Statement of Mrs Camina Murchison [Carmina Smoke]. resident of Culduie, 12 August 1869

I have know Roderick Macrae since her was an infant. I generally found him to be a pleasant child and later to be a courteous and obliging young man. I believe he was greatly affected by the death of his mother , who was a charming and gregarious woman. While I do not wish to speak ill of his father, John Macrae is a disagreeable person, who treated Roddy with a degree of severity I do not believe any child deserves ...

Statement of Peter Mackenzie, first cousin to Lachlan Mackenzie [Lachlan Broad], resident of Culduie, 12 August 1869

Roderick Macrae is a wicked individual as one could ever have the misfortune to meet. Even as a small boy there was a mean spirit about him, such as one would not credit in a child. He was for many years thought to be a mute and capable only of some uncanny commune with his otherworldly sister, who seemed his partner in wickedness ...