 CHAPTER XXV. THE CURRENT CONFESSION OF BERK. DETAILS OF THE CRIMS. BERK'S ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE. THE CRIMINALS AND DR. NOX. In the following pages is the current confession of Berk, about which there was so much difficulty in heart-burning. 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 Berk 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 four-noon 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 whiskey 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 marry her, and get all the money amongst them. They then proposed to her to stay all night, which she did, as she was so drunk she could not go home, and in the morning was vomiting. They then gave her some porter and whiskey, 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 Hayes. Perhaps this should be Sir John Hope. The next was an Englishman, a native of Cheshire, and a lodger of hares. 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 gray hairs. He used to sell spunks in Edinburgh, was about forty years of age, did not know his name. Italics. Sold to Dr. Knox for ten pounds. And Italics. 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. Italics. Sold to Dr. Knox for ten pounds. And Italics. The old woman was decoyed into the house by Mrs. Hare in the forenoon from the street, while 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 was at this time 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 Patterson, who was murdered in Burke's brother's house in the Canon Gate 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 afternoon of the same day, and got eight pounds for her body. She had Tuppence-Hapenny, which she held fast in her hand. There is that the girl Patterson was only four hours dead till she was in Knox's dissecting-rooms, but she was not dissected at that time, for she was three months in whisky before she was dissected. She was warm when Burke cut the hair off her head, and Knox brought a Mr. Blank, 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 Canon Gate as one P is alike 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 grandson, 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 tic, stripped off her clothes, and laid her on the bottom of the bed, and then put on the bed-tic 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 hurly, 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 in them had hard work to get them out, being so stiff and cold. They received sixteen pounds 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 Karen Company. 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 ten pounds for him. Burke and Helen Medougal were on a visit seeing their friends near Falkirk. This was the time a procession was made round a stone in that neighborhood, 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 himself, and sold her to Dr. Knox's assistance for eight pounds. 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 cindergatherer. Burke thinks her name was Effie. She was in the habit of selling small pieces of leather to him. End italic, as he was a cobbler. End italic. She gathered about the coach works. He took her into Hare's stable and gave her whiskey to drink till she was drunk. She then laid out 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's Square, and sold for ten pounds. Through Williamson a policeman and his neighbor were dragging a drunk woman to Westport Watchhouse. 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's Square and got ten pounds. Burke being asked, did the policeman 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. 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 Reimer'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 Reimer's shop for a penny-worth 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. Within 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-muchkin, which they did, and urged him to drink. She took a little with them. They then invited him 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 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. Some time after he said he threw away the box in the tanyard, and the brass box that was libeled against Burke in the sheriff's office, was Burke's own box. It was after breakfast Jamie was enticed in, and he was murdered 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 whiskey all the time. He was then put into a closet that Hare kept clothes in, and they carried him to Dr. Knox's in Surgeon Square that afternoon, and got ten pounds 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. Helen Madougal, a cousin of Helen Madougal's former husband. She was a young woman and married, and had come on a visit to see them. Hare and Burke gave her whiskey 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, Patterson, 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 whiskey going at these times, to make him quiet. Hare and Burke then gave him one pound ten shillings 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 ten pounds for her. Hare was a cautioner for Broggan's rent, being three pounds, 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 Anne Madougal, 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 propose 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. There's Haldane, a stout old woman, who had a daughter transported last summer from the Colton Jail for fourteen years, and has another daughter married to Blank in the High Street. She was a lodger of hares. 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. 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 afternoon in a tea-box, and eight pounds 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 whiskey 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 eight pounds for her. Broggan's wife was out of the house at the time the murder was committed. Mrs. Hostler had nine-pence hapeny in her hand, which they could scarcely get out of it after she was dead so firmly was it grasped. The woman Campbell, or Doctrity, was murdered on the 31st October 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 Doctrity, lay down among some straw at the bedside, 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. 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 cannon 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 the money for them. He was never concerned 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 Madougal, 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 neighbors, but he would not agree to it. The reason was they could not trust her as she was a Scotch woman. Helen Madougal 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 whiskey by his bedside and a two-penny candle to burn all night beside him. When he awoke he would take a draft of the bottle, sometimes half a bottle at a draft, 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 daytime and grew more bold. When they carried the girl Patterson to Knox's there were a great many boys in the high school yards who followed Burke and the man that carried her 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 too, 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 the 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 one pound of Burke's share for the use of the house, of all that were murdered in their house, for if the price received was ten pounds, Hare got six pounds and Burke only got four pounds. But Burke did not give her the one pound for Daph 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 three shillings 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 murder any person. They entered into a contract with Dr. Knox and his assistants that they were to get ten pounds in winter and eight pounds in summer for as many subjects as they could bring to them. 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. Monroe 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 it ten o'clock at Dr. Knox's Insurgent Square, and he would take it from them, which they did. They got seven pounds, ten shillings for him. That was the only subject they sold that they did not murder, and getting that high price made them try the murdering for subjects. Burke, his thirty-six years of age, was born in the parish of Ori, 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 Ballena, 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 pebbles 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 and leaf, and he has lived with Helen Madougal for about ten years, until he and she were confined in the Counten Jail, on the charge of murdering the woman of the name of Dockarty or Campbell, and both were tried before the High Court of Justiciary in December last. Helen Madougal'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 the harvest, and returned back to him when the harvest was over. She remained until he was confined along with his wife in the Counten Jail. She then sold twenty-one of his swine for three pounds, and absconded. She 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 Maguire, or Mayor. 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 Madougal never did, nor saw them done. Burke never durced let her know. He used to smuggle and drink, and get better vitals 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. Burke declares that Dr. Knox never encouraged him, neither taught nor encouraged him to murder any person, neither any of his assistants. That worthy gentleman Mr. Ferguson was the only man that ever mentioned anything about the bodies. He inquired where we got that young woman, Patterson. Signed William Burke, prisoner. Condemned cell, January 21st, 1829. End of CHAPTER XXXV. CHAPTER XXXVI. OF THE HISTORY OF BURKE AND Hare. AND OF THE RESERRACTIONIST TIMES. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by John Brandon. THE HISTORY OF BURKE AND Hare by George McGregor. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE FATE OF Hare. Mrs. Hare in Glasgow. Rescued from the mob. Her escape to Ireland. And subsequent career. Helen McDougall. Burke's wife in Ireland. In 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 into public ken. Long afterwards it was stated that an old white-haired blind man, led by a dog, was in the habit of frequenting 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 newspaper gave currency to a statement that Hare had died shortly before in Canada, whether 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 accomplices with offenses of which it must be assumed they were innocent. Thus in the Edinburgh Evening Current, 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 matter being similar to that adopted by the Westport experts. The object of the inquiry was said to be to ascertain whether Hare or Burke were in or out of Edinburgh 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 was liberated from Carleton 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 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 proceeding to more extreme measures. The police interfered and for safety took Mrs. Hare to the lockup 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 hay ricks, 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 Carleton, 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 Carleton 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 Broomey Law to see when a vessel would be ready to sail for Ireland, whether 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 recognized by a drunken woman who shouted out, Hare's wife, Burke her, and sent 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 Carleton, 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 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 vigor. She was detained in custody until Thursday, the 12th of February, when she sailed from the Brumie Law 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 without 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 guardianship 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. Layton, 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 who was in Paris about the year 1850 that having occasion for a nurse, she employed a woman apparently between 60 and 70 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 sang 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 30, 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. Helen McDougall was no more fortunate in her treatment by the populace. Mention has already been made of the riot that followed her liberation and it has also been stated that she 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 overheard 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 MacDougall finally left Edinburgh, she went towards the home of her relatives in Stirlingshire but they would have nothing to do with her and drove her away. She sought an asylum in the neighborhood of Carnworth but she was recognized and roughly treated and again at New Bigging she had to run the gauntlet of an infuriated mob. Towards the end of January, 1829, a woman was severely abused in Lanark under the idea that she was MacDougall 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 William. About the beginning of February, MacDougall 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 center 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 air now she must have gone to her account. But perhaps there is no more effecting part of the terrible story of the Westport murders than is discovered by a letter received by an Edinburgh gentleman from the Reverend Anthony Corcoran, Roman Catholic Curate at Kilmore, May near Ballinah. The 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. I have minutely inquired into the conduct of the unfortunate Burke and I feel much pleasure in assuring you that there was not a blot on his character for the time he lived in Ballinah. After the receipt of your letter, I sent for Margaret Coleman, Burke's wife to whom I communicated the sad news of the awful death that awaited her ill-fated husband. She was prepared for the shock for some time. She was acquainted with her husband's criminal intercourse with the notorious MacDougall. 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 Emancipation question beginning to agitate the country. While parliamentary 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 Gilmurton was lying intoxicated in the house in Tanner's clothes, 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. End of Chapter 36 Recording by John Brandon Chapter 37 of the History of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist Times. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The History of Burke and Hare by George McGregor. Chapter 37. Dr. Knox's connection with Burke and Hare. His egotism. Knox's criticism of Liston and his assistance. Hanging Knox's effigy. Popular tummels. 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 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 dislike 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 Resurrectionist 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, Layton writes of him in terms far from complimentary. Having referred to the professional and even personal jealousy that existed between the rival teachers of anatomy in Edinburgh and their students, Layton says, unfortunately, the characters of the leaders, with the exception of Monroe, were not calculated to temper this zeal with discretion or throw a veil of decency over the transactions of low men, which, however 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 whiling patience 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 admiration due to his powers. But Knox was a man of a far more complex organization if it was indeed possible to analyze him. A despair to the physiognomists 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, not limited to mundane powers, form that contrast to an imputed self-perfection, not without the evidence of very great scientific accomplishments. Having told of an unscrupulous practical joke played by Knox on Professor Jamison, Layton proceeds, even the bitterness of soul towards competitors was not sufficiently gratified by the pouring forth of the Tofana spirit of his sarcasm. He behoved to hold the file with refined fingers and rub the liquid into the raw with the soft touch of love. The affected attenuation of voice and forced retinue 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've 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 knowledge, genius, and originality, for they now occupy some of the most conspicuous and trying positions in Europe. Again. Before commencing today's lecture, I am compelled by the sacred calls of duty to notice an extraordinary surgical operation which has this morning been performed in a neighboring building by a gentleman, Mr. Liston, who, I believe, regards himself as the first surgeon in Europe. A country laborer from the neighborhood of Trannant came to the infirmary a few days ago with an aneurysm of considerable extent, connected with one of the large arteries of the neck, and notwithstanding of its being obvious to the nearest tyro that it was an aneurysm, 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 as 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 aneurysmal sac, the patient was dead in a few seconds. This notable member of the profession is actually an extra-academic lecturer on surgery in this great metropolis, and on this occasion was assisted by a gentleman similarly constituted, both intellectually and physically, who had been trained up under the fostering care of a learned professor. Monroe, in a certain university, who inherited his anatomical 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 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 dependent upon brute force, ignorance, and presumption, nor has it anything to do with an utter destitution of honor and common honesty. This extraordinary 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 honor 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 Berke Medougal, 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 Colton 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 born 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 hair. While the mob was crossing the South Bridge, a strong, resolute policeman attempted, single-handed, to disperse them, as he saw a riot 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 seal 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 passed 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 hazzas 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 horse-play about it. But now matters assumed a threatening aspect and a movement was made towards Dr. Knox's house, which it seemed to be intended to attack. The city authorities had become alarmed at the appearance of affairs and, having collected all their forces, the city watchmen under Captain Stewart, the superintendent, and a superior officer in another department of the municipal service marched quickly towards Newington to suppress the tumult and prevent, if possible, further popular excesses. The superintendent 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 injured. No further rioting took place at this time and no property was destroyed beyond some panes of glass in the window 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 any mischief, a strong body of police met them opposite 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 grass market along the cow gate to the horse wind, breaking the glass in the windows of the south and west sides of the college. Several of the ring-leaders of another crowd, which took up its quarters in the cow gate, 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 disturbance 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. About 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 adjoining was whole. An attempt was also made to force Knox's premises in Surgeon 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 newspapers 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 autotaphay is meditated, on which occasion the cavalcade 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 the city be released of this man's presence, or until his innocence be manifested. Injustice to himself, if he is innocent. Injustice 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. End of Chapter 37 Chapter 38 of the History of Birkenhair and of the Resurrectionist Times This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The History of Birkenhair by George McGregor Chapter 38 Inquiry into Dr. Knox's relations with Birkenhair 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 Birkenhair, 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 current of Thursday, 12 February, that at the desire of Dr. Knox and his friends, ten gentlemen, with the Marquess of Queensbury at their head, had agreed to make a full and fair investigation into all Dr. Knox's dealings with the Westport Criminals, and to make a report to the public. In the same newspaper on Monday, the 23rd of February, it was stated simply that the noble Marquess 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 their report, for it was not until Saturday, the 21st of March, 1829, that the result of their labours was published in the current. This report, certainly by no means the least important document in connection with the Westport 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 circulation regarding him, have gone into an extensive examination of evidence, in the course of which they have courted information 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 especially 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. One, 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. Two, on the question whether any suspicion of murder at any time existed in Dr. Knox's mind, the Committee would observe 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, together with the opinion previously expressed by Dr. Knox, in common with most other anatomists, of the generally abandoned character of persons engaged in this traffic. But on the other hand, the Committee, after most anxious inquiry, 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 apprehension of Burke. These bodies do not appear in any instance to have borne 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 practiced in this and other similar establishments is such as would have made it very difficult to ascertain the cause of death, even if special inquiry had been instituted with that intention. No evidence whatever 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 complete 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 seemed to the Committee to indicate 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 Committee that no mutilation or disfigurement of any kind was ever practiced with a view to conceal the features or abstract unreasonably any part of the body, the presence of which would have facilitated detection. And it appears clearly that the subjects brought by Burke and Hare were dissected in the same protracted manner as those procured from any other quarter. The Committee have thought it proper to inquire further whether there was anything faulty or negligent in the regulations under which the subjects were received into Dr. Knox's rooms, which gave or might give a peculiar facility to the disposal 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 expressed the opinion, long prior to any dealing with Burke and Hare, that a considerable supply of subjects for 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 Committee cannot consider Dr. Knox to have been culpable. They believe that there is nothing contrary to the law of the land in procuring subjects for dissection in that way. And they 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 by 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 himself with great address and appearance of honesty, as well in his connections with Dr. Knox, as in his more frequent intercourse with his assistants, and always to have represented himself 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 entrust the dealings with persons supplying subjects and the reception of the subjects bought to his assistants, seven in number, and to his doorkeeper indiscriminately. It appears also that he directed or allowed these dealings to be conducted on the understanding, common to him, with some other anatomists, 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 considered 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 in particular nature of the system on which these men profess 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 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 importance 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 consequences. This report was signed by John Robison, Chairman, James Russell, Thomas Allen, W. P. Allison, George Ballengall, George Sinclair, W. Hamilton, John Robison for M. P. Brown, Esquire, 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 Patterson, the doorkeeper mentioned in the report, was, as that individual himself put it, being made the scapegoat for a personage in higher life. However, the matter was allowed to rest there. End of Chapter 38. Chapter 39 of the history of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist times. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by John Brandon. The History of Burke and Hare by George McGregor. Chapter 39. English newspapers on the West Port tragedies, The Sun, and its idea of the popular feeling, Gray and his wife. The strange ongoings in Edinburgh, it has been seen, met with the approval of the greater number of the Scotch newspapers. But many journals of the Southern side of the border professed an 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 this sickly and sickening pretense to find feeling by these newspapers. The exclamations of the Scotch were evolutions of virtuous and honest resentment against the perpetrator of cruelties unheard of. We honor 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 Wilde and when the cruel brown rigs suffered at Tibern. 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 exalting 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 sun contained some comments 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 a few scattered and not very accurate paragraphs that published, and not being within hearing of the vague rumors 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 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, quote the luminary, is amusingly developed in the comments made by the different Edinburgh and Glasgow papers on the subject of the late Westport murders. Each journal seems to think its own honor 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 anatomists is far too original for the inferior conceptions of Scotchman. The Scotch character is much more amusingly developed 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 the exported 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 honor being implicated in the business, or hastened to prove that Burke and his wife, concubine, are both Irish. Our contemporaries, like ourselves, have stated such facts, as come 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 honor of having given birth to the criminals. But 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 Scotchman. We know of nothing, however, which we should not consider too original for the inferior conceptions of one Scotchman, whom we need not name, and whose talent for misrepresentation seems to be nearly on a level with a shallow petulance and presumption under 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 it his trial. And if the murderer had been silent on the point, his brogue would have certainly and inevitably have betrayed his country. As your Invernessian nasal drawl, with a little touch of the genuine Celtic accent engrafted thereupon, 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, MacDougall, Burke's concubine. Though her name would indicate that some of her ancestors 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, certainly. Except it be the ingenuity of such a driveler 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, columniates 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 Westport murder, judging from internal evidence, is decidedly of Scotch origin. There is a cool methodical business-like air about it, a scientific tech in the conception and a practiced 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 unequal atrocity to blend the qualities of both English and Irish guilt with a scientific effrontery peculiarly and preeminently their own. With an effrontery, which is very far indeed from being scientific, but which is nevertheless peculiarly and eminently his own, it has been reserved for this blundering renegade to pronounce a series of murders devised and perpetuated by Irishman alone, as decidedly of Scotch origin, and to talk of the internal evidence of a murder, while he is in ignorance of everything concerning it, except the mere fact of its having been committed. Dependent to the prejudices of the very lowest class of Englishman by pouring out abuse upon Scotland and to compromise the solid interest of his constituents, the highly respectable proprietors of the sun by venting libelous scurrilities against the country, which had the misfortune to give him birth and where that journal has hitherto been received with a degree of favor to which, not the talents of its editor certainly, but the activity of its reporters seem to entitle it. But let that person look to himself. We know it is always renegade Scotsman who are loudest and fiercest in abusing their country. Dr. John McCulloch is one of that class and he has accordingly been served out in some measure proportioned to his desserts. If the editor of the sun, therefore, has a mind to indulge further in such disgraceful scurrilities, he had as well accost him himself a latum at gradatum 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 drugged McCulloch, the libeler 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 favor 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 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 their dark deeds of blood. The relationship between Mrs. Gray and Helen MacDougall, it should be here stated, was simply that the former was the daughter of the man MacDougall with whom the latter took up in Madison and lived with until his death when she met Burke. End of chapter 39, recording by John Brandon. Chapter 40 of the history of Burke and Hare and the resurrectionist times, this is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by John Brandon. The history of Burke and Hare by George McGregor. Chapter 40, 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. 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, have 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 expected. And they were face to face with the equally painful fact that the sacrilegious violation of graves and the even more sacrilegious breaking into the bloody house of life, as Mr. Coburn put it, had been resorted to in order to give the bold anatomists of the time an opportunity of investigating this 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 were the wise enthusiasm through their whole influence in their favor. 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 favored 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 Calton Hill 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 the contemporary chronicler exhibited an extraordinary instance of the manner in which dead bodies are procured for dissection. Mr. Murray, the assistant overseer of the parish of Newington, stated that on the Monday, preceding the 9th 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, effecting 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 inquiries 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 appearance 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 80 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 pauperous 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 apprehended. 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 11 guineas for their wear. An officer of the police searched the lodgings of the prisoners in Southwark and there discovered the clothes which had belonged to the deceased together with a great variety of implements used by body snatchers such as screwdrivers and wrenching machines for opening the lids of coffins and jimlets of all sizes. But not only did they appear to be engaged in robbing the houses of the dead, housebreaking 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 misdemeanor which would cover the offense, Huntingdon and his wife under the existing state of the law could only be libeled 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, a member for Bridgeport obtained the first reading of a bill intended to free anatomists from the restrictions under which they pursued their inquiries. This measure was supported by the Lord Advocate for Scotland, Sir William Ray, whose experience in the inquiries in the Burke and Hare trials was a strong recommendation in its favor. 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 accordance 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 the 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 petitioners, 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 appeared in the public prints, stating that Dr. Knox of Edinburgh was guilty 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 petition 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 4, 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 provision. The view of the measure taken by the great body of the people was fitly given expression to by Lord F. Osborne, the member from 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 Malmsbury stood as sponsor for the measure in the House of Lords which had 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 Harrowood stated that with respect to the hard 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 investigation. All that the public really knew was that 15 or 16 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. End of Chapter 40. Recording by John Brandon. Chapter 41 of the history of Burke and Hare and of the resurrectionist times. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by William Jones. The history of Burke and Hare by George McGregor. Chapter 41, Burke in London. Apprehension of Bishop Williams and May. Their trial, confession and execution. Read the introduction 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 Westport murderers with a 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 12 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. Quote, it was very fresh and was a male subject of about 14 years of age. End quote. Mr. Hill, the porter, said he was not particularly requiring it but he would see the demonstrator, Mr. Partridge. There was some haggling about the price. Bishop offered it for 10 guineas but was ultimately forced to obey to some 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. He'll 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 nor theirs. They then informed Mr. Partridge of what he had seen and suspected that gentlemen 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 of the body and the rigidity of the limbs. There was also a cut over the left temple. Having made his examination he sent for the police and returning to the men he produced a 50 pound note telling them he must get that change to 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 pretense 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 was 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 ounces of coagulated blood was found amongst the muscle and this also in the opinion of the surgeons must have been effused when this subject was still alive. A portion of the spine having been removed for the purpose of examining the spinal marrow, the 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 in 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 Granger's Anatomical Theater, 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, 12 human teeth, which he said had belonged to a boy between 14 and 15 years of age whose body had never been buried. Some of the flesh and pieces of the jaw had hair 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 Ferriere 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 neighbors 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 all and a phial. There appeared to be fresh marks of blood on the brad all. Then in May's house in Dorset Street, New 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 of men's clothing, all of which were stained with blood. Another incident which 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 a 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 all, 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 all 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 puciferously, 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, Bishop and Williams made confessions before the undersheriff. 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 stupefied state to lure 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 thought allowed the drug liquor to run out of the mouth. They thus acknowledged to three distinct acts of murder, but they both declared that Mae was fully 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 Mae 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 murderer, 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 present officers to hold him, but he recovered in a quarter of an hour. By one o'clock the morning of Monday, the fifth of December, a great crowd had assembled in front of the scaffold at Newgate, and by daybreak as many as thirty thousand 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 in Edinburgh. The people hooded and yelled in a terrible manner while the executioner put the rope around the murderer's neck and fixed it to a chain depending from the beam, and the demonstration was renewed with vigor when Williams was brought out. When the drop fell, Bishop died instantly, but Williams struggled in the death agonies for several minutes. The crowd then broke through the barriers in a scene that baffles description ensued. Forgetting itself in the excitement of the moment, the mob rushed toward the scaffold, and in the struggle with 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 Burkeers of 1831. The author of the production called the trial, sentence, full confession, and execution of Bishop and Williams, the Burkeers. 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 cruelties as particularly preeminent, for it will prove to posterity that other wretches could be found base enough to follow the horrid example of Burke and his accomplice hair to entice the unprotected and friendless to the din of death for sordid gain. In accordance with the terms of sentence, the bodies of the executed criminals were delivered over for dissection and atomization. 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. Warren Burton 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 that there were not 40 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. Warren Burton on the 11th of April moved that it be recommitted, 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 in 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 afterward received the approval of the upper House. End of Chapter 41