's attack. Hutchinson murdered for
pure sport, what may be described as a thrill killing, as passers-by
from all races, shapes, sizes, and incomes were fair game.
What is true about Hutchinson's killings is
debatable. He would shoot lone travellers and was said to feed on the
flow of his victims' blood as well as dismember them. He, or according
to some sources his slaves, would then toss the remains in a cotton
tree or a sinkhole for animals to feast on. That sinkhole became known
as Hutchinson's Hole. At the height of his villainy, he would invite
guests to his castle to be entertained before killing them.
Hutchinson's reputation for debauchery made him
notable as many would avoid him out of fear. His slaves' tales of
terrible treatment and the gruesome details of the murders made him
legendary. This is why he was allowed to roam free for a time until he
shot an English soldier by the name of John Callendar. John Callender
attempted to apprehend Hutchison. After Hutchinson shot Callender, he
bolted south to Old Harbour and boarded a ship. The Royal Navy,
commanded by Admiral Rodney, caught Hutchinson before he could escape.
Shortly after being caught, he was tried and found
guilty. In 1773 he was hanged in Spanish Town Square. Although the
final toll won't be known, upon searching his home after his arrest,
approximately 43 watches and a large amount of clothes were found. The
records of his trial stand in the National Archives.
Lewis Hutchinson: The Mad Master
Not too long after Hutchison's arrival, travellers
began disappearing without a trace... no one could ever have suspected
the level of torture they experienced...
By Dr. Rebecca Tortello
LOCATED IN the Pedro district of St. Ann, on a low
hill near to where the main road from St. Ann's Bay to Jamaica's south
side used to run, lie the ruins of Edinburgh Castle, so named by a
Scottish architect. Built in the 1700s it stood small and square with
two-storeys and two circular loop-holed towers at opposing diagonal
corners. The road no longer runs close to the building, once loftily
titled a castle. To those passers-by of today it may seem like nothing
more than an old ruin, yet those old stones bear the burden of one of
the most evil pieces of Jamaica's history the story of Lewis
Hutchison, said to be the most feared and hated man of his day.
Hutchison, known better as the Mad Master of
Edinburgh Castle, was born in Scotland in 1733 where he is believed to
have studied medicine for a while. He came to Jamaica in the 1760s to
run an estate on which a house known as Edinburgh Castle sat. Although
he is said to have acquired the land legally, his collection of cattle
was said to consist mostly of strays from neighbouring pens. Cattle
stealing, however, was the least of red-haired Hutchison's sins.
Not too long after Hutchison's arrival, cases of
travellers disappearing without a trace began to mount in number and
suspicions ran rampant but no one could ever have suspected the level
of torture they experienced. Travellers would occasionally stop to
rest at Edinburgh Castle, the only inhabited spot for miles on the way
from St. Ann's Bay south not knowing that they would become the target
of Hutchison's unerring aim. Hutchison killed for sport, not money, as
travellers of all shapes, sizes and income levels were equal game. It
is said that he fed off the flow of blood and often dismembered his
victims and left them in the hollow trunk of a cotton tree, a sinkhole,
for the vultures to carry on where he left off. The hole became known
as "Hutchison's Hole".
Hutchison's slaves added their own tales of
mistreatment and his reputation for evil-doing became legend. In fact,
his reputation for villainy was such that no one wanted to go near him
if they could avoid it. Therefore, great hesitation and fear took root
amongst those officials who could serve him with a warrant. Time
continued to pass and still Hutchison remained free. Not even his
brutal and unwarranted attack on his unarmed neighbour Dr. Hutton,
which caused the good doctor, who was en route to join his family on a
trip to England, to wear a silver plate in his head for the remainder
of his life, changed things. Eventually, however, a young English
soldier, John Callendar, bravely set out to bring Hutchison in.
Hutchison calmly shot him on sight but aware that more soldiers would
follow their comrade, he is then said to have fled south to Old
Harbour where he set off by sea. Unbeknownst to Hutchison, the Royal
Navy, commanded by the venerable Admiral Rodney (whose statue now
stands in Spanish Town Square) was keeping watch and Hutchison's craft
was intercepted. Hutchison, increasingly desperate, tried to leap
overboard but his red hair made him easy to see and he wasn't able to
get very far. Admiral Rodney was congratulated by Jamaica's House of
Assembly for his assistance in apprehending Hutchison and placing him
securely behind bars.
Legal proceedings against the Mad Master of
Edinburgh Castle commenced and soon tales of devilry and debauchery
that almost defy the imagination began to surface. Edinburgh Castle
was searched and clothing said to have belonged to his victims, those
travellers who had disappeared, were found. Hutchison's slaves eagerly
relinquished their long-held silence, detailing crime after crime
but all were heresay judged unfit to stand up in a court of law. So
Hutchison, who was believed to have committed multiple murders, was
tried for one murder and one murder only, that of English soldier John
Callendar. During the trial, however, the stories of his slaves were
substantiated and it was further revealed that Hutchison had not
carried out his evil acts alone the existence of a neighbouring
group of perverted minds was also revealed. A few members, planter
James Walker and Roger Maddix, were tried, found guilty and condemned
to death for their own parts in the murder of farmer William Lickley
and schoolmaster Timothy Cronin. It is said that along with Roger
Maddix and Lewis Hutchison, Maddix's wife, Dorcas, a Miss Susanna Cole
and a Miss Elizabeth Thomas watched schoolmaster Cronin's death by
strangulation while pinioned in stocks. Cronin's watch and seal were
later found in Elizabeth Thomas' posse ssion. Miss Thomas was tried,
pled not guilty and received judgment as such.
Lewis Hutchison was not so lucky however. Although
he insolently entered a plea of not guilty and was defended by one of
the island's most esteemed lawyers, he was tried, found guilty and
condemned to death by hanging in Spanish Town Square. The records of
his trial stand in the National Archives.
Defiant even in death, Hutchison left funds to
inscribe his two-line epitaph on his marble tombstone: "Their sentence,
pride and malice, I defy. Despise their power, and like a Roman, die".
His wishes, as befitting the mark of such a man, were ignored.
Today the ruins of Edinburgh Castle still stand,
silently, betraying no hint of the acts of evil that took place
centuries ago. The actions of the Mad Master of Edinburgh Castle, like
those of another macabre character, Anne Palmer, the White Witch of
Rose Hall, live on in the annals of Jamaican history.
Jamaica-gleaner.com
Lewis Hutchinson, Jamaica’s Earliest
Recorded Serial Killer
According to Frank Cundall (1915, pg. 295):
“Amongst evil-doers mentioned in Jamaica history, Lewis Hutchinson of
Edinburgh Castle holds a high place.” While many may not have heard of
Hutchinson’s infamous crimes today, back then he was feared by the
whole island. According to Clinton V. Black (1966, pg. 80) Hutchinson
was the most feared and hated man of his day and, as stated by
contemporaries, “the most detestable and abandoned villain that ever
disgraced the human species.”
Not much is known about Hutchinson apart from his
crimes but that he was born in Scotland in 1733 and was said to have
studied medicine for some time. He came to Jamaica in the 1760s and
acquired his property in the Pedro district of St. Ann, which he
loftily named Edinburgh Castle.
Edinburgh Castle was in fact “a small, two-storied,
square, stone building with two circular loop-holed towers placed at
diagonally opposite corners. It had a door at one side of the front
angle and another near the front tower on the east side” (Black 1966,
pg. 78) and was located on a low hill near what used to be the main
road from St. Ann’s Bay to the south-side of the island. The property
was a cattle pen, but it seems he actually stocked the pen with stray
cattle from neighbouring pens. He owned several enslaved persons, who
also did their master’s bidding in these criminal acts.
Two accounts survive of Hutchinson’s crimes: one
penned by Rev. George Bridges in The Annals of Jamaica, Vol. 2
(1828) based on testimony from a former Hutchinson slave. The other
was written by Annie E. Cork (Cundall 1915, pp. 296-299), the great-great-grand-daughter
of Dr. Jonathan Hutton, one of Hutchinson’s neighbours and a survivor
of one of his attacks.
The following is an excerpt from the latter account
(Cundall 1915, pg. 296):
"About the year 1768 there lived at Edinburgh
Castle, in the Pedro district of St. Ann, Jamaica, a desperado
called Lewis Hutchinson. He owned the property on which he lived,
and was said to have been a man of some education but he was the
terror of the neighbourhood, and it was not infrequent for a white
man to disappear mysteriously, and it would then be said that
Hutchinson had made a way with him by shooting him as he passed the
‘Castle,’ which was furnished with loopholes and overlooked the road.
But these stories were hard to verify, and such was the unsettled
and lawless state of the Island in those days that people preferred
to leave Hutchinson alone, rather than attempt to have him arrested."
Travelers had no choice but to travel along the
main road, directly passing Edinburgh Castle, in order to reach their
final destinations. According to Rev. Bridges’ account (1828, pp.
162-163), many met untimely ends in their journeys. It seems
Hutchinson killed for sport and, as stated in the definition above of
a serial killer, seemed motivated by psychological urges and not money:
"Yet no traveller who attempted that defile,
however poor or wretched he might be, ever escaped the confines of
their owner’s narrow territory. The needy wanderer would sometimes
call for refreshment at the only habitation which for many miles had
cheered his weary eye, but it was the last he was destined ever to
behold. The wealthy passenger was alike the mark and victim of his
unerring aim from a loop-hole under which he was compelled to pass.
A thick-set hedge of logwood had also been so prepared by the road-side,
at a short distance from the house, that while he could detain in
conversation any one who might pass during the time that he was
engaed in his cattle-fold hard by, his slaves from behind the fence
could leisurely take aim at the devoted victim. …
To enjoy the gory spectacle, he first dissevered
the ghastly head from the palpitating body: his most pleasing
occupation was to whet his streaming knife; the gloomy temper of his
soul was sated only by a copious flow of blood; and when he could no
longer gaze upon the decaying countenance, he placed it high in the
air, in the hollow trunk of a cotton tree, where vultures might
complete the horrid deed. The mangled carcass was thrown down one of
those deep and hollow drains which are peculiar to mountainous
countries of volcanic origin, and whose mouths, descending
perpendicularly, conduct the torrents which periodically fall to the
level of the ocean."
This sinkhole became known as “Hutchinson’s Hole.”
Whatever drove his need to kill, he did what many
other serial killers after him achieved: drove fear into the rest of
the population. Not even Dr. Hutton’s report to the officials about
Hutchinson’s attack on him while on his way along the route to join
his wife and daughter in Kingston, persuaded the officials to step in
and apprehend Hutchinson.
It was not until his cold-blooded murder of John
Callendar, a young English soldier who bravely volunteered to bring in
Hutchinson, was witnessed by several white persons did the officials
decide to act. There was an instant uproar from the rest of the
country when it was found out Hutchinson had killed Callendar, and the
population cried for Hutchinson’s head. The government authorised his
immediate arrest.
Hutchinson abandoned Edinburgh Castle and fled
south to Old Harbour to escape by sea. The Royal Navy, however, was
watching the island’s ports of entry and exit and, led by Admiral
Rodney (his statue now stands in Spanish Town Square) Hutchinson’s get-away
vessel was intercepted. Increasingly desperate to escape, Hutchinson
made a last ditch attempt to escape by leaping overboard; but,
according to Black (1966, pg. 85) ” in this too he was thwarted for,
we are told, his flaming red hair betrayed his presence even when he
dived and he was eventually rescued by men from the warship, taken
into port and later sent on to Spanish Town for trial.”
Hutchinson pleaded not guilty to the charges laid
against him; but the evidence was too overwhelming (Cundall 1915, pg.
298):
"The castle was searched and forty-three watches
were said to have been found there, besides quantities of clothing
and many other articles, showing that Hutchinson had committed most,
if not all, of the murders with which he was popularly credited. His
unfortunate slaves, to whom, as may be supposed, he had been
friendly, came now gladly and told all that they know about his
proceedings, and shows what he used to do with the bodies of his
victims, which had hitherto been a puzzle."
During the trial it was also found out that
Hutchinson was not alone in these acts but had a group of like-minded
individuals who participated in these acts and watched
enthusiastically. One such of Hutchinson’s cronies, a planter named
James Walker, was found guilty and condemned to death for the murder
of William Lickley.
Hutchinson was eventually found guilty of the
murder of John Callendar and hanged in Spanish Town on March 16, 1773.
It is said that he left funds to inscribe the following epitaph on his
tombstone:
"Their sentence, pride and malice, I defy;
Despise their power, and, like a Roman, die."
This was never inscribed on stone.
The ruins of Edinburgh Castle still remain today
and is listed among the Jamaica National Heritage Trust’s (JNHT)
historic sites of interest. However, it is said that people in the
neighbouring community stay far from the place as the ghosts of his
murdered victims roam the ruins, especially at nigh.
