The profits of this book, Haggart arranged, were to go in part to the school of the jail in which he was confined, and part to be devoted to the welfare of his younger brothers and sister.

From this little biography we learn that Haggart was born in Golden Acre, near Canon-Mills, in the county of Edinburgh in 1801, his father, John Haggart, being a gamekeeper, and in later years a dog-trainer.

The boy was at school under Mr.Robin Gibson at Canon-Mills for two years.

He left school at ten years of age, and from that time until his execution seems to have had a continuous career of thieving.

He tells us that before he was eleven years old he had stolen a bantam cock from a woman belonging to the New Town of Edinburgh.