This leg of the MacDonald Clan
as
related by John A. McDonald
Synopsis:
"King James had fled and Scottish chieftains were forced to pledge allegiance to William of Orange-- by a certain date. There was one chief who missed the deadline: Macdonald of Glencoe. When his oath finally arrived at government headquarters-- late -- a high official suppressed it and gave orders to exterminate the clan. A Captain Campbell was dispatched to the glen with 128 soldiers, and lived there for a while on friendly terms with the Macdonalds, presumably accepting the chief's hospitality. Suddenly, one day at dawn, the treacherous attack took place, Campbell's men put more than fourty members of the clan to the sword, including women, children, and servants ... The order to attack was supposedly written on a playing card, and ever since that time, the nine of diamonds has been called the Curse of Scotland"
-Excerpt from The Cat Who Wasn't There by Lilian Jackson Braun