 Chapter 15 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 15. The End Approaches. Proposed extension of business. Mrs. Dockarty claimed as Burke's relative. The lodgers dismissed. The murder of Mrs. Dockarty. But the end was near. This wholesale slaughter of human beings in the metropolis of a civilized country was almost finished. The only marvel was that it had lasted so long. The work had been conducted with so much impunity, however, 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 Square, they were always encouraged to bring more. Their efforts and the cause of science were thus appreciated by the scientists themselves, and it matters little whether the scientists were aware of the diabolical means their favored merchants used to obtain possession 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 the fellow creature for his mortal remains. And then Burke and Hare found their work comparatively easy and very remunerative, though perhaps a little risky. It was much easier than the cobbling of boots and shoes, or traveling about the country as a peddler. They enjoyed themselves looking for victims, and the process of getting one into a fit state of disposal was quite suited to their 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's confession. When they kept the mouth and the nose shut for a few minutes, they, the victims, 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, the murderers, left them to die by themselves. But their bodies would often move afterwards, and for some time they would have long breathings before life went away. And every one can re-acco 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 hithered to 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 Patterson, 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 Forre tragedies was the murderer of Mary Campbell or Dockarty, an old Irish woman, who had come to Edinburgh to look for her son. On the morning of the 31st of October, the Friday of the sacrament week, Burke was in Reimer's grocery store near his own closed 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 conversation 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 Dockarty and out of what appeared to be pure friendliness out of a feeling of patriotism 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 accompanied him to the house, once occupied by Brogan, but which, since that person had left the city, had been tenanted by Burke and Helen MacDougall. Mrs. Dockarty was made welcome by MacDougall, who seemed to understand everything. Burke sat the breakfast, but the stranger would not touch it until noon, as it was Friday. Leaving Helen MacDougall to look to the comfort of their guest, Burke went in search of hair, whom he found in Reimer's public house. They had a gill of whiskey together and Burke then told his colleague that he had at home a good shot to take to the doctors. Hair, 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 MacDougall and the old woman had after their breakfast set about cleaning up the room and had everything as neat and tidy as the ill-furnished tumble-down structure could well be. Burke again visited Reimer's for some provisions and preparations were made for a night's junketing to be followed 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 they were lodging with Burke an old soldier named James Gray and his wife. The man was a native of the grass market who after an attempt to learn his trade as a jeweler had enlisted in the Elgin Fencebles transferring afterwards to the 72nd Regiment and who had returned with his wife to Edinburgh after an absence of about 17 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 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 relationship, however distant, existed between them. Of course it would not do for Mrs. Docherty to seek accommodation anywhere else than in her relations 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 whiskey circulated rapidly. Burke indulged his musical taste by singing his favorite 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 neighbor where the revelry was continued and where Docherty hurt her foot while endeavoring to emulate the sprightliness of her more youthful companions. As the night wore on they kept more to their own house. The neighbors 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 keyhole of the door to see what was going on. One of them a woman saw, or thought she saw, Helen McDougal holding a bottle to the mouth of Docherty pouring the whiskey down her throat. After a while the disturbance ceased but not for long. About eleven o'clock Hare quarreled with Burke and the dispute could only be settled by an appeal to blows. Whether this was a real quarrel or not 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 McDougal immediately before the murder of Mary Patterson. While the two men were fighting Mrs. Docherty tipsy those she was tried to itter fear. She rose from the stool on which she had been sitting by the fireside 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. She fell heavily and owing to the amount of drink she had taken was unable to rise. Whenever this had been done the fighting ceased. Mrs. Hare and Helen McDougal 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 mistake 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 Patterson. Dr. Noxus Porter brought him to the house and pointing to the place where the body lay told him that there was a subject that would be ready for him in the morning. When Patterson 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 Halloween Eve and they brought in the month of November with heavy drinking. About midnight they were joined in their cups by a young fellow named Brogan, a son of the man to whom the house had once belonged and who as we have seen was bought off when the first murder that of McDougall'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 murdered woman beside them. End of Chapter 15 Recording by John Brandon Chapter 16 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 16 An ill excuse strange behavior discovery the threat unavailing arguments the last bargain About nine o'clock on the morning of Saturday the first 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 Grey 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 obtaining their food in their temporary lodgings when they entered Burke's house they found their Mrs. Law and Mrs. Conaway two neighbors Brogan and Helen McDougall they naturally missed the woman for whom they had been shifted and Mrs. Grey asked McDougall where the little old woman had gone the reply was that Mrs. Dockardy 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. Grey set about the dressing of her child Burke was behaving in a very curious manner for he had the whiskey 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 internally his explanation of this remarkable proceeding was that he wished the bottle tomb that he might again have it filled Mrs. Grey 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 Dockardy 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. Grey dispensed with his help and collected the potatoes without having disturbed 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 went about to go out telling Brogan to sit on a chair which was near the straw until he returned Brogan 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 McDougal left the house too and Mrs. Grey 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 Grey 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 day before the man lifted the head by the hair and saw there was blood about the mouth and the ears the horrified couple hastily threw this straw over the corpse and collected what property they had in the house in order to leave it immediately Grey would out first leaving his wife to complete their packing arrangements on the stair he met Helen McDougal and asked her what that was she had in the house the woman made a feeble pretense at ignorance but when Grey 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 respectable 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 on him she tried another which she seemed to think more powerful in her intense anxiety for concealment she told him there would never be a week after that but what he might be worth ten pounds it seemed to suggest itself to her that Grey 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 McDougal left Grey to enter the house Mrs. Grey came out and the two women met Mrs. Grey turned back and asked McDougal about the body among the straw but the reply was similar to that given to Grey himself the unfortunate creature offered the same inducements but all to no effect as Mrs. Grey exclaimed the unction forbid that I should be worth money with dead people McDougal seeing the end was near cried out my god I cannot help it to which Mrs. Grey 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 McDougal and when in the street they were met by Mrs. Hare and 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 Grey and his wife into a neighboring public house and there over a round of liquor they plied them 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 Grey 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 McDougal in a state of great anxiety hurriedly left the place as if to prepare for flight and Grey 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 Reimer's shop he had engaged John McCullough a street porter to call at the house for a box and before this manner arrived the two colleagues had wrapped the body of dockerty in a sheet placed it in the box among some straw and roped down the lid whether they knew of the discovery by Grey 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 McCullough was called in and told to carry it to the place to which they would take him as the porter was raising the box onto his back he saw some long hair hanging out of a crevice in the lid and having probably been in the service of resurrectionists before he endeavored to press it inside this done he went on his way with his burden the two men who employed him by his side Mrs. Hare and Helen MacDougall 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 Square Burke, Hare and McCullough accompanied by Patterson the keeper of Knox's Museum and still followed by the women walked to Newington where Patterson received from the doctor five pounds in part payment for the body in a public house in the vicinity the division was made Knox's man handed McCullough 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 Saturday indicated impending discovery and help towards it end of chapters sixteen chapter seventeen 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 Benita Springs, Florida the history of Burke and Hare by George MacGregor chapter seventeen the arrest of Burke and MacDougall discovery of the body Hare and his wife apprehended public intimation of the tragedy Burke and MacDougall 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 contact 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 not withstanding he along with a constable named Finley went 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 he said William Hare saw her go away and added in an insolent tone that any number more saw her away I then looked around to see if there were any marks in the bed and I saw marks of blood on a number of things there I asked Mrs. Burke Helen MacDougall how they came there and she replied that a woman had lain in there about a fortnight before 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 pleasant and that she had seen her that very night in the vinyl when she had apologized for her bad conduct on the 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 his duty to apprehend Burke and MacDougall in view of the contradiction as to the times when the woman left the house and also the fact that the bed clothes were spattered with blood seems still to have had the idea that the whole matter had risen out of personal spite between Gray and Burke that the former wished to injure the latter however he took the wisest and safest course by apprehending the two persons he found in the house later in the evening the officer accompanied by his superintendent and Dr. Black, the police surgeon again visited Burke's den in Portsburg and made a thorough search through it they saw a quantity of blood among the straw under the bed and on the bed they found a striped bed gown which apparently 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 when having only a foundation on mere personal ill will next morning, Sabbath the 2nd November, Fisher went to the premises of Dr. Knox in Surgeon Square and having obtained the key of the cellar from Patterson he entered and found there a box containing the body of a woman Gray was immediately sent for and he at once recognized the corpse as that of the old woman he had seen in Burke's house the authorities then thought it was time they had hair 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 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 Hare answered her that he was at Burke's house the day before and had had a drama to 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 the 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 apprehension 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 rumors that were afloat but little satisfaction was gained from the following brief and guarded staff which appeared in the Edinburgh evening current 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 passport 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 neighbors paid no attention 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 this case which have given rise to the suspicions this information though substantially correct was too meager to satisfy the public craving and the most extraordinary rumors 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 Doctors Black and Christensen and Mr. Newbigging the result of these examinations conclusively 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 McDougal admitted declarations before Sheriff Tate 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 McDougal rose about nine o'clock after he had gone out for a few minutes for tobacco all the four of them breakfast 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 apartment 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 not having even paid for the provisions they used he recommended them to Harris house and accompanied them there about six o'clock he was standing at the mouth of the entry 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 great coat the cape of which was turned up about his face 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 the 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 unrope the box and then make a sound as if he were covering something with straw the shoes were soon mended Burke received a six pence 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 he did not do until six o'clock on the following Saturday evening this was Burke's account of 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 Reiner'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 Inesulman 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 afternoon 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 purpose of removing the body Hare was accompanied by John McCulloch a street porter these two carried the body away in the box as they said to dispose of it to any person insurgents where who would take it after the body was delivered Patterson Dr. Knox's curator paid the man some pounds and gave two pounds tin shelling 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 neighbors 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 had been going 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 dockerty 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 McDougal 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 identification of the man he had never seen before and whose name he did not know as William Hare Helen McDougal 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 dockerty entered their house about 10 o'clock on the Friday morning just as they were about to begin their breakfast and asked them to be allowed to light her pipe at the fire this privilege was recorded 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 whiskey and gave them a glass all round it being the custom of Irish people to observe Halloween in that manner about two o'clock dockerty left to go to St. Mary's Wind to inquire 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 quarreled with Mrs. Gray about having stolen her gown and the Greys had apparently 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 dockerty 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 blood stains on the bed clothes End of Chapter 17 Chapter 18 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 Benita Springs, Florida The History of Burke and Hare by George McGregor Chapter 18 Public Excitement at the Westport Murder The Newspapers Doubts as to the disappearance of Daphne Jamie and Mary Patterson The Resurrectionist 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 it is still the custom in Scotland strictly private The Newspapers as we have seen did a little to satisfy the national 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 Quran of 6th November had however a very circumstantial account of the murder of Mrs. Dockarty but it was hit away amongst items of little importance It was as follows Start of article Extraordinary occurrence Further particulars We have used every endeavour to collect the facts connected with this singular story The medical gentleman 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 immediate 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 three pints 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 worst of liquor He sent for six pints which was drunk and 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 neighbor 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 behaving improperly and she, Mrs. Burke were downstairs Another neighbor saw the old woman joining in the mirth as late as 11 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 rumors have gone abroad of individuals having of late appeared in an unaccountable manner but one of them, however a sort of half-witted lad called Daft Jamie was seen on Monday not far from last week with a basket selling smallwares end of article 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 Brogan trusted on in charge of complicity and the murder Another point is the manner in which Mrs. Docherty was presented to Brogan and some of the neighbors 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 discussing the siege of Silistria the proceedings of politicians in London or the state of Ireland but the inhabitants of Edinburgh and indeed of Broad Scotland thought and talked of little else but Burke and Hare and their resurrectionists Before the time fixed for the trial the newspapers discovered they had made a mistake and at least gave some degree of satisfaction to the 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 quote In the absence of any political news of importance we have devoted a considerable portion of our paper of today in giving a full report of the trial before the High Court of Justiciary of Burke and his wife for murder end quote The public were strongly of opinion that to the machinations of Burke and Hare could be traced the disappearance of Daph Jamie and Mary Patterson the latter especially as she had been seen in Burke's company The authorities also pursued their inquiries in the same direction and on the 10th of November the two men and their wives were committed by the sheriff to stand their trial for the murder of Dockarty but Brogan was liberated his innocence being apparent The doubt as to the disappearance of Daph Jamie was deepened by a statement in 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 remained 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 who had been the most strenuous advocate of the safety of the lead were forced to admit that he was missing possibly the rumor 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 incredibly informed that this poor pauper Daph 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 Daph Jamie's 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 church yard 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 watches These ladders were not long seated when a knot was heard on 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 watches would kindly point out where the body in which they were specially interested lay it would be passed over The watchers however intimated that they would resist the uplifting of anybody A desperate contest then took place but the resurrectionists were at last driven off About two o'clock in the morning they returned but again they were defeated It was thought with the 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 purposes to Scotland from Ireland This journal very soberly discussed the resurrectionist system its advantages and the indispensability of it in the present state of law The writers seriously objected to the noodles of functionaries on the banks of the Clyde interfering with subjects when they were in transit to and pointed out that for every Irish subject they sees they ensure 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 humor came to light in Edinburgh about this time and furnished material for additional commentary on the Westport tragedy A resurrectionist wishing to raise the wind waited on an Edinburgh lecture and stated that he had a subject to dispose of but he required two pounds tin shelling to meet some immediate demands The money was given to him and in a short time a box was sent to the lecturers' rooms to the infinite 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 imprisonment of two months The other case illustrates the extraordinary 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 Marceline who kept a public house in the grass market 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 day of her death her body was claimed by two men who represented themselves as her relatives It was given to 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 of November there was a report of a case tried before the middle sex sessions on the Thursday previous Three men were then charged with having on the 13th of September unlawfully broken open a vault in the Church of Hinden 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 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 the mother's head for dissection he would be able to find out the information 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 a sterling advertiser At Don Faire several special constables were on duty and had the village school room with them as a watch house While they were sitting quietly talking to one another a big burly Irishman heavily laden with whiskey fell in through the open doorway 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 that the men on the floor would make an excellent subject for the doctors They quickly entered into the spirit of the jest and the conversation turned on the question of how the prospective subject was to be dispatched 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 a riot in a very small matter Between 9 and 10 o'clock of the 4 noon on 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 Someone 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 rumor as to the contents of the gig were totally unfounded End of Chapter 18 Chapter 19 of the history of Burke and Hare and of the resurrectionist times This is a LibriVox recording All the LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information, more to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by William Jones Benita Springs, Florida The History of Burke and Hare by George MacGregor Chapter 19 Burke and MacDougall amend their account of the murder the prosecution in a difficulty Hare turns King's evidence the indictment against Burke and MacDougall While these events were transpiring outside the authorities were laboring 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 saw it, if possible to avoid any miscarriages of justice On the 10th of November Burke was again examined in private before the Sheriff Tate and emitted a second declaration 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 described as having taken place on the Saturday really took place on the Friday As to what occurred on the evening he was, however, a little more truthful even at the expense of absolutely contradicting himself In the evening they had some dram drinking because it was Halloween and pretty late in the night he and Hare differed and rose to fight When they were separated by McDougal and Mrs. Hare they sat down by the fire together to have another dram and then they missed Mary Dockarty They asked the two women what had become of her but they did not know Burke and Hare searched for her through the house They looked among the straw 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 McDougal 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 he was free after that to tell the truth as to the subsequent events He denied having caused Dockarty's death and gave it as his opinion that she had been suffocated by lying 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 part of the back at all The one redeeming feature of the declaration is that Burke stated that a young man named John Brogan had no concern in the matter that Brogan came into the house on Saturday Fornoon as he thinks while the body was in the house but did not know of its being there On the same day on November, Helen McDougal 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 afternoon the old woman insisted on having salt to wash herself with and became otherwise very troublesome calling for tea different times At last McDougal told her she would not be tormented with her any longer 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 of November the Lord Advocate was still any difficulty There was of course the evidence of the grazing of the neighbors but it was entirely circumstantial and might fail to convict Her, error-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 saved from any prosecution This was a way out of the difficulty with the Lord Advocate after consideration was glad to accept as the only one possible and in the evening Corinth of the 29th of November was able to announce to the public that one of the parties implicated in the Westport murder have given such information as to 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 Her had agreed to turn King's evidence In this issue of the 6th of December the current stated that Burke and MacDougall his wife, she is called committed for trial for the murder of Mrs. Campbell or Dockarty Daft, Jamie and Mary Patterson The matter in which the murders were committed says the Enterprising Journal has been described to us and some statements have been also communicated as to other individuals supposed to have shared a similar fate but as the whole will probably be laid before the public In the course of the trials that will take place we decline the particular On the 8th of December two days later a citation was served on Burke and MacDougall charging them to appear before the High Court of Justiciary to be held in Edinburgh on Wednesday the 24th of December at 10 o'clock for noon to underlie the law for the crime of murder As the form and matter of the indictment are interesting in themselves and as they give rise to a long important discussion at the trial it is proper that it should be quoted Quote William Burke and Helen MacDougall both present prisoners in the toll booth of Edinburgh you are both and each of you indicted and accused at the instance of Sir William Ray of St. Catherine's Baronet His Majesty's Advocate for His Majesty's Interest that albeit by the laws of this and every other well-governed realm murder is a crime of an heinous nature and severely punishable yet true it is an avarity that you the said William Burke and Helen MacDougall are both and each or one or other of you guilty of said crime actors or actor or art and part in so far as on one or the other of the days between the 7th and the 16th days of April 1828 or on one or other of the days of that month or of March immediately preceding or of May immediately following within the house in Gibbs Close Ken and Gate 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 did wickedly and feloniously place or lay your body or person or part thereof over or upon the breast or person of Mary Patterson or Mitchell then or recently before that time or formally residing with Isabelle Burnett or Worthington then and now or lately residing in Leith Street in or near Edinburgh when she the said Mary Patterson 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 her nose with your body or person or possibly compressing her throat with your hands and forcibly keeping her down notwithstanding her resistance or in some or other way to the prosecutor unknown preventing her from breathing suffocate or strangle her and the part thereof or by some other means of violence the particulars of which are to the prosecutor unknown wickedly bereaved of life and murdered by you the said William Burke the wicked of forethought intent of disposing of or selling the body of the said Mary Patterson 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 infelonies intent or purpose to the prosecutor unknown to further on one or other of the days and 26 days of October 1828 or on one or other of the days of that month or of September immediately proceeding or of November immediately following within the house situated in Tanner's clothes or Western Portsburg in or near Edinburgh then or now or lately in the occupation of William Hare or Hare then or now or lately laborer 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 James Downey then or now or lately residing in Stephen Law's close high street Edinburgh and did leap or throw yourself upon him when it said James Wilson was lying in 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 body 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 compressing his mouth nose and throat not withstanding 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 as 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 unknown wickily bereaved of life and murdered by you the said William Burke and this you did with the wicked a forethought intent quote the intent specified in the same language as under the first minor charge close quote three further on Friday the thirty first 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 are lately occupied by you and the said William Burke situated in that street of Portsburg or Wester Portsburg in or near Edinburgh which runs from the grass market of Edinburgh to main point in or near Edinburgh and on the north side of the said street and having an access there too by entrance or passage entering from the street last above libel 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 McDougall did both and each or one or other of you wickedly and fellow honestly or lay your bodies or persons or part thereof or the body or person or part thereof of Magie or Marjorie or Mary McGonagall or Duffy or Campbell or Docherty then or lately residing in the house of Roderick Stewart or Stuart then and now or lately laborer and then and now or lately residing in the pleasant in or near Edinburgh when she the said Magie or Marjorie or Mary McGonagall or Duffy or Campbell or Docherty was lying on the ground and did by 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 in some other way to the prosecutor unknown preventing her from breathing or strangling her and the said Magie or Marjorie or Mary McGonagall or Duffy or Campbell or Docherty was thus by the said means or part thereof or by some other means or violence the particulars of which are to the prosecutor unknown wickedly bereaved of life and murdered by you in the said William Burke and you in the said Helen MacDougall or one or other of you and this you both and each one or other of you did with the wicked of forethought intent here the intent is specified in the same language as under the first and second minor charges and you the said William Burke having been taken before George Tate Esquire Sheriff substitute of the Sire of Edinburgh you did in his presence emit and subscribe five several declarations of the dates respectively following the third, tenth, nineteenth and twenty ninth days of November and fourth day of December 1828 and you the said Helen MacDougall having been taken before the said Sheriff substitute you did in his presence at Edinburgh emit two several declarations one upon the third and another upon the tenth days of November 1828 which declarations or 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 trousers and a cotton handkerchief or neck cloth to all of which sealed labels are now attached being to be used in evidence against you the said William Burke as also the course linen sheet a coarse pillowcase 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 western Portsburgh and places adjacent and bearing to be dated at 20 November 1828 and to be signed by James Bradwood 22 Society being all to be used in evidence against both and each of you the said William Burke Helen McDougall at your trial will for that purpose be in due time lodged in the hands of the clerk of the High Court of Justice before which you are to be tried that you may have an opportunity of seeing the same all which are part there of being found proven by the verdict of an ass size or admitted by the respective judicial confessions of the said William Burke and Helen McDougall before the Lord Justice General Lord Justice Clerk and Lord's commissioners of Justicery you the said William Burke and Helen McDougall 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 document show the names of 55 persons and there was also a list of 45 persons called for the jury from the city of Edinburgh town of Leith and counties of Edinburgh, Linn, Lithgow and Haddington End of Chapter 19 Chapter 20 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 20 Public Anticipation of the Trial Appearance of Burke and McDougall in the Dock Opening of the Court The Debate on the Relevancy of the Endightment As the day fixed for the Trial drew near, the public excitement became more and more intense. The feeling against the culprits 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 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 feeling, 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 Peershill 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 twenty-fourth December, Burke and Maduga were conveyed from the Colton Hill Jail, where they had been confined, and were placed in the cells beneath the High Court of Justiciary in Parliament Square where 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 courtroom. 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 passages to the court were accordingly besieged even before daylight, and it was with the utmost difficulty, and by the utmost exertions of a large body of police, that admission could be procured for those who were connected with the proceedings. At nine o'clock the courtroom 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 description of them given by the Courant. Burke is of a short and rather stout figure, and was dressed in a shabby blouse or two. 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 move 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 Honourable David Boyle, Lord Justice Clerk, and Lord's Pit-Mellie, Meadowbank, and Mackenzie. The crown was represented by Sir William Ray, Baranette, Lord Advocate, and Messiers Archibald Allison, Robert Dundas, and Alexander Wood, Advocates to Pute, with Mr. James Tyler, W.S., Agent. While the Council for Burke were the Dean of Faculty, and Messiers Patrick Robertson, Duncan McNeil, and David Milne, and for Maducal, Messiers Harry Coburn, Mark Napier, Hugh Bruce, and George Patton, with Mr. James Beverage, W.S., one of the agents for the poor. They were, thus, the best men of the Scottish Bar engaged in the trial. The defence, of course, had been undertaken gratuitously by these eminent Council, 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 to pay attention to the indictment to be read 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. Coburn 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 bank hinting that an objection at that stage was interfering 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 panel pleads that he is not bound to plead to, or to be tried upon, a libel which not only charges him of three unconnected murders committed each at a different time and at a different place, but also combines his trial without of another panel, who is not even alleged to have had any concern with two of the offenses with which he is accused. Such an accumulation of offenses and panels is contrary to the general and better practice of the court. It is inconsistent with the right principle, and indeed, as far as the panel can discover is altogether unprecedented. It is totally unnecessary for the ends of public justice and greatly distracts and prejudices the accused in their defense. It is therefore submitted that the libel is completely vitiated by this accumulation and cannot be maintained as containing a proper criminal charge. On the merits of the case the panel has only to state that he is not guilty and that he rests his defense on a denial of the facts set forth in the libel. For Madougal the defense was if it shall be decided that the prisoner is obliged to answer to this indictment at all her answer to it is that she is not guilty and that the prosecutor cannot prove the facts on which is charged rests, but she humbly submits that she is not bound to plead to it. She is accused of one murder in October, 1828 in a house in Portsburg and of no other offense. Yet she is placed in an indictment along with a different person 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 panels and of offenses is not necessary for public justice and exposes the accused to intolerable prejudice 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 defenses. He submitted that both prisoners were prejudiced by being charged together in the same indictment for they were both put off their guard as to the evidence and productions to be brought against them. He wrote 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 defense and they would have had 20 challenges at the calling of the jury. But as it was by the accumulation of panels and offenses their defense was hampered and their number of challenges limited. He quoted in his favor much and English authorities apologizing 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 when you see the humane and salutary 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 persons now brought to this bar. This speech caused a feeling of admiration in the court for the advocate had put forward 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 confidently rose up to reply to the arguments adduced from the 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 aducing against her the same or nearly the same evidence brought against Burke would 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 a 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 panel to the hardship of appearing three times at the 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 authority cited by Mr. Robertson and contended that they all bore against the arguments brought forward by the council for the defense applying for the defense the dean of faculty very learnedly examined the authorities quoted with the object of showing that the action of the public prosecutor in framing the libel as he had done was illegal and without precedent. The pleading finished lord Pipp Milley 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 with Madougal as for Burke he had stated through his council 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 charged for each of the acts separately lords Meadowbank and Mackenzie and the lord justice clerk concurred in the opinion given expression to by lord Pipp Milley and supported it by elaborate reasonings the lord advocate thus tied down intimated that he would proceed with the third charge libeled the murder of Dockarty and that he would also proceed against Madougal 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 in part guilty along with Burke this decision rather surprised the dean of faculty who thought the diet against the woman deserted pro loco et tempore but the prosecutor claimed to proceed as he had indicated their lordships 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 consequence of the motion of the panel's council 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 panels therefore remit the panels with that charge as found relevant to the knowledge of an assize and allow the panels and each of them a proof in exculpation and alleviation in company the prisoners were then asked to plead to the indictment as amended and they both offered pleas of not guilty a jury was in panel fifteen men as required by the law of Scotland the preliminary objections were thus got over 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 end of chapter twenty chapter twenty-one 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 twenty-one the trial of Burke and Madougal circumstantial evidence Hare's account of the murder of Docherty what he declined to answer Mrs. Hare and 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 in which has been reproduced in this volume he was followed by Mary Stuart in whose house in the pleasant 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 recognizing 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 McLaughlin a lodger corroborated this testimony the shop boy of Rimer 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 relationship between the prisoners and Docherty was brought out by a neighbor Mrs. Conaway related that she had seen the old woman in their house during the day and that it had been explained to her by Madougal that the stranger was a friend 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 afterwards returned to Burke's house Mrs. Conaway went to bed but heard no noise or disturbance during the night next day she went in to see Madougal and missing the stranger she asked what had become of her when she was told that Burke and her had been oar friendly together and she, Madougal, had turned her out of doors that she had kicked her out of the house the evidence of Mrs. Law, another neighbor was similar in effect with the addition 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 11 and 12 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 quarreling 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 Patterson the 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 of how about midnight Burke called on him and took him to his house in Portsburg to point out that he had a subject for him he identified Burke, Madougal 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 he paid the two men an installment 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 for 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 towns the succeeding witnesses were Brogan Mr. and Mrs. Gray and 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 fowl transaction in which he was a prominent 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 a combined punishment Lord Justice Clerk further informed him that he was called as a witness regarding the death of Doherty and in reply to this he asked told woman sir he was then put on oath being sworn on a new 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 intended murdering her his evidence of the events up to the time of the quarrel around 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 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? yes, he pressed down her head with his breast she gave a kind of 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 another 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 wee did she appear to be quite dead? 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 he took it and threw it at the foot of the bed doubled her up and threw a sheet over her and threw it over her and threw it over her doubled her up and threw a sheet over her he tied her head to her feet while this was going on here 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 here's cross examination however gave rise to an animated discussion Mr. Coburn, senior council from a doogle 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. Coburn 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 it was 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 interlocutor 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 hair was recalled and Mr. Coburn resumed his cross-examination were you, said the council ever concerned in carrying any other body to any surgeon I never was concerned about any but the one that I have mentioned replied hair now were you concerned in furnishing that one asked Mr. Coburn no responded the witness but I saw them doing it it is now my duty interpose the Lord Justice Clerk addressing hair to state to you in a 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 it and if you yourself you are not under the protection 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 hair, said Mr. Coburn 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 hair after a minute's consideration was their murder committed in your house in the last October persisted Mr. Coburn not to answer that was all the reply hair would give the rest of the cross examination was confined chiefly to the murder of Docherty but hair's original evidence was in no way shaken by it and he was removed from court still in custody if hair'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 the examination sometimes very opportunely when the questions put required a little consideration on the part of the witness Mrs. hair'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 see nothing of her her answer was I had a supposition that she had been murdered I have seen such tricks before this hint was not followed up but the remarkable fact about her whole testimony was that it corroborated with the exception of one or two points that of her husband there can be no doubt that they had conned their story together before they were apprehended for it was not likely 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 suffocation or strangulation the result of violence and not of intoxication the reading of the prisoner's declarations concluded the case for the prosecution and no evidence was brought forward for the defense End of Chapter 21 Chapter 22 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 22 The Trial Speeches of Counsel Mr. Coburn's Opinion of Hare The Verdict of the Jury Without any delay on reading of the declarations the Lord Advocate at once commenced his address to the jury and the public feeling is fully reflected in the following remarks made by him at the outset This is one of the most extraordinary 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 offenses charged are of so atrocious 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 is calculated to produce terror and dismay This excitement naturally arises from the detestation of the assassin's deeds and from veneration of the ashes of the dead But I am bound to say that whatever may have occasioned this general excitement or raised it to the degree which exists it has not originated in any improper disclosures on the part of those official persons who have been entrusted with the investigations 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 endeavor 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 perpetration 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 who deeply affected the public mind having reviewed the evidence in the case his lordship turned to the question of 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 of a mysterious 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 persons 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 all together inconsistent with the security of the public and he considered a knowledge of these matters indispensable and as being of infinitely more public importance than any punishment which could be inflicted on the offenders he did not think that such information 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 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 testimony given by these witnesses his lordship contended was thoroughly credible Harris 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 the 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 Ray the speech by the dean of faculty was more labored and less spontaneous than that of the lord advocate he felt himself be set with difficulties especially the prejudice against his client Burke which was raised by the motive alleged in the indictment the motive for committing the offense 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 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 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 indispensable to the conviction of any other person he implored the jury to cast any such prejudice aside and to consider the case solely upon the merits of the evidence adduced this he proceeded to analyze making as a matter of course the most of the discrepancies and inconsistencies and he sought to impress upon the jury that the whole of the case for the prosecution depended on the evidence of sociicriminous the alleged accomplices in the deed charged he asked them if they could put the smallest faith in the testimony 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 a 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 Madougall but nothing could hinder them as witnesses for making out as clear a case against Hare and his wife totally transposing the facts together 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 villainy by making the prisoners at the bar the last victims to his selfishness and cruelty do you think that he is incapable of it Mr. Henry Coburn from Madougall can find himself almost entirely to the credibility of Hare and his wife Hare he said not only acknowledged his participation in this offense 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 we who only hear this told shutter and yet we are asked to believe the man who could sit by and see it nor was 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 a session 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 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 hair was a squalid wretch in whom the habits of his being trade want and profligacy seemed 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 revolting 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 softness into her countenance seemed at every attack of whooping 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 corroboration Mr. Coburn remarked the simple and rational view for a jury to take is that these indispensable witnesses are deserving of no faith in any case and that the idea is shocking of believing them to the effect of convicting 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 is 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 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 and emphasizing 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 four noon Burke seemed to consider a conviction certain, not only in his own case but also in that of Madougal for he is said to have given her directions on 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 Mafie, a Leith merchant gave, viva voce the following is the verdict the jury find the panel William Burke guilty of the third charge in the indictment and find the indictment not proven against the panel Helen Madougal 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 unwirried 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 the jury found the charge against Madougal not proven End of Chapter 22