AT ALLOA on Monday January 18, 1869, a case was heard before Sheriff-Substitute William Bennet Clark regarding the improper removal of a horse and cow at Devonside.

The case was brought by Robert Balfour Wardlaw Ramsay of Whitehills and Tillicoultry against James Snowdowne, James Snowdowne Junior, Peter Snowdowne and William Snowdowne.

James was the tenant of Tillicoultry Colliery but had failed to pay Wardlaw Ramsay the rent he owed, so one of his horses was put up for sale, having been sequestrated.

On the morning of Tuesday January 12, at around 10 o'clock, his brother William had made his way to the turnpike road when James Junior shouted at him to take the horse he was leading.

This was a few yards from the colliery stable at Devonside where the horse was kept.

He was unaware the horse was advertised for sale to cover the rent or that it had been sequestrated, stating at court he was simply asked to take it away.

Along with the horse, a cow was being driven along the road by Peter Snowdowne and two boys.

William said the horse and the cow were removed from Devonside that day, and he never saw them again.

He told the Sheriff-Substitute he never met James Senior that morning, and knew nothing about the whole affair until he was petitioned to appear in court.

Under cross examination he said the horse had been taken to Peter Scott, a horse dealer at the Yetts of Muckhart, as instructed by James Junior.

Scott was not there when he arrived, so he left the horse in the care of his servant. He was paid for taking it to Muckhart.

Peter Snowdowne, a quarry worker from Dollar, said he removed the cow from the stable after James Junior had opened the stable door and he had followed him in. William Snowdowne followed with the grey horse.

Having heard of the sale that day and the warrant issued by the court, he arrived specifically to remove the cow which was to be sold in order to prevent its sale.

William Snowdowne had paid for the animal the previous May, having bought it from Scott, and as his brother James had grass, had asked him to look after it.

In the end the Sheriff-Substitute made an order against James Snowdowne and Peter Snowdowne to return the animals to the colliery by 10am the following Wednesday, which they did.

They were each fined 20s plus costs