The history of Burke and Hare and of the resurrectionist times; a fragment from the criminal annals of Scotland

THE HISTORY

BURKE AND HARE

THE HISTORY

OF

BURKE AND HARE

And of the Resurrectionist Times

A FRAGMENT FROM THE CRIMINAL ANNALS OF SCOTLAND

GEORGE MAC GREGOR, F.S.A. Scot.,

Author of " The History of Glasgow," and Editor of
"The Collected Writings of Doug al Graham."

CONTAINING SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS

GLASGOW: THOMAS D. MORISON
LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO.

1884

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PREFACE.

The history of the Scottish nation has, unfortunately, been
stained with many foul crimes, perpetrated either to serve
personal ends and private ambition, or under the pretence of
effecting the increased welfare of the people. These have given
life to a large amount of literature, much of it from the pens of
some of the most distinguished legal and antiquarian authors the
country has produced, such as Arnot, Pitcairn, MacLaurin, Bur-
ton, and others. But of all the criminal events that have occurred
in Scotland, few have excited so deep, widespread, and lasting
an interest as those which took place during what have been
called the Resurrectionist Times, and notably, the dreadful
series of murders perpetrated in the name of anatomical science
by Burke and Hare. The universal interest excited at the
time of these occurrences, also, has called forth a great quantity
of fugitive literature ; and as no narrative of any considerable
size, detailing in a connected and chronological form the
events which bulk so largely in the history of the country, had
yet appeared, the Author considered a volume such as the
present was required to fill up an important hiatus in the
criminal annals of his country.

In the preparation of this work the Author has had a
double purpose before him. He has sought not only to record
faithfully the lives and crimes of Burke and Hare, and their
two female associates, but also to present a general view

vi. PREFACE.

of the Resurrectionist movement from its earliest incep-
tion until the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832, when
the violation of the sepulchres of the dead for scientific pur-
poses was rendered unnecessary, and absolutely inexcusable.
He has, in carrying out this object, endeavoured to give due
prominence to the medical and legal aspects of the whole
subject ; and to the social effects produced by the movement
throughout the century and a half during which it flourished
in Scotland. In order to do this the Author has consulted
books, newspapers, and documents of all kinds, and has
sought, where that was possible, to supplement his infor-
mation by oral tradition. But in addition, he has, in the
body of the work, and in the Appendix, brought together
stray ballads, and illustrative cases and notes, which help to
give a better and fuller understanding of the historical aspect
of the question, and of its influence on the minds of the great
bulk of the Scottish people.

The Author has to express his thanks to the many gentlemen
who have kindly allowed him access to their rare and valuable
collections, from which he derived great assistance in the
course of his investigations.

Glasgow, May, 1884.

CONTENTS

Page
INTRODUCTION.—

The Resurrectionist Movement — Its Contributing Causes and Results, 13

CHAPTER I.—

Early Prohibition of Dissection — Shakespeare's Tomb — The Progress
of Anatomy — Curious Incident in Edinburgh — An Old Broadside
Ballad on Body-Snatching — Tumults in Edinburgh and Glasgow
— Female " Burkers," ... ... ... ... ... 16

CHAPTER II.—

Tales of the Resurrectionists — The Students at Work, ... ... 25

CHAPTER III.—

Tales of the Resurrectionists — What the Doctors did, ... ... 33

CHAPTER IV.—

Tales of the Resurrectionists — The Professional Body-Snatchers — A
Dundee Resurrectionist Ballad — A Strange Experiment in Glas-
gow, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 38

CHAPTER V.—

The Early Life of Burke and M'Dougal — Their Meeting with Hare

and his Wife — Some Notes Concerning the Latter, ... ... 47

CHAPTER VI.—

Death of Donald the Pensioner — Hareh Debt — Negotiations with the

Doctors — A Bargain Struck — Sale of Donald's Body, ... 54

CHAPTER VII.—

New Prospects — Description of Hare's House — The Murder of Abigail

Simpson, the Old Woman from Gilmerton — The Two Sick Men, 57

CHAPTER VIIL—

Qualms of Conscience — The Murder of Mary Paterson, and Escape

of Janet Brown — Preservation of the Fallen Beauty, ... ... 63

CHAPTER IX.—

Unknown Victims — The Two Old Women — Effy the Cinder Raker —
"A Good Character with the Police" — Burke and Hare Separate
— The Murder of Mrs. Hostler, ... ... ... ... 69

CHAPTER X.—

Old Mary Haldane — The End of her Debauch— Peggy Haldane in

Search of her Mother — Mother awl Daughter United in Death, 74

viii. CONTENTS.

Page
CHAPTER XL—

A Narroio Escape — The Old Irishwoman and her Grandson — Their

Murder — Hare's Horse rising in Judgment, ... ... 79

CHAPTER XII.—

Jealousy — An Undeveloped Plot — Hare Cheats Burke, and they
Separate — The Foul Work Continued — Murder of Ann
M'Dougal, ... ... ... ... ... ... 82

CHAPTER XIIL—

James Wilson, "Daft Jamie" — Some Anecdotes concerning him —

Daft Jamie and Boby Awl, ... ... ... ... 88

CHAPTER XIV—

Daft Jamie Trapped into Hare's House — The Murder — The Body

Recognised on the Dissecting Table — Popular Feeling, ... 94

CHAPTER XV.—

The End Approaches — Proposed Extension of Business — Mrs.
Docherty claimed as Burke's Relative — The Lodgers Dismissed
— The Murder of Mrs. Docherty, ... ... ... ... 99

CHAPTER XVI.—

An III Excuse — Strange Behaviour — Discovery — The Threat — Un-
availing Arguments — The Last Bargain, ... ... ... 103

CHAPTER XVII.—

The Arrest of Burke and M'Dougal — Discovery of the Body — Hare
and his Wife Apprehended — Public Intimation of the Tragedy —
Burke and M'Dougal give their Version of the Transaction, ... 107

CHAPTER XVIII.—

Public Excitement at the West Port Murder — The Newspapers —
Doubts as to the Disappearance of Daft Jamie and Mary
Pater son — The Resurrectionists still at Work, ... ... 113

CHAPTER XIX.—

Burke and M'Dougal amend their Account of the Murder — The Pro-
secution in a Difficulty — Hare /urns King's Evidence — The In-
dictment against Burke and M'Dougal, ... ... ... IIS

CHAPTER XX.—

Public Anticipation of the Trial — Appearance of Burke and
M'Dougal in the Dock — Opening of the Court — The Debate on
the Relevancy of the Indictment, ... ... ... ... 1JJ/.

CHAPTER XXI.—

The Trial of Burke "ud M'Dougal — Circumstantial Evidence —
Hare's Account of the Murder of Docherty — What he Declined
to Answer — Mrs. Hare and her Child, ... ... ... 130

CHAPTER XXII.—

Th Trial Speeclieu of Counsel -Mr. Cockbum's Opinion of Hare —

The Verdict of the Jury, ... ... ... ... 1JG

CONTENTS. ix.

Page
CHAPTER XXni—

The Last Stage of the Trial — Burke Sentenced to Death — The Scene

in Court — M'Dougal Discharged — Duration of the Trial, ... 142

CHAPTER XXIV.—

The Interest in the Trial — Feeling as to the Result — Press Opinions —

Attack on Dr. Knox's House, ... ... ... ... 146

CHAPTER XXV.—

Burke's Behaviour in Prison — Liberation of M'Dougal, and the Con-
sequent Riot — Visitors at Burke's House in the West Port —
Burke's Idea of the Obligations of Dr. Knox — His Confessions, 150

CHAPTER XXVI—

" The Complicity of the Doctors" — Numerous Disappearances — Dr.
Knox and David Paterson — Paterson Defends Himself — " The
Echo of Surgeon' s Square" — The Scapegoat, ... ... 155

CHAPTER XXVIL—

The Legal Position of Hare and his Wife — Gossip about Burke — -
Mrs. Hare and her Child — Constantine Burke — Anatomical In-
struction— Mrs. Docherty's Antecedents, ... ... ... 163

CHAPTER XXVIIL—

Burke's Spiritual Condition — The Erection of the Scaffold — The
Criminal's Last Hours — Scene at the Execution — Behaviour of
the People, ... ... ... ... ... ... 169

CHAPTER XXIX.—

Lecture on Burke's Body — Riot among the Students — Excitement in
Edinburgh — The Public Exhibition — Dissection of the Body of
the Murderer — Phrenological Developments of Burke and Hare, 174

CHAPTER XXX —

Hare's Position after the Trial — Warrant for his Commitment With-
drawn— Daft Jamie's Relatives seek to Prosecute — The Case
before the Sheriff and the Lords of Justiciary — Burke's Confes-
sion and the "Courcmt" — The Lord Advocate's Reasons for
Declining to Proceed against Hare— Pleadings for the Parties, 182

CHAPTER XXXI —

Hare's Case before the High Court of Justiciary— Speech by Mr.
Francis Jeffrey — Opinion of the Judges — A Divided Bench —
The Decision of the Court, ... ... ... ... 101

CHAPTER XXXII —

Popular Feeling against Hare — His Behaviour in Prison — With-
draival of the Warrant — His Liberation and Flight — Recognition
— Riot in Dumfries, and Narroio Escape of Hare— Over the
Border— Ballad Version of the Flight, ... ... ... 198.

CHAPTER XXXIII.—

The Confessions of Burke— The Interdicts against the "Edinburgh
Evening Courant " — Burke's Mote on the " Courant " Confession
— Issue of the Official Document — Publication of both Confessions, 206

X.

CONTENTS.

Page
CHAPTER XXXIV.—

Burke's Confession before the Sheriff— A Record of the Murders —
The Method — Complicity of the Women and the Doctors — Mur-
derers, but not Body-Snatchers, ... ... ... ... 211

CHAPTER XXXV.—

The " Courant " Confession of Burke — Details of the Crimes — Burke's

Account of Ms Life — The Criminals and Dr. Knox, ... ... 219

CHAPTER XXXVI.—

The Fate of Hare — Mrs. Hare in Glasgow — Rescue from the Mob —
Her Escape to Ireland, and Subsequent Career — Helen M'Dougal
— Burke's Wife in Ireland, ... ... ... ... 229

CHAPTER XXXVIL—

Dr. Knox's Connection with Burke and Hare — His Egotism — Knox's
Criticism of Liston and his Assistants — Hanging Knox's Effigy —
Popular Tumults — Demand that he should be put on Trial, ... 234

CHAPTER XXXVIII—

Inquiry into Dr. Knox's Relations with Bui-ke and Hare — Report of

Committee, ... ... ... ... .. ... 240

CHAPTER XXXIX.—

English Newspapers on the West Port Tragedies — The " Sun," and

its Idea of the Popular Feeling — Gray and his Wife, . . . 244

CHAPTER XL.—

The Relations of the Doctors and the Body-Snatchers — Need for a
Change in the Law — A Curious Case in London — Introduction
and Withdrawal of the Anatomy Bill, ... ... ... 219

CHAPTER XLI.—

"Burking" in London — Apprehension of Bishop, Williams, and
May — Their Trial, Confession, and Execution — Re-introduction
and Passing of the A natomy Act, ... ... ... ... J54

CHAPTER XLIL—

The Passing of the Anatomy Act — Its Terms and Provisions, ... 260

CHAPTER XLI1I—

Conclusion — Review of the Effects Produced by the Resurrectionist

Movement — The Houses in Portsburgh — The Popular Idea of
the Method of Burke and Hare — Origin of the Words "Burker"
and "Burking," ... ... ... ... ... 267

APPENDIX.—

The Case Against Torrence and Walt/ it , ... ... ... 215

Interview with JSurke in Prison, ... ... ... ... 218

Confession of Bishop and Williams, the London "Burkers," ... 281

Songs and Ballads, ... ... ... ... ... 288

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

Portrait of William Burke, - - - 21

Portrait of Helen M'Dougal, - - - 53

Interior of Burke's House, 85

Plan of Houses in Wester Portsburgh, - - 133

Portrait of William Hare, - - 173

Fac-Simile of Burke's Confession, - 229

Portrait of Mrs. Hare, - - - 272

KEY TO ILLUSTRATIONS

APPEARING OPPOSITE PAGES 85 AND 133 RESPECTIVELY.

References to View of the Interior of Burke's Room, as it appeared
upon the Day after the Trial.

1. The bed, or wooden frame, full of rags and filth.

1. Straw under it.

2. The straw under which the body of the old woman was hid.

3. A chair, on which Hare pretended that he sat during the murder.

4. Two wooden stools.

5. An iron pot, full of potatoes.

6. A cupboard, or wall-press.

7. A window, large for such a den, looking towards the Castle Hill.

8. Implements for shoe-making, old shoes, and rubbish.

A fac-simile of Burke's signature, carefully traced from his first declaration
of 3rd November, 1828.

References to Plan of Houses in Wester Portsburgh, and Places
adjacent, reduced from the Plan drawn by Mr. James Braid-
ivood, 22, Society, 20th November, 1828.

A. House possessed by William Burke.

B. Bed in Burke's house, filled with case straw, covered with a blanket.

C. The dark mark near C represents the appearance of blood on the floor

of Burke's house.

D. House possessed by Mrs. Connoway.

E. House possessed by Mrs. Law.

F F F F. The dotted line on which the four letters F are placed shows

the passage from the street and flat above, and corresponds with

the passage in the sunk floor.
G. Steps and door to back court.

H. Passage and stair leading from back court to Weaver's Close.
1. House possessed by William Hare.
K. Stable possessed by William Hare.
L. Shop possessed by Mr. Rymer.
M. The loose straw at the foot of the bed.
N. The dotted lines S S S S represent the direction of Paterson's house.

distant 208 feet from the point N.
OOO. Private passage to Burke's house.

I ' I'PP. Common passage to all the houses and cellars on the sunk flat.
R It R 11. The strong line marked with the letter R shows the different

entries to Burke's house.

THE HISTOKY

BURKE AND HAEE

INTRODUCTION.

The Resurrectionist Movement — Its Contributing Causes and

Results.

There is perhaps no portion of the social history of Scotland
which possesses greater interest of a variety of kinds than that
which relates to the rise, development, and ultimate downfall
of the resurrectionist movement. To many persons now living,
but who are nearing the verge of the unseen world, the interest
is in a sense contemporary, for their younger days were spent
under the shadow which so long overspread our country ; to
those of a later generation the traditions — perhaps the events
are scarcely of sufficiently remote occurrence to call the stories
of them traditions — of that dreadful time served to make their
young imaginations vivid, and render them more obedient to
behests of their parents or nurses. How many can remember
the time when they were frightened into good behaviour by the
threat that, if they did not do what they were told, " Burke
and Hafe" would take them away; or who, passing by a
churchyard on a dark night, with the light of the moon casting
a gruesome glamour over the tombstones, recalled to mind the
tales of the doings of the terrible resurrectionists. How many
children — some of them old men and women now — in their
play chanted the lines —

" Burke an' Hare
Fell doun the stair,
Wi' a body in a box,
Gaun to Doctor Knox " ;
B

14 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

who trembled, even during the day, when they passed the houses
occupied by these two men in the West Port of Edinburgh, re-
membering the fearful deeds that were enacted there. But in
addition to the extraordinary impression which the resurrec-
tionist movement made on the minds of the people of Scotland,
it must be admitted to have had one good result. In the face
of restrictive laws it gave an impetus to anatomical study,
which was in the first instance beneficial to humanity ; and in
the second to the medical schools of this country, notably to
the Edinburgh medical school, which attained great reputation
at the period when the majority of the subjects for dissection
were obtained in a manner revolting to the best feelings of
humanity.

This practice of violating sepulchres, which must ever be
regarded as one of the foulest blots on Scottish civilization,
may be said to have had several contributing causes. The
principal of these is admitted on all hands to have been the
discovery on the part of the medical faculty that the knowledge
they possessed of the human frame was founded rather upon
uncertain tradition than upon empirical science ; that they
were practically ignorant of anatomy ; and that if they hoped
to make any advance in the art of healing human diseases
they must devote more attention to a minute study of the dead
subject. Having arrived at this conclusion — and it is a wonder
they did not do so earlier — they were met by a difficulty
brought about by prejudice. The people of Scotland, even in
the most lawless ages, had an almost superstitious reverence
for the dead ; a reverence, indeed, which they did not always
pay to the living. In this they only showed their human
nature, and exhibited those instincts which seem to characterise
men of all countries and all times. The " something beyond "
the mortal sphere caused a peculiar regard for the dead ; their
belief in a resurrection was rather material, and it was thought
impossible by many that when the last trump should sound the
dead could rise if the bodies were cut up in dissection. The
bodies of the dead, therefore, were carefully entombed to await
the last call. The almost insurmountable difficulty, then,
that presented itself to the doctors when they awoke out of
their dream of ignorance, was where to obtain those subjects

SCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION. 1 5

upon which they could experiment, and gain that knowledge
of which they stood so much in need. The prejudice of the
people, it has been stated, was against the subjection of the
bodies of their deceased friends to such sacrilegious treatment,
even though they were willing, for the most part, to admit
that benefit was to be derived from it. As a consequence,
science and prejudice came into violent conflict, and the war
was carried on by the representatives of the former with a
determined persistency that led more or less directly to shock-
ing crime, but ultimately to a modus vivendi that was for the
interests of all concerned. These were the two main causes of
the traffic ; but there were others which, Avhile not bearing so
directly upon it, greatly aided its development. It received
considerable assistance from the remarkable superstitions long
attached to graveyards, the stories of ghosts and of wandering-
spirits

" Doom'd for a certain time to walk the night " ;

of spiteful goblins and playful " brownies, " or of the
uncanny dabblers in the forbidden art, whose dominion
over the world was only during the midnight hour. It
was then that the witches met in solemn conclave with
the "father of lies" to plot against the peace of humanity,
and that the denizens of the nether hell breathed the
free air of earth, away from the choking fumes of the in-
fernal brimstone. Such were the beliefs, and it therefore
behoved every well-conducted person to keep the house after
night-fall ; and when any ventured abroad during the magic
hours the working of superstition on minds either naturally
credulous, or muddled with deep potations at the village
tavern, or both, was sine to produce all kinds of apparitions,
more or less fearful. Through this means the men employed
by the surgeons to obtain bodies for dissection, — men, gener-
ally, whose utter absence of moral principle gave them the
power to discredit the fears of their more conscientious
countrymen, — were enabled for a time to go about their dread-
ful work with great immunity. Gradually the people threw off
their superstitious feelings about church-yards, and considering

16 HISTORY OF BURKE AM) HARE.

themselves safe from unhallowed influences by the presence
of numbers, they took guard in the protection of the bodies i if
then- friends. Many skirmishes ensued between these watchers
and the resurrectionists, and these have given to Scottish litera-
ture a large collection of anecdotes of rather a unique descrip-
tion. Then the large iron cages, or railings, placed over
graves, give our churchyards an aspect peculiarly their own.
All these matters have made an impression on the Scottish
mind which it will yet take generations to efface.

There is, however, another aspect in which the resurrectionist
movement can be regarded. It gave rise to a series of the
most shocking crimes, committed in Edinburgh by Burke and
Hare and their female confederates; and the discovery of
these, again, brought about a trial occupying a most prominent
and curious place in the annals of Scottish criminal law. In
that trial legal points of the utmost importance were involved;
and in connection with it the most eminent lawyers of the
time were engaged. Were it only because of the great trial
with which the movement may be said to have terminated it is
deservingthe attention of all interested in the history of Scotland.
Further than that, it brought about the passing of a measure
which relieved the medical faculty of the restrictions to
inquiry and investigation under which they had so long-
laboured, and tended towards the development of a science
in which humanity is too deeply interested to neglect.

CHAPTER I.

Early Prohibition of Dissection — Shakespeare's Tomb — The Pro-
gress of Anatomy — Curious Incident in Edinburgh — An Old

Broadside Ballad on Body-Snatching — Tumults in Edin-
burgh and Glasgow — Female " Barkers."

At the first blush one is apt to think that the resurrectionist
movement, culminating in Scotland by the apprehension of
Burke and Hare, and the execution of the former, is of modern

REVIVAL OF LEARNING. 17

growth. That this, however, is not the case, is shown by a little
investigation into the records of the past. There are numerous
instances, in all civilised countries, if not of active body-
snatching, at least of prohibitions of it or anything akin. The
early Christians put epitaphs on the tombs of deceased relatives
calling the curses of heaven upon the sacrilegious hand that
dared disturb the ashes of the dead; Pope Boniface VIII.
issued a bull condemning even the profane perforation of a
skeleton ; and who knows but the well-known inscription on
Shakespeare's tomb, written long before the great poet had
become the object of a world's regard, may have been dictated
by a similar feeling : —

' Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear
To dig the dust inclosed here :
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones."

Then, again, the desire expressed by the dying Bruce that his
heart should be cut from his body and taken to Jerusalem by
the faithful Douglas, called forth the malediction of Pope
Benedict XII. Mahomet, .also, in the pages of the Koran, has
forbidden dissection. All these instances show a most
pronounced antipathy to the mutilation of the human body after
death ; and argue two things, first, that it was instinctive, and
not a trait in the character of any particular nation or type of
civilization; and, second, that unless a molesting cause existed,
there would have been no need for the prohibitions. But the
advancement of science was not to be bound down by this
superstitious reverence for the dead ; and, ultimately, in the
sixteenth century, with the revival of learning, the bodies of
criminals and unclaimed paupers were granted to surgeons for
dissection, but then so sparingly that little progress in anatomy
was made. The ignorance of the functions of the human body
was so great, that the most haphazard methods of cure were
adopted. If a sick person recovered it was more by chance
than science, and if he died there is little doubt that death was
hastened by the ignorance of his so called medical attendant,

18 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

who clung tenaciously to the traditions of his profession, be the
result kill or cure.

The first indication of anything approaching body-snatching
in Scotland is to be found in the Fountainhall MS., in the
Library of the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh. As the
entry is of more than ordinary interest it may be quoted in
extenso : —

"6Februarii 1678. — Four ^Egyptians [Gypsies] of the name of Shaw
were this day hanged, the father and three sones, for a slaughter committed
by them upon one of the Faws (another tribe of these vagabonds, worse
than the mendicantes validi mentioned in the code), in a drunken squabble,
made by them in a randevouz they had at Eomanno, with a designe to
unite their forces against the clans of Browns and Bailzies, that were come
over from Ireland to chasse them back again, that they might not share in
their labors ; but in their ramble they discorded, and committed the fore-
said murder, and sundry of them of both sydes ware apprehended. . . .
Thir four being throwen all unto on hole digged for them in the Grayfrier
Church Yeard, with their clothes on ; the nixt morning the youngest of
the three sones (who was scarce sixteen) his body was missed, and found to
be away. Some thought he being last thrown over the ladder, and first
cut downe, and in full vigor, and no great heap of earth, and lying upper-
most, and not so ready to smother, the fermentation of the blood, and heat
of the bodies under him, might cause him rebound and throw off the earth,
and recover ere the morning, and steall away ; which, if true, he deserves
his life, tho' the magistrats, or their bourreau, deserved a reprimande ;
but others, more probably, thought his body was stolen away by some
chirurgeon, or his servant, to make ane anatomicale dissection on ; which
was criminal to take at their owne hand, since the magistrats would not
have refused it ; and I hear the chimrgeons affirme, the towne of Edinburgh
is obliged to give them a malefactor's body once a year for that effect, and
its usual in Paris, Leyden, and other places to give them ; also some of
them that dyes in hospitals."

The obligation mentioned in this quotation as lying on the
city of Edinburgh, was made under the charter granted by
the Town Council to the Surgeons in 1505. This grant of one
body in the year would, however, be of little value, and the
inquiring spirit that was abroad gradually came to feel that
the privilege was little better than none at all. In the last
decade of the seventeenth century strenuous efforts were being
made to establish a school of anatomy in the city. Alexander
Monteith, one of the most eminent physicians of the time, made

THE GENESIS OF BODY-SNATCHING. 19

the following proposal to the Town Council : — " We seek the
liberty of opening the bodies of poor persons who die in Paul's
Workhouse, and have none to bury them ; and also agree to
wait on these poor for nothing, and bury them at our own
charge, which now the town does. I do propose if this be
granted to make better improvements in anatomy in a short
time than have been made by Leyden in thirty years."
Monteith had studied at Leyden. The Edinburgh Faculty
were alarmed at the proposal, because they felt that, if it were
approved, a privilege which they had hitherto enjoyed as a
corporation would be given in a much more extended form to
one of their number ; and they accordingly put forward an
application in which they sought " the bodies of foundlings
who dye betwixt the tyme that they are weaned and their
being put to schools and trades ; also the dead bodies of such
as are dead-born, which are exposed ; also, suicides, a violent
death, and have none to own them ; likewise the bodies of
such as are put to death by sentence of the magistrates."
Both applications were granted, under condition, however,
that the dissections were only to be made during the winter,
and that the intestines were to be buried within forty-eight
huurs after the body was obtained, and the rest within ten
days. Such restrictions were unworthy the enlightened policy
the authorities were pursuing ; and through the very act by
which they fed the spirit of inquiry they created an increased
appetite for anatomical research, which quickly went beyond
foolish conditions, and ultimately led many to adopt the
practice of body-snatching. Even yet the supply of bodies
was unequal to the demand, and the doctors' appren-
tices resorted to robbing Greyfriars Churchyard, then
the chief place of burial in the city. Their work was done
very stealthily, for no one except the most hardy would in that
age venture near a churchyard after the " gloaming." The
matter at last became known, and the College of Surgeons, on
the 20th May, 1711, drew up a minute protesting against the
practice, saying that " of late there has been a violation ot
sepulchres in the Greyfriars' Churchyard by some who most
unchristianly has been stealing, or at least attempting to
carry away, the bodies of the dead out of their graves," Thin

20 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

discovery caused a terrible sensation in the city, and it spread
throughout Scotland. A broadside on the event was printed
and hawked about the country. As it marks an important step
in the progress of the movement, the quotation of such a
lengthy document will be excused : —

An Account of the most horrid and unchristian actions of the
Gravemakers in Edinburgh, their raising and selling of the
Dead, abhorred by Turks and Heathens, found out in this
present year 1711, in the Month of May.

Dear Friends and Christians, what shall I say,

Behold, the dawning of the latter day

Into this place most bright casts forth its rays —

The like was never seen by mortal eyes.

Methink I hear the latter trumpet sound,

When emptie graves into this place is found,

Of young and old, which is most strange to me,

What kind of resurrection this may be.

I thought God had reserved this power alone

Unto himsell, till he erect'd his throne

Into the clouds, with his attendance by,

That he might judge the world in equity.

But now I see the contrar in our land,

Since men do raise the dead at their own hand ;

And for to please their curiosities

They them dissect and make anatomies.

Such monsters of mankind was never known,

As in this place is daily to be shown ;

Who, for to gain some worldly vanities,

Are guilty of such immoralities.

The Turks and Pagans would amazed stand,

To see such crimes committed in a land,

As among Christians is to be found,

Especially in Edinburgh doth abound.

There is a rank of persons in this place

That strive to run with speed a wicked race :

They trample rudely on God's holy law,

And of his judgment they stand not in aw ;

For those that are laid in their graves at rest,

This wicked crew they do their dust molest.

Dead corps out of their graves they steal at night,

Because such actions do abhore the light.

J-

Wi lli am Burke.

From a Sketch taken in Court

AN OLD BROADSIDE BALLAD. 21

The heathen nations, for ought I read,

Was never found for to molest the dead,

That were their kindred, and among them born ;

But we to nations all may be a scorn :

In that such crimes is perpetrated here,

As both the living and the dead do deer.

These monsters of mankind, who made the graves,

To the chirurgeons became hyred slaves ;

They rais'd the dead again out of the dust,

And sold to them, to satisfy their lust.

As I'm inform'd, the chirurgions did give

Fourty shillings for each one they receive :

And they their flesh and bones assunder part,

Which wounds their living friends unto the heart ;

To think that any of their kindred born

Unto the nations, should become a scorn ;

For they their bones to other nations send —

As I'm informed, this is their very end.

How may now all the nations us deride,

And call us poor, since that we sell our dead,

Some coyn to get, the living to maintain ;

The like in any nation ne're was seen.

The godly sowe their dust on such cold ground

As do our kirks and chappels compass round,

That they may get their dust in such a field,

So well refin'd, that it to them may yield

A crop most plentiful at the last day,

When they from dust must haste and come away.

But now their dust they take out of the ground,

So that nothing but empty graves is found.

I'm very sorry that such things should be

Practis'd by folk professing piety ;

And the religion should be wounded so

By any who under a name do go.

But still I see profession is no grace,

As does appear into the present case ;

But more especially at the last day,

When all the world shall be put in a fray,

When stars shall fall out of the Armament,

And sun and moon out of their orbs be rent,

And all this earth into a flame shall burn,

And eliments like liquid mettals run,

And all mankind before God's throne shall come,

That He may justice do unto each one —

Then shall the separation be made

Between them that are good and that are bad :

22 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

The good receiv'd to everlasting glore,

The bad cast down to hell for evermore.

All who to wrong the saints do still desire,

Dead or alive, shall have hell for their hyre,

Unless with speed they do repent of sin,

And do another course of life begin.

But I shall say no more upon this head,

Hoping henceforth they will not raise the dead,

But suffer them to rest into their beds,

And won their bread by following other trades."

Neither such a production as this, nor the mild protest from
the College of Surgeons, was likely to put a stop to a practice
which was being found useful on the one side and profitable on
the other. Dr. Alexander Monro, " primus," the great anato-
mist, became Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University of
Edinburgh, and his fame brought around him a large number
of students. These seem to have been making depredations
on the churchyards in the city and neighbourhood, and the
College of Surgeons again took action, this time by ordering,
on the 24th January, 1721, the insertion of a clause in the
indenture of apprentices binding them not to engage in the
violation of graves. Four years later, however — in April,
1725 — the practice had grown to such an extent as to cause
popular commotion. The people rose in angry protest against
the violation of the sepulchres of their dead, and before the
authorities could quell the disturbance the windows of Dr.
Monro's anatomical establishment were destroyed, while the
inmates stood in imminent danger of their lives.

Notwithstanding the extreme views the people of Scotland
held against the resurrectionists, as the body-snatchers were
named, their horrible trade continued to prosper, and it re-
ceived many recruits. The surgeons, even, gradually dropped
into the business ; perhaps not themselves engaging in it per-
sonally, but at least sanctioning and approving of it by the pur-
chase of the bodies offered them. But besides these, a class of
men became resurrectionists as a matter of trade, and no church-
yard in the country was safe from their depredations. The law
was comparatively powerless, or took refuge under the pretext
of the necessity for subjects being procured, but it took no

RESURRECTIONIST RIOTS. 23

steps to produce a remedy. The people, therefore, took matters
into their own hands, and were not slow in punishing any one
suspected of body-snatching, as the following story from the
Scot/ Magazine for 1742 will show. On the 9th of March of
that year the body of a man, Alexander Baxter by name, which
had been interred in the West Kirkyard of Edinburgh, was
found in a house adjoining the shop of a surgeon named Martin
Eccles, in that city. The popular indignation had been raised
by the suspicion, amounting almost to certainty, that the
churchyards were being desecrated, and it needed very little
to cause a tumult. The Portsburgh drum was seized, and beat
through the Cowgate. The populace demolished the contents
of Eccles' shop, smashed the windows of the houses of other
surgeons, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the
authorities were able to quell the riot. Eccles and some of his
apprentices were brought before the court charged with the
offence of being accessory to the lifting of bodies, but the
charge was abandoned for want of proof. Later, on the 18th of
the same month, the house of a gardener named Peter Richard-
son, in Inveresk, was burned by the people on the suspicion
that he had some hand in pilfering the village churchyard of
its dead ; and on the 26th, a chairmaster and carrier were
banished the city of Edinburgh for being in possession of a
street-chair containing a body, and the chair itself was burned
by the public executioner under the order of the magistrates.
In the July following, under the sentence of the High Court
of Justiciary, John Samuel, a gardener in Grangegateside, was
publicly whipped through Edinburgh for having been detected
at the Potterrow-port, in the April preceding, selling the
corpse of a child which had been buried in Pentland Kirkyard
a week before. He was also banished from Scotland for seven
years.

In Glasgow, about the same period, a riot of a serious nature
occurred. On the 6th of March, 174^, according to the New-
castle Magazine, a disturbance arose in the city on a suspicion
in the minds of the citizens that the students in the College had
been raising bodies from one of the city graveyards. The
windows of the University buildings in the High Street were
broken, a large number of people sustained severe injury, and

24 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

had not the appearance of the military intimidated the mob,
the tumult might have assumed much more serious pro-
portions.

But it is curious to notice, in view of the main subject of
this work — the history of Burke and Hare — that the crimes of
which these men were guilty had a prototype in one commit-
ted in Edinburgh between seventy and eighty years before
they entered upon their murdering career. In 1752, two
^ women, Helen Torrence and Jean Waldie, were executed for
the murder of a boy of eight or nine years of age. They would
appear to have been nurses, and they promised to some doctors'
apprentices that they would supply them with a subject, pro-
posing to do so by the abstraction of a body from a coffin,
when they were sitting at the death-Avatch, for it was then the
custom — and still is, in some parts of the country — never to
leave a corpse in a room alone. They were either unsuccess-
ful in accomplishing this, or were anxious speedily to redeem
their promise and obtain their reward, for they took even more
reprehensible means to obtain a body. They met the boy and
his mother in the street, and invited the woman into a neigh-
bouring house to drink with them. She consented, and while
she was sipping her liquor one of them went out to look for
the boy. He was discovered leaning over a window, and the
woman carried him into her own house, where she suffocated
him among the bed-clothes. The mother afterwards searched
for her son, but could not find him. Meantime, Torrence and
Waldie took the corpse to the surgeon's rooms, where they
were offered two shillings for it, the one who had carried it
receiving sixpence additional. They demurred at the lowness
of the price, but the students would only increase it by ten-
pence, which was given them for a " dram." The facts of the
case at length came to light, and the women suffered on the
scaffold for their barbarous crime.

MEDICAL STUDENTS AT WORK. 25

CHAPTER II.
Tales of the Resurrectionists — The Students at Work.

What has been related in the preceding chapter are some of
the early escapades of the resurrectionists. Throughout the ■
latter part of the eighteenth century, these worthies, to call <
them by a mild name, were the scourge of Scotland, and not-
withstanding the utmost vigilance of the people graves were
ransacked of their contents and bodies sold to the doctors.
But it was in the first three decades of the present century u
that the horrible trade was in its most flourishing condition.
Many tales of the adventures of resurrectionists are told — some
of them serious as the subject warrants, others of them amus-
ing in spite of the subject. In this chapter there has been
gathered together a number of anecdotes which will illustrate
the part the students themselves took in the movement.

Perhaps the Edinburgh district is richer in the tales of the
resurrectionists than any other in Scotland. This was only to
be expected, for the reputation of the Edinburgh medical
school had gone over the world, bringing to it students from
all parts. The desire for fame caused a professional rivalry
among the teachers, which was taken up by their respective
pupils, who were not slow to vie with each other in carrying
to the furthest extent the desire to obtain human bodies for
dissection. In this they were assisted by the " professional "
body-snatchers, and by the beadles and grave-diggers of the
churchyards in the vicinity of Edinburgh. Many excursions of
this kind were made. Was a body needed % Then several of
them joined together, searched out a large bag for the convey-
ance of the body, and a spade, and their equipment was
complete. They had no fear of the watchers who might be
set at the churchyard they intended visiting. They trusted
to their mother-wit to carry them through any difficulty. At
the very worst they could only drop then spoil, and show a
clean pair of heels. But here are some of the tales. It would
be useless to make any efforl to put them in a chronological
order. They are stones that have found their way to the

26 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

public through a variety of sources, without dates, but it is
sufficient to know that the events occurred during the present
century.

A middle-aged man named Henderson, residing in Leven,
Fifeshire, died of fever, and was interred in a neighbouring
churchyard. Two young men attending the University of
Edinburgh heard of the death, and about a week after the
funeral they successfully raised the body from what had
been fondly supposed by the relatives of the deceased, to
be its last resting-place. While the men were carrying it
away, one of them was overtaken by sickness, rendering it
necessary that they should seek refuge in an inn at the out-
skirts of the town. Into this place they carried their ghastly
burden, carefully put up in a sack. Curiously enough, the
public house formerly belonged to the very man whose
corpse they had stolen, and it was then being kept by
the widow, for the support of herself and her daughter.
The visitors were ushered into a room, in which was a
closed-in bed, with wooden door, such as may yet be seen
in country houses, and the drink they ordered was taken to
them there. No sooner were they fairly begun to discuss the
liquor, than the town's officers roused the landlady, and asked
if some thieves who had broken into a neighbouring house had
taken refuge on her premises. The men, for some unexplained
reason, had by this time taken the body out of the sack, and
when they heard the noise made by the constables they threw
it inside the bed, and themselves made a hasty retreat by the
window. The officers went in chase, but the resurrectionists
were too nimble for them and made good their escape. A
search was afterwards made in the room occupied by the men,
but only the empty bag was found. The widow, however,
after the tumult was over, went to the same room to retire for
the night, when to her great horror, she found her dead hus-
band lying in the bed which she herself proposed to enter,
clad in the grave-clothes she had made with her own hands.

Another story of a somewhat similar adventure is told of
Liston, the eminent surgeon, but at this time a student. He
had been informed by a country practitioner in one of the
villages on the Firth of Forth of the death of a man by a

L1ST0N AS A RESURRECTIONIST. 27

disease whose ravages on his frame should afford some impor-
tant information to searchers after medical truth. Accordingly,
Liston, with one of his companions, dressed themselves as
sailors, and set out on board a small boat for the village.
There they were joined by the doctor's apprentice, who was to
act as guide. They quickly lifted the body, and placed it in
the sack they had brought with them for that purpose.
Liston hoisted the ghastly burden on his shoulder, and carried
it some distance in the direction of the shore, where their boat
was lying. They considered it inadvisable to return to Edin-
burgh that night, assuming, probably, that if they managed
their prize home in the course of the following day their
adventure would be more likely to have a satisfactory termina-
tion. Accordingly, they placed the bag and its contents
behind a thick hedge, where they proposed it should remain
until next morning, when they would convey it to the boat.
This done, they proceeded to look after their creature comforts,
and made their way to a roadside inn. Here they soon made
themselves at home. Sitting cosily by the kitchen fire, they
gave an order for a supply of good liquor. Under its warming
influence they forgot the shocking work in which they had
had so recently been engaged, and they amused themselves by
flirting with the servant girl, a pretty country damsel. Shortly
after midnight, when the companions were proposing to retire
to rest, they were alarmed by a drunken shout from the outside,
" Ship, ahoy!" The girl explained that the noise came from
her sailor brother, Bill, who, she feared, had been drinking.
When the door was opened Bill staggered in under the burden
of the sack Liston and his comrades had put behind the hedge,
and heaving it on the floor he exclaimed — " There, if it ain't
something good, rot them chaps there who stole it." He said he
got the "hulk" behind a hedge when he was lying there
trying to wear about upon another tack, and remarking,
" Let's see what's the cargo," he proceeded to cut the bag
open. The sight of the contents made the girl fly from the
house screaming, and she was quickly followed by her brother.
The two young men, who had witnessed all under the terror
of discovery, seeing a way of escape, took a hasty resolution.
There was no safety for them if the}* remained in the inn, and

28 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

the turn matters had taken showed them that they must make
off as quickly as possible with their booty. Liston again put
the dead man on his shoulders and carried him to the boat,
leaving the tavern without paying the reckoning. They
reached Edinburgh without further adventure, and no doubt
they would find some satisfaction in dissecting a subject which
was not only interesting in itself but which had also given them
so much trouble.

This was not, however, the only exploit of the kind
in which Liston was engaged. On another occasion
he made an excursion in his boat to Rosyth, near
Limekilns, on the Fifeshire shore. The church-yard here,
on account of its remoteness from human habitation,
and its situation on the side of the Firth, had become
a favourite haunt for the resurrectionists. The reason
for this expedition was that Liston had seen in a news-
paper an account of the drowning and funeral of a sailor
belonging to Limekilns. The newspaper also informed its
readers, what was the most affecting part of the story, that the
young man had been engaged to be married to a girl residing
in the district, and that she had become insane through the
violence of her grief. This sad calamity had no effect on the
young student. He saw in the announcement, melancholy
as it was, only the way to obtain a fresh subject, and he
took measures to carry the project that had taken possession of
his mind into execution. He soon got together a band of
kindred spirits, to whom he explained his intentions. The party
in the boat arrived at the scene of their intended operations at
nightfall, and for a few hours they kept in hiding, until it
would be more convenient to begin. As they were about to
land they noticed a young woman sitting on a tombstone in
the churchyard. Of course they knew nothing of her : but her
heart-rending sobs indicated that she was lamenting the death
of some loved one whose body had been consigned to its kin-
dred earth. This scene delayed their advance, but it was
without effect in turning them from their purpose. At last the
woman went away, and the students made towards the place
where she had been sitting. They found she had strewn the
grave with flowers — " Rosemary, that's for remembrance ;

tLESUftRECTlONHSTS l.\ hi hi:. 29

pansies, that's for thoughts." Setting to work they quickly

raised the body underneath, and speedily carried it to their
boat. The party, one of them wearing in his coat a flower he
had picked from the grave, then pushed off; but before they
were well away from the scene they again observed the woman
running backward and forward in the churchyard with her
arms waving, apparently acting under the most intense excite-
ment. Her agonizing cries quickened the use of the oars, and
hurriedly they left the heart-rending scene behind them.

Rosyth, it has been said, was a favourite haunt of the
resurrectionists, but gradually the people of Limekilns awoke
to the knowledge that their Golgotha was being desecrated.
A party of students from Edinburgh once made a descent upon
the place and narrowly escaped detection. They heard of the
burial of a woman who had died in child-bed, and they rowed
over the Firth to raise her body. When they got to the
grave-yard the weather was wild and stormy ; as Burns puts
it:—

" The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last ;
The rattling showers rose in the blast. . .
That night, a child might understand
The Deil had business on his hand."

After twenty minutes' work the students had "the tall beauty,"
as they had named her, again above the ground, and carried
her to the dyke, upon which they laid her until they had
climbed over themselves. No sooner had they done this than
the plaintive howl of a dog was heard. This incident introduced
something approaching a panic among them, and the}7 sought
comfort in the contents of their pocket flasks. But their terror
was increased by the appearance of a lighted lantern moving
about among the tombs. They made for their boat, taking
cut', however, to carry the corpse with them. The dead
w< >man's long golden hair had become entangled among the
stones, and the rough manner in which they dragged the body
away left some of the locks, with a portion of the scalp, on the
side of the dyke. They immediately put off", and afterwards
saw the lantern stop at the point of the dyke where the body
had lain. It was currently reported that the bearer of the

c

30 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

lantern was the woman's husband, and that lie recognised the
hair entangled on the wall.

The depredators were not, however, always successful in
carrying off their spoil. Three students attending the class of
Monro, tertius, hired a gig, and paid a visit to a churchyard to
the south of Edinburgh, somewhere about the vicinity either
of Gilmerton or Liberton. When they had arrived at the place
on which they intended to operate, two of them climbed the
boundary wall, leaving the others in, charge of the conveyance.
They soon brought to the surface the recently-buried body of
a woman, the wife of a well-to-do farmer in the neighbourhood.
Unfortunately for themselves, these young men were new to
the business, and they had omitted to take Avith them a very
necessary instrument of the resurrectionist — a sack. They saw
their mistake when it could not be remedied, and they made up
their minds to carry the body in the dead-clothes. One of the
students had it hoisted on his back, but as he was going along
his grasp upon the shroud began to give way, and the feet of
the corpse slipped down until they were touching the ground.
As the carrier staggered under his burden, the feet of the dead
woman came against the ground every now and then, imped-
ing his progress, and causing such a peculiar movement that
the youth thought the woman was leaping behind him. The
idea struck him that she was alive, and with an oath he
flung the body from him on the road, and made for the gig.
His companions, as frightened as himself, rushed after him, and
the three worthies drove furiously back to the city. Early
next morning the farmer was walking along the Edinburgh
road, and came upon a white-robed figure stretched out on the
footpath. He found it was the body of his wife, clad in her
dead-clothes, with eyes wide open and glazed. His first
thought was that she had come back to life, and he tried to
restore her, though he knew she had been entombed for three
days. The task was futile, and he was only restored to reason
by the appearance of the Penicuik carrier, who at once divined
the cause of the body being where it was found. The woman
was buried privately flu; next night, and an effort avuk made t:>
hush up the story.

But while the students of the metropolis were active in the

REMARKABLE CONSIGNMENT IN GLASGOW. ;;i

body-snatching work, those of Glasgow were following hard
behind them. About the year 1813, Mr. Granville Sharp
Pattison, a clever anatomist belonging to the western city,
drew around him a band of students who committed many a
depredation in the graveyards in and near Glasgow. They
had rooms in College Street, in the vicinity of the old Univer-
sity, and there they conducted in secret the dissection of the
bodies they were fortunate enough to get into their possession.
They kept up a system of espionage over the doctors in the
city, learning all the details of any peculiar cases they might
be attending; and in the event of death there was little
scruple about raising a body from which they thought they
were likely to gain information. When any expedition was on
foot, those who had been chosen to take part in it were care-
ful to show themselves during the evening in some of the most
frequented taverns, in order to throw off suspicion, and then
they set about their unhallowed work. These men, of course,
wrought in secret, but the suspicion gradually grew on the
community that the graves of their friends were being violated.
At last the suspicion deepened into a certainty, greater vigil-
ance was observed by the city watch in the hope of laying-
hands upon the offenders, and many people took the precaution
of erecting elaborate iron cages over the graves to give greater
security against their desecration.

However, an event occurred in Glasgow which caused an

extraordinary sensation. A vessel arrived at the Broomielaw

with a consignment of what was supposed to be cotton or linen

rags. The cargo, done up neatly in bags, was addressed to a

huckster in Jamaica Street, but he refused to take delivery, as

between £50 and £60 were charged for freight. He said no

- could afford such freightage, and he sent the paek-

8, without examination, back to the Broomielaw. There

they lay in a shed for some time, until the dreadful

ch proceeding from them caused the city officers to

open them. To the horror of the searchers, there were found

in them the putrid bodies of men, women, and children.

The authorities ordered the remains to be buried in

Anderston Churchyard, and this was done. The explanation

of the matter was, that owing to the scarcity of subjects for

32 IIISTOR Y OF BURKE AND IL \ RE.

the anatomy classes of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the bodies had
been sent from Ireland by some students there ; and the price
of each corpse varied from ten to twenty guineas each. As
ill-luck would have it, the Jamaica Street huckster did not
receive the note advising him of the valuable nature of the
cargo consigned to him until it was too late, " otherwise," says
old Peter Mackenzie, who tells the story, "there can be little
doubt he would have paid the freight money demanded, and
pocketed a goodly commission for the traffic entrusted to his
care!"

Although this discovery still further alarmed the community,
and showed fully the dreadful nature of the conspiracy which
those connected with the medical faculty seemed to have
entered into against the peace of the country, all the efforts of
watchers and others were unable to foil the ingenuity of the
students and their accomplices. Notwithstanding the use of
trap-guns placed in the churchyards, bodies were stolen, and
the trade flourished. There is, however, one instance recorded
in which a student was killed by stumbling o \ er one of these
guns. He and two companions were in search of a body in
the Blackfriars Churchyard, Glasgow. When he dropped
dead, his fellow-students were horrified, but the fear of dis-
covery forced them to adopt an extraordinary method of taking
away the body of their unfortunate friend. They carried it to
the outside of the churchyard, and placed it on its feet against
the wall ; then they each tied a leg to one of theirs, and taking
the corpse by the arms, they passed slowly alocg the street to-
wards their lodgings, shouting and singing as if they were three
roysterers returning from a carouse. Once safely home, the
dead man was put to bed, and next morning the story was
circulated that during the night the poor fellow had committed
suicide. The fatal adventure was thus kept quiet, and it was
not until many years afterwards that the true version of the
night's proceedings was made known.

Two other Glasgow students, having 'heard of an inter-
esting case at the Mearns, a few miles to the south of the
city, determined to obtain possession of the body, in order to
find out what it was that had baffled the skill of two such
eminent practitioners as Drs. Cleghorn and Balmanno. Knowing

MEDICAL MEN AS RESURRECTIONISTS. 33

that their expedition might be spoiled by the numerous
watchers, they took the most ample precautions against
discovery. They purchased a suit of old clothing in the Salt-
market, and with it they drove out to the Mearns. The body
they desired was easily raised, and was carefully dressed in
the suit they had provided. Then they placed it between
them in the gig, and returned gaily towards the city. The
keeper of the Gorbals toll-bar, through Avhich they had to
pass, was a suspicious old man, and they thought they might
have some difficulty with him. When they came to the bar
they halted promptly, and while one was producing the toll-
money the other was attending with the utmost solicitude to
what he called his " sick friend," who was, of course, none
other than the dead man. The tollman, noticing his efforts,
looked at the "sick" friend, and remarked sympathetically,
" 0 ! puir auld bodie, he looks unco ill in the face ; drive can-
nily hame, lads, drive cannily." Once over the bridge, the
students lost no time in conveying to their den the prize they
had so ingeniously secured. This device, it would seem, was
practised with success in other places, for it is said that in
Dundee two men conveyed a body, dressed in the clothes of
the living, arm in arm, along the streets, and afterwards sent
it on to its destination, presumably Edinburgh.

CHAPTER III.

Tales of the Resurrectionists — What the Doctors did.

A RECORD of the share which the doctors themselves took in
the resurrectionist work has not been well preserved. Per-
sonally they do not seem to have done much, leaving the
active operations in the hands of the students and body-
snatchers. There was a suspicion, however, that they were
not above lending a helping hand in a case of necessity, when
they hoped to obtain a special prize. At least they connived
at the practice, and undoubtedly benefited by it, It has been

34 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

more than hinted, that in many outlying places, far from the
University centres, a good deal of business of this kind was
done by medical men who had with them apprentices
whom they had engaged to teach the art and science of
medicine, but who found it impossible to do so unless they
had, by some means or other, the requisite anatomical sub-
jects. In these country places the churchyards were watched
by the villagers in turn, there being a voluntary assess-
ment on the inhabitants for peats to make the fires
by which the guardians of the dead sat and smoked their
pipes and sipped their whisky during the long dark nights. In
a village in the north of Scotland it is a tradition that a medical
man set out with his students one night to lift a body which
they considered would be of value to them. The watchers,
however, surprised them, and the doctor Avas mortally wounded
by a shot fired by one of the defenders. His companions fled,
carrying the injured man with them, and a few days after-
wards it was announced that he had died by his own hand.

Others, again, laid the churchyards of Ireland under contribu-
tion, as a story related by Leighton amply testifies. A young
Irish doctor, known under the name of the " Captain," resided
in Surgeon's Square, Edinburgh, and many a barrel containing
the bodies of his compatriots arrived by boat at Leith
addressed to him, and he disposed of them to his friends. He
was in the habit of telling how, when at home, he relieved his
want of a "subject" in a rather clever Avay. He had been
attending a young man who ultimately died and was honestly
interred. It struck him that the body was precisely Avhat he
wanted, and he drove off to the churchyard for it. On the way
back he met the lad's mother, Avho asked him if it Avere " all
right Avid the grave ov poor Pat?" The "Captain" assured
her it was, and drove her home in his gig, A\rhich also contained
her son's corpse. " I dhrove," said he, " the good lady home
agin without breaking a bone of hir body, and Pat neA^er said
;i word." Once he addressed the body of a Avoman, lying on
one of the Edinburgh dissecting tables, — "Ah, Misthress
O'Neil ! did I spare the Avhisky on you, which you loved so
well, — and didn't you lave me a purty little sum to keep the
resurrectionists away from you, — and didn't I take care of you

PILLAGE OF GLASGOW GRAVEYARDS. 85

myself? and by J — s you are there, and don't thank me for
coming* over to see you."

A somewhat amusing conflict took place between the
students of Drs. Cullen and Monro for the possession of the
body of Sandy M'Nab, a lame street singer, well known in
Edinburgh. He died in the Infirmary, and Cullen and several
others placed the body in a box, in order to raise it by a rope
to their rooms above. Some of the students under Monro,
impelled by a similar motive, were searching for the body, and
they came upon it in the box. They shifted it to the other
side of the yard, intending to lift it over the wall, but they
were observed and attacked by their rivals. A great fight
followed, until at last the attacking party had to retire, leaving
victory — which meant possession of Sandy's body — with the
( iriginal body-snatchers.

The doings of the students of Glasgow has already been
mentioned, and the influence which Dr. Pattison had in making
body-lifting popular among them has at least been indicated.
Matters in that city were at last brought to a crisis, and the
doings of this gentleman and his colleagues came to light.
The Ramshom and Cathedral churchyards were being robbed
of their silent inhabitants almost nightly, and the greatest
excitement prevailed in consequence throughout the city.
Two deaths from what were considered peculiar causes oc-
curred in Glasgow about the beginning of December, 1813.
On the afternoon of the 13th of that month both the bodies
were interred, one in the Ramshorn and the other in the
( 'athedral churchyard. The students accordingly made pre-
parations for raising both of them. The expedition to the
Cathedral was highly successful, for in addition to the corpse
they went specially for, the young anatomists put another in
their sacks, and made a safe journey to their rooms. In the
Ramshorn yard, however, the work had been gone about
rather noisily, and the attention of a policeman stationed in
the vicinity having been attracted, he raised the alarm. The
students escaped, but they were seen to disappear in the
neighbourhood of the College. The search was stopped for
the night, but next day the news spread throughout the whole
community. Intense alarm prevailed, and the Chief Constable,

36 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

James Mitchell, was besieged with inquiries. Many persons
visited the graves of their friends to see if all were right. The
brother, or some other relative, of the woman — Mrs. M'Alister
by name — who had been lifted from the Ramshorn, quickly
found that her body had been stolen. No sooner was this dis-
covery made than a large crowd rushed to the College, and
gave vent to their feelings by breaking the windows of the
house occupied by Dr. James Jeffrey, then professor of anatomy
in the University. The police had to be called to suppress the
tumult. At last the magistrates, forced to action by the
strength of public opinion, issued a search-warrant empower-
ing the officers of the law to enter, by force, if necessary, every
suspected place, in order to find the body of Mrs. M'Alister, or
of any other person. The officers were accompanied by Mr.
James Alexander, surgeon dentist, who had attended the lady
to the day of her death, and also by two of her most intimate
acquaintances. In the course of their search they visited the
rooms of Dr. Pattison, in College Street, where they found the
doctor and several of his assistants. They were shown over
the apartments with all apparent freedom, but they discovered
• nothing. They had left the house when Mr. Alexander thought
they should have examined a tub, seemingly filled with water,
which stood in the middle of the floor of one of the rooms.
They returned accordingly, and the water was emptied out.
At the bottom of the tub were found a jawbone with several
teeth attached, some fingers, and other parts of a human body.
The dentist identified the teeth as those he had himself fitted
into Mrs. M'Alister's mouth, and one of the relatives picked
out a finger which he said was the very finger on which Mrs.
M'Alister wore her wedding ring. Pattison and his com-
panions were immediately taken into custody. They were
removed to jail amid the execrations of the mob, who were
with difficulty restrained from executing summary vengeance
upon them. This done, the officers dug up the flooring of the
rooms, and underneath they found the remains of several
bodies, among them portions of what was believed to be the
corpse of Mrs. M'Alister. The parts were carefully sealed
up in glass receptacles for preservation as productions against
the accused at their trial. On Monday, (itli June, 1814, Dr.

PROSECUTTOX A G. I INST DR. PA TTISOX. 37

Granville Sharp Pattison, Andrew Russell, his lecturer on sur-
gery, and Messrs. Robert Munro and John M'Lean, students,
were arraigned before Lord Justice Boyle", and Lords Her-
mand, Meadowbank, Gillies, and Pitmilly, in the High Court of
.Justiciary, Edinburgh, charged under an indictment which set
forth, particularly, that the grave of Mrs. M'Alister, in the
Ramshorn churchyard, Glasgow, "had been ruthlessly or
feloniously violated by the prisoners, and her body taken
to their dissecting rooms, where it was found and identified."
The prisoners were defended by two eminent men — John Clerk
and Henry Cockburn. The evidence of the prosecution was
clearly against the accused, but the counsel of the defence
brought forward proof which as clearly showed that some mis-
take had been made with the productions. They proved to the
satisfaction of the law at least, that the body, or portions of the
body, produced in court, and which were libelled in the
indictment, were not portions of the body of Mrs. M'Alister.
This lady had been married and had borne children ; the pro-
ductions were portions of the body of a woman who had never
borne children. The result was an acquittal. So strong,
however, did public feeling run, that Pattison had to emigrate «*"
to America, where he attained to an eminence deserving his
abilities.

This put an end for a time to the resurrectionist fever in
Glasgow, but it was shrewdly suspected that other cases
occurred. They must have been few, for the strictest
watch was preserved over the graveyards. There was, how-
ever, another case which should be mentioned, and occurring,
as it did, at a time when the whole of Scotland was struck with
terror at the wholesale pillage of churchyards, and the frequent
mysterious disappearances of the living, it caused a terrible
sensation in Glasgow. In the month of August, 1828, a poor
woman in that city was delivered of a child, and on
the same evening, some female neighbours observed,
through a hole in the partition wall of the apartment
in which she resided, that her medical attendant made a
parcel of the newly-born infant, and placed it below
his coat. When he left the house, they raised the "hue and
cry " after him, calling out, " Stop thief," and telling all they

38 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

met that the man had a dead child in his possession. An
immense crowd soon gathered, the man was attacked, and the
body taken from him ; and only the opportune arrival of the
police saved him from being torn to pieces by the mob. The
officers took him and the body to the station-house, the people
hooting and howling around them. An examination of the
body of the infant was made by several practitioners in the
city, at the instance of the authorities, and they certified that
it had been still-born. The explanation was, that .the young
man was a student finishing his course, and that the mother
had agreed with him that if he attended her during ber illness,
he should have the body of the dead child for the purpose of
using it as he thought proper.

The result of this revolting work in the West of Scotland
was not altogether evil, for, as was said by Dr. Richard Miller,
for forty years lecturer on Materia Medica in the University of
Glasgow, " these experiments in the Anatomy School of Glas-
gow, lighted up the torch of science in this quarter of the
world, and saved the lives of many invaluable beings." .

CHAPTER IV.

Tales of the Resurrectionists — The Professional Body- Snatchers —
A Dundee Resurrectionist Ballad — A Strange Experiment in
Glasgow.

The two preceding chapters have been devoted to stories
circulated about doctors and medical students who engaged in
resurrectionist exploits, but there are many other tales, quite
us interesting, told of a very different class of men. Those
who entered into this horrible work for the purpose of carry-
ing out their anatomical investigations, can be excused in
part; 1ml the men of whom we now speak entered into it with
motives not dictated by, and therefore had not the excuse of,
a desire for scientific progress, but rather were founded on
mercenary greed. Not a few of them were sextons; many of

PROFESSTOyA L nEKFRRECTWNISTS. 39

them wore drawn from the scum of the population, who,rather
than earn an honest livelihood, were ready to engage in any
desperate enterprise which would give them a large sum of money.
The work of these men, if all stories arc true at times touched
the feelings of the anatomists themselves. It is stated that a
Professor of the University of Glasgow, going into the dissect-
ing room one morning to view a subject which had been laid
out, was horrified to find it was the body of his son, who had
been recently interred. A somewhat similar tale is recorded
of a student at the University of Edinburgh. He saw on the
dissecting table what he believed to be the body of his mother.
Half distracted he posted home to Dumfries, and, in company
with his father, made an investigation of the grave where his
mother had been buried. It was then found he had been mis-
taken, for they found the body lying silently in its last resting-
place.

In connection with the Medical School of Edinburgh
were several worthies who have been made immortal
by the graphic pen of Leighton. Here is how the author
of the Court of Ceteris photographs them: — "There was one
called Merrylees, or more often Merry-Andrew, a great favour-
ite with the students. Of gigantic height, he was thin and
gaunt, even to ridiculousness, with a long pale face, and the
jaws of an ogre. His shabby clothes, no doubt made for some
tall person of proportionate girth, hung upon his sharp joints,
more as if they had been placed there to dry than to clothe
and keep warm." The manners of this man were quite of a
piece with his outward appearance. His gait was springy, and
his face underwent contortions of the least pleasant kind. The
people knew his peculiar ways, and many of them seized every
opportunity of tormenting him, generally much to their own
intense satisfaction and amusement. Another attendant, and
one of Merry- Andrew's colleagues, was a worthy whose proper
name was practically unknown, but who went by the sobriquet
of "Spune." With an exterior suggestive of a broken-down

3on, his mental qualities were Cf the feeblest order, or, being
vigorous, they found no fitting expression. The "Spune"
always kept his own counsel, performing his duties in such a
staid and .dignified manner that Leighton feels compelled to

40 HISTORY OF BURKE AND IT ARE.

say " that you would have said he bore all the honours of the
science to the advancement of which he contributed so much."
These two men were slightly touched by scientific aspira-
tions, though it must be admitted that these were not by
any means the motives that constrained them to follow their
unholy employment. The pecuniary results weighed much more
than any scientific considerations with the "Moude wart," properly
called Mowatt, who was another of the group. He had been
a plasterer, but he found that to pursue his trade he had to
work hard for little, and he took to the business of a resurrec-
tionist simply because he could make more money a great deal
easier — a course of conduct perhaps legitimate enough in
itself, but one which it would be difficult to justify when the
nature of the change is taken into account. However, these
three men were the great supports of the anatomical investiga-
tors in Surgeon's Square, Edinburgh. They were assisted by
others of less note, important enough in their own way, but
undeserving the same particular notice.

These men are believed to have made a great number of
purchases in the lower parts of Edinburgh, for not a few
drunken, shiftless creatures were willing to sell the bodies of
their deceased relatives for a small sum ; often an arrangement
had been come to before the final separation of soul and body.
Indeed, it is to be feared that this was by no means uncommon
in all the centres of population. A grimly amusing story is
told by Leighton, illustrative of this, and at the same time of
the trickishness and love of mischief supposedto be characteristic
of the medical student. This is how he tells it : — " One night
a student who saw him [Merrylees] standing at a close-end,
and suspected that his friend was watching his prey, whispered
in his ear, ' She's dead,' and, aided by the darkness, escaped.
In a moment after, 'Merry Andrew' shot down the wynd,
and, opening the door, pushed his lugubrious face into a house.
' It's a' owre I hear,' said he, in a loud whisper. ' And when
will we come for the body?' 'Whist, ye mongrel,' replied
the old harridan, who acted as nurse ; ' she's as lively as a
cricket.'" The unfortunate invalid was terrified, but was
unable to do anything to help herself. Merry Andrew slipped
out, and went in search of the student who had played such a

NEGOCtATlOtfS FOR TBE DEAD. 41

scurvy trick upon him, but was, of course, unsuccessful. To
resume Lcighton's narrative: — " The old invalid, no doubt
hastened by what she had witnessed, died on the following
night; and on that, after the night succeeding, when he had
reason to expect that she would be conveniently placed in the
white fir receptacle that has a shape so peculiarly its own,
and not deemed by him so artistic as that of a bag or a box,
Merrylees, accompanied by the ' Spune,' entered the dead
room with the sackful of bark. To their ^ astonishment, and
what Merrylees even called disgusting to an honourable mind,
the old wretch had scruples. 'A light has come doun upon
me frae heaven,' she said, ' an' I canna.' ' Light frae heaven ! '
said Merrylees indignantly; 'will that shew the doctors how
to cut a cancer out o' ye, ye auld fule ? But we'll sune put
out that light,' he whispered to his companion ; ' awa' and
bring in a half-mutchkin.' ' Ay,' replied the •' Spune," as he
got hold of a bottle, ' we are only obeying the will o' God.
•• Man's infirmities shall verily be cured by the light o' his
wisdom." I forget the text.' And the ' Spune,' proud of his
Biblical learning, went upon his mission. He was back in a
lew minutes ; for where in Scotland is whisky not easily got?
Then Merrylees (as he used to tell the story to some of the
students, to which we cannot be expected to be strictly true
as regards every act or word), filling out a glass, handed it to
the wavering witch. ' Tak ye that,' he said, 'and it will
drive the deevil out o' ye ' ; and finding that she easily com-
plied, he filled out another, which went in the same direction
with no less relish. ' And noo,' said he, as he saw her scruples
melting in the liquid fire, and took out the pound-note, which
he held bet-ween her face and the candle, ' look through it, ye
auld deevil, and ye'll see some o' the real light o' heaven that
will mak your cat's een reel.' 'But that's only ane,' said the
now wavering merchant, 'and ye ken ye promised three.'
'And here they are,' replied he, as he held before her the
money to the amount of which she had only had an experience
in her dreams, and which reduced her staggering reason to a
vestige. ' Weel,' she a1 length said, ' ye may tak her.' And all
thingsthusbadefairfor the completion ofthe barter, when themen,
and scarcely less the woman, were startled by aknockat the door,

42 HISTORY OF IWHKK AND IJAliK

which having- been opened, to the dismay of the purchasers there
entered a person, dressed in a loose great-coat, with a broad
bonnet on his head, and a thick cravat round his throat, so
broad as to conceal a part of his face. ' Mrs. Wilson is dead ? '
said the stranger, as he approached the bed. ' Ay,' replied the
woman, from whom even the whisky could not keep off an
ague of fear. ' I am her nephew,' continued the stranger, and
I am come to pay the last duties of affection to one who was
kind to me when I was a boy. Can I see her ? ' ' Ay,' said
the woman ; ' she's no screwed doun yet.' " " Merry- Andrew "
and the " Spune " slipped out of the house, followed by the
stranger, who pretended to give them chase. The stranger, it
came out afterwards, was a student who thought fit to play
a practical joke on the two worthies. The dead woman was
decently buried, but the nurse quietly put the three pounds in
her pocket.

In the course of some transactions in Blackfriars' Wynd,
Merrylees had — so they thought — cheated his two companions
to the extent of ten shillings, and this was an offence never to
be forgotten or forgiven. A sister of Merrylees, residing in
Penicuik, happened to die, and it occurred to his unfeeling
heart that he might make a few pounds by raising her body,
immediately after the interment. He said nothing, but the
" Spune " noticing from his appearance that he had some im-
portant project on foot, made inquiries which made him, as he
said, " suspect that Merrylees' sister was dead at last." The
" Spune " told the " Moudewart " so, and they agreed to lift
the body themselves, as by doing this they would not only profit
to the extent of several pounds, but would also be revenged
upon Merry- Andrew for his unfair behaviour towards them.
A donkey and cart were procured, and the two companions set
out that night for Penicuik, with all the necessaiy utensils.
Between twelve and one o'clock they were at work in the
kirkyard. They had hardly begun when they were alarmed
by a noise near at hand, but, after listening a moment, they
thought they were mistaken, and resumed. At last they got
the body above the ground. Then they heard a shout, and
behind a. tombstone they saw a white-robed figure with ex-
tended arms. They fled in terror, and started for Edinburgh

l>ol)Y-SXA'rcin\<i i\ DUNDEE t)lSTRK T. \:\

iu all baste. The apparition was none other than Men-vices,
who, having met the owner of the donkey and cart, and been
told that his two colleagues were away with them to Penicuik,
suspected their design, and had thus frustrated it. Remarking
that " the ' Spune ' is without its porridge this time, and shall
not man live on the fruit of the earth," Merrylees shouldered
the body of his sister and set out for the city. Before long- he
came near his foiled enemies, and raising another shout he
forced them to leave their cart behind, as they found their
legs would carry them faster home than the quadruped they
had l)i irrowed. This was the crowning part of Merry-Andrew's
expedition, for he put his burden iu the cart, and managed at
last to convey it to Surgeons' Square.

The professional body-snatchers were, however, sometimes
employed by other than doctors — by persons who made use of
them for purposes which had not even the excuse of a desire
for the advancement of anatomical science. The story is told
of two young men from the north, named George Duncan and
Henry Ferguson, fellow-lodgers in the Potterow of Edinburgh,
who were rivals for the affections of a Miss Wilson, residing in
the vicinity of Bruntsfield Links. Ferguson was preferred, and
Duncan hated him because of that. At last disease carried the
successful suitor away, and his body was interred in Buccleuch
burying-ground. Duncan's hatred went even further than
death itself, for he employed a' well-known snatcher, who
rejoiced in the cognomen of " Screw," on account of his clever-
ness at raising bodies, and they went together to the cemetery
for the purpose of conveying the corpse of Ferguson to the
rooms occupied by Dr. Monro. When they arrived there they
found Miss Wilson beside the grave, overwhelmed with grief
at the loss of her lover. At last she went away, and soon the
body was within the precincts of the college.

In the Dundee district, also, the resurrectionists were able to
do a considerable amount of business. There, as elsewhere,
the people in the country parts were in a high state of excite-
ment over the frequent depredations made in their churchyards,
and it was shrewdly suspected that this was done for the pur-
pose of supplying the Edinburgh doctors with "subjects."
Watches wore set, but the superstition of the guardians of the

44 JI I STORY OF BURKE AM) HARE.

dead, often aided by the whisky they partook of to keep away
the eold and raise their spirits among their " eerie " surround-
ings, made their vigils too frequently of little avail. The wily
resurrectionists were too sharp for them, for it was almost a
matter of certainty that the body of any one who died of a
peculiar disease would disappear within a few days after it had
been consigned to the grave. In the village of Errol, in the
Carse of Gowrie, such depredations were not unfrequent.
About the time that Burke and Hare were operating with so
much effect among the waifs of Edinburgh, an incident of a
somewhat amusing kind occurred at this place. The parish
churchyard was then without a boundary wall, and as it lay in
the middle of the village it was customary for the inhabitants
to make a " short cut " across it, when passing from one part
of the place to another. On one occasion a village worthy had
been attending a convivial gathering, and on his way home,
at " the witching time of night," he thought he would take the
pathway through the churchyard. As he approached it he
saw what appeared to be a black horse feeding in the " isle," a
low part of the yard. To his horror some one jumped on the
animal's back, and made towards him. He took to his heels,
and ran as fast as he could, never stopping until he had gained
a safe hiding in a farm on the side of the Tay, at a point about
two miles to the south-east of the village. When the story
obtained currency, the belief was commonly expressed that
the horse belonged to a doctor who was in search of an inter-
esting " subject " that had been recently buried.

The churchyard of Dundee, then popularly known as the
" Howff," was laid under heavy contribution to the cause of
science, and the most notorious of the local resurrectionists was
Geordie Mill, one of the grave-diggers. He was at last caught
in his nefarious work, and his memory has been celebrated in
a song long popular in the district. This production has now
nearly dropped out of memory, but as it is a curious com-
mentary on the transactions of the time, it is worthy of
preservation. The following fragments of it are from the notes
of Dr. Robert Robertson, Errol, and Mr. James Paterson, Glas-
gow, two natives of the Carse of Gowrie : —

A DUNDEE BALLAD. 45

" Here goes Geordie Mill, \vi' his round-mou'd spade,
He's aye wishing for the mair folk dead,
For the sake o' his donal', and his bit short-bread,
To carry the spakes in the mornin'.

" A porter cam' to Geordie's door,
A hairy trunk on his back he bore ;
And in the trunk there was a line,
And in the line was sovereigns nine,
A' for a fat and sonsie quean,

Wi' the coacli on Wednesday mornin'.

" Then east the toun Geordie goes,
To ca' on Robbie Begg and Co. ;
The doctor's line to Robbie shows,
Wha wished frae them a double dose,

Wi' the coach on Wednesday mornin'.

" Geordie's wife says, ' Sirs, tak' tent,
For a warning to me's been sent,
That tells me that you will repent

Your conduct on some mornin'. '

" Quo' Robbie, 'Wife, now hush your fears,
We ha'e the key, deil ane can steer's,
We've been weel paid this dozen o' years,

Think o' auchteen pound in a mornin'. '

" Then they ca'd on Tam and Jock,
The lads wha used the spade and poke,
And wi' Glenlivet their throats did soak,

To keep them richt in the mornin."

The worthies were, according to the ballad, discovered when
lifting the second body, and it concludes with the line, —

" And that was a deil o' a mornin'."

ilt was popularly believed that these men were in the habit of
supplying Dr. Knox with bodies taken from the churchyard of
'Dundee, and there was great indignation against them when
the revelations consequent on the apprehension of Burke and
Hare were made known.

Before proceeding to deal with the events that led up to the
Burke and Hare trial, there is an incident of peculiar interest

46 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

which deserves to be recorded, but which cannot be properly
put under any of the classes into which we have divided these
tales of the resurrectionists. In a sense it does not belong to
the resurrectionist movement, but as it relates indirectly to it,
it may be given. At the Glasgow Circuit Court in October,
1819, a collier of the name of Matthew Clydesdale was
condemned to death for murder, and the judge, in passing-
sentence, as was the custom, ordered that after the execution
the body should be given to Dr. James Jeffrey, the lecturer on
anatomy in the university, " to be publicly dissected and
anatomised." The execution took place on the 4th of Novem-
ber following, and the body of the murderer was taken to the
college dissecting theatre, where a large number of students
and many of the general public were gathered to witness an
experiment it was proposed to make upon it. The intention
was that a newly-invented galvanic battery should be tried
with the body, and the greatest interest had accordingly been
excited. The corpse of the murderer was placed in a sitting
posture in a chair, and the handles of the instrument put into
the hands. Hardly had the battery been set working than the
auditory observed the chest of the dead man heave, and he
rose to his feet. Some of them swooned for fear, others
cheered at what was deemed a triumph of science, but the
Professor, alarmed at the aspect of affairs, put his lancet in the
throat of the murderer, and he dropped back into his seat.
For a long time the community discussed the question whether
or not the man was really dead when the battery was applied.
Most probably he was not, for in these days death on the
^) scaffold was slow — there was no " long drop " to break the
spinal cord, — it was simply a case of strangulation.

EAULY II FE OF WILLIAM BURKE. 47

CHAPTER V.

The Early Life of Burke and M'Dougal — Their Meeting with
Hare and his Wife — Some Notes Concerning the Latter.

Thus far we have traced the genesis, and the ultimate
development, of the resurrectionist movement, and it will now
be necessary to relate with some detail the connection of
Burke and Hare and their female associates with the vile
traffic, showing how they, by adding to the brutality inherent
in it, ultimately encompassed their own ruin, and unconsciously
freed medical science from restrictions tending to stiffle inquiry
and prevent progress. About these people comparatively little
is known, and certain it is that had it not been for the timidity
of the press of the period there would have been abundance of
material more or less reliable. James Maclean, a hawker,
belonging to Ireland, who was well acquainted with all the
parties, furnished a few particulars concerning them to the
publishers of what may be called the official account of the
trial, issued in 1829, but what he was able to give was very
meagre. Maclean's notes, however, have been supplemented,
and, apparently, in some instances corrected, by the subsequent
investigations of Alexander Leighton.

The most notorious of these great offenders against the laws
of God and man was William Burke. He was the son of Neil
Burke, a labourer, and was born in the early part of the year
1792, in the parish of Orrey, about two miles from the town of
Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland. Receiving a fan educa-
te m, he, though of Catholic parentage, first went as servant to
a Presbyterian minister, but becoming tired of that kind
of employment, he tried in succession the trades of a baker and
a weaver. Maclean, however, makes no mention of these two
attempts, and says Burke's " original trade was that of a shoe-
maker or cobbler." None of these trades suited his taste, and
ultimately he enlisted in the Donegal militia in the capacity
either of fifer or drummer — probably the former, as he was
known in after life as an excellent player on the flute. During

48 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

this time he was the personal servant of one of the officers
of the regiment ; and he married a young woman belonging to
Ballina. When the regiment was disbanded he went to live
with his wife and family, and he was engaged as the servant
of a country gentleman. Here an event occurred which may be
regarded as the turning point of what had hitherto been a life
of respectability. Burke was anxious to obtain the sub-
tenancy of a piece of ground from his father-in-law, but they
quarrelled over the matter. How this dispute came about is
unknown, but it was of sufficient severity to cause Burke to
leave his wife and family and emigrate to Scotland, and
sufficient to prevent him from returning again to his native
land. He arrived in this country about the year 1817
or 1818, when the Union Canal, between Edinburgh and the
Forth and Clyde Canal, near Camelon, was in the course
of construction. Making his way eastwards, Burke obtained
employment as a labourer on this important undertaking, and
while so engaged he resided in the little hill village of
Maddiston, a mile or two above Polmont. It was here that he
met Helen Dougal or M'Dougal, the partner of his guilt, and
his fellow-prisoner at the great trial. This woman was born
in the neighbouring village of Redding. The record of her
career up to her meeting with Burke is not altogether good.
In early life she made the acquaintance of a sawyer of the
name of M'Dougal, to whom she had a child during his wife's
life-time. When M'Dougal became a widower the young-
woman went to live with him, and though they had never
gone through a regular marriage ceremony, cohabitation was
sufficient to constitute them man and wife, and she bore
M'Dougal's name. After a time the couple left Maddiston
for Leith, where M'Dougal worked at his trade. Here
he was struck down by typhus fever, and his illness terminated
in death in Queensferry House. His female companion and
her two children returned to her old place of abode, a loose
and dissolute woman, even more so than when she went away.
At the time of the trial, in 1828, it was reported that she had
had two husbands, one of whom was then alive, but that is
uncertain. This, however, is an outline of her life up till the
advent of Burke in Maddiston, when she was living there with

BURKE ANT) M'DOUGAL. 49

her two children, a boy and a girl. Bnrke and she threw in
their lot together, and lived as husband and wife. This
irregular life came to the knowledge of the priest of the
district, who advised Burke to leave M'Dougal and return to
his lawful wife and to his family in Ireland ; but he refused to
do so, and as a consequence was excommunicated. The early
religious training of Burke made him feel uncomfortable under
the displeasure of the church, but he would not, nevertheless,
carry out the dictates of his priest or of his own conscience.
He continued to live with M'Dougal, not a very happy life,
certainly, both of them being somewhat given to drink, but
they appeared to have taken a liking for each other which
kept them together through every difficulty. For some reason
or other, probably because employment in the neighbourhood
of Maddiston had become scarce, Burke and his companion
removed to Edinburgh, and took up their quarters in what was
known as " The Beggar's Hotel," in Portsburgh, owned by an
Edinburgh worthy of the lower class, Mickey Culzean by
name. Here Burke reverted to the trade of shoemaker
or cobbler, and whether he was bred to it or not is a small
matter, for he seems to have been able to make use of it, when
in need, in the way of gaining a livelihood. He was in the
habit of buying old boots and shoes, and repairing them ; after
which M'Dougal hawked them among the poorer classes in the
city, and in this way they were able to make from fifteen to
twenty shillings a week.

Burke and M'Dougal, however, were not long resident in the
" Beggar's Hotel," when it was burned to the ground, and all
their goods were destroyed. Among their possessions so lost
were the books belonging to the Burke, and these were —
Ambrose's Looking Unto Jesus, Boston's Fourfold State, Bunyan's
Pilgrims Progress, and Booth's Reign of Grace. It has been
said that this little library of theological works belonged
to Burke, but, it may be suggested, that they were not
of the type to be owned by an excommunicated Roman
Catholic ; they rather appear, judging from their charac-
ter, to have belonged to M'Dougal, for they are all of
the kind affected in most Scottish homes of the period. It is
worth remembering, however, that Burke was a man of a

50 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

naturally religious turn of mind, though not bound up in any
particular form of faith, and that in all his after actions, brutal
and godless though they were, the inward warning voice never
left him at peace, except when his senses were steeped in
drink.

Culzean, after this disaster, hired new premises in Brown's
Close, off the Grassmarket, and Burke and M'Dougal moved
there with him. Here religious matters attracted Burke's at-
tention, and for a time his actions to a certain extent were
modified by them. He attended services in an adjoining house,
and even went the length of an endeavour to reform his land-
lord, who was an inveterate swearer. This appearance of
better things did not, however, continue long, and the old
course of life was renewed. It would be difficult to say what
would have been the course of Burke's life had M'Dougal and
he never met ; in all probability it would have been less guilty,
and would have had a happier result. Had their paths
been separate, they might never have been heard of, and
a series of crimes disgraceful to humanity might, possibly,
never have been committed. But as it happened, it is to be
feared that the influence of the one upon the other was for
evil. Maclean described Burke as a peaceable and steady
worker when free from liquor ; and even when intoxicated he
was rather jocose and quizzical, and by no means of a quarrel-
some disposition. M'Dougal, on the other hand, was of a dull,
morose temper, sober or otherwise. Quarrels between them
were of frequent occurrence. One point of dispute between
them, and which gave rise to at least one severe disturbance,
was Burke's relations with a young woman, a near friend of
M'Dougal, who became jealous of her. The three lived in the
one room, and one occasion the two women fell out so seriously
that they sought to settle their differences by force. The man
did not interfere until he saw that the younger woman was
being worsted. Then he turned on M'Dougal and beat her
most brutally, until, indeed, it was thought she was beyond
recovery.

Notwithstanding their apparent incompatibility, the couple
kept well together, and when trade in Edinburgh grew dull
they removed to Peebles, where Burke wrought on the roads.

BURKE MEETS WILLIAM HARE. 51

By this time his habits had not improved; his whole moral
character, never very robust, though not without a suscepti-
bility to religious impressions, was on the decline; and
gradually he became the assooiate of men and women whose
experience of wickedness was greater than anything to which
he had yet sunk. In the autumn of 1827, Burke and M'Dougal
wrought at the harvesting near Penicuik, and returning to
Edinburgh, they went to lodge with William and Mrs. Hare, the
companions and participators in the crimes that afterwards
made them amenable to the laws of the country. Burke met
Mrs. Hare, with whom he had previously been acquainted, and
over a glass of liquor he mentioned to her that he intended
going to the west country to seek for employment. She urged
that he and M'Dougal should take up their abode in her house
in Tanner's Close, Portsburgh, where he would have every
facility for carrying on his trade of a cobbler. To this he con-
sented, and he again set up business in a cellar attached to the
house, in which Hare, who was a hawker, kept his donkey.
Thus were these two men brought into contact, and from this
accidental meeting arose that close and intimate connection
which enabled them to originate and carry out their diabolical
plans against their fellow-creatures.

This William Hare, whose name afterwards came to be so
indissolubly connected with that of Burke, was about the same
age, and was also a native of Ireland. Brought up without
any education or proper moral training, he rapidly slipped into
a vagabondising kind of life. His temper was brutal and
ferocious, and when he was in liquor he was perfectly unbear-
able. Before leaving Ireland he was employed in farm work,
but better prospects across the Channel made him come to
Scotland, where he became a labourer, like his companion in
later life, in the construction of the Union Canal, though
there is no evidence that they met each other until the year
1827, in Edinburgh. Hare afterwards worked as a "lumper"
with a Mr. Dawson, who had a wharf at Port-Hopetoun, the
Edinburgh terminus of the canal. While so engaged he
became acquainted with a man of the name of James Log,
or Logue, who has been described as a decent, hard-working
man. Before this time Log had held a contract on the canal

52 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

near Winchburgh, at which his wife, a strong-minded, able-
bodied woman, laboured along with the men in her husband's
employment, wheeling a barrow as well as the best of them.
After this Hare turned a hawker, at first with a horse and
cart, but latterly with a hand-barrow. In the interval, Log
and his wife, Mary Laird, had opened a lodging-house at the
back of the West Port Well, whence they removed to Tanner's
Close, and with them Hare, on his change of employment, took
up his abode. A quarrel with his landlord, however, made him
seek other quarters; but when Log died in 1826, he returned,
and, as Maclean puts it, " made advances to the widow," and
she consenting, the couple were regularly married. Mrs. Log,
or Hare, as she had now become, had had one child to her
previous husband. Her character, while before not beyond
reproach, had been further blackened by her notorious miscon-
duct with a young lodger in the house. This man left her,
and Hare stepped in to fill his shoes. The lodging-house, into
possession of which Hare had entered on his marriage with the
widow of its previous landlord, contained seven beds ; and the
earnings from his new property gave him the means of drink-
ing without the necessity of working. He took full advantage
of his position, became more and more dissolute, and went
about bullying and fighting with all and sundry. His wife
was not exempt from his brutality, but then she was as ready
for drinking, and quarrelling as he was himself. With these
people Burke and M'Dougal went to* reside, after their return
from Penicuik.

Two stories are related by Maclean, who knew all the
parties well, which serve to illustrate the characters of Burke
and Hare. In the autumn of 1827, Maclean, Hare, Burke, and
some others, while on their way from Carnwath, in Lanark-
shire, where they had been at the shearing, went for refresh-
ment into a public-house a little to the west of Balerno, a few
miles from Edinburgh. The liquor was served, and the party
clubbed together to pay the reckoning. The money was
placed on the table, and Hare coolly picked it up and put it in
his pocket. Burke, knowing the temper of the man, and desiring
to avoid a disturbance, paid for the whole of the liquor con-
sumed out of his own pocket. Maclean, however, was more

Helen McDoucal.

^From a Sketch taken in Court)

NOTES CONCERNING HARE. 53

outspoken, and on leaving the house told Hare that it wae a
scaly trick for him to lift the money with the intention of
affronting the company. Hare knocked the feet from under
Maclean, and kicked him severely on the face with his iron-
shod caulker boots, laying his upper lip open. Mrs. Hare,
again, was equally brutal. Once, when returning from his
work at the canal, Hare found Iris wife very tipsy. He
remonstrated with her, and then lay down on his bed. She
lifted a bucket of water and emptied the contents over him.
A desperate struggle followed, and, Maclean adds : — " As usual
with her she had the last word and the last blow."

Before concluding this chapter it may be of interest
to give the description of the personal appearance of
Burke and his wife, as furnished by the Caledonian Mercury of
Thursday, the 25th December, 1828. It refers to their
appearance at the trial, but it may be taken as generally
relating to their looks at the time they entered upon their
course of crime : — " The male prisoner [Burke], as his name
indicates, is a native of Ireland. He is a man rather below the
middle size, and stoutly made, and of a determined, though not
peculiarly sinister expression of countenance. The contour of
his face, as well as the features, is decidedly Milesian. It is
round, with high cheek bones, grey eyes, a good deal sunk in
the head, a short snubbish nose, and a round chin, but
altogether of a small cast. His hair and whiskers, which are
of a light sandy colour, comported well with the make of the
head and complexion, which is nearly of the same hue. He
was dressed in a shabby blue surtout, buttoned close to the
throat, and had, upon the whole, what is called in this country
a wauf rather than a ferocious appearance, though there is a
hardness about the features, mixed with an expression in the
grey twinkling eyes, far from inviting. The female prisoner
[Helen M'Dougal], is fully of the middle size, but thin and
spare made, though evidently of large bone. Her features
are long, and the upper half of her face is out of proportion to
the lower. She was miserably dressed in a small grey-coloured
velvet bonnet, very much the worse of the wear, a printed
cotton shawl and cotton gown. She stoops considerably in
her gait, and has nothing peculiar in her appearance, except

54 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

the ordinary look of extreme poverty and misery common to
unfortunate females of the same degraded class."

CHAPTER VI.

Death of Donald the Pensioner — Hare's Debt — Negotiations ivith
the Doctors — A Bargain Struck — Sale of Donald's Bochj.

The beginning of the connection of the persons whose career,
up till 1827, we have endeavoured to describe in the preceding
chapter, with the resurrectionist movement, may be said to
have been to a certain extent accidental.

In Hare's house in Tanner's Close there resided for some
time an old pensioner named Donald. About Christmas, 1827,
he died, owing his landlord about £4, but as a set off against
this his quarter's pension was about due, though, of course, it
was more likely this would go to some relative who might be
unwilling to pay the debt to Hare. The funeral arrangements
were made, and everything was in readiness for consigning
the remains of the old veteran to their kindred dust, when it
occurred to Hare that by selling the body to the doctors he
might be able to save himself from making a bad debt through
the inconvenient death of his lodger before the pension was
due. Burke, in his confession, stated that Hare made the pro-
position to him, promising a share of the proceeds. After some
hesitation Burke agreed to the scheme ; the coffin, which had
been "screwed down," was opened, and tanners' bark substituted
for the body, which was concealed in the bed. Thereafter the
coffin and its contents were carefully buried. In the evening
the two men visited Surgeon's Square, Hare remaining near
at hand, while Burke went towards the door of Dr. Knox's
class-rooms. He was noticed by one of the students ; and the
following strange conversation, founded on the record of it by
Leighton, took place between them : —

" Were you looking for any one ? " the student said, as he

SALE OF THE FIRST BODY. 55

peered into the dour-looking face of the stranger, where per-
haps there had never even once been seen a blush.

" Umph ! Are you Dr. Knox ? "

" No ; but I am one of his students," was the reply of the
young man, who was now nearly pretty well satisfied as to the
intention of the stranger whom he had accosted.

" And sure," observed the latter, " I'm not far wrong thin,
afther all."

" And I may suit your purpose as well, perhaps."

" Perhaps," answered the strange man ; " perhaps you may,
sir."

" Well," said our friend, the young student, " don't be at all
afraid to speak out. Tell me your business, although I have
myself an idea as to what it may be. Have you got ' The
Thing*' n

" Doun't know, sir, what you mean."

" Ah ! not an old hand at the trade, I perceive. You were
never here before, perhaps ? "

" No," said the stranger.

" And don't know what to say 1 "

" No," said the stranger. And the bashful man again turned
his gloomy downcast optics to the ground, and appeared also
as if he didn't very well know or to be able to make up his
mind as to what he should do with those hands of his, which
were not made for kid gloves — perhaps for skin of another
kind rather.

And shouldn't this hardened and callous-hearted student
have been sorry for a man in such confusion ? But he wasn't;
nay, he evidently had no sympathy whatever with his refine-
ment.

" Why, man, don't you speak out V he said somewhat
impatiently.

"There's somebody coming through the Square there," was
the reply, as the man looked furtively to a side.

" Come in here, then," said the student, as he pulled the man
into a large room where there were already three other young
men, who also acted as assistants of Dr. Knox. And there now
they were, in the midst of a great number of coarse tables,
with one in the middle, whereon were deposited — each having

56 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

its portion — masses or lumps of some matter which could not
be seen by reason of all of them being covered with pieces of
cloth — once white, but now dirty gray, as if they had been
soiled with clammy hands for weeks or months

" Sure, and I'm among the dead," said the man, ....
" and I have something ov that kind to "

" Sell," added an assistant sharply, as, in his scientific ardour,
he anticipated the merchant.

"Yes." ....

" And what do you give for ivun ? " he answered, as he
sidled up to the ear of the young anatomist who had been
speaking to him.

" Sometimes as high as £10." ....

" And wouldn't you give a pound more for a fresh one ? "
said he, with that intoxication of hope which sometimes makes
a beggar play with a new-born fortune.

" Sometimes more and sometimes less," replied the other ;
" but ' the thing ' must always be seen."

" And by my sowl it is a good thing, and worth the money
any how."

" Where is it ? "

" At home."

" Then if you will bring it here about ten it will be exa-
mined, and you will get your money ; and since you are a
beginner, I may tell you, you had better bring it in a box."

" And have we not a tea-chest all ready, which howlds it
nate, and will not my friend help me to bring it ? "

" Well, mind the hour, and be upon your guard that no one
sees you."

The young students who had this conversation with Burke
were two men who afterwards became famous in their pro-
fession— Sir William Ferguson, F.R.S., the author of a System
of Practical Surgery; and Thos. Wharton Jones, one of the
most eminent physiologists of the country. So that the train-
ing they obtained in these troublous times has proved highly
beneficial to medical science, and through it to humanity.

But to continue the story of the disposal of old Donald's
body. Having come to this agreement with the students,

NEW PROSPECTS. 57

Burke joined his companion, and went home. They put the
body into a sack, and carried it to Surgeons' Square. When they
arrived there they were in doubt as to what they should do
with it. They laid it down at the door of a cellar, and then
wont to the room, where they saw the students again. By
their instructions they carried the corpse into the room, took it
out of the sack, and placed it on a dissecting table. A shirt
which was on the body they removed at the request of the
students, and Dr. Knox, having examined it, proposed they
should get £7 10s. The money was paid by Jones, Hare
receiving £4 5s., and Burke £3 5s., the paymaster saying he
would be glad to see them again when they had any other
body to dispose of. This is Burke's account of the transaction,
as made in his confession on the 3rd January, 1829, and it
substantially agrees with the fuller account given by Leighton.
This was the first transaction these two men had with the
doctors, and it is curious to notice how an incident of so little
moment in itself should be to them the first step in a long and
terrible course of crime — long in the sense that, considering its
nature, they should have for such a length of time kept out of
the reach of the law, or, indeed, of any suspicion of being any-
thing worse than pitiful creatures of resurrectionists, who were
willing to rob graves of their mouldering contents for a few
paltry pounds. That step, however, was enough.

CHAPTER VII.

New Prospects — Description of Hares House — The Murder of
Abigail Simpson, the Old Woman from Gilmerton — The
Two Sick Men.

The success of their first transaction with the doctors
developed new feelings in the hearts of Burke and Hare, and
their two female companions. Their minds, unconsciously, had
been undergoing a degrading process, and the action they had
taken with regard to the old pensioner's body opened up the

58 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

way to them into a more complete state of moral turpitude.
They thought they saw in this new traffic, if they could by
any means obtain possession of the remains of their fellow-
creatures, an easier method of attaining a comfortable livelihood
than any they had yet tried, even though it should involve the
committal of murder ; for they seemed fatally blind to the con-
sequences which it was certain such a course as they contem-
plated would in all probability bring to them. Their argument,
it may be assumed, was that if they got bodies to sell, no
matter how, they would be able to throw off suspicion ; and
instead of doing what others then did, go to the churchyards
and plunder them of then* ghastly contents, they took for their
motto the significant question Burke put to the student when
he was negotiating for the sale of Donald's body — " Wouldn't
you give a pound more for a fresh wun ? " It was perhaps the
case that they did not make up any definite plan of operations
for the future ; but it is beyond doubt that the outline of the
plan they ultimately adopted was suggested by the conversa-
tion in Knox's rooms, while the details, in respect of the
individual members, may have been worked out as occasion
presented — each act leading on to the next until the last foul
crime was committed.

Before beginning the horrid record, it will be well to give a
description of the scene of the enactment of most of the crimes
— Log's lodging-house, in Tanner's Close : —

" The entry from the street," says Leighton, " begins with a
descent of a few steps, and is dark from the superincumbent
land. On proceeding downwards, you came — for the house,
which was razed for shame, is no longer to be seen — to a
smallish self-contained dwelling of one flat, and consisting of
three apartments. One passing down the close might, with an
observant eye, have seen into the front room ; but this dis-
advantage was compensated by the house being disjoined from
other dwellings, and a ticket, ' Beds to let,' as an invitation to
vagrants, so many of whom were destined never to come out
alive, distinguished it still more. The outer apartment was
large, occupied all round by these structures called beds, com-
posed of knockcd-up fir stumps, and covered with a few gray
sheets and brown blankets, among which the squalid wanderer

DESCRJPTIO\ OP HARE'S HOUSE. 59

sought rest, and the profligate snored out his debauch under
the weight of nightmare. Another room opening from this
was also comparatively large, and furnished much in the same
manner. In place of any concealment being practised, so far
impossible, indeed, in the case of a public lodging-house, the
door stood generally open, and, as we have said, the windows
were overlooked by the passengers up and down ; but as the
spider's net is spread open while his small keep is a secret hole,
so here there was a small apartment, or rather closet, the win-
dow of which looked upon a pig-stye and a dead- wall, and
into which, as we know, were introduced those unhappy beings
destined to death. The very character of the house, the con-
tinued scene of roused passions, saved it from that observation
which is directed towards temporary tumults, so that no surprise
could have been excited by cries of suffering issuing from such
a place, even if they could have been heard from the interior
den ; and that was still more impossible, from the extraordinary
mode of extinguishing life adopted by the wary and yet un-
wary colleagues. In this inner apartment Burke used to work
when he did work, which, always seldom, soon came to be
rare, and eventually relinquished for other wages."

In this place Donald the pensioner died, and here it was that
the most terrible series of modern tragedies was committed.
The plan having been agreed upon by the two confederates —
it is doubtful if the two women had anything to do with its
formation — Hare began by prowling about the streets to see if
he could fall in with any person who would make a likely
subject upon whom they could practice. For a time he was
unsuccessful, but at length an opportunity arrived. This was,
according to Burke's confession of the 3rd January, 1829, early
in the spring of 1828, and, according to the one published in
the Edinburgh Evening Courant, on the 11th February.
Leighton, however, says it was one afternoon in December
1827, though he gives no other reason for differing from Burke,
though in this instance the criminal does uot speak generally,
but with absolute definiteness. Whichever month it was, the
fact is certain that one afternoon Hare met an old woman the
worse of drink in the Grassmarket. This was Abigail Simpson,
belonging to Gilmertou, a village on the outskirts ol Edinburgh,

60 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

who had come into the city to obtain the pension granted her
by a gentleman in the New Town — Sir John Hope, it has been
suggested — who gave her one-and-sixpence a week, and a can
of kitchen-fee. Her call had been made, and some of the
money she had apparently spent in drink, for she was under
the influence of it when she met Hare. He thought she
looked a fitting subject. She was old and weakly, and the
little strength of mind and body left her by her potations could
surely be overcome very easily if she were once in a suitable
place for the commission of his shocking design. Hare spoke
to her, professing that he had seen her before ; and she, garru-
lous and doted, readily entered into conversation with him.
Speedily they became fast friends, and he easily persuaded her
to accompany him to- his house, where they would have a
" dram " together in honour of their happy meeting. Once in
the house, Mrs. Simpson was treated with overflowing kind-
ness. She was introduced to Burke as an old friend, and the
whisky was placed before her. She and the others partook of
the liquor, though it is probable that her entertainers were
more circumspect than she was in her libations. Highly pleased
with her reception she told all about herself and her affairs,
and of how she had a fine young daughter at home, who was
both good and beautiful. Hare said he was a bachelor, and
he spoke to the old woman of marrying her daughter, so that
they would have all the money among them. When the
supply of drink was finished, Mrs. Hare bought the can of
kitchen-fee from Mrs. Simpson for one-and-sixpence, and this
money was also expended in the purchase of more whisky
for the use of the company. The fun became fast and furious.
The old woman crooned some of the songs of her youth, and
Burke, who, as it has already been seen, was himself something
of a musician, contributed his share to the harmony of the
evening. It was proposed that Mrs. Simpson should not go
home that night, and to this she readily assented, for, as the
Courant confession of Burke puts it, " she was so drunk she
could not go home." This was their chance, but somehow or
other it was not taken advantage of — perhaps it was because
they were not " old hands at the trade," and they lacked suffi-
cient courage at the time to carry out their evil intentions

Sl'CCESS BEGETS COtfFtDtiNCR 61

against the old woman ; just as likely they were too much
intoxicated themselves to commit the crime; possibly they
were joined by other lodgers, before whom they could not act.
Be that as it may, the poor victim lay the last night of her life
in a state of thorough intoxication. When morning came, she
was siok and vomiting, and cried to be taken home to her daugl l-
ter. Her entertainers expressed the utmost sympathy for her
condition, and in their brutal "kindness" they gave her some
porter and whisky, which quickly made her again helplessly
drunk. The time had now arrived. The house was quiet,
and the courage of the two men was sufficient for the deed
they contemplated. Hare placed his hand over her mouth and
nose to stop her breathing, and Burke laid himself across her
body iu order to prevent her making any disturbance. Re-
sistance there was really none. The woman was beyond
resistance, and any noise she might have been able to make
was stiifled by the method adopted to compass her death. In
a few minutes she was dead, and the men lifted the body out
of the bed, undressed it, and bundled it up in a chest. Hare
took away the clothing, among which was a drab mantle, and
a white-grounded cotton shawl with blue spots, with the in-
tention of putting it in the canal. One of the men afterwards
informed Dr. Knox's students that they had another subject to
give them, and it was agreed that a porter from Surgeon's
Square should meet them at the back of the Castle in the
evening. Burke and Hare carried the chest, with its ghastly
contents, to the meeting place, and thence the porter assisted
them with it to the rooms. " Dr. Knox," says Burke, " came
in when they were there ; the body was cold and stiff. Dr.
Knox approved of its being so fresh, but did not ask any ques-
tions." The price paid the murderers for the corpse of old
Abigail Simpson, of Grilmerton, was ten pounds.

The work of wholesale murder was now fairly begun, and
the conspirators had gained confidence by the success of their
first effort. There were no qualms of conscience — if there
were they were speedily drowned in drink — strong enough to
stop them in the course upon which they had so rapidly en-
t sred. The fear of discovery had passed away when they saw

62 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

how easily and quietly they could work, and the desire for
more victims became — shall we charitably say 1 — a mania.

The next unfortunate who fell into their foul clutches was a
miller known to Burke simply as " Joseph." The man was
related by marriage to one of the partners of the Carron Iron
Company, then the principal ironfounding firm iu Scotland, and
at one time had himself been in possession of a decent com-
petency. He had, however, lost his money, and was so re-
duced that he had to reside in Hare's house in Tanner's
Close. Joseph, while lodging there, became very ill, and the
report went forth that the malady by which he was attacked
was an infectious fever. Hare and his wife were alarmed lest
the rumour should damage the reputation of their house, and
keep lodgers away. It was accordingly agreed that Joseph
should be put out of the way as quickly as possible, and that
by the remedy they had applied so successfully in the case of
Mrs. Simpson. Burke laid a small pillow over the sick man's
mouth, and Hare lay across the body to keep down his arms
and legs. Death ensued as a matter of course, and the body
was sold in Surgeon's Square for ten pounds. It does certainly
see.u Scia ige that such a set of circumstances should lead up
to the murder of the miller, and having in view the line of con-
duct these two men had now adopted, it is more than probable
that the report of Joseph lying ill of fever was circulated by
them to avert suspicion at his disappearance, and render his
death from apparently natural causes more probable.

Another case very similar to this one, but in all likelihood
distinct from it, is mentioned in one of the confessions of Burke,
which, though not to be depended upon absolutely, must be
assumed to be accurate in their main features. In the Courant
confession the condemned man mentions the murder of an
Englishman as having followed that of Mrs. Simpson ; though
in the document prepared by the Sheriff-Clerk the case of
Joseph the miller is given in its place. The victim in this other
instance was a native of Cheshire, also a lodger in Hare's house,
who was ill with jaundice at the time the tragedy with Abigail
Simpson was being enacted. He was a very tall man, about
forty years of age, and found a livelihood by selling " spunks,"
or matches, on the streets of Edinburgh. His death was caused

QUALMS OF CONSCIENCE. 63

by the efficient plan now adopted by Burke and Hare, who ob-
tained the customary ten pounds from Dr. Knox for the body,
and no questions asked.

As indicative, however, of the untrustworthiness of these
confessions, it is interesting to notice at this point that while in
the document published in the Courant, and attested as correct
by Burke's own signature, the murder of the Englishman is placed
in point of time after that of Simpson ; yet, in the official con-
fession, emitted fully a fortnight earlier, the commission of the
crime is stated to have occurred in May, and as the fourth on
the terrible list. It is nevertheless to be feared that although
there may be some doubt as to the exact dates when some of
the murders were committed, Burke did not make full confes-
sion of the various acts of wanton sacrifice of human life in
which he had been engaged, perhaps, unfortunately, because
they were so numerous, and were done in such a short space
of time, that his memory could not carry every individual case
and its proper details.

CHAPTER VIII.

Qualms of Conscience — The Murder of Mary Paterson and
Escape of Janet Brown — Presentation of the Fallen Beauty.

It is remarkable that at so early a period in their career of
crime Burke and Hare should have shown so much boldness as
they exhibited in the murder of Mary Paterson, a young
w< >man unfortunately too well known on the streets of Edin-
burgh ; and it is equally remarkable how, considering the
whole circumstances, they were able to carry out the crime
and dispose of the body without detection.

There is little reason to doubt that Burke was in the first
instance a man of finer nature than Hare, though their guilt
in the end was at least equal. Hare, it seems, could play his
part in the slaughter of a fellow-mortal without any qualms of
conscience, and he slept as quietly the night after he had
provided a "subject" for the doctors, as if his soul were

G4 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HA Hi:.

unstained with guilt. Burke, however, was a man of a different
temperament, and though reckless he could not altogether
banish the moral teachings of his church from his mind.
"Thou shaft do no murder," rung in his ears, but under the
benumbing influences of drink the command was forgotten and
broken, and then followed the fearful looking for judgment.
He could not sleep without a bottle of whisky by his bed-side,
and he had always on the table a two-penny candle, burning
all the night. When he wakened, sometimes in fright, he
would take a draught at the bottle, often to the extent of half
of its contents at a time, and that induced sleep, or, rather,
stupor.

In one of these "waukrife" fits, Burke, early on the morning
of Friday, the 9th April, 1828, left the house, and made towards
a public house in the neighbourhood of the Canongate, kept by
a man named Swanston. While he sat drinking rum and bit-
ters with the landlord, two young women, of apparently
doubtful character, entered the house, and ordered a gill of
whisky, which they immediately set about to consume. These
were Mary Paterson or Mitchell and Janet Brown,
both residing with a Mrs. Worthington in Leith Street.
They had been apprehended the previous evening for some
offence against the law, probably for being drunk and quarrel-
some, and lodged in the Canongate Police Station. Between
four and five o'clock in the morning they were liberated, and
went to a house in the vicinity, where they had formerly
lodged, occupied by a Mrs. Laurie, who endeavoured to persuade
them to remain with her. She was unsuccessful, and they left
for S wanton's public house, where they met with Burke.

The women and Burke, it is said, were strangers to each
other, but he, whose conscience had been again quieted by the
liquor he had imbibed, thought he saw in them two fine sub-
jects for the doctors. In his most winning manner he went up
and spoke to them, asked them to have a drink with him, and
ordered a round of rum and bitters. They were not at all
averse to the treat, so they sat down and consumed three gills
at the expense of their smooth-spoken entertainer. At last
Burke had ingratiated himself so much with the girls that he
proposed they should accompany him to his lodgings, near by,

TWO VICTIMS IX THE TOILS. 65

and partake of breakfast with him. His story was that he was
a pensioner, and to Brown, who had some objection to going
with him, he said he conld keep her comfortably for life if she
and her companion, who was quite willing, would go with him.
He talked them round, until they agreed to accompany him.
Purchasing two bottles of whisky he gave one to each of them,
and the trio then set off for Constantine Burke's house in Gibb's
Close, off the Canongate. This Constantine Burke, his brother,
was a married man, with several of a family, and was a scaven-
ger in the employment of the Edinburgh Police establishment.
It was never known whether he and his wife had any com-
plicity in the murders, but it was shrewdly suspected at the
time that they were at least aware of them, especially of the
one that was committed in their house.

When Burke and his two companions arrived at the house
they found that the brother and his wife were newly out of
bed, but had not as yet got time to kindle the fire. The house,
on that account, looked rather gloomy for the reception of
guests, and Burke upbraided his sister-in-law — or landlady as he
wished her to appear — for her carelessness. The fire was, how-
ever, speedily lighted, and a cheerful glow was shed through the
apartment, which even then was nothing very fine. The en-
trance to it was up a narrow wooden trap-stair, and along a
dark passage. The door was only fastened by a latch. The
place itself was but meagrely furnished, the most prominent
articles it contained being a truckle bed, and another with
tattered patch-work curtains ; while on the walls were nailed,
by way of adornment, some tawdry prints. The fire, however,
improved its appearance somewhat, and Mrs. Constantine
Burke and her brother-in-law set about the preparation of
breakfast. Soon there was on the table a plentiful supply of
food, consisting of tea, bread and butter, eggs, and haddocks,
— altogether a feast which could not have been anticipated by
the look of the apartment itself or of its accustomed occupants.
The company sat down, and the conversation became general
and altogether friendly, so that, what with the drink they had
imbibed, and the warmth of their reception, the girls began to
feel quite happy. Constantine Burke left to attend to his daily
employment ; and when the breakfast dishes were cleared off

66 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

the table the two bottles of whisky were produced, and the
debauch, begun at so early an hour, was renewed. Burke and
Mary Paterson drank recklessly, the former to keep up his
courage for the murder he contemplated, and the latter simply
because she liked the liquor ; but Brown was more temperate,
though she did not altogether abstain. Mary at length suc-
cumbed to the potency of the whisky, and she lay back asleep
in her chair. Burke now saw that at least one of his proposed
victims was safe, and his suggestion to Brown that they should
go out and have a walk was agreed to quite readily. It is
difficult at first sight to surmise what can have been his object
in making this movement, but it may find an explanation in
the fact that soon the couple were seated in a public house
with pies and porter before them. The mixture of drinks made
Brown more stupid, and after a while she accompanied the
man back to the house in Gibb's Close, in a very drunken con-
dition, but still retaining some little knowledge of what she
was doing. Again the whisky was produced. While they sat
drinking, Helen M'Dougal, who had entered the house while
they were out, and who had hidden herself behind the
bed-curtains, broke in upon their conversation. The
sister-in-law whispered to Brown that this was Burke's
wife, and M'Dougal fiercely attacked the girls, accusing
them of attempting to corrupt her husband. Brown ex-
plained that neither she nor her own helpless companion
knew Burke was married. M'Dougal having heard this
explanation apologised to Brown and pressed her to resume
her seat, and she then turned with the fury of a tigress upon her
husband, breaking the dishes on the table. Burke threw a
glass which, striking her on the forehead, caused an ugly gash
which bled profusely. Mrs. Constantine Burke rushed out of
the house, and went, it has been assumed, for Hare, and soon
afterwards Burke succeeded in turning his M'Dougal out,
locking the door after her. Mary Paterson slept through all
the hubbub, while Brown stood aside in terror. Burke
endeavoured to induce the latter to sit down again, and she,
though willing enough, was put in so much fear by the noise
made by M'Dougal in the passage leading to the house that
she felt the sooner she was at home it would be the

THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE. 67

better for herself. Finding he could not persuade her to stay,
Burke conducted her past his paramour, and then returned to
the house, where Mary Paterson still lay unconscious. Hare ar-
rived soon afterwards; the two men combined to try their fatal
skill on the intoxicated girl ; and in a few minutes her soul
had fled from her poor frail body. The women were con-
veniently outside, and when they came in the corpse was lying
on the bed covered up. They asked no questions, for they
probably knew as well as if they had witnessed it, what had
been going on. Having completed their work the men left
the house.

In the meantime, Janet Brown had made her way as best
she could to the house of Mrs. Laurie, which she and Paterson
had visited immediately bei ore meeting with Burke. She told,
as coherently as possible, the story of what had happened to
herself and her companion during the day, and Mrs. Laurie,
judging that the company in which they had been was some-
what rough, sent her servant along with .Janet to bring Mary
away. Muddled with the drink she had taken, the girl found
the greatest difficulty in returning to the house she had so re-
cently left. At last she applied for information to Swanston,
the publican, who informed her that Burke was a married
man, and that she would probably find him in his brother's
house in Gibb's Close. Thither she went, and after mistaking
the door she succeeded in getting the place she wanted. Mrs.
Hare was sitting inside, and Avhenever she saw Brown she
jumped towards her as if to strike her, but thinking better of
it, she held back. The girl asked where Mary Paterson had
gone, and they replied that she was out with Burke. The un-
likeliness of the story did not seem to suggest itself to her,
though if she had been in any other than a semi-intoxicated
condition she would have remembered that when she left the
house Mary was totally incapable of walking on account of the
drink she had taken. On the invitation of Hare and his wife
and M'Dougal, she again, for the third time, sat down at the
table to partake of more whisky. Mrs. Laurie's servant, seeing
the state of matters, left Brown and returned to her mistress.

Hare now calculated on a second victim, and he plied
Brown with more liquor, while M'Dougal, to keep up the

68 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE,

appearance, poured forth invective against her husband for
going away with Paterson, who, poor girl, lay dead on the
bed beside them. While this was going on, and the girl was
fast becoming a fit subject for the murdering arts of Hare, the
servant had informed Mrs. Laurie of how matters looked in
Gibb's Close, and she, rather alarmed, sent the girl back to
bring Janet Brown away. In this she succeeded, and Hare,
considering his object frustrated, left the house shortly after
her. Later in the afternoon Brown, partially sobered, returned
again — how like the moth careering recklessly round the
candle that works its destruction ! — and again inquired for Mary.
The answer she received this time was that Burke and her
friend had never returned. Brown went out to search for her,
and with the aid of Mrs. Worthington, with whom she resided,
she found that Mary Paterson had not gone with Burke.
They called again at Constantine Burke's house for an ex-
planation, and the inmates there, seeing that their former
story had been proven untrue, said the girl had gone away
with a packman to Glasgow. This was not at all satisfactory,
but what could they do ? If they had called in the police and
searched the house they would speedily have unravelled the
mystery, but they were, unfortunately for themselves, of a class
whose relationship Avith the authorities was not of the most plea-
sant description, and who, therefore, sought to have as little to
do with them as possible.

About four hours after Mary Paterson's death her murderers
had her body in Dr. Knox's dissecting room, and had received
eight pounds for their forenoon's work. This expedition, in
itself, was rather foolhardy, for while the corpse was cold it
was not very rigid, and presented the appearance of recent
death ; and it was all the more so on account of the fact that
Burke and Hare were supposed to be resurrectionists of the old
type, who robbed graves of their contents. Ferguson, the stu-
dent already mentioned, and one of his companions, thought
they knew the girl, and one of them said she was as like a girl
he had seen in the Canongate only a few hours before as one
pea was to another. But more than that, the girl's hair was in
curl papers, so that all the external appearances were that the
body was fresh, and bad not been buried, They asked Burke

FATE OF MARY PATERSON. 69

where he had obtained the body, and his reply was that he had
purchased it from an old woman residing at the back of the
Canongatei One of the students gave him a pair of scissors,
and he cut off her fine flowing tresses, and these he would pro-
bably sell to a hairdresser to be made up for the use of some
proud dame.

But this was not all. Mary Paterson, in life, was an ex-
ceedingly good-looking girl, — indeed, her fine personal appear-
ance had to a certain extent contributed to her ruin. Her
handsome figure and well-shaped limbs so attracted the
attention of Dr. Knox, that he preserved the body for three
months in spirits, and invited a painter, whose name is sup-
pressed in Burke's confession, to his rooms to see it. Her
friends, however, knew nothing of this, and they searched
everywhere, but without success. For some months Janet
Brown asked Constantine Burke, every time she saw him, if he
had ever heard anything of Mary Paterson since she went
away with the tramp to Glasgow, but he replied to her only
with a growl, and there the matter rested for eight months,
until the great conspiracy against human life was brought to
light. And surely Mary Paterson, notwithstanding all her
faults, was worthy of a better fate. Beautiful and well edu-
cated, she had lost in youth the guiding care of a mother.
Her beauty was a snare to her, and her perverse will, though
accompanied but not modified by a kind heart, greatly tended
to accomplish her downfall.

CHAPTER IX.

Unknown Victims — The Two Old Women — Effy the Cinder
Raker — " A Good Character with the Police" — Burke and
Hare Separate — The Murder of Mrs. Hostler.

IN view of what has already been said as to the serious
discrepancies in the confessions given to the world by Burke,
and considering also that many of the persons murdered, even
according to these confessions, were never sought after by
their friends, if they had any, the impossibility of taking the.

70 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

crimes in their chronological order will be at once evident.
We therefore propose, in the present chapter, to bring together
as many details as can be gathered respecting these unknown
victims, reserving, in the meantime, an account of those more
prominent instances which came within public ken either
through the medium of the trial, or by subsequent inquiry.

One forenoon Mrs. Hare, in the course of her peregrinations,
found herself in the company of an old woman whom she per-
suaded to go with her to her house. There the whisky was,
as usual, produced, and a mid-day carouse indulged in by the
two women ; but Mrs. Hare, it may be presumed, would drink
very sparingly. At this time Hare was at work unloading the
canal boats at Port-Hop etoun, and Burke was busy mending
shoes in his cellar. That this was so may be taken as indi-
cating that in point of time this was one of the earliest
adventures of the terrible quartette, for latterly, when they
were in receipt of a large and, as they made it, a steady income
from the doctors, the men threw aside all honest work, and
devoted themselves to their murderous employment. However,
at this period, they were sometimes engaged in the creditable
affairs of life. When Hare came home for dinner his wife had
her unknown acquaintance in bed, in a helplessly drunken
state, although she had had some trouble before she got that
length. Three times had Mrs. Hare put the old woman to bed,
but she would not sleep, and every time she plied her with
more drink until at length she attained her purpose. Hare,
seeing the woman in this condition, carefully placed a part of
the bed-tick over her mouth and nose, and went out to resume
his work. When he returned in the evening the woman was
dead, having been suffocated by the bedding he had placed
over her. Burke, if his own statement is to be credited, had
nothing to do with this cool and deliberate murder, but if not
an accessory to the fact he was certainly one after it, for he
assisted Hare to undress the body, place it in a tea-chest, and
convey it that night to Dr. Knox's rooms, where they received
and divided the usual fee. The name of this woman was not
known, even to Burke, and all that he could tell of her was the
manner of her death, and that she had some time previously
lodged in Hare's house for one night.

BURKE AND Til rE POLICE. 71

As a set-off against the crime just mentioned, there is one
in which Burke acknowledged that he alone was engaged.
This was the murder of an old woman in May, 1828. She
came into the house as a lodger, and of her own accord she
took drink until she became insensible. Hare was not in the
house at the time, and Burke, by the usual method of suffoca-
tion, produced her death. No time was lost in conveying the
body to Surgeon's Square.

In the murder of an old cinder woman, however, both the
men wrere engaged. During the course of her work of search-
ing for small articles of inconsiderable value among the
contents of ashpits and cinder heaps, and about the coach-
houses, this woman, familiarly known as Effy, came across
small pieces of leather wThich she was in the habit of selling to
Burke, who used them for mending the shoes entrusted him for
repair. One day he took her into Hare's stable, which he used
as a workshop, and gave her drink, possibly on the pretence of
finishing some business transaction between them; it may have
been in part payment of scraps of leather he had received from
her, for a murder never seems to have been committed
except when the funds were at a low ebb, and at the rate at
which the confederates were carousing and indulging in finery,
that was very frequent. Hare joined his companion in the work
of making the woman incapable, and she was soon so overcome
by the liquor she had consumed, that she lay down
to sleep on a quantity of straw in the corner. Their time for
action had again arrived, and they carefully placed a cloth
over her so as to stop her breathing. " She was then," pro-
ceeds the confession, "carried to Dr. Knox's, Surgeon Square,
and sold for £10." This is always the end of the matter, and
for a few paltry pounds these persons were willing to take the
life of a fellow creature.

But in spite of all his loose way of living, and, as we have
seen, somewhat drunken habits, Burke had a good character
with the police, and on one occasion made them the means of
furnishing him with a victim. A "good character with the
police " in the locality in which he lived would be of some con-
sideration. It was then inhabited, and still is, by the lowest
classes of the community, and the criminal element would be

12 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

prominent. Burke, so far as is known, had always been able
to keep clear of the minions of the law, and in this respect his
character would seem to them to be of a better type than those
who engaged in a less shocking, if more open, form of crime.
They would look upon him as a poor workman, a little foolish,
perhaps, but still, as the place went, comparatively respectable ;
yet, as they found out latterly, he was the most wicked criminal
in the city, with, perhaps, the exception of his accomplice Hare.
Itseems strange thatheshouldhavebeenabletomanage the police
in such a way as to make them serve his vile purposes, but it
must be remembered that he was a man possessed of consider-
able assurance and not a little of that winning tongue
proverbially belonging to his race. However, this was the
way the incident came about.

Early one morning, when probably on the outlook for some
poor unfortunate whom he could drug with whisky and put to
death, he came across Andrew Williamson, a policeman,
assisted by his neighbour, dragging a drunken woman to the
watch-house in the West Port. They had found her seated on
a stair, but thought she would be safer and more comfortable
in a police cell. And so she would have been if they had
carried out their intention. Burke saw in her a victim who
had herself half done the work he contemplated, so he went to
the constables, and said: — "Let the woman go to her lodgings."
The men were willing to do so, but they did not know
where she lived. Burke proffered his services to take her
home, and they, presuming he knew something about her,
gladly gave him the charge of their loathsome burden. The
murderer did not look upon her in that light — she was to him
a valuable prize, loathsome though she might be as a drunken,
debauched woman. He took her to Hare's house. There is
hardly any need to say what was done with her. That she
fell into Burke's hands in such a condition indicates her end.
That night she was murdered by Burke and Hare in "the same
way as they did the others," and for her body they received
ten pounds from Dr. Knox.

But the last of these, what may be called, isolated cases,
t< )' >k place in the house of John Broggan, whither Burke and his
wife removed in Midsummer, 1828. Why this change of residence

MURDER OF MRS. TJOSTLEk. 7:;

took place has never been satisfactorily explained. Some hav<
supposed that the parties quarrelled, and there is undoubted
evidence of a dispute between Burke and Have about the time
of the removal, but, certainly, if the separation of residence
was due to such an event, they do not seem to have kept up
the ill-feeling long, for they were soon together at work al
their shocking trade. Others, again, have thought it more
probable that the change was due to a desire to extend the
business in which they were now engaged, or to avert any sus-
picions that may have been raised by the frequent dis-
appearance of people seen to enter Log's Lodging House.
Either of these suppositions is feasible, but, as will be shown
later on, a dispute as to the division of the money received
from Dr. Knox in payment for a body was the primary cause
of the separation ; though, after the difference between them
was settled, the change may have been found very convenient.
Broggan's house was situated only a short distance from the
abode of the Hares, and into it Burke and M'Dougal first went
in the capacity of lodgers, but it was afterwards rented by
them.

In the month of September, or, perhaps, October, after this
removal had taken place, a widow woman of the name of
Hostler, was washing for some days in Broggan's house. This
woman's husband, a street porter, had died but a short time
previously, and she was forced to seek for employment at
washing and dressing, and, during the harvesting season, in the
fields. The Broggans had engaged her to wash their clothes, and
after a full day's work she went back the day after to finish up.
When this was done Burke pressed her to take a drop whisky
along with him. They soon were in a happy state, and the
sound of merriment was heard by the neighbours, who, how-
ever, paid little attention to the matter, very possibly because
Mrs. Broggan had but a little before been confined, and their
idea was that the "blythmeat" and the "dram" incident to
such an occasion, were going round. Burke, in his second con-
fession, said Broggan and his wife were not in the house at the
time, but the fact already mentioned rather tells against the
latter's absence. Whoever were present seemed to be enjoying
themselves. Mrs. Hostler drank heartily, and as the liquor

74 HIS TOR Y OF B URKE A ND II A RE.

warmed her blood and raised her .spirits, she Bang her
favourite song, "Home, Sweet Home." Burke, notwithstand-
ing all the black sin on his soul, and the evil purpose in his
mind, sang too, and the mirth to the outsiders seemed real and
legitimate But the drink she had imbibed made the woman
sleepv, and at last she was forced to lie down on the bed.
Hare by this time had joined his accomplice, and they speedily
smothered the poor woman. She did not die without a severe
struggle. In her hand at the time of death she had ninepence-
halfpemry, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the
murderers were able to open the tightly-grasped hand to take
away the money. The body was packed into a box, and
placed in a coal-house in the passage until an opportunity
occurred for taking it to Surgeon's Square. That evening the
corpse of 'Mrs. Hostler lay in Dr. Knox's rooms, and Burke and
Hare were richer by eight pounds, though they had to answer
for another murder.

CHAPTER X.

Old Mary Haldane — The End of her Debauch — Peggy Haldane
in Search of her Mother — Mother and Daughter United in
Death.

But returning to the cases about which more is known than
those spoken of in the last chapter, or which possessed features
that have given them a greater hold on the public mind, the
first to call for notice are the murders of an old woman named
Haldane, and her daughter Margaret, which took place before
Burke changed his residence.

Old Mary Haldane, it seems, was called " Mistress " merely
out of courtesy, for she had no claim to the title. A woman
of some considerable personal charms iu her youth, she had
given way to the deceiver, and at last found herself on the
streets, a drunken, worthless vagrant. She had three daugh-
ters, one -of whom married a, tinsmith named Clark, carrying on
business in the High Street of Edinburgh ; the second, at the

OLD MAR Y HALDA NE. 75

time of her mother's death, was serving a term of fourteen
years' transportation for some offence ; while the third was
simply following* the unfortunate example of one who should
have sheltered her from evil influences. Old Mary was well-
known to Burke and Hare and their wives, having at one time
been a denizen of Log's lodging-house. According to Burke's
own admission this was how the murder was committed: —
"She was a lodger of Hare's. She went into Hare's stable ;
the door was left open, and she being drunk, and falling
asleep among some straw, Hare and Burke murdered her the
same way as they did the others, and kept the body all night
in the stable, and took her to Dr. Knox's next day. She had
but one tooth in her mouth, and that was a very large one in
front." This account, however, hardly agrees with what was
brought out by subsequent inquiries. Burke, it would appear,
had long thought of her as a proper subject for his murdering
craft, and one day, when he felt that something further would
have to be done to renew their exhausted exchequer, he wont
out to look for Mary. She had left Hare's lodgings, and
was then away on a drunken debauch. His "search was un-
fruitful at the time, but two days later he saw her standing at
the close leading to the house in which she then resided. She
was then in the condition of the. man who said he was " sober
and sorry for it," for she readily agreed to accept the dram
Burke offered her if she went along with him. Mary was well-
known in the district, and the gamins regarded her as a butt
for their little practical jokes aud coarse fun. They ran after
her as she passed along the Grassmarket towards the West
Port, all the more so as she was in the company of a well-
dressed man, because Burke's personal appearance and habit
had been improved by the large sums of money he was every
now and then receiving from Dr. Knox for his ghastly merchan-
dise. Many persons noticed the strangely assorted couple, and
although they wondered a little at the time to see them going
along the street in so friendly a manner, they soon forgot ;ill
about it, until the disclosures of the trial brought the incident
back to their recollections. As Burke and Mrs. Haldane were
on their way along, they met Hare walking in the opposite
direction. Hare, if he were not previously aware of his

76 HIS TOR Y OF B URKE , I NT) 11 A R K

colleague's object, now quickly divined it, and stood to speak
with them. Mary agreed to accompany her old landlord to
Lis house in Tanner's Close ; and Burke, having chased away
the children who were tormenting the poor woman, left them
to transact some other business. He was not, however, long
behind them in arriving at Hare's house, where the two women
— M'Dougal and Mrs. Hare — had provided whisky for the
good of the company. The bottle was passed round, and Mrs.
Haldane partook greedily of its contents, so greedily, indeed,
that in a marvellously short time she was helplessly intoxicated.
Then foil owed the usual process of "burking," and Mary Haldane,
unfortunate in life, was equally unfortunate in her death. Of
course the women had retired from the apartment before the last
scene was enacted. Probably they did not care to see the end,
for it was inconvenient if they should be called upon as wit-
nesses, though they must have known what was being done,
as they certainly contributed largely to bring about the com-
mission of the deed. This was but a part of the method, and
in this, as in other respects, it was carefully carried out. What
Dr. Knox or his assistants gave them for Mary Haldane's body
is not known, but it has been suspected that, providing a regular
and good supply, the conspirators were now receiving twelve
or fourteen pounds for every " subject " they took to Surgeon's
Square.

But this was not the end of the Haldane tragedy — there was
yet another victim from that already unfortunate family.
Mention has been made of the daughter Margaret, who was
only too closely following in the footsteps of her wayward
mother. Notwithstanding the terrible career of these two
unfortunates, there seems to have been as strong a bond of
affection between them as should always exist between a
daughter and a mother. Margaret, or Peggy, Haldane soon
missed her mother, and after the lapse of a day or two set out
to look for her. It was nothing new for the old woman to be
away for a short time, but on this occasion the absence was
more prolonged than usual. She went about asking every one
she knew if they had scon Mary Haldane, and her " begratten
face " and tawdry finery drew sympathy from many to whom
that feeling was an almost total stranger. Many gave her

MtJRbER OF PEGGY TTM.D.Wi:. 77

what help they could to trace her missing mother, but for a
time they were without a clue, until David Rymer, a grocer
in Portsburgh, mentioned to a neighbour that he had seen
Mary Haldane in the company of Hare on the way to
his house. The girl felt that her search was now at an
end, and so it was, for she would soon be beside her lost
parent. At Hare's house she called in the full expectation
of finding her mother, perhaps it might be in the midst
of a debauch, but that was nothing out of the way, and
surely she would get her home with her. On entering the
house Peggy met Mrs. Hare and Helen M'Dougal, who, to her
surprise, denied that Mary Haldane had recently been with
them, and who, in the fear of discovery, endeavoured to
strengthen their repudiation by abusing the old woman and
her daughter. Hare, in an adjoining apartment, heard what
was going on, and set to work to deceive the girl in a much
more astute manner. Blank denial could only send her back
to those who had helped her to trace her mother to his house,
suspicion might be raised, and inquiry, he saw, could only
result in complete discovery. He therefore came out of his
den, and, silencing the clamorous tongues of his two female
associates, he assured Peggy that he could give her the
explanation of her mother's disappearance. In his heart he
knew no one could throw more light than he on the matter,
but it was his purpose rather to darken than illuminate the
inquiring mind of the poor searcher. He invited her into the
adjoining room to taste the inevitable "dram" — drink and die.
She was not averse to a drop of whisky, and she sat down at
the table where her mother but a few days before had indulged
in her last debauch, aye, and where many before had done the
same. Burke had noticed Peggy enter the house, and he
followed soon after her. It was wonderful how readily these
two men closed round their victims. He sat down at the table
with Hare and the girl, and the former began his explanation.
!!'• admitted, of course, that he had seen old Mary, for there
was a policy in that, but he added that she left him to go on
a visit to some friends she had at Mid-Calder, a few miles to
the west of Edinburgh, it must have appeared a little strange
to Peggy that her mother should have gone visiting among her

78 HISTORY OF BURKE AND BARK.

family friends without letting her daughter know of her
intention, but then Mary's ways were somewhat erratic ;
and the hope that a walk to Mid-Calder would discover
her mother, combined with the benumbing effects of
the whisky she was drinking, quieted her anxieties. The
potation wrought speedily, and the young woman passed from
the talkative and merry state of drunkenness to the dull and
stupid, until, at last, she was ready for the sacrifice. She was
so drunk, says Burke, that he did not think she was sensible of
her death, as she made no resistance whatever.

Burke's confession regarding Peggy Haldane's murder
has been proven by inquiry to be inaccurate in some
details ; but there is no reason to doubt his account of
the manner of it. He says it was committed in Brog-
gan's house. That was not the case, for the crime oc-
curred in Log's lodging house, of which Hare was then the
landlord. He said, " Hare had no hand in it," and that " this
was the only murder that Burke committed by himself, but
what Hare was connected with ; " but this statement is contra-
dicted by another of Burke's own confessions ; and, further, we
have seen that if Hare took no active part in the murder itself,
he was at least accessory to it. However, as to the manner
there need be little doubt : — " She was laid with her face down-
wards, and he (Burke) pressed her down, and she was soon
suffocated." What a dreadful death ! Yet no more dreadful
than that met by all the victims of the soul-hardened con-
spirators. The body was put into a tea chest, and taken to
the rooms of Dr. Knox. Mary and Peggy Haldane were again
under the same roof: they were again together, but in Death !
Burke acknowledged that he received eight pounds for this
victim, but, as he said, he did not always keep mind of what
he got for a subject, though he had no doubt Dr. Knox's books
would show. These books, however, never saw the light of
day.

A NARROW ESCAPE. 79

CHAPTER XL

A Narrow Escape — The Old Irishwoman and her Gram/son —
Their Murder — Hares Horse rising in Judgment.

Still the wholesale slaughter of weak human beings went on,
The murderers never sought a strong, able man upon whom
to try their fatal skill ; they always chose the old and the silly
in body or in mind, those who could be plied with drink.

Burke, one day in June, 1828, was wandering about the
streets of Edinburgh looking for another " subject." In the
High Street he came across a frail old man whose physical
condition bespoke him an easy victim, and whose bleared eyes
and drink-sodden face showed he would quickly respond to the
fatal bribe of a glass or two of whisky. The two men were
just becoming fast friends, and were about to adjourn to the
den in Log's lodging house, when an old woman, leading a
blind boy of about twelve years of age, came up to them. She
asked if they could direct her to certain friends for whom she
was seeking. Burke then discovered her to be an Irishwoman,
who had walked all the way from Glasgow, sleeping at nights
by the roadside or in farm-yards, and whose simple question
showed that she was entirely strange to Edinburgh. This was
a better opportunity, he thought, and he parted with the old
man to make friends with the newcomers. He soon found out
from the woman's own statement who she was, and for whom she
was in search ; and on the strength of a common nativity he un-
dertook to befriend her, professing that he knewwhereherfriends
resided and that he would take her to them. The boy, it
seemed, was her grandson, and he was deaf and dumb ; Burke
even thought he was weak in his mind. So he took them to
Hare's house at the West Port, feeling certain that he had ob-
tained a prize, if not two of them. He knew that being strangers
there would be less chance of an inquiry after them, should they
disappear, than if they had been denizens of Edinburgh, though
experience had shown him that even the best-known figures in
the district could drop out of sight without any serious search
being made for them. Again the bottle was set on the table,
and the old Irish woman was invited to take a drop until her

80 HISTORY OF BURKE ANT) HA RK

friends should come in, for it was told her that they resided
there. It is the old, sickening story. The whisky operated
quickly on the wearied brain, the woman lay down on the bed,
and at the dead hour of the night she was murdered by the
human ghouls. How truly can Poe's lines be applied to
them : —

" They are neither man nor woman —
They are neither brute nor human —
They are Ghouls."

The dreadful work completed, they stripped the body, and laid
it on the bed, covering it with the bed-tick and bed-clothes.
All this time, unconscious of the tragedy going on in the little
room, the poor boy was in the one adjoining in the charge of
the women, who were, in their peculiar way, looking to his
comfort. He was becoming anxious at his grandmother's pro-
longed absence from him, even though she was in the same
house, and he gave such expression to his anxiety as his
dumbness would permit. The men wondered what they should
do with him. It would be imprudent, they thought, to slay
him also and take his body with that of his grandmother to
Surgeon's Square. Yet what could they do with him % They
might wander him in the city, and there would be little fear
that he would be able to tell how or where his grandmother
had disappeared, for he was deaf and dumb and " weak in his
mind." On this point, however, they could not agree, and they
parted, Hare to get something to put the body into, and
Burke to consider the whole bearings of the important matter
under discussion. Burke, in his second confession, says, " They
took the boy in their arms, and carried him to the room, and
murdered him in the same manner, and laid him alongside of
his grandmother." Leighton, however, obtained some further
information, and in the light of it the tragedy becomes
even more horrible : — " The night passed," he says, " the
boy having, by some means, been made to understand that
his protectress was in bed unwell ; but the mutterings of the
mute might have indicated that he had fears which, perhaps,
he could not comprehend. The morning found the resolution
of the prior night unshaken ; and in that same back-room where

HARE'S HORSE IX JUDGMENT. 81

the grandmother lay, Burke took the boy on his knee, and, as
he expressed it, broke his back. No wonder that he described
tin's scene as the one that lay most heavily upon his heart, and
said that be was haunted by the recollection of the piteous ex-
pression of the wistful eyes, as the victim looked in his face."

The bodies of the old Irishwoman and her poor grandson
lay side by side on the bed for an hour, until their murderers
could get something into which they could be packed. The
tea-chest so often used had gone astray, or been used up, so
it was no longer available, but they obtained an old herring-
barrel, which " was perfectly dry ; there was no brine in it."
Into this receptacle the two bodies were crushed, and it was
carried into Hare's stable, Avhere it remained until the next
day. This cargo for the doctors required much more careful
handling than any that had yet taken to Surgeon's Square,
and Hare's horse and cart — which he had used in his hawking
journeys throughout the country — were pressed into the ser-
vice. But an extraordinary occurrence took place, nearly
ending in discovery. The barrel was carefully put into the
cart, and the old hack owned by Hare started for Dr. Knox's
rooms with its loathsome burden. At the Meal-Market, how-
ever, it took a " dour " fit, and move it would not. A large
crowd had gathered round the stubborn animal, and assisted
the drivers to lash and beat it, but all to no effect. Burke
thought the horse had risen up in judgment upon them, and
he trembled for exposure — conscious guilt made a coward of
him. Fortunately for them no one made any inquiry as to the
contents of the barrel, for attention was directed mainly to
the horse, and the murderers were safe. They engaged a
porter with a " hurley-barrow," and the barrel was transferred
to his care. The man had less scruples than the horse, and
dragged his vehicle after him to Surgeon's Square. Hare
accompanied him, and Burke went on in advance, fearful lest
some other awkwardness should occur, and the stubbornness
of the horse had made him doubtful it they would manage
safely through the transaction. Arrived at Dr. Knox's rooms,
Burke lifted the barrel and earned it inside. Another draw-
back took place in the unpacking of the bodies. They
had been put into the barrel when they were in a

82 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

comparatively pliable state, but now they were cold and stiff,
having been doubled up in it for nearly a whole day. The
students gave a helping-hand in the work, and when it was
accomplished and the bodies laid out, sixteen pounds were paid
down to Burke and Hare. But was it not strange that no
questions should have been asked ? or that no suspicions of
foul play should have been raised ? The horse, it turned out,
was fairly used up. Hare had it shot in a neighbouring tan-
yard, and it was then found that the poor animal had two large
dried-up sores on his back, which had been stuffed with cotton,
and covered over with a piece of another horse's skin. No
wonder, then, that the brute refused to go further.

CHAPTER XII.

Jealousy — An Undeveloped Plot — Hare Cheats Burke, and they
Separate — The Foul Work Continued — Murder of Ann
M'Dougal

While all this was going on, these four persons, bound
together, as they were, by the joint commission of terrible
crimes, had their little disagreements among themselves. The
women were jealous of each other, and there is every reason
to believe that each man was suspicious that his neighbour, in
the case of discovery, would turn informer, as the result after-
wards proved. To those around them they all appeared to be
in a most prosperous condition. The women dressed them-
selves in a style that was considered highly superior in the
locality in which they lived ; the men also were better clad
than members of the same class usually were ; and their mode
of living — the extent of their drinking, too — showed that
somehow or other they had plenty of money in their posses-
sion. These things attracted the attention of the neighbours,
but if they had any suspicion that matters were not altogether
right, they did not give expression to it. Under all this outward
appearance of comfort and well-doing there was a canker. The
women, as already said, were jealous, the men were suspicious,
and these feelings joined to produce the plan for another

AN UNDEVELOPED PLOT. 83

tragedy in their own little circle, which was prevented either
by the intervention of an accident, or by the fact that Burko
had still a little kindliness left in his blood-stained heart. Hare
and his wife conld not trust Helen M'Dougal to keep their
secret, because, as Burke himself expressed it, " she was a
Scotch woman." It is difficult to reconcile this statement with
another made by Burke, that the women did not know what
was going on when the murders were being committed.
Besides, as we have seen, the women helped towards assisting
the poor victims into a state in which they could be easily
operated upon, and though they may not have been active
participants in the taking away of life, or witnesses of the last
struggle between the men and the creatures whom they so
quickly ushered into eternity, there can be no reasonable doubt
that they were aware of the dreadful adventure in which they
were all to a greater or less extent engaged. Had the women
been ignorant of all this there would have been no need — it
would, indeed, have been impossible — for the one to urge that
the other should be put out of the way, on the principle that
" dead men and women tell no tales." However, notwithstand-
ing these minor discrepancies in Burke's confessions, we have
his own definite statement that Mrs. Hare urged him to murder
Helen M'Dougal. The plan suggested was that he should go
with her to the country for a few weeks, and that he should
write to Hare telling him that his wife was dead and buried.
No more of the plan is given, but it is to be presumed that the
murder would actually take place in the little back room which
had been the scene of so many tragedies — the little human
shambles in Hare's house — and that the body should be sold
like the rest to Dr. Knox and his fellows. This plan, as has
been indicated, was not carried out. Burke says he would not
agree to it. That may have been, but it is rather strange that
about this time Helen M'Dougal and he should go to Madclis-
ton, near Falkirk, to visit some of her friends there.

The time at which this visit to Maddiston was made was
when the villagers made a procession round a stone in that
neighbourhood — Burke thought it was the anniversary of the
Battle of Bannockburn. This would fix the date as the 24th
of June, 1828. They were away for some time, but whether

84 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

through scruples of conscience, on the part of Burke, or be-
cause no fitting opportunity of putting her out of the way
occurred, Helen M'Dougal returned to Edinburgh with him.
Arrived there they found a very different state of matters than
had existed when they went away. Before, Hare and his wife
were sadly in want of money, some of their goods having been
laid in pawn ; but now they were in the possession of plenty
of money, and were spending it freely. There must be some
reason for this change, and a suspicion was raised in Burke's
mind that Hare had taken advantage of his absence to do a
little business on his own account, without making him any
allowance from the proceeds. The agreement among them,
according to Burke, was that if ten pounds were obtained for
a body, six went to Hare, and four to Burke, the latter having
to pay Mrs. Hare one pound of his share, for the use of the house,
if the murder took place there. This arrangement was in
itself scarcely equitable to Burke, assuming it to be correct, and
it was therefore all the harder on him when he found that his
colleague was attempting to rob him of his due. He con-
sequently taxed Hare with endeavouring to cheat him, but
this was indignantly denied. Not satisfied, however, Burke
paid a visit to Dr. Knox's rooms, and was there informed that
during his absence Hare had brought a subject and had been
paid for it. Returning to the house he upbraided his partner,
charging him with unfairness and breach of honour. Hare
still denied the accusation, and from high words they got to
blows. They fought long and fiercely, so that the neighbours,
attracted by the noise, gathered round the door to witness
what was going on ; but neither of the combatants allowed a
word to escape them as to the cause of the quarrel between
them. At last they were exhausted — possibly Hare was
worsted, for Burke, without mentioning the fight, stated in his
Courant confession that " Hare then confessed what he had
done." He does not say whether or not he received any por-
tion of the proceeds from the sale of the body of the victim
murdered during his absence.

It was probably owing to this quarrel that Burke and Helen
M'Dougal removed from Hare's house in Tanner's Close to
that of -John Broggan, whose wife was- a cousin of Burke.

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BURKE'S NEW RESIDENCE. 85

This house was not far from their old lodgings, being but two
closes eastward in Portsburgh. Grindlay's Close was between
it and Tanner's Close, and it was entered from a back court to
which admission could be gained from the street either by an
unnamed passage, or by Weaver's Close, still further east.
Leighton was able to gain a detailed description of this place,
and it is well worth quoting : — " In a land to the eastward of
that occupied by Hare, in Tanner's Close, you reached it after
descending a common stair and turning to the right, where a
dark passage conducted to several rooms, at the end and at
right angles with which passage there was an entrance leading
solely to Burke's room, and which could be closed by a door so
as to make it altogether secluded from the main entry. The
room was a very small place, more like a cellar than the dwell-
ing of a human being. A crazy chair stood by the fire-place,
old shoes and implements of shoemaking lay scattered on the
floor ; a cupboard against the wall held a few plates and
bowls, and two beds, coarse wooden frames, without posts or
curtains, were filled with old straw and rugs." It was in this
house that Mrs. Hostler, as already described, was murdered,
and it was in this house that the last of the long series of
tragedies was to be enacted. The criminals were gradually
approaching their doom, but they had become reckless and
bold. They had been so successful in the past, that they
hoped to be equally so in the future, forgetful that the mills
of God grind slow, but sure.

We have seen that while Burke, according to his own
declaration, had murdered Peggy Haldane in this house off
Weaver's Close, unaided by his old accomplice (though both
these details are doubtful), yet they were united in the suffoca-
tion of Mrs. Hostler. They really could not work separately —
they were so bound together by the crimes they had com-
mitted that an ordinary quarrel, though it should have at first
made them live in different houses, could hardly disjoin their
interests. This could only have been done by one of them
informing on the other. But they were again united in their
horrid labours.

In the course of the autumn there arrived inEdinburgh to visit
Helen M'Dougal a cousin of her former husband. This was a

86 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

young married woman named Ann M'Dougal, who probably
came from the district around Falkirk. There is no doubt she
would be received in the most friendly manner, which she
would heartily reciprocate, for it is more than probable that
her visit was consequent upon an invitation given her by
Helen M'Dougal and Burke when they were in Stirlingshire
during the summer. But may not that invitation, given in all
apparent kindness, have been simply a snare to draw the poor
woman from her home so that she might be a more convenient
victim in Edinburgh ? may Burke not have given it so that he
might make Ann M'Dougal a sacrifice instead of his paramour,
as had been suggested to him by Mrs. Hare ? But whether
this was a premeditated plan, or whether the young woman
came to Edinburgh on a genuine invitation or of her own
accord, is quite immaterial. It is at least certain that once she
was in the house of her relatives her fate, so far as they were
concerned, was sealed. After she had been coming and going
for a few days, Hare and Burke plied her with whisky until
she was in an incapably drunken condition, and had to be put
to bed. Burke then told Hare that he would have the most to
do to her, as he did not like to begin first on her, she being a
distant relative. What an amount of feeling this displays !
It would have been interesting to have known how Burke
argued with himself in coming to this decision. However,
relative or not, he was not at all averse to allow Hare to kill
her when she was supposed to be under his protection, and
what was more, he was willing to help Hare once a beginning
had been made ; he was even anxious to share the price her
body would bring at the dissecting-rooms. Hare then set
about his portion of the work. He held the woman's mouth
and nose to stop the breathing, and Burke threw himself across
the body, holding down her arms and legs. Of course life
could not long continue under these conditions, and Ann
M'Dougal lay murdered in the house of a friend, and by the
heart and hand of a friend — " a distant friend," as Burke put
it to his accomplice. The murder was committed in the after-
noon. It is surely a remarkable thing that if Helen M'Dougal
kneW nothing of the work in which her reputed, husband and
Hare were engaged, she should have allowed her relative to

MURDER OF ANN M'DOUGAL. 87

be murdered ; or that if this was the first she learned of it,
she should have been so ready to let the matter rest. But of
course she was cognisant of it all along. Burke was at no
regular employment, and yet the money was to hand in larger
quantities than they could ever have expected from the c< >1 >-
bling of shoes.

The two men next set about making arrangements for the
transfer of the body to Surgeon's Square. They saw Paterson,
Dr. Knox's porter, who gave them a fine trunk to put it in.
When this was done Broggan, who had been out at his work,
came home, and made inquiries about the trunk standing on
the floor-head, for he knew that neither he nor his lodgers
possessed an article like it. Burke then gave him two or three
drams, " as there was always plenty of whisky going at these
times," to keep him quiet. He went out again, Burke and
Hare carried the trunk and its contents to Surgeon's Square,
receiving ten pounds for it. On their return they each gave
Broggan thirty shillings, and he left Edinburgh a few days
afterwards for Glasgow, it was thought. This money payment
brings out the duplicity of Hare in a remarkable manner, and
shows that the cunning by which he afterwards saved himself
from the scaffold was no new development, Broggan, it
would seem, had practically discovered that there was some-
thing wrong. The murderers saw that it would be necessary
to give him " hush-money,'* and to endeavour to get him to
leave the city. But Hare was cautioner for Broggan's rent,
which amounted to three pounds, so that if the man left the
city there was every probability that the payment of the rent
would fall on him. He therefore proposed to Burke that they
should each give thirty shillings to enable Broggan to pay the
rent, and to this Burke readily agreed, as he was glad to see
the man out of the way. Broggan, however, spoiled this plot by
going away with the money, and, as Burke said in his second
confession, " the rent is not paid yet." But Burke was
victimised all the same, as he was afterwards at the trial, by
his more astute colleague who should have accompanied him
to the gallows.

The relatives of Ann M'Dougal made inquiries about her,
but they could find no tr^ce; though it is recorded that on

88 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

seeking her at the house of Burke's brother, in the Canongate,
Helen M'Dougal, under the influence of drink, no doubt, told
them they need not trouble themselves about her, as she was
murdered and sold long before. They did not seem to have
taken much notice of the remark, or if they did they must have
concluded that the disappearance of Ann was due to the
workings of the band of resurrectionists, to whose existence the
people of Edinburgh were gradually being awakened by the
numerous and frequent disappearances. But suspicion had
not yet alighted on Burke and his associates.

CHAPTER XIII.

James Wilson, " Daft Jamie " — Some Anecdotes concerning Mm
— Daft Jamie and Boby Aid.

Perhaps none of the murders committed by Burke and Hare
caused so much popular regret as that of James Wilson, known
as " Daft Jamie." He was one of those wandering naturals
known to everybody, and being a lad who, while deficient in
intellect, was kind at heart, he was a universal favourite, only
the very small and the very impudent boys troubling him.
Here is a quotation from a small publication issued shortly after
the mystery of his death was cleared up, which gives us some
knowledge of his manners : — " He was a quiet, harmless being,
and gave no person the smallest offence whatever; he was
such a simpleton that he would not fight to defend himself,
though he were ever so ill-used, even by the smallest boy.
Little boys, about the age of five and six, have frequently
been observed by the citizens of Edinburgh going before him
holding up their fists, squaring, and saying they would fight
him ; Jamie would have stood up like a knotless thread, and
said, with tears in his eyes, that he would not fight, for it was
only bad boys who fought ; the boys would then give him a
blow, and Jamie would have run off, saying, 'That wiz nae
sair, man, ye canna catch me.' Then about a thousan' gets
(young brats of children), hardly out o' the egg-shell, would
have taken flight after him, bauling out, ' Jamie, Jamie, Daft

JAMflS WlLSOtf, « n.\rr jam//:;- 89

Jamie.' Sometimes lie would have stopped ami turned round
to them, banging- his brow, squinting his eyes; shooting out
his lips < which was a sigh of his being angry), saying, ' What
way dae ye ca' me daft ? ' ' Ye irj the little gets would have
bauled out. 'I'm no, though,' said Jamie, 'as sure's death;
devil tak me, I'm no daft at a'.' ' Ye ir, ye ir,' the gets would
have bauled out. He then would have held up his large fist,
which was like a Dorby's (mason's) mell, saying, ' If ye say I'm
daft, I'll knock ye domi.' He would then have whirled round
on his heel and ran off again, acting the race-horse."

Such was Daft Jamie Wilson. He was born on the 27th
November, 1809, in Edinburgh. His father died when he was
about twelve years of age ; and his mother being a hawker, he
was left, during her absence, pretty much to his own devices.
He generally wandered about the streets, getting a meal here
and a few pence there, eking out a livelihood by the good-will
of the people, who as a rule were very kind to him. Many
stories are told of him, and a few are well worth repeating.

One afternoon in the summer of 1820, Jamie set off with a
number of boys in search of birds' nests. He stayed so long
that his mother became alarmed, and went out to look for him.
During her absence Jamie arrived at the house, ravenous with
hunger, and he was so impatient that he could not wait until
his mother returned, so he broke open the door. Once in, he
sought every corner of the house for food. In a moveable
wooden cupboard he found a loaf, and when reaching up to
lay hold of it he overbalanced himself, bringing cupboard and
its contents to the floor. The dishes were all broken, and a
great amount of damage was done. When the mother came
in and saw what Jamie had been about, she was so angry that
she attacked him with a long leather strap, and gave him such
a beating that he left the house, and would not reside in it
afterwards. He preferred to sleep on stairs, or behind walls,
except when some one offered him accommodation for the
night.

Jamie, like other people, had his likes and dislikes. He was
very fond of some of the students attending the University,
and to them he would talk readily, even offering them a pinch
out of his " sneeshing mill."' This article was a curiosity, and

90 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

along with it he carried a brass snuff-spoon in which were
seven holes, the middle hole being Sunday, and the others
round it the days of the week. He was of a statistical turn
of mind, and could tell how many lamps there were in the city,
how many days in the year, and such like. Many little
conundrums he considered his own particular property, and he
was highly offended if any one anticipated him in their answer.
He liked best when they replied, " I gie it up," and left him to
supply the solution himself. What a pleasure it gave Daft
Jamie to be asked — " In what month of the year do the ladies
talk least ? " for he could say — " The month o' February, be-
cause there wiz least days in it." When he was asked — " Why
is a jailer like a musician? " he replied, " Because he maun tak'
care o' his key ; " and the question, " What is the cleanest
meat a dirty cook can make ready ? " gave him the opportunity
of saying, " A hen's egg is cleanest, for she canna get her
fingers in't, t' tak' a slake o't."

" I can tell ye a' a guess," Jamie would have said to a crowd
of idlers who might have gathered round him, " I can tell
ye a' a guess, that nae body kens, nor nae body can guess't."
" What is't, Jamie % " would be the eager question, and highly
pleased, the poor fellow would repeat, what most of his
audience had often heard before : —

" Tho' I black an' dirty am,
An black, as black can be ;
There's many a lady that will come,
An' by the haun tak me."

" Now," he would continue, " no nane o' ye guess canna that."
" Ah no, Jamie," some one would reply, " we canna guess that
fickly ane, wha learned ye a' thae fickly guesses 1 " " It wiz
my half step-mither," he usually answered, " for she's a canty
body, for she's aye as canty as a kitten when we're a' sittin'
beside her round the fire-side, she tells us heaps o' funny stories,
but I dinna mind them a'." " Ah ! I ken your guess, Jamie,"
some tantalising bystander would remark, " its a tea kettle."
Jamie was fairly discomfited, and he would run away crying,
" Becuz ye ken, becuz somebody telt ye."

Half-witted and all as he was, Jamie was wonderfully

DAFT JAMIE AND THE COOK. 91

ready at repartee. A gentleman once said to him — "Jamie,
I hear you have got siller in the bank ; why do ye keep it
there I " " Because I'm keepiu it," replied Jamie, " till I be au
aul' man ; for maybe I'll hae sair legs, and no can gang about
t* get ony thing frae my nineteen friends." Another person
asked him, " Why do the ladies in general not carry Bibles to
church f" " Because," said Jamie, " they are ashamed o'
themsel's, for they canna fin' out the text," " That is very
true," said an old schoolmaster, "for I observed twa governesses
silting in a front seat in a church that I was in last Sabbath,
and the text was in Ecclesiastes, and neither of them could
find it out." Jamie was in the habit ot frequenting the house
of an old lady in George Street, Edinburgh, where the flunkey
and the cook were very good to him. The man often shaved
him, and on one occasion, when the flunkey was about to
lather his customer he remarked : — " I dinna think I'll shave ye
ony mair, Jamie, unless ye gie Peggy a kiss." " But maybe
mem wad be angry," said Jamie. '• No, no," said the flunkey,
" she'll no be angry, for hoo can she ken ? She'll no see."
Laughingly, Jamie turned round to Peggy, and made to kiss
her, but she stopped him and said, " A twell a wat no, Jamie,
ye'll no kiss me wi' that lang beard, it wid jag a' my lips."
With this repulse Jamie resumed his seat, and when the shav-
ing process was finished he looked at himself in the glass.
Peggy now claimed her kiss, but Jamie clapped his hands over
his mouth, and replied, " Ye're no a bonny lass, ye're no bonny
eneuch for me, and since ye was proud, I'll be saucy, I'm a
dandy now." " Weel, then," said Peggy, " let me see how the
dandies walk," and Jamie walked through the kitchen with as
proud a gait as that of a Highland pipe-major. On another
occasion, when Jamie was a little touched with the whisky he
had imbibed, he met a woman whose eye had been blackened
in some brawl. " Oh ! fy, fy, Jamie, it is a great shame to see
you, or ony such as you, tak' drink," was her greeting. " A
weel," answered Jamie, "what I hae in me, you, nor nane like
ye, can tak' out ; an' what way hae ye got that blue eye ?
Hae ye faun on the tub, nae, when ye was washin' ?" The
woman explained that she got it by coming against " the sneck
of the door last night," " Ou aye," said Jamie, "ye ken ye maun

92 HISTORY OF BURKE A\J) //ARK

tell the best story ye can, but I ken ye hae been fou when ye
got it, an' by yer impudent tongue t' yer gudeman, he had
ta'en ye through the heckle pins ; I saw ye yesterday whave
ye sid nae ha'e been." This was enough for his reprover, and
she left him.

An instance of Jamie's carefulness has already been given in
the reply he gave to the gentleman who asked him why he put
his " siller " in the bank, but two others bearing on the same
point have also been preserved. He was on very friendly terms
with the porters on Adam's Square stance, and one of them
asked him why he did not wear an article of dress which had
been given him by one of his friends. " It was owre guid for
me to wear," replied Jamie, " for when I hae guid claes the
fouk dinna gie me onything." Once a gentleman accosted him
in George Street with the remark, " Come along with me,
Jamie, and I will give you an old coat." " I thank ye, I thank
ye," said Jamie, " but I've got plenty o' auld yins at hame."
The gentleman passed on, but he was not far away when
Jamie ran up to him and said, " Is it a guid ane ? " The
reply was favourable, and Jamie accompanied his friend
to his house, where he was given a coat, a hat, and a pair
of shoes. Jamie never wore a hat or shoes, and although
the day was very cold and dirty, he could not be persuaded
to don the articles given him by the gentleman, and he ex-
plained that he did not want to wear them in " sic hard times."

Like many of his poor brethren in misfortune, Jamie was a
regular attender at church, and he was never known to be
absent from a sermon in Mr. Aikman's chapel. He was very
fond of the singing, and lilted away in his own peculiar fashion.
An attempt was made to induce him to go to the Gaelic
Chapel, next door to Mr. Aikman's, but he said he " wad gang
to nae body's kirk but his ain." He had a preference for Sim-
days, as on that day he was in the habit ot visiting a kind
friend who gave him "meat and kail." Jamie's fondness for
singing, such as it was, supplied a coachman in Hunter's
Square with an opportunity of playing a practical joke on him.
The man asked him to sing King David's anthem, and he
would give him his coach and horses, and make him provost.
Jamie said the people would hear him, but the facetious Jehu

DAFT JAMIE AND BODY AWL. 93

said lie would shut him iu the coach. Having beeu snugly
ensconced in the vehicle, Jamie began the singing, and roared
so loudly that the whole neighbourhood was alarmed. Among
those attracted to the spot was Robert Kirkwood, another half-
wit, a great friend of Jamie, familiarly known as Boby Awl.
Boby saw his companion through the window of the coach,
and cried out, "Eh! it's Daft Jamie, I ken him, I see him."
Jamie came out, and shook hands with Boby, who asked,
" Did ye get a ride, Jamie ? " " Ay," said Jamie, " but no far."
The coachman then induced the pair to dance on the street,
but the crowd became so great that a policeman had to put a
stop to the performance.

Jamie and Boby were fast friends, and no one could get
them to fight, though frequent attempts were made to do so.
They seemed to have a fellow-feeling for each other, and each
of them firmly believed that his companion, and not himself,
was " daft." In the Grassmarket, on one occasion, they joined
together to purchase a dram. On their meeting, Jamie accosted
his friend with, " It's a cauld day, Boby." " Aye is't, Jamie,"
was the reply ; " wadna we be the better of a dram? Hae ye
ony siller, man ? — I hae tippence." " An' I hae fourpence,"
said Jamie. " That'll get a hale mutchkin," answered Boby ;
and the pair adjourned to a public-house, where their liquor
was served over the counter. Boby, on the pretence that
Jamie should go to the door to witness a dog-fight that he
said was going on when they came in, got his companion out
of the way, and drank up the whole of the Avhisky himself.
When Jamie came back he said he saw no dog-fight, but when
he noticed the empty measure he said to Boby, " What's cum
o' the whisky % — ha'e ye drunk it a', ye daft beast, and left me
nane ? " " Ou aye," said the delinquent ; " ye see I was dry,
and couldna wait." When Jamie was afterwards asked why
he did not revenge himself on Boby for this piece of treachery,
he answered, " Ou, what could ye say to ■ puir Boby ? He's
daft, ye ken." Once, and only once, did these two lads come
to blows, and it was then through the mischievous workings of
an Edinburgh cadie, or errand-boy. They were together in the
slaughter-house, when Wag Fell, the cadie, gave Boby aputri-
ficd sheep's head. He then induced him to turn his attention

94 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARK

to something else, and slipped the head to Jamie, with the
remark that he was to run away home and boil it. Jamie
started on his mission, but he was not far gone when Boby,
who had been told by Fell that Jamie had stolen his sheep's
head, made up to him, crying, "Daft Jamie, gie's my heid."
They both claimed it, and in the struggle Boby struck Jamie
so violently on the nose that it bled profusely. Jamie, how-
ever, did not retaliate, though he retained possession of his
"heid."

It is a strange fact that these two lads both met with a
violent end. Boby Awl was killed by the kick of a donkey,
and his body was disposed of in Dr. Monro's dissecting-room.
The circumstances of Jamie's death, as being connected more
directly with the narrative of this book, had better be told in
another chapter.

CHAPTER XIV.

Daft Jamie Trapped into Hare's House — The Murder — The Body
Recognised on the Dissecting Table — Popidar Feeling.

The murder of so well-known a character as James Wilson,
by Burke and Hare, can only be regarded, from their point of
view, as an act of the most egregious folly, and, like that of Mary
Paterson, it courted discovery. So long as they confined their
attention to tramps and others who were strangers in the city,
or to persons regarding whom there was no probability of much
inquiry being made, they were comparatively safe ; but now
they were treading on absolutely dangerous ground. It may
have been, as Burke asserted in his confession, that so far as he
could remember he had never seen Daft Jamie before he met
him in Hare's house. But that is in no wise probable. During
his residence of many years in Edinburgh he must frequently
have come across the poor half-witted lad, who was known
by sight to almost every resident of the city, especially as the
Grassmarket was a favourite haunt of both of them. But
though Burke might plead ignorance, some of his accomplices

bAFT JAMIE IX IIARirS IIOUSK <>5

could not, for it was owing to their very acquaintance with
Jamie that he fell into their hands. That they should have
made such a supreme error is something more than remarkable.
On a day late in September, or early in October, 1828, Daft
Jamie was wandering about the Grassmarket, asking all
he knew if they had seen his mother. What set him upon
this tack it would be difficult to say. His mother, perhaps, had
been away from home, and the poor lad had taken a sudden
longing to see her; or perhaps it was simply one of those
strange vagaries that poor mortals like Jamie occasionally
take. During his search he was met by Mrs. Hare, who asked
him what he was about. " My mother," he replied, " hae ye
seen her ony gait '?" Mrs. Hare was ready with her answer,
for she had quickly formed a plan. Yes, she had seen his
mother, and if Jamie went with her he would find her in her
house in Tanner's Close. Jamie, in all innocence — and what
could he suspect? — followed the woman to Log's lodgings,
where Hare was himself sitting idle. Of course the
visitor was welcomed in the most kindly fashion, asked
to sit down until his mother should appear, and to keep
him from wearying he was invited to partake of the
contents of the whisky bottle. Jamie was chary about
this, for although he was fond of an occasional dram he had a
great fear of " gettin' fou." At last he was induced to taste,
and he sat down on the edge of the bed with a cup containing
some liquor in his hand. In the meantime, Mrs. Hare went
down to Mr. Rymer's shop near at hand, to purchase some
provisions. She there found Burke standing at the counter
talking to the shopkeeper, and, taking advantage of the
opportunity, she asked her old lodger to treat her to a dram.
This he did, and while she was drinking it off she pressed his
foot. Burke understood the signal — as he said himself, " he
knew immediately what he was wanted for, and he went after
her." When he arrived at the house, Mrs. Hare told him he
had come too late, for the drink was all done, but that defect
was soon remedied by another supply being brought in.
Jamie was again offered more whisky, a/id was prevailed upon
to take it. Then they managed to get him into the little room
where so many tragedies had been enacted. The drink began

96 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

to take Jamie's weakly brain, and he lay down on the bed
in a half-dazed state. Hare crept beside him, and the two men
watched his every movement to see when it would be
safe for them to attempt to carry out their diabolical
design. Mrs. Hare, meanwhile, had been acting with her
usual caution. She knew it was not for her to stay in the
house when " business " was being transacted, so she went out,
carefully locking the door behind her, and placing the key in
an opening below the door. The two men were eagerly watch-
ing their victim in the back-room, but they felt that this case
would not be as easy as most of the others in which they had
been engaged. Jamie was young and physically strong, and
he had not taken enough of their liquor to render him abso-
lutely helpless, even in the hands of two robust, desperate
men. Burke at last was tired of waiting, and he furiously
threw himself on the prostrate body of the sleeping lad.
Jamie was no sooner touched than the natural instinct of self-
preservation made him endeavour to defend himself. He
closed with his assailant, and after a furious effort threw him
off. He was now standing on the floor ready for another on-
slaught. Burke's blood was up, and he renewed the attack,
but Jamie was likely to be more than a match for him. Hare,
in the meantime, was standing aside, idly watching the contest,
and it was only when Burke threatened to " put a knife in
him " that he roused himself and threw his strength in the
scale against the man who was fighting for his life. Jamie
had nearly overcome Burke when Hare entered the lists and
tripped him up. The poor lad fell heavily on the floor, and
before he had time to recover himself the two men Were upon
him — Hare, as usual, holding his mouth and nose, and Burke
lying over his body keeping down his legs and arms. • Still
Jamie struggled, but to no advantage. His murderers had
him too securely beneath them, and gradually his strength
waned, until at last the tragedy was completed. Burke and
Hare, when they saw the end coming, watched him anxiously,
for even yet they were afraid their prey might escape them.
But they had done their work too thoroughly. They had not,
however, come off unhurt. It was reported at the time of the
trial that during the struggle Jamie bit Burke so severely on

MURDER OF DAFT JAMIE. 97

the leg that, if the laws of the country had not promised to
hang him by the neck, he would likely have died from the
cancered wounds received in the conflict. This was found not
to be the case, but there is no doubt that the two murderers
received several painful bruises from the dying man.

When it was certain that Daft Jamie was dead, Hare
searched his pockets, and found in them the snuff-box and
spoon that were about as well known as the simpleton himself.
To Burke he gave the spoon, retaining the box himself. A
box was libelled among the productions at the trial, but Burke
in his confession says that the one in the possession of the
authorities was not Daft Jamie's, which had been thrown
away, but was his own. Before it was taken to Surgeon's
Square the body was stripped of its clothing, and here another
fatal blunder was made. In all the other murders the clothes
of the victims were destroyed to prevent detection, but in this
case Burke gave Daft Jamie's clothes to his brother Constan-
tine's children, who were then going about almost naked, and
it is said that a baker who had given the murdered lad the pair
of trousers he wore at the time of his death, recognised them
on one of Burke's nephews. When stripped, the body was
put into Hare's chest, and in the course of the afternoon it
was conveyed to Dr. Knox's rooms, when the sum of ten
pounds was obtained for it. No questions seem to have been
asked as to how Burke and Hare became possessed of the
body of Daft Jamie, though there can be little doubt that the
students recognised it. The public then wondered at
the matter, and it may be wondered at still. In a popular
work, published at the time, there was this very pertinent
sentence : — " Certainly, those scientific individuals who attend
the class in which he was dissected, must be very hardened
men, when they saw Jamie lying on the dissecting-table for
anatomy ; for they could not but know, when they saw him,
that he had been murdered ; and not only that, the report of
his being amissing went through the whole town on the
following day ; there could not be any one of them but must
know him by sight." That some of them did know him by
sight is certain, for shortly after he was missed the statement
was commonly circulated that one of Dr. Knox's students had

98 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

affirmed that he saw Jamie on the dissecting-table. Mrs.
Wilson and her friends went here and there looking for the
poor lad, but no trace could they find of him, and there seemed
to be a tendency to treat the statement of the body having
been seen on a table in the rooms in Surgeon's Square as
a mere idle rumour, arising out of the uneasiness and suspicion
which the quiet and unknown operations of Burke and Hare
were causing among the inhabitants of the country in general
and Edinburgh in particular. A sense of insecurity had gone
abroad, and it was not dispelled until the final clearing up in
the trial of Burke and Helen M'Dougal.

The mysterious fate of Daft Jamie, as we have said, took a
most remarkable hold on the public mind. It was the talk all
over the country, and when the mystery was solved the murder
of the poor natural bulked larger than all the other crimes put
together. The hawkers and pedlars, and patterers of the time
carried about with them all over the country coarsely-printed
chap books containing accounts of the crimes of the greatest
murderers of the age, or biographies of Daft Jamie, to which
in some cases were added the efforts of sympathising poet-
asters. The poetry as a rule was execrable, but the feeling
displayed in them was but a reflex of the public mind. One
aspiring genius spoke of

' ' The ruffian dogs — the hellish pair —
The villain Burke — the meagre Hare," —

while another composed the following acrostic : —

" Join with me, friends, whilst I bewail
A while the subject of this tale ;
Many a mind has often been
Engaged with Jamie's awkward mien ;
Such pranks will ne'er again be seen.

We may bewail, but 'tis in vain,
It will not bring him back again :
Lost he is now — this thought imparts
Sad comfort to our wounded hearts ;
Oh ! may such crimes nowhere remain,
Nor ever more our nation stain."

THE END APPROACHES. 99

CHAPTER XV.

The End Approaches — Proposed Extension of Business — Mrs.
Docherty claimed as Burke's Relative — The Lodgers Dis-
missed— The Murder of Mrs. Docherty.

But the end was near. This wholesale slaughter of human
beings in the metropolis of a civilised country was almost
finished. The only marvel was that it had lasted so long.

The work had been conducted with so much impunity, how-
ever, that the prime movers in this dreadful conspiracy against
human life had made arrangements for the extension of their
operations. They found a ready market for their goods, and
when they took a body to Surgeon's Square they were always
encouraged to bring more. Their efforts in the cause of
science were thus appreciated by the scientists themselves,
and it matters little whether these scientists were aware of the
diabolical means their favourite merchants used to obtain pos-
session of the bodies they brought for their use. To rob a
churchyard of its ghastly contents was as much a crime,
though it was certainly not so serious, against the laws of the
country and the public sense of morality, as the murder of a
fellow-creature for his mortal remains. And then Burke and
Hare found their work comparatively easy, and very remunera-
tive, though perhaps a little risky. It was much easier than
the cobbling of boots and shoes, or travelling about the
country as a pedlar. They enjoyed themselves looking for
victims, and the process of getting one into a fit state for
" disposal " was quite suited to then tastes. When it came to
the point — when the person to whom so much attention was
paid was stupid and helpless — there was, as a rule, little to
be done. Burke described the method very simply in his
Courant confession: — "When they kept the mouth and the
nose shut a very few minutes, they [the victims] could make
no resistance, but would convulse and make a rumbling noise in
their bellies fur some time ; after they ceased crying and making
resistance, they [the murderers] left them to die by themselves ;
but their bodies would often move afterwards, and for some

100 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

time they would have long breathings before life went away."
And every one can re-echo the sentiment of the remark by
Burke, made almost in presence of that death he had so often
invoked on others: — " It was God's providence that put a stop
to their murdering career, or he did not know how far they
might have gone with it, even to attack people on the streets."
All these circumstances, then, added to the freedom from
suspicion which Burke and Hare hitherto enjoyed, render it
not at all surprising that these desperate men should have laid
their plans for an extension of their business. Burke and
another man, with whom they had arranged, were to go to
Glasgow or Ireland, and " try the same there," forwarding the
subjects to Hare in Edinburgh, who was to dispose of them to
Dr. Knox. The " other man " was popularly believed to be
David Paterson, Dr. Knox's porter, and he was openly charged
in the public prints of the time with being in complicity with
Burke and Hare, although he strenuously denied it. But
more of that at the proper time. The contract with Dr. Knox,
also, was highly satisfactory. They were to receive ten
pounds in winter and eight pounds in summer for as many
subjects as they could supply. This scheme, however, was not
carried into effect, for the end came suddenly.

The last of the West Port tragedies was the murder of
Mary Campbell or Docherty, an old Irishwoman who had come
to Edinburgh to look for her son. On the morning of the 31st
October — the Friday of the Sacrament week — Burke was in
Rymer's grocery store near his own close-mouth, talking to
the shop-boy while he sipped a tumbler of liquor. As he was
doing this an old woman entered the shop, and asked for
assistance. Burke, ever on the outlook, saw the poor beggar
was in every way suitable for his purpose — she was an old and
frail stranger who would never be missed because she
was not known, and her very frailty would make
her a sure and easy victim. He soon got into conversa-
tion with her, asked her name, and what part of Ireland
she came from. She answered him readily, and he,
having thus got the cue, said she must be some relation of his
mother, whose name was also Docherty, and out of what
appeared to be pure friendliness — out of a feeling of patriotism

REMOVAL OF A DIFFICULTY. 101

or kinship — he invited her to his house to partake of breakfast
with him. The poor woman was thus offered what she most
needed, and delighted to find she had met a friend, she accom-
panied him to the house once occupied by Broggan, but which,
since that person had left the city, had been tenanted by Burke
and Helen M'Dougal. Mrs. Docherty was made welcome by
M'Dougalj who seemed to understand everything. Burke set the
breakfast, but the stranger would not touch it until noon, as it
was Friday. Leaving Helen M'Dougal to look to the comfort of
their guest, Burke went in search of Hare, whom he found in
Rymer's public house. They had a gill of whisky together,
and Burke then told his colleague that he had at home " a
good shot to take to the doctors." Hare, of course, was ready
to participate in the work, and went with his colleague. By
the time they arrived at the house they found that M'Dougal
and the old woman had, after their breakfast, set about clean-
ing up the room, and had everything as neat and tidy as the
ill-furnished, tumble-down structure could well be. Burke
again visited Rymer's for some provisions, and preparations
were made for a night's junketting, to be folloAved by the usual
tragedy.

But there was a serious difficulty in the way, and that must
be got rid of before anything further was done. At that time
there were lodging with Burke an old soldier named James
Gray and his wife. The man was a native of the Grassmarket,
who, after an attempt to learn his trade as a jeweller, had en-
listed in the Elgin Fencibles, transferring afterwards to the
72nd Regiment, and who had returned with his wife to Edin-
burgh after an absence of about seventeen years. He met
Burke in the High Street about a fortnight before the affair
with Mrs. Docherty, and had lodged with him for nearly a
a week. The difficulty, therefore, was to get this couple out
of the house without creating suspicion, for they could not be
trusted. Burke explained to them that he had discovered the
old woman was a relation of his mother, and certainly the
animated conversation carried on in Irish by him and the
woman seemed to confirm the statement that some relation-
ship, however distant, existed between them. Of course it
would not do for Mrs. Docherty to seek accommodation any-

102 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

where else than in her relation's house, and it would be a
matter of obligement if Mr. and Mrs. Gray would find quarters
in some other place for a night or two. Gray and his wife
readily acquiesced in the suggestion, and Burke went out to
look after lodgings for them. These were easily obtained in
Hare's house, and the unwelcome couple, towards evening, left
for their new abode. Thus far the arrangements had worked
admirably, and now that the way was clear the tragedy could
begin at once.

In the evening Mrs. Hare joined the company, and the fun
began. The whisky circulated rapidly, Burke indulged his
musical tastes by singing his favourite songs, and the old
woman crooned over some of the Irish ballads she had learned
in her youth. Dancing, too, was engaged in ; and once or
twice visits were paid to the house of a neighbour, where the
revelry was continued, and where Docherty hurt her foot when
endeavouring to emulate the sprightliness of her more youth-
ful companions. As the night wore on they kept more to their
own house. The neighbours, between ten and eleven o'clock,
heard a great disturbance proceeding from Burke's dwelling,
and some of them, though used to the sounds of drunken riot
from that quarter, had the curiosity to look through the key-
hole of the door to see what was going on. One of them, a
woman, saw — or thought she saw — Helen M'Dougal holding a
bottle to the mouth of Docherty, pouring the whisky down her
throat. After a while the disturbance ceased, but not for long.
About eleven o'clock Hare quarrelled with Burke, and the
dispute could only be settled by an appeal to blows. Whether
this was a real quarrel or not it would be difficult to say, for,
though Burke himself declared " it was a real scuffle," it has
been pointed out as a suspicious circumstance that this
" quarrel " is in a sense the counterpart of the one that took
place between Burke and M'Dougal immediately before the
murder of Mary Paterson. While the two men were fighting,
Mrs. Docherty, tipsy though she was, tried to interfere. She
rose from the stool on which she had been sitting by the fire-
side, and asked Burke to sit down, as she did not wish to see
him abused. The fight, however, still continued, and Hare,
whether by design or not, knocked the old woman over a stool,

MURDER OF MRS. DOCHERTY. 103

She fell heavily, and, owing to the amount of drink she had
taken, was unable to rise. Whenever this had been done the
righting ceased, Mrs. Hare and Helen M'Dougal slipped out of
the house, and Burke and Hare set to work on the prostrate,
helpless woman. It was after the old method, but a fatal mis-
take was made. One of them grasped her violently by the
throat, leaving the mark of the undue pressure. Soon the
woman was dead. Burke undressed the body, doubled it up,
and laid it among a quantity of straw beside the bed. The
women then returned to the room, and Burke went to see
Paterson, Dr. Knox's porter, brought him to the house, and,
pointing to the place where the body lay, told him that there
was a subject which would be ready for him in the morning.
When Paterson left, the four human fiends resumed their
debauch, and for the last time together they spent a
riotous night. The murder was committed between eleven
and twelve o'clock on Hallowe'en night ; and they brought in
the month of November with heavy drinking. About mid-
night they were joined in then cups by a young fellow named
Broggan, a son of the man to whom the house had once be-
longed, and who, as we have seen, was bought off when the
first murder — that of M'Dougal's cousin, was committed in it.
At last, when the morning was far advanced, they were all
overcome by sleep, and the party lay down to rest, with the
body of the murdered woman beside them.

CHAPTER XVI.

An 111 Excuse — Strange Behaviour — Discovery — The Threat —
Unavailing Arguments — The Last Bargain.

ABOUT nine o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 1st of
November, Burke went round at Hare's house to see about his
lodgers, who had been forced to change their quarters
for the night. He was anxious to know how they had rested,
and having offered Gray a " dram of spirits," he invited the
family along to his own home to have breakfast. This they
were not loath to do, as there was no prospect of them readily

104 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

obtaining their food in their temporary lodgings. When they
entered Burke's house they found there Mrs. Law and Mrs.
Connoway, two neighbours, Broggan, and Helen M'Dougal.
They naturally missed the woman for whom they had been
shifted, and Mrs. Gray asked M'Dougal where the "little old
woman " had gone. The reply was that Mrs. Docherty had
grown very impudent to Burke, perhaps through having taken
too much liquor, and they had found it necessary to put her
out. Breakfast was served without further ado, and then Mrs.
Gray set about the dressing of her child. Burke was
behaving in a very curious manner, for he had the whisky
bottle in his hand, and was throwing some of the contents
under the bed, on the bed, and up to the roof of the apartment,
at times put a little on his breast, and occasionally took a sip in-
ternally. His explanation of this remarkable proceeding was
that he wished the bottle " toom," that he might again have it
filled. Mrs. Gray, it would seem, was taking a smoke, and had
a pipe in her mouth when she was looking for her child's
stocking. In the course of her search she went to the corner
of the room where the body of Docherty was lying covered
with straw, but Burke called to her to keep out of there ; and
when she made to go beneath the bed to get some potatoes
he asked her what she was doing there with a lighted pipe.
He offered to look after them himself, but Mrs. Gray dispensed
with his help, and collected the potatoes without having dis-
turbed anything. All these circumstances created a suspicion
in the woman's mind that something was wrong ; but later in
the day that surmise was strengthened by Burke, when about
to go out, telling Broggan to sit on a chair which was near the
straw, until he returned. Broggan either did not know of the
mystery underneath the straw, or did not care, for Burke was
not long away until he went out also. M'Dougal left the
house too, and Mrs. Gray had then an opportunity of clearing
up the suspicions she had formed. The straw in the corner
had appeared to be the great object of attention, and she went
direct there. She lifted the straw, and the first thing she
caught hold of was the arm of a dead woman. Gray himself
went over, and there they saw the naked body of the old Irish-
woman who had been brought into the house by Burke the

THE COXSPIRACY DISCOVERED. 105

day before. The mau lifted the head by the hair, and
saw there was blood about the mouth and the ears.
The horrified couple hastily threw the straw over the
corpse, aud collected what property they had in the house
in order to leave it immediately. Gray went out
first, leaving his wife to complete their packing arrangements.
On the stair he met Helen M'Dougal, and asked her what that
was she had in the house. The woman made a feeble pretence
at ignorance, but when Gray said to her, " I suppose you know
very well what it is," she dropped on her knees, and implored
him not to say anything of what she had seen, and offered him
five or six shillings to put him over till Monday. She urged
that the woman's death had been caused by her having taken
an overdose of drink — alcoholic poisoning is now the respect-
able name for it — and tried to make the man believe that the
incident was such as might occur in anybody's house. Finding
this line of explanation thrown away upon him, she tried
another which she seemed to think more powerful. In her
intense anxiety for concealment, she told him there never
would be a week after that but what he might be worth ten
pounds. It seemed to suggest itself to her that Gray, by such
promises, might be induced to join their murdering gang. He,
however, replied that his conscience would not allow him to
remain silent. Just as M'Dougal left Gray to enter the house,
Mrs. Gray came out, and the two women met. Mrs. Gray
turned back, and asked M'Dougal about the body among the
straw ; but the reply was similar to that given to Gray him-
self. The unfortunate creature offered the same inducements,
but all to no effect, as Mrs. Gray exclaimed with unction —
" God forbid that I should be worth money with dead people ! "
M'Dougal, seeing the end was near, cried out, " My God, I can-
not help it ! " to which Mrs. Gray replied, " You surely can
help it, or you would not stay in the house." The husband
and wife then left the place together, followed by M'Dougal,
and when in the street they were met by Mrs. Hare, who
asked them what they were making a noise about, and told
them to go into the house and settle their disputes there*
The two women invited Gray and his wife into a neighbouring
public house, and there, over a round of liquor, they plied them

iOti HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

with arguments and entreaties to keep silence as to what they
had seen, and the benefit would be ultimately theirs. But all
to no purpose. Gray was obdurate, and his wife supported
him in his intention to inform the authorities of what they had
reason to believe was a foul murder. Finding they were
simply wasting their time, Mrs. Hare and M'Dougal, in a state
of great anxiety, hurriedly left the place, as if to prepare for
flight ; and Gray made his way to the police office to lodge the
information.

In the meantime, Burke and Hare were busy making
arrangements for the removal of the body to Dr. Knox's
premises. They applied at the rooms in Surgeon's Square for
a box in which to put it for safe conveyance, but they could
not be supplied with one ; and later on, between five and six
o'clock in the evening, Burke purchased an empty tea-chest
in Rymer's shop. He had engaged John M'Culloch, a street
porter, to call at the house for a box, and before this man
arrived the two colleagues had wrapped the body of Docherty
in a sheet, placed it in the box among some straw, and roped
down the lid. Whether they knew of the discovery by Gray,
and his subsequent threat, is uncertain : that they did not is
probable from the manner in which they went about the work
of removing the corpse. When everything was ready,
M'Culloch was called in, and told to carry it to the place to
which they would take him. As the porter was raising the
box on to his back he saw some long hah' hanging out
of a crevice in the lid, and, having probably been in the service
of resurrectionists before, he endeavoured to press it inside.
This done, he went on his way with his burden, the two men
who employed him walking by his side. Mrs. Hare and Helen
M'Dougal, apparently beside themselves with excitement, had
been near all the time, and followed some distance behind. It
was now well on in the evening, and after the box and its
contents were placed in the cellar at Surgeon's Square, Burke,
Hare, and M'Culloch, accompanied by Paterson, "the keeper
of Knox's museum," and still followed by the women, walked
to Newingtou, where Paterson received from the doctor five
pounds in part payment for the body. In a public-house in the
viciuity the division was made. Knox's man handed M'Culloch

I \ QUERIES BY THE POLICE. 107

five shillings for his services as porter, and Burke and Hare
each received two pounds seven shillings and sixpence ; but on
Monday, it was understood, when the doctor would have had
time to examine the body, they were to receive other five
pounds, making ten pounds in all.

The end had now come ; the murdering career of these
terrible beings was closed. They seemed to feel that it could
Last no longer ; their whole manner of working on that Satur-
day indicated impending discovery, and helped towards it.

CHAPTER XVII.

The Arrest of Burke and M'Dougal — Discovery of the Body —
Hare and his Wife Apprehended — Public Intimation of the
Tragedy — Burke and M'Dougal give their Version of the
Transaction.

Gray, according to his threat, went to the Police Office to
give information of what he had seen. When he arrived there
no one was present who could act upon his statement. After
waiting some time he saw Sergeant-Major John Fisher, who
entered the place about seven o'clock, and to this officer he
described all he had witnessed and what he suspected. Fisher
inclined to the opinion that his informant wished rather to do
his old landlord an ill-turn than to benefit the public, but,
notwithstanding, he, along with a constable named Finlay,
accompanied Gray to Burke's house in the West Port. What
took place there can best be told in Fisher's own words : —
" I asked Burke what had become of his lodgers, and he
replied that there was one of them — pointing to Gray — and
that he had turned him and his wife out for bad conduct. I
then asked what had become of the little woman who had
been there the day before, and he said she left the house
about seven o'clock that morning. He said William Hare
saw her go away, and added, in an insolent tone, that
any number more saw her away. I then looked round to
Bee if there were any marks in the bed, and I saw

108 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

marks of blood on a number of things there. I asked
Mrs. Burke [Helen M'Dougal] how they came there, and she
replied that a woman had lain in there about a fortnight be-
fore, and the bed had not been washed since. As for the old
woman, she added that she knew her very well, they
all lived in the Pleasance, and that she had seen her that
very night in the Vennel, when she had apologised for
her bad conduct on that previous night. I asked her
then, what time the woman had left the house, and she said,
seven o'clock at night. When I found them to vary, I thought
the best way was to take them to the Police Office." Fisher,
while he considered it his duty to apprehend Burke and
M'Dougal, in view of the contradiction as to the time when the
woman left the house, and also of the fact that the bedclothes
were spattered with blood, seems still to have had the idea
that the whole matter had arisen out of personal spite between
Gray and Burke, and that the former wished to injure the
latter. However, he took the wisest and the safest course
by apprehending the two persons he found in the house.
Later in the evening, the officer, accompanied by his superin-
tendent and Dr. Black, the police surgeon, again visited Burke's
den in Portsburgh, and made a thorough search through it.
They saw a quantity of blood among the straw under the bed,
aud on the bed they found a striped bed-gown which had ap-
parently belonged to the murdered woman.

This was all very well for one night, and certainly the
case had, to the official mind, assumed a more serious
aspect than one having only a foundation on mere per-
sonal ill-will. Next morning, Sabbath, the 2nd November,
Fisher went to the premises of Dr. Knox in Surgeon's Square,
and having obtained the key of the cellar from Paterson he
entered, and found there a box containing the body of a
woman. Gray was immediately sent for, and he at once
recognised the corpse as that of the old woman he had seen in
Burke's house. The authorities then thought it was time they
had Hare and his wife in custody, and they were immediately
arrested. This was done about eight o'clock on the Sunday
morning. They were then both in bed. When Mrs. Hare was
informed that Captain Stewart wished to speak to her husband

ARREST OF HARE AND II IS WIFE. 10<>

about the body that had been found in Burke's house, she
laughingly said that the captain and police had surely very
little to do now to look after a drunken spree like this. II arc
answered her that he was at Burke's house the day before, and
had had a dram or two with him, and possibly the police might
be inclined to attach blame to them ; but as he had no fear of
anything Captain Stewart could do to him, they had better
rise and see what he had to say. This conversation between
Hare and his wife seemed to be intended to " blind " the police,
who were within hearing, but it did not save them from appre-
hension. They were taken to the Police Office, and lodged in
separate cells.

The news of the tragedy and the apprehensions was quickly
mooted abroad, and the public mind was agitated by the
rumours that were afloat. But little satisfaction was gained
from the following brief and guarded paragraph which appeared
in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of Monday, 3rd November,
two days after the murder : —

" Extraordinary Occurrence. — An old woman of the name of
Campbell, from Ireland, came to Edinburgh some days ago, in search of a
son, whom she found, and she afterwards went out of town in search of
work. She took up her lodging on Friday in the house of a man named
Burt or Burke, in the West Port. It appears that there had been a merry-
making in Burke's that night ; at least the noise of music and dancing was
heard, and it is believed the glass circulated pretty freely among the party.
The old woman, it is said, with reluctance joined in the mirth, and also
partook of the liquor ; and was to sleep on straw alongside of Burke's bed.
During the night shrieks were heard ; but the neighbours paid no atten-
tion, as such sounds were not unusual in the house. In the morning,
however, a female, on going into Burke's, observed the old woman lying
as if dead, some of the straw being above her. She did not say anything,
or raise any alarm ; but, in the evening, circumstances transpired which
led to the belief that all was not right, for by this time the body had been
removed out of the house, and it was suspected it had been sold to a public
lecturer. Information was conveyed to the police, and the whole parties
were taken into custody. After a search, the body was found yesterday
morning in the lecture-room of a respectable practitioner, who, the instant
he was informed of the circumstances, not only gave it up, but offered
every information in his power. The body is now in the Police Office, and
will be examined by medical gentlemen in the course of this day. There
were some very strong and singular circumstances connected with the case,
which have given rise to the suspicions. "

II

110 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

This information, though substantially correct, was too
meagre to satisfy the public craving, and the most extraordin-
ary rumours were afloat as to the discoveries that had been
made by the police. Meanwhile, the authorities were busy
making inquiries into the case, and in the first instance they
had Docherty's body examined by Drs. Black and Christison,
and Mr. Newbigging. The result of these examinations con-
clusively pointed to the fact that the woman must have suffered
a violent death by suffocation, and the case for the Crown
was strengthened by this testimony. On the 3rd of November,
the day of the first public announcement of the " extraordinary
occurrence," Burke and M'Dougal emitted declarations before
Sheriff Tait. Burke's account of the affair was that on the
morning of the previous Friday he rose about seven o'clock,
and immediately began his work by mending a pair of shoes.
Gray and his wife were up before him, and M'Dougal rose
about nine o'clock. After he had gone out for a few minutes
for tobacco, all the four of them breakfasted together about ten
o'clock. Burke resumed his employment, Gray left the house,
and the women began to wash and dress, and tidy up the apart-
ment. In the evening he told Gray that he and his wife must
look out for other lodgings, as he could not afford to support
them longer, they having not even paid for the provisions they
used. He recommended them to Hare's house, and accom-
panied them there. About six o'clock he was standing at the
mouth of the entry leading to his dwelling, when a man whom
he never saw before, and whose name he did not know,
came up and asked if he could get a pair of shoes mended. This
man was dressed in a greatcoat, the cape of which was turned up
about hisface. Burke offered to perform the work, and the stranger
went with him into the house. While he was busy mending
the shoes the man walked about, remarked on the quietness of
the place, and said he had a box which he wished could be
left there for a short time. Burke consented to give it
accommodation, and the stranger went out, returning shortly
with a box, which he placed upon the floor near the foot
of the bed. Burke was then sitting with his back to the bed.
He heard his customer unroping the box, and then make a
sound as if he were covering something with straw. The

BURKE MAKES A DECLARATION 111

shoes were soon mended, Burke received a sixpence for his
work, and the stranger went away. Burke immediately rose
to see what was in the box, but finding it was empty he looked
among the straw beneath the bed, where he saw a corpse,
though whether it was that of a man or a woman he could not
say. The man called later on, and Burke remonstrated with
him for bringing such an article into his house. The stranger
promised to take the body away in a little, but this he did
not do until six o'clock on the following (Saturday) evening.
This was Burke's account ot what transpired on the Friday, the
day when the murder was actually committed. In itself it
was a stupidly told story, and one having not a single feature
of truth in it to give it the slightest support from outside
testimony. But his record of the Saturday was even more
blundering. He admitted that about ten o'clock on the
Saturday, while he was in Rymer's shop, an old woman came
in to beg. He discovered by her dialect that she came from
Ireland, and after questioning her he found that she belonged
to Inesomen, in the north of Ireland, and that her name was
Docherty. As his mother bore the same name, and came from the
same place, he concluded that the woman might perhaps be a
distant relation, and he invited her to breakfast. After sitting
by the fireside smoking till about three o'clock in the after-
noon, Mrs. Docherty went out, saying she would go to the
New Town to beg some provisions for herself. When he was
alone in the house about six o'clock, the man who visited him
the previous evening, and who, on special inquiry by the
sheriff, he now declared to be William Hare, came for the pur-
pose of removing the body. Hare was accompanied by John
M'Culloeh, a street porter. These two carried the body away
in the box, as they said, to dispose of it to any person in
Surgeon's Square who would take it. After the body was
delivered, Paterson, Dr. Knox's curator, paid " the man " some
pomids, and gave two pounds ten shillings to Burke " for the
trouble he had in keeping the body." The woman Docherty
never returned to the house, and he did not know what had
become of her. Some of the neighbours had told him, when he
returned after being paid the storage money, that a policeman
had been searching his house for a body, and he, having gone

112 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

out to look for the policeman, met Fisher and Finlay in the
passage. As for the body found in Dr. Knox's rooms, and
which he had seen the day before, he thought it was the one
which was below his bed, but it had no likeness to Mary
Docherty, who was not so tall. Then the blood on the pillow-
slip he accounted for by saying that it was occasioned by his
having struck M'Dougal on the nose with it, as Mr. and Mrs.
Gray could testify. Such an inconsistent story was of itself
enough to condemn Burke, to say nothing of the identifica-
tion of the man he had never seen before, and whose name he
did not know, as William Hare.

Helen M'Dougal, in her declaration, emitted on the same
day, was equally wide of the truth, though she did not make
such a stupid mistake as to mix up the transactions of Friday
and Saturday. According to her, Mary Docherty entered their
house about ten o'clock on the Friday morning, just as they
were about to begin their breakfast, and asked to be allowed
to light her pipe at the fire. This privilege was accorded her,
after which she was asked to take some breakfast along with
them. In the course of a conversation, Burke arrived at the
conclusion that the old woman was a relative of his mother,
and on the strength of this he went out for whisky and gave
them a glass all round, " it being the custom of Irish people to
observe Hallowe'en in that manner." About two o'clock
Docherty left to go to St. Mary's Wynd to inquire for her son,
and she never returned. The rest of the day and night was
spent in drinking with Hare and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs.
Gray. On the Saturday evening she quarrelled with Mrs.
Gray about having stolen her gown, and the Grays had ap-
parently vented their spleen by raising a story and bringing
the police down upon them. For her part she knew nothing
about a body being in the house, and certainly the body shown
her in the Police Office was not that of the old woman, as
Docherty had dark hair, and the body of the dead woman had
gray hair. Such, in brief, was her account of the events of the
two days, and the only point on which her declaration could
be said to agree with that of Burke was as to the cause of the
bloodstains on the bedclothes*

POPULAR EXCITEMENT. 113

CHAPTER XVIII.

Public Excitement at the West Port Murder — The Newspapers — ■
Doubts as to the Disappearance of Daft Jamie and Mary
Paterson — The Resurrectionists still at Work.

Of course the public knew nothing of what the authorities
were doing or had discovered, the examination of the prisoners
before the sheriff being, as is still the custom in Scotland,
strictly private. The newspapers, as we have seen, did little
to satisfy the natural curiosity of the people, but that was due
probably to the fact that the police, finding themselves on the
eve of making a great discovery, chose rather to keep silent,
and deny the press information, than run the risk of having
their movements made known to parties whom it might be
better should not be aware of them. The Edinburgh Evening
Courant, of 6th November, had, however, a very circumstantial
account of the murder of Mrs. Docherty, but it was hid away
among items of little importance. It was as follows : —

" Extraordinary Occurrence. — Further Particulars. — We have
used every endeavour to collect the facts connected with this singular story.
The medical gentlemen who examined the body have not reported, so far
as we have heard, that death was occasioned by violence. There are several
contusions on the body, particularly one on the upper lip, which was swollen
and cut, a severe one on the back, one on the scapula, and one or two on
the limbs ; none of these, however, are of a nature sufficient to cause im-
mediate death. The parties in custody, two men and two women (their
wives), and a young lad, give a very contradictory account of the manner
in which the old woman lost her life. One of the men, not Burke, states
that it was the lad who struck her in the passage, and killed her. Burke,
however, acknowledges being a party to the disposing of the corpse. The
lad's account of the story is different from that of the others. He says he
was in Burke's house about seven o'clock on Friday evening, when the old
woman was represented to him as a fortune-teller, who for threepence
would give him some glimpse, into futurity, and with this sum she was to
pay for her lodgings ; but not having the money, his fortune was not told,
and he went away. The parties at this time were seemingly sober. He
went to the house about two o'clock on Saturday morning, when he found
Burke, his wife, and two other persons, in the house, seemingly the worse of
liquor. He sent for sixpence worth of whisky, which was drunk ; and

114 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

soon after the whole party fell asleep. The old woman was not present,
but the lad thought nothing of that, believing she had left the house. At
a later hour in the morning a neighbour came in, who had been in the
house on the previous evening, and asked, what had become of the fortune-
teller? To this Burke's wife replied, that the old woman had been behav-
ing improperly, and she (Mrs. Burke) had kicked her down stairs. Another
neighbour saw the old woman joining in the mirth, as late as eleven o'clock
on the Friday night. The above are the outlines of the statements that
have reached us ; we must, however, admit that, from the secret manner
in which the investigations are conducted, it is impossible to obtain accurate
information. A great number of rumours have gone abroad of individuals
having of late disappeared in an unaccountable manner, but one of them,
hewever, a sort of half-witted lad, called ' Daft Jamie,' was seen on Mon-
day, not far from Lasswade, with a basket, selling small-wares."

This notice makes one or two interesting discoveries,
notably what professes to be the drift of Hare's declaration,
and that of the young man, Broggan, who had also been
arrested on a charge of complicity in the murder. Another
point is the manner in which Mrs. Docherty was presented to
Broggan, and some of the neighbours. But if the newspapers
did not devote much space to the " extraordinary occurrence,"
it was a topic which moved the very heart of the people, and
was on everybody's tongue. The journals were too busy dis-
cussing the siege of Silistria, the proceedings of politicians in
London, or the state of Ireland ; but the inhabitants of Edin-
burgh, and, indeed, of broad Scotland, thought and talked of
little else but Burke and Hare and the resurrectionists. Before
the time fixed for the trial the newspapers discovered they had
made a mistake, and at last gave some degree of satisfaction
to their readers by supplying a full report of the case. It is
somewhat amusing, however, to find the Glasgow Courier of
27th December, with this apologetic notice : — "In the absence
of any political news of importance we have devoted a con-
siderable portion of our paper of to-day in giving a full report
of the trial, before the High Court of Justiciary, of Burke and
his wife for murder."

The public were strongly of opinion that to the machinations
of Burke and Hare could be traced the disappearance of Daft
Jamie and Mary Paterson, the latter especially, as she had been
seen in Burke's company. The authorities, also, pursued their

DOUBTS AS TO BAFT J Am E. 115

inquiries in the same direction. On the 10th of November the
two men and their wives were committed by the Sheriff to
stand their trial fur the murder of Docherty, but Broggan was
liberated, his innocence being apparent. The doubt as to the
disappearance of Daft Jamie was deepened by a statement in
an Edinburgh newspaper that he had been seen in the Grass-
market after the apprehension of the accused parties. This
was repeated by several other prints, and the public mind re-
mained in suspense, though there was a suspicion, amounting
almost to a certainty, that Jamie had been the victim of foul
play. At last the Observer and the Weekly Chronicle, who had
been the most strenuous advocates of the safety of the lad, were
forced to admit that he was amissing. Possibly the rumour
that he had been identified in the dissecting-room by some of
the students had something to do with the change. The
Observer announced that it had been " credibly informed that
this poor pauper," Daft Jamie, had really disappeared in a
mysterious manner, and that circumstances of a suspicious
nature had transpired. The Chronicle was more elaborate in its
explanation, stating that there were two Daft Jamies, but that
there was no doubt one of them had been made away with.

While all this was going on there were other events
connected with the resurrectionist movement coming to the
front. One of these was a terrible contest which took place in
a churchyard near Dublin. A woman of the name of Ryan
died, and was decently interred. Her relatives were afraid
that her remains would not be allowed to lie in the grave,
as the body-snatchers were then busy with the Irish burying-
places. They therefore joined to keep a watch for a time over
her tomb. One night, between eight and nine o'clock, two of
the men were left sentry at the grave, while the others went
into a cabin in the vicinity, erected for the use of watchers.
These latter were not long seated when a knock Avas heard at
the door, and when it was opened they saw nearly a dozen
armed men, who declared their mission to be body-lifting, but
who, with all courtesy, stated that if the watchers would
kindly point out where the body in which they were specially
interested lay, it would be passed over. The watchers, how-
ever, intimated that they would resist the uplifting of any

116 HISTORY OF BURKE AND RARE.

body. A desperate contest then took place, but the resurrec-
tionists were at last driven off. About two o'clock in the
morning they returned, but again they were defeated, it was
thought, with loss of life, for more than one of them was seen
to fall.

It would be difficult to say whether it was this incident,
or the general plundering of Scotch churchyards, that led the
Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle at this time to devote a leader to
the question of the importation of corpses for anatomical pur-
poses to Scotland from Ireland. This journal very soberly dis-
cussed the resurrectionist system, " its advantages and the in-
dispensability of it in the present state of the law." The
writer seriously objected to the " noodles of functionaries on
the banks of the Clyde," interfering with subjects when they
were in transitu, and pointed out that " for every Irish subject
they seize they insure the rifling of some Scotch grave." Very
fine sentiment — the resurrectionist system was good enough in
Ireland, but immediately it touched Scotland it was evil.

Two cases — one of them not without a touch of grim humour
— came to light in Edinburgh at this time, and furnished
material for additional commentary on the West Port tragedy.
A resurrectionist, wishing to raise the wind, waited on an
Edinburgh lecturer, and stated that he had a "subject" to dis-
pose of, but he required two pounds ten shillings to meet some
immediate demands. The money was given him, and in a
short time a box was sent to the lecturer's rooms. To the in-
finite surprise of the gentleman and his assistants, the trunk
was found to be filled with rubbish. Such tricks, it was said,
were often played on anatomists ; but for all that, four
individuals were apprehended in connection with this fraud,
and were sentenced by the police magistrate each to imprison-
ment for two months. The other case illustrates the extraor-
dinary boldness of the resurrectionists, even at a time when the
popular feeling was strong against the miscreants apprehended
for the murder of Docherty. A mulatto of the name of
Masareen, who kept a public house in the Grassmarket, died
on the autumn of 1828, and a month or so later his wife
became unwell and was taken to the Edinburgh Royal
Infirmary, where she died in the end of November. On the

AMUSING INCIDENT AT DOUNE. 117

day of her death her body was claimed by two men
who represented themselves as her relatives. It was given them,
and they took it away ostensibly for interment. Next morning
her real relations appeared, and the greatest consternation was
caused by the discovery that the Infirmary authorities had been
duped by some very clever rogues. A search was made, and
after some trouble the body was found in a dissecting room.
It was taken back to the Infirmary, and was decently buried
on the 1st of December.

In the newspapers at this time, also, there were stories
about events occurring outside the city, which helped to
increase the general excitement. In the Courant for Monday,
the 13th November, there was a report of a case tried before
the Middlesex Sessions on the Thursday previous. Three men
were then charged with having on the 13th of September un-
lawfully broken open a vault in the church of Hendon, in which
were some dead bodies, and with having severed the head from
one of them. The object was rather strange. One of the
prisoners was a surgeon, and the body which had been
mutilated was that of his mother. There was in his family a
hereditary disease, the causes and nature of which he wished to
investigate, in order to prevent its attacks on himself, and he
was under the impression that if he could obtain his mother's
head for dissection, he would be able to find out the informa-
tion he desired. All the prisoners were found guilty, and were
severely punished. Another incident of a more amusing kind
was recorded at this time in the Stirling Advertiser. At Doune
Fair several special constables were on duty, and had the
village school-room assigned to them as a watch-house.
While they were sitting quietly talking to one another, a big
burly Irishman, heavily laden with whisky, fell in through "the
open door- way, and lay prone on the floor. He was a most
undesirable visitor, and it was evident that to attempt to
remove him by force might have rather serious results. Still
he could not be allowed to remain. One of the constables was
a bit of a wag, and he Avhispered to his companions that the
man on the floor would make an excellent subject for the doc-
tors. They quickly entered into the spirit of the jest, and the
conversation turned on the question of how the prospective

118 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

subject was to be " despatched." Some recommended
suffocation, others stabbing. Meanwhile, the Irishman, who
was not so tipsy as he seemed, had overheard the discussion,
carried on in a stage whisper, and began to feel exceedingly
uncomfortable. As the conspirators gradually came to an
agreement as to the method to be adopted, the intruder, who
had been carefully pulling himself together, suddenly jumped
up, and went out of the place, faster, if anything, than
he entered, amid shouts of laughter from the constables.

Under all the exciting circumstances of the time, it is not
surprising that the people should break out into riot at a very
small matter. Between nine and ten o'clock of the forenoon
of Thursday the 11th of December, a gig, occupied by two
men of notoriously bad character, was driven at a furious pace
along the North Bridge of Edinburgh. Some one suggested
that the vehicle contained a corpse, and the story speedily
gathered an immense crowd. An attempt was made to seize
the men, and the tumult became so great that when the city
watch interfered two of them and an old woman were seriously
injured. It was found, however, that the rumour as to the
contents of the gig was totally unfounded.

CHAPTER XIX.

Burke and M'Dougal amend their Account of the Murder — The
Prosecution in a Difficulty — Hare turns King's Evidence —
The Indictment against Burke and MlDougal.

While these events were transpiring outside, the authorities
were labouring anxiously in the preparation of the case against
the accused parties. This was no easy matter. It was beset
with technical difficulties which it was not likely the public, in
its then excited and unreasoning state, would take into its
consideration, and the Crown officials sought, if possible, to
avoid any miscarriage of justice.

On the 10th of November Burke was again examined in
private before Sheriff Tait, and emitted a second declaration,

BURKE AMENDS HIS STATEMENT. 110

His statement of a week before having been read over to him,
he declared it to be incorrect in several particulars. He then
proceeded to point out that the events he had previously de-
scribed as having taken place on the Saturday really took place
on the Friday. As to what occurred in the evening he was, how-
ever, a little more truthful, even at the expense of absolutely
contradicting himself. In the evening they had some dram-
drinking, " because it was Hallowe'en," and pretty late in the
night he and Hare differed, and rose to fight. When they
were separated by M'Dougal and Mrs. Hare they sat down by
the fire together to have another dram, and then they missed
Mary Docherty. They asked the two women what had be-
come of her, but they did not know. Burke and Hare searched
for her through the house. They looked among the straw of
the shake-down bed on the floor, at the bottom of the standing
bed, thinking she might have crept there during the struggle,
and then they found her among the straw, lying against the
wall, partly on her back and partly on her side. Her face was
turned up, and there was something of the nature of vomiting,
but not bloody, coming from her mouth. After waiting for a
few minutes they concluded, though the body was warm, that
the woman was dead. M'Dougal and Hare's wife immediately
left the house without saying anything, and Burke supposed
they did this " because they did not wish to see the dead body."
After a while the men stripped the corpse, and laid it among
the straw, and it was then proposed that it should be sold to
the surgeons. The rest of the declaration was taken up with
an account of what actually took place on the Saturday, for
Burke, having furnished an account of how the woman met
her death, seemed to think that he was free after that to tell
the truth as to the subsequent events. He denied having
caused Docherty's death, and gave it as his opinion that she
had been suffocated by laying herself down among the straw
in a state of intoxication. " No violence," he continued, "was
done to the woman when she was in life, but a good deal of
force was necessary to get the body into the chest, as it was
stiff; and in particular, they had to bend the head forward,
and to one side, which may have hurt the neck a little ; but he
thinks that no force was used, such as could have hurt any

120 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

part of the back at all." The one redeeming feature of the
declaration is that Burke stated " that a young man named
John Broggan had no concern in the matter ; that Broggan
came into the house on Saturday forenoon, as he thinks, while
the body was in the house, but did not know of its being there."

On the same day — the 10th of November — Helen M'Dougal
was subjected to a further examination by the Sheriff. She
adhered to her former declaration, and in answer to a question
she stated that between three and four o'clock on Friday after-
noon the old woman insisted on having salt to wash herself
with, and became otherwise very troublesome, calling for tea
different times. At last M'Dougal told her she would not be
tormented with her any longer, and thrust her out at the door
by the shoulders, and she never saw her afterwards.

These were the declarations, and although they were
sufficiently contradictory in themselves, and were in many
respects directly opposed to the stories told in the ones made
on the 3rd November, the Lord Advocate was still in a diffi-
culty. There was, of course, the evidence of the Grays and of
the neighbours, but it was entirely circumstantial, and might fail
to convict. Hare, ever wily and cunning, as we have seen, at last
saw how matters stood, and responded to an offer to turn King's
evidence, on the condition of being given an assurance that his
wife and himself would be safe from any prosecution. This
was a way out of the difficulty which the Lord Advocate, after
consideration, was glad to accept, as the only one possible ;
and the Evening Courant of the 29th November was able to
announce to the public that one of the parties implicated in
the West Port murder had given such information as would
lead to the apprehension of three or four other individuals.
This, of course, was scarcely correct ; but the Observer put it
right by stating that Hare had agreed to turn King's evidence.
In its issue of the 6th December the Courant stated that Burke
and M'Dougal — "his wife" she is called — had been committed
for trial for the murder of Mrs. Campbell or Docherty, Daft
Jamie, and Mary Paterson. " The manner in which the mur-
ders were committed,'' says this enterprising journal, " has been
described to us, and some statements have also been communi-
cated as to other individuals supposed to have shared a similar

CHARGE AGAINST HIE PRISONERS. 12i

fate ; but as the whole will probably be laid before the publie
in the eourse of the trials that will take place, we decline, for
the present, to publish further particulars."

On the 8th of December — two days later — a citation was
served on Burke and M'Dougal, " charging them to appear
before the High Court of Justiciary, to be held at Edinburgh,
on Wednesday, the 24th of December, at ten o'clock forenoon,
to underlie the law for the crime of murder." As the form
and matter of the indictment are interesting in themselves, and
as they gave rise to a long and important discussion at the
trial, it is proper that it should be quoted : —

" William Bukke and Helen M'Dougal, both present prisoners in the
tolbooth of Edinburgh, you are both and each of you. indicted and accused
at the instance of Sir William Bae of JSt. Catherine's, Baronet, his Majesty's
Advocate for his Majesty's interest : that albeit by the laws of tins and of
every other well-governed realm, MurdekIs a crime of an heinous nature,
and severely punishable, yet true it is and of verity that you the said
William Burke and Helen M'Dougal are both and each, or one or other of
you, gudty of the said crime, actors or actor, or art and part : In so far as,
on one or other of the days between the 7th and the lbth days of April,
1828, or on one or other of the days of that month, or of March imme-
diately preceding, or of May immediately following, within the house in
Gibus Close, Canongate, Edinburgh, then and now or lately in the
occupation of Constantine Burke, then and now or lately scavenger in the
employment of the Edinburgh Police Establishment, you the said William
Burke aid wickedly and feloniously place or lay your body or person, or
part thereof, over or upon the breast, or person, and face of Mary Pater-
son or Mitchell, then, or recently before that time, or formerly, residing
with Isabella Burnet or Worthington, then and now or lately residing in
Leith Street, in or near Edinburgh, when she, the said Mary Paterson or
Mitchell was lying in the said house in a state of intoxication, and did, by
the pressure thereof, and by covering her mouth and nose with your body
or person, and forcibly compressing her throat with your hands, and
forcibly keeping her down, notwithstanding her resistance, or in some other
way to the prosecutor unknown, preventing her from breathing, suffocate
or strangle her ; and the said Mary Paterson or Mitchell was thus by the
said means, or part thereof, or by some other means or violence, the par-
ticulars of which are to the prosecutor unknown, wickedly bereaved of lite,
and murdered by you the said William Burke ; and this you did with the
wicked aforethought intent of aisposing of, or selling the body of the said
Mary Paterson or Mitchell, when so murdered, to a physician or surgeon,
or some person in the employment of a physician or surgeon, as a subject
for dissection, or with some other . wicked and felonious intent or purpose

122 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

to the prosecutor unknown. (2.) Further, on one or other of the days
between the 5th and 26th days of October 1828, or on one or other of the
days of that month, or of September immediately preceding, or of Novem-
ber immediately following, within the house situated in Tanner's Close,
Portsburgh, or Wester Portsburgh, in or near Edinburgh, then or now or
lately in the occupation of William Haire or Hare, then or now or lately
labourer, you the said William Burke did wickedly and feloniously attack and
assault James Wilson, commonly called or known by the name of Daft
Jamie, then or lately residing in the house of J ames Downie, then and now
or lately residing in Stevenlaw's Close, High Street, Edinburgh, and did
leap or throw yourself upon him, when the said James Wilson was lying in
the said house, and he having sprung up you did struggle with him and
did bring him to the ground, and you did place or lay your body or person
or part thereof, over or upon the person or body and face of the said James
Wilson, and did, by the pressure thereof, and by covering his mouth and
nose with your person or body, and forcibly keeping him down, and com-
pressing his mouth, nose, and throat, notwithstanding every resistance on
his part, and thereby, or in some other manner to the prosecutor unknown,
preventing him from breathing, suffocate or strangle him ; and the said
James Wilson was thus, by the said means, or part thereof, or by some
other means or violence, the particulars of which are to the prosecutor un-
known, wickedly bereaved of life and murdered by you the said William
Burke ; and this you did with the wicked aforethought intent — [the intent
specified in the same language as under the first minor charge]. (3.)
Further, on Friday the 31st day of October, 1828, or on one
or other of the days of that month, or of September immediately
preceding, or of November immediately following, within the house
then or lately occupied by you the said William Burke, situated iu
that street of Portsburgh or Wester Portsburgh, in or near Edinburgh,
which runs from the Grassmarket of Edinburgh to Main Point, in or near
Edinburgh, and on the north side of the said street, and having an access
thereto by a trance or passage entering from the street last above libelled,
and having also an entrance from a court or back court on the north
thereof, the name of which is to the prosecutor unknown, you the said
William Burke and Helen M'Dougal did, both and each, or one or other
of you, wickedly and feloniously place or lay your bodies or persons, or
part thereof, or the body or person, or part thereof, of one or other of you,
over or upon the person or body and face of Madgy or Margery, or Mary
M'Gonegal or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, then or lately residing in
the house of Roderick Stewart or Steuart, then and now or lately labourer,
and then and now or lately residing in the Pleasance, in or near Edinburgh,
when she the said Madgy or Margery, or Mary M'Gonegal or Duffie, or
Campbell, or Docherty, was lying on the ground, and did, hy the pressure
thereof, and by covering her mouth and the rest of her face with your bodies
or persons, or the body or person of one or other of you, and by grasping her
by the throat, and keeping her mouth and nostrils shut with your hands, and

PRODUCTIONS FOR THE TRIAL. 12S

thereby, in some other way to the prosecutor unknown, preventing her
from breathing, suffocate or strangle her ; and the said Madgy or Margery,
or Mary M'Gonegal or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, was thus by the
said means, or part thereof, or by some other means or violence, the par-
ticulars of which are to the prosecutor unknown, wickedly bereaved of life,
and murdered by you the said William Burke and you the said Helen
M'Dougal, or one or other of you, and this you both and each, or one or
other of you, did with the wicked aforethought intent — [the intent
specified in the same language as under the first and second minor charges].
And you the said William Burke, having been taken before George Tait,
Esq., sheriff-substitute of the shire of Edinburgh, you did, in his presence,
emit and subscribe five several declarations, of the dates respectively
following, viz. : — the 3rd, 10th, 10th, and 29th days of November,
and 4th day of December, 1828 ; and you the said Helen M'Dougal
having been taken before the said sheriff-substitute, you did, in
his presence, at Edinburgh, emit two several declarations, one
upon the 3rd, and another, upon the 10th days of November, 1828 ;
which declarations were each of them respectively subscribed in
your presence by the said sheriff-substitute, you having declared you could
not write : which declarations having to be used in evidence against each
of you by whom the same were respectively emitted ; as also the skirt of a
gown, as also a petticoat, as also a snuff-box, and a snuff-spoon ; a black
coat, a black waistcoat, a pair of moleskin trowsers, and a cotton handker-
chief or neckcloth, to all of which sealed labels are now attached, being to
be used in evidence against you the said William Burke ; as also a coarse
linen sheet, a coarse pillow-case, a dark printed cotton gown, a red striped
bed-gown, to which a sealed label is now attached ; as also a wooden box ;
as also a plan entitled ' Plan of Houses in Wester Portsburgh and places
adjacent,' and bearing to be dated ' Edinburgh, 20th November 1828,' and
to be signed by James Braidwood, 22, Society ; being all to be used in
evidence against both and each of you the said William Burke and Helen
M'Dougal, at your trial, will, for that purpose, be in due time lodged in
the hands of the Clerk of the High Court of Justiciary, before which you
are to be tried, that you may have an opportunity of seeing the same ; all
which, or part thereof, being found proven by the verdict of an assize, or
admitted by the respective judicial confessions of the said William Burke
and Helen M'Dougal, before the Lord Justice-General, Lord Justice-Clerk,
and Lords Commissioners of Justiciary — you, the said William Burke and
Helen M'Dougal ought to be punished with the pains of law, to deter others
from committing the like crimes in all time coming."

The list of witnesses attached to this very formidable docu-
ment showed the names of fifty-five persons ; and there was,
also, a list of forty-five persons called for the jury from the
city of Edinburgh, town of Leith, and counties of Edinburgh,
Liulithgow and Haddington.

124 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARK

CHAPTER XX.

Public Anticipation of the Trial — Appearance of Burke and
M'Dougal in the Bock — Opening of the Court — The Debate
on the Relevancy of the Indictment.

As the day fixed for the trial drew near, the public excitement
became more and more intense. The feeling against the cul-
prits was very strong, and while the statement that Hare and
his wife were to be accepted as informers was received with a
notion of displeasure, it was thought that the revelations they
would make would fully compensate for the loss to justice by
their escape from punishment. This displeasure was not as
yet very definite^ for the people were unaware of the real facts
of the case, and had only a very hazy and general idea of
what was likely to be brought out in court. The public feel-
ing, however, ran so high that the authorities deemed it
necessary to take every precaution to prevent a disturbance,
and on the evening before the trial the High Constables of
Edinburgh were ordered to muster ; the police were reinforced
by upwards of three hundred men ; and the infantry in the
Castle and the cavalry at Piershill were held in readiness for
any emergency. The trial and its possible outcome was all
the talk, and the revelations about to be made were eagerly
anticipated.

Early on the morning of Wednesday the 24th December,
Burke and M'Dougal were conveyed from the Calton Hill Jail,
where they had been confined, and were placed in the cells
beneath the High Court of Justiciary in Parliament Square
until the time for the hearing of the case should come. The
inhabitants of the city were also early afoot, and crowded to the
square anxious to gain admittance to the court-room. " No
trial," said the Edinburgh Evening Courant of the following day,
" that has taken place for a number of years past has excited
such an unusual and intense interest ; all the doors and pas-
sages to the court were accordingly besieged at an early
hour, even before daylight; and it was with the utmost
difficulty, and by the utmost exertions of a large body of

OPENING OF THE COURT. 125

police, that admission coiild be procured for those who were
connected with the proceedings. At nine o'clock the court-
room was completely filled by members of the faculty and
by the jury. Lord Macdonald and another noble lord
were seated on the bench." At twenty minutes to ten o'clock
the prisoners were placed in the dock, and this is the descrip-
tion of them given by the Courant : — " Burke is of a short and
rather stout figure, and was dressed in a shabby blue surtout.
There is nothing in his physiognomy, except perhaps the dark
lowering of the brow, to indicate any peculiar harshness or
cruelty of disposition. His features appeared to be firm and
determined ; yet in his haggard and wandering eye, there was
at times a deep expression of trouble, as he unconsciously
surveyed the preparations which were going forward. The
female prisoner appeared to be more disturbed ; every now
and then her breast heaved with a deep-drawn sigh, and her
looks were desponding. She was dressed in a dark gown,
checked apron, cotton shawl, and a much worn brown silk
bonnet." The audience eagerly scanned the features of the
prisoners, and watched their every movement, during the half-
hour that elapsed between their being placed in the dock and
the judges ascending the bench. At ten minutes past ten
o'clock their lordships took their seats. These were — the
Right Hon. David Boyle, Lord Justice-Clerk ; and Lords Pit-
melly, Meadowbank, and MacKenzie. The Crown was repre-
sented by Sir William Rae, Bart, Lord Advocate ; and Messrs.
Archibald Alison, Robert Dundas, and Alexander Wood,
Advocates-depute ; with Mr. James Tytler, W.S., agent ; while
the counsel for Burke were the Dean of Faculty, and Messrs.
Patrick Robertson, Duncan M'Neill, and David Milne ; and for
M'Dougal, Messrs. Henry Cockburn, Mark Napier, Hugh Bruce,
and George Paton, with Mr. James Beveridge, W.S., one of
the agents for the poor. There were thus the best men of the
Scottish bar engaged in the trial. The defence, of course, had
been undertaken gratuitously by these eminent counsel, but
the sequel showed that it suffered nothing at their hands on
that account.

The court was fenced in the usual form, and the Lord
Justice-Clerk, as the presiding judge, called upon the prisoners

1

126 HISTORY OF BURKE AND IIARti.

to pay attention to the indictment to be read against them.
Mr. Robertson, however, interposed by stating that there was
an objection to the relevancy of the libel, and he submitted
it was proper to make such an objection at this stage of the
proceedings. The Lord Justice-Clerk did not see that this
was the proper time, but Mr. Cockburn urged that the reading
of the document would prejudice the prisoners in respect of
certain particulars which he was certain the court would
ultimately find were no legal part of the libel. On Lord
Meadowbank hinting that an objection at that stage was inter-
fering with the discretion of the court, Mr. Robertson intimated
he would not press the matter further, and the indictment was
accordingly read.

When this was done, the following special defences were
submitted to the court : — For Burke — " The pannel pleads
that he is not bound to plead to, or to be tried upon, a libel
which not only charges him with three unconnected murders,
committed each at a different time, and at a different place,
but also combines his trial with that of another pannel, who is
not even alleged to have had any concern with two of the
offences with which he is accused. Such an accumulation of
offences and pannels is contrary to the general and better
practice of the court ; it is inconsistent with the right principle ;
and, indeed, so far as the pannel can discover, is altogether un-
precedented ; it is totally unnecessary for the ends of public
justice, and greatly distracts and prejudices the accused in
their defence. It is therefore submitted, that the libel is com-
pletely vitiated by this accumulation, and cannot be maintained
as containing a proper criminal charge. On the merits of the
case, the pannel has only to state, that he is not guilty, and
that he rests his defence on a denial of the facts set forth in
the libel." For M'Dougal the defence was — " If it shall be
decided that the prisoner is obliged to answer to this indict-
ment at all, her answer to it is, that she is not guilty, and that
the Prosecutor cannot prove the facts on which his charge
rests. But she humbly submits that she is not bound to plead
to it. She is accused of one murder committed in October
1828, in a house in Portsburgh, and of no other offence. Yet
she is placed in an indictment along with a different person,

DEBATE OX Till-: UELEVAtfCf. 12?

who is accused of other two murders, each of them committed
at a different time, and at a different place, — it not being
alleged that she had any connection with either of these crimes.
This accumulation of pannels and of offences is not necessary
for public justice, and exposes the accused to intolerable pre-
judice, and is not warranted, so far as can be ascertained, even
by a single precedent."

Mr. Robertson then went into a long and learned argument
in support of these defences. He submitted that both prisoners
were prejudiced by being charged together in the same indict-
ment, for they were both put off their guard as to the evidence
and productions to be brought against them, and he further
pointed out that in respect of the choice of a jury the accused
were deprived of advantages given them by the law. If the
charges had been separated they would have been able to
make a more complete defence, and they would have had
twenty challenges at the calling of the jury ; but as it was, by
the accumulation of pannels and offences, their defence was
hampered and their number of challenges limited. He quoted
in his favour both Scotch and English authorities — apologising,
however, for bringing forward the latter — and in concluding
said — " When your lordships look, then, at this case, in all the
aspects I have set before you — when you see that there are
accumulated and combined charges against different prisoners
— when you see the atrocious nature of these charges, the
number of the witnesses, the declarations, and the number of
the articles libelled — and when you see the humane and salu-
tary principles of our law, and the practice of this court, — your
lordships will not be inclined to form a precedent, which, in
the first place, would be injurious to the law of the country;
and, in the next place, would be injurious to the unhappy per-
sons now brought to this bar."

This speech caused a feeling of admiration in the court, for
the advocate had put forward his arguments in a most able
manner ; but there was also something akin to dismay in the
minds of many present lest the culprits should escape because
of any flaw in the indictment.

The Lord Advocate had a difficult task before him, but he con-
fidently rose up to reply to the arguments adduced from the

128 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARK

other side of the bar, and attacked them in a most
spirited manner. He thought he could completely defend
his method of bringing the prisoners to trial, and show
that it was not only sanctioned by the law of the country,
but also by numerous precedents, even by those quoted
by his learned friend. But his object in placing the
female prisoner in this indictment was that she might derive
benefit rather than prejudice. Had he tried the man first, and
afterwards the woman, adducing against her the same, or
nearly the same, evidence brought against Burke, she would
have had good reason to complain of prejudice. However,
since the objection had been raised he would not then proceed
against her, but would do so ten days hence. " But if she
should suffer prejudice," said he, "from the evidence in Burke's
trial going abroad, let it be remembered it is not my fault.
She and her counsel must look to that — it is their proceeding,
not mine." Turning to the objections in Burke's case, he
said : — " As to the second objection, whether or not I am
entitled now to go to proof on the three charges here exhibited,
or shall proceed seriatim, I am aware that this is matter of
discretion with the court. In so far, however, as depends
upon me, I declare that I will not consent to this being dealt
with in the last of these modes. No motive will induce me, for
one moment, to listen to any attempt to smother this case ;
to tie me down to try one single charge, instead of all the
three. If I had confined myself to one of those charges ; if I
had served the prisoner with three indictments, and put the
pannel to the hardship of appearing three times at that bar, I
would have done one of the severest acts that the annals of
this court can show. I am told that the mind of the public is
excited ; if so, are they not entitled to know, from the first to
the last of this case ; and is it not my duty to go through the
whole of these charges? I would be condemned by the
country if I did not, and what to me is worse, I should deserve
it." His lordship then went over the authorities cited by Mr.
Robertson, and contended that they all bore against the
arguments brought forward by the counsel for the defence.

Replying for the defence, the Dean of Faculty very learnedly
examined the authorities quoted, with the object of showing

THE DECISION OF COURT. 129

that the action of the public prosecutor, in framing the libel
as he had done, was illegal, and without precedent.

The pleadings finished, Lord Pitmilly delivered the leading
judgment. He reviewed the arguments urged from both sides
of the bar, and signified his approval of the course the Lord
Advocate intimated he would take with M'Dougal. As for
Burke, he had stated through his counsel that he would suffer
prejudice by going to trial on an indictment which charged him
with three acts of murder, unconnected with each other, and his
lordship therefore thought the prisoner should be tried for each
of the acts separately. Lords Meadowbank and Mackenzie,
and the Lord Justice Clerk, concurred in the opinion given
expression to by Lord Pitmilly, and supported it by elaborate
reasonings.

The Lord Advocate, thus tied down, intimated that he
would proceed with the third charge libelled — the murder of
Docherty — and that he would also proceed against M'Dougal
as well as Burke, for she could suffer no prejudice in being
brought to trial for this single act, on which she was charged
as act and part guilty along with Burke. This decision rather
surprised the Dean of Faculty, who thought the diet against
the woman had been deserted pro loco et tempore, but the pro-
secutor claimed to proceed as he had indicated. Their lord-
ships then pronounced an interlocutor of relevancy : — " Find
the indictment relevant to infer the pains of law ; but are of
opinion, that in the circumstances of this case, and in conse-
quence of the motion of the pannel's counsel, the charges ought
to be separately proceeded in : and that the Lord Advocate is
entitled to select which charge shall be first brought to trial,
and His Majesty's Advocate having thereupon stated that he
means to proceed at present with the third charge in the
indictment against both pannels — therefore remit the pannels
with that charge, as found relevant, to the knowledge of an
assize, and allow the pannels, and each of them, a proof in
exculpation and alleviation," &c.

The prisoners were then asked to plead to the indictment
as amended, and they both offered the plea of " Not Guilty."
A jury was empanelled — fifteen men, as required by the law
of Scotland, The preliminary objections were thus got over,

130 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

and the trial could be proceeded with ; but the result of the
discussion was that the public were deprived of the satisfaction
of knowing in an authoritative manner the mystery connected
with the deaths of Mary Paterson and Daft Jamie.

CHAPTER XXL

The Trial of Burke and MlDougal — Circumstantial Evidence —
Hares Account of the Murder of Docherty — What he
Declined to Ansiver — Mrs. Hare a?id her Child.

The first witness called for the Crown was James Braidwood,
a builder, and master of the Edinburgh fire brigade, who
attested the correctness of the plan of the houses in Wester
Portsburgh prepared for use in the trial, and which has been
reproduced in this volume. He was followed by Mary Stewart,
in whose house, in the Pleasance, Mrs. Docherty's son resided,
and in which that unfortunate woman had slept the night
before the murder. She remembered the circumstances well.
The old woman was in good health when she last saw her in
life, but she had no difficulty in recognising the body in the
Police Office on the Sunday following. Further, she identified
the clothing found in Burke's house, and produced in court, as
having belonged to the deceased. Charles M'Lachlan, a lodger,
corroborated this testimony. The shop-boy of Rymer, the
grocer in the West Port, in whose premises Burke met Docherty,
described what took place between them on the memorable
Friday morning, and also mentioned the purchase by Burke on
the Saturday of a tea-chest similar to the one in which the
body had been conveyed to Knox's rooms. But the relation-
ship between the prisoners and Docherty was brought out by
a neighbour, Mrs. Connoway, who related that she had seen the
old woman in their house during the day, and that it had been
explained to her by M'Dougal that the stranger was a friend

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 131

of Burke. Later in the evening the old woman was in her
house, when they were joined by Hare and his wife and the
two prisoners. A dram was going round, and they began to
be merry, until at last some of them took to dancing. In the
course of this Docherty hurt her feet. The company after-
wards returned to Burke's house, and Mrs. Connoway went to
bed, but heard no noise or disturbance during the night.
Next day she went in to see M'Dougal, and, missing the
stranger, she asked what had become of her, when she was told
that " Burke and her had been oiver friendly together, and
she [M'Dougal] had turned her out of doors : that she
had kicked her out of the house." The evidence of Mrs.
Law, another neighbour, was similar in effect, with the addi-
tion that in the course of the night she had heard
the noise of " shuffling or fighting " proceed from the
house of the prisoners. More to the point, however, was
the testimony of Hugh Alston, a grocer, residing in the same
property. Between eleven and twelve o'clock on the night of
Friday, the 31st October, while going along the passage that
led from his house to the street, he heard a noise proceeding
from Burke's house. The sound was as if two men were
quarrelling, but what most attracted his attention was a
woman's voice calling " murder." He went towards the door
and listened, and he heard the two men making a great noise
as if wrangling or quarreling. This continued for a few
minutes, and then he heard something give a cry — a sound
which seemed to proceed from a person or animal being
strangled. After this remarkable sound had ceased he again
heard a female voice cry " murder," and there was a knocking
on the floor of the house. As he was afraid of fire, Alston
went to look for a policeman. Not finding one he returned
to his old stance, but the noise by this time had ceased. When
he heard next night of the body having been found in the
house the whole incident of the previous evening came back
to him.

Interesting as all this evidence was, the testimony of David
Paterson, " keeper of the museum belonging to Dr. Knox," as
bearing on what was termed " the complicity of the doctors,"
attracted more attention. This witness gave an account < if

132 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

how, about midnight, Burke called on him and took him to his
house in Portsburgh, to point out that he had a subject for
him. He identified Burke, M'Dougal, and Hare and his wife as
being in the house while he was there, and he further stated
that he had seen them the night after, when he paid the two
men an instalment of the price of the body. He was
examined at, some length as to the appearance of the body-
when he gave it up to the police, and said the marks and the
look of the face indicated that death had been caused by
suffocation or strangulation, while the general appearance
showed that the corpse had never been interred. He knew
Burke and Hare, and had often had dealings with them for
bodies. There were, he knew, people in the town who sold
bodies that had never been interred ; and he had known
gentlemen who had attended poor patients, and who, on their
death, gave a note of their place of abode, and this in turn was
handed to men such as he supposed Burke and Hare to be, to
get the bodies. This was startling information to the bulk of
the people of Scotland, but, as has been shown in some of the
early chapters of this work, it was nothing new to a certain
class of the population of Edinburgh and other towns. The
succeeding witnesses were Broggan, Mr. and Mrs. Gray, arid
Fisher the detective, but as their evidence has been embodied
in the account of the murder itself, it need not be repeated
here.

William Hare was next brought forward, and his appearance
caused quite a sensation in court. It was known that on his
evidence and that of his wife the case for the Crown principally
rested, and " expectation stood on tiptoe " to hear the account
he would give of the foul transaction in which he was a pro-
minent actor. His position as an informer was peculiar, and
\Lord Meadowbank cautioned him " that whatever share you
may have had in the transaction, if you now speak the truth,
you can never^afterwards be questioned in a court of justice,"
but if he should prevaricate he might be assured that the
result would be condign punishment. The Lord Justice Clerk
further informed him that he was called as a witness regarding
the death of Docherty, and in reply to this he asked — " T' ould
woman, sir?" He was then put on oath, being sworn on a New

sso^Q s.JOAeaM

A

•qD

0

HARE'S ACCOUNT OF THE MURDER 133

Testament having on it a representation of the cross, a mode
only adopted in Scotland when the witness belongs to the
Roman Catholic Church. In answer to the Lord Advocate he
said he had known Burke for about a year. On the 31st
October he had a gill with Burke, and the latter then told him
that in his house there was an old woman whom he had taken
off the street, and who would be a good shot to take to the
doctors. From this word shot he understood that Burke in-
tended murdering her. His evidence of the events up to the
time of the quarrel about eleven o'clock was quite consistent
with all that has already been related, but his account of the
actual murder is worthy of reproduction. Having described
the fight, during which the woman tumbled over the stool, he
said, in answer to the Lord Advocate : —

He [Burke] stood on the floor ; — he then got stride-legs on
the top of the woman on the floor, and she cried out a little,
and he kept in her breath.

Did he lay himself down upon her 1 Yes ; he pressed down
her head with his breast.

She gave a kind of a cry, did she ? Yes.

Did she give that more than once? She moaned a little
after the first cry.

How did he apply his hand towards her ? He put one hand
under the nose, and the other under her chin, under her mouth.

He stopped her breath, do you mean ? Yes.

Did he continue this for any length of time ? I could not
exactly say the time ; ten or fifteen minutes.

Did he say anything to you when this was going on ? No,
he said nothing.

Did he then come off her % Yes ; he got up off her.

Did she appear dead then ? Yes ; she appeared dead a tree.

Did she appear to be quite dead 1 She was not moving ; I
could not say whether she was dead or not.

What did he do then? He put his hand across her mouth.

Did he keep it there for any length of time? He kept it
two or three minutes.

What were you doing all this time ? I was sitting on the
chair.

What did he do with the body ? He stripped off the clothes.

134 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

He took it and threw it at the foot of the bed, doubled her
up, and threw a sheet over her ; he tied her head to her feet.

While this was going on, Hare continued, the two women
had run into the passage, and they did not return until all was
over. He then detailed the proceedings of the Saturday, as
already described.

Hare's cross-examination, however, gave rise to an animated
discussion. Mr. Cockburn, senior counsel for M'Dougal, asked
him — " Have you been connected in supplying the doctors
with subjects upon other occasions than those you have not
spoken to yet ? " The answer was — " No, — than what I have
mentioned " ; but the Lord Advocate objected to this line of
examination. Mr. Cockburn appealed to the bench, and the
witness was withdrawn while the question was being discussed.
He insisted he was within his right in putting such a question,
though the witness might answer it or not as he chose, but it
would be for the jury to judge of the credit due to his evidence
after it was seen how he treated the question. The Lord
Advocate, on the other hand, contended that the caution given
the witness when he entered the box precluded examination
on any subject other than what was involved in the case they
were trying. Authorities were again cited by both sides, and
after considerable discussion, the judges pronounced an inter-
locutor declaring that the question might be put, but that the
witness must be warned by the court that he was not bound
to answer any question that might criminate himself.

Hare was recalled, and Mr. Cockburn resumed his cross-
examination.

" Were you," said the counsel, " ever concerned in carrying
any other body to any surgeon ? "

" I never was concerned about any but the one that I have
mentioned," replied Hare.

" Now, were you concerned in furnishing that one ? " asked
Mr. Cockburn.

" No," responded the witness, " but I saw them doing it."

" It is now my duty," interposed the Lord Justice Clerk,
addressing Hare, " to state to you, in reference to a question
in writing, to be put to you, that you are not bound to make
any answer to it so as to criminate yourself. If you do answer

MRS. HARE TN THE WITNESS-BOX. 135

it, and if you criminate yourself, you are not under the protec-
tion of the court. If you have been concerned in raising dead
bodies, it is illegal; and you are not bound to answer that
question."

" Now, Hare," said Mr. Cockburn, after he had repeated the
judge's warning, " you told me a little ago that you had been
concerned in furnishing one subject to the doctors, and you
had seen them doing it — how often have you seen them doing
it!"

The witness thought a moment, and then declined to answer
the question.

" Was this of the old woman the first murder that you had
been concerned in ? Do you choose to answer or not ? "

" Not to answer," replied Hare, after a minute's considera-
tion.

" Was there murder committed in your house in the last
October?" persisted Mr. Cockburn.

" Not to answer that," was all the reply Hare would give.

The rest of the cross-examination was confined chiefly to
the murder of Docherty, but Hare's original evidence was in
no way shaken by it, and he was removed from court still in
custody.

If Hare's appearance created interest in court, that of his
wife caused quite as much. She was ushered into the witness-
box carrying her infant child in her arms. The poor creature
was suffering from whooping-cough, and every now and then
its " kinks " interrupted the examination, sometimes very
opportunely, when the questions put required a little considera-
tion on the part of the witness. Mrs. Hare's evidence contained
only one point calling for special notice. That was when,
after relating how she ran out of the house when she saw
Burke get upon Docherty, and returned to the house and did
not see the woman, she was asked — " Seeing nothing of her,
what did you suppose % " Her answer was — " I had a supposi-
tion that she had been murdered. / have seen such tricks before."
This hint was not followed up. But the remarkable fact
about her whole testimony was that it corroborated, with
exception of one or two points, that of her husband. There
can be no doubt that they had conned their story together

f

136 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

before they were apprehended — for it was not likely they
would have an opportunity of making it up while they were in
custody. Be that as it may, their evidence was wonderfully
alike.

The evidence of the police surgeon and of the medical men
who made an examination of the body, was next taken up, and
it all tended to show that death had been caused by suffoca-
tion or strangulation, the result of violence and not of intoxica-
tion. The reading of the prisoners' declarations concluded
the case for the prosecution, and no evidence was brought for-
ward for the defence.

CHAPTER XXII.

The Trial — Speeches of Counsel — Mr. Cockburns Opinion of
Hare — The Verdict of the Jury.

Without any delay, on the reading of the declarations, the
Lord Advocate at once commenced his address to the juiy,
and the public feeling is fully reflected in the following remarks
made by him at the outset : — " This is one of the most extra-
ordinary and novel subjects of trial that has ever been brought
before this or any other court, and has created in the public
mind the greatest anxiety and alarm. I am not surprised at
this excitement, because the offences charged are of so atro-
cious a description, that human nature shudders and revolts at
it ; and the belief that such crimes as are here charged have
been committed among us, even in a single instance, is cal-
culated to produce terror and dismay. This excitement
naturally arises from the detestation of the assassins' deeds,
and from veneration of the ashes of the dead. But I am bound
to say, that whatever may have occasioned this general excite-
ment, or raised it to the degree which exists, it has not
originated in any improper disclosures, on the part of those

SPEECHES OF COUNSEL. 13?

official persons, who have been entrusted with the investiga-
fcions connected with these crimes; for there never was a
case in which the public officers to whom such inquiries are
confided, displayed greater secrecy, circumspection, and
ability. It is my duty to endeavour to remove that alarm
which prevails out of doors, and to afford all the protection
which the law can give to the community against the, perpe-
tration of such crimes, by bringing the parties implicated to
trial ; and I trust it will tend to tranquilize the public mind,
when I declare I am determined to do so. I cannot allow any
collateral considerations, connected with the promotion of
science, to influence me in this course ; and I am fully
determined that everything in my power shall be done to
bring to light and punishment those deeds of darkness which
have so deeply affected the public mind." Having reviewed
the evidence in the case, his lordship turned to the question of
the admissibility and reliability of the testimony given by Hare.
He pointed out that it would have been impossible to make out
a case against the accused without the assistance of some of
the individuals connected with the crimes ; and argued that an
acquittal, after a trial on the evidence brought before the
magisterial inquiry, would probably have sent the accused
parties back to their former practices, whatever they were,
with increased encouragement and confidence. The public
would have remained entirely ignorant of the extent
to which such crimes had been carried by these per-
sons; whether these four individuals comprehended the
whole gang, or if there were others connected with them, or
whether similar gangs did not exist in other places. Such a
state of ignorance appeared to him altogether inconsistent
with the security of the public ; and he considered a know-
ledge of these matters indispensible, and as being of infinitely
more public importance than any punishment which could be
inflicted on the offenders. He did not think that such informa-
tion was too dearly purchased by admitting some of these
individuals to give evidence, and he was persuaded the
country, when this matter came to be calmly considered,
would support him in the propriety of the choice he had made.
He admitted that by availing himself of such information he

i38 History of burke and hare.

necessarily excluded the possibility of bringing these witnesses
to trial for any offence in which they had so acknowledged a
participation. This, in the then state of excited feeling, might
be regarded as unjust, but on that account the exercise of
sound judgment was all the more required of him. The testi-
mony given by these witnesses, his lordship contended, was
thoroughly credible. Hare especially appeared to speak the
truth ; but he also pointed out that there was independent
evidence which corroborated in part the statements made by
these persons. He concluded his task by demanding at the
hands of the jury, " in name of the country, a verdict of guilty
against both these prisoners at the bar." The speech for the
Crown was listened to with intense interest, and no wonder,
for in addition to the importance of the issues at stake, it was
acknowledged to be one of the best and most eloquent ever
delivered by Sir William Rae.

The speech by the Dean of Faculty was more laboured and
less spontaneous than that of the Lord Advocate. He felt
himself beset with difficulties, especially the prejudice against
his client, Burke, which was raised by the motive alleged in
the indictment. " The motive for committing the offence
which is here ascribed to the prisoner," he said, " involves in it
a peculiar practice or employment which may be in itself a
crime, though it is not necessarily criminal ; but whether it
implies public criminality or not, it involves in it a purpose
which is revolting to the feelings of the generality of mankind,
and calculated, almost above every other thing, to produce a
prejudice in the minds of those who come to consider the case
itself. For need I say that, when it is imputed to the
prisoner that his object was to procure what they are pleased
to call subjects for dissection, the very statement of such an
occupation, stamps a degree of infamy on the individual
engaged in it, and you are apt to set it down in the very
commencement of the inquiry, that he is a person capable of
any turpitude, and to imagine that to prove him guilty of any
crime, however enormous, requires less evidence than that
which you would consider indispensible to the conviction of
any other person." He implored the jury to cast any such pre-
judice aside, and to consider the case solely upon the merits of

COCKBtJRfrS OPINION OF UMIK. t3§

the evidence adduced. This he proceeded to analyse, making,
as a matter of course, the most of the discrepancies and incon-
sistencies, and he sought to impress upon the jury that the
whole of the case for the prosecution depended on the evidence
of socii criminis — the alleged accomplices in the deed charged.
He asked them if they could put the smallest faith in the testi-
mony of Hare and his wife, who had nothing to restrain them
from telling the most deliberate series of falsehoods for the
purpose of fixing the guilt of the murder on the prisoners, and
extricating themselves from the condition in which they stood.
Hare, when asked if he had ever committed other murders,
had declined to answer the question, yet this was the person
who gave evidence before them, not with a paltry money
motive, but with the tremendous motive of securing himself
from an ignominious death. Let them change the position of
parties, and suppose that Hare was at the bar, and Burke in
the witness-box. He did not know what case they might get
from Burke and M'Dougal, but nothing could hinder them, as
witnesses, from making out as clear a case against Hare and
his wife, totally transposing the facts, and exhibiting the
transaction as altogether the reverse of what Hare said it was.
" What," exclaimed the learned Dean, " if that ruffian who
comes before you, according to his own account, with his
hands steeped in the blood of his fellow creatures, breathing-
nothing but death and slaughter ; what if that cold-blooded,
acknowledged villain, should have determined to consummate
his villany, by making the prisoners at the bar the last victims
to his selfishness and cruelty % Do you think that he is incap-
able of it?"

Mr. Henry Cockburn, for M'Dougal, confined himself almost
entirely to the credibility of Hare and his wife. " Hare," he
said, " not only acknowledged his participation in this offence,
but he admitted circumstances which aggravated even the
guilt of murder. He confessed that he had sat coolly within
two feet of the body of this wretched old woman while she was
expiring under the slow and brutal suffering to which his
associate was subjecting her. He sat there, according to his
own account, about ten minutes, during which her dying
agonies lasted, without raising a hand or a cry to save her.

140 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

We who only hear this told, shudder, and yet we are asked to
believe the man who could sit by and see it. Nor was this the
only scene of the kind in which they had been engaged. The
woman acknowledged that she ' had seen other tricks of this kind
before? The man was asked about his accession on other
occasions, but at every question he availed himself of his
privilege, and virtually confessed by declining to answer." " The
prosecutor," continued the learned counsel, " seemed to think
that they gave their evidence in a credible manner, and that
there was nothing in their appearance beyond what was to be
expected in any great criminal, to impair the probability of
their story. I entirely differ from this: and I am perfectly
satisfied that so do you. A couple of such witnesses, in point
of mere external manner and appearance, never did my eyes
behold. Hare was a squalid wretch, in whom the habits of
his disgusting trade, want, and profligacy, seem to have been
long operating in order to produce a monster whose will as
well as his poverty will consent to the perpetration of the
direst crimes. The Lord Advocate's back was to the woman,
else he would not have professed to have seen nothing revolt-
ing in her appearance. I never saw a face in which the lines
of profligacy were more distinctly marked. Even the miserable
child in her arms, instead of casting one ray of maternal soft-
ness into her countenance, seemed at every attack [of hooping-
cough] to fire her with intense anger and impatience, till
at length the infant was plainly used merely as an instrument
of delaying or evading whatever question it was inconvenient
for her to answer." Having dealt with the question of corro-
boration, Mr. Cockburn remarked : — " The simple and rational
view for a jury to take is that these indispensible witnesses
are deserving of no faith in any case ; and that the idea is
shocking of believing them, to the effect of convict-
ing in a case that is capital. The prosecutor talks of
their being sworn ! What is perjury to a murderer !
The breaking of an oath to him who has broken into the
' bloody house of life ! " In concluding, he called for a
verdict of not proven : — " Let the public rage as it pleases.
It is the privilege and the glory of juries always to hold the
balance the more steadily, the more that the storm of

! I'MDICT OP Till-: JLfR¥. 141

prejudice is up. The time will come when these prejudices
will die away."

The Lord Justice-Clerk then summed up, carefully going-
over the evidence to the jury, and emphasising those points
which he thought deserving of their attention.

The jury retired to consider their verdict at half-past eight
o'clock on the morning of Thursday, 25th December — Christmas
day — the trial having continued from ten o'clock the previous
forenoon. Burke seemed to consider, a conviction certain not
only in his own case but also in that of M'Dougal, for he is
said to have given her directions how to conduct herself, and
told her to observe how he behaved when sentence was being
pronounced. After an absence of fifty minutes the jury
returned to court, and the chancellor or foreman, Mr. John
M'Fie, a Leith merchant, gave, viva voce, the following as the
verdict : —

" The jury find the pannel, William Burke, guilty of the
third charge in the indictment ; and find the indictment not
proven against the pannel, Helen M'Dougal."

The audience applauded the finding of the jury, and the
news was quickly conveyed to the enormous crowd outside in
Parliament Square, who cheered to the echo. Burke remained
cool, and turning to his companion he remarked, — "Nellie,
you're out of the scrape." The Lord Justice-Clerk then
thanked the jury for the unwearied pains and attention they
had bestowed on the case, and said it must be satisfactory to
them to know that in the opinion of the court their verdict
appeared to be well founded. It was afterwards reported that
the jury had considerable difficulty in coming to a decision, and
that the verdict they gave in was something of the nature of a
compromise. An old legal maxim has it that a wife acts under
the constraint of her husband, and it was believed to be in
view of this that the jury found the charge against M'Dougal
not proven.

142 HISTORY OF" BURKE AND HARK

CHAPTER XXIIL

The Last Stage of the Trial — Burke Sentenced to Death — The
Scene in Court — M'Dougal Discharged — Duration of the
Trial.

The last stage of a long trial had now been reached. After
the verdict against Burke there was only one course open to
the judges, but still the attention of the audience was given
most earnestly to the proceedings. Burke seemed callous, for
he had felt certain of the doom that was about to be pro-
nounced upon him. The Lord Advocate moved for the
judgment of the court, and the Lord Justice-Clerk called upon
Lord Meadowbank to propose the sentence.

Having briefly reviewed the facts of the case, as brought
out in the evidence, Lord Meadowbank proceeded : — " Your
lordships will, I believe, in vain search through both the real
and the fabulous histories of crime for anything at all ap-
proaching this cold, hypocritical, calculating, and bloody
murder. Be assured, however, that I do not state this either
for exciting prejudices against the individual at the bar, or for
harrowing up the feelings with which, I trust, he is now im-
pressed. But really, when a system of such a nature is thus
developed, and when the actors in this system are thus
exhibited, it appears to me that your lordships are bound, for
the sake of public justice, to express the feelings which you.
entertain of one of the most terrific and one of the most mons-
trous delineations of human depravity that has ever been
brought under your consideration. Nor can your lordships
forget the glowing observations which were made from the
bar in one of the addresses on behalf of the prisoners, upon
the causes, which, it is said, have in some measure led to the
establishment of this atrocious system. These alone, in my
humble opinion, seem to require that your lordships should
state roundly that with such matters, and with matters of
science, we, sitting in such places, and deciding on such
questions as that before us, have nothing to do. It is our duty
to administer the law as handed down to us by our ancestors,

IURKK SENTENCE!) To DEATH. U3

and enacted by the legislature. But God forbid that it should
ever be conceived that the claims of speculation, or the claims
of science, should ever give countenance, to such awful
atrocities as the present, or should lead your lordships, or the
people of this country, to contemplate such crimes with apathy
or indifference. With respect to the case before us, your
lordships are aware that the only sentence we can pronounce
is the sentence of death. The highest law has said — ' Thou
shalt not kill, — thou shalt do no murder ;' and in like manner,
the law of Scotland has declared, that the man guilty of
deliberate and premeditated murder shall suffer death. The
conscience of the prisoner must have told him, when he
perpetrated this foul and deliberate murder, and alike violating
the law of God, and the law of man, he thereby forfeited his
life to the laws of his country. Now that detection has
followed, therefore, the result cannot be by him unexpected ;
and I have therefore only further to suggest to your lord-
ships, that the prisoner be detained in the tolbooth of
Edinburgh, till the 28th day of January next, when he shall
suffer death on a gibbet by the hands of the common execu-
tioner, and his body thereafter given for dissection."

Lord Mackenzie concurred, saying that the punishment
proposed by Lord Meadowbank was the only one that could
be pronounced.

The Lord Justice-Clerk then assumed the black cap, and
addressing Burke, who had risen from his seat to receive
sentence, said : — " William Burke, you now stand convicted,
by the verdict of a most respectable jury of your country, of
the atrocious murder charged against you in this indictment,
upon evidence which carried conviction to the mind of every
man that heard it, in establishing your guilt in that offence. I
agree so completely with my brother on my right hand, who
has so fully and eloquently described the nature of your
offence, that I will not occupy the time of the court in com-
menting any further than by saying that one of a blacker
description, more atrocious in point of cool-blooded delibera-
tion and systematic arrangement, and where the motives were
■so comparatively base, never was exhibited in the annals of
this or of any other court of justice. I have no intention of

±44 HISTORY OF BVllKE A XI) II A Hit

detaining this audience by repeating what has been so well
expressed by my brother ; my duty is of a different nature,
for if ever it was clear beyond the possibility of a doubt that
the sentence of a criminal court will be carried into execution
in any case, yours is that one, and you may rest assured that
you have now no other duty to perform on earth but to pre-
pare in the most suitable manner to appear before the throne
of Almighty God to answer for this crime, and for every
other you have been guilty of during your life. The neces-
sity of repressing offences of this most extraordinary and
alarming description, precludes the possibility of your enter-
taining the slightest hope that there Avill be any alteration upon
your sentence. In regard to your case, the only doubt which
the court entertains of your offence, and which the violated
laws of the country entertain respecting it, is whether your
body should not be exhibited in chains, in order to deter
others from the like crimes in time coming. But taking into
consideration that the public eye would be offended by so
dismal an exhibition, I am disposed to agree that your sen-
tence shall be put into execution in the usual way, but
unaccompanied by the statutory attendant of the punishment
of the crime of murder — viz., that your body should be pub-
licly dissected and anatomised, and I trust that if it ever is
customary to preserve skeletons, yours will be preserved, in
order that posterity may keep in remembrance your atrocious
crimes. I would entreat you to betake yourself immediately
to a thorough repentance, and to humble yourself in the sight
of Almighty God. Call instantly to your aid the ministers of
religion of whatever persuasion you are ; avail yourself from
this hour forward of their instructions, so that you may be
brought in a suitable manner urgently to implore pardon from
an offended God. I need not allude to any other case than
that which has occupied your attention these many hours.
You are conscious in your own mind whether the other charges
which were exhibited against you yesterday were such as
might be established against you or not. I refer to them
merely for the purpose of again recommending you to devote
the few days that you are on the earth, to imploring- forgive-
ness from Almighty God."

DVRATIOX OF THE TRIAL. 145

The sentence was formally recorded in the books of the
court, with the addition that the place of execution was
specified as in the Lawnriiarket of Edinburgh, and the body of
the deceased was ordered to be delivered to Dr. Alexander
Monro, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh,
to be by him publicly dissected and anatomised.

The Lord Justice-Clerk then turned to Helen M'Dougal and
said : — " The jury have found the libel against you not proven;
they have not pronounced you not guilty of the crime of
murder charged against you in this indictment. You know
whether you have been in the commission of this atrocious
crime. I leave it to your own conscience to draw the proper
oonclusion. I hope and trust that you will betake yourself to
a new line of life, diametrically opposite from that which you
have led for a number of years." An interlocutor of dismissal
was pronounced, and M'Dougal was free from the pains of the
law, though she had still to fear the fury of an unappeased
public.

The Edinburgh Evening Courant of Saturday, 27th Decem-
ber, thus described the appearance of the prisoners when the
Lord Justice-Clerk addressed them : — " The scene was
altogether awful and impressive. The prisoner stood up with
unshaken firmness. Not a muscle of his features was discom-
posed during the solemn address of the Lord Justice-Clerk
consigning him to his doom. The female prisoner was much
agitated, and was drowned in tears during the whole course of
the melancholy procedure."

The trial was thus concluded, the court having sat, with
certain intervals for refreshment, from ten o'clock in the fore^
noon of Wednesday, the 24th of January, until nearly ten
o'clock next morning. Burke, it has been seen, was cool and
collected, his mind having been made up before the judicial
proceedings began as to how they were likely to end. About
four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon he asked one of the
jailors near him when dinner would be provided, and on being
informed that the court would not adjourn for that meal until
about six o'clock, he begged to be given a biscuit or two, as
he was afraid he would lose his appetite before the dinner
hour. M'Dougal, however, was not so calm, and during the.

Hii HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

whole course of the trial manifested an amount of anxiety as
to her position not shown by her companion.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Interest in the Trial — Public Feeling as to the Result — Press
Opinions — Attack on Dr. Knox's House,

The news of the result of the trial spread rapidly. All the
Edinburgh newspapers gave lengthened reports of the pro*,
ceedings — putting the " affairs of State " to a side for once—
and in those cases where the usual publication day of a journal
was on the Thursday, the day on which the trial closed, second
editions containing the verdict and sentence were issued. The
Evening Courant was at the pains to obtain statistics of the
circulation of the newspapers. Between the Thursday morning
and Saturday night it was calculated that not fewer than 8000
extra copies were sold, representing a money value of nearly
£240. This was certainly surprising when the high price
charged for the journals is taken into account, and is a testi-
mony to the intense interest taken in the trial by the people
at large.

The result of the trial was received with mingled feelings.
The liveliest satisfaction was felt at the conviction of Burke ;
but the dismissal of M'Dougal, and the probable escape of Hare
and his wife through having become informers, caused a great
amount of discontent. The evidence given by the two prin-
cipal witnesses showed that they were as much guilty of the
offence as Burke himself, and an impression began to get
abroad that Hare was after all the leading spirit in the con-
spiracy, and that he had, as the counsel for the defence had
suggested, made Burke his last victim. This strong dislike, or
rather detestation, to Hare did not, however, have a compen-
sating effect by producing sympathy for Burke — the popular

THE PRESS ON THE TRIAL. 147

mind was too deeply convinced of bis guilt to think that he
other than fully deserved the doom that had been pronounced
upon him. And the peculiar feature of the matter was this,
that while there was no need for the Lord Advocate proceed-
ing farther against Burke in respect of the first and second
charges on the indictment, since he had been condemned on
the third, the great mass of the people pronounced an unmis-
takable verdict of guilty against him for the murder of Daft
Jamie ; and the Courant shortly after the trial deepened the
impression by stating that it was Burke himself who enticed
the poor natural into his den, though there is every reason to
believe that this was a mistake. The disappearance and cruel
fate of that unfortunate lad had perhaps more to do with the
" prejudice," as it was called at the trial, against the two
prisoners and their accomplices than any other item in the
case.

The Caledonian Mercury of Thursday, the 25th December,
the day on which sentence was passed, had the following
among other comments on the proceedings of the previous
twenty-four hours : —

" No trial in the memory of any man now living has excited
so deep, universal and (we may also add) appalling an interest as
that of William Burke and his female associate. By the state-
ments which have from time appeared in the newspapers,
public feeling has been worked up to its highest pitch of ex-
citement, and the case, in so far as the miserable pannels were
concerned, prejudiced by the natural abhorrence which the
account of a new and unparalleled crime is calculated to
excite. . . At the same time, it is not so much to the accounts
published in the newspapers which merely embodied and gave
greater currency to the statements circulating in Society, as to
the extraordinary, nay, unparalleled circumstances of the case,
that the strong excitement of the public mind must be ascribed.
These are without any precedent in the records of our criminal
practice, and, in fact, amount to the realization of a nursery
tale. The recent deplorable increase of crime has made us
familiar with several new atrocities : poisoning is now, it seems,
rendered subsidiary to the commission of theft : stabbing, and
attempts at assassination, are matters of almost everyday

US HISTORY OF UURKE AND HARE,

occurrence ; and murder has grown so familiar to us, that it
has almost ceased to be viewed with that instinctive and inex-
pressible dread which the commission of the greatest crime
against the laws of God and society used to excite. But the
present is the first instance of murder alleged to have been
perpetrated with aforethought purpose and intent of selling the
murdered body as a subject of dissection to anatomists ; it is a
new species of assassination, or murder for hire ; and as such,
no less than from the general horror felt by the people of this
country at the process, from ministering to which the reward
was expected, it was certainly calculated to make a deep im-
pression on the public mind, and to awaken feelings of strong
and appalling interest in the time of the trial. Of the extent to
which this had taken place, it was easy to judge from what
was everywhere observable on Monday and Tuesday. The
approaching trial formed the universal topic of conversation,
and all sorts of speculations and conjectures were afloat as to
the circumstances likely to be disclosed in the course of it, and
the various results to which it would eventually lead. As the
clay drew near, the interest deepened ; and it was easy to see
that the common people shared strongly in the general excite-
ment. The coming trial they expected to disclose something
which they had often dreamed of or imagined, or heard
recounted around an evening's fire, like a raw-head-and-bloody
bones story, but which they never, in their sober judgment,
either feared or believed to be possible ; and they looked for-
ward to it with corresponding but indescribable emotions. In
short, all classes participated more or less in a common feeling
respecting the case of this unhappy man and his associate ; all
expected fearful disclosures ; none, we are convinced, wished
for anything but justice."

This was the expectation of the public, but it was, un-
fortunately, not altogether realised. True, the mystery attend-
ing the murder of Mrs. Docherty had been cleared up, but
owing to the legal objections nothing had been said as to how
Mary Paterson and Daft Jamie met their death. This had
operated against a proper disclosure in more ways than one.
The limitation of the indictment confined the informer's evi-
dence, one-sided though it undoubtedly was, to one crime, and

PUBLIC FEELING A GA TNSf IT A RE. 140

prevented it being given in the case of the others; and,
further, that limitation did away with the necessity of calling
Dr. Knox and the other medical men whose names were on the
list of witnesses, and who were supposed to be mixed up in
the transaction. " Where are the Doctors 1 " was the question
when the trial closed without any appearance of them ; and it
was repeated out of court with threatening emphasis. In the case
which went to trial, and on which Burke was condemned, there
was really no need for them. The body had been recovered and
identified; therewasnodoubtastothemurder; the whole subject
of inquiry was — By whom was it committed ? Had the other
charges in the indictment gone to the knowledge of an assize, the
evidence of the doctors and their assistants would have been
required, for they, and they only, could have spoken to the
appearance and probable identity of subjects supplied to them
about certain dates, and supposed to be the bodies of
the unfortunate victims of the persons placed at the bar.
Then, they would have been indispensible ; as it was, they
were not needed, with the result that public curiosity had only
been whetted, not satisfied. And a circumstance that
helped to make this feeling all the more intense was
that the indictment, in so far as it related to the
first two charges, seemed to have been framed on information
supplied by Hare; while the fact that the Lord Advocate
made them part of the libel, and intimated the production of
certain articles belonging to the two victims, gave more than
reasonable ground for the assumption that he was convinced
he had a good case, otherwise he would not have sought to
lay it before a jury. This fact, combined with the natural
thirst for legal vengeance, gave the public hope that the officers
for the Crown would be able to put Hare and his wife upon
their trial for some crime other than any that were mentioned
in the indictment, but in the same series, and that by this
means the whole plot, with all relating to it, would be laid
bare.

All these circumstances caused a strong feeling of discontent
among every class of the community, but especially among
the lower orders, who seemed to think their lives menaced by
criminals of the stamp of Burke and Hare, Much excitement

150 HISTORY OF BURKE AND RARE.

consequently prevailed, but though disturbances were feared
by the authorities, no serious breach of the public peace
occurred until Sunday, 28th December. On that day a band
of young men attacked Dr. Knox's house in Minto Street, and
they were only driven off by a strong force of police after they
had broken a great quantity of window-glass.

CHAPTER XXV.

Burkes Behaviour in Prison — Liberation of M'Dougal, and the
Consequent Riot — Visitors at Burke's House in the West
Port — Burke's Idea of the Obligations of Dr. K.nox~~Hw

Confessions.

All through the trial Burke had seemed callous and indifferent,
but when he was removed from the court-room to the lock-up
he was considerably agitated. He threw himself on his knees
on the floor of his cell and prayed to God, to whom he had
long been a stranger, and to whose mercy the judge had so
earnestly commended him. After this he appeared to be con-
siderably relieved, and during the rest of the day he was
comparatively cheerful. He spoke a good deal to the police-
man who was beside him, and said he was pleased at the
acquittal of M'Dougal. Without any hesitation he conversed
freely about the murder of Docherty, who, he said, was not
murdered by him in the way described by Hare. That indi-
vidual was himself the murderer, though, he admitted, he had
held the unfortunate woman's hands to prevent her from
struggling. The policeman was a fair type of the public, as a
question he put to Burke amply proved. He told Burke that
he wondered above all things how he could imbrue his hands
in the blood of Daft Jamie. That Burke was in a state of
semi-delirium is shown by his answer — as he hoped to meet
with mercy at the throne of grace, his hand was not concerned

BURKE'S CONDUCT IN PRISON. 151

in that murder ; Hare and his wife were the sole perpetrators
of it, though he had decoyed the poor simpleton into their
house. That his mind was in a strange state he admitted by
adding, that after he was more composed he would make dis-
closures that would implicate several others besides Hare and
his wife in crimes similar to that for which he was condemned ;
and if he could make sure of the hanging of Hare, he would
die happy. How did he feel when pursuing his horrible
vocation ? was the next query of the constable. In his waking
moments he had no feeling, for he drank to deaden conscience,
but when he slept he had frightful dreams. He also expressed
a wish that one of his counsel should call on him that he might
furnish him with notes of his life and adventures, as he desired
his history to be published, whether for notoriety or as a
warning to others, he did not say. In the course of that
evening he read two chapters of the Bible, and afterwards
retired to rest. His sleep, however, was not peaceful. He
awoke in a frantic state every now and then ; but after a short
time he became more composed, and fell asleep again.

At two o'clock on Friday morning he was removed quietly in a
coach totheCalton Hill Prison, and placed in the condemned cell.
Here the frenzy under which he had been labouring since his
condemnation took another turn. He threw aside the semi-
religious feeling which seemed to sway his mind the day
before, and turned fiercely to the jailor — for there was always
one beside him, as, before his trial, he had threatened self-
destruction — and said : " This is a d d cold place you have

brought me till." The thirst for vengeance against Hare was
still strong in him. He sat thinking over then connection, and
broke out every now and again into curses against his one-time
associate. Hare, he declared, was more guilty than he was.
" Hare," he said, " murdered the first woman. He persuaded
me to join him, and now he has murdered me ; and I will
regret to the last hour of my existence that he did not share
the same fate." An officer said to him, " 1 think I could never
wish to see that man forgiven who could murder that poor,
harmless, good-natured idiot, Daft Jamie." Burke replied
with fierce earnestness!: — "My days are numbered. I am
Boon to die by the hands of man. 1 have no more to fear, and

152 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE,

can have no interest in telling a lie, and I declare that I am as
innocent of Daft Jamie's blood as you are. He was taken into
Hare's house and murdered by him and his wife. To be sure
I was guilty so far, as I assisted to carry his body to Dr. Knox,
and got a share of the money." Later in the day, he dropped
into the frame of mind in which he was after his sentence, and
willingly acknowledged to his jailors that he was guilty,
though beyond that he declined to satisfy their curiosity. As
the evening advanced he asked if he would be allowed to pray.
There was, of course, no objection, and again he petitioned the
Almighty for forgiveness, and specially mentioned Helen
M'Dougal, that her heart might be touched and turned from
evil.

This was the night on which M'Dougal was liberated. It was
feared that the infuriated mob that paced the streets of the city
after the close of the trial would tear her to pieces, and she had,
as a matter of safety, been detained in the lock-up. Immediately
on her liberation, she returned to her house in the West Port,
and remained there unmolested until the next night. Then
she went out to a shop in the neighbourhood for the purpose
of purchasing some whisky — Burke's prayer had not yet
been answered. The shop-keeper refused to supply her, and
on her way home she was noticed by a number of boys, who,
recognising her, raised the cry — "There's M'Dougal." Speedily
a crowd assembled — a rough, tumultous crowd, strongly under
the sway of Judge Lynch. Fortunately for her, the police
came to her rescue, and, again for safety, took her to the
watch-house in Wester Portsburgh. The infuriated mob
endeavoured to prevent this, and sought to tear the woman
from the grasp of the officers in order that they might execute
summary justice upon her; but her guardians drew their
staves, and by laying about them in a determined manner,
attained their purpose. At last the watch-house was reached,
but still M'Dougal was not safe. The crowd, which had grown
to huge dimensions, attacked the place from every side,
smashed the windows, and seemed so determined to gain
admittance and work their will upon the unfortunate woman,
that the officers, judging themselves unable to make sufficient
stand, had her dressed in men's clothes, and she escaped by a

VtStfOfiS TO BURKKS TTOCSi:. i:.:i

back window unobserved. A show of resistance was made for
a short time to allow M'Dougal to reach aplace of safety, and
then it was announced to the mob that she was being detained
in order to give evidence against Hare. This pacified the
passions of the people, for they were willing she should escape
in the meantime if there was any chance of making sure that
Hare would be punished, and they quietly dispersed.
M'Dougal, though out of the office, was still under police pro-
tection, and on Sunday, 28th December, she was accompanied
outside the city, on her way to Stirlingshire, with, it was
slated, between ten and twelve pounds in her possession.

Up till the Friday night following the trial, the house
occupied by Burke and M'Dougal, in the West Port, was
visited by great crowds of people, who wished, out of curiosity,
to see the place where such foul crimes had been perpetrated.
On that night, however, the person who had the key gave it
up to the landlord, as he wished to escape the imputation cast
upon him by some, that he had been making money by shoAv-
ing it off. On the following Sunday, also, the street was
crowded by well-dressed people, all attracted to the scene by
its evil reputation. Here is the description given by one of
the Edinburgh newspapers of that period, of the houses occupied
by Burke and his accomplice : — " The immediate entrance to it
[Burke's house] is appropriate — namely, through a dark pas-
sage, where the women stood while the murder of the Irish
woman was being perpetrated. The dwelling is one small
room, an oblong square, which presents the exact appearance
it had when the culprits were apprehended. There is still the
straw at the foot of the bed, in which the murdered woman
was concealed. Altogether, it has an air of the most squalid
poverty and want of arrangement. On the floor is a quantity
of wretched old shoes, of all sizes, meant by Burke, perhaps, to
indicate his being a cobbler; but they are so wretchedly worn,
that we cannot suppose they were left wTith him to be mended,
or that he designed to improve their appearance, for the pur-
pose of selling them. We incline to think that they belonged
to some of his victims. The dwelling is most conveniently
situate for the murderous trade he pursued — there being many
obrcv.re approaches to it from different directions. Hare's

154 HISTORY OF BURKE AM) I/ARK.

dwelling, also, has attracted many visitors. Its appearance is
equally deplorable with that of Burke. It is on the ground-
floor, consists of two apartments, and overlooks a gloomy close.
Beside it is a sort of stable, used by Hare as a pig-stye, and
secured with a large padlock. In this it is believed Hare and
Burke committed many of their butcheries ; and here, we are
inclined to think, Daft Jamie encountered his fate."

But to return to Burke in the condemned cell. As the time
passed on, his mind appeared to be agitated for brief intervals,
though in general he seemed resigned to the fate his crimes so
richly deserved. On one occasion he broke out in a curious
manner. He had been sitting quietly, apparently thinking
over his past life, and of the near approach of its end, when he
startled his attendant by saying —

"I think I am entitled, and ought to get that five pounds
from Dr. Knox which is still unpaid on the body of Docherty."
" Why, Dr. Knox lost by the transaction, as the body was
taken from him," was the reply of the amazed warder.

" That was not my business," said Burke. " I delivered the
subject, and he ought to have kept it."

" But you forget that were the money paid, Hare would
have the right to the half of it," argued the other.

" I have got a tolerable pair of trousers," explained Burke,
musingly, " and since I am to appear before the public, I
should like to be respectable. I have not a coat and waist-
coat that I can appear in, and if I got that five pounds I could
buy them."

As the time went on Burke was induced to make a confession
of his crimes. On the 3rd of January, 1829, he dictated a con-
fession before Sheriff Tait, the Procurator-Fiscal, and the
assistant Sheriff-Clerk ; and on the 22nd of the same month he
supplemented it by a short statement, made in the presence of
the same parties, with the addition of the Rev. Wm. Reid, a
Roman Catholic priest. Application was made to the Lord
Advocate by an Edinburgh gentleman to obtain admission to
Burke's cell to receive a confession from the criminal, but this
was refused ; and on an appeal being made to the Home
Secretary the refusal was confirmed. On the 21st of January,
however, the condemned man made another and fuller

MMKUOVS DISAPPEARANCES. 155

confession, but this time unofficial, and this document had such a
curious history that an account of it must be reserved until
the proper time. Between his condemnation and execution
Burke was visited by Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy-
men, and he received the ministrations of both without pre-
ference.

CHAPTER XXVI.

"The Complicity of the Doctors" — Numerous Disappearances — ■
Dr. Knox and David Paterson — Paterson Defends Himself
— " The Echo of Surgeons Square" — The Scajiegoat.

As time went on the excitement among the public increased,
and the newspapers, thoroughly roused to the importance of
the West Port murders, and freed from restraint by the decision
of the court, spoke out fearlessly. "The complicity of the
doctors," as it was called, came in for a large share of atten-
tion and severe comment ; while rumours as to the action the
authorities intended to take regarding Hare and his wife were
eagerly canvassed. It was stated that Hare, after the trial,
made important disclosures, confessing to having been con-
cerned in no less than twelve different acts of murder, in some
of which he was the principal, in others an accessory ; and
that he knew of another, though he was not in any way a
party to the commission of it. Then it was said that Burke
had confessed to having sold some thirty or thirty-five uuin-
terred bodies during the previous two years, and it was argued
that these could only have been obtained by murder, notably
the murder of unfortunate women, large numbers of whom had
mysteriously disappeared in that time, no one knew how.
Natural deaths had become very rare among that class, and
for some time the interment of one of them was a thing almost
Unknown. This, it was argued, showed that a gigantic

l.Mi HISTOUY OF BURKE AND IlAklL

conspiracy to murder, for the purpose of obtaining subjects for
dissection, had been going on in Edinburgh, and it was sus-
pected that the gang was larger than it really was. A medical
man informed a journalist that in the autumn of 1828 the body
of a woman was offered for sale by some miscreants — "probably
of Burke's gang," was the opinion hazarded — to the assistant
of an eminent teacher of anatomy in Edinburgh. The assistant
did not know them, for they were not regular resurrec-
tionists— he knew them well enough — but as he required
a subject, he told them to bring the body, and if it were
suitable he would purchase it. The body was conveyed to
the dissecting-room the same evening, and on being turned
out of the sack the assistant was startled to see it was that of
a woman of the town, with her clothes and shoes and stockings
on. He carefully examined the body, and found there was an
enormous fracture on the back of the head, and a large portion
of the skull driven in, as if by the blow of a hammer. With
an oath he asked them where and how they got the body, and
one of them coolly replied that it was the body of an unfortu-
nate who had been popped in a brawl in Halkerston's Wynd.
The " subject " was refused, and the merchants had to take it
elsewhere..

This and many similar stories naturally gave rise to a
demand for a searching investigation alike in the public interest
and in the interests of the teachers of anatomy themselves. It
was advocated that all the anatomical teachers, and others who
used cadavera for their classes, both in and out of the university,
ought to be examined as to the manner in which they were
accustomed to receive their subjects. In particular, the assis-
tants and students of Dr. Knox during the two previous
sessions ought to undergo an examination as to the quarter
Avhence bodies were procured, the state in which they were
received, and the manner in which they were dissected. With-
out such a complete and thorough examination, it was argued,
the public could have no guarantee that every anatomical
teacher in Edinburgh had not a Burke in his pay; for it seemed
to be the impression in the minds of the people "that one
gentleman stands in the same relation to Burke that the mur-
derer of Banqm did to Macbeth/'

Dii. k'xox AND n.win PaTersoN. i:>7

The Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle was especially outspoken
in respect to Dr. Knox. "With regard -to Dr. Knox," this
journal said, "too much delicacy and reserve have been
maintained by a part of the press. When the atrocities in
question first transpired, it was staled that Knox conducted
himself with the utmost civility towards the police officers who
went to his house in search of the body, when the fact is, he
swore at them from his window, and threatened to blow their
brains out ; and it was only upon their proceeding to force the
door of his lecture-room, that it was opened by one of the
keepers." From Knox, the Chronicle passed on to Paterson,
his curator or porter, who, that journal asserted, "actually
offered- Docherty for sale to a respectable gentleman in the
profession before she was despatched ; he saw her in Burke's
house immediately after the spark of life had been extinguished;
and he then again offered her for fifteen pounds to the same
gentleman, who indignantly ordered him out of his house."
The Caledonian Mercury was equally plain, and would give no
countenance to the idea that Knox and his assistants had been
imposed upon by Burke and Hare, and gave all its weight in
favour of the " complicity " idea. It also repeated the story of
the supposed negotiations between Paterson and " the most
respectable teacher of anatomy " as to the sale of Docherty's
body for fifteen pounds, with this addition that he stated to the
gentleman in question, on his second visit, " that the body he
wished to dispose of was the body of a woman; and that he
had 'a desperate gang' in his pay, through whom he could
procure as many subjects as he wished for."

Knox remained silent under all these charges, but Paterson
could not, and he' wrote a letter on the 15th January to the
editor of the Caledonian Mercury. He contended that he had
been shamefully wronged by "the many false and cruel
accusations made against him," and stated that he had " only
kept silence by advice of Dr. Knox, as he was, according to
promise, to espouse my cause, and clear my innocence; but
which I now find lie has cruelly failed to perform. And I now
most solemnly protest, and can prove, that throughout all the
ices rendered by me to Dr. Knox, I acted entirely
Under his own guidance and direction." He also denied

L

158 HISTORY OF BURKE AM) UMlK.

a statement to the effect that he had absconded, and
had been dismissed from Dr. Knox's service ; and he
called upon the authorities, if they conceived him in any
way guilty in the transaction, to bring him to a pub-
lic trial, and either let him be found guilty or have the benefit
of an honourable acquittal. To this letter the editor of the
Mercury appended some questions, but these will be best
explained by a quotation from a letter from Paterson, dated
17th January, 1829, in reply to them. He says : — "After the
publication of my letter to you in this day's paper, I observe
you have inserted the following queries : — First, whether it be
true or the reverse, that about one o'clock on the morning of
1st November last, I, in conjunction with another individual
whom I well know, offered the body of a woman for sale to a
highly-respectable lecturer on anatomy % My answer is simply,
No. Secondly, whether or not I asked fifteen pounds for the
subject, stating at the same time, that Dr. Knox would give
only twelve % — Answer, No. Thirdly, whether I did not say,
that I wished to have no further dealings with the Doctor,
because he had handed us over to his (the Dr.'s) assistants %
My answer is, No. And lastly, whether the body so offered
was or was not the body of the woman Docherty ! To this I
answer, that having no body to offer, the transaction could not
take place." Paterson proceeded to explain, however, that
about three weeks before the murder of Docherty a friend of
the "most respectable anatomist," referred to by the Mercury,
called on him and asked where the individuals lived that were
in the habit of supplying Dr. Knox with subjects. He did not
know, so he could not give any information, but as the sum of
fifteen pounds was offered for a subject he promised that the
next time he saAv the resurrectionists he would mention the
matter to them, provided, always, that Dr. Knox was supplied.
Paterson again gave a most emphatic denial to the statement
of his dismissal, which the Mercury had reported upon the
authority of Dr. Knox himself, and he enclosed a copy of a letter
from that gentleman, dated the 11th January, asking him to
return to his employment.

Again the Mercury returned to the charge, and said : —
" Now this is not a question of probability but of fact;

pATERSOtt DEFENDS tflMSELF*. i.v.»

and we agaii] ask him (Paterson), whose was the corpse
confessedly offered for sale an hour or an hour and a-half
after Burke had, according- to his own evidence in the witness-
box, told him he had * something for the doctor, which would
be ready in the morning.'" Paterson replied to this on the
23rd January, and complained that he was being made "the
Bcape-goa1 for a personage in higher life." As his letter is not
only interesting in itself, but also because there is introduced
in it an account of a transaction with Andrew Merrilees — the
Merry Andrew of an early chapter of this work — it is worth
quoting pretty fully.

"I will now give you,"' says Paterson, "what I trust the
public will consider a satisfactory explanation of the transac-
tion alluded to in your paper of the 22nd, which will at the
same time answer the queries in the Caledonian Mercury of the
1 7th. About three weeks before the murder of Docherty, a
Mr. called upon me, who was very intimate (or ap-
peared to be so) with Dr. . During the conversation, in

a walk along the Bridges, the topic turned upon the scarcity

( >f subjects amongst the lecturers. 1 was asked how Dr.

was supplied ; and after informing him to the best of my

knowledge, he, Mr. , said he understood that Dr.

could not get one, and that he had offered him fifteen pounds
if he could o-et one for him. My answer was, that 1 thought
there was nothing more easy, as there were plenty of resurrec-
tion men came about Dr. 's rooms, who might procure

one for him. Pie then requested me to accompany him to

Dr. "s house, and he would ascertain if Dr. had

got one. I did so. Dr. and Mr. talked for

some time on various matters, when the discourse turned upon

the matter in question. I heard Dr. offer fifteen

pounds for a subject, as he was in great straits. J took no part
in fin- conversation, nor uni'li' any remark; but after we had left

Dr. , Mr. strongly urged me to allow a subject

to go to Dr. "s rooms, when any should arrive, without

the knowledge of Dr. , for which no doubt / was to

receirr a remuneration for my trouble. Dr. about that

time had fifteen subjects, and I did resolve to allow one to
Dr. at the first opportunity. Shortly after this time,

160 m 'STORY OF BURKE AXB IT A RE.

Burke and Hare brought a subject, but not having an oppor-
tunity of speaking to them that night, resolved to do so when
I next saw them, or any other of the resurrectionists. A few-
days after a notorious resurrectionist called at the rooms and
informed me that he was going to the country upon business,
and inquired if the Dr. was in want of goods. I replied that
possibly he might, but that I wanted one for a friend, and
would pay him when he returned. The bargain was struck,
and he received earnest and a trunk, saying he had two
customers before me, and it might be eight or ten days before
he could supply me, as the grounds were strictly watched.
This passed over, and on Friday evening, the 31st October, a

person brought a letter addressed to Mr. , Surgeon's

Square. This turned out to be from Andrew M s (or Merry

Andrew, as he was styled). The following is a literal copy : —

" ' Oct. 29.
" 'Doctor am in the east, and has been doin little busnis, an short of
siller send out abot aught and twenty shilins way the carer the thing will
bee in abot 4 on Saturday mornin its a shusa, hae the plase open.

" 'And. M s.'

, Just after I received this letter I went with Mr. to spend

the evening, and returned home about twelve o'clock. I found
Burke knocking at the door of my lodgings. . . . After
my return from Burke's, which was only a few minutes past
twelve o'clock, 1 went to bed : the letter had escaped my
memory. I slept none : the suspicions I had entertained of
Burke and Hare, and the determination I had come to to
examine the body of the subject they were to send, and a retrospec-
tive view of their late conduct, passed before me. The letter
now came into my mind ; it was between three and four o'clock :

I went to Dr. ; did say I expected a subject from his

friend : did not say what place. The Doctor desired it to be
sent to his lecture-rooms, as his assistants were or would be in
waiting. He did not refuse it, as has been alleged. The

Doctor did not receive it, however, as Mr. Andrew M s

thought proper to address it to another quarter — a very common
trick with him, especially if he received part in advance. . . .
I confess that the circumstance of the subject coming from the

ECHO FROM SURGEON'S SQUARE. 161

east at the nick of time Docherty was murdered looks rather
suspicious. But when I inform you that I have seen three
subjects at the same time of day sent to the lecture-room from
different quarters, your suspicions will cease." For the third
time he denied that he had been dismissed by Dr. Knox, and
said that since his last letter the Doctor had sent for him, ex-
pressing the most friendly intentions towards him.

But a more serious charge than that was made against
David Paterson in a communication from Dr. Knox's principal
assistants, also published in the Caledonian Mercury. These
gentlemen, after declaring that Paterson was not " keeper of
the museum belonging to Dr. Knox," though he was cited and
gave his evidence at the trial of Burke as such, said : — " With
regard to his connexion with Burke and Hare, he was so far
associated with them, that he was on the eve of entering into
an agreement with one of these miscreants to accompany him
to Ireland, that they might (as he said) procure a greater
supply of subjects, and at less price, the people being poorer
there." Whether this was the case or not was never made
clear ; but it was certainly stated by Burke in his Courant con-
fessions that such a project was on foot, though he did not
state who the other party was. Popular belief was that it
was Paterson.

Paterson had taken another method of repelling the allega-
tions brought against him. This was a pamphlet, in the form
of a letter to the Lord Advocate, under the title of " An Echo
from Surgeon's Square." The Courant of Thursday, 22nd
January, gave an account of this document, and taking it all
in all, after making allowance for the prejudice the paper
exhibited in common with the great mass of the public against
tin' man, it is a fair indication of its contents. The statement,
it said, had for its object the vindication of Mr. D. Paterson,
the lair assistant of Dr. Knox, and of course threw the blame
"ii others. The pamphlet contained a good deal of irrelevant
matter, and sundry details as to the means of procuring sub-
j cts for the anatomical schools which were not of great
interest, and rather calculated to do injury. It contained,
however, "information of greater importance, if it can be
depended on, which we have no doubt will be eagerly sought

162 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE,

after in the present general excitation." The document stated

that D P was first in the employment of Dr. - — ~

in the year 1824 or 1825, for about one year, and, on his return

from the army at the close of 1827, he applied to Dr.

for his former situation, and was engaged in the beginning of
February, 1828, as museum keeper ; his salary was very small,
but from the fees paid him by the students, he contrived to
make a very comfortable livelihood. He had nothing what-
ever to do with the subjects (or bodies) brought to the lecture
room ; his sole duty was to keep the museum. At that time
he did not know how the doctor obtained his subjects.
Shortly after he saw Burke and Hare (Burke was called John,
and Hare, William), and understood from a conversation that
passed between them and one of the assistants that they had
been in the habit of supplying subjects previous to that time.
He threw the blame of negociating with these two men on one
of Dr. Knox's assistants, and said that once, after he began to
be suspicious of the true nature of the calling of these two
men, he asked Burke where he got the body he was then
offering. The man replied sternly — " If I am to be catechised
by you where and how I get subjects, I will inform the doctor
of it, and if he allows you to do so, I will bring no more to him,
mind that." In other respects the " Echo " was very similar
to the letter by Paterson already quoted.

But before concluding this part of the subject it will be pro-
per to give Leightons opinion of Paterson's position in the
dispute. Writing in 1860 on the complicity of the doctors, he
gives this calm testimony in Paterson's favour : — " As for the
curator, who is still a respectable inhabitant of Edinburgh, and
upon whom the short-lived blind fury of some newspapers of
the time fell, with much surprise to himself, and much indigna-
tion elsewhere, he was, of all the parties concerned, the most
free from blame ; nor did any one but himself come forward
and assist the authorities in the prosecution. Nay, it is under-
stood that, under a passing reflection that the number of
apparently unexliumed bodies brought by these men required
explanation; he mentioned the circumstance to his principal,
and that gentleman silenced him at once by the statement that
they had long known of the practice of sale and purchase, and

THE LEGAL POSIT/OX OF HARE. 163

so the suspicion passed away." Viewing the whole matter
after the lapse of fully half a century, there" seems no reason to
doubt that Paterson, though certain of his acts were, to say the
least of it, shady, and morally reprehensible, if not legally
punishable, was made, as he himself said, "the scape-goat for
a personage in higher life."

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Legal Position of Hare and his Wife — Gossip about Burke
— Mrs. Hare and her Child — Constantine Burke — Anatomi-
eal Instruction — Mrs. Dochertys Antecedents.

But in addition to this outcry against Paterson, the public
mind was, as has already been indicated, agitated by the
rumours that no further action was to be taken against Hare,
and that he and his wife were to be liberated. The Caledonian
Mercury was greatly exercised over the following passage in
the charge given to the jury at the trial by the Lord Justice-
Clerk : — " They (the jury) had been told of the Hares being con-
cerned in the murders. With what murders they might be
chargeable, he did not know ; but to a certainty they could
not be libelled on either of the charges contained in the indict-
ment now under trial, and which had not been sent to the
jury." The Mercury argued, and quoted legal authorities, too,
that Hare and his wife were liable to be tried for the murders
of Mary Paterson and Daft Jamie, regarding which they had
not given evidence ; and that the protection of the court only
extended to any self-crimination in the case in which they had
i evidence. " The public prosecutor," it was contended,
"has discharged nil title t<> moles) them in regard In the mur-
der of Docherty, the only part of the libel againsl Burke which
went to trial, because they gave evidence and criminated
themselves in regard to the- crime; but he has not dischar

1G4 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

this title to pursue them for the murder of Paterson or Daft
Jamie ; and, accordingly, when Mr. Cockburn proposed to in-
terrogate Hare in his cross-examination, concerning his con-
nection with the latter crime, the Court interposed, by telling
the witness that he was entitled to decline answering such a
question as tending to criminate himself, and as beyond the
reach of the protection afforded him for his evidence in the
case of Docherty. It was frequently stated from the bench,
that his answering the question put by Mr. Cockburn
would implicate himself in the crime. And how else
could he have been entitled to decline answering it %
As a protected socius, he was bound to answer every
question that should be asked him within the compass of
that protection; and if it had extended to and included
the murder of Jamie, which was included in the same
charge, the obligation to answer would, of course, have been
co-extensive with the protection/' The Edinburgh Weekly
Chronicle lamented " the acquittal of the fiend M'Dougal," and
said there had been some very painful suspicions that the
investigation of these murders was not to be further prose-
cuted. " We happen to know," they said, " that a certain
public functionary (not the Lord Advocate, whose zeal in
forwarding the late trial is beyond all praise) remarked the
other day that they were perfectly sick of the business, and
were resolved to stir no further in it, lest it should bring shame
on the city ! ... In the present state of the public mind,
no Lord Advocate will dare to say, ' Thus far — (to the death
ot Burke) — shall the tide of public vengeance flow, and no
farther.' ... It is satisfactory to reflect, however, that
our law has wisely restricted the Lord Advocate's prerogative,
so that, even were he disposed, he cannot screen a murderer
from justice, if the deceased's relations incline to prosecute
him. The law says that murder shall not go unavenged, if
either the public, represented by the Lord Advocate, or those
who have been deprived by it of a near relative, insist for
punishment. "Will not, then, the friends of some of the
butchered individuals, whose blood calls to Heaven for retri-
bution, be roused to prosecute the butchers? No one can

G OSSIP A BO UT B URKE. 1 65

doubt that money would be liberally provided by the inhabi-
tants to defray all expenses."

The rumours which so alarmed these newspapers, and, it
must also be said, a large portion of the public, had foundation
in fact. After Hare and his wife had given evidence against
Burke, they were recommitted to jail under a warrant of the
Sheriff. This was done, probably, to allow the Lord Advocate
time to consider in what relationship he stood towards them —
whether he could try them on the first two charges in the in-
dictment, or whether ho was bound to release thorn, they hav-
ing- turned King's evidence. He seems to have come to the
conclusion that he must liberate them, and, accordingly, on the
19th of January, the commitment was withdrawn. This was
a wise decision, notwithstanding all that was said to the contrary
at the time in the public prints and elsewhere. If the Crown
could not gain a conviction against Burke of the murder of
Docherty without the aid of two of his accomplices, it was not
at all likely that it would be able to convict Hare and his wife
without similar evidence. Thus, so far as the public prosecutor
was concerned, the two informers were free ; but proceedings
of another kind were taken against Hare, who was detained in
prison pending their settlement, though his wife was liberated
on the 19th of January.

Other matters were also attracting the attention of the peo-
ple, for every issue of the newspapers gave circulation to gos-
sipy stories about Burke or his accomplices, or relating to cir-
cumstances bearing in some way or other upon the subject
which was causing such universal interest. It was stated, for
instance, that at one time Burke made considerable sums of
money among the unlettered inhabitants of the West Port by
writing begging petitions, and that while working at the con-
struction of the Union Canal he for the first time engaged in
the trade of a resurrectionist. Whatever truth there may have
been in the first part of this statement, there is good reason to
believe that the latter part was founded upon mere idle
rumour. It was also alleged that in the course of the preced-
ing summer Burke made an attack upon an unfortunate girl in
St. Cuthbert's Entry, at the head of the West Port, evidently
with murderous intent. She escaped from his grasp, and ran

166 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

to the watch-house, where she gave a particular description of
her assailant to the police, who would certainly have been
able to apprehend him had he not judiciously left the city for
a time until the hue and cry was given up. It is difficult to
believe that Burke would have acted so incautiously — that he
should have sought to dispense with that drugging with whisky
which so often did half his work for him. His friendly relation-
ship with certain members of the police force was emphasised
by a statement that he was in the habit of going home at any
hour of the night or morning, always accompanied by the con-
stable on the beat, to whom he gave a glass or two of whisky
out of a bottle he carried with him, and it was urged that an
inquiry should be made into this breach of discipline.

Such were the items of gossip about Burke, to which
publicity was given by the newspapers, but a charge of a
serious kind was made against Mrs. Hare in the issue of the
Courant published on the 1st January, 1829. It was stated
that Mrs. Hare, after Log's death, and at the beginning
of her relationship with Hare, bore a child, which the people
of the neighbourhood asserted was murdered by her. So con-
fidently was this allegation put forward that it was added that
there would be no difficulty in obtaining sufficient evidence to
establish a case against her for destroying the life of the
infant. A singular fact was mentioned in the same paper in
connection with Hare. His mother and sister from Ireland
arrived in Edinburgh a day or two before, purposing to visit
him, and it was not until they were within two miles of the
city that they were apprised of the fact that he was involved
in a series of the most shocking murders. Another statement
was that Hare, in the course of the summer of 1828, had
murdered a young woman who was a servant to one of the
city clergymen. This, if true, would point to the identity of
the body over the proceeds from the sale of which Burke
quarrelled with liis colleague.

Another person who came in for a share of public attention
was Constantino Burke, the brother of the condemned man, in
whose house in the Canongate, it has been seen,Maiy Paterson
was murdered. After the trial ho Avas continually in danger of
being maltreated by the mol >, and at lust the Sheriff gave him a

. i v. I TOMICA L INSTRUCTION, 187

small sum of money to enable him and his family to leave the
city. According to the Courant, Constantine had always been
a sober, industrious, poverty-pressed man. He admitted hav-
ing once taken a chest to Surgeon's Square, being conducted
to the place by his brother and Hare, although he was not aware
of its contents or its destination. Receiving ten shillings for his
trouble, he suspected his employers were resurrectionists, and
he then declared he would do no work for them again.

While all these stories were in circulation, thoughtful per-
sons were considering the revelations in their most practical
bearing. They admitted the necessity for teachers of anatomy
being supplied with a sufficient number of subjects for dissec-
tion, for it was apparent that had the legitimate supply been
adequate, there would have been little temptation to any one
to enter upon a career of crime. Theories were started as to
how the evident defect was to be remedied, letters on all
aspects of the subject were sent to the newspapers, and a
wordy battle was fought out. Amid all this clamour, on the
5th of January, 1829, several of the anatomical teachers in
Edinburgh had an interview with the Lord Advocate ; and on
the 7th of the same month the Royal College of Physicians and
Surgeons held a meeting at which they passed resolutions ex-
pressing regret that anatomical instruction, which they con-
scientiously believed to be an essential part in the education of
medical men, should ever have furnished a temptation to such
unexampled atrocities, and callingupon the Legislature to remove
the restrictions under which such instruction was then given.

This, however, was only one side of the question, and the
resolutions, right and proper in themselves, only served to in-
flame the public mind, for they showed that bodies obtained
at least in a surreptitious manner were being used. Other
incidents added to the general excitement. Several boys, be-
longing to respectable families, disappeared suddenly, and the
conclusion at once jumped at by their despairing relatives was
that they had been stolen a way to supply the dissecting tables
of the teachers of anatomy. No other explanation seemed at
all tenable, until the missing lads were discovered, some days
later, in a village some miles from Edinburgh, whither they
had gone to hawk broadside or pamphlet accounts of the trial

168 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

of Burke and M'Dougal. Another matter which gave addi-
tional cause for anxiety was an attempt to steal the body of
a man from a house in Edinburgh. Early on the morning of
Tuesday, the 20th January, some passers-by observed a
curious-looking package being lowered by means of a rope
from the upper window of the house. On examination, it was
found to be the body of a man named M'Donald, better known
locally as " Nosey," on account of the size of his nasal organ,
who had died the day before. The thieves had broken into the
house, where the corpse was lying unattended, and were in the
act of removing it when the discovery was made. They managed
to escape by the back of the house and were never captured.

This desultory chapter may be brought to a close by an
interesting item regarding Mrs. Docherty, the last victim of the
West Port murderers, to which publicity was given by the
Glasgoio Herald shortly after the conclusion of the trial.
" The poor woman Sally Docherty or Campbell," it was
stated, " was well known amongst the inhabitants of the Old
Wynd, Glasgow, about two years ago, where she kept
a lodging-house for indigent people. She was a thin-faced
woman, generally wore a red duffle-cloak, and had, of course,
experienced a great deal of hardships in the station of life to
which she was habituated. At the period alluded to, she had
a son, a shoemaker, and a young man for a husband, of the
name of Campbell. The last time she appeared in the
Glasgow police office was as the complainer against this
fellow, who is still living, for demolishing all the crockery,
and pulling down her grate from the fire-place." It was in
search of the son mentioned in this notice that Mrs. Docherty
went to Edinburgh, where she met with a death the violent
nature of which was not inconsistent with the sad life she had
lived. But it is a remarkable fact that while the murder of
this poor woman was the crime which led to the discovery of
the dreadful conspiracy in which Burke and Hare were en-
gaged, and to the execution of the former, the popular mind
speedily lost hold of the fact, and oral tradition in many parts
of the country — in the city of Edinburgh itself — even to this
day, lias it that Burke suffered the last penalty of the law on
the scaffold for the murder of Daft Jamie.

nriih'irs SPIRITUAL CONDITIO^. 169

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Burkds Spiritual Condition — The Erection of the Scaffold — The
Criminal* Last Hours — Scene at the Execution — Behaviour
of the People.

The hour for the closing scene of the Burke and Hare tragedy
was now almost come, and Burke, to all appearance, seemed to
regard his approaching fate with composure. He is even re-
ported to have declared that had a pardon been offered him he

would have refused it; but, if the story is true, it is more likely
that the firm conviction that a pardon would not be granted
had as much to do with the remark as any sentiment of
resignation. It was simply a case of bowing before the
inevitable. And so far as the outward affairs of religion were
concerned the condemned man was very attentive, though it
could not be said that he looked forward to eternity with hope,
or, if he did, he kept his feelings very much to himself. A
large section of the people, always inclined for dogmatic dis-
cussion on religious matters, found full scope for their critical
powers in the consideration of Burke's spiritual state. The
rank and unbending Calvinists argued that a new spiritual
birth was, under the circumstances, if possible — and on that
point they were doubtful — not at all probable; while the
Armenians, with a wider theology, thought in the words of the
Paraphrase : —

" As long as life its term extends,
Hope's blest dominion never ends ;
For while the lamp holds on to burn,
The greatest sinner may return."

Theologians, however, could discuss as much as they liked,
but it was never certain whether Burke's spiritual state was
such as to give reason for hope.

The execution, it has already been seen, was fixed to take

place on Wednesday, the 28th January, 1829, and to this

it the people had looked forward with a ghastly satisfac-

i 70 ftiS TOR Y OF B URKE . I XL) IT A RE.

tion. Indeed, so high did public feeling- run that the authori-
ties deemed it prudent to remove Burke from Calton Hill Jail
to the lock-up in Liberton's Wynd at four o'clock on the
morning of Tuesday, the 27th January, the day before the
execution. This was absolutely necessary, as, had the re-
moval taken place at a time when the people were about, or
were expecting it, the probability was that, instead of under-
going a judicial execution, Burke would have been torn to
pieces by an infuriated mob. The long confinement in prison
had not changed his appearance much. He was given a black
suit in which to appear on the scaffold, and this afforded him some
consolation. Shortly after noon on the same day, preparations
were begun at the place of execution in the Lawnmarket.
Strong poles were fixed in the street, to support the chain by
which the crowd was to be kept back, and on this occasion
the space was considerably larger than usual. The work pro-
gressed, witnessed by a large crowd, which gradually swelled
in size, as the excited people came to see the erection of the
structure that was to work legal vengeance on a hated mur-
derer. As the night went on, and the work approached com-
pletion, the rain fell heavily, but the crowd, notwithstanding,
showed no diminution ; and whenever any important part of
the erection was finished they raised an approving cheer.
About half-past ten o'clock the frame of the gibbet was
brought to the spot, and its appearance was the signal for a
tremendous shout. It Avas quickly put in its place, for the
men did their work with a grim satisfaction, and when all was
completed, the crowd, as a contemporary newspaper put it,
" evinced their abhorrence of the monster Burke, and all con-
cerned in the West Port murders, by three tremendous
cheers ; and these were heard as far away as Princes Street."
This was about two o'clock in the morning, and, wet and
dismal though it was, those anxious to see Burke suffer for his
crimes were beginning to take up their places. Closes and
stairs were quickly packed by intending sight-seers, who pre-
ferred to remain outside all morning than run the risk of being
disappointed by arriving late. By seven o'clock the vicinity
of the scaffold was occupied by one of the densest crowds
until that time witnessed on the streets of Edinburgh — from

1WRKKS LAST TTOifRS "A EARTH. 171

20,000 to 25,000 persons w sre calculated to be presenl — many
of llic besi people in the city being among them. Every win-
dow giving a view of the place of execution had been bought
up some days previous, the price paid varying, according to
the excellence of the view, from five to twenty shillings.
" The scene at this time,'' said the writer already quoted, " was
deeply impressive. No person could without emotion survey
Buch a. vast assemblage, so closely wedged together, gazing on
the fatal apparatus, and waiting in anxious and solemn silence
the arrival of the worst of murderers."

Matters, meanwhile, had been going on quietly inside the
prison. Burke had, during the day, been visited by the Rev.
Messrs. Reid aud Stewart, two priests of the Roman Catholic
Church, and the Rev. Messrs. Porteous and Marshall, Protestant
ministers, and he received their spiritual consolations calmly,
but without much apparent benefit, though he lamented his
connection with the murders to which he had confessed. He
slept soundly the greater part of that night, and rose about
five o'clock on the Wednesday morning. Shortly after waken-
ing he held up his hands, and remarked, with an earnestness
that struck his attendants, " Oh, that the hour was come which
shall separate me from this world!"' This was thoroughly
dramatic, but whether it proceeded from a weariness of this
life and a hope for a better, can never be known. An incident
even more dramatic, but similar in character, occurred
shortly afterwards. He had been placed in irons short ly
after his condemnation, and he now expressed a desire
to be freed from them. The men proceeded to knock
them off, and the fetters fell with a "clank" on the floor
of the cell. " So may all my earthly chains fall! " exclaimed
Burke. These remarks, whatever his spiritual condition,
showed that he was a man, however debased by a terrible
course of wickedness, of considerable education and natural
refinement. About half past six o'clock tin; two Catholic
clergymen who had been so attentive to him arrived at the
lock-up, and for half an hour he was closeted with Mr. Reid.
Then he entered the keeper's room, and sat down for a short
time in an arm-chair by the side of the fire, deeply immersed in
thought — that his meditations were saddening was apparent by

172 HISTORY OF BURKE AND UARV.

the heavy sighs that came now and then from his breast. ' He
was at last fairly in the presence of death ; but the law was
more merciful to him than he had been to his victims — he was
given time to prepare for the awful change, but they were
hurled in the midst of their sins, drunken and unrepentant, into
eternity. Bailies Small and Crichton had meantime entered
the jail, and the two priests commenced the last religious
exercises. The condemned man joined in the devotions with
apparent fervour, and he seemed much affected by the
exhortation to " confide in the mercy of God." After that he
retired to an adjoining apartment, but on the way he was
met by Williams, the executioner, who accosted him in an
unceremonious manner. Burke waved him away, remarking,
" I am not just ready for you yet," but Williams followed him,
and set about the work of pinioning. The criminal submitted
to the operation without a movement, and simply remarked
that his handkerchief was tied behind. When this was done
he accepted a glass of wine which was offered him, and on
putting it to his lips he looked around, and gave his last
toast — " Farewell to all my friends !" For a few minutes he
talked with the Protestant ministers, and then the magistrates,
dressed in their official robes, re-entered the room, with their
rods in their hands. Burke, seeing the end had now come,
expressed his gratitude to the magistrates, and especially to
Bailie Small, for their kindness to him, and also to the prison
and lock-up officials. The solemn procession then formed, and
marched out of the jail to the scaffold.

Burke was supported on either side, as he walked up Liber-
ton's Wynd towards the Lawnmarket, by the Catholic priests,
and he leaned on the arm of Mr. Reid. The two bailies headed
the procession, and whenever they made their appearance the
enormous crowd sent up one loud and simultaneous shout.
The condemned man was affected by this outburst of popular
feeling, and, as if afraid the mob might break through the
barriers and tear him to pieces, he made haste to ascend the
scaffold. His appearance there Avas the signal for another yell
of execration from the multitude. Shouts of "Burke him,"
" choke him," " No mercy, hangie," came from all sides ; but
otherwise the crowd showed no signs of interfering. They

\

William Hare,

(From a Sketch taken in Court)

/7/A' EXECUTION OF BVRttE. it;'.

wished to see the hangman do his duty properly -if he did so,
they had no particular desire to take part in the work. Burke
looked round somewhat defiantly, and then quietly kneeled
down by the side of one of the priests, and engaged in devo-
tional exercises for a few minutes ; after which the Rev. Mr.
Marshall offered up a short prayer. This solemn ceremony,
however, found small favour with the spectators — they wished
to see the culprit, and the kneeling kept him out of their view,
so they cried out to the persons on the scaffold, "Stand out of
the way," '"Turn him round:" arid though the magis-
trates intimated by signs as well as they could the
nature of the ceremony that was going on, the cla-
mour still continued, and there were frequent shouts
of "Hare, Hare, bring out Hare! Hang Knox, he's a
noxious morsel!" and others of a similar kind. About ten
minutes had now gone, and the crowd was becoming impatient-
After he had completed his devotions, Burke lifted the silk
handkerchief upon which he had been kneeling, and put it in
his pocket. He gave a glance up to the gallows, and then
stepped on the drop with a firm step. The executioner pro-
ceeded to adjust the rope round his neck, and his confessor
said to him, " Now say your creed ; and when you come to the
words, ' Lord Jesus Christ,' give the signal, and die with his
blessed name on your lips." The shouts from the crowd still
continued, and the people, out of their better reason by the
excitement, cried out, " Burke him ; give him no rope ; " " Do
the same for Hare;" "Weigh them together;" "Wash the
blood from the land;" and "You'll see Daft .Jamie in a
minute." Williams then tried to loosen Burke's neckerchief,
hut he found some difficulty in doing so, and the condemned
man said, ' The knot's behind." These were the only words
Burke uttered on the scaffold. The rope was then adjusted.
a white cotton night-cap was put on his head and pulled over
his face, and Burke, with an air of firmness, began the recita-
tion of the creed. When he came to the holy name he gave
the signal, the bolt was drawn, and the greatest murderer of
his time — except, perhaps, his associate Hare — was swinging
on the gallows. The multitude set up a fearful yell, and every
time the body of the dying man gave a convulsive twitch the

'A

174 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

crowd cheered to the echo. An eye witness said — " He
struggled a good deal, and put out his legs as if to catch
something with his feet ; but some of the undertaker's men,
who were beneath the drop, took him by the feet, and sent
him spinning round — a motion which was continued until he
was drawn up above the level of the scaffold." It was now
fully a quarter past eight o'clock, and Burke had been
" separated from this world." The body was allowed to hang
until five minutes to nine o'clock, when the executioner cut it
down amid the gloating yells of the people. They made a
rush forward to the scaffold as if to lay hold of the corpse of
the murderer, but they were kept back by the strong force of
policemen who lined the barriers. The assistants at the
scaffold, too, seemed to be affected by the general frenzy, and
a scramble took place among them for portions of the rope,
or shavings from the coffin, or any thing that would serve as a
relic of the closing scene of the West Port murders — the great
Burke and Hare tragedies. The body was conveyed to the
lock-up, and the large crowd dispersed, without a single mis-
hap having occurred, though the people still laboured under
intense excitement, which even an accident might divert in a
dangerous direction.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Lecture on Burkes Body — Riot among the Students — Excitement
in Edinburgh — The Public Exhibition — Dissection of the
Body of the Murderer — Phrenological Developments of Burke
and Hare.

It was certainly a strange conclusion to the West Port
tragedies that the man who had been so active a participant
in them, and Avho had assisted in supplying so many
" subjects" for dissection, should himself, after death — a death
also by strangulation— become a " subject " of more than

APPEANAxn: of nrh'h'/rs nonv. 175

ordinary interest. Not only was thai the case, but the pub-
lic exhibition of the body, while it may be regarded as
being in a sense an act of retributive justice, displays a certain
amount of barbarity of feeling and sentiment which it is
difficult to believe could have existed in this country so short a
time ago as fifty years. The rapid advance made by all
classes during that period is generally admitted, but it should
be borne in mind, in reference to the events now about to be
described, that only a few years ago public executions were
common, and that the change in the manner caused among
certain classes some little irritation. The propriety of having
executions in private is now fully and freely acknowledged,
but having regard to the comparatively recent change we
should not look upon our respected fathers and grandfathers as
altogether barbarous.

But passing from the line of thought suggested by the events
that followed Burke's execution, the thread of the narrative
may be continued. The body, as already stated, was con-
veyed from the scaffold to the lock-up, and there it remained
until the next morning. It was expected it would be taken to
the College during the day, and a large crowd surrounded the
building. The motive of the people may have been simple
curiosity, but the authorities, being afraid the rougher part of
the crowd, if they obtained an opportunity, might seize the
body and treat it with scant respect, deemed it proper to delay
the removal until such time as it could be done with safety.
This was done early on Thursday morning, when the excited
populace was asleep. The body was laid out on a table, and
several eminent scientists — among them Mr. Liston, Mr. George
<'<>mbe, Sir William Hamilton, and Mr. Joseph, the sculptor —
who took a cast for a bust — examined it before the students
began to gather.

Leigh ton, who seems to have seen the body, says it was
"that of a thick-set muscular man, with a bull-neck, great
development about the upper parts, with immense thighs and
calves, so full as to have the appearance of globular masses.
The countenance, as we saw it, was very far from being-
placid, as commonly represented, if you could not have
perceived easily that there remained upon it the bitter expression

176 HISTORY OF BURKE AND IT A RE.

of the very scorn with •which he had looked upon that
world which pushed him out of it, as having in his person
defaced the image of his Maker." He supplements this by a
sentence from the notes of another eye-witness: — "He (Burke)
was one of the most symmetrical men I ever saw, finely-
developed muscles, and finely-formed, of the athlete class."

Dr. Munro, in the afternoon of the day the body was removed
to the College, gave a lecture upon it, and for this purpose the
upper part of the head was sawn off, and the brain exposed.
The brain was described as being unusually soft, but it was
pointed out that a peculiar softness was by no means uncom-
mon in criminals who had suffered the last penalty of the law.
While this lecture was going on a large number of students
had assembled in the quadrangle of the College, and
clamoured for admission. Those who were entitled to be
present at the class, opening at one o'clock in the after-
noon, were provided with tickets, but owing to the greatness
of the crowd it was with the utmost difficulty that these could
be made available, even with the assistance of the police. At
last all the ticket-holders were admitted, and then the doors
were thrown open to as many of the other students as the room
would accommodate. Many, however, were left outside. The
lecture began at the regular hour, but the nature of the subject
caused it to extend over two hours, instead of the usual time.
Meanwhile, the crowd in the quadrangle had grown so unruly
that a strong body of police had to be called to preserve order.
Instead of keeping the youths in awe, this display of force
rather exasperated them, and they made several attempts to
overpower the constables. In the course of the struggle the
glass in the windows of the dissecting room was destroyed.
The police had to use their staves, and many of the combatants
on both sides were injured, some of them rather seriously.
The Lord Provost and Bailie Small, the college bailie, put in
an appearance, thinking their presence would have a salutary
effect, but they were glad to retire with whole bones under the
abuse that was showered upon them. The disturbance con-
tinued until four o'clock, when Professor Christison came to
the rescue. He intimated that he had arranged for the
admission of the young men in bands of fifty at a time, and

THE PUBLIC EXHIBITION. 177

had given his own personal guarantee for their good behaviour.
This was an appeal to their honour, which is always found to
be effectual with a crowd of students, however riotously-
inclined, and in the present instance the youths cheered the
professor lustily. The tumult ceased, and some of the ring-
leaders, who had been apprehended by the police, were liber-
ated on their parole by the magistrates.

The students were thus pacified, but it was far otherwise
with the city mob. There had been a restlessness throughout
Edinburgh all day, and it was threatened that unless the pub-
lic were admitted to view the corpse an attack would be made
on the college, and the remains of the murderer taken out and
torn to pieces. The manner in which the students had gained
their end was quite after the mind of the discontents, and in
their case it was, owing to greater numbers, likely to be more
quickly successful. The magistrates were in a quandary, but
they came to the conclusion that it would be better to have a
public view, and in this way endeavour to allay the tumultuous
spirit that was abroad. Accordingly, they sent out scouts
among the crowds that thronged the streets to intimate their
decision, and by this means the people were induced to return
home.

Those who witnessed the scene at the College of Edinburgh
on Friday, the 30th January, 1829, would never readily for-
get it. The magistrates and the university authorities had
made the most elaborate preparations for exhibiting the body
of Burke. It was placed naked on a black marble table in
the anatomical theatre, and a through passage was arranged
for the accommodation of the visitors. The upper part of the
skull, which had been sawn off for the purposes of the lecturer
on the preceding day, was replaced, and to the uninitiated it
was unlikely that what was apparently a slight scar would be
much noticed. " The spectacle," says Leighton, who saw it,
" was sufficiently ghastly to gratify the most epicurean appetite
fi >r horrors. There was as yet no sign of corruption, so that
the death pallor, as it contrasted with the black marble table,
showed strongly to the inquiring and often revolting eye; but
the face had become more blue, and the shaved head, with
murks of blood not entirely wiped off, rather gave effect to the

178 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

grin into which the features had settled at the moment of
death. However inviting to lovers of this kind of the picturesque
the broad chest that had lain with deadly pressure on so many
victims — the large thighs and round calves, indicating so much
power — it was the face, embodying a petrified scowl, and the
wide-staring eyes, so fixed and spectre-like, to which the atten-
tion was chiefly directed." It was to see this sight that the
people crowded the streets of the Old Town of Edinburgh, and
made it appear as if the occasion were one of general holiday.
The doors of the anatomy theatre were thrown open at ten
o'clock in the forenoon, and from that hour until dusk the
crowd streamed through the narrow passage in front of the
body at the rate, it was calculated, of sixty per minute, so that
the total number who viewed it in this way was about twenty-
five thousand. The crowd was composed for the most part of
men, though some seven or eight women pressed in among the
rest, but they were roughly handled by the male spectators,
and had their clothing torn. Notwithstanding this extraor-
dinary number there were still many who did not obtain admit-
tance, and in the hope that the exhibition would be continued
on the Saturday, many returned to the college next day, but
to their great disappointment they were refused admission.
This was Burke's last appearance.

An informant of Leighton gives the following interesting
notice of the subsequent treatment of the body of the
murderer : — " After this exhibition Burke was cut up and put
in pickle for the lecture-table. He was cut up in quarters, or
rather portions, and salted, and, with a strange aptness of
poetical justice, put into barrels. At that time an early acquaint-
ance and school-fellow was assistant to the professor, and with
him I frequently visited the dissecting-room, when calling on
him at his apartments in the College. He is now a physician
in the Carse of Gowrie. He shewed me Burke's remains, and
gave me the skin of his neck and of the right arm. These I
had tanned — the neck brown, and the arm white. The white
was as pure as white kid, but as thick as white sheepskin ; and
the brown was like brown tanned sheepskin. It was curious
that the mark of the rope remained on the leather after being
tanned. Of that neck-leather I had a tobacco-doss made;

PHRENOL 0 G Y A ND B frRKE. 1 79

and on the white leather of the right arm I got Johnston to
print the portraits of Burke and his wife, and Hare, which I
gave to the noted antiquarian and collector of curiosities, Mr.
Fraser, jeweller, and it was in one of his cases for many years,
may be still, if he is alive."

Burke's body was thus destroyed, but the qualities which
were denoted by the developments of his head gave rise to an
excited discussion between phrenologists and their opponents.
Combe, the apostle of phrenology, and Sir William Hamilton,
the metaphysician, with their followers, waged a terrible war
of words over the conclusions to be drawn from the measure-
ments of Burke's head. This is not the place to renew the
discussion, but in view of the importance of the question, an
estimate of the phrenological development of Burke, published
at the time, may be quoted. The account reads thus : —

Phrenological Development of Burke.

Measurement.

INCHES.

Circumference of the Head, - 22*1

From the occipital spine to lower Individuality, - 7-7

From the ear to lower Individuality, - - 5*

From ditto to the centre of Philoprogenitiveness, - 4-8

From ditto to Firmness, - - - 5*4

From ditto to Benevolence, - - - -57

From ditto to Veneration, - - - - 5-5

From ditto to Conscientiousness, - - - 5*

From Destructiveness to Destructiveness, - - 6*125

From Cautiousness to Cautiousness, - - 5*3

From Ideality to Ideality, - 4*6

From Acquisitiveness to Acquisitiveness, - - 5*8

From Secretiveness to Secretiveness, - - 5*7

From Combativeness to Combativeness, - - 5*5

Development.
" Amativeness, very large. Philoprogenitiveness, full. Con-
centrativeness, deficient. Adhesiveness, full. Combativeness,
large. Destructiveness, very large. Constructiveness, moder-
ate, Acquisitiveness, large. Secretiveness, large. Self-esteem,

180 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HAKE.

rather large. Love of approbation, rather large. Cautious-
ness, rather large. Benevolence, large. Veneration, large.
Hope, small. Ideality, small. Conscientiousness, rather large.
Firmness, large. Individuality, upper, moderate. Do., lower,
full. Form, full. Size, do. Weight, do. Colour, do. Locality,
do. Order, do. Time, deficient. Number, full. Tune, moder-
ate. Language, full. Comparison, full. Causality, rather
large. Wit, deficient. Imitation, full.

" The above report, it may be necessary to observe, was
taken a few hours after the execution. In consequence of the
body having been thrown on its back, the integuments, not
only at the back of the head and neck, but a,t the posterial
lateral parts of the head, were at the time extremely congested ;
for in all cases of death by hanging, the blood remaining un-
coagulated, invariably gravitates to those parts which are in
the most depending position. Hence, there was a distension
in this case over many of the most important organs, which
gave, for example, Amativeness, Combativeness, Destructivenes.?,
tyc, an appearance of size which never existed during life, and,
on the other hand, made many of the moral and intellectual
organs seem in contrast relatively less than they would other-
wise have appeared. In this state, a cast of the head was
taken by Mr. Joseph ; but although for phrenological purposes
it may do very well, yet no measurement, either from the head
itself in that condition, or a cast taken from it, can afford us
any fair criterion of the development of the brain itself. We
know that this objection applies to the busts of all the mur-
derers which adorn the chief pillars of the phrenological
system ; and in no case is it more obvious than in the present.

" Our able professor, Dr. Monro, gave a demonstration of the
brain to a crowded audience on Thursday morning [the day
before the public exhibition of the body] ; and we have, from
the best authority, been given to understand it presented
nothing unusual in its appearance. We have heard it asserted
that the lateral lobes were enormously developed, but having
made enquiry on this subject, we do not find they were more
developed than is usual. As no measurement of the brain
itself was taken, all reports on this subject must be unsatisfac-
tory ; nor could the evidence of a eye-witmsss in such a matter

PHRENOLOGY AXD HARE. 181

prove sufficient to be admitted as proof either in favour of or
against phrenology. t

" The question which naturally arises is, whether the above
developments correspond with the character of Burke ? It is
not our intention to enter into any controversy on this subject;
yet we cannot help remarking, that it may be interpreted, like
all developments of a similar kind, either favourably or
unfavourably for phrenology, as the ingenuity or prejudices of
any individual may influence him. We have the moral organs
more developed certainly than they ought to have been ; but
to this it is replied, that Burke, under the benign influences of
these better faculties, lived upwards of thirty years, without
committing any of those tremendous atrocities which have so
paralyzed the public mind. He is neither so deficient in
benevolence nor conscientiousness as he ought to have been,
phrenologically speaking, and these organs, which modified and
gave respectability to his character for as many as thirty
years, all of a sudden cease to exercise any influence, and
acquisitiveness and destructiveness, arising like two arch
fiends on both sides, leave the state of inactivity in which they
had reposed for so long a period, and gain a most unaccount-
able control over the physical powers under which they had
for so many years succumbed. But, is the size of the organ of
destructiveness in Burke larger than it is found in the generality
of heads ? — and are his organs of benevolence and conscien-
tiousness less developed than usual f "

"While dealing with this question of phrenology, it will be
interesting to give the

Phrenological Development op Hare,
taken the night before his release from prison : —

Measurement.

INCHES.

From the Occipital Spine to lower Individuality, 7-17-20ths

From the Ear to lower Individuality, - - 4*8

From ditto to the Occipital Spine, - - 4-3

From ditto to Philoprogenitiveness, - - 50

From ditto to Firmness, - - 5*7

From ditto to Benevolence, - - 5*4

182 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

From ditto to Causality, - - - 5*0

From ditto to Comparison, - - -5*4

Destructiveness to Destructiveness, - - 5'19-20ths
Secretiveness to Secretiveness, - 5*8

Acquisitiveness to Acquisitiveness, - - 5-ll-20ths

Combativeness to Combativeness, - - 5'7
Ear to Conscientiousness, - 4*5

Ideality to Ideality, - - - 5*4

Development.
The organ of destructiveness is large in Hare, but certainly
rather below than above the average size. The organ
of acquisitiveness is also large, but its true development can-
not be ascertained in consequence of the size of the temporal
muscle, under which it lies. Secretiveness is large. Benevo-
lence is well developed, in proportion to the size of the head.
Conscientiousness is full. Cautiousness is large. Combative-
ness is large. Ideality is very large. Causality is large.
Wit is full.

CHAPTER XXX.

Haves Position after the Trial — Warrant for his Commitment
Withdrawn — Daft Jamie's Relatives seek to Prosecute —
The Case before the Slieriff and the Lords of Justiciary —
Burke's Confessions and the " Courant" — The Lord Advocate's
Reasons for Declining to Proceed against Hare — Pleadings
for the Parties.

From the conclusion of the trial until some time after the
execution of Burke, the position of Hare was one of great
danger, notwithstanding the protection which his evidence
was supposed to have afforded him„ After the conviction of
his accomplice he was, it has been seen, recommitted to prison,
and for a time it was believed the Lord Advocate was conduct-
jng investigations in order t<> see if he could by any means

THE LORD ADVOCA TE AND HAKE. 183

proceed against the informer. The press and the public
clamoured for the indictment of Hare, for all parties were now
convinced that Burke, though undoubtedly guilty of the crime
for which he had been condemned, had in many respects been
but an instrument in the hands of his wily and more vicious
confederate. Some incidents occurred which gave colour to
the impression that a criminal indictment would be laid against
Hare. On the 1st of January, 1829, the Courant informed its
readers that towards the end of December a girl, who had at
one time acted as a servant to Hare, had been apprehended in
Glasgow, whither she had fled on being cited as a witness in
Burke's trial, and that her evidence would now probably be
used against Hare. This was Elizabeth Main, who is mentioned
in one of Burke's confessions as Elizabeth M'Guier or Mair.

But in addition to the general public there were two parties
who may be said to have had a kind of personal interest in
seeing Hare brought to justice. These were Burke and Helen
M'Dougal. The condemned criminal, it was stated by the
Courant, made his first confession before the Sheriff, more for
the purpose of inculpating Hare, than with any idea of giving
a general view of his crimes. So eager was he to see his late
colleague suffer the same punishment as himself, that he offered
to give information of circumstances connected with the mur-
der of a woman by Hare in the course of the preceding sum-
mer. This was the old matter over which the quarrel
occurred. M'Dougal, also, waited on the Sheriff on the 27th
and 29th of December for the same purpose. Besides these,
if the Courant is to be trusted, other witnesses were precog-
nosced, notably several persons who were known to have been
in the habit of frequenting Hare's house, but as the police
officials had become even more circumspect than ever, not a
hint as to the drift of their information was allowed to reach
the public.

These circumstances show that in addition to considering the
legal aspect involved by Hare's protection as an informer, the
Lord Advocate had fully inquired into the possibility of putting
him on his trial for a crime to which that protection did not
apply. His eonclnsioTi was flint he could do nothing, and it
was definitely ascertained by the loth ut January that the

184 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE,

commitment obtained by the Crown after the trial would be
instantly withdrawn. Every precaution had been taken by the
public in view of this contingency, and a subscription had
been made to enable the relatives of James Wilson (Daft
Jamie) to take up the case as private prosecutors.

On the 16th of January, then, a petition was presented to
the Sheriff, charging Hare with the murder of " Daft Jamie,"
and his lordship granted permission to take precognitions.
When Hare was visited by the agent and counsel employed
by Mrs. Wilson (the mother of the murdered lad), he re-
fused to answer any questions, and when leaving the room
to which he had been taken to be examined, he remarked,
with a sardonic laugh, to a person standing near, " They
want to hang me, I suppose." This was not, however,
sufficient, and Mr. Duncan M'Neill, as counsel for Hare, on the
20th of January, presented to the Sheriff a petition for libera-
tion and for the interdict of the precognitions instituted by the
private prosecutors. On the following day the counsel for
both parties were heard, and the Sheriff pronounced a decision,
in which he said : — " In respect that there is no decision,
finding that the right of the private party to prosecute is
barred by any guarantee, or promise of indemnity given by
the public prosecutor, refuses the desire of the petition ; but in
respect of the novelty of the case, supersedes further proceed-
ing in the precognition before the Sheriff, at the instance of the
respondents [the private prosecutors], till Friday next, at seven
o'clock, in order that William Hare may have an opportunity
of applying to the Court of Justiciary." There was accord-
ingly presented to the High Court of Justiciary, on behalf of
Hare, a bill of advocation, suspension and liberation. This
was an exceeding long document, setting forth all the circum-
stances of the case, in which it was pleaded that the case
by Mrs. Wilson against the petitioner — who had given evidence
against Burke on the assurance that if he made a full disclo-
sure of all he knew relative to the several murders which
formed the subject of inquiry, no criminal proceedings would
be instituted against him for any participation or guiltiness
appearing against him — was incompetent, irregular, op-
pressive, and illegal, and that lie wus entitled to liberation,

ruivMi-: PkosECtiTtoN of HaMe. m

The review of the court was asked on the Sheriff 's judgment.
This petition was presented to the court on the 23rd January,
and it was ordered to be served on the agent for the private
prosecutors, while the parties to the case Avere ordained to
appear before the court on Monday, 2i)th January. On this
same day, Hare presented another petition to the Sheriff crav-
ing to be released from close confinement, and to be allowed
to communicate with his counsel and agent. The Sheriff' pro-
nounced an interlocutor to that effect.

In accordance with the liberty granted by the Sheriff to the
private prosecutors to take a precognition as to the murder of
Daft Jamie, a visit was, on the 23rd January, paid to Burke in
the condemned cell by the Sheriff-substitute, one of the city
magistrates, and Mr. Monro, S.S.C., the agent for Mrs. Wilson
and her daughter. The criminal spoke out fully as to the cir-
cumstances attending the murder of the unfortunate lad, and
thus far satisfactory progress had been made.

But an incident occurred which diverted public attention to
a certain extent in a different direction. This was an announce-
ment in the Courant of Monday, 26th January, that in the
issue of the following Thursday there would be published a
full account of the execution of Burke and of his conduct
during his last moments; together with au important document
which had been in their possession for some time — a full con-
fession or declaration by Burke, " which declaration was dictated
and partly written by him, and was afterwards read by him, and
corrected by his own hand, and his signature affixed to attest
its accuracy." This announcement raised the hopes of the
public to a high pitch, for the information that had reached
them before was only to be gained from a trial, the scope of
which was confined solely to one event, and from vague
rumours and uncertain statements. Now, it was expected, the
whole conspiracy would be made patent. But the announce-
ment was somewhat injudicious and premature, as the case
against Hare was pending in the High Court of Justiciary, and
it was plainly evident that until a decision was pronounced
in it, any confession by Burke would have a prejudicial effect
upon him. Accordingly, when the High Court that morning
had heard the counsel for parties, Mr, Duncan M'Neill, on

i8G HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARK

behalf of Hare, called attention to the threatened contempt of
Court by the Edinburgh Evening Coitrant, in promising to pub-
lish the confessions of Burke, and he asked that such publica-
tion be interdicted, especially in so far as related to the murder
of James Wilson. The Lords of Justiciary concurred in the
propriety of the application, granted interdict of the publica-
tion in the Courant of the document which would likely pre-
judice Hare, and " recommend all other newspapers to abstain
in like manner from so doing." This was highly disappointing
to the public. There was, however, no help for it but to wait,
and on the Thursday the Courant was under the necessity of
intimating to its readers : — " We regret to state that owing to
an interdict issued on Monday last by the Court of Justiciary,
to which we are bound to yield the most respectful obedience,
we are ^prevented for the present from laying before our
readers the confessions of Burke. But so soon as it is removed,
we shall lay this document before our readers, as formerly
promised."

When the Bill of Advocation came before the High Court of
Justiciary on Monday, the 26th January, the counsel for the
parties were heard at length, after which an order was made
that the bill be intimated to the Lord Advocate to make such
answer to it as he should think necessary ; and also that the
counsel for the parties should lodge informations upon the sub-
ject matter of the bill by the following Saturday. The Lord
Advocate's answer was interesting in more ways than one, for
in addition to bringing into prominence the question of
whether the private prosecutor was superseded by the public
prosecutor, he detailed the difficulties by which he had been be-
set in the preparation of the case against Burke. Having
briefly touched on the question as to whether the court had the
power to require, in this shape, a disclosure of the grounds on
which he, as public prosecutor, had been guided in the exer-
cise of his official discretion, he pointed out that the four persons
arrested for the murder of Mrs. Docherty, denied all accession
to the crime. The evidence he had been able to gain was, he
found, defective, and was not sufficient to ensure a conviction
from a Scottish jury, which was uniformly scrupulous in find-
ing a verdict of guilty where a capital punishment was to

IT A RE'S P0SJT10X AS IXFORMKH. 187

tallow. The only mode by which the information essentially
awanting could be procured was by admitting some of the
accused persons as witnesses against the others, and as he had
reason to suspect that at least another case of a similar de-
scription had occurred, he felt it to be his imperative duty not
to rest satisfied until he had probed the matter to the bottom.
For the public interest it was necessary to have it ascertained
what crimes of this revolting description had really been com-
mitted, who were concerned in them, whether all the persons
engaged in such transactions had been taken into custody, or
if other gangs remained whose practices might continue
to endanger human life. A conviction of all the four
persons might lead to their punishment, but it could
not secure such a disclosure, which was manifestly of more
importance. The question then arose as to what one of the
four should be selected as a witness. M'Dougal positively
refused to give any information, and as the Lord Advocate
deemed Burke to be the principal party, Hare was chosen, and
his wife was taken with him, because he could not bear
evidence against her. Hare was, in consequence, brought
before the Sheriff on the 1st of December for examination, and
then, by authority of the Lord Advocate, he was informed by
the Procurator-Fiscal that "if he would disclose the facts
relative to the case of Docherty, and to such other
crimes of a similar nature, committed by Burke, of which he
was cognisant, he should not be brought to trial on account
of his accession to any of these crimes." " This assurance,"
continued the Lord Advocate in his answer, " had no reference
to one case more than another. It was intended for the pur-
pose of receiving the whole information which Hare could give,
in order that the respondent might put Burke and all others
concerned on trial, for all the charges which might be sub-
stantiated. In giving it the respondent acted under the im-
pression, and on the understanding, that when offences are to
be brought to light, in the course of a criminal investi-
gation carried on at the public interest, such assur-
ance altogether excluded trial at the instance of any
private party. In its nature, this assurance was thus of an un-
qualified description, and was calculated to lead the party to

188 HISTORY OF BURKE AM) ffARR

believe that the possibility of future trial or punishment was
thereby entirely excluded. The assurance was so meant to be
understood." Having briefly alluded to the circumstances
attending the trial, when he was prevented from examining
Hare and his wife as to each of the three murders set forth on
the indictment, his Lordship said It was from the information
obtained from Hare, on the assurance of immunity, that
he conceived he was enabled to secure a conviction. He
proceeded : — " The warrant of imprisonment against Hare and
Iris wife, at the public instance, has since been withdrawn, in
consequence of its having turned out, after the most anxious
inquiry, that no crime could be brought to light in which Hare
had been concerned, excepting those to which the disclosures
made by him under the above assurance related." After he
had given the assurance, and obtained the results he had, the
Lord Advocate said he would not make any attempt to prose-
cute Hare, indeed, he " should strongly feel such a proceeding,
upon his part, dishonourable in itself, unworthy of his office,
and highly injurious to the administration of justice."

After having given so fully the Lord Advocate's reasons for
declining to proceed against Hare, it will not be necessary to
do much more than refer to the information lodged by Hare
himself, especially as it goes over to a great extent much the
same ground. It was maintained that on account of the
promise and compact with the public prosecutor he could not
now be tried in order to punishment for the murder of James
Wilson; and on the question of his position as between public
and private prosecutors, it was stated : — " When an offence is
committed, the duty of the public prosecutor is to proceed in
the matter with a view to the interests of the community in
relation to the wrong done, without regard to the effect his
proceedings may have upon the power or right, if such exists,
of a private party to come forward and prosecute for punish-
ment. The interest of the community, in the matter of punish-
ment, is the paramount interest, and the only ultimate
interest which the law can regard ; although different
persons may, under certain circumstances, be permitted
by the law to vindicate that interest. The public pro-
secutor, as being the person entrusted with the interest of

'/•///•: CHARGE AGAINST HARK i89

the community, and as representing the community, has the
primary right to take up the matter ; and, having commenced
proceedings for behoof of the community, he cannot be stayed
or hindered, or impeded in his prosecution for punishment, by
any right or any interest which any private party can claim ;
and he may do, and daily does, many things which exclude
the private party from demanding punishment. . . . On
the other hand, none of these proceedings on the part of the
public prosecutor, acting for behoof of the community, can
exclude or infringe upon the inherent personal right and
interest of the private party to prosecute for assyihment or
satisfaction. That right belongs to him as an individual, not
as a member of the community at large. He claims that, not
to deter others from committing the like crimes, but to solace
his oicn wrongs. That is not a matter of punishment, but of
satisfaction."

Some more attention must, however, be paid to the " Infor-
mation for Janet Wilson, Senior, and Janet Wilson, Junior,
Mother and Sister of the late James Wilson, generally known
by the name of Daft Jamie," the private prosecutors, prepared
by Mr. E. Douglas Sandford, under the direction of Mr.
Francis (afterwards Lord) Jeffrey. After the usual review of
the proceedings up to that time, the private prosecutors set
forth their intention thus : — " The prosecutors are, in the first
place, obliged to support their title in the present prosecution,
and to show the constitutional right which, according to the
law of Scotland, they possess, of bringing the individual to
justice, whom they conceive guilty of the atrocious crime by
which they have been injured. But, 2ndly, the prosecutors
are anxious to contest the doctrine of indemnity upon which
the prisoner has founded, and to show that he is stretching,
far beyond its legal limits, the indulgence granted by the
Court of Justiciary to those who are examined before it as
socii criminis." As to the right of the private party to prosecute,
this, it was contended, was a fundamental and constitutional
principle in the criminal jurisprudence of Scotland — not an
antiquated right, but one that was recognised by the latest
authorities. Having quoted Burnet and Hume, the private
prosecutors went on to say, that, legally speaking, there

190 HISTORY OP BURKE AND HARK

were only two situations in which a prisoner could plead
indemnity in bar of trial — previous acquital, by a jury,
of the crime of which he was charged, or remission by
the Crown. But the point which the prosecutors were anxious
to establish was " that whatever may be the nature of the
private arrangement between the public prosecutor and the
criminal, and whatever may have been his inducement to give
up the right of calling upon the criminal to answer at the bar
of justice, for the crime of which he is guilty, that arrangement
cannot deprive the private party of his right to insist for the
full pains of the law. If the law contemplated the power of
the public prosecutor to deprive the private party of his right
to prosecute by arrangements to which the latter is no party,
it had better declare at once that the private instance shall be
at an end, because it virtually would be so. In every case
where the public prosecutor wished to protect a criminal, and
shield him from the effects of crime, an arrangement, under
the pretence of a precognition and searching for evidence
against a third party, might at once be made ; and if the doc-
trine maintained on the part of the prisoner be correct, that
would prevent all prosecution at the instance of the individual
injured." The assertion of the prosecutors was that their legal
right to investigate the circumstances attending the death of
their near relation, and to indict the accused party if they
should find sufficient ground to do so, could not be interfered
with by the proceedings of the public prosecutor, in circum-
stances over which they had no control. In point of form, it
was required by the law that the Lord Advocate should grant
his concourse to a prosecution before the High Court of Justi-
ciary, and he had no right to refuse this concourse, but if he
should so refuse it he could be compelled to grant it, for the
reason that it was not in arbitrio of him to deprive a party of
his right. In support of the contention for the private prose-
cutors various cases were cited, particular stress was laid upon
the warnings addressed by the Lord Justice-Clerk and the
oounsel for Burke and M'Dougal to Hare when he was in the
witness box, that the protection of the Court only extended to
the case under trial, and not to the other two charges in the
indictment) which had been deserted pro loco et tempore.

HARE'S CASE BEFORE THE COURT. 191

Such, in brief, were the pleadings for the parties, and the
decision of the Court was awaited by all with great interest —
by the lawyers because it would establish an important legal
precedent, and by the public because they hoped, through it,
to see Hare put on his trial and convicted of the murder of
Daft Jamie.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Hares Case before the High Court of Justiciary — Speech by Mr.
Francis Jeffrey — Opinion of the Judges — A Divided Bench —
The Decision of the Court.

The High Court of Justiciary met to decide on the case, as it
now stood, on the 2nd of February. The importance of the
issue to be deliberated upon is shown by the fact that on the
bench were no fewer than six judges — the Lord Justice-Clerk
(Boyle), and Lords Gillies, Pitmilly, Meadowbank, Mackenzie,
and Alloway. Hare was represented by Messrs. Duncan
M'Neill and Hugh Bruce ; the private prosecutors by Messrs.
Francis Jeffrey, Thomas Hamilton Miller, and E. Douglas
Sandford; and the Crown by the Lord Advocate, the Solicitor-
General (Mr. Hope), and Messrs. Robert Dundas, Archibald
Alison, and Alexander Wood, Advocates-Depute.

At the outset, Mr. Jeffrey obtained the permission of the
Court say a few words on the power of the public prosecutor
to enter into a compact with accomplices whom he might
think proper to adduce as witnesses. The particular questions
he wished to raise were — Had the High Court of Justiciary no
power over such a compact? Had the court, he asked, no
judicial discretion over the terms of such an agreement, and
did it rest with the Lord ^Advocate, and not with the court, to
decide on its validity and effect? If these were to be answered
in the affirmative, then the result simply was that the Lord

192 lriSTOR Y OF B URKE A K D II. \ tt /• .

Advocate was per vias aut modos substantially invested with the
royal prerogative of pardon. Mr. M'Neill, on behalf of Hare,
had nothing to add to what was contained in the printed in-
formation for his client.

The first judge to give his opinion on the case before the
Court was Lord Gillies, who, after complimenting the Lord
Advocate for having, by his action in the charge against
Burke, saved the country from an " indelible disgrace," gave it
as his opinion that his lordship was entitled to pledge his
responsibility for a pardon or remission. But proceeding to
the main question, whether this Court had powers, by law, to
quash the proceedings taken against Hare by Wilson's relations
in consequence of what took place at his precognition or at the
trial of Burke, Lord Gillies, after a long argument, gave it as
his opinion that the Court could not do so, and should accord-
ingly reject the bill presented on behalf of Hare. He con-
ceived that, in the general case, the legal right and title of the
private party to prosecute was clear and indisputable. By
the Act 1587, cap. 77, and a prior enactment, 1436, pursuits at
the King's instance were only subsidiary ; and even at the
present time, after various changes, the private right of
prosecution was, he believed, as sacred and as indisput-
able as that of the Lord Advocate. Then, on the
question of socii criminis, his lordship said that anciently
a socius was, as a general rule, not admissible, and
had no immunity ; but by the Act 21 Geo. II., c. 34, an
accomplice to theft or cattle-stealing was admitted, and
immunity was granted him if his evidence proved the guilt of
the prisoner. In 1770, in the case of Macdonald and Jameson,
the doctrine was laid down, not that an accomplice giving
evidence was discharged of the crime, but merely that his
examination might go far to operate as an acquittal from the
crime as to which he was examined. By a decision in 1794,
a socius was declared safe ; first, if he were examined as a
witness ; and second, if he spoke out. No doubt there had been
a great extension of the law, but taking the only statute that
was in existence, they would find that it only gave impunity to
him who had been examined, and not to him who might have
been cited and not examined. It was said Hare was ready

OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES. 191

and willing* to give evidence on the two charges against
Burke that were not remitted to the jury; but this the court
could not know, and, at anyrate, an examination as a witness,
which alone by law, even as extended by practice, gave
indemnity, did not take place. As for the relationship existing,
in virtue of the compact, between the Lord Advocate and
Hare, it was one thing for his Lordship to apply for and obtain
a pardon from the Crown, and another thing to have power
to give a legal exemption from trial to a criminal, merely by
citing him as a witness.

Lord Pitmilly, however, took another view of the case. He
concurred generally in the historical rdsumi of the law as given
by Lord Gillies, though he differed in his conclusions. " I feel
intensely," said his Lordship, " for the relatives of Wilson ; I
sympathise also with the public desire to bring a great criminal
to justice ; but I feel more for the security of the law ; and I
hold no consideration so important, as that public faith, pledged
by a responsible officer, and sanctioned by the Court, in pur-
suance of uniform practice, should be kept inviolate, even with
the greatest criminal."

The history of the law relating to socii critninis was very
learnedly reviewed by Lord Meadowbank, who submitted that
it was clearly established, from a train of practice running
through a period of upwards of two centuries and a half, that
socii criminis had been admissible witnesses in the law of Scot-
land. Such being his opinion, he should have presumed at all
times, and under all circumstances, the examination of a witness
must have operated ipse facto, as an immunity to him from
subsequent prosecution for the crime respecting which he was
called upon to give evidence. In truth, he declared, so irre-
concilable to all sound reason would it be to hold, either that
no such immunity was thereby obtained, or that there was not
created an equitable right, as in England, to a pardon, that he
could not imagine how any socii criminis ever could have been
examined. In the present case he considered the promise of
the Lord Advocate barred the private prosecutors from taking
action against Hare for punishment, though it in no way inter-
fered with their right of prosecution for assythment, and he

194 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE,

was clear that this warrant ought to be discharged, and the
complainer ordained to be set at liberty.

Lord Mackenzie went over much the same ground as his
judicial brethren, and in delivering his opinion that Hare ought
to be set at liberty, he said : — " Remembering, as we must do,
the dreadful evidence he gave, it is impossible to contemplate
his escape without pain, — a pain always felt, in some degree,
in every case where an accomplice in a great crime is, however
necessarily, taken as evidence for the Crown, but never, I
believe, felt more strongly than the present. I sympathize
with that feeling ; but I feel not less strongly that this man,
however guilty, must not die by a perversion of legal proce-
dure,— a perversion which would form a precedent for the
oppression of persons of far other characters, and in far other
situations, and shake the public confidence in the steadiness
and fairness of that administration of criminal justice, on which
the security of the lives of all men is dependent."

Lord Alloway, on the other hand, felt bound to differ from
the opinions of the majority of his brethren, and to concur in
that given by Lord Gillies. He conceived that Hare might
have a protection as to the murder of Campbell or Docherty, he
having been a witness against Burke and M'Dougal in their trial
for that murder, but he doubted if that protection extended to the
other two charges, as to Wilson and Paterson, or in any other
crimes for which Burke was never tried. As to the position of
the Wilsons, it was his opinion that a private prosecutor had
an undoubted right to prosecute to the highest doom every
offender who had injured him, and for the punishment of all
offences in which he had an individual interest. This opinion
was founded upon the authority of every institutional writer
upon the criminal law of Scotland, upon a variety of statutes,
upon the decisions of the High Court of Justiciary, and upon
the practice of the country; and his lordship thought that
these circumstances, without one single authority to the con-
trary, would have been sufficient to prevent the contrary doc-
trine from being maintained, chiefly upon the ground of expe-
diency and advantage to the public.

The Lord Justice-Clerk then gave his opinion, throwing his
weight with the majority of the Court. He commended the

DECISION OF THE COURT. 195

course taken by the Lord Advocate in retaining Hare and his
wife as evidence, for had not that been done it was probable
no verdict such as was given would have been come to by the
jury. As to Hare's position, it seemed to him that the Lord
Advocate had an undoubted privilege, according to long and
established usage, of selecting from those suspected of such
crimes such persons whose evidence he might deem material
to secure the ends of public justice, and to assure them that,
upon giving evidence, he would never bring them to trial for
their concern in the transactions as to which they were
examined. It seemed to his lordship that Hare, having given
evidence as he did, completed his indemnity, and rendered it
impossible for the public prosecutor to turn round, after the
conviction of Burke, and indict the witness for his concern in
either of the acts, the trial of which had only been postponed
at the earnest desire of the prisoners. It appeared to be un-
doubted law that the public prosecutor having selected the
accomplice, and used his evidence upon the trial, thereby
necessarily deprived parties of the right which, but for his
proceeding, they undoubtedly would have had to prosecute.
If this were not the case, then the relatives'of Docherty would
also be entitled to prosecute Hare for the share he had in her
murder, but it was conceded by the counsel for the respondents
(the private prosecutors) that the relations of Docherty could
not under the circumstances maintain that right. If Hare were
legally exempted from all prosecution at the instance of the
public prosecutor, for any accession he might have had to the
three acts of murder charged in the indictment against Burke
and M'Dougal, there seemed no ground in law for maintaining
that he might still be prosecuted at the instance of the relatives
of any of the three parties alleged to have been murdered.

These opinions, weighty and well considered, on a most im-
portant point in the criminal law of Scotland, having been
delivered, the Court finally pronounced the following judg-
ment : —

" The Lord Justice-Clerk and the Lords Commissioners of
Justiciary having resumed consideration of the bill of advoca-
tion, suspension, and liberation for William Hare, with the In-
formations given in for both parties, in obedience to the order

196 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

of Court of 26th January last, and Answers given in for his
Majesty's Advocate, in compliance with said order ; Pass the
bill ; advocate the cause ; and in respect that the complainer,
William Hare, cannot be criminally tried for the crime charged
in the warrant of commitment, therefore, suspend the said
warrant, and ordain the Magistrates of Edinburgh, and Keepers
of then* Tolbooth, to set the said William Hare at liberty ; and
discharge all farther procedure in the precognition complained
of; and ordain the said precognition, in so far as it has already
been taken, to be delivered up to the Clerk of this Court, in
order to the same being sealed up, to abide the farther orders
of this Court, and discern."

But though Hare was now ordered by the High Court of
Justiciary to be liberated, he was not yet a free man. The
relatives of Wilson, acting in a sense as the representatives of
public opinion, and certainly supported by public contributions,
took further steps, which brought about a new phase of the case
against Hare. Immediately after the court had pronounced
that it was incompetent to prosecute Hare criminally, there was
presented to the Sheriff a petition intimating the intention of
Mrs. Wilson and her daughter to prosecute him civilly for the
sum of £500 in name of assythment for the murder of their
relative, and praying that, as he was in medztatione fugce, he
should be detained in prison until he found caution to appear
in answer to their averments. The Wilsons then, before the
Sheriff, declared upon oath — " That the said William Hare is
justly addebted, resting and owing to the deponents, the sum
of £500 sterling, or such other sum as shall be modified by the
Court of Justiciary, or any Court competent, as stated in the
petition : that the deponents are credibly informed, and believe
in their conscience, that the said William Hare is in meditatione
fugce, and about to leave this kingdom, whereby the deponents
will be defrauded of the means of recovering said sum : that
the grounds of their belief are, that Hare was born in Ireland :
that a short time ago he was imprisoned for examination,
preparatory to a trial upon a charge of murdering James
Wilson, of which they have no doubt he was guilty : that
owing to certain circumstances, he has not been brought to
trial for the offence, and there is reason to believe that he will

FURTHER A CTION AGAINST IT ARE. 19'

speedily be liberated from custody ; and owing to the prevail-
ing belief of his guilt, and the popular indignation which has
in consequence been raised against him, it is impossible thathe
can, with safety to his life, remain in Scotland, particularly as
he has been suspected to be guilty of other murders ; and,
therefore, they have no doubt, that as soon as he shall be
liberated from custody, which they believe will be this evening,
he will use utmost and immediate exertions to escape from
Scotland to Ireland."

This form having been gone through, Hare was brought in,
and was asked if he were concerned in killing James Wilson, to
which he replied that he would say nothing about it. He was
then questioned as to his intentions when liberated, but he
remained silent all through. Mr. Monro, the agent for the
petitioners, moved the Sheriff to grant a warrant of commit-
ment, and offered to produce evidence that Hare was in
meditatione fugoe should his lordship desire it. The Sheriff
appointed a proof for that same day. The first witness
examined was William Lindsay, a prisoner in the Tolbooth of
Edinburgh, who stated that two or three days before Hare told
him that if he were liberated he would leave this country
and go home to Ireland immediately. John Fisher, the head
turnkey in Calton Jail, corroborated. Hare was then informed
by the Sheriff that if he intended to remain in Scotland, any
witnesses he might wish to speak to that fact could now be
examined. The prisoner's tongue was loosened, and he replied
that he had no money, and must go somewhere to get work ;
that he had no domicile in this part of the country, and could
not remain in Edinburgh ; and that as a matter of fact he did
not know whether he would remain in Scotland, or go to Ire-
land or England in quest of employment. The Sheriff
accordingly granted a warrant for the detention of Hare until
he found caution to answer to any action that might be
brought against him, in any competent court, for payment of
the sum mentioned in the petition.

Hare was thus again thrown back, and it must have seemed
to him that if by turning informer against Burke he bad saved
his life, he was to be deprived of enjoying what remained of it
as a free man. But the Wilsons and their friends saw that to

198 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

prosecute the action for assythment could lead to no good
result. Hare was penniless, and it was therefore hopeless to
seek compensation from him, while if they did so they would
be throwing away money needlessly in the process. The
warrant was withdrawn on Thursday, the 5th of February,
and Hare was at last free to go where he pleased.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Popular Feeling against Hare — His Behaviour in Prison — With-
drawal of the Warrant — His Liberation and Flight — Recog-
nition— Riot in Dumfries, and Narrow Escape of Hare —
Over the Border — Ballad Version of the Flight.

The warrant in meditatione fugw by the relatives of James
Wilson against Hare was withdrawn quietly on the afternoon
of Thursday, the 5th of February, and the authorities at once
made arrangements for his liberation. They knew that
to place him outside the prison gates and allow him to
shift for himself would only be to endanger his life at the
hands of the excited mob of Edinburgh, who would, under the
high feeling then prevailing, have scrupled little about hanging
the detested criminal and informer from the bar of the nearest
lamp-post, or to have thrown him from the Castle-hill. Hare
knew the feeling that was against him, but he affected to treat
it with scorn. Even while the proceedings were being taken
against him, and it was doubtful if he would not be put upon
trial, which would have meant certain conviction, he displayed
a levity altogether unbecoming a man in the critical position
in which he stood. He asked his agent, with a sneer, what
was the value of Daft Jamie, and remarked that the price
given by the doctors was surely too much, as if the poor lad
been offered alive to any one he would not have been bought

LIBERA TION OF HARE. 1 09

at any price. His opinion of the proceedings, therefore, was
that the judges were wasting their time and their talent about
a thing of no value. On another occasion Hare and several
fellow-prisoners were walking in the court-yard when some
visitors were being shown through the establishment. One of
his companions turned to the strangers, and, pointing with his
ringer to the notorious criminal, said, " Here's Hare ; look at
him ! " The eyes of the party were immediately turned upon
the man whose crimes had made him so infamous, but he, with
brutal nonchalance, stared them out of countenance, and re-
marked, " Pitch a shilling this way, will ye ? "

It was but natural that in the state of public feeling the
decision of the High Court of Justiciary in Hare's petition
should cause dissatisfaction in many quarters ; and the fact
that two of the judges took a different view of the law from
the majority of their colleagues, only tended to prolong the
controversy. Many were the bitter comments made on the
case, but none was more forcible than the remark that the
judges came to decide on the case drunk with law, and kicked
sober justice out of court. Clever although this statement was,
and partially true, it involved a fallacy which was admitted
after the excitement occasioned by the disclosures of the con-
spiracy had spent itself.

But notwithstanding this feeling on the part of the public,
the law had to be carried out, and Hare had to be set at
liberty. The prison officials took an outside place for him, under
the appropriate name of Mr. Black, on the coach for England;
and shortly after eight o'clock on the night of Thursday, the 5th
of February, Hare left Caltonhill Jail. To prevent identifica-
tion he was muffled up in an old camelot cloak ; and in his
hand he carried a small bundle of clothes. Accompanying
him was John Fisher, the head turnkey, who was charged to see
him safe out of Edinburgh. At Waterloo Bridge they called a
hackney coach, and in it drove to Newington, where they waited
the arrival of the mail. When the coach came up it was
stopped, and Hare took his place on the'outside. As the guard
called out to the driver, " All's right," the turnkey shouted out
a cordial farewell to his quasi friend — "Good bye, Mr. Black,
and I wish you well home." Away the coach went, and Hare

200 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

was free and out of Edinburgh without it being known to any
but the prison officials that he was even at liberty. What a
tumult there would have been had the people suspected that
the man for whose death they clamoured was posting from
them ! Had they even had an inkling of what was going on
it is problematical if he would have been allowed to leave the
city without marks of their vengeance which he would have
borne to his dying day, possibly he would have been torn to
pieces.

However, the plans of the authorities had been carried out
with such secrecy that no one was aware of what was being
done, and Hare might have left the country without recogni-
tion, had it not been for his own imprudence. The night was
bitterly cold, and in the frosty air a seat on the top of a rapidly
travelling coach was far from comfortable. Accordingly,
when the mail arrived at Noblehouse, the second stage on the
Edinburgh road, Hare, knowing there were twenty minutes to
wait, descended from his perch, and accompanied the inside
passengers into the inn. He seemed to be alive to the dangers
of recognition, for at first he sat near the door, at the back of
the company, with his cloak muffled closely around him, but
some of his fellow-travellers, thinking his backwardness was
due to modesty, said he must be perishing with cold, and
invited him to a seat nearer the fire. Hare felt the truth of
the suggestion, and in taking advantage of the invitation he
threw aside his cloak and hat to warm his hands before the
roaring fire. This was an injudicious movement on the part of
the fugitive under any circumstances, but it was especially so
now owing to the fact that Mr. Sandford, the advocate, who
had been employed along with Mr. Jeffrey by Daft Jamie's
relatives to conduct the prosecution against Hare, was a pas-
senger in the coach, and one of the company in the inn.
Sandford at once recognised him, and Hare knew that, for he
saw the advocate shake his head ominously at him.

When the guard blew his horn for the renewal of the journey,
Hare was first at the coach-door, and as the night was so
bitterly cold, and there was a vacant seat inside, he was
allowed to occupy it. Mr. Sandford, however, when he
discovered the new arrangement, ordered the guard to '; take

Uiof IX MmPries. 201

that fellow out," and although others of the passengers
remonstrated on the hardship of sending the man to the outside
of the coach in such weather, he insisted upon being* obeyed,
and accordingly Hare was transferred to his old seat. The
coach again started, and the advocate judging that hks fellow-
travellers were entitled to some explanation of his extraordinary
conduct, revealed to them the identity of the person he had
dealt with so harshly, and if their sympathies did not altogether
disappear they at least concluded that the position taken up
by Mr. Sandford was to some extent justifiable.

When the coach arrived in the morning at the King's Arms
in Dumfries, the news spread rapidly that Hare was among its
passengers, and by eight o'clock a crowd of some eight thous-
and people surrounded the inn, all eager to obtain a sight of
the notorious murderer whose terrible crimes had caused such
a sensation in that, as in other parts of the country. It was
known that he was bound for Portpatrick, and the interval of
four hours between the arrival of the Edinburgh mail and the
departure of the Galloway and Portpatrick coach was one of
the most exciting in the history of Dumfries. Meanwhile
Hare was inside the inn drinking ale with a number of stable-
men, giving them such ridiculous toasts as " Bad luck to for-
tune." Some of them tried to get a story of his crimes from
him, but he declined to say anything about them, as he
declared he had said enough about that before, and had done
his duty in Edinburgh.

It was deemed impossible to drive the mail along
the High Street, when the time of departure arrived,
if Hare were in it, with safety to the other persons con-
nected with it, for the people had laid their plans for
the attack. They intended stopping the coach at the
bridge and throwing Hare into the river, or failing that, they
had closed the gates at Cassylands toll-bar where they pro-
posed to deal with him in another manner. Two passengers
were sent forward a part of the way in a gig, and the coach
left the inn empty. The mob surrounded it, but their fury was
only intensified to find that the West Port murderer was not
in it. The coach was allowed to proceed, and attention was again
turned to the inn, towards which a large number pressed their way4

202 IIT STORY OF BURKE AND IIARfi.

An old woman attempted to strike at " the villain " with her
umbrella, and another, after exhausting herself with verbal
abuse, seized him by the collar of the coat and gave him such
a shaking that he was nearly strangled. An hostler addressed
the now trembling Hare: — "Whaur are ye gaun, man? or
Avhaur can ye gang tae % Hell's ower guid for ye. The very
deevils, for fear o' mischief, widna daur to let ye in ; and as
for heaven, that's entirely oot o' the question." As he crouched
in a corner a small boy menaced him, and was backed up by
the crowd, who enjoyed the sight. Hare at last became
so thoroughly exasperated that he told his tormentors to " come
on," and give him " fair play." The tormenting to which he
was subject became unbearable, and he seized his bundle and
walked towards the door, determined, as he said, to let the
mob " tak' their will o' him," but in this effort he was checked
by a medical man who happened to be present.

The position of affairs in Dumfries had now become
positively alarming, and Mr. Fraser, the landlord of the Kings
Arms, saw that while his obnoxious guest remained in his
house it was in danger of being wrecked, and he was therefore
naturally anxious for his removal. In fact the whole town and
neighbourhood were completely convulsed, and it was im-
possible to tell what might be the next movement on the part
of the excited people. The burgh magistrates met to de-
liberate upon some plan for preserving the peace of the town.
After long consideration they agreed upon a plan which ran
every risk of failure, but which was perhaps the only one they
could have adopted.

A chaise and pair drove up to the door of the King's Arms,
between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. A trunk was
buckled to it, and a great fuss was made. While these move-
ments were going on before the people to attract their atten-
tion from what was the really important part of the magisterial
plan, Hare slipped out of a back window, crept along by the
stable-wall to a chaise in readiness to receive him. Once he
was in, the doors were closed, the postilion whipped his horses
to the gallop, and drove rapidly along the street towards the
river. The mob having received a hint of what was going on
from a few boys who had been lounging about the inn stables,

Narrow escape of hare. 2o3

made after the chaise with a rush. Volleys of stomas were
thrown at it, and some of the missiles went through the win-
dows of the vehicle, narrowly missing Hare, who cowered at
the bottom of it. On the horses flew, and, taking a turn sharply,
the coach was nearly overturned, but after running a short
distance on two wheels it righted. At the bridge the fugitives
were almost intercepted, but the people were too late. After
some furious driving, the jail door was reached, and the gover-
nor, having been informed that he might expect a distinguished
guest, opened the door immediately. Hare sprang out of the
chaise, and in past a strong chain that had been placed behind
the prison gate for greater security against a rush of the mob.
" Into this gulf he leapt," said the Dumfries Courier of the fol-
lowing week, " hop, step, and jump, a thousand times more
happy to get into prison than the majority of criminals are to
get out of it."

The people now saw how they had been deceived, and they
were furious with rage and disappointment. Hare, if he fell
into their hands now could not hope to escape ; but, fortu-
nately for him, the high strong walls of the prison were
between him and the excited populace. The mob laid siege
to the jail, blocked up all the door and gateway, and no
one could pass out or in without considerable personal risk. This
began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and for four hours later the
angry mob howled and shouted, and even sought to break
down the prison gates with a heavy piece of iron which they
used as a battering-ram. When the street lamps in the vicin-
ity were lighted at nightfall, they were immediately extin-
guished by some of the rioters, many of whom had now come
to the conclusion that the best means they could adopt for
forcing a surrender was to burn down the gate by lighted tar
barrels and peats. About eight o'clock in the evening, how-
ever, the magistrates had made arrangements for dispersing
the people. The militia staff and the police force had been
found quite insufficient to quell the disturbance. A hundred
special constables were therefore sworn-in, and were drafted
to assist in the preservation of the peace. The augmented
force quickly cleared the streets, and the people, tired and
exhausted with their exciting day's employment, at last

204 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

reluctantly retired to their homes. But their efforts were
plainly manifest in the amount of wreckage about the town,
and scarcely a window in the prison or its neighbourhood was
intact.

While the tumult was at its height, Hare, fatigued and
weary, slipped away to the bed provided for him, and soon he
was fast asleep, for he had had no rest since leaving Calton
Jail in Edinburgh. About one o'clock on Saturday morning
he was wakened by the officials, who told him that, now the
town was quiet, he must depart immediately. Trembling
violently, he put on his clothes, and before leaving asked for
his cloak and bundle. But these had been left at the inn, and
were not at hand. The officers said he must do without them,
and thank his stars into the bargain that he had escaped with
whole bones. They also advised him that — as the whole of
Galloway was in arms, and as the mail-coach had been stopped
and searched the day before at Crock etford toll-bar, probably,
also, at every other stage between Dumfries and Portpatrick —
he would be better to take a different road. With this advice
he set out on his journey on foot, and by three o'clock in the
morning he was seen by a boy passing Dodbeck. By day-
break he was probably over the border. On Saturday and
Sunday it was reported that Hare's identity had been dis-
covered at Annan, and that he had been stoned to death ;
but this was a mistake, for the driver of the English mail, on
his return journey, saw him seated on the roadside within
half-a-mile of Carlisle shortly after five o'clock on Satur-
day afternoon. The fugitive was then seated talking to
two stone-breakers, and as the coach passed he held down his
head, but was recognised by the driver and an outside
passenger. On the Sunday morning he was again seen about
two miles beyond Carlisle, having skirted the city, the
inhabitants of which were stated to be prepared to give him as
cordial reception as the men of Dumfries. It is believed that
after this Hare turned eastwards towards Newcastle, but as a
matter of fact nothing is authoritatively known of his subsequent
movements.

There is a story which an old resident of the east end of
Glasgow, who died over eighty years of age, in the autumu of

HALLAD ON HAKE'S FLICUT. 205

lasf year (1883), used to tell with greaf gusto. In his younger
days this old gentleman was of a wandering disposition, and
travelled on foot over the greater part of the island. In the
spring of 1829 he passed through Berwick-on-Tweed, and put
up for the night at a lodging-house there. He was told by the
landlady that he could not have a bed for himself, but would
require to sleep with another lodger who was, of course, a

stranger to him. On retiring to the room, M'A , the

Glaswegian, found that his bed-fellow was before him, and
was sound asleep. This, however, was of little consequence,
and he was soon himself in a similar condition. In the middle
of the night he was awakened by his companion grasping him
firmly by the throat, and, greatly alarmed, he flung off his
assailant, sprung out of bed, and demanded to knoAv what such
behaviour meant. The stranger replied, in an apologetic tone,
that he must have had the nightmare, for he knew nothing
about what he was doing until he was thrown off. After
a little conversation the two men became quite friendly, and
again retired to rest. The night passed without further

incident. In the morning, when he awoke, M'A found

that his bed-fellow was gone. He told the landlady at break-
fast of the adventure, and she then informed him that the man
with whom he had slept was none other than the notorious
Hare. He shivered with horror, but the danger was past, and,

for more than half a century, M'A told how in his youth he

had spent a night with Hare, the accomplice of Burke. If the
identification was correct, it was probably the case that Hare
was really suffering from the nightmare, for it is not at all
likely that lie would attempt murder among strangers so soon
after his narrow escape in Edinburgh.

In the preceding pages the story of Hare's departure from
Scotland has been told, very much as given to the world in
the columns of the Dumfries Courier; but the ballad-makers
had another version which may prove interesting now, as it
did at the time of its publication. Here are a few verses : —

" Dark was the mid-night, when Hare fled away,
Not a star in the sky gave him one cheering ray,
But still now and then blue lightning did glare,
And strange shrieks assailed him like shrieks of despair.
o

206 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARfi.

11 But still as the fugitive ran down the wild glen,
Not a place did he fear like the dwellings of men;
Where a heap lay before him all dismal and bare
The ghost of Daft Jamie appeared to him there.

" ' I am come,' says the shade, 'from the land of the dead,
Though there be for poor Jamie no grass-covered bed ;
O'er hills and o'er valleys I'll watch thee for ill,
I will haunt all thy wanderings, and follow thee still.

' I am come to remind you of deeds that are past,
And tell you that Justice will find you at last.

" 'When night darkens the world, oh, how can you sleep ?
In your dreams do you ne'er see my poor mother weep ?
And long will she weep, and long will she mourn,
Till her wandering Jamie from the grave can return.

" ' From the grave, did I say ? Ah, calm is the bed
Where sleepless and dreamless lie the bones of the dead ;
Their friends may lament them, and their sorrows may be,
But no grave grows green in the wide world for me.

" ' Oh, Hare, go and cover your fugitive head,
In some land you're not known by the living or dead ;
For the living against thee will justly combine,
And the dead will despise such a body as thine.' "

CHAPTER XXXIII.

The Confessions of Burke — The Interdicts against the " Edin-
burgh Evening Courant " — Burkes Note on the " Courant "
Confession — Issue of the Official Document — Publication of
both Confessions.

PASSING mention was made in a previous chapter of the con-
fessions of his crimes made by Burke while he was in prison
awaiting the time fixed for carrying- out the final sentence

IXTERDICT AGAIN SI THE "COURANT.'9 207

passed upon him by the High Court of Justiciary, and it was
then stated that the curious history of the second, or Courant,
confession, must be reserved for the proper time. Part of that
history has already been related, for it has been seen how,
when the Courant announced the Monday before Burke's
execution that that document would be published in its
columns on the following Thursday, the High Court granted
interdict prohibiting the publication until the proceedings
against Hare were concluded. The Courant bowed to this
decision, but promised at the same time to lay before its
readers the interesting paper as soon as possible.

This, however, was only the beginning of the difficulty. In
its issue of Thursday, 5th of February, the Courant stated that
the interdict granted by the High Court of Justiciary, on the
application of Mr. Duncan M 'Neill, as counsel for Hare, having
expired on the Monday previous (the 2nd of February), the
publishers fully intended to have inserted the confession by
Burke in then paper of that day. But, unfortunately, they
had been laid under a new interdict by the Sheriff, at the
instance of Mr. J. Smith, S.S.C. This Mr. Smith was
the gentleman who had applied to the Lord Advocate some
weeks before for permission to visit Burke in prison for the
purpose of receiving from him a full confession of his crimes,
and who, on being refused, had unsuccessfully appealed to the
Home Secretary. On Tuesday, ?rd February, this gentleman
applied to the Sheriff, craving that the Courant be interdicted
from publishing the confessions of Burke. The application was
founded upon an allegation that the document in the posses-
sion of the editor of the Courant was intended by Burke to be
delivered to Mr. Smith, and had been given by the condemned
man to a fellow-prisoner named Ewart for that purpose.
Ewart entrusted it to the care of Wilson, a turnkey, who had
disposed of it to the editor of the Courant. By this means, it
was alleged, the intention of Burke was defeated ; and it was
further stated that the night before his execution, in the pres-
ence of Bailie Small, Mr. Porteous, and Mr. James Burn, Burke
signed a document authorising Mr. Smith to uplift from the editor
of the Courant the declarati* »n now under discussion. This paper
was in these tonus : — " The document or narrative, which I

208 HISTORY OF BURKE AND JURE.

signed for Ewart, was correct, so far as I had time to

examine it; but it was given under the express stipulation
that it should not be published for three months after my
decease. I authorise J. Smith to insist upon the delivery
of the paper above alluded to from the Courant, or any other
person in whose possession it may be ; and, at the same time, I
desire Bailie Small to be present when the papers are demanded
and got up, and that they may be taken to the Sheriff's office
and compared with my declaration made before the Sheriff,
which is the only full statement that can be relied on."
The Sheriff granted interdict, but on the following day a peti-
tion was presented on behalf of the Courant praying for its
recall. In support of this it was stated that Wilson, the turn-
key, had disposed of the confession to the editor of that journal
for a fair price, while the document itself had not come unfairly
into his hands. The question of the right or power of a con-
demned criminal to bequeath property of any description was
also raised, but was not seriously entered into. The Sheriff,
however, did not see his way to recall the interdict, and said it
was worthy of some attention whether the document given to
Ewart was not to be published until three months after the
death of Burke.

But whatever may have been the method adopted by the
Courant to obtain possession of the confession, it is at least
certain that the document, though its publication for a time
was laid under interdict, was not uplifted, and that it was
ultimately issued to the public long before the period stipulated
for by Burke. This was probably due to the fact that a new
set of outside circumstances emerged which rendered it
imperative that the private confession should be published if
any profit was to be gained or enterprise shown. The Lord
Advocate had given orders for the issue of the official con-
fession to all the newspapers, and the competitors for the
ownership of the other document were thus forced to come to a
mutual arrangement.

On the 5th of February, the day on which Hare was liber-
ated, the Sheriff addressed a letter to the Lord Provost of
Edinburgh, in the course of which he said : — " As it is now
fully understood that all proceedings of a criminal nature

ISSUE OF OFFICIAL CONFESSION. 209

against William Hare have terminated, it has appeared to the
Lord Advocate that the community have a right to expect a
disclosure of the contents of the confessions made by William
Burke after his conviction. I have, therefore, to place those
confessions in your lordship's hands with the view to their
being given to the public, at such a time, and in such a
manner, as you may deem most advisable. ... It may be
satisfactory to your lordship to know, that in the information
which Hare gave to the Sheriff on the 1st December last
(while he imputed to Burke the active part in the deeds which
the latter now assigns to Hare), Hare disclosed nearly the
same crimes in point of number, of time, and of the description
of persons murdered, which Burke has thus confessed ; and in
the few particulars in which they differed, no collateral evi-
dence could be obtained calculated to show which of them was
in the right. Your lordship will not be displeased to learn,
that after a very full and anxious inquiry, now only about to
be concluded, no circumstances have transpired, calculated to
show that any other persons have lent themselves to such
practices in this city, or its vicinity; and that there is no
reason to believe that any other crimes have been committed
by Burke and Hare, excepting those contained in the frightful
catalogue to which they have confessed."

This action on the part of the Lord Advocate was simply
a formal way of making the public aware of the contents of
the confession, the Lord Provost being the official representa-
tive of the citizens of Edinburgh. He, in his turn, sent the
document to the newspapers for publication. Of course,
when the people read it they would be initiated into the secrets
of the conspiracy engaged in by Burke and Hare, and the
Courant managers saw that it would forestall their con-
fession, even though it was fuller in detail. There must have
been a hasty consultation with Mr. Smith, for on Saturday, the
7th February, the two confessions appeared in that journal,
accompanied by the following editorial note : —

" The interdict of the Sheriff on the publication of the con-
fession and declaration of Burke, which has been for some time
in our possession, having been withdrawn in consequence of a
mutual compromise, we now publish this document, along with

210 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

a declaration signed before the Sheriff, and sent by him to the
Lord Provost for publication the day after he had pronounced
an interdict against the Courant. It will be observed that the
declaration before the Sheriff is dry and meagre in its details.
The declaration which we publish is much fuller, and contains
minute and striking circumstances which were never before
laid before the public. The publication of this declaration
and confession has been delayed by various proceedings ; of
which, however vexatious, we are not disposed to com-
plain. The interdict of the Court of Justiciary being
deemed essential to the ends of justice, we yielded an im-
mediate and respectful obedience to this order. The first
interdict by the Sheriff, at the instance of a private party,
was granted as a matter of course ; and that interdict, after
our application to have it recalled, was continued by a well
meant but erroneous judgment. However we might be dis-
appointed by the decision, we did not conceive that we had
any right to complain. But we certainly do complain, that,
after the Sheriff had laid the declaration which we possessed
under an interdict, he should, the very next day, have pub-
lished, or sent for publication, another declaration. We com-
plain of this the more, because the very ground on which he
decided to continue the interdict against us was, that our
interest would be less injured by delay than that of the other
party by removing the interdict ; and yet, in the face of this
decision, he publishes a document which, for ought he knew,
might be identically the same as ours, and by the publication
of which our interest would not merely be injured, but utterly
ruined. We certainly think that this is an extraordinary mode
of procedure. A judge in the case first interdicts the publica-
tion of a certain confession or declaration, telling one of the
parties that he cannot surfer much injury by the delay, and
the very next day publishes a declaration by the same person,
to the injury, perhaps to the utter destruction of any interest
the party had in the matter at issue. We really think that
the dangers of delay are here exemplified in a very instructive
manner ; for if we had known that the very paper, as we could
judge, about which parties were at issue, would be published
the next day by the Sheriff himself, how would this have

BURKKS OFFICIAL CONFESSION. 211

strengthened our argument against the continuance of the in-
terdict ? Such are the facts of the case ; considering them,
carefully, they certainly appear to be somewhat irregular;
and the effect was certainly calculated to prejudice, nay, to
ruin our interest, if the paper in the possession of the Sheriff
had not been so meagre and unsatisfactory, compared with the
declaration we publish."

The Courant showed its annoyance at the turn affairs had
taken, but while doing so it made every effort, and that
successfully, to outstrip its contemporaries. Besides publishing
the two confessions in full, it gave a fac simile of the note in
Burke's handwriting, appended to the document in their own
possession, over which there had been so much dispute.
There is one thing in favour of the Courant, or unofficial, con-
fession, and that is the paper signed by Burke the night before
his execution. He there testifies as to its accuracy, so far as
he had had time to examine it. At the same time, in view of
the many discrepancies between the two documents themselves,
and what was brought out by subsequent investigation, it
must be admitted that in many respects they are defective as
records of the terrible series of crimes in which Burke and Hare
participated.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Burkes Confession before the Sheriff — A Record of the Murders —
The Method — Complicity of the Women and the Doctors —
Murderers but not Body-Snatchers.

The official confession of Burke was made in the condemned
cell by the criminal on the 3rd of January, 1829, in the
presence of Mr. George Tait, Sheriff-substitute ; Mr. Archibald
Scott, Procurator-fiscal ; and Mr. Richard J. Moxey, assistant
{Sheriff-clerk. The following- is a copy of the document : — .

212 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

" Compeared William Burke, at present under sentence of
death in the jail of Edinburgh, states that he never saw Hare
till the Hallow-fair before last [November, 1827,] when he and
Helen M'Dougal met Hare's wife, with whom he was
previously acquainted, on the street ; they had a dram,
and he mentioned he had an intention to go to the west
country to endeavour to get employment as a cobbler ; but
Hare's wife suggested that they had a small room in their
house which might suit him and M'Dougal, and that he might
follow his trade of a cobbler in Edinburgh ; and he went to
Hare's house, and continued to live there, and got employment
as a cobbler.

" An old pensioner, named Donald, lived in the house about
Christmas, 1827 ; he was in bad health, and died a short time
before his quarter's pension was due : that he owed Hare £4 ;
and a day or two after the pensioner's death, Hare proposed
that his body should be sold to the doctors, and that the
declarant should get a share of the price. Declarant said it
would be impossible to do it, because the man would be
coming in with the coffin immediately ; but after the body was
put in the coffin, and the lid was nailed down, Hare started
the lid with a chisel, and he and declarant took out the corpse
and concealed it in the bed, and put tanner's bark from behind
the house into the coffin, and covered it with a sheet, and nailed
down the lid of the coffin, and the coffin was then carried away
for interment. That Hare did not appear to have been con-
cerned in anything of the kind before, and seemed to be at a
loss how to get the body disposed of ; and he and Hare went
in the evening to the yard of the College, and saw a person
like a student there, and the declarant asked him if there were
any of Dr. Monro's men about, because he did not know there
was any other way of disposing of a dead body — nor did Hare.
The young man asked what they wanted with Dr. Monro, and
the declarant told him that he had a subject to dispose of, and
the young man referred him to Dr. Knox, No. 10 Surgeon's
Square ; and they went there, and saw young gentlemen,
whom he now knows to be Jones, Miller, and Ferguson, and
told them that they had a subject to dispose of, but they did
not ask how they had obtained it; and they told the declarant

RECORD OF THE MURDERS. 213

and Hare to come back when it was dark, and that they them-
selves would find a porter to carry it. Declarant and Hare
went home and put the body into a sack, and carried it
to Surgeon's Square, and not knowing how to dispose of
it, laid it down at the door of the cellar, and went up to the
room, where the three young men saw them, and told them to
bring up the body to the room, which they did ; and they took
the body out of the sack, and laid it on the dissecting table :
That the shirt was on the body, but the young man asked no
questions as to that ; and the declarant and Hare, at their
request, took off the shirt, and got £7 10s. Dr. Knox came in
after the shirt was taken off, and looked at the body, and pro-
posed they should get £7 10s., and authorized Jones to settle
with them ;* and he asked no questions as to how the body had
been obtained. Hare got £4 5s. and the declarant got £3 5s.
Jones, &c, said that they would be glad to see them again
when they had any other body to dispose of.

"Early last spring, 1828, a woman from Gilmerton came to
Hare's house as a nightly lodger, — Hare keeping seven beds
for lodgers : That she was a stranger, and she and Hare
became merry, and drank together ; and next morning she was
very ill in consequence of what she had got, and she sent for
some drink, and she and Hare drank together, and she became
very sick and vomited ; and at that time she had not risen
from bed, and Hare then said that they would try and smother
her in order to dispose of her body to the doctors : That she
was lying on her back in the bed, and quite insensible from
drink, and Hare clapped his hand on her mouth and nose, and
the declarant laid himself across her body, in order to prevent
her making any disturbance — and she never stirred ; and they
took her out of bed and undressed her, and put her into a
sheet ; and they mentioned to Dr. Knox's young men that they
had another subject; and Mr. Miller sent a porter to meet them
in the evening at the back of the Castle ; and declarant and
Hare canned the chest till they met the porter, and they accom-
panied the porter with the chest to Dr. Knox's class-room, and
Dr. Knox came in when they were there : the body was cold
and stiff. Dr. Knox approved of its being so fresh, but did not
ask any questions,

214 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

" The next was a man named Joseph, a miller, who had been
lying badly in the house : that he got some drink from
declarant and Hare, but was not tipsy : he was very ill, lying
in bed, and could not speak sometimes, and there was a report
that there was fever in the house, which made Hare and his
wife uneasy in case it should keep away lodgers, and they
(declarant and Hare) agreed that they should suffocate him
for the same purpose ; and the declarant got a small pillow
and laid it across Joseph's mouth, and Hare lay across the
body to keep down the arms and legs ; and he was disposed
of in the same manner, to the same persons, and the body was
carried by the porter who carried the last body.

" In May, 1828, as he thinks, an old woman came to the
house as a lodger, and she was the worse of drink, and she got
more drink of her own accord, and she became very drunk,
and declarant suffocated her ; and Hare was not in the house
at the time ; and she was disposed of in the same manner.

" Soon afterwards an Englishman lodged there for some
nights, and was ill of the jaundice : that he was in bed very
unwell, and Hare and declarant got above him and held him
down, and by holding his mouth suffocated him, and disposed
of him in the same manner.

" Shortly afterwards an old woman named Haldane (but he
knows nothing further of her), lodged in the house, and she had
got some drink at the time, and got more to intoxicate her, and
he and Hare suffocated her, and disposed of her in the same
manner.

"About Midsummer, 1828, a woman with her son or grand-
son, about twelve years of age, and who seemed to be weak
in his mind, came to the house as lodgers ; the woman got a
dram, and when in bed asleep, he and Hare suffocated her ;
and the boy was sitting at the fire in the kitchen, and he and
Hare took hold of him, and carried him into the room, and
suffocated him. They were put into a herring barrel the same
night, and carried to Dr. Knox's rooms.

" That, soon afterwards the declarant brought a woman to
the house as a lodger ; and after some days she got drunk, and
was disposed of in the same manner: That declarant and

MARY PATERSON AND DAFT JAMIE. 215

Hare generally tried if lodgers would drink, and if they wonld
drink, they were disposed of in that manner.

" The declarant then went for a few days to the house of
Helen M'Dougal's father, and when he returned, he learned
from Hare that he had disposed of a woman in the declarant's
absence, in the same manner, in his own house; but the
declarant does not know the woman's name, or any further
particulars of the case, or whether any other person was pre-
sent or knew of it.

" That about this time he went to live in Broggan's house,
and a woman named Margaret Haldane, daughter of the
woman Haldane before mentioned, and whose sister is married
to Clark, a tin-smith in the High Street, came into the house,
but the declarant does not remember for what purpose ; she
got drink, and was disposed of in the same manner : That
Hare was not present, and neither Broggan nor his son knew
the least thing about that or any other case of the same kind.

"That in April, 1828, he fell in with the girl Paterson and
her companion in Constantine Burke's house, and they had
breakfast together, and he sent for Hare, and he and Hare dis-
posed of her in the same manner ; and Mr. Ferguson and a tall
lad, who seemed to have known the woman by sight, asked
where they had got the body ; and the declarant said he had
purchased it from an old woman at the back of the Canongate.
The body was disposed of five or six hours after the girl was
killed, and it was cold, but not very stiff, but he does not
remember of any remarks being made about the body being
warm.

" One day in September or October, 1828, a washer-woman
had been washing in the house for some time, and he and
Hare suffocated her, and disposed of her in the same manner.

" Soon afterwards, a woman named M'Dougal, who was a
distant relation of Helen M'Dougal's first husband, came to
Broggan's house to see M'Dougal; and after she had been
coming and going to the house for a few days, she got drunk,
and was served in the same way by the declarant and Hare.

" That ' Daft Jamie ' was then disposed of in the manner
mentioned in the indictment, except that Hare was concerned
in it. That Hare was lying alongside of Jamie in the bed, and

216 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

Hare suddenly turned on him, and put his hand on his mouth
and nose ; and Jamie, who had got drink, but was not drunk,
made a terrible resistance, and he and Hare fell from the bed
together, Hare still keepiDg hold of Jamie's mouth and nose ;
and as they lay on the floor together, declarant lay across
Jamie, to prevent him from resisting, and they held him in that
state till he was dead, and he was disposed of in the same
manner; and Hare took a brass snuff-box and a spoon from
Jamie's pocket, and kept the box to himself, and never gave it
to the declarant — but he gave him the spoon.

"And the last was the old woman Docherty, for whose
murder he has been convicted. That she was not put to death
in the manner deponed to by Hare on the trial. That during
the scuffle between him and Hare, in the course of which he
was nearly strangled by Hare, Docherty had crept among the
straw, and after the scuffle was over they had some drink, and
after that they both went forward to where the woman was
lying sleeping, and Hare went forward first, and seized her by
the mouth and nose, as on former occasions ; and at the same
time the declarant lay across her, and she had no opportunity
,of making any noise ; and before she was dead, one or other of
them, he does not recollect which, took hold of her by the throat.
Thatwhile he and Hare were struggling, Avhich wasa real scuffle,
M'Dougal opened the door of the apartment, and went into the
inner passage and knocked at the door, and called out police
and murder, but soon came back ; and at the same time Hare's
wife called out never to mind, because declarant and Hare
would not hurt one another. That whenever he and Hare rose
and went towards the straw where Docherty was lying,
M'Dougal and Hare's wife, who, he thinks, were lying in bed
at the time, or, perhaps, were at the fire, immediately rose and
left the house, but did not make any noise, so far as he heard,
and he was surprised at their going out at that time, because
he did not see how they could have any suspicion of what they
(the declarant and Hare) intended doing. That he cannot
say whether he and Hare would have killed Docherty or not,
if the women had remained, because they were so determined
to kill the woman, the drink being in their head ; — and he has
no knowledge or suspicion of Docherty's body having been

/'/IE MURDERERS' METHOD. 217

offered to any person besides Dr. Knox ; and he <! sus-

pect that Paterson would offer the body to any other person
than Dr. Knox.

" Declares, that suffocation was not suggested to them by
any person as a mode of killing, but occurred to Hare on the
first occasion before mentioned, and was continued afterwards
because it was effectual, and showed no marks ; and when they
lay across the body at the same time, that was not suggested
to them by any person, for they never spoke to any person on
sueh a subject ; and it was not done for the purpose of prevent-
ing the person from breathing, but was only done for the
purpose of keeping down the person's arms and thighs, to pre-
vent the person struggling.

" Declares, that with the exception of the body of Docherty,
they never took the person by the throat, and they never leapt
upon them ; and declares that there were no marks of violence
on any of the subjects, and they were sufficiently cold to pre-
vent any suspicion on the part of the doctors ; and, at all
events, they might be cold and stiff enough before the box
was opened up, and he and Hare always told some story of
their having purchased the subjects from some relation or
other person who had the means of disposing of them, about
different parts of the town, and the statements which they
made were such as to prevent the doctors having any sus-
picions ; and no suspicions were expressed by Dr. Knox or any
of his assistants, and no questions asked tending to show that
they had suspicion.

" Declares, that M'Dougal and Hare's wife were no way
concerned in any of the murders, and neither of them knew of
anything of the kind being intended even in the case of
Docherty ; and although these two women may latterly have
had some suspicion in their own minds that the declarant and
Hare were concerned in lifting dead bodies, he does not think
they could have any suspicion that he and Hare were concerned
in committing murders.

" Declares, that none of the subjects which they had pro-
cured, as before mentioned, were offered to any other person
than Dr. Knox's assistants, and he and Hare had very little
communication with Dr. Knox himself; and declares, that he

218 HfSTORY OF BURKE AND HARK

has not the smallest suspicion of any other person in this, or in
any other country, except Hare and himself, being concerned
in killing persons and offering their bodies for dissection ; and
he never knew or heard of such a thing having been done
before."

This declaration was signed by Sheriff Tait and Burke. It
is curious to notice how, in it, the criminal endeavours in
almost every instance to bring out Hare as the chief actor in
the horrible events he describes in such a fragmentary way ;
but it will be remembered that Burke, several times between
his conviction and execution, said he would be happy if he
were certain Hare would also become a subject for the scaffold.
There is little reason to doubt that, had the opportunity been
afforded him, he would have turned informer himself, and
twisted events in such a way as to have condemned Hare.

About three weeks later, on the 22nd January, Burke was
again before the gentlemen to whom he made his confession
on the 3rd of the same month. But there was an addition to
the company in the person of the Rev. Mr. Reid, the Catholic
priest, who had regularly attended him since his condemnation.
This gentleman was requested to be present, as the Sheriff
said in his letter to the Lord Provost, in order to give the con-
fession "every degree of authenticity." On this occasion,
Burke, having expressed his adherence to his former de-
claration—

" Declares further, that he does not know the names and
descriptions of any of the persons who were destroyed except
as mentioned in his former declaration. Declares, that he was
never concerned in any other act of the same kind, nor made
any attempt or preparation to commit such, and all reports of
a contrary tendency, some of which he has heard, are ground-
less. And he does not know of Hare being concerned in any
such, except as mentioned in his former declaration ; and he
does not know of any persons being murdered for the purpose
of dissection by any other persons than himself and Hare, and
if any persons have disappeared anywhere in Scotland, Eng-
land, or Ireland, he knows nothing whatever about it, and
never heard of such a thing till he was apprehended. Declares,
that he never had any instrument in his house except a common

THE "COUBAXT CONFESSION. *Jli»

table knife, or a knife used by him in his trade as a shoemaker,
or a small pocket knife, and he never used any of those instru-
ments, or attempted to do so, on any of the persons who were
. destroyed. Declares, that neither he nor Hare, so far as he
knows, ever were concerned in supplying any subjects for dis-
section except those before mentioned ; and, in particular,
never did so by raising dead bodies from the grave. Declares,
that they never allowed Dr. Knox, or any of his assistants, to
know exactly where their houses were, but Paterson, Dr. Knox's
porter or door-keeper, knew."

CHAPTER XXXV.

The " Courant" Confession of Burke — Details of the Crimes —
Burkes Account of His Life — The Criminals and Dr. Knox.

In the following pages is the Courant confession of Burke,
about which there was so much difficulty and heartburning.
It goes more into detail than the official document, and it is
interesting to know that the words and sentences in italic were
written in by Burke himself. The date on which it was made
will be seen at the end to have been 21st January, 1829, a
week before the execution : —

"Abigail Simpson was murdered on the 12th February,
1828, on the forenoon of the day. She resided in Gilmerton,
near Edinburgh ; has a daughter living there. She used to
sell salt and camstone. She was decoyed in by Hare and his
wife on the afternoon of the 11th February, and he gave her
some whisky to drink. She had one shilling and sixpence and
a can of kitchen-fee. Hare's wife gave her one shilling and
sixpence for it ; she drank it all with them. She then said she
had a daughter. Hare said he was a single man and would
many her, and get all the money amongst them. They then
proposed to her to stay all night, which she did, as she was so

220 HISTORY OF BURKE AND J I AUK.

drunk she could not go home ; and in the morning was vomit-
ing. They then gave her some porter and whisky, and made
her so drunk that she fell asleep on the bed. Hare then laid
hold of her mouth and nose, and prevented her from breathing.
Burke held her hands and feet till she was dead. She made
very little resistance, and when it was convenient they carried
her to Dr. Knox's dissecting-rooms in Surgeon Square, and
got ten pounds for her. She had on a drab mantle, a white-
grounded cotton shawl and blue spots on it. Hare took all
her clothes and went out with them ; said he was going to put
them into the canal. She said she was a pensioner of Sir
John Hay's. (Perhaps this should be Sir John Hope).

" The next was an Englishman, a native of Cheshire, and a
lodger of Hare's. They murdered him in the same manner as
the other. He was ill with the jaundice at the same time. He
was very tall ; had black hair, brown whiskers, mixed with
grey hairs. He used to sell spunks in Edinburgh ; was about
forty years of age. Did not know his name. Sold to Dr.
Knox for £10.

" The next was an old woman who lodged with Hare for
one night, but does not know her name. She was murdered
in the same manner as above. Sold to Dr. Knox for £10. The
old woman was decoyed into the house by Mrs. Hare in the fore-
noon from the street, when Hare was working at the boats at
the canal. She gave her whisky, and put her to bed three
times. At last she was so drunk that she fell asleep ; and
when Hare came home to his dinner, he put part of the bed-
tick on her mouth and nose, and when he came home at night
she was dead. Burke at this time was mending shoes ; and
Hare and Burke took the clothes off her, and put her body into
a tea-box. Took her to Knox's that night.

" The next was Mary Paterson, who was murdered in Burke's
brother's house in the Canongate, in the month of April last,
by Burke and Hare, in the forenoon. She was put into a tea-
box, and carried to Dr. Knox's dissecting-rooms in the after-
noon of the same day; and got £8 for her body. She had
twopence-halfpenny, which she held fast in her hand. Declares
that the girl Paterson was only four hours dead till she was in

/•///•; OLD WOMAN AND rin; hoy. ->-n

Knox's dissecting-rooms; but she was not dissected at that
time, for she was three months in whisky before she was dis-
sected. She was warm when Burke cut the hair off her head ;

and Knox brought a Mr. , a painter, to look at her, she

was so handsome a figure, and well shaped in body and limbs.
One of the students said she was like a girl he had seen in the
Canongate as one pea is like to another. They desired Burke
to cut off her hair; one of the students gave a pair of scissors
for that purpose.

" In June last, an old woman and a dumb boy, her grand-
son, from Glasgow, came to Hare's, and were both murdered at
the dead hour of night, when the woman was in bed. Burke
and Hare murdered her in the same way as they did the
others. They took off the bed-clothes and tick, stripped off
her clothes, and laid her on the bottom of the bed, and then
put on the bed-tick and bed-clothes on the top of her; and
they then came and took the boy in their arms and carried him
ben to the room, and murdered him in the same manner, and
laid him alongside of his grandmother. They lay for the space
of an hour ; they then put them into a herring barrel. The
barrel was perfectly dry; there was no brine in it. They
carried them to the stable till next day ; they put the barrel
into Hare's cart, and Hare's horse was yoked in it ; but the
horse would not drag the cart one foot past the Meal-market ;
and they got a porter with a hurley, and put the barrel on it.
Hare and the porter went to Surgeon Square with it. Burke
went before them, as he was afraid something would happen,
as the horse would not draw them. When they came to Dr.
Knox's dissecting rooms, Burke carried the barrel in his arms.
The students and them had hard work to get them out, being
bo stiff and cold. They received £16 for them both. Hare
was taken in by the horse he bought that refused drawing the
corpse to Surgeon Square, and they shot it in the tanyard.
He had two large holes in his shoulder stuffed with cotton, and
covered over with a piece of another horse's skin to prevent
them being discovered.

"Joseph, the miller by trade, and a lodger of Hare's. He
had once been possessed of a good deal of money. He was
connected by marriage with some of the Carron company,

]p

222 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARK.

Burke and Hare murdered him by pressing a pillow on his
mouth and nose till he was dead. He was then carried to Dr.
Knox's in Surgeon Square. They got £10 for him.

" Burke and Helen M'Dougal were on a visit seeing their
friends near Falkirk. This was the time a procession was
made round a stone in that neighbourhood ; thinks it was the
anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn. When he was
away, Hare fell in with a woman drunk in the street at the
West Port. He took her into his house and murdered her him-
self, and sold her to Dr. Knox's assistants for £8. When Burke
went away he knew Hare was in want of money; his things
were all in pawn ; but when he came back, found him have
plenty of money. Burke asked him if he had been doing any
business. He said he had been doing nothing. Burke did not
believe him, and went to Dr. Knox, who told him that Hare
had brought a subject. Hare then confessed what he had
done.

" A cinder-gatherer ; Burke thinks her name was Effy. She
was in the habit of selling small pieces of leather to him (as he
ivas a cobbler), she gathered about the coach-works. He took
her into Hare's stable, and gave her whisky to drink till she
was drunk ; she then lay down among some straw and fell
asleep. They then laid a cloth over her. Burke and Hare
murdered her as they did the others. She was then carried to
Dr. Knox's, Surgeon Square, and sold for £10.

" Andrew Williamson, a policeman, and his neighbour, were
dragging a drunk woman to the West Port watch-house. They
found her sitting on a stair. Burke said, ' Let the woman go
to her lodgings.' They said they did not know where she
lodged. Burke then said he would take her to her lodgings.
They then gave her to his charge. He then took her to
Hare's house. Burke and Hare murdered her that night the
same way as they did the others. They carried her to Dr.
Knox's in Surgeon Square, and got £10.

" Burke being asked, did the policemen know him when
they gave him this drunk woman into his charge ? He said he
had a good character with the police; or if they had known
that there were four murderers living in one house they would
have visited them oftener.

The murder of daft Jamie. 223

" James Wilson, commonly called Daft Jamie. Hare's wife
brought him in from the street into her house. Burke was at
the time getting a dram in Rymer's shop. He saw her take
Jamie off the street, bare-headed and bare-footed. After she
got him into her house, and left him with Hare, she came to
Rymer's shop for a pennyworth of butter, and Burke was
standing at the counter. She asked him for a dram ; and in
drinking it she stamped him on the foot. He knew immediately
what she wanted him for, and he then went after her. When
in the house she said, you have come too late, for the drink is
all done ; and Jamie had the cup in his hand. He had never
seen him before to his knowledge. They then proposed to
send for another half mutchkin, which they did, and urged
him to drink ; she took a little with them. They then invited
him ben to the little room, and advised him to sit down upon
the bed. Hare's wife then went out, and locked the outer
door, and put the key below the door. There were none in
the room but themselves three. Jamie sat down upon the
bed. He then lay down upon the bed, and Hare lay down at
his back, his head raised up and resting upon his left hand.
Burke was sitting at the foreside of the bed. When they had
lain there for some time, Hare threw his body on the top of
Jamie, pressed his hand on his mouth, and held his nose with
the other. Hare and him fell off the bed and struggled. Burke
then held his hands and feet. They never quitted their
grip till he was dead. He never got up nor cried any.
When he was dead Hare felt his pockets, and took out a
brass snuff-box and a copper snuff-spoon. He gave the spoon
to Burke, and kept the box to himself. Sometime after, he said
he threw away the box in the tan-yard ; and the brass-box that
was libelled against Burke in the Sheriff's office was Burke's own
box. It wasafter breakfast Jamie was enticed in, and he was mur-
dered by twelve o'clock in the day. Burke declares, that Mrs.
Hare led poor Jamie in as a dumb lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep to the shearers ; and he was always very anxious
making inquiries for his mother, and was told she would be
there immediately. He does not think he drank above one
glass of whisky all the time. He was then put into a closet
that Hare kept clothes in : and they carried him to Dr. Knox's,

224 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

in Surgeon Square, that afternoon, and got £10 for him.
Burke gave Daft Jamie's clothes to his brother's children ; they
were almost naked ; and when he untied the bundle they were
like to quarrel about them. The clothes of the other murdered
persons were generally destroyed, to prevent detection.

" Ann M'Dougal, a cousin of Helen M'Dougal's former hus-
band. She was a young woman, and married, and had come
on a visit to see them. Hare and Burke gave her whisky till
she was drunk, and when in bed and asleep, Burke told Hare
that he would have most to do with her, as she being a distant
friend, he did not like to begin first on her. Hare murdered
her by stopping her breath, and Burke assisted him the same
way as the others. One of Dr. Knox's assistants, Paterson, gave
them a fine trunk to put her into. It was in the afternoon
when she was done. It was in John Broggan's house ; and
when Broggan came home from his work he saw the trunk,
and made inquiries about it, as he knew they had no trunks
there. Burke then gave him two or three drams, as there was
always plenty of whisky going at these times, to make him
quiet. Hare and Burke then gave him £1 10s. each, as he was
back in his rent, for to pay it, and he left Edinburgh a few
days after. They then carried her to Surgeon Square as soon
as Broggan went out of the house, and got £10 for her. Hare
was cautioner for Broggan's rent, being £3, and Hare and
Burke gave him that sum. Broggan went off in a few days,
and the rent is not paid yet. They gave him the money that
he might not come against them for the murder of Ann
M'Dougal, that he saw in the trunk, that was murdered in his
house. Hare thought that the rent would fall upon him, and
if he could get Burke to pay the half of it, it would be so much
the better ; and] proposed this to Burke, and he agreed to it,
as they were glad to get him out of the way. Broggan's wife
is a cousin of Burke's. They thought he went to Glasgow,
but are not sure.

" Mrs. Hal dan e, a stout old woman, who had a daughter
transported last summer from the Calton Jail for fourteen

years, and has another daughter married to , in the

High Street. She was a lodger of Hare's. She went into
Hare's stable ; the door was left open, and she being drunk,

PEG G Y HALDANE < I XI) MRS. DOCHERTY. 22b

and falling asleep among some straw, Hare and Burke mur-
dered her the same way as they did the others, and kept the
body all night in the stable, and took her to Dr. Knox's next
day. She had but one tooth in her mouth, and that was a
very large one in front.

" A young woman, a daughter of Mrs. Haldane, of the name
of Peggy Haldane, was drunk, and sleeping in Broggan's
house, was murdered by Burke himself, in the forenoon. Hare
had no hand in it. She was taken to Dr. Knox's in the after-
noon in a tea-box, and £8 got for her. She was so drunk at
the time that he thinks she was not sensible of her death, as
she made no resistance whatever. She and her mother were
both lodgers of Hare's, and they were both of idle habits, and
much given to drinking. This was the only murder that Burke
committed by himself, but what Hare was connected with.
She was laid with her face downwards, and he pressed her
down, and she was soon suffocated.

" There was a Mrs. Hostler washing in John Broggan's, and
she came back next day to finish up the clothes, and when
done, Hare and Burke gave her some whisky to drink, which
made her drunk. This was in the daytime. She then went to
bed. Mrs. Broggan was out at the time. Hare and Burke
murdered her in the same way as they did the others, and put
her in a box, and set her in the coal-house in the passage, and
carried her off to Dr. Knox's in the afternoon of the same day,
and got £8 for her. Broggan's wife was out of the house at
the time the murder was committed. Mrs. Hostler had nine-
pence-halfpenny in her hand, which they could scarcely get
out of it after she was dead, so firmly was it grasped.

" The woman Campbell or Docherty was murdered on the
31st October last, and she was the last one. Burke declares
that Hare perjured himself on his trial, when giving evidence
against him, as the woman Campbell or Docherty lay down
among some straw at the bed-side, and Hare laid hold of her
mouth and nose, and pressed her throat, and Burke assisted
him in it, till she was dead. Hare was not sitting on a chair
at the time, as he said in court. There were seven shillings in
the woman's pocket, which were divided between Hare and
Burke.

Z2Q HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

" That was the whole of them — sixteen in whole ; nine were
murdered in Hare's house, and four in John Broggan's ; two in
Hare's stable, and one in Burke's brother's house in the Canon-
gate. Burke declares that five of them were murdered in
Hare's room that has the iron bolt in the inside of it. Burke
did not know the days nor the months the different murders
were committed, nor all their names. They were generally in
a state of intoxication at those times, and paid little attention
to them ; but they were all from 12th February till 1st
November, 1828 ; but he thinks Dr. Knox will know by the
dates of paying him the money for them. He was never con-
cerned with any other person but Hare in those matters, and
was never a resurrectionist, and never dealt in dead bodies but
what he murdered. He was urged by Hare's wife to murder
Helen M'Dougal, the woman he lived with. The plan was,
that he was to go to the country for a few weeks, and then
write to Hare that she had died and was buried, and he was to
tell this to deceive the neighbours ; but he would not agree to
it. The reason was, they could not trust to her, as she was a
Scotch woman. Helen M'Dougal was not present when these
murders were committed ; she might have a suspicion of what
was doing, but did not see them done.- Hare was always the
most anxious about them, and could sleep well at night after
committing a murder ; but Burke repented often of the crime,
and could not sleep without a bottle of whisky by his bedside,
and a twopenny candle to burn all night beside him ; when he
awoke he would take a draught of the bottle — sometimes half
a bottle at a draught — and that would make him sleep. They
had a great many pointed out for murder, but were disappointed
of them by some means or other ; they were always in a
drunken state when they committed those murders, and when
they got the money for them while it lasted. When done,
they would pawn their clothes, and would take them out as
soon as they got a subject. When they first began this
murdering system, they always took them to Dr. Knox's after
dark ; but being so successful, they went in the day-lime, and
grew more bold. When they carried the girl Paterson to
Knox's, there were a great many boys in the High School
Yards, who followed Burke and the man that carried her,

THE CONTRACT WITH KNOX. 227

crying, ' They are carrying a corpse ;' but they got her safe
delivered. They often said to one another that no person
could find them out, no one being present at the murders but
themselves two : and that they might as well be hanged for a
sheep as a lamb. They made it their business to look out for
persons to decoy into their homes to murder them. Burke
declares, when they kept the mouth and nose shut a very few
minutes, they could make no resistance, but would convulse
and make a rumbling noise in their bellies for some time ; after
they ceased crying and making resistance, they left them to die
of themselves : but their bodies would often move afterwards,
and for some time they would have long breathings before life
went away. Burke declares that it was God's providence that
put a stop to their murdering career, or he does not know how
far they might have gone with it, even to attack people on the
streets, as they were so successful, and always met with a ready
market: that when they delivered a body they were always
told to get more. Hare was always with him when he went
with a subject, and also when he got the money. Burke
declares, that Hare and him had a plan made up, that Burke
and a man were to go to Glasgow or Ireland, and try the same
there, and to forward them to Hare, and he was to give them
to Dr. Knox. Hare's wife always got £1 of Burke's share, for
the use of the house, of all that were murdered in their house ;
for if the price received was £10, Hare got £6, and Burke got
only £4 ; but Burke did not give her the £1 for Daft Jamie,
for which'Hare's wife would not speak to him for three weeks.
They could get nothing done during the harvest time, and also
after harvest, as Hare's house was so full of lodgers. In Hare's
house were eight beds for lodgers ; they paid 3d. each ; and
two, and sometimes three, slept in a bed ; and during harvest
they gave up their own bed when throng. Burke declares
they went under the name of resurrection men in the West
Port, where they lived, but not murderers. When they wanted
money, they would say they would go and look for a shot;
that was the name they gave them when they wanted to mur-
der any person. They entered into a contract with Dr. Knox
and his assistants that they were to get £10 in winter, and £8
in summer, for as many subjects as they could bring to them.

228 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

" Old Donald, a pensioner, who lodged in Hare's house, and
died of a dropsy, was the first subject they sold. After he was
put into the coffin and the lid put on, Hare unscrewed the nails
and Burke lifted the body out. Hare filled the coffin with bark
from the tanyard, and put a sheet over the bark, and it was
buried in the West Churchyard. The coffin was furnished by
the parish. Hare and Burke took him to the College first ;
they saw a man there, and asked for Dr. Monro, or any of his
men ; the man asked what they wanted, or had they a subject;
they said they had. He then ordered them to call at ten o'clock
at Dr. Knox's, in Surgeon Square, and he would take it from
them, which they did. They got £7 10s. for him. That was
the only subject they sold that they did not murder ; and get-
ting that high price made them try the murdering for subjects.

" Burke is thirty-six years of age ; was born in the parish of
Orrey, County Tyrone ; served seven years in the army, most
of that time as an officer's servant in the Donegal Militia ; he
was married at Ballinha, in the county of Mayo, when in the
army, but left his wife and two children in Ireland. She
would not come to Scotland with him. He has often wrote
to her, but got no answer; he came to Scotland to work
at the Union Canal, and wrought there while it lasted ;
he resided for about two years in Peebles, and worked
as a labourer. He wrought as weaver for eighteen months,
and as a baker for five months ; he learned to mend
shoes, as a cobbler, with a man he lodged with in Leith;
and he has lived with Helen M'Dougal for about ten years,
until he and she were confined in the Calton Jail, on the
charge of murdering the woman of the name of Docherty or
Campbell, and both were tried before the High Court of
Justiciary in December last. Helen M'Dougal's charge was
found not proven, and Burke found guilty, and sentenced to
suffer death on the 28th January.

" Declares, that Hare's servant girl could give information
respecting the murders done in Hare's house, if she likes. She
came to him at Whitsunday last, went to harvest, and returned
1 ack to him when the harvest was over. She remained until
he was confined along with his wife in the Calton Jail. She
then sold twenty-one of his swine for £3, and absconded. She

* T \

f

Q

a

FATE OF WILLIAM HARE. 229

was gathering potatoes in a field that day Daft Jamie was
murdered ; she saw his clothes in the house when she came
home at night. Her name is Elizabeth M'Guier or Mair.
Their wives saw that people came into their houses at night,
and went to bed as lodgers, but did not see them in the
morning, nor did they make any inquiries after them. They
certainly knew what became of them, although Burke and
Hare pretended to the contrary. Hare's wife often helped
Burke and Hare to pack the murdered bodies into the boxes.
Helen M'Dougal never did, nor saw them done ; Burke never
durst let her know ; he used to smuggle and drink, and get
better victuals unknown to her ; he told her he bought dead
bodies, and sold them to doctors, and that was the way they
got the name of resurrection-men.

" Bark deaclars that Docter Knox never incoureged him, nither
taught or incoreged him to murder any person, nether any of his
asistents, that worthy gentleman Mr.Fergeson was the only man
that ever mentioned any thing about the bodies. He inquired where
ice got that yong woman Paterson.

(Sined) " WILLIAM BURK, prisner."

" Condemned Cell, January 21, 1829."

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Fate of Hare — Mrs. Hare in Glasgow — Rescued from the
Mob — Her Escape to Ireland, and Subsequent Career — Helen
MDougal — Burkes Wife in Ireland.

Ix a previous chapter the escape of Hare from Scotland, and
the stirring events that accompanied it, have been minutely
described. What became of him after that is not really
known — he dropped out of sight as rapidly as he had emerged

230 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

into public ken. Long afterwards it was stated that an old
white-haired blind man, led by a dog, was in the habit of fre-
quenting one of the busiest corners in London, begging from
the passers-by, and this poor unfortunate was identified as
Hare. The statement, however, was made on no definite
authority. Again, some twenty years ago a London news-
paper gave currency to a statement that Hare had died shortly
before in Canada, whither he had found refuge ; but whether
the fact was as given to the public was never authoritatively
known. If it were the case, he would at the time of death be
a man of between sixty and seventy years of age. But while
he thus escaped from the scene of his crimes to some land
where he was unknown, the memory of his deeds impressed
itself strongly on the minds of the people of Scotland, and
there was a tendency to blame him and his wretched accom-
plices with offences of which it must be assumed they were
innocent. Thus, in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of the 14th
of February, 1829, it was stated that an investigation was then
going on in the city relative to a murder committed some time
before in Shields, the manner being similar to that adopted by
the West Port experts. The object of the inquiry was said to
be to ascertain whether Hare or Burke were in or out of Edin-
burgh at the time the crime was committed. It was even
rumoured that Hare had been apprehended in Newcastle on a
charge of being concerned in the deed ; but this was not the
case, and it would seem as if nothing came of the inquiry in
Edinburgh, for no further mention is made of it.

As for Mrs. Hare, we must go back a little, and trace her
liberation and the adventures through which she had to go
before she left the country. She was detained in custody for
some time after the trial, for, of course, it would have been
unwise and unsafe for the authorities to have risked her life at
the mercy of an excited and unreasoning mob. On Monday,
the 26th of January, two days before the execution of Burke,
she Avas liberated from Calton Hill Jail. Unfortunately for her,
she was recognised while crossing the bridges, and an immense
crowd gathered round her. The day was convenient for
people showing their ill-feeling in a comparatively mild way,
for the streets were under a thick covering of snow. Once the

MRS. HARE TN GLASGOW. 231

cry of recognition was raised, she was pelted by heavy volleys
of snowballs, and only a feeling of sympathy for the child the
woman carried in her arms prevented the mob from proceed-
ing to more extreme measures. The police interfered, and for
safety took Mrs. Hare to the lock-up, where she remained until
the evening. As twilight was coming over the city she slipped
out of the office, and left Edinburgh.

What became of Mrs. Hare and her helpless infant during
the next fortnight is not known, but nothing was heard of her
until the Glasgow Chronicle of Tuesday, 10th February,
announced that on that day she had been rescued by the
police from the fury of a Glasgow mob. She must have
travelled on foot between the two cities, a weary, miserable
pilgrimage, avoiding discovery, and often sleeping by road-
sides and hayricks, with the inevitable feeling of a misspent,
if not a criminal life. The Chronicle, speaking of her, spoke of
her as " the celebrated Mrs. Hare," and stated that the Calton
(Glasgow) police had to lodge her in a police cell to save her
and her child from an infuriated populace. Her statement was
that she had been lodging in the Calton for four nights, " with
her infant and her bit duds," and that those with whom she
resided were not aware of her identity. She had managed so
well thus far that she had hoped to be able to leave Glasgow
without detection. In order to ensure this she had been in the
habit of keeping the house during the day, and occasionally in
the early morning, or in the twilight, she had ventured to the
Broomielaw, to see when a vessel would be ready to sail for
Ireland, whither she hoped to be taken. Hitherto she had
been disappointed. She had gone out that morning with the
same object, and while returning to her lodgings by way of
Clyde Street, she was recognised by a drunken woman, who
shouted out — " Hare's wife : burke her !" and set the example
to the large crowd that rapidly gathered by throwing a large
stone at the unfortunate woman. The people were not slow
to set upon Mrs. Hare, and heaped upon her every indignity
they could imagine. She escaped from her persecutors, and
fled into the Calton, but she was pursued there, and was
experiencing very rough treatment when the police rescued
her. In the station-house she seemed to be completely

232 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE,

overcome, and occasionally bursting into tears she bewailed her
unhappy situation, which she declared had been brought about
by Hare's profligacy. All she desired, she told her listeners,
was to get across the channel to Ireland, where she hoped to
end her days in some remote spot near her native place, where
she would live in retirement and penitence. As for Hare, she
would never live with him again.

Owing to the threatening attitude of the populace, the
authorities saw they must themselves devise means for Mrs.
Hare's safe removal to Ireland. On the afternoon of her rescue
an immense crowd surrounded the police office expecting to
see her depart, but it was feared that the spirit of riot might
again break forth with renewed vigour. She was detained in
custody until Thursday, the 12th of February, when she sailed
from the Broomielaw in the steamer Fingal, for Belfast, which
port was not far from her native place. Like her husband, in
his escape from Dumfries, she had to leave the country with-
out her bundle of clothing, which had gone astray when the
people attacked her on the streets. While the Fingal lay at
Greenock to take in cargo, Mrs. Hare was under the guardian-
ship of the local police, and it was to but a few that she was
known to have been in the town until after her departure.

Mrs. Hare thus arrived in Ireland, and all definite traces of
her were lost. Leighton, however, obtained some information
which probably relates to this unfortunate woman. Writing
in 1861, the author of The Court of Cacus says : — " Not long
ago, we were told by a lady wrho was in Paris about the year
1850, that, having occasion for a nurse, she employed a woman,
apparently between sixty and seventy years of age. She gave
her name as Mrs. Hare, and upon being questioned whether
she had been ever in Scotland, she denied it, stating that she
came from Ireland. Yet she often sung Scotch songs ; and
what brings out the suspicion that she was the real Mrs. Hare
the more is, that she had a daughter, whose age, over thirty,
agrees perfectly with that of the infant she had in her arms
when in court. In addition to all this, the woman's face was
just that of the picture published at the time."

Eelen M'Dougal was no more fortunate in her treatment by
the populace. Mention has already been made of the riot that

hVRKB'S WIFE IN IRELANt). 233

followed her liberation, and ii lias also been stated thatshe was
seen out of Edinburgh by the police. She returned and
offered to supply the Lord Advocate with information that
would hang Hare, and probably among her statements was
the story that was said to have been told by her after Burke's
execution. Burke and Hare were one night drinking heavily,
and in the course of a discussion on their prospects with the
doctors, the former asked his companion — "What will we do
when we can get no more bodies?" Hare coolly replied — " We
can never be absolutely at a loss while our two wives remain,
but that will only be when we are hard up." This was over-
heard by one of the women, and is another particle of evidence
showing they were not so ignorant of the desperate nature of
the enterprise engaged in by the men. When M'Dougal
finally left Edinburgh she went towards the home of her
relatives in Stirlingshire, but they would having nothing to do
with her, and drove her away. She sought an asylum in the
neighbourhood of Carnworth, but she was recognised and
roughly treated ; and again at' Newbigging she had to run the
guantlet of an infuriated mob. Towards the end of January,
1829, a woman was severely abused in Lanark under the idea
that she was M'Dougal, and the mistake was only discovered
after she had been severely injured. The unfortunate person
turned out to be a woman recently arrived from Fort- Willi am.
About the beginning of February, M'Dougal passed through
Newcastle, on her way south. The police ordered her out of
the town, and escorted her to the Blue Stone, which stood on
the centre of the Tyne Bridge, marking the boundary between
the counties of Northumberland and Durham, and there she
was saluted by execrations and showers of stones from the
populace of Gateshead. What became of her after this is
unknown, but long ere now she must have gone to her account.
But perhaps there is no more affecting part of the terrible
story of the West Port murders than is discovered by a letter
received by an Edinburgh gentleman from the Rev. Anthony
Corcoran, Roman Catholic curate at Kilmorc, May, near
Ballina. This gentleman had written to Ireland requesting the
clergyman to make inquiries regarding Burke's wife. Mr.
Corcoran sent the following reply, dated 26th January, 1829: —

234 HISTORY OF BURKE AM) //ARK

" I have minutely inquired into the conduct of the unfortunate
Bourke, and I feel much pleasure in assuring you that there
was not a blot on his character for the time he lived in Ballina.
After the receipt of your letter, I sent for Margaret Coleman,
Bourke's wife, to whom I communicated the sad news of the
awful death that awaited her ill-fated husband. She was pre-
pared for the shock for some time. She was acquainted with
her husband's criminal intercourse with the notorious M'Dougal.
I fear that the companions of his travels from this country were
his companions in blood in Scotland, and that every religious
impression is blotted from their minds."

By this time the newspapers had ceased to pay much
attention to the West Port tragedies — the Catholic emancipa-
tion question beginning to agitate the country, while Parlia-
mentary reform was being strongly pushed to the front — but
they gave circulation to occasional pieces of gossip. It was
stated that when old Abigail Simpson from Gilmerton was
lying intoxicated in the house in Tanner's Close, Burke and
Hare sat carousing by the fireside. " Do you hear that,"
remarked Hare to his companion, as he listened to the woman's
heavy breathing, " it would not be difficult to take her where
we took Donald." This was the suggestion for the first murder.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Dr. Knox's Connection with Burke and Hare — His Egotism —
Knox's Criticism of Liston and his Assistants — Hanging
Knoxs Ejjigy — Popular Tumults — Demand that he should be
Put on Trial.

As yet Dr. Knox had done nothing to allay the irritation which
existed towards him in the public mind. In the eyes of many
he seemed a greater criminal than even Burke and Hare, and

< II. I IL 1 CTEtt OF DR. KtfOX. 235

outspoken and unthinking people went the length of declaring
that these misguided men were but instruments in his hands,
obeying- his behests, and receiving pay for what their master
knew to be murderous work. This was certainly much too
harsh a judgment, but the doctor was, unfortunately, a man of
such peculiar temperament, that a large section of the people
was willing to give credence to any kind of story, however
serious, regarding him. And it must be confessed that this dis-
like towards him was shared in by not a few of his professional
brethren, who had suffered from his overweening self-conceit
and pride, and who felt that the exposure of the resurrection-
ist system, with which they were all more or less forced,
through the scarcity of subjects, to be connected, could not
have happened in relation to a more suitable man. Even while
Knox was alive, spending the last years of his life in London,
Leighton writes of him in terms far from complimentary. Hav-
ing referred to the professional, and even personal, jealousy
that existed between the rival teachers of anatomy in Edin-
burgh, and their students, Leighton says: — "Unfortunately the
characters of the leaders, with the exception of Monro, were
not calculated to temper this zeal with discretion, or throw a
veil of decency over the transactions of low men, which, how-
ever justified, as many said, by the necessities of science, were
hostile to the instincts of nature, and fearfully resented by the
feelings of relatives. Liston was accused, whether justly or
not, of wiling patients from the Infirmary, to set off by his
brilliant operations the imperfections of the regular surgeons
of that institution ; and great as he was in his profession, it is
certain that he wanted that simplicity and dignity of character
necessary to secure to him respect in proportion to the admira-
tion due to his powers. But Knox was a man of a far more
complex organisation, if it was indeed possible to analyse him.
A despair to the physiognomist who contemplated his rough
irregular countenance, with a blind eye resembling a grape, he
was not less a difficulty to the psychologist. There seemed to
be no principle whereby you could think of binding him down
to a line of duty, and a universal sneer, net limited to mun-
dane powers, formed that contrast to an imputed self-per-
fection, not without the evidence of very great scientific

236 JI/STOUY OF BURKE AM) II Mil;.

accomplishments." Having told of an unscrupulous practical
joke played by Knox on Prof. Jameson, Leighton proceeds : —
" Even the bitterness of soul towards competitors was not suf-
ficiently gratified by the pouring forth of the toffana-spirit
of his sarcasm. He behoved to hold the phial with refined
fingers, and rub the liquid into the ' raw ' with the soft touch
of love. The affected attenuation of voice and forced retinu
of feeling, sometimes degenerating into a puppy's simper, bore
such a contrast to the acerbity of the matter, that the effect,
though often ludicrous, was increased tenfold."

Here are two samples of Knox's egotism, taken from his
lectures to the students : — " Gentlemen, I may mention that I
have already taught the science of anatomy to about 5,000
medical men, now spread over the surface of the earth, and
some of these have turned out most remarkable for their know-
ledge, genius, and originality, for they now occupy some of the
most conspicuous and trying positions in Europe." Again : —
"Before commencing to-day's lecture, I am compelled by the
sacred calls of duty to notice an extraordinary surgical oper-
ation which has this morning been performed in a neighbouring
building, by a gentleman [Mr. Liston] who, I believe, regards
himself as the first surgeon in Europe. A country labourer,
from the neighbourhood of Tranent, came to the Infirmary a
few days ago with an aneurism of considerable extent, con-
nected with one of the large arteries of the neck ; and, not-
withstanding of its being obvious to the merest tyro that it was
an aneurism, the most distinguished surgeon in Europe, after
an apparently searching examination, pronounced it to be an
abscess. Accordingly, this professional celebrity — who, among
other things, plumes himself upon the wonderful strength of
his hands and arms, without pretension to head, and is an
amateur member of the ring, — plunged his knife into what he
thus foolishly imagined to be an abscess ; and the blood,
bursting forth from the deep gash in the aneurismal sac, the
patient was dead in a few seconds. This notable member of
the profession is actually an extra-academical lecturer on
surgery in this great metropolis; and on this occasion was
nssisted by a gentleman similarly constituted, both intellectually
and physically, who had been trained up under the fostering

THE KNOX RIOTS IX EDINBURGH'. 237

i

care of a learned professor [Monro?] in a certain University,
who inherited his auatomatical genius from his ancestors, and
who has recently published a work on the anatomy of the
human body, in which, among other notabilities, no notice
is taken of the pericardium. Tracing the assistant of our
distinguished operator ' further back, I have discovered
that he had been originally apprenticed to a butcher of this
city, but that he had been dismissed from this service for
stealing a sheep's head and trotters from his employer's
shambles. It is surely unnecessary for me to add that a
knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and surgery, is
neither connected with nor dependant upon brute force, ignor-
ance and presumption ; nor has it anything to do with an
utter destitution of honour and common honesty." This extra-
ordinary speech was listened to with interest and applauded by
the great body of the students, though a few of them by hisses
gave expression to their opinion that Dr. Knox had himself
overstepped the bounds of prudence, and had shown " an utter
destitution of honour and common honesty."

It was little wonder, then, that Dr. Knox was so universally
detested, and that the great body of the people, agitated by
the disclosures at the trial of Burke and M'Dougal, should show
their dislike to him, in a manner they might not have adopted
had he been a man who had hitherto received the respect of
his fellows. On Thursday, the 12th of February, 1829, the
inhabitants of Edinburgh made an extraordinary demonstration
against him. On that day, a large crowd assembled in the
Calton district of the city, and, having formed in marching
order, they proceeded up Leith Street, and over the Bridges to
the Old Town, while in the front was borne what one of the
contemporary newspapers described as " an effigy of a certain
doctor who has been rendered very obnoxious to the public by
recent events." " The figure," the chronicler continued, " was
pretty well decked out in a suit of clothes, and the face and
head bore a tolerable resemblance to the person intended to be
represented. On the back was a label bearing the words —
'Knox, the associate of the infamous Hare.'" While the mob
was crossing the South Bridge, a strong resolute policeman
attempted, single-handed, to disperse them, as he saw a riot

Q

238 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

would inevitably occur if they were allowed to parade the
streets much longer, if that, indeed, were not the main purpose
of the gathering. But his zeal was not tempered by discretion,
otherwise he would not have attempted such a foolhardy task.
The people easily drove him back, and he was in the struggle
injured by the many blows aimed at him. As the crowd pass-
ed on towards Newington it increased in size. When they
arrived in the district where Dr. Knox resided, the effigy was
hanged by the neck to the branch of a tree. Fire, also, was
put under it, but that soon went out, and the figure was torn
to pieces amid the huzzas of the assembled thousands. Up
to this period the crowd had behaved in a sort of good-natured
fashion, and had resorted to no actual violence, though at times
its playfulness had a dash of horseplay about it. But now mat-
ters assumed a threatening aspect, and a movement was made
towards Dr. Knox's house, which it seemed to be intended to at-
tack. The city authorities had become alarmed at the appear-
ance of affairs, and having collected all their forces, the city
watchmen, under Capt. Stewart, the superintendent, and a
superior officer in another department ol the municipal service,
marched quickly towards Newington to suppress the tumult,
and prevent, if possible, further popular excesses. The super-
intendent and another officer, in advance of their force, entered
Knox's house by the rear, and from the front door they made
a determined charge upon the crowd who had assembled there.
The people instantly retreated to the other side of the road,
and commenced throwing stones, from the first volley of
which Captain Stewart and his colleague were severely in-
jured. No further rioting took place at this time, and no pro-
perty was destroyed beyond some panes of glass in the win-
dows of Knox's and the adjoining houses. After a time the
crowd — which consisted for the most part of boys and young
lads, among whom eight or ten bakers were the most active —
quietly dispersed, but large groups assembled in various parts
of the city.

Another crowd, also composed mostly of boys, gathered later
in the day, and, armed with sticks, they marched towards the
High Street, which they paraded for some time. Before they
could do auy mischief a strong body of police met them opposite

ATTACKS ON DR. KNOX'S HOUSE. 239

the Tron Church, and after a short interval they dispersed.
In the vicinity of the West Port another mob had collected
and marched down the Grassmarket along the Cowgate to the
Horse Wynd, breaking the glass in the windows of the south
and west sides of the College. Several of the ringleaders of
another crowd which took up its quarters in the Cowgate were
apprehended by the police.

Edinburgh was now in a fairly riotous state, excited mobs
pacing the city in all directions. The police found themselves
little more than able to cope with the tumultuous spirit that
was abroad, for no sooner had a threatened or active dis-
turbance been quelled in one district than matters had assumed
a serious aspect in another some distance off. They were thus
kept at most fatiguing duty. In spite of all their efforts, they
were unable to prevent another attack on Dr, Knox's house,
xlbout seven o'clock in the evening an immense concourse of
people marched to Newington, and, surrounding the Doctor's
residence, they threw stones at it until not a pane of glass in
the windows of it or the one adjoining was whole. An attempt
was also made to force Knox's premises in Surgeon's Square,
but a strong party of police completely repelled the attack.
At last, as the night advanced, the excited populace returned
to their homes, and the city was again quiet. In the course
of the day the police had been able to apprehend some twenty
persons who had been conspicuous in the rioting in the various
parts of Edinburgh.

It is an interesting and curious fact that some of the news-
papers supported the people in their riotous proceedings.
Speaking of the disturbances already noted, the Edinburgh
Weekly Chronicle said : — " Since the grand spectacle of the
execution of Dr. Knox in effigy was exhibited, about twenty-
three of those concerned in it have been fined in sums of from
five to forty shillings. We understand that all these have
been defrayed out of a stock purse previously collected. Some
of the rioters had large quantities of gunpowder upon them.
Another auto-da-fe is meditated ; on which occasion the caval-
cade will move in the direction of Portobello, where, it is
supposed, the Doctor burrows at night. As we have said
before, the agitation of public feeling will never subside till

240 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

the city be released of this man's presence, or until his inno-
cence be manifested. In justice to himself, if he is innocent,
in justice to the public, if he is guilty, he ought to be put upon
his trial. The police have a duty to perform, and it gives us
pleasure to hear that they discharged it with promptitude;
but the feelings of nature, when outraged as they have been
in an immeasurable degree, will soar superior to all dignities.
It scarcely ever was known that a populace entered upon acts
of irregular justice when there was not extreme official
apathy."

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Inquiry into Dr. Knoxs Relations with Burke and Hare — Report
of Investigating Committee.

The violent outbreak of public feeling described in the last
chapter against Dr. Knox seems at last to have moved him to
take some means to clear himself from the imputations cast upon
him for his connection with Burke and Hare, and to attempt to
set himself right with the people, who were likely to proceed to
even more extreme measures than* any to which they had yet
resorted. Accordingly, it was intimated in the Courant of
Thursday, 12th February, that at the desire of Dr. Knox and
his friends, ten gentlemen, with the Marquis of Queensberry at
their head, had agreed to make a full and fair investigation
into all Dr. Knox's dealings with the West Port criminals, and
make a report to the public. In the same newspaper on Mon-
day, the 23rd of February, it was stated simply that the noble
marquis had withdrawn from the committee of investigation.
No reason for this withdrawal is given.

The committee of investigation certainly took plenty of time
to inquire into the matter they had undertaken, and to prepare

KNOX'S RELATIONS WITH BURKE. 241

their report, for it was not until Saturday, the 21st of March,
1829, that the result of their labours was published in the
Courant. This report, certainly by no means the least import-
ant document in connection with the West Port tragedies in
their relationship to medical science, was as follows : —

" The committee who, at the request of Dr. Knox, undertook
to investigate the truth or falsehood of the rumours in circula-
tion regarding him, have gone into an extensive examination
of evidence, in the course of which they have courted informa-
tion from every quarter. They have been readily furnished
with all which they required from Dr. Knox himself; and
though they have failed in some attempts to procure evidence,
they have in most quarters succeeded in obtaining it, and espe-
cially from those persons who have been represented to them
as having spoken the most confidently in support of those
rumours ; and they have unanimously agreed on the following
report : —

" 1. The committee have seen no evidence that Dr. Knox or
his assistants knew that murder was committed in procuring
any of the subjects brought to his rooms, and the committee
firmly believe that they did not.

" 2. On the question whether any suspicion of murder at
any time existed in Dr. Knox's mind, the committee would ob-
serve that there were certainly several circumstances (already
known to the public) regarding some of the subjects brought
by Burke and Hare, which now that the truth has come out,
appear calculated to excite their suspicion, particularly the
very early period after death at which they were brought to
the rooms, and the absence of external marks of disease, to-
gether with the opinion previously expressed by Dr. Knox, in
common with most other anatomists, of the generally aban-
doned character of persons engaged in this traffic. But on the
other hand, the committee, after most anxious enquiry, have
found no evidence of their actually having excited it in the
mind of Dr. Knox or of any other of the individuals who saw
the bodies of these unfortunate persons prior to the apprehen-
sion of Burke.

" These bodies do not appear in any instance to have borne

242 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

external marks by which it could have been known, whether
they had died by violence, or suddenly from natural causes, or
from disease of short duration ; and the mode of protracted
anatomical dissection practised in this and other similar estab-
lishments, is such as would have made it very difficult to ascer-
tain the cause of death, even if special inquiry had been insti-
tuted with that intention.

" No evidence whateArer has come before the committee that
any suspicion of murder was expressed to Dr. Knox by any
one either of his assistants, or of his very numerous class
(amounting to upwards of 400 students), or other persons who
were in the practice of frequently visiting his rooms; and there
are several circumstances in his conduct, particularly the com-
plete publicity with which his establishment was managed, and
his anxiety to lay each subject before the students as soon as
possible after its reception, which seem to the committee to in-
dicate that he had no suspicion of the atrocious means by which
they had been procured.

" It has also been proved to the satisfaction of the commit-
tee that no mutilation or disfigurement of any kind was ever
practised with a view to conceal the features, or abstract un-
reasonably any part of the body, the presence of which would
have facilitated detection ; and it appears clearly that the sub-
jects brought by Burke and Hare were dissected in the same
protracted manner as those procured from any other quarter.

" 3. The committee have thought it proper to inquire fur-
ther, whether there was anything faulty or negligent in the
regulations under which subjects were received into Dr. Knox's
rooms, which gave or might give a peculiar facility to the dis-
posal of the bodies obtained by these crimes, and on this point
they think it their duty to state their opinion fully.

"It appears in evidence that Dr. Knox had formed and ex-
pressed the opinion (long prior to any dealing with Burke and
Hare) that a considerable supply of subjects tor anatomical
purposes might be procured by purchase, and without any
crime, from the relatives or connections of deceased persons of
the lowest ranks of society.

" In forming this opinion, whether mistaken or not, the com-
mittee cannot consider Dr. Knox to have been culpable. They

RESULT OF INVESTIGATION. 243

believe that there is nothing contrary to the law of the land in
procuring subjects for dissection in that way, and ihey know
that the opinion which Dr. Knox had formed on this point,
though never acted on to any extent in this country, has been
avowed b}^ others of the highest character in the profession.
But they think that Dr. Knox acted on this opinion in a very
incautious manner.

" This preconceived opinion seems to have led him to give a
ready ear to the plausible stories of Burke, who appears, from
all the evidence before the committee, to have conducted him-
self with great address and appearance of honesty, as well in
his connections with Dr. Knox, as in his more frequent inter-
course with his assistants, and always to have represented him-
self as engaged in negotiations of that description, and
occasionally to have asked and obtained money in advance to
enable him and his associate to conclude bargains.

" Unfortunately, also, Dr. Knox has been led, apparently in
consequence of the extent and variety of his avocations, to in-
trust the dealings with persons supplying subjects, and the re-
ception of the subjects bought, to his assistants (seven in num-
ber) and to his door-keeper indiscriminately. It appears also
that he directed or allowed these dealings to be conducted on
the understanding (common to him, with some other anato-
mists), that it would only tend to diminish or divert the supply
of subjects to make any particular inquiry of the persons
bringing them.

" In these respects the committee consider the practice which
was then adopted in Dr. Knox's rooms (whatever be the usage
in this or other establishments in regard to subjects obtained
in the ordinary way) to have been very improper in the case
of persons bringing bodies which had not been interred. They
think that the notoriously bad character of persons who
generally engage in such traffic, in addition to the novelty and
particular nature of the system, on which these men professed
to be acting, undoubtedly demanded greater vigilance.

" The extent, therefore, to which (judging from the evidence
which they have been able to procure) the committee think
Dr. Knox can be blamed, on account of transactions with
Burke and Hare, is, that by this laxity of the regulations under

244 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

which bodies were received into his rooms, he unintentionally
gave a degree of facility to the disposal of the victims of their
crimes, which, under better regulation, would not have existed,
and which is doubtless matter of deep and lasting regret, not
only to himself, but to all who have reflected on the impor-
tance, and are therefore interested in the prosecution of the
study of anatomy. But while they point out this circumstance
as the only ground of censure which they can discover in the
conduct of Dr. Knox, it is fair to observe that perhaps the
recent disclosures have made it appear reprehensible to many
who would not otherwise have adverted to its possible con-
sequences."

This report was signed by John Robison, chairman ; James
Russell, Thomas Allan, W. P. Alison, George Ballingall, George
Sinclair, W. Hamilton, John Robison, for M. P. Brown, Esq. ;
and John Shaw Stewart. The intention of the committee
evidently was by it to clear Dr. Knox from the aspersions cast
upon him ; and this was a result far from satisfactory to a very
large section of the community. The feeling was that Pater-
son, the " door-keeper " mentioned in the report, was, as that
individual himself put it, being made the " scape-goat for a
personage in higher life." However, the matter was allowed
to rest there.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

English Newspapers on the West Port Tragedies — The " Sun,"
and its Idea of the Popidar Feeling — Gray and his Wife.

These strange on-goings in Edinburgh, it has been seen, met
with the approval of the greater number of the Scotch news-
papers ; but many journals on the Southern side of the Border

ENGLISH PRESS OPINIONS. 245

professed the utmost horror at the manifestations made by the
populace of Edinburgh against the West Port murderers.
Indeed, so much was this the case that the Times was
constrained to speak in this way — "Some of our contemporaries
affect to be shocked at the shouts of disgust and horror against
the miscreant Burke which broke from the excited populace of
Edinburgh while witnessing the legal retribution for his
crimes. We are more shocked at the sickly and sickening
pretence to fine feeling by these newspapers. The exclama-
tions of the Scotch were ebullitions of virtuous and honest
resentment against the perpetrator of cruelties unheard of:
we honour them for it ; they proved themselves to be
unsophisticated men." That, certainly, is a generous view of
the conduct of the crowd at the execution ; but perhaps as
generous, and certainly a more thoughtful and fair one, was
taken by the Sunday Times : — " The extraordinary sensation
created by Burke's atrocities caused a display of feeling on
the part of the populace while the last dreadful ceremonies
were in progress, similar to that witnessed in England when
the wretched Jonathan Wild, and when the cruel Brownriggs
suffered at Tyburn. In that awful hour, when the hand of
justice is about to descend on the devoted sinner, it were to be
wished that no clamorous shouts of abhorrence or of sympathy,
should interrupt the parting prayer which would fit the crime-
stained spirit for the passage ; but certainly, if any excuse can
be offered for exulting over the dying agonies of a victim, it is
furnished by the extraordinary guilt of the sufferer in the
present case."

At the time of the trial the London Sim contained some com-
ments on the few circumstances connected with the tragedies,
which had been revealed to the public by the Scotch newspapers
before that great event shed a flood of light and information upon
the actual nature of the occurrence. The writer of the article
was apparently ignorant of the real state of matters, founding
only on the few scattered and not very accurate paragraphs
then published, and not being within hearing of the vague
rumours of impending revelation which circulated in Edinburgh,
and from it gradually over the whole of Scotland. The editor
of the Caledonian Mercury, however, took the matter up, and

246 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

being able to read between the lines, he penned an admirable
article upon the production of his English contemporary. He
thought some specimens of the " ignorance, presumption, and
talent for abuse " in the Sun would amuse his readers, and on
the same principle, and as having a direct bearing on the
subject in hand, the following quotation is made : —

" ' The Scotch character (quoth the Luminary) is amusingly
developed in the comments made by the different Edinburgh
and Glasgow papers on the subject of the late West Port
murders. Each journal seems to think its own honour implicated
in the business, and hastens to prove, first, that Burke and his
wife are both Irish ; and, secondly, that the idea of cutting
people's throats for the sake of selling their bodies to anato-
mists is far too original for the inferior conceptions of Scotch-
men/

" ' The Scotch character is ' much more ' amusingly de-
veloped ' in this paragraph than in any of the comments made
by the Edinburgh or Glasgow papers ; for it bears to be an
editorial lucubration, and as such must proceed from an ex-
ported Invernessian, who seems to be ashamed of his country,
very probably because his country had some reason to be
ashamed of him. It is false, however, that any Edinburgh
journal ever dreamt ' of its own honour being implicated in the
business,' or ' hastened to prove that Burke and his wife (con-
cubine) are both Irish.' Our contemporaries, like ourselves,
stated such facts as came to their knowledge, without ever
imagining the nonsense which this blockhead thinks proper to
ascribe to them ; in fact, they appeared much more anxious to
express their horror of the crime than to 'prove,' as the Solar
scribe has it, what country was entitled to claim the ' honour '
of having given birth to the criminals. Bat it seems our
brethren and ourselves also ' hastened to prove that the idea
of cutting people's throats for the sake of selling their bodies
to anatomists, is far too original for the inferior conceptions of
Scotchmen.' Wo know of nothing, however, which we should
not consider ' too original for the inferior conceptions ' of one
Scotsman, whom wo need not name, and whose talent for mis-
representation seems to be nearly on a level with the shallow

THE "SUN" AND THE "MERCURY." 247

petulance and presumption tinder the cloak of which he tries
to hide his ignorance. This, however, is not the best of it.

" ' Further than his name,' continues the Solar gentleman,
'there is nothing to prove that Burke is an Irishman.'

" Indeed ! Why, man, Burke himself has confessed it in his
declaration, read at his trial ; and, if the murderer had been
silent on the point, his brogue would as certainly and inevitably
have betrayed his country, as your Invernessian nasal drawl,
with a little touch of the genuine Celtic accent engrafted there-
upon, would have betrayed your Northern origin and your
Celtic descent. Burke is Irish, and so is Hare, and so is
Hare's wife ; and so is the woman M'Dougal, Burke's concu-
bine, though her name would indicate that some of her an-
cestors might have been Highland cousins to some of your own
— a relationship which your ' amiable bashfulness' will not, we
trust, 'prevent you from publicly claiming.'

" He proceeds, — ' with respect to the inferior conceptions of
Modern Athenians, what, let us ask, can equal the ingenuity
of Lord Lauderdale's famous torture boot ? ' Nothing, cer-
tainly, except it be the 'ingenuity' of such a driveller as this,
who fancied that there is anything at all ingenious in putting a
human leg in an iron hoop or ring, and driving in a wedge
between them. A more brutal decree, or one betraying less
of ' ingenuity ' was never fallen upon to inflict torture on a
fellow creature. It might even have been invented by the
blockhead who here calumniates his country ; it is not below
even his 'inferior conceptions;' we consider the device on a
level with his capacity : and, we believe, it was generally from
among his countrymen that persons were sought for, and found
to enact the part of executioners in putting the heroic martyrs
of the Covenant to this species of torture. The following is
his concluding touch : —

'"The "West Port murder,' judging from internal evidence,
is decidedly of Scotch origin. There is a cool, methodical,
business-like air about it, a scientifie tact in the conception,
and a practised ease in execution, which no Irishman could ever
yet attain ! An Irish murder is hasty, sudden, impetuous, — an
English one, phlegmatic, cunning, mercenary, — but it has been
reserved for the Scotch, in this last unequalled atrocity, to

248 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

blend the qualities of both English and Irish guilt, ivith a scien-
tific effrontery peculiarly and pre-eminently their oivn."

" With an ' effrontery ' which is very far indeed from being
' scientific,' but which is nevertheless • peculiarly and emi-
nently his own,' it has been reserved for this blundering
renegade to pronounce a series of murders, devised and
perpetrated by Irishmen alone, as ' decidedly of Scotch
origin ;' and to talk of the ' internal evidence ' of a murder,
while he is in ignorance of every thing concerning it,
except the mere fact of its having been committed ; to pander
to the prejudices of the very lowest class of Englishmen by
pouring out abuse upon Scotland; and to compromise the
solid interests of his constituents, the highly respectable
proprietors of the Sun, by venting libellous scurrilities against
the country which had the misfortune to give him birth, and
where that journal has hitherto been received with a degree of
favour to which, not the talents of its editor certainly, but the
activity of its reporters seemed to entitle it. But let that per-
son look to himself. We know it is always renegade Scots-
men who are loudest and fiercest in abusing their country.
Dr. John Macculloch is one of that class, and he has accordingly
been served out in some measure proportioned to his deserts.
If the editor of the Sun, therefore, has a mind to indulge
further in such disgraceful scurrilities, he had as well accustom
himself paullatim et . gradatim to stand a pretty vigorous
application of the scourge."

This display of energy on the part of the Mercury was
greatly appreciated by the people, and a letter which was
addressed to the editor on behalf of Gray and his wife gave
expression to the popular feeling in the matter : — " Sir, — You
drubbed Maculloch (the libeller of his country) delightfully;
and it is hoped you will keep a good look-out if ' The Sun'
again shows any more such dirty dark spots as the one you
lately held up to merited abhorrence. It is a general remark
that our Scottish papers are sadly deficient in public spirit."

As for Gray, in whose favour the letter just quoted from was
written, he was given an appointment in the Edinburgh police
establishment, in which he is said to have become an active and

LEGAL RESTRICTIONS. 249

intrepid officer. A public subscription was raised for him, but
the amount did not anything like adequately acknowledge his
services to the country. Perhaps Burke himself gave the best
testimony to these services, when he said, to a gentleman
standing near him while he was making his confession before
the Sheriff — " The murders never would have been discovered
had Gray not found the body among the straw." This was
supplemented by " Candidus," the writer of the letter to the
Caledonian Mercury, who remarked — "Could they (Gray and
his wife) have been bribed not to inform about the dead body,
these murderous fiends, Burke and Hare, aided and abetted
by their miscreant female companions, would still have been
pursuing then dark deeds of blood." The relationship between
Mrs Gray and Helen M'Dougal, it should be here stated, was
simply that the former was the daughter of the man M'Dougal
with whom the latter took up in Maddiston, and lived with un-
til his death, when she met Burke.

CHAPTER XL.

The Relations of the Doctors and the Body-Snatchers — Need for a
change in the Law — xl Curious Case in London — Introduction
and withdrawal of the Anatomy Bill.

The revelations following the execution of William Burke, in the
publication of his confessions, and in the paragraphs — more
or less authentic — which appeared in the newspapers from
time to time, had the effect of making the public alive to the
dangers by which they were surrounded under the then state
of the law. To all reasonable men who desired investigation
for the benefit of suffering humanity, it was painfully manifest
that the supply of bodies for the anatomical schools of the
country was far too limited if any satisfactory result was to be

250 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

expected. And they were face to face with the equally pain-
ful fact that the sacreligious violation of graves, and the even
more sacreligious " breaking into the bloody house of life," as
Mr. Cockburn put it, had been resorted to in order to give the
bold anatomists of the time an opportunity of investigating the
science, on which, above all, human happiness and pleasure on
earth were dependent. Many were unwilling to adopt the
views which these facts forced upon them ; others with a wise
enthusiasm threw their whole influence in their favour. The
surgeons themselves, seeing that under the existing state of
things they were regarded by many as allied with an unholy
class of men, desired such an alteration of the law as
should put them on a more satisfactory footing. They wished
that instead of the purchase of bodies from poor relations
being done in what was almost a surreptitious and hidden
manner, it should be done under legal sanction, and without the
semblance of moral turpitude. This in itself was perfectly
reasonable, and had been proven to be right by the stern logic
of facts ; but the great mass of the people were against it.
Suggestions that legislation should proceed in this direction
were regarded simply as suggestions for legislation for a
favoured class — the doctors themselves — the fact being ignored
that on the extension of the accurate information of that class
depended to a very material extent the welfare and comfort of
the whole nation, without respect of persons. The public
mind, therefore, required to be educated up to the inauguration
of a new state of things, which in the end would be better for
all concerned. But two or three smart lessons, in addition to
the severe one taught by the Edinburgh revelations, were
required before Parliament could be turned in the right
direction.

In January, 1829, while Burke was lying in Caltonhill jail,
Edinburgh, under sentence of death, a case which showed the
anomalous state of the law, occurred in London. A man
named Huntingdon and his wife were charged with stealing the
clothes of a man who had died suddenly while walking along
Walworth Common. " The investigation of the charge," says
a contemporary chronicler, " exhibited an extraordinary in-
stance of the manner in which dead bodies are procured for

CURIOUS CASE IN LONDON. 251

dissection." Mr. Murray, the assistant overseer of the parish
of Newington, stated that on the Monday preceding the i)th of
January, when the case was first heard, the body of a man
who had dropped dead on one of the streets of that parish, was
brought to the workhouse. Two days afterwards, the two
prisoners attended at the committee room of the workhouse,
and affecting great sorrow, represented that they were nearly
related to the deceased, and that they desired to have his
body delivered to them, as they wished to have it decently
interred at their own expense. The parish officers, on this
representation, made enquiries respecting Huntingdon and his
wife at the place where they resided, and as nothing to their
disadvantage was heard, it was agreed that the body be
delivered to them immediately the public inquest as to the
cause of death was concluded. On the Thursday the inquest
was held, and after it the prisoners again made their appear-
ance at the workhouse, and renewed their demand for the
corpse, which was now given them. While preparations were
being made for its removal, they became talkative, and
informed the parish officers that the deceased was Mrs.
Huntingdon's brother, and that, having come to London
from Shoreham, in Sussex, about four months before, with
eighty pounds in his possession, he had led a life of
dissipation, and squandered all in that short period. This
only tended to give a greater air of consistency and truth to
the statements already made by the prisoners, that the officials
thought they were not only doing right in giving up the body,
but also that they were saving the parish the expense of a
pauper's funeral. This dream, however, was soon rudely
dispelled. In consequence of a quarrel which occurred between
the prisoners and a female companion, as to the division of the
money which the sale of the corpse had brought, the affair was
brought to light, and Huntingdon and his wife were appre-
hended. Of course they were imposters, in no way related to
the dead man : and on obtaining possession of the body they
had sold it to the surgeons of St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
receiving eleven guineas for their ware. An officer of the
police searched the lodgings of the prisoners in Southwark, and
there discovered the clothes which had belonged to the

252 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

deceased, together with a great variety of implements used by-
body-snatchers, such as screw-drivers and wrenching machines
for opening the lids of coffins, and gimlets of all sizes. But not
only did they appear to be engaged in robbing the houses of
the dead — house-breaking implements of all kinds showed that
they were at war with the living as well. But the most curious
part of the whole case was that instead of being charged with
the theft of the body, or with a misdemeanour which would
cover that offence, Huntingdon and his wife, under the exist-
ing state of the law, could only be libelled for having stolen the
clothes of the deceased, and for having burglarious instruments
in their possession.

A few weeks after this, on the 21st of March, 1829, Mr.
Henry Warburton, the Member for Bridport, obtained the first
reading of a bill, intended to free anatomists from the restric-
tions under which they pursued their inquiries. This measure
was supported by the Lord Advocate for Scotland, Sir
William Rae, whose experience in the inquiries in the Burke
and Hare trials was a strong recommendation in its favour. On
the 7th of April Mr. Warburton obtained the passage of a
motion made by him, under which the House of Commons
appointed a Select Committee to consider and give effect
to the recommendations contained in a report prepared
by a Select Committee on Anatomy appointed in the
previous Session. Those recommendations were in accord-
ance with what he and many anatomists desired should
be made the law of the country. That the details of
the bill, however, were not altogether satisfactory to those
who were supposed to be most interested in it, is evinced by
the fact that on the 8th of May, Mr. B. Cooper, the member for
Gloucester, presented a petition from the Royal College of
Surgeons, praying to be heard in opposition to it. The peti-
tioners, Mr. Cooper stated, were friendly to the principles laid
down in the measure, but they wished to be heard on the
details. The presentation of this petition gave rise to a short
discussion, in the course of which the Edinburgh tragedies
were incidentally mentioned. Mr. Smith, the representative
of Norwich, complained of a letter which had apj)eared in the
public prints, stating that Dr. Knox, of Edinburgh, was guilty

WITHDRA WAL OF ANATOMY BILL. 253

of the most intolerable criminality, and that he was unworthy
to be trusted. If Dr. Knox, he said, did not deserve this, the
letter must be reprobated in the highest degree. The petition
was ordered to be laid on the table of the House ; but it is
probable that this passing reference in Parliament may have
shown Dr. Knox that the position he then occupied was
unsatisfactory, and have induced him to seek the inquiry into
his relations with Burke and Hare mentioned in a previous
chapter.

When Mr, Warburton's Anatomy Bill reached the committee
stage on the 15th of May, the member for Oxford University,
Sir R. Inglis, moved that it be an instruction to the committee
that it be empowered to repeal so much of the Act 9, Geo. IV.,
Cap. 31, as gave permission to the judges to order the bodies of
murderers, after execution, to be given over for dissection ; but
Mr. Warburton strenuously opposed this motion, as he believed
the fate of his bill depended upon its containing no such pro-
vision. The view of the measure taken by the great body of
the people was fitly given expression to by Lord F. Osborne,
the member for Cambridgeshire, who, in a subsequent part of
the debate, said he must oppose a measure which gave over
the bodies of the poor and friendless to the surgeons ; but the
other side of the question was as aptly put by Mr. Hume, in
the remark that the measure would be beneficial to the poor
as well as to the rest of the community. At the close of the
debate, the bill was committed with the instruction desired by
Sir R. Inglis ; and on the 19th of March it was read a third
time, and passed by the House of Commons. Lord Malmesbury
stood as sponsor for the measure in the House of Lords, which
it reached on the 20th of May. His lordship, in moving that
it be printed, admitted that it was extremely unpopular out of
doors, but urged its necessity ; and on the motion of the Earl
of Shaftesbury it was read a third time. However, under the
whole circumstances, it was deemed expedient, on the 5th of
June, to withdraw the bill, and in the discussion to which this
proposal led, the Earl of Harewood stated that, with respect
to the horrid proceedings at Edinburgh, it was a disgrace to
the country that they had not been investigated more fully,
and that the public had not been informed of the result of the

254 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

investigation. All that the public really knew was that fifteen
or sixteen murders had been committed.

The withdrawal of the bill was a great satisfaction to many,
both in and out of Parliament ; but the agitation for some such
alteration of the law continued unabated. It required another
severe lesson to bring public opinion into a state ripe for the
change.

CHAPTER XLI.

u Burking" in London — Apprehension of Bishop, Williams, and
May — Their Trial, Confession, and Execution — Re-introduc-
tion and Passing of the Anatomy Act.

This other lesson, to which reference was made at the close of
the last chapter, was given through the medium of a case
which occurred in London. In many features the case was
similar to that against the West Port murderers, with the
notable difference that the Englishmen did not go about
their desperate work with quite so much method and cunning
as did their prototypes in Edinburgh. They used a brutal
violence which, fortunately for the community, cut them short
almost at the very outset of their murderous career.

Shortly after noon, on Saturday, the 5th of November, 1831,
John Bishop and James May, both well-known body-snatchers,
called on the porter of the Dissecting Room at King's College,
London. May was the spokesman, and he informed the porter
that he had a subject which he would give him for twelve
guineas, and he then proceeded to declare its qualities, much
in the same way as he would have spoken of an ordinary piece
of merchandise — " it was very fresh, and was a male subject of
about fourteen years of age." Mr. Hill, the porter, said he was
not particularly requiring it, but he would see the demonstra-
tor, Mr. Partridge. There was some haggling about the price.

"BURKING" IN LONDON. 255

Bishop offered it for ten guineas, but was ultimately
forced to abate the sum by another guinea, promising at last
to send the body for nine. In the course of the afternoon the
two men, accompanied by a colleague of the name of Thomas
Williams, returned to the college, and with them was a street
porter, who bore on his head a large hamper. Taken into a
room, the hamper was found to contain the body of a young
lad wrapped up in a sack. Hill saw there were some suspicious
marks about the head, and, besides, it was not in such a form
as bodies usually were when taken from a coffin, the left arm
being bent and the fingers clenched. The porter asked
them what the lad had died of, but May, who was in a
drunken state, said that was neither his business or theirs. He
then informed Mr. Partridge of what he had seen and suspected.
That gentleman, without seeing the men, examined the body,
and found there were about it some marks and circumstances
of a suspicious nature. There were the swollen state of the
jaw, the bloodshot eyes, the freshness ot the body, and the
rigidity of the limbs. There was also a cut over the left
temple. Having made this examination, he sent for the
police, and returning to the men he produced a fifty pound
note, telling them he must get that changed before he could
pay them. Bishop saw that Mr. Partridge had some gold in
his purse, and he said to him : " Give me what money you have
in your purse, and I will call for the rest on Monday." May,
on his part, offered to go for the change, but Mr. Partridge
declined both proposals, and left the room on the pretence of
seeking the change himself. All this was but a blind to detain
the men until a strong body of police had time to arrive, when
all three were apprehended, and the body taken to the police
office. A subsequent examination of the corpse by three
surgeons, one of them being Mr. Partridge, showed that the lad
must have met his death through violence. The only external
mark — that on the temple — was superficial, and did not injure
the bone ; but between the scalp and the bone there was a
patch of congealed blood about the size of a crown-piece,
which, from its appearance, must have been caused by a
blow given during life. On the removal of the skin from the
back part of the neck, a considerable quantity — about four

256 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

ounces — of coagulated blood was found among the muscles,
and this also, in the opinion of the surgeons, must have been
effused when the subject was alive. A portion of the spine
having been removed for the purpose of examining the spinal
marrow, a quantity of coagulated blood was found lying in the
canal, and this, it was stated, from its pressure on the spinal
marrow, must have caused death. All these appearances, and
death, would, in the opinion of the surgeons, have followed a
blow from a blunt instrument of any kind. Subsequent
inquiries by the police brought to light the fact that the body
had been offered to the curator of Guy's Hospital and of
Grainger's Anatomical Theatre, both of whom declined to
purchase it. They also discovered that May had called upon a
surgeon-dentist in Newington on the morning of the day he
was apprehended, and had offered for sale, at the price of a
guinea, twelve human teeth, which he said had belonged to a
boy between fourteen and fifteen years of age, whose body had
never been buried. Some of the flesh and pieces of the jaw
adhered to the teeth, showing that great force had been used
to wrench them out.

On the question of the identity of the body found in the
possession of the three men, the authorities had what was
apparently satisfactory evidence that it was that of Carlo
Ferreer, who had arrived from Italy two years before, and who
went about the streets of London with a cage, containing
two white mice, slung from his neck by a string. On
the night of Thursday, the 3rd of November, the boy and
Bishop and Williams were all three seen in the vicinity of
the Nova Scotia Gardens, where Bishop resided, but they
were not in company. That same evening one of Bishop's
neighbours heard sounds of a scuffle proceeding from his house
in Nova Scotia Gardens, but paid little attention to it, as he
considered it was simply a family quarrel. A search through
this house by the police led to the discovery of two crooked
chisels, a brad-awl, and a file. There appeared to be fresh
marks of blood on the brad-awl. Then in May's house in
Dorset Street, Now Kent Road, there were found a vest and a
pair of trousers, both marked with what were evidently fresh
stains. Buried in Bishop's garden were found several articles

EXECUTION OF BISHOP AND WILLIAMS. 257

of men's clothing, all of which were stained with blood.
Another incident that seemed to show that the body was that
of the poor Italian boy was that on the 5th of November
Bishop's boys were seen in the possession of a cage in which
were two white mice. When the productions were taken to
Bow Street Police Office, where the accused were confined,
May said, when he saw the brad-awl, " That is the instrument
with which I punched the teeth out ;" and the dentist, in his
evidence at the trial, said the teeth had been forced out, and
he thought the brad-awl produced would afford great facility
for doing so.

This, in brief, was the case upon which the prosecution
rested for the conviction of the three men. The trial took place
at the Old Bailey Sessions on the 1st of December, and created
the most intense interest among all classes of the community.
The court was crowded, and outside an immense multitude had
assembled. After a long trial the jury found the three
prisoners guilty of murder. The verdict was received in court
with silence, but when the result was known outside the people
cheered vociferously, and this they continued so long that the
officers were obliged to close the windows of the court, that
the voice of the judge might be heard in passing sentence
of death. Only four days' grace was given to the unhappy
men, for their execution was fixed for the 5th of December.

The day before their execution, on the 4th of December, Bis-
hop and Williams made confessions before the under-sheriff. In
these documents, which will be found at length in the appendix,
they acknowledged to the murder of the lad whose body was
found, but they stated that he came from Lincolnshire, and was
not the Italian boy to whose identification so many witnesses
had sworn. Subsequent investigation, however, led to the
belief that the condemned men, and not the witnesses, had made
the mistake. They also declared that they had been concerned
in the murder of a woman and of a boy of about eleven years of
age. Their method was to get their intended victims to drink
beer or gin, which they had drugged with laudanum, and then,
when they were in a stupified state, to lower them by a rope
attached to the heels, head foremost into a well at the back of
the Bishop's house. This act completed the work, and, it was

258 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

thought, allowed the drugged liquor to run out of the mouth.
They thus acknowledged to three distinct acts of murder, but
they both declared that May was wholly ignorant and innocent
of all of them. Bishop had been a body-snatcher for twelve
years, and he had during that time obtained and sold over five
hundred bodies.

The evidence against May had all along been deemed
defective, and this full and unequivocal statement that he was
unconnected with the murder, procured a respite for him.
When sentenced in court he turned to the jury and said : " I
am a murdered man, gentlemen." The communication of the
news that his life had been saved was itself almost the cause
of his death. He fell to the ground in a fit, and while he was
in contortions it took four of the prison officers to hold him ;
but he recovered in a quarter of an hour.

By one o'clock on the morning of Monday, the 5th December,
a great crowd had assembled in front of the scaffold at New-
gate, and by daybreak as many as 30,000 persons were present
to witness the last act of the law. Bishop's appearance on the
scaffold gave rise to a scene similar to that at the execution of
Burke at Edinburgh. The people hooted and yelled in a
terrible manner while the executioner put the rope round the
murderer's neck, and fixed it to a chain depending from the
beam ; and the demonstration was renewed with vigour when
Williams was brought out. When the drop fell Bishop died
instantaneously, but Williams struggled in the death agonies
for several minutes. The crowd then broke through the
barriers, and a scene that baffles description ensued. Forget-
in g itself in the excitement of the moment, the mob rushed
towards the scaffold, and in the struggle with the police large
numbers were injured. Many were trampled under foot. By
half-past seven o'clock that morning between twenty and thirty
persons were carried to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, all seriously
maimed. " Thus died," says a broadside published at the time,
"the dreadful Burkers of 1831." The author of the production
called " The Trial, Sentence, Full Confession and Execution of
Bishop and Williams, the Burkers," furnishes a very pertinent
comment on the whole transaction. " The month of November,
1831," he remarks, " will be recorded in the annals of crime and

PASSING OF ANATOMY BILL. 259

cruelties as particularly pre-eminent, for it will prove to
posterity that other wretches could be found base enough to
follow the horrid example of Burke and his accomplice Hare, to
entice the unprotected and friendless to the den of Death for
sordid gain." In accordance with the terms of sentence, the
bodies of the executed criminals were " delivered over for
dissection and anatomization."

While this terrible example of the dangers to the community
under the existing state of the law as to the study of anatomy
was still fresh on the minds of the people, Mr. Warburton again
introduced his bill, slightly altered in respect of details, into
the House of Commons. On the 15th of December, 1831, he
obtained leave to introduce the bill, and it was then read a
first time. He moved the second reading on the 17th of
January, 1832, but when the question was put that the bill be
read a second time it was found there were not forty members
present, and the House had to adjourn. However, on the 29th
of the same month he was more successful, and gained the
second reading. After it had passed through several stages in
committee, Mr. Warburton, on the 11th of April, moved that it
be re-committed, and stated that he had been waited upon by
deputations from the College of Surgeons in Dublin, and
another medical body, who desired that the provisions of the
measure should be extended to Ireland, which he had not
originally intended should be included within its scope. In
committee it was agreed to extend the bill to Ireland. On the
18th of April, when it was again in committee, an amendment
to the effect that the disposal of the bodies of executed
murderers for dissection should be left to the discretion of the
judges was negatived. The bill passed the House of Commons
on the 11th of May, and shortly afterwards received the
approval of the Upper House.

260 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

CHAPTER XLII.

The Passing of the Anatomy Act — Rs Terms and Provisions.

SUCH were the circumstances that led up to the passing of
what was familiarly known as the Anatomy Act. In view of
the long course of restriction to which it put an end, and of
the fact that this measure is still operative as regards the mat-
ter of which it treats, it is proper that it should be reproduced
here. It received the Royal assent on the 1st of August, 1832,
and is technically known as 3 and 4 Geo. IV., c. 75, the short
title being " An Act for regulating Schools of Anatomy." The
following are its terms and provisions : —

" Whereas a knowledge of the causes and nature of sundry
diseases which affect the body, and the best methods of treat-
ing and curing such diseases, and of healing and repairing
divers wounds and injuries to which the human frame is liable,
cannot be acquired without the aid of anatomical examination:
And whereas the legal supply of human bodies for such ana-
tomical examination is insufficient fully to provide the means
of such knowledge : And whereas in order further to supply
human bodies for such purposes, divers great and grievous
crimes have been committed, and lately murder, for the single
object of selling for such purposes the bodies of the persons so
murdered : And whereas, therefore, it is highly expedient to
give protection, under certain regulations, to the study and
practice of anatomy, and to prevent, as far as may be, such
great and grievous crimes and murder as aforesaid : Be it
therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal,
and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by
the authority of the same, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty's
principal secretary of state for the time being for the home de-
partment in that part of the United Kingdom called Great
Britain, and for the chief secretary for Ireland in that part of
the United Kingdom called Ireland, immediately on the pass-
ing of this Act, or so soon thereafter as may be required, to

A A\ 1 TOMICAL INSPEC TORS. 2fil

grant a license to practise anatomy to any fellow or member
of any college of physicians or surgeons, or to any graduate or
licentiate in medicine, or to any person lawfully qualified to
practise medicine in any part of the United Kingdom, or to any
professor or teacher of anatomy, medicine, or surgery, or to
any student attending any school of anatomy, on application
from such party for such purpose, countersigned by two of his
Majesty's justices of the peace acting for the county, city,
borough, or place wherein such party so applying is about to
carry on the practice of anatomy.

" 2. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty's
said principal secretary of state or chief secretary, as the case
may be, immediately on the passing of this Act, or as soon
thereafter as may be necessary, to appoint respectively not
fewer than three persons to be inspectors of places where ana-
tomy is carried on, and at any time after such first appointment
to appoint, if they shall see fit, one or more other person or
persons to be an inspector or inspectors as aforesaid; and every
such inspector shall continue in office for one year, or until he
be removed by the said secretary of state or chief secretary, as
the case may be, or until some other person shall be appointed
in his place ; and as often as any inspector appointed as afore-
said shall die, or shall be removed from his said office, or shall
refuse or become unable to act, it shall be lawful for the said
secretary of state or chief secretary, as the case may be, to
appoint another person to be inspector in his room.

" 3. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the said
secretary of state or chief secretary, as the case may be, to
direct what district of town or country, or of both, and what
places where anatomy is earned on, situate within such district,
eveiy such inspector shall be appointed to superintend, and in
what manner every such inspector shall transact the duties of
his office.

" 4. And be it enacted, that every inspector to be appointed
by virtue of this Act shall make a quarterly returrj to the said
secretary of state or chief secretary, as the case may be, of
every deceased person's body that during the preceding quar-
ter has been removed for anatomical examination to every
separate place in his district where anatomy is carried on

262 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

distinguishing the sex, and, as far as is known at the time, the
name and age of each person whose body was so removed as
aforesaid.

" 5. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for every such
inspector to visit and inspect at any time any place within his
district, notice of which place has been given, as is hereinafter
directed, that it is intended there to practise anatomy.

" 6. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty
to grant to every such inspector such an annual salary not
exceeding one hundred pounds for his trouble, and to allow
such a sum of money for the expenses of his office as may ap-
pear reasonable, such salaries and allowances to be charged on
the consolidated fund of the United Kingdom, and to be pay-
able quarterly ; and that an annual return of all such salaries
and allowances shall be made to Parliament.

" 7. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any
executor or other party having lawful possession of the body
of any deceased person, and not being an undertaker or other
party intrusted with the body for the purpose only of
interment, to permit the body of such deceased person to
undergo anatomical examination, unless, to the knowledge of
such executor or other party, such person shall have expressed
his desire, either in Avriting at any time during his life, or ver-
bally in the presence of two or more witnesses during the
illness whereof he died, that his body after death might not
undergo such examination, or unless the surviving husband or
wife, or any known relation of the deceased person, shall
require the body to be interred without such examination.

" 8. And be it enacted, that if any person, either in writing
at any time during his life, or verbally in the presence of two
or more witnesses during the illness whereof he died, shall
direct that his body after death be examined anatomically, or
shall nominate any party by this Act authorized to examine
bodies anatomically to make such examination, and if, before
the burial of the body of such person, such direction or
nomination shall be made known to the party having lawful
possession of the dead body, then such last mentioned party
shall direct such examination to be made, and in case of any
such nomination as aforesaid, shall request and permit any

SALE OF BODIES LEG A USED. 263

party so authorised and nominated as aforesaid to make such
examination, unless the deceased person's surviving husband
or wife, or nearest known relative, or any one or more of such
person's nearest known relatives, being of kin in the same
degree, shall require the body to be interred without such
examination.

" 9. Provided always, and be it enacted, that in no case shall
the body of any person be removed for anatomical examination
from any place where such person may have died until after
forty-eight hours from the time of such person's decease, nor
until twenty-four hours notice, to be reckoned from the time of
such decease, to the inspector of the district, of the intended
removal of the body, or if no such inspector have been
appointed, to some physician, surgeon, or apothecary residing
at or near the place of death, nor unless a certificate stating in
what manner such person came by his death, shall previously
to the removal of the body have been signed by the physician,
surgeon, or apothecary who attended such person during the
illness whereof he died, or if no such medical man attended
such person during such illness, then by some physician,
surgeon, or apothecary who shall be called in after the death
of such person, to view his body, or who shall state the manner
or cause of death according to the best of his knowledge and
belief, but who shall not be concerned in examining the body
after removal ; and that in case of such removal such certificate
shall be delivered, together with the body, to the party
receiving the same for anatomical examination.

" 10. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any
member or fellow of any college of physicians or surgeons, or
any graduate or licentiate in medicine, or any person lawfully
qualified to practice medicine in any part of the United
Kingdom, or any professor, teacher, or student of anatomy,
medicine, or surgery, having a license from his Majesty's
principal secretary of state or chief secretary as aforesaid, to
receive or possess for anatomical examination, or to examine
anatomically, the body of any person deceased, if permitted or
directed so to do by a party who had at the time of giving
such permission or direction lawful possession of the body, and
who had power, in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, to

264 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

permit or cause the body to be so examined, and provided such
certificates as aforesaid were delivered by such party together
with the body.

" 11. And be it enacted, that every party so receiving a
body for anatomical examination after removal shall demand
and receive, together with the body, a certificate as aforesaid,
and shall, within twenty-four hours next after such removal,
transmit to the inspector of the district such certificate, and
also a return stating at what day and hour and from whom the
body was received, the date and place of death, the sex, and
(as far as is known at the time) the christian and surname, age,
and last place of abode of such person, or, if no such inspector
have been appointed, to some physician, surgeon, or apothecary
residing at or near the place to which the body is removed, and
shall enter or cause to be entered the aforesaid particulars
relating thereto, and a copy of the certificate be received
therewith, in a book to be kept by him for that purpose, and
shall produce such book whenever required so to do by any
inspector so appointed as aforesaid.

" 12. And be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for any
party to carry on or teach anatomy at any place, or at any
place to receive or possess for anatomical examination, or
examine anatomically, any deceased person's body after
removal of the same, unless such party, or the owner or
occupier of such place, or some party by this Act authorised to
examine bodies anatomically, shall, at least one week before the
first receipt or possession of a body for such purpose at such
place, have given notice to the said secretary of state or chief
secretary, as the case may be, of the place where it is intended
to practise anatomy.

"13. Provided always, and be it enacted, that every such
body so removed as aforesaid for the purpose of examination
shall, before such removal, be placed in a decent coffin or shell,
and be removed therein ; and that the party removing the
same, or causing the same to be removed as aforesaid, shall
make provision that such body, after undergoing anatomical
examination, be decently interred in consecrated ground, or in
some public burial-ground in use for persons of that religious
persuasion to which the person whose body was so removed

TREATMENT OF MURDERERS' BODIES. 265

belonged ; ami that a certificate of the interment of such body
shall be transmitted to the inspector of the district within six
weeks after the day on which such body was received as afore-
said.

" 14. And be it enacted, that no member or fellow of any
college of physicians or surgeons, nor any graduate or licentiate
in medicine, nor any person lawfully qualified to practise medi-
cine in any part of the United Kingdom, nor any professor,
teacher, or student of anatomy, medicine, or surgery, having a
license from his Majesty's principal secretary of state or chief
secretary as aforesaid, shall be liable to any prosecution,
penalty, forfeiture, or punishment for receiving or having in
his possession for anatomical examination, or for examining
anatomically, any dead human body, according to the pro-
visions of this Act.

" 15. And be it enacted, that nothing in this Act contained
shall be construed to extend to or to prohibit any post-mortem
examination of any human body required or directed to be
made by any competent legal authority.

" 16. And whereas an Act was passed in the ninth year of
the reign of his late Majesty, for consolidating and amending
the statutes in England relative to offences against the person,
by which latter Act it is enacted, that the body of every per-
son convicted of murder shall, after execution, either be dis-
sected or hung in chains, as to the court which tried the
offence shall seem meet, and that the sentence to be pro-
nounced by the court shall express that the body of the
offender shall be dissected or hung in chains, whichever of the
two the court shall order. Be it enacted, that so much of the
said last recited Act as authorises the court, if it shall see fit,
to direct that the body of a person convicted of murder shall,
after execution, be dissected, be and the same is hereby re-
pealed; and that in every case of conviction of any prisoner
for murder the court before which such prisoner shall have
been tried shall direct such prisoner either to be hung in chains,
or to be buried within the precincts of the prison in which such
prisoner shall have been confined after conviction, as to such
court shall seem meet ; and that the sentence to be pronounced
by the court shall express that the body of such prisoner shall

266 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARK

be hung in chains, or buried within the precincts of the prison,
whichever of the two the court shall order.

" 17. And be it enacted, that if any action or suit shall be
commenced or brought against any person for anything done
in pursuance of this Act, the same shall be commenced within
six calendar months next after the cause of action accrued ;
and the defendant in every such action or suit may, at his
election, plead the matter specially or the general issue Not
Guilty, and give this Act and the special matter in evidence
at any trial to be had thereupon.

" 18. And be it enacted, that any person offending against
the provisions of this Act in England or Ireland shall be deemed
and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being duly
convicted thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for a
term not exceeding three months, or by a fine not exceeding
fifty pounds, at the discretion of the court before which he
shall be tried ; and any person offending against the provisions
of this Act in Scotland shall, upon being duly convicted of
such offence, be punished by imprisonment for a term not ex-
ceeding three months, or by a fine not exceeding fifty pounds,
at the discretion of the court before which he shall be tried.

" 19. And in order to remove doubts as to the meaning of
certain words in this Act, be it enacted, that the words 'person
and party ' shall be respectively deemed to include any number
of persons, or any society, whether by charter or otherwise ;
and that the meaning of the aforesaid words shall not be
restricted, although the same may be subsequently referred to
in the singular number and masculine gender only."

THE HOUSES fX PORTSBURGII. 267

CHAPTER XLIII.

Conclusion — Review of the Effects Produced by the Resurrectionist
Movement — The Houses in Portsburgh — The Popular Idea
of the Method of Burke and Hare — Origin of the Words
" Burlier " and " Burking"

Such were the resurrectionist times in Scotland, and such the
crimes committed by Burke and Hare, and their English imita-
tors. Now-a-days it may seem strange that events like these
were possible in a country professing a civilizing Christianity,
but no one with a knowledge of the depths to which humanity
can descend will deny that even in our much boasted time,
with all our social advancement, men could be found who
would dare to put their consciences under the burden of such
terrible iniquities, were the other circumstances and necessities
still the same. There was little wonder that the public sense
of security was alarmed, that the heart of the nation was
touched, at the shocking disclosures made at each successive
trial, and at the daily actions of men who seemed to be safe
from the law. We have seen how the people of Scotland felt
under the constant robbing of their churchyards; how they
were awe-struck at the mysterious disappearance from among
them of some unfortunate, whose whereabouts was never found
out ; and how they rose in righteous anger when the mystery
was cleared up in the High Court of Justiciary. The wonder,
indeed, is that considering the reverential regard for the dead
which has always characterised them, that they bore the
terrible pillage of their Golgothas so long ; and that when the
end came they did not work more mischief than they did.
But the times, hard as they were at the best, and suffering
under such a shocking blemish, were productive of real and
lasting good to the nation, socially, scientifically, and even
spiritually.

For a long time after the execution of Burke and the flight
of his accomplices, the houses in Wester Portsburgh were
objects of horror and detestation ; and having acquired a

268 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

ghastly interest from the horrible crimes of which they were
the scene, were among the best visited places in Edinburgh,
until at last they were knocked down as eyesores to the com-
munity, and as perpetuating a series of crimes which were too
deeply impressed on human memory to be easily forgotten.
But the tradition clung long to the district, and even to this
day the locality is pointed out to the stranger as being notable.
The interest taken in these buildings and their internal arrange-
ment was so great, that paintings of them on canvas were taken
through the country, and shown at village fairs and markets.

But an annoying and reprehensible practice arose out of the
actions of Burke and Hare, which while certainly not so serious,
was not without its dangerous element. This was a habit
which many young men dropped into of attempting to put
pieces of sticking-plaster over the mouths of unsuspicious
passengers on the streets. Most commonly this prank was
played upon girls, many of whom were almost out of their
wits, and who would not venture out of the door at nights.
This practice obtained not only in Edinburgh but also in
Glasgow and the other large towns in Scotland, and though
examples were made by the miscreants being apprehended
and punished by the police magistrates, it became after
a time such an intolerable nuisance, that the strictest
measures had to be taken for its repression. One case
of this kind in Glasgow created an extraordinary com-
motion. A servant girl was attacked in the street, and a
sticking-plaster of so strong an adhesive nature was placed
over her mouth that it could not be removed without taking a
great portion of the skin of her face with it. There was little
wonder that the Glasgow Chronicle, in a comment on the
occurrence, said that the " wretches who can behave thus at
any time, and more especially in the present state of public
feeling, are a disgrace to society." But it is curious to note
how this silly imitation of the method of Burke and Hare came
to be regarded as the actual mode in which these men had
performed their manifold murders. The fact that so many
terrible crimes had been committed by them kept a firm hold
on the mind of the people, but, gradually, the method, which
had been made so public through the medium of the news-

POPULAR I Ml 'II ESS IONS. ■> 69

papers, was forgotten, and the impression as gradually gained
ground that slipping up to their intended victims on the
streets, Burke and his accomplice gave them their quietus by
skilfully placing a piece of sticking-plaster over their mouths.
Of course the preceding narrative, and the confessions of the
condemned criminal, show that it was far otherwise, but the
impression, amounting- latterly to an absolute belief, became so
fixed that even yet it still holds sway, though certainly in a
Less degree now than a generation ago.

Allusion has already been made to the remarkably strong-
hold the whole plot took upon the minds of the Scottish people,
and to the fact that it has exercised an influence on the
inner life of the Scottish mind down to the present. This is
generally acknowledged, but perhaps a better idea of the
original character of the impression made by the discoveries of
1829 may be gained when the great events and movements
going on all around at and after the time are taken into con-
sideration. In the year 1829 the country was agitated not only
1 >y stirring news from the Continent, where armies were marching
to and fro, and there was a tendency to a general European
conflagration, but also by the Catholic Emancipation move-
ment, and parliamentary reform. Every one knows the
interest the people of Scotland took in these matters, and
especially in the Eeform Bill, and how many suffered on
the scaffold for over boldness in the struggle. These were
events that might have absorbed all the attention the people
could spare from their daily toil for the sustenance of life ; but
yet the Burke and Hare tragedies were always to be heard
repeated by some fireside, and the tales of the resurrectionists
wore rehearsed to willing listeners. Such great events affec-
ted the rights of the people as citizens of the empire, as freemen
in the state; but the violation of churchyards, the murder of
poor human beings for the sale of their bodies, touched the
heart, it related to the home-life of the man, independent of
his citizenship. It was the same with the other great political
movements of the early half of the century. Tin; stories wont
from mouth to mouth, from father to son, from nurse to child,
and the horrid memory of the foulest series of murders on I ho
criminal calendar of Scotland was kept fresh, young minds

270 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

grew up in fear of a terrible unknown something of which the
preceding generation had had a full realization, a something
which happily was impossible, but which exercised a baneful
and dwarfing influence all the same. The old bogles of super-
stitious times were thrown aside, the stern realities of human
criminality were used in their stead. Many still remember
their youthful impressions and shudder. It is well that these
influences are losing their power, but it would be unfortunate
if the lessons taught by these awful times were forgotten by
the country.

Happily, however, the resurrectionist times were not with-
out their good elements as well as their bad. Had such
events not taken place two things would have been evident —
first, that up to that time anatomical study and research had
made little progress ; and second, that the study would have
continued in a state of stagnation under restrictions discredit-
able to the country and its rulers. But quite another state of
matters existed and do exist. The scientific ardour which from
an earlyperiodof its history had characterised themedical faculty
in Scotland, and particularly in Edinburgh, may be said to have
created the necessity for resurrectionists or body-snatchers, and
the fact that the research so needful to the happiness and
comfort of humanity was being conducted under such unfor-
tunate auspices, and debasing restrictions, gradually awoke the
community to a sense of what they owed to themselves and to
those whose ultimate object was the general good. The
churchyards were being robbed of their silent tenants, the poor
were being surreptitiously bribed to part with the bodies of
their dead relatives, and even the streets were being laid
under contribution for their living wanderers. The exigencies
of science had created a necessary evil ; the natural and even
justifiable prejudices of the nation, outraged and grieved,
were against the seeking of a remedy. But the evil became
so great, its worst and latest development was so shocking,
that some steps had to be taken, even at the expense of human
sentiment, to put matters on a right and proper footing. Men
could not live without doctors who were thoroughly trained
and experienced in all the intricacies and mysteries of the
human frame ; these doctors could not gain their experience

RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS. 271

without "subjects," aud "subjects" they must have by some
means or other. Not, certainly, that the profession approved
of murder to obtain their ends, but the result showed that the
men upon whom the profession mainly depended had resorted
to that terrible act to supply their patrons. The only feasible
course open, therefore, was that made lawful by the Anatomy
Act of 1832, which put upon a legal basis the purchase of
bodies from relatives under certain wise and not too
irksome conditions. It has been seen that notwithstand-
ing the unhappy state of matters then existing, and the
terrible scourge under which the country had so long suffered,
there was a strong feeling against the passage of that measure ;
but on the other hand an interesting testimony was given in
its favour when many of the highest in the land, amongst them
the Duke of Sussex, the youngest son of King George III.,
and uncle of Queen Victoria, gave directions that if necessary
their bodies should after death be anatomised. The science of
anatomy, therefore, for the first time in its existence, made
rapid progress, the art of healing and alleviating disease be-
came more perfect, and although there is much still to be
desired, research is unfettered, and the possibility of discoveries
valuable to humanity are increased. It is curious, however,
that in the last few years of these baneful restrictions, extra-
ordinary results accrued from the researches of anatomists, and,
strange though it may seem, the science was really put upon
a scientific basis it had never occupied before.

But there was still another effect of the resurrectionist
movement, and that was that it had a widening tendency
on the religious beliefs of the people. The old idea is well ex-
pressed in the ballad written in 1711, and quoted in an early
chapter in this volume, when the unknown author says : —

" Methink I hear the latter trumpet sound,
When emptie graves into this place is found,
Of young and old, which is most strange to me,
What kind of resurrection this should be."

The people preferred to think of a resurrection which would in
one respect and to a certain extent be comprehensible to them*

272 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

They thought they could understand the dead rising from the
grave if their bodies were placed intact in the sepulchre, but
they deemed that a body dissected and cut into pieces, pro-
bably portions buried in different places, was unlikely to be
under the influence of the last call. In this they distrusted
God in the belief of a doctrine which above all required a
distinct act of faith in His almighty power. Their ideas, how-
ever, were widened, and they came to see that if it were
possible for the Great Father of the human race to wake the
dead on the judgment day when their dust lay peacefully be-
side the village church, it was also possible for Him to call
them to Him though their particles lay far apart.

There is one other point which must not be omitted in a
work of this kind. The transactions in the West Port of
Edinburgh, in 1828, gave new words with a peculiar signifi-
cance to the English language. A " burker " was unknown
before the crimes of William Burke were made public ; " burk-
ing" was an undiscovered art until he discovered it. This in
itself is another testimony to the effect the crimes chronicled
in this book had upon the minds of the men and women of the
period. Many other words similarly derived have had a brief
popularity, and dropped into oblivion, to be only hunted up by
the philological antiquary, but these have retained their signi-
ficance, and, by their aptitude to many actions in all phases of
life, have attained to a classical position in the language to
which their usefulness, rather than their origin, entitle them.

MRS Hare and Child.

From a Sketch taken in Court,

APPENDIX

APPENDIX.

THE CASE AGAINST TORRENCE AND WALD1E.

At page twenty-four ante a brief note is given of the case
against Torrence and Waldie for the murder of a boy for the
purpose of disposing of his body to the surgeons. The account
there given is founded upon a brief jotting in the Edinburgh
Evening Courant, and, as the case is one of considerable
interest, the following more lengthy record is taken from the
Scots Magazine for 1752 : —

" Helen Torrence, residenter, and Jean Waldie, wife of a
stabler's servant in Edinburgh, were tried, at the instance of
the King's Advocate, before the Court of Justiciary, for
stealing and murdering John Dallas, a boy of about eight or
nine years of age, son of John Dallas, chairman in Edinburgh.
The indictment bears, that in November last the pannels
frequently promised two or three surgeon-apprentices to pro-
cure them a subject ; that they pretended that they were to sit
up with a dead child, and after the coffining, slip something
else into the coffin, and secrete the body; but said afterwards
that they were disappointed in this, the parent refusing to
consent ; that on the 3rd of December, Janet Johnston, mother
to the deceased, having come to Torrence's house, was desired
by her to sit down; that Waldie, who was then with Torrence,
soon left them, on pretence of being ill with the colic, and went
up stairs to her own house, which was immediately above that
of Torrence ; that thereafter, on hearing a knock upon the
floor above, Torrence went up stairs to Waldie, staid a short
while with her, then returned to Janet Johnstone, and invited
her to drink a pint of ale in a neighbouring house, which
invitation she accepted of ; that after they had drunk one pint

276 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

of ale, Torrence offered another ; that this second pint
being brought in, Torrence went out of the ale-house ;
that then both or either of the pannels went to the
house of the above-mentioned John Dallas, chairman,
stole away the poor innocent boy in the absence of its
parents, and murdered it ; that Waldie immediately after went
and informed the surgeon apprentices that Torrence and she
had now found a subject, desiring them to carry it instantly
away; that on this the apprentices came to Wal die's house,
and found the dead body stretched on a chest ; that having
asked what they should give for the subject? would not two
shillings be enough? Both pannels declared they had been
at more expense about it than that sum ; but that upon their
giving Torrence tenpence to buy a dram, she and Waldie
accepted of the two shillings in part payment; that, at the
desire of the apprentices, Torrence carried the body in her
apron to one of their rooms, for which she received sixpence
more ; and that when the pannels were apprehended, some of
the facts were confessed by them, by Torrence before one of
the Bailies of Edinburgh, and by Waldie before the Lord
Provost ; Waldie in particular, having confessed that Torrence
told her, that should this boy die, he would be a good one for
the doctors ; that, at Torrenoe's desire, she frequently went to
see how the boy was ; that thereafter, Torrence having asked
her how he was ? and she having answered, that he continued
much in the same way, Torrence replied that it would be better
to take him away alive, for he would be dead before he could
be brought to her house ; that accordingly, after the boy's
mother had seen Waldie upstairs to her own house, 3rd Decem-
ber, Torrence came and told her that she and the mother were
then drinking a pint of ale, and that it would be a proper time
for Waldie to go for the boy; that Waldie accordingly went,
found the boy looking over a window, took him up in her arms,
and carried him directly to her own house, whither she was
immediately followed by Torrence ; that, before Torrence came
in, Waldie had given the boy a drink of ale, but it would scarce
go over, and he died six minutes thereafter; and that Waldie,
at Torrence's desire, went for the surgeons, and sold the dead
body to them, as above. On missing their child, the parents

APPEXDTX. 211

made inquiry for him. In about four days, the body was found
in a place of the town little frequented, but with evident marks
of having been in the surgeons' hands. The parents were
thereupon taken up, and likewise the pannels. The pannels
were examined, the parents set at liberty, and the pannels
kept in prison. Their trial came off on the 3rd February.
After debates, the Lords found the hbel relevant to infer the
pains of law. A proof was taken on the same day. Among
the witnesses were the boy's parents, and the surgeons' appren-
tices. Next day the jury returned the following verdict: —
' Found, that the pannels are both guilty, art and part, of
stealing John Dallas, a living child, and son of John Dallas,
chairman in Edinburgh, from his father's house, at the time
and in the manner libelled ; and of carrying him to the house
of Jean Waldie, one of the pannels ; and soon thereafter, on
the evening of the day libelled, of selling and delivering his
body, then dead, to some surgeons and students of physic'
Counsel were heard on the import of this verdict on the
sixth, when all defences were over-ruled. Both pannels
were sentenced to be hanged in the Grassmarket of Edin-
burgh, on the 18th March. They were executed accor-
dingly. Waldie, in her last speech, says, that Torrence
prevailed on her, when much intoxicated, to go and carry
the child alive from its mother's house ; that she carried it
in her gown-tail to her own house; that when she arrived at
home, she found the child was dead, having, as she believed,
been smothered in her coats in carrying it off; that it really
died in her hands ; that she acknowledges her sentence to be
just. Torrence declines saying anything about the crime."

On page 152 of MacLaurin's Remarkable Cases, under date
February 3, 1752, there is a short account of the pleadings at
the trial. The following is a note of the matter contained
there, with the exception of the rinding of the jury, which has
already been given : —

His Majesty's Advocate against ILL}* Torrence and Jean Waldie.

" They were indicted for stealing and murdering John
Dallas, a boy about eight or nine years of age, son of John
Dallas, chairman, in Edinburgh, on the 3rd December, 1751.

278 HIS'lORY OF BURKE AND HARF

" The counsel for the prisoners represented, that however
the actual murder might be relevant to infer the pafns of death,
yet the stealing of the child could only infer an arbitrary
punishment. And as to the selling of the dead body, it was n j
crime at all.

" Ans. — Though the stealing the child when alive, when
disjoined from the selling of it when dead, might not go so far;
yet, when taken together, they were undoubtedly relevant to
infer a capital punishment.

" The court pronounced the usual interlocutor."

AN INTERVIEW WITH BURKE IN PRISON.

The following appeared in the Caledonian Mercury early in
the month of January, 1829 : —

" The information from which the following article is drawn
up we have received from a most respectable quarter, and its
perfect correctness in all respects may be confidently relied
on. In truth, it is as nearly as possible a strict report, rather
than the substance, of what passed at an interview with
Burke, in the course of which the unhappy man appears to
have opened his mind without reserve, and to have given a
distinct and explicit answer to every question which was put
to him relative to his connection with the late murders.

After some conversation of a religious nature, in the course
of which Burke stated that, while in Ireland, his mind was
under the influence of religious impressions, and that he was
accustomed to read his Catechism and Prayer-book, and to
attend to his duties. He was asked, ' How comes it then that
you, who, by your own account, were once under the influence
of religious impressions, ever formed the idea of such dreadful
atrocities, of such cold-blooded, systematic murders as you
admit you have been engaged in — how came such a conception
to enter your mind'? ' To this Burke replied, ' that he did not
exactly know ; but that becoming addicted to drink, living in

APPENDIX. 279

open adr tery, and associating continually with the most
abandoned characters, he gradually became hardened and
desperate ; gave up attending chapel or any place of religious
worship, shunned the face of the priest, and being constantly
fa liliar with every species of wickedness, he at length grew
indifferent as to what he did, and was ready to commit any
crime.'

" He was then asked how long he had been engaged in this
murderous traffic, to which he answered, ' From Christmas,
1827, till the murder of the woman Docherty in October last.'
' How many persons have you murdered, or been concerned in
murdering, during the time ? Were they 30 in all ? ' ' Not so
many ; not so many, I assure you.' ' How many ? ' He
answered the question, but the answer was, for a reason
perfectly satisfactory, not communicated to us, and reserved for
a different quarter.

" ' Had you any accomplices ? ' 'None but Hare. We always
took care when we were going to commit a murder that no
one else should be present; that no one could swear he saw the
deed done. The women might suspect what we were about,
but we always put them out of the way when we were going
to do it. They never saw us commit any of the murders. One
of the murders was done in Broggan's house while he was out,
but before he returned the thing was finished and the body put
into a box. Broggan evidently suspected something, for he
appeared much agitated, and entreated us to take away the
box, which we accordingly did. But he was not in any way
concerned in it.'

" * You have already told me that you were engaged in these
atrocities from Christmas, 1827, till the end of October, 1828.
Were you associated with Hare during all that time % ' ' Yes,

we began with selling to Dr. the body of a woman who

had died a natural death in Hare's house. We got ten pounds
for it. After this we began the murders, and all the rest of
the bodies that we sold to him were murdered.'

"'In what place were these murders generally committed?'
'They were mostly committed in Hare's house, which wasvery
convenient for the purpose, as it consisted of a room and
kitchen. Daft Jamie was murdered there. The story told of

280 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

this murder is incorrect. Hare began the struggle with him,
and they fell and rolled together on the floor ; then I went to
Hare's assistance, and we at length finished him, though with
much difficulty. I committed one murder in the country by
myself. It was in last harvest. All the rest were done in
conjunction with Hare.'

" ' By what means were these fearful atrocities perpetrated V
' By suffocation. We made the persons drunk, and then
suffocated them by holding the nostrils and mouth and getting
on the body. Sometimes I held the mouth and nose, while
Hare went upon the body; and sometimes Hare held the
mouth and nose, while I placed myself on the body. Hare has
perjured himself by what he said at the trial about the murder
of Docherty. He did not sit by while I did it, as he says. He
was on the body assisting me with all his might, while I held
the nostrils and mouth with one hand, choked her under the
throat with the other. We sometimes used a pillow, but did
not in this case.'

" ' Now, Burke, answer me this question : — Were you tutored
and instructed, or did you receive hints from any one as to the
mode of committing murder ? ' ' No, except from Hare. We
often spoke about it, and we agreed that suffocation was the
best way. Hare said so, and I agreed with him. We gener-
ally did it by suffocation.'

" ' Did you receive any encouragement to commit or persevere
in committing these atrocities'?' 'Yes; we were frequently
told by Paterson that he would take as many bodies as we
could get for him. When we got one he always told us to get
more. There was commonly another person with him of the

name of . They generally pressed us to get more bodies

for them.'

" ' To whom were the bodies so murdered sold V 'To Dr.

. We took the bodies to his rooms in , and then

went to his house to receive the money for them. Sometimes
lie paid us himself; sometimes we were paid by his assistants.
No questions were ever asked as to the mode in which we had
come by the bodies. We had nothing to do but to leave a
body at the rooms, and go and get money.'

" ' Did you ever, upon any occasion, sell a body or bodies to

APPENDIX. 281

any other lecturer in this place?' 'Never. We know no
other.'

"'You have been a resurrectionist (as it is called) I under-
stand'?' 'No. Neither Have nor myself ever got a body from
a churchyard. All we sold were murdered, save the first one,
which was that of the woman who died a natural death in
Hare's house. We began with that: our crimes then com-
menced. The victims we selected were generally elderly
persons; they could be more easily disposed of than persons
in the vigour of health.'

" Such are the disclosures which this wretched man has made,
under circumstances which can scarcely fail to give them
weight with the public. Before a question were put to him
concerning the crimes he had been engaged in, he was
solemnly reminded of the duty incumbent upon him, situated
as he is, to banish from his mind every feeling of animosity
towards Hare, on account of the evidence which the latter gave
at the trial ; he was told that a dying man, covered with guilt,
and without hope except in the infinite mercy of Almighty God,
through our blessed Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ, he, who
stood so much in need of forgiveness, must prepare himself to
seek it by forgiving from his heart all who had done him wrong ;
and he was emphatically adjured to speak the truth, and
nothing but the truth, without any attempt either to palliate
his own iniquities, or to implicate Hare more deeply than the
facts warranted. Thus admonished, and thus warned, he
answered the several interrogations in the terms above stated ;
declaring at the same time, upon the word of a dying man, that
everything he had said was true, and that he had in no respect
exaggerated or extenuated anything, either from a desire to
inculpate Hare, or to spare anyone else."

THE CONFESSIONS OF BISHOP AND WILLIAMS,
THE LONDON "BURKERS."

The following are the confessions of Bishop and Williams,
the London "Burkers," an account of whose case is given in

282 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

chapter XLI. They were emitted iu presence of the Under-
Sheriff on the 4th of December, 1831, the day before their
execution : —

" I, John Bishop, do hereby declare and confess, that the boy
supposed to be the Italian boy was a Lincolnshire boy. I and
Williams took him to my house about half-past ten o'clock on
the Thursday night, the 3rd of November, from the Bell, in
Smithfield. He walked home with us. Williams promised to
give him some work. Williams went with him from the Bell
to the Old Bailey watering-house, whilst I went to the Fortune
of War. Williams came from the Old Bailey watering-house
to the Fortune of War for me, leaving the boy standing at the
corner of the court by the watering-house at the Old Bailey.
I went directly with Williams to the boy, and we walked then
all three to Nova Scotia Gardens, taking a pint of stout at a
public-house near Holloway Lane, Shoreditch, on our way, of
which we gave the boy a part. We only stayed just to drink
it, and walked on to my house, where we arrived about eleven
o'clock. My wife and children and Mrs. Williams were not
gone to bed, so we put him in the privy, and told him to wait
there for us. Williams went in and told them to go to bed,
and I stayed in the garden. Williams came out directly, and
we both walked out of the garden a little way, to give time
for the family getting to bed : we returned in about ten minutes
or a quarter of an hour, and listened outside the window to
ascertain whether the family were gone to bed. All was
quiet, and we then went to the boy in the privy, and took him
into the house ; we lighted a candle, and gave the boy some
bread and cheese, and, after he had eaten, we gave him a cup
full of rum, with about half a small phial of laudanum in it.
(I had bought the rum the same evening at the Three Tuns,
in iSmithfield, and the laudanum also in small quantities at
different shops). There was no water or other liquid put in the
cup with the rum and laudanum. The boy drank the contents
of the cup directly in two draughts, and afterwards a little
beer. In about ten minutes he fell asleep on the chair on
which he sat, and I removed him from the chair to the floor,
and laid him on his side. We then went out and left him

APPEXD1X. 283

there. We had a quartern of gin and a pint of beer at the
Feathers, near Shoreditch Church, and then went home again,
having- been away from the boy about twenty minutes. We
found him asleep as we had left him. We took him directly,
asleep and insensible, into the garden, and tied a cord to his
feet to enable us to put him up by, and I then took him in my
arms, and let him slide from them headlong into the well in
the garden, whilst Williams held the cord to prevent the body
going altogether too low in the well. He was nearly wholly
in the water in the well, his feet just above the surface.
Williams fastened the other end of the cord round the paling,
to prevent the body getting beyond our reach. The boy
struggled a little with his arms and his legs in the water ; the
water bubbled for a minute. We waited till these symptoms
were past, and then went in, and afterwards I think we went
out, and walked down Shoreditch to occupy the time, and in
about three-quarters of an hour we returned and took him out
of the well, by pulling him by the cord attached to his feet.
We undressed him in the paved yard, rolled his clothes up, and
buried them where they were found by the witness who pro-
duced them. We carried the boy into the wash-house, laid
him on the floor, and covered him over with a bag.
We left him there, and went and had some coffee
in Old Street Road, and then (a little before two on
the morning of Friday) went back to my house. We
immediately doubled the body up, and put it into a box, which
we corded so that nobody might open it to see what was in it ;
and then went again and had some more coffee in the same
place in Old Street Road, where we stayed a little while, and
then went home to bed — both in the same house, and to our
own beds as usual ; we slept till about ten o'clock on Friday
morning, when we got up, took breakfast together with the
family, and then went both of us to Smithfield, to the Fortune
of War — wo had something to eat and drink there. In about
half-an-hour May came in — I knew May — but had not seen
him for about a fortnight before, — he had some rnm with me
at the bar, Williams remaining in the tap-room. [The con-
demned man then described the movements of himself and
Williams, and May during that day, in course of which they

284 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARK.

were principally occupied in visiting public houses, though they
called upon two lecturers on anatomy and offered them the
body, but were refused.] At the Fortune of War we drank
something again, and then (about six o'clock) we all three
went in the chariot to Nova Scotia Gardens ; we went into the
wash-house, where I uncorded the trunk, and shewed May the
body. He asked, "how are the teeth?" I said I had not
looked at them. Williams went and fetched a brad-awl from
the house, and May took it and forced the teeth out ; it is the
constant practice to take the teeth out first, because, if the
body be lost, the teeth are saved ; after the teeth were taken
out, we put the body in a bag, and took it to the chariot ; May
and I carried the body, and Williams got first into the coach,
and then assisted in pulling the body in. . . ." [The rest
of this part of the confession is simply a record of " having
something to drink," and visiting lecturers, who refused to
purchase the body. It concludes with an account of the
apprehension of the men at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, with
the body in their possession.]

In an addition to this confession of the murder of the boy,
Bishop made this further statement : —

" I declare that this statement is all true, and that it contains
all the facts so far as I can recollect. May knew nothing of
the murder, and I do not believe he suspected that I had got
the body except in the usual way, and after the death of it. I
always told him I got it from the ground, and he never knew
to the contrary until I confessed to Mr. Williams [a clergyman]
since the trial. I have known May as a body-snatcher for
four or five years, but I do not believe he ever obtained a body
except in the common course of men in the calling — by steal-
ing from the graves. I also confess that I and Williams were
concerned in the murder of a female — whom I believe to have
been since discovered as Fanny Pigburn — on or about the 9th
of October last. I and Williams saw her sitting about eleven
or twelve o'clock at night on the step of a door in Shoreditch,
near the church. She had a child four or five years old on her
lap. I asked her why she was sitting there. She said she had
no home to go to, for her landlord had turned her out into the

APPENDIX. 285

street. I told tier thai she might go home with us, and sit by
the fire all night. She said she would go with us, and she
walked with us to my house, in Nova Scotia Gardens, carrying
her child with her. When we got there we found the
family abed, and we took the woman in and lighted a
fire, by which we all sat down together. I went out
for beer, and we all took beer and rum (I had brought
the rum from Smithfield in my pocket) ; the woman and her
child laid down on some dirty linen on the floor, and I and
"Williams went to bed. About six o'clock next morning I and
Williams told her to go away, and to meet us at the London
Apprentice in Old-Street Road, at one o'clock. This was
before our families were up. She met us again at one o'clock
at the London Apprentice, without her child. We gave her
some half-pence and beer, and desired her to meet us again at
ten o'clock at night at the same place. After this we bought
rum and laudanum at different places, and at ten o'clock we
met the woman again at the London Apprentice, she had no
child with her. We drank three pints of beer between us
there, and stayed there about an hour. We would have
stayed there longer, but an old man came in whom the woman
said she knew, and she said she did not like him to see her
there with any body; we therefore all went out; it rained
hard, and we took shelter under a door-way in the Hackney
Road for about an hour. We then walked to Nova Scotia
Gardens, and Williams and I led her into No. 2, an empty
house adjoining my house. We had no light. Williams
stepped into the garden with the rum and laudanum, which I
had handed to him ; he there mixed them together in a half-
pint bottle, and came into the house to me and the woman,
and gave her the bottle to drink ; she drank the whole at two
or three draughts ; there was a quartern of rum, and about
half a phial of laudanum ; she sat down the step between
two rooms in the house, and went off to sleep in about ten
minutes. She was falling back ; I caught her to save her fall,
and she laid back on the floor. Then Williams and I went to
a public-house, got something to drink, and in about half-an-
hour came back to the woman ; we took her cloak off, tied a
cord to her feet, carried her to a well in the garden and thrust

T

286 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

her into it headlong ; she struggled very little afterwards, and
the water bubbled a little at the top. We fastened the end to
the pailings to prevent her going down beyond our reach, and
left her and took a walk to Shoreditch and back, in about
half-an-hour ; we left the woman in the well for this length of
time, that the rum and laudanum might run out of the body at
the mouth. On our return, we took her out of the well, cut
her clothes off, put them down the privy of the empty house,
carried the body into the wash-house of my own house, where
we doubled it up and put it into a hair-box, which we corded and
left there. We did not go to bed, but went to Shields' [a street
porter] house in Eagle Street, Red Lion Square, and called
him up ; this was between four and five o'clock in the morning.
We went with Shields to a public-house near the Sessions-
house, Clerkenwell, and had some gin, and from thence to my
house, where we went in and stayed a little while, to wait the
change of the police. I told Shields he was to carry that
trunk to St. Thomas's Hospital. He asked if there was a
woman in the house who could walk alongside of him, so that
people might not take any notice. Williams called his wife up,
and asked her to walk with Shields, and to carry the hat-box
which he gave her to carry. There was nothing in it, but it
was tied up as if there were. We then put the box with the
body on Shields' head, and went to the hospital, Shields and
Mrs. Williams walking on one side of the street, and I and
Williams on the other. At St. Thomas's Hospital I saw Mr.
South's tootman, and sent him up stairs to Mr. South to ask if
he wanted a subject. The footman brought me word that his
master wanted one, but could not give an answer till the next
day, as he had not time to look at it. During this interview,
Shields, Williams, and his wife, were waiting at a public-house.
I then went alone to Mr. Appleton, at Mr. Grainger's [Ana-
tomical Theatre], and agreed to sell it to him for eight guineas,
and afterwards I fetched it from St. Thomas's Hospital,
and took it to Mr. Appleton, who paid me £5 then, and the
rest on the following Monday. After receiving the £5, 1
went to Shields and Williams and his wife, at the public-house,
when I paid Shields 10s. for his trouble, and we then all went
to the Flower Pot in Bishopsgate, where we had something

APPENDIX. 287

to drink, and then went home. I never saw the woman's
child after the first time before mentioned. She said she had
left the child with a person she had taken some of her things
to, before her landlord took her goods. The woman murdered
did not tell us her name ; she said her age was thirty-five, I
think, and that her husband, before he died, was a
cabinetmaker. She was thin, rather tall, and very
much marked with the small-pox. I also confess the murder
of a boy who told us his name was Cunningham. It
was a fortnight after the murder of the woman. I and
Williams found him sleeping about eleven or twelve o'clock at
night, on Friday, the 21st of October, as I think, under the pig-
boards in the pig market in Smithfield. Williams woke him,
and asked him to come along with him (Williams), and the boy
walked with Williams and me to my house in Nova Scotia
Gardens. We took him into my house, and gave him some
warm beer, sweetened with sugar, with rum and laudanum in
it. He drank two or three cups full, and then fell asleep in a
little chair belonging to one of my children. We laid him on
the floor and went out for a little while, and got something to
drink and then returned, carried the boy to the well, and threw
him into it, in the same way as we served the other boy and
the woman. He died instantly in the well, and we left him
there a little while, to give time for the mixture we had given
him to run out of the body. We then took the body from the
well, took off the clothes in the garden, and buried them there.
The body we carried into the wash-house, and put it into the
same box, and left it there till the next evening, when we got
a porter to cany it with us to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where
I sold it to Mr. Smith for eight guineas. This boy was about
ten or eleven years old, said his mother lived in Kent Street,
and that he had not been home for a twelvemonth and better.
I solemnly declare that these were all the murders in which I
have been concerned, or that 1 know anything of; that I and
Williams were alone concerned in these, and that no
other person whatever knew anything about either of them,
and that I do not know whether there are others who
practise the same mode of obtaining bodies for sale. I know
nothing of any Italian boy, and was never concerned in or

288 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HA&E.

knew of the murder of such a boy. . . . Until the transac-
tions before set forth, I never was concerned in obtaining a
subject by the destruction of the living. I have followed the
course of obtaining a livelihood as a body-snatcher for twelve
years, and have obtained and sold, I think, from 500 to 1000
bodies ; but I declare, before God, that they were all obtained
after death, and that, with the above exceptions, I am ignorant
of any murder for that or any other purpose."

Williams, whose proper name was Thomas Head, confirmed
the confession given above as altogether true.

SONGS AND BALLADS.

The following songs and ballads were published at the time the
news of the West Port tragedies was agitating the people of
Scotland. They are rude and unpoetical for the most part,
but they are fairly representative of a very extensive class, in
which the feelings of the common people are not unfaithfully
mirrored.

RHYMES

On reading the Trial of William Burke and Helen M'Dougal, for
Murder, 24th December, 1828.

AN EXPOSTULATION.
" Thou can'st not say I did it!!!"

Ah ! — can'st thou, with cold indifference see
The hand of execration point to thee 1

APPENDIX. 289

Can'st thou, unmov'd, bear a whole nation's cry,
To cleanse thyself from the polluted sty
Of Burke, and Hare, and all that fiendish crew,
Who, for mere gain, their fellow-mortals slew,
And sold to thee, as thou hast not denied,
Such bodies as by students were descried
Ne'er to have been interred, nay, bore, some say,
Strong marks of life, by violence reft away ?
And thou didst not attempt the truth to find,
Though ott it must have flash'd across thy mind ;
But with a reckless carelessness, reoeiv'd
Whate'er was brought,* and any lie believ'd,
Told by the gang, whose very forms do show
They would not tell thee aught thou did'st not know,
Or should'st have known, if true thy Science says,
That marks of death by Murder any ways
May well be seen, when the dissecting knife
Opens all the sure and secret seats of life.f

Art thou a Scotsman '? then haste to prove

That patriotic feelings can thy bosom move ;
Haste to wipe out the stain thy country shares,
While such a stigma fair Edina bears.
Art thou a son of Science? quickly, then,
Show she does not make brutes of lecturing men.
Art thou a Father ? then thy child may plead,
To cleanse thyself from this unholy deed.
Art thou a husband ? ask thine honest wife,
If 'twere not better to descend in life,

* Vide the evidence produced on the trial of Burke, &c. It has been

told as a fact, that this gang carried off to one of their slaughtered

victims in such a hurry, that the body actually groaned in the box on the
porter's back. No doubt the half-strangled being would be dead enough
after a night in the cellar. — Original Note.

t The is understood to be profoundly skilled in Anatomy ; conse-
quently, it is one of the bitterest satires that can be uttered against the
utility of the Science, to say that he was ignorant that the bodies supplied
by Burke and his gang had come to their death by violence, — Original Note,

290 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

Than traffic with the basest, vilest band,

And thus for soon's the deed is plann'd ;

A ready market keep — and hide away

An old tea-box ; that's all which you can say.

Art thou a Christian ? think'st thou this avails

With Him on high, who, with unerring scales,

Weighs all the thoughts, and words, and deeds of men,

And searches through, ev'n the soul's inmost ken ?

If this dread argument will not prevail,

Nought can thy cold obdurate heart assail.

Yes, time mispent, and surely worse than vain,

'Tis to attempt to rouse, by my poor strain,

The proud rich man, hedg'd round by many a friend,

Whose voice th' applause of hundred youths attend.

If his own conscience will not wake and cry,

Assert thine innocence, REPLY, reply,

To all the accusations lately rais'd

'Gainst thy fair fame, till ev'n has gaz'd,

And gaz'd in vain to see thee come forth,

Arm'd with thy thy and thy

* * * * Cetera desunt.

WILLIAM BURKE.

0 Burke, cruel man, how detested thy name is !
Thy dark deeds of blood are a stain on our times.
0 savage, relentless, forever infamous,
Long, long will the world remember thy crimes.

Thrice ten human beings, weep all you who hear it,
Were caught in his snares and caught in his den,
The shades of thy victims may elude thy vile spirit,
0 Burke, cruel monster, thou basest of men,

APPENDIX. 291

The weary, the old, and the way-faring stranger,
Were woo'd by his kindness and led to his door,
But little knew they that the path led to danger,
0 little knew they that their wanderings were o'er.

Little knew they that the beams of the morning,
To wake them to brightness, would shine all in vain,
And little their friend knew, who watched their returning,
That they were ne'er more to return back again.

0 gather the bones of the murdered together,

And give them a grave in some home of the dead,

That their poor weeping friends with sad hearts may go thither,

And shed tears of sorrow above their cold bed.

Ye great men of learning, ye friends of dissection,
Who travell'd through blood to the temple of gain,
And bright human life for your hateful inspection,
0 give the poor friends the white bones of the slain.

But woe to the riches and skill thus obtained,
Woe to the wretch that would injure the dead,
And woe to his portion whose fingers are stained
With the red drops of life that he cruelly shed.

Tho' Burke has been doom'd to expire on the gallows,
The vilest that ever dishonoured the tree,
Yet some may survive him whose hearts are as callous,
0, who will be safe if the tigers be free.

Let none e'er reside in the crime marked dwellings,
For ever disgraced by Burke and by Hare,
May the cold damp of horror lie dark in their ceilings,
And their pale ghastly walls still be dismal and bare.

292 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

Let their guilt and their gloom speak of nothing but terror,

Some dark deeds of blood to the stranger declare,

And ages to come ever mark them with horror,

For the ghosts of the murdered will still gather there.

ELEGAIC LINES WRITTEN ON THE TRAGICAL
MURDER OF POOR DAFT JAMIE.

Attendance give, whilst I relate
How Poor Daft Jamie met his fate ;
'Twill make your hair stand on your head,
As I unfold the horrid deed ; —

That hellish monster, William Burke,
Like Reynard sneaking on the lurk,
Coy-duck'd his prey into his den,
And then the woeful work began ; —

" Come, Jamie, drink a glass wi' me,
And I'll gang wi' ye in a wee,
To seek yer mither i' the toim —
Come drink, man, drink, an' sit ye doun."

" Nae, I'll no' drink wi' ye the nou,

For if I div 'twill make me fou ; "

" Tush, man, a wee will do ye guid,

'Twill cheer yer heart, and warm yer bluid."

APPENDIX. 293

At last he took the fatal glass,
Not dreaming what would come to pass ;
^Yllen once he drank, he wanted more —
Till drunk he fell upon the floor.

" Now," said th' assassin, " now we may
Seize on him as our lawful prey."
kt Wait, wait," said Hare, " ye greedy ass
He's yet too strong — let's tak' a glass."

Like some unguarded gem he lies —
The vulture wants to seize his prize ;
Nor does he dream he's in his power,
Till it has seized him to devour.

The ruffian dogs, — the hellish pair, —
The villain Burke, — the meagre Hare, —
Impatient were their prize to win,
So to their smothering pranks begin : —

Burke cast himself on Jamie's face,
And clasp'd him in his foul embrace ;
But Jamie waking in surprise,
"Writhed in an agony to rise.

At last, with nerves unstrung before,
He threw the monster on the floor ;
And though alarm'd, and weaken'd too,
He would have soon o'ercome the foe ;

But help was near — for it Burke cried,
And soon his friend was at his side ;
Hare tripp'd up Jamie's heels, and o'er
He fell, alas ! to rise no more !

294 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

Now both these blood-hounds him engage,
As hungry tygers fill'd with rage,
Nor did they handle axe or knife,
To take away Daft Jamie's life.

No sooner done, than in a chest
They cramm'd this lately-welcom'd guest,
And bore him into Surgeons' Square —
A subject fresh — a victim rare !

And soon he's on the table laid,
Expos'd to the dissecting blade ;
But where his members now may lay
Is not for me — or you — to say.

But this I'll say — some thoughts did rise,
It fill'd the students with surprise,
That so short time did intervene
Since Jamie on the streets was seen.

But though his body is destroy'd,
His soul can never be decoy'd
From that celestial state of rest,
Where he, I trust, is with the bless'd.

MRS. WILSON'S LAMENTATION ON HEARING OF THE
CRUEL MURDER OF HER SON.

Why didst thou wander from my side,
My joy, my treasure, and my pride ?
Though others little thought of thee,
Though wert a treasure dear to me.

APPENDIX.

I little thought when thee I left,
So soon of thee to be bereft ;
Or that when after me you sought
You would by ruffian men be caught.

Thy playful manners fill'd with joy
The aged sire and sportive boy ;
Of real joy you had enough,
When you could give or take a snuff.

The tricks you play'd with childish art,
Bound you the closer to my heart ;
Thy kindness to thy mother prov'd
How dearly she by thee was lov'd.

What horrid monsters were these men
Who Lur'd thee to their fatal den ;
That den, whose deeds as yet untold,
Were done for sake of sordid gold.

But they alone were not to blame ;
For when these dauntless monsters came
With human creatures scarcely cold,
The doctors took them, we were told.

Nor did they leave the doctor's door
A\ ithout an order to bring more !
But Justice stern aloud doth cry —
" Let all who wink at murder die ! "

And justice shall to me be done,
On all who murder'd my poor son ; —
I'll make appeal to Britan's King,
That one and all of them may swing.

295

296 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

But that will not restore my son,
Or remedy the mischief done ;
He mnrder'd is — no peace I have,
I shall go mourning to my grave.

DAFT JAMIE.

The following is a chap-book version of the ballad quoted
at pp. 205-6.

0 ! dark was the midnight when Hare fled away,
Not a star in the sky gave him one cheering ray,
But still now and then, would the blue lightnings glare,
And some strange cries assail'd him, like shrieks of despair.

Over vale, over hill, I will watch thee for ill ;

I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still.

But, lo ! as the savage ran down the wild glen,
For no place did he fear like the dwellings of men,
Where the heath lay before him all dismal and bare,
The ghost of Daft Jamie appeared to him there.

Over vale, &c.

I am come, said the shade, from the land of the dead,
Though there is for Jamie no grass covered bed,
Yet I'm come to remind you of deeds that are past,
And to tell you that justice will find you at last,

Over vale, &c.

APrr.XDIX. 297

0 ! Hare, thou hast been a dark demon of blood,
But vengeance shall chase thee o'er field and o'er flood ;
Though you fly away from the dwellings of men,
The shades of thy victims shall rise in thy den.

Over vale, &c.

When night falls on the world, 0 ! how can you sleep,
In your dreamsdo you ne'er see my poor mother weep ?
Sadly she wept ; but, 0 ! long shall she mourn,
E'er poor wandering Jamie from the grave shall return.

Over vale, &c.

From the grave, did I say, and though calm is the bed
Where slumber is dreamless, the home of the dead,
Where friends may lament, there sorrow may be,
Yet no grave rises as green as the world for me.

Over vale, &c.

0 ! Hare, go to shelter thy fugutive head,
In some land that is not of the living or dead ;
For the living against thee may justly combine,
And the dead must despise such a spirit as thine.

Over vale, &c.

0 ! Hare fly away, but this world cannot be

The place of abode to a demon like thee,

There is gall in your heart — poison is in your breath,

And the glare of your eyes is as fearful as death.

Over vale, &c.

298 HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

When the blue lightnings flash' d through the glen, and it shone,
And there rose a wild cry, and there heaved a deep groan,
A« the Ghost of the innocent boy disappear'd,
But his shrieks down the glen, in the night breeze were heard.

Over vale, &c.

THE RESURRECTIONISTS.

In No. XXIX of The Emmet, an old Glasgow periodical, pub-
lished on Saturday, 18th October, 1823, is the following : —

" The Resurrectionists, a Tale (in Blind Alek verse) Humbly
Inscribed to the Editor of the ' Glasgow Chronicled Printed for
John Smith, 25, Gallowgate.

" Original.

" This elegant poem was put into our hands as we were
going to press, so we must be excused for passing it over more
slightly than such a performance deserves. In fact we have
only room for a single extract. It opens as follows, in a style
which leaves Lewis, and RatclifFe, and all our writers on the
horrible, far in the rear. John Starke himself, with his
' Thesaurus of Horror,' never penned anything so deliciously
frightful.

' Twas a cold winter night, and dark teas the clouds,
And the dead men lay .quietly still in their shrouds ;
The worms revelled sweetly their eyeholes among, —
It was a rout night, and there was a great throng :
Some fed upon brains, others fed upon liver,
Had we e'er such a feast, all cried out, 0 ! no, never.'

APPENDIX. 299

" We suspect our readers will think we have given them enough
of this feast; if they pant for more of it, let them turn to the
work itself. More disgusting trash never emanated from the
press. Blind Alek is a Milton compared with the blockhead
who would sit down and pen such a mass of loathesomeness.
. . . Lord preserve us from this imitator of Blind Alek.

' Some heads replete with strange bombastic stuff,
Think words when rhym'd poetical enough.' "

THE LAMENT.

" Whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be
shed." — Genesis, ix, 6.

" Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their
days." — Psalm, lv. 23.

" Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men." — PsALM,
cxxxix. 19.

" Now thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the
bloody city?" — Ezekiel, xxii. 2.

" The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the
ground." — Genesis, iv. 10.

0 WOE for bonny Scotland,

For murder is abroad,
And we must flee for refuge,

To an avenging God.
For we have seen that Law alone,

Can do us little gude,
As it has let three demons loose,

To work mair deeds of blude.

300 FTTSTORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

Ye bloody fiends, ye hellish fiends,

Dare ye here yet be seen,
With the mark of blood upon your brows,

And murder in your een !
0 woe for my ain Scotland,

For thou art now the land,
Chosen for such deeds of darkness,

As man before ne'er plann'd.

Alas for Mary Paterson,

Cut off in her young days,
Wi' a' her sins upon her,

And in her wicked ways ;
While steep'd in drunk stupidity,

And overcome by sleep,
On his devoted victim

Burke took the dreadful leap.

And alas for the old woman,

Entic'd to revelry,
Under the mask of country kindness,

By a Judas for his fee ;
That he might sell her body,

When he had done the deed,
And with the price of human blood,

His loathsome carcass feed.

O'hon for poor Daft Jamie,

Whom we shall miss away,
In his own happy idiocy,

Sae gude-natur'd and gay !
0 ! who shall cheer the mother

For the want of her poor boy,
By's simpleness the more endear d

To her — her only joy.

APPENDIX. 301

But our all-gracious Maker

Will surely soon look down,

On this detested murder

With his all-powerful frown !

In search of his dear mother,

Burke found him wand'ring then,
And for to see his parent,

Was lur'd to Hare's dread den ;
Where he was ply'd with liquor,

(And all by coaxings prest),
Till he was quite o'erpow'red,

And laid him down to rest.

The two fell fiends they watch'd then,

Until he soundly slept,
Then Hare upon his destin'd prey

With murderous purpose crept.
And having fastened on him,

Hare strove his life to take ;
Which recall' d his long lost reason,

And did his senses wake.

He shook the butcher from him,

And seeing no help there,
He fought with all the frenzy

Of madness and despair.
His cowardly assassin,

Did crouch beneath his blows,
And called on Burke his comrade

To give the murderous close.

They two, conjoin'd together,
Depriv'd him of his life ;

302 ITT STORY OF BURKE AND HARE.

But not before he left them

Marks of the desperate strife.

In his tremendous struggle,

Though weaken'd much by drink,

He showed how men do fight for life,
When on death's dreadful brink.

His body, it is said, (if true,

Let those who bought beware)
Was sold to an Anatomist ;

And some one did declare,
When it lay on his table

For the dissecting knife,
That it was poor daft Jamie,

Whom he saw strong in life

But yesterday ; and more 'twas strange

As all knew passing well,
He was a stout and hearty youth,

The rest I may not tell ;
But loudly it's been whisper'd,

That damning marks of strife
Show'd clear that death by violence

Had twirid him of his life.

'Tis told, that then the body

Was laid in spirits strong,
To remove all such suspicions,

And hide the cruel wrong.
If so ! 0 righteous Heaven,

To thee we look for aid ;
Nor will thy kindling anger

Be longer much delay'd !

Thou art the poors avenger,
The idiots only guard,

APPENDIX.

303

The childless mother's helper,

The good man's high reward.

To Thee then we are looking,
To appease the cry of blood

Which rims throughout our city,
Like a portentous flood !

And we do hold thy promise,
We shall not look in vain ;

For whoso sheddeth man's blood,
He surely shall be slain!

The End.

^

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