Young Folks Paper Issue 811

"The lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms, the servant standing over and clasping his hands. And now the wounded man looked from one to another with scared eyes, and there was a change in his voice that went to the heart." 

-----Young Folks, no. 811, p. 369

Illustration in Literary Context

The illustration in issue 811 of Young Folks Paper depicts the dramatic scene of the assassination of Red Fox, also known as Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure. Before the assassination transpired, David was attempting to navigate the Scottish Highlands himself when he came upon “four travelers,” one of which was wearing the tartan of the “Campbell colors” (Young Folks, no. 811, p. 370). The illustration depicts Colin Campbell in these Campbell colors (which cannot be deciphered because of the monochromatic color scheme of the illustration). 

Specifically, Boucher's drawing depicts the scene right after David witnesses the murder of Red Fox from “the shot of a firelock from higher up the hill” (370). Boucher portrays how Colin Campbell falls into the arms of his lawyer and pronounces himself as "dead" in a dramatic, suspenseful manner (370). Furthermore, this illustration also gives context to the other two figures (the third figure is not pictured because the sheriff "runs back" to Campbell after the shot was fired) that were with Colin Campbell at the time of the murder such as the lawyer who "caught" Campbell and the servant who was "standing over and clasping his hands" (370). By choosing to illustrate this scene, Boucher underscores the shocking nature of the murder by portraying David's distressed expression along with the agitated horse in the back right of the frame. Furthermore, by highlighting this particular moment in the chapter, Boucher emphasizes how the assassination is a pivotal point in the novel because "The Appin Murder" changes the trajectory of the narrative from a plot about David's kidnapping to a plot regarding the plight of two fugitives across the Scottish Highlands. Overall, this visual heightens the action and allows the readers to envision this historical murder through the lens of David Balfour's fictional viewpoint. 

The Appin Murder

This illustration depicts the non-fictional, historical murder of Colin Campbell in the year 1752. Stevenson was inspired to write Kidnapped after "researching" the "important murder trial" called the Appin Murder (Gale). In this case, Colin Campbell of Glenure, "a half-brother of John Campbell of Barcaldine and Crown factor on the forfeited estate of Charles Stewart of Ardsheal, was shot in the back by an unknown assassin in the wood of Lettermore, near Ballachulish ferry in Argyll, in the late afternoon of 14 May 1752," while traveling to evict tenants (Fergusson 116). The man who was arrested for the crime and executed was James Stewart (illustrated in issue 812). He was a "natural brother of Ardsheal's and the leading tenant on the estate" (116). This intertwinement of fiction and reality in both the text and the illustration demonstrates the extent to which Boucher and Stevenson draw upon Scottish culture to craft David's fictional world.