In February 1677, the legal machinery of the Renfrew circuit court concluded the case of Jon Stewart, a resident of Pollokshaws. Although records initially noted his age as sixteen, the court’s assessment shifted during the proceedings; because Jon maintained his own house, authorities determined he possessed the legal standing of an adult. Consequently, unlike his sister, who faced a deferred sentence, he was held fully accountable for the charges brought against him. Jon, whose father had served as an under-miller, occupied a middling socioeconomic position, yet he found himself at the center of a formal judicial process involving a Privy Council commission, overseen by officials dispatched from Edinburgh.
The trial, recorded under the designation T/JO/616, addressed allegations of *maleficium*—the practice of harmful magic—and participation in illicit witches' meetings. Between January and July of 1677, Jon provided a series of confessions while held in the Tolbooth, with statements documented on January 7, January 27, and July 10. Following the court's verdict of guilty, the legal process reached its finality on February 20, 1677. On that day, Jon was executed at Gallow Green, where his sentence was carried out by the method of strangulation followed by burning.