Hello and welcome to Stories of Scotland. I'm Jenny, your homicide detective for the day.

And I'm Annie, you're innocently archiving bystander. Now, whilst exploring a graveyard nearby our house,

we've come across a tragic murder story.

Just a warning here for any folks who don't like stories of grizzly murder,

this episode may not be for you.

This is the first time we've done a true crime episode of this nature,

but we really wanted to tell you this story

because after discovering a little bit about it,

we both became absolutely obsessed.

Now, despite our dives into Scottish and in Vennesian history, I had never heard of this dark tale until Jenny stumbled upon a strange gravestone with a really unusual engraving.

This gravestone was tucked away in the corner of Chapel Yard Cemetery.

It read. David Cumming, House Carpenter Inverness, aged 24 years,

who was found dead in Rose Street Inverness on the morning of the 1st December 1861, in circumstances to excite suspicion that death had been caused by violence.

This monument is erected by his fellow tradesmen and other friends in Inverness, by whom he was much esteemed.

And although through time the bottom half of the gravestone has become

incredibly warmed down and illegible, we were able to find its full inscription in the archives.

Well, Annie was able to find it in the archives. But I was really surprised that I didn't know

this murder story because in Inverness, where, I I mean I grew up just 20 miles down the road

and now live here absolutely everyone knows the dark stories of the streets and so when me and

Jenny heard of this murder we became absolutely intrigued by the case it's ultimately a story of a young man who met a brutal fate due to the greed of others.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, Annie.

First, let's go back in time to see what Inverness was like in 1861.

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