ABSTRACT
Tradition has it that Jam es M acPherson was the son of a H ighland gentleman and a ‘beautiful gypsy w om an’ . During his lifetime, he achieved considerable notoriety as the leader of a gang o f cattle-lif ters operating in the province o f M oray. On 7 N ovem ber 1700, M acPherson, two men named Brown and a G ordon, were brought before the Sheriff o f Banffshire, charged with being ‘Egyptian rogues and vagabonds, o f keeping the markets in their ordinary manner o f thieving and pursecutting, also being guilty o f masterful bangstrie [violence against a person or property) and oppression’ . Part o f the evidence against them was that ‘ they spoke a peculiar gypsy language and spent their nights in dancing, singing and debauchery’ .
