 CHAPTER XXXI. HAIR'S POSITION AFTER THE TRIAL. WARRANT FOR HIS COMMITMENT WIDDRAWN. DAFT JAMIE'S RELATIVE SEEK TO PROSECUTE. THE CASE BEFORE THE SHERIFF AND THE LORD'S OF JUSTICIARY. BERK'S CONFESSIONS AND THE CURRENT. THE LORD ADVOCATES REASONS FOR DECLINING TO PROCEED AGAINST HAIR. PLEEDINGS FOR THE PARTIES. From the conclusion of the trial until some time AFTER the execution of Burke, the position of Hare was one of great danger, notwithstanding the protection which his evidence was supposed to have afforded him. After the conviction of his accomplice, he was, it has been seen, recommitted to prison, and for a time it was believed the Lord Advocate was conducting investigations in order to see if he could, by any means, proceed against the Informer. The press and the public clamored for the indictment of Hare, for all parties were now convinced that Burke, though undoubtedly guilty of the crime for which he had been condemned, had in many respects been but an instrument in the hands of his wily and more vicious Confederate. Some incidents occurred which gave color to the impression that a criminal indictment would be laid against Hare. On the first of January, 1829, the current informed its readers that, towards the end of December, a girl, who had at one time acted as a servant to Hare, had been apprehended in Glasgow, whether she had fled on being cited as a witness in Burke's trial, and that her evidence would now probably be used against Hare. This was Elizabeth Main, who is mentioned in one of Burke's confessions as Elizabeth McGuire, or Mayor. But in addition to the general public, there are two parties who may be said to have had a kind of personal interest in seeing Hare brought to justice. These were Burke and Helen Madougal. The condemned criminal, it was stated by the current, made his first confession before the Sheriff more for the purpose of inculpating Hare than with any idea of giving a general view of his crimes. So eager was he to see his late colleague suffer the same punishment as himself, that he offered to give information of circumstances connected with the murder of a woman by Hare in the course of the preceding summer. This was the old matter over which the quarrel occurred. Madougal also waited on the Sheriff on the 27th and 29th of December for the same purpose. Besides these, if the current is to be trusted, other witnesses were precognised, notably several persons who were known to have been in the habit of frequenting Hare's house, but as the police officials had become even more circumspect than ever, not a hint as to the drift of their information was allowed to reach the public. These circumstances show that in addition to considering the legal aspect involved by Hare's protection as an informer, the Lord Advocate had fully inquired into the possibility of putting him on his trial for a crime to which that protection did not apply. This conclusion was that he could do nothing, and it was definitely ascertained by the 15th of January that the commitment obtained by the Crown after the trial would be instantly withdrawn. Every precaution had been taken by the public in view of this contingency, and a subscription had been made to enable the relatives of James Wilson, Daft Jamie, to take up the case as private prosecutors. On the 16th of January, then, a petition was presented to the sheriff, charging Hare with the murder of Daft Jamie, and his lordship granted permission to take precognitions. When Hare was visited by the agent and council employed by Mrs. Wilson, the mother of the murdered lad, he refused to answer any questions, and when leaving the room to which he had been taken to be examined, he remarked with a sardonic laugh to a person standing near, they want to hang me, I suppose. This was not, however, sufficient, and Mr. Duncan Menil, as council for Hare, on the 20th of January presented to the sheriff a petition for liberation and for the interdict of the precognitions instituted by the private prosecutors. On the following day the council for both parties were heard, and the sheriff pronounced a decision in which he said, In respect that there is no decision, finding that the right of the private party to prosecute is barred by any guarantee or promise of indemnity given by the public prosecutor refuses the desire of the petition, but in respect of the novelty of the case, supersedes further proceeding in the precognition before the sheriff, at the instance of the respondents, the private prosecutors, till Friday next at seven o'clock, in order that William Hare may have an opportunity of applying to the court of justiciary. There was, accordingly, presented to the High Court of Justiciary, on behalf of Hare, a Bill of Advocation, Suspension, and Liberation. This was an exceeding long document, setting forth all the circumstances of the case, in which it was pleaded that the case by Mrs. Wilson against the petitioner, who had given evidence against Burke, on the assurance that, if he made a full disclosure of all he knew, relative to the several murders which formed the subject of the inquiry, no criminal proceedings would be instituted against him for any participation or guiltiness appearing against him, was incompetent, irregular, oppressive, and illegal, and that he was entitled to liberation. The review of the court was asked on the sheriff's judgment. This petition was presented to the court on the 23rd January, and it was ordered to be served on the agent for the private prosecutors, while the parties to the case were ordained to appear before the court on Monday, 26th January. On this same day, Hare presented another petition to the sheriff, craving to be released from close confinement, and to be allowed to communicate with his counsel and agent. The sheriff pronounced an interlocutor to that effect. In accordance with the liberty granted by the sheriff to the private prosecutors to take a precognition as to the murder of Daft Jamie, a visit was, on the 23rd January, paid to Burke in the condemned cell by the sheriff's substitute, one of the city magistrates, and Mr. Monroe, SSC, the agent for Mrs. Wilson and her daughter. The criminal spoke out fully as to the circumstances attending the murder of the unfortunate lad, and thus far satisfactory progress had been made. But an incident occurred which diverted public attention to a certain extent in a different direction. This was an announcement in the current of Monday, 26th January, that in the issue of the following Thursday there would be published a full account of the execution of Burke and of his conduct during his last moments, together with an important document which had been in their possession for some time, a full confession or declaration by Burke, which declaration was dictated and partly written by him, and was afterwards read by him and corrected by his own hand, and his signature affixed to attest its accuracy. This announcement raised the hopes of the public to a high pitch, for the information that had reached them before was only to be gained from a trial, the scope of which was confined solely to one event, and from vague rumors and uncertain statements. Now it was expected the whole conspiracy would be made patent. But the announcement was somewhat injudicious and premature, as the case against Hare was pending in the High Court of Justiciary, and it was plainly evident that until a decision was pronounced in it any confession by Burke would have a prejudicial effect upon him. Accordingly, when the High Court that morning had heard the Council for Parties, Mr. Duncan Menil, on behalf of Hare, called attention to the threatened contempt of court by the Edinburgh Evening Courant, in promising to publish the Confessions of Burke, and he asked that such publication be interdicted, especially in so far as related to the murder of James Wilson. The Lords of Justiciary concurred in the propriety of the publication, granted interdict of the publication in the current of the document which would likely prejudice Hare, and recommend all other newspapers to abstain in like manner from so doing. This was highly disappointing to the public. There was, however, no help for it but to wait, and on Thursday the current was under the necessity of intimating to its readers. We regret to state that owing to an interdict issued on Monday last by the Court of Justiciary, to which we are bound to yield the most respectful obedience, we are prevented, for the present, from lain before our readers the Confessions of Burke. But so soon as it is removed, we shall lay this document before our readers, as formerly promised. When the Bill of Advocation came before the High Court of Justiciary on Monday, the 20th January, the Council for the Parties were heard at length. After which an order was made that the Bill be intimated to the Lord Advocate to make such answer to it as he should think necessary, and also that the Council for the Parties should lodge informations upon the subject matter of the Bill by the following Saturday. The Lord Advocate's answer was interesting in more ways than one. For an addition to bringing into prominence the question of whether the private prosecutor was superseded by the public prosecutor, he detailed the difficulties by which he had been beset in the preparation of the case against Burke. Having briefly touched on the question as to whether the Court had the power to require, in this shape, a disclosure of the grounds on which he, as public prosecutor, had been guided in the exercise of his official discretion, he pointed out that the four persons arrested for the murder of Mrs. Docherty denied all accession to the crime. The evidence he had been able to gain was, he found, defective, and was not sufficient to ensure a conviction for a Scottish jury, which was uniformly scrupulous in finding a verdict of guilty where a capital punishment was to follow. The only mode by which the information essentially a wanting could be procured was by admitting some of the accused persons as witnesses against the others, and as he had reason to suspect that at least another case of a similar description had occurred, he felt it to be his imperative duty not to rest satisfied until he had probed the matter to the bottom. For the public interest it was necessary to have it ascertained what crimes of this revolting description had really been committed, who were connected in them, whether all the persons engaged in such transactions had been taken into custody, or if other gangs remained, whose practices might continue to endanger human life. A conviction of all the four persons might lead to their punishment, but it could not secure such a disclosure, which was manifestly of more importance. The question then arose as to what one of the four should be selected as a witness. Madougal positively refused to give any information, and as the Lord Advocate deemed Burke to be the principal party, Hare was chosen, and his wife was taken with him, because he could not bear evidence against her. Hare was, in consequence, brought before the sheriff on the 1st of December for examination, and then, by the authority of the Lord Advocate, he was informed by the Procurator Fiscal that, if he would disclose the facts relative to the case of Doctrity, and to such other crimes of a similar nature, committed by Burke, of which he was cognizant, he should not be brought to trial on account of his accession to any of these crimes. This assurance, continued the Lord Advocate in his answer, had no reference to one case more than another. It was intended for the purpose of receiving the whole information which Hare could give, in order that the Respondent might put Burke and all the others concerned on trial, for all the charges which might be substantiated. In giving it, the Respondent acted under the impression, and on the understanding, that when offenses are to be brought to light, in the course of a criminal investigation carried on at the public interest, such assurance altogether excluded trial at the instance of any private party. In its nature, this assurance was thus of an unqualified description, and was calculated to lead the party to believe that the possibility of future trial or punishment was thereby entirely excluded. The assurance was so meant to be understood. Having briefly alluded to the circumstances attending the trial, when he was prevented from examining Hare and his wife, as to each of the three murders set forth on the indictment, his Lordship said it was from the information obtained from Hare, on the assurance of immunity, that he conceived he was enabled to secure a conviction. He proceeded, The warrant of imprisonment against Hare and his wife, at the public instance, has since been withdrawn, in consequence of its having turned out, after the most anxious inquiry, that no crime could be brought to light in which Hare had been concerned, accepting those, to which the disclosures made by him under the above assurance related. After he had given the assurance and obtained the results he had, the Lord Advocate said he would not make any attempt to prosecute Hare. Indeed, he should strongly feel such a proceeding upon his part dishonorable in itself, unworthy of his office, and highly injurious to the administration of justice. After having given so fully, the Lord Advocate's reasons for declining to proceed against Hare, it will not be necessary to do much more than refer to the information lodged by Hare himself, especially as it goes over, to a great extent, much the same ground. It was maintained that, on account of the promise and compact with the public prosecutor, he could not now be tried in order to punishment for the murder of James Wilson, and on the question of his position as between public and private prosecutors, it was stated, When an offence is committed, the duty of the public prosecutor is to proceed in the matter with a view to the interests of the community in relation to the wrong done, without regard to the effect his proceedings may have upon the power, or right, if such exists, of a private party to come forward and prosecute for punishment. The interest of the community in the matter of punishment is the paramount interest, and the only ultimate interest which the law can regard, although different persons may, under certain circumstances, be permitted by the law to vindicate that interest. The public prosecutor, as being the person entrusted with the interest of the community, and as representing the community, has the primary right to take up the matter, and, having commenced proceedings for behoof of the community, he cannot be stayed or hindered or impeded in his prosecution for punishment by any right or any interest which any private party can claim, and he may do, and daily does, many things which exclude the private party from demanding punishment. On the other hand, none of these proceedings on the part of the public prosecutor acting for the behoof of the community can exclude or infringe upon the inherent personal right and interest of the private party to prosecute for assidement or satisfaction. That right belongs to him as an individual, not as a member of the community at large. He claims that, not to deter others from committing the like crimes, but to solace his own wrongs. That is not a matter of punishment, but of satisfaction. Some more attention must, however, be paid to the information for Janet Wilson, Sr. and Janet Wilson, Jr., mother and sister of the late James Wilson, generally known by the name of Daft Jamie. The private prosecutors, prepared by Mr. E. Douglas Sanford, under the direction of Mr. Francis, afterwards Lord Jeffrey. After the usual review of the proceedings up to that time, the private prosecutors set forth their intentions, thus. The prosecutors are, in the first place, obliged to support their title in the present prosecution, and to show the constitutional right which, according to the law of Scotland, they possess, of bringing the individual to justice whom they conceive guilty of the atrocious crime by which they have been injured. But secondly, the prosecutors are anxious to contest the doctrine of indemnity upon which the prisoner has founded, and to show that he is stretching, far beyond its legal limits, the indulgence granted by the Court of Justiciary to those who are examined before it as sociocriminous. As to the right of the private party to prosecute, this, it was contended, was a fundamental and constitutional principle in the criminal jurisprudence of Scotland. Not an antiquated right, but one that was recognized by the latest authorities. Having quoted Burnett and Hume, the private prosecutors went on to say that, legally speaking, there were only two situations in which a prisoner could plead indemnity in bar of trial, previous acquittal, by a jury, of the crime of which he was charged, or remission by the Crown. But the point which the prosecutors were anxious to establish was that whatever may be the nature of the private arrangement between the public prosecutor and the criminal, and whatever may have been his inducement to give up the right of calling upon the criminal to answer at the bar of justice for the crime of which he is guilty, that arrangement cannot deprive the private party of his right to insist for the full pains of the law. If the law contemplated the power of the public prosecutor to deprive the private party of his right to prosecute by arrangements to which the latter is no party, it had better declare at once that the private instance shall be at an end, because it virtually would be so. In every case where the public prosecutor wished to protect a criminal and shield him from the effects of crime, an arrangement, under the pretense of a precognition and searching for evidence against a third party, might at once be made. And if the doctrine maintained on the part of the prisoner be correct, that would prevent all prosecution at the instance of the individual injured. The assertion of the prosecutors was that their legal right to investigate the circumstances attending the death of their near-relation, and to indict the accused party, if they should find sufficient ground to do so, could not be interfered with by the proceedings of the public prosecutor, in circumstances over which they had no control. In point of form it was required by the law that the Lord Advocate should grant his concourse to a prosecution before the High Court of Justiciary, and he had no right to refuse this concourse. But if he should so refuse it, he could be compelled to grant it, for the reason that it was not in arbitrio of him to deprive a party of his right. In support of the contention for the private prosecutors various cases were cited. Particular stress was laid upon the warnings addressed by the Lord Justice Clerk and the Council for Berkin Medougal to Hare, when he was in the witness box, that the protection of the court only extended to the case under trial, and not to the two other charges in the indictment, which had been deserted pro loco et tempore. Such in brief were the pleadings for the parties, and the decision of the court was awaited by all with great interest. By the lawyers, because it would establish an important legal precedent, and by the public, because they hoped, through it, to see Hare put on his trial and convicted of the murder of Daft Jamie. CHAPTER XXXI CHAPTER XXXI Hare's case before the High Court of Justiciari, speech by Mr. Francis Jeffery, opinion of the judges, a divided bench, the decision of the court. The High Court of Justiciari met to decide on the case as it now stood on the 2nd of February. The importance of the issue to be deliberated upon is shown by the fact that on the bench were no fewer than six judges, the Lord Justice, Clark Boyle, and Lord's Gillies, Pet Millie, Meadowbank, McKinsey, and Allaway. Hare was represented by Messers Dungan McNeil and Hugh Bruce. The private prosecutors by Messers Francis Jeffery, Thomas Hamilton Miller, and E. Douglas Sanford, and the crowned by the Lord Advocate, the Solicitor General, Mr. Hope, and Messers Robert Dundas, Archibald Allison, and Alexander Wood, advocates depute. At the outset, Mr. Jeffery obtained the permission of the court to say a few words on the power of the public prosecutor to enter into a compact with accomplices whom he might think proper to adduce as witnesses. The particular questions he was to raise were, had the High Court of Justiciari no power over such a compact? Had the court, he asked, no judicial discretion over the terms of such an agreement? And did it rest with the Lord Advocate and not with the court to decide on its validity and effect? If these were to be answered in the affirmative, then the result simply was that the Lord Advocate was pervious automotos, substantially invested with the royal prerogative of pardon. Mr. McNeil, on behalf of Hare, had nothing to add to what was contained in the printed information for his client. The first judge to give his opinion on the case before the court was Lord Gillies, who, after complimenting the Lord Advocate for having, by his action in the charge against the Burke, saved the country from an indelible disgrace, gave it as his opinion that his lordship was entitled to pledge his responsibility for a pardon or remission. But proceeding to the main question, whether this court had powers by law to quash the proceedings taken against Hare by Wilson's relations in consequence of what took place at his precognition or at the trial of Burke, Lord Gillies, after a long argument, gave it as his opinion that the court could not do so, and should accordingly reject the bill presented on behalf of Hare. He conceived that, in the general case, the legal right and title of the private party to prosecute was clear and indisputable. By the Act 1587, Chapter 77, and a prior enactment, 1436, pursuits of the king's instance were only subsidiary, and even at the present time, after various changes, the private right of prosecution was, he believed, as sacred and as indisputable as that of the Lord Advocate. Then, on the question of Sochi-e Criminus, his lordship said that, anciently, a Sochius was, as a general rule, not admissible and had no immunity. But by the Act 21, Geo II, C-34, and accomplice to theft or cattle stealing was admitted, and the immunity was granted him if his evidence proved the guilt of the prisoner. In 1770, in the case of MacDonald and Jameson, the doctrine was laid down not that an accomplice giving evidence was discharged of the crime, but merely that his examination might go far to operate as an acquittal from the crime as to which he was examined. By a decision in 1794, a Sochius was declared safe. First, if he were examined as a witness, and second, if he spoke out. No doubt there had been a great extension of the law, but taking the only statute that was in existence, they would find it only gave impunity to him who had been examined, and not to him who might have been cited and not examined. It was said here was ready and willing to give evidence on the two charges against Burke that were not remitted to the jury. But this the court could not know, and at any rate, an examination as a witness, which alone by law, even as extended by practice, gave indemnity did not take place. As for the relationship existing in virtue of the compact between the Lord Advocate and here, it was one thing for his lordship to apply for and obtain a pardon from the crown, and another thing to have power to give a legal exemption from trial to a criminal merely by citing him as a witness. Lord Pitt Milley, however, took another view of the case. He concurred generally in the historical resume of the law as given by Lord Gillies, though he differed in his conclusions. I feel intensely, said his lordship, for the relatives of Wilson, I sympathize also with the public desire to bring a great criminal to justice, but I feel more for the security of the law, and I hold no consideration so important as that public faith pledged by a responsible officer and sanctified by the court in pursuance of uniform practice should be kept inviolate even with the greatest criminal. The history of the law relating to socio-ecriminus was very learnedly reviewed by Lord Meadowbank, who submitted that it was clearly established from a train of practice running through a period of upwards of two centuries and a half that socio-ecriminus had been admissible witnesses in the law of Scotland. Such being his opinion, he should have presumed at all times and under all circumstances the examination of a witness must have operated Ipsifacto as an immunity to him from a subsequent prosecution for the crime respecting which he was called upon to give evidence. In truth, he declared, so irreconcilable to all sound reasoning would it be to hold, either that no such immunity was thereby obtained, or that there was not created an equitable right, as in England, to a pardon that he could not imagine how any socio-ecriminus ever could have been examined. In the present case, he considered the promise of the Lord Advocate, barred the private prosecutors from taking action against hair for punishment, though in no way interfered with their right of prosecution for assessment, and he was clear that this warrant ought to be discharged and the complainer ordained to be set at liberty. Lord McKenzie went over much the same ground as his judicial brethren, and in delivering his opinion that hair ought to be set at liberty, he said, remembering as we must do the dreadful evidence he gave it is impossible to contemplate his escape without pain a pain always felt, in some degree, in every case, where an accomplice in a great crime is, however necessarily, taken as evidence for the crown, but never, I believe, felt more strongly than the present. I sympathize with that feeling, but I feel not less strongly that this man, however guilty, must not die by a perversion of legal procedure, a perversion which would form a precedent for the oppression of persons of far other characters, and in far other situations, and shake the public confidence and the steadiness and fairness of that administration of criminal justice on which the security of the lives of all men is dependent. Lord Allaway, on the other hand, felt bound to differ from the opinions of the majority of his brethren, and to concur in that given by Lord Gillies. He conceived that hair might have a protection as to the murder of Campbell or Dockarty, he having been a witness against Burke and McDougal, and their trial for that murder, but he doubted if that protection extended to the other two charges, as to Wilson and Patterson, or in any other crimes for which Burke was never tried. As to the position of the Wilsons, it was his opinion that a private prosecutor had an undoubted right to prosecute to the highest doom every offender who had injured him, and for the punishment of all offenses in which he had an individual interest. This opinion was founded upon the authority of every institutional writer upon the criminal law of Scotland, upon a variety of statutes, upon the decisions of the High Court of Justice Reef, and upon the practice of the country, and his lordship thought these circumstances without one single authority to the contrary would have been sufficient to prevent the contrary doctrine from being maintained, chiefly upon the ground of expediency and advantage to the public. The Lord Justice Clark then gave his opinion, throwing his weight with the majority of the court. He commended the course taken by the Lord Abduket in retaining hair and his wife as evidence, for had not that been done, it was probable no verdict such as was given would have been come to by the jury. As to hair's position, it seemed to him that the Lord Abduket had an undoubted privilege, according to long and established usage, of selecting from those suspected of such crimes such persons whose evidence he might name a material to secure the ends of public justice, and to assure them that upon giving evidence he would never bring them to trial for their concern in the transactions as to which they were examined. It seemed to his lordship that hair, having forgiven evidence as he did, completed his indemnity and rendered it impossible for the public prosecutor to turn round, after the conviction of Burke, and indict the witness for his concern in either of the acts, the trial of which had only been postponed, at the earnest desire of the prisoners. It appeared to be undoubted law that the public prosecutor, having selected the accomplice and used his evidence upon the trial, thereby necessarily deprived parties of the right which, but for his proceeding, they undoubtedly would have had to prosecute. If this were not the case, then the relatives of Docherty would also be entitled to prosecute hair for the share he had in her murder. But it was conceded by the counsel for the respondents, the private prosecutors, that the relations of Docherty could not, under the circumstances, maintain that right. If hair were legally exempted from all the prosecution at the instance of the public prosecutor, for any accession he might have had to the three acts of murder charged in the indictment against Burke and McDougal, there seemed to be no ground in law for maintaining that he might still be prosecuted at the instance of the relatives of any of the three parties alleged to have been murdered. These opinions, weighty and well considered, on a most important point in the criminal law of Scotland, having been delivered, the court finally pronounced the following judgment. The Lord's Justice Clark and the Lord Commissioners of Justiciary, having resumed consideration of the Bill of Advocation, Suspension and Liberation for William Hare, with the informations given in for both parties in obedience to the order of court of 26 January last, an answer is given in for His Majesty's Advocate in compliance with said order past the Bill. Advocate the cause and in respect that the complainer William Hare cannot be criminally tried for the crime charged in the warrant of commitment, therefore suspend the said warrant and ordain the magistrates of Edinburgh and keepers of their toll booth to set the said William Hare at liberty and discharge all further procedure in the precognition complained of, and ordain the said precognition insofar as it has already been taken to be delivered up to the clerk of this court in order to the same being sealed up to abide the farther orders of this court and discern. But though Hare was now ordered by the High Court of Justiciary to be liberated, he was not yet a free man. The relatives of Wilson acting in his sense as the representatives of public opinion and certainly supported by public contributions took further steps which brought about a new phase of the case against Hare. Immediately after the court had pronounced that it was incompetent to prosecute Hare criminally, there was presented to the Sheriff a petition intimating that the intentions of Mrs. Wilson and her daughter to prosecute him civilly for the sum of 500 pounds and the name of the assessment for the murder of the relative and praying that as he was in meditatione fugae he should be detained in prison until he found caution to appear in answer to their averments. The Wilson's then before the Sheriff declared upon oath that the said William Hare is justly indebted resting and owing to the opponents the sum of 500 pounds sterling or such other sum as shall be modified by the Court of Justiciary or any court competent as stated in the petition. That the deponents are credibly informed and believe in their conscience that the said William Hare is in meditatione fugae and about to leave this kingdom whereby the deponents will be defrauded of the means of recovering said sum that the grounds of their belief are that Hare was born in Ireland that a short time ago he was imprisoned for examination preparatory to a trial upon a charge of murdering James Wilson of which they have no doubt that he was guilty that owing to certain circumstances he has not been brought to trial for the offense and there is a reason to believe that he will speedily be liberated from custody and owing to the prevailing belief of his guilt that the popular indignation which has an inconsequence been raised against him it is impossible that he can with safety to his life remain in Scotland particularly as he has been suspected to be guilty of other murders and therefore they have no doubt that as soon as he shall be liberated from custody who as they believe will be this evening he will use at most an immediate exertions to escape from Scotland to Ireland. This form having been gone through Hare was brought in and was asked if he were concerned in killing James Wilson to which he replied that he would say nothing about it. He was then questioned as to his intentions when liberated but he remained silent all through. Mr Munro the agent for the petitioners moved that the sheriff to grant a warrant of commitment and offered to produce evidence that Hare was in Meditatioan if you die should his lordship desire it. The sheriff appointed a proof for that same day. The first witness examined was William Lindsay a prisoner in the toll booth of Edinburgh who stated that two or three days before Hare told him that if he were liberated he would leave this country and go home to Ireland immediately. John Fisher the head turnkey in Calton Jail corroborated. Hare was then informed by the sheriff that if he intended to remain in Scotland any witnesses he might wish to speak to the fact could now be examined. The prisoner's tongue was loosened and he replied that he had no money and must go somewhere to get work that he had no domicile in this part of the country and could not remain in Edinburgh and that as a matter of fact he did not know whether he would remain in Scotland or go to Ireland or England in quest of employment. The sheriff accordingly granted a warrant for the detention of Hare until he found caution to answer to any action that might be brought against him in any competent court for payment of the some mentioned in the petition. Hare was thus again thrown back and it must have seemed to him that if by turning in former against Burke he had saved his life he was to be deprived of enjoying what remained of it as a free man. But the Wilson's and their friends saw that to prosecute the action for assessment could lead to no good result. Hare was penniless and it was therefore hopeless to seek compensation from him while if they did so they would be throwing away money needlessly in the process. The warrant was withdrawn on Thursday the 5th of February and Hare was at last free to go where he pleased. End of chapter 31. Chapter 32 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 32. Popular feeling against Hare. His behavior in prison, withdrawal of the warrant, his liberation and flight, recognition, riot in Dumfries and narrow escape of Hare, over the border, ballot version of the flight. The warrant in Meditatione Pugai by the relatives of James Wilson against Hare was withdrawn quietly on the afternoon of Thursday the 5th of February and the authorities at once made arrangements for his liberation. They knew that to place him outside the prison gates and allow him to shift for himself would only be to endanger his life at the hands of the excited Bob of Edinburgh who would, under the high feeling then prevailing, have scrupled little about hanging the detested criminal and informer from the bar of the nearest lamppost or to have thrown him from the Castle Hill. Hare knew the feeling that was against him but he affected to treat it with scorn, even while the proceedings were being taken against him and it was doubtful if he would not be put on trial which would have meant certain conviction. He displayed a levity altogether on becoming a man in the critical position in which he stood. He asked his agent with a sneer what was the value of daft Jamie and remarked that the price given by the doctors was surely too much as if the poor lad had been offered alive to anyone you would not have been bought at any price. His opinion of the proceedings therefore was that the judges were wasting their time and their talent about a thing of no value. On another occasion Hare and several fellow prisoners were walking in the courtyard when some visitors were being shown through the establishment. One of his companions turned to the strangers and pointing with his finger to the notorious criminal said, here's Hare, look at him. The eyes of the party were immediately turned upon the man whose crimes had made him so infamous but he with brutal nonchalance stared them out of countenance and remarked, pitch a shilling this way will ye? But it was a natural that in a state of public feeling the decision of the High Court of Justiciary in Hare's Petition would cause dissatisfaction in many quarters and the fact that two of the judges took a different view of the law from the majority of their colleagues only tended to prolong the controversy. Many were the bitter comments made on the case but none was more forcible than the remark that the judges came to decide on the case drunk with law and kicked sober justice out of court. Clever although the statement was and partially true it involved a fallacy which was admitted after the excitement occasioned by the disclosures of the conspiracy had spent itself. Not withstanding this feeling on the part of the public the law had to be carried out and here had to be said at liberty. The prison officials took an outside place for him under the appropriate name of Mr. Black on the coach for England and shortly after eight o'clock on the night of Thursday the 5th of February Hare left Calton Hill jail. To prevent identification he was muffled up in an old Camelot cloak and in his hand he carried a small bundle of clothes. Accompanying him was John Fisher the head turnkey who was charged to see him safe out of Edinburgh. At Waterloo Bridge they called a hackney coach and in it drove to Newington where they waited for the arrival of the mail. When the coach came up it was stopped and Hare took his place on the outside as the guard called out to the driver all right. The turnkey shouted out a cordial farewell to his quasi friend. Good-bye Mr. Black and I wish you well home. Away the coach went and Hare was free and out of Edinburgh without it being known to any but the prison officials that he was even at liberty. What a tumult there would have been had the people suspected that the man for whose death that they clamored was posting from them had they even had an inkling of what was going on it is problematical if he would have been allowed to leave the city without marks of their vengeance which he would have born to his dying day possibly he would have been torn to pieces. However the plans of the authorities had been carried out with such secrecy that no one was aware of what was being done and Hare might have left the country without recognition had it not been for his own imprudence the night was bitterly cold and in the frosty air a seat on the top of a rapidly traveling coach was far from comfortable. Accordingly when the mail arrived at noble house the second stage on Edinburgh road Hare knowing there were twenty minutes to wait descended from his perch and accompanied the inside passengers into the inn he seemed to be alive to the danger of recognition for at first he sat near the door at the back of the company with his cloak muffled closely around him but some of his fellow travelers thinking his backwardness was due to modesty said he must be perishing with cold and invited him to a seat near the fire. Hare felt the truth of his suggestion and in taking advantage of the invitation he drew aside his cloak and had to warm his hands before the roaring fire. This was an injudicious movement on the part of the fugitive under any circumstances but it was especially so now owing to the fact that Mr. Sanford the advocate who had been employed along with Mr. Jeffrey by Daft Jamie's relatives to conduct the prosecution against Hare was a passenger in the coach and one of the company in the inn Sanford at once recognized him and Hare knew that for he saw the advocate shake his head ominously at him. When the guard blew his horn for the renewal of the journey Hare was at first at the coach door and as the night was so bitterly cold and there was a vacant seat inside he was allowed to occupy it. Mr. Sanford however when he discovered the new arrangement ordered the guard to take that fellow out and although others of the passengers remonstrated on the hardship of sending the man to the outside of the coach in such weather he insisted on being obeyed and accordingly Hare was transferred to his old seat. The coach again started and the advocate judging that his fellow travelers were entitled to some explanation of his extraordinary conduct revealed to them the identity of the person he had dealt with so harshly and if their sympathies did not all together disappear they at least concluded that the position taken up by Mr. Sanford was to some extent justifiable. When the coach arrived in the morning at the king's arms in Dumfries the news spread rapidly that Hare was among his passengers and by eight o'clock a crowd of some eight thousand people surrounded the inn all eager to obtain a sight of the notorious murderer whose terrible crimes had caused such a sensation in that as in other parts of the country it was known that he was bound for Port Patrick and the interval of four hours between the arrival of the Edinburgh Mail and the departure of the Galloway and Port Patrick coach was one of the most exciting in the history of Dumfries meanwhile Hare was inside the inn drinking ale with a number of stablemen giving them such ridiculous toast as bad luck to fortune some of them tried to get a story of his crimes from him but he declined to say anything about them as he declared he had said enough about that before and had done his duty in Edinburgh it was deemed impossible to drive the mail along the high street when the time of departure arrived if Hare were in it with safety to the other persons connected with it for the people had laid their plans for the attack they intended stopping the coach at the bridge and throwing Hare into the river or failing that they had closed the gates at Cassie Land's toll bar where they proposed to deal with him in another manner two passengers were sent forward a part of the way in a gig and the coach left the inn empty the mob surrounded it but their fury was only intensified to find that the Westport murderer was not in it the coach was allowed to proceed and attention was again turned to the inn toward which a large number pressed their way an old woman attempted to strike at the vellum with her umbrella and another after exhausting herself with verbal abuse seized him by the color of the coat and gave him such a shaking that he was nearly strangled and a austere approach that now trembling here where are you going man or where are you gang tell you hails or good for you the very devils for fear mischief wouldn't dare to let you in and as for heaven that's entirely out of the question as he crouched in a corner a small boy ministered him and was backed up by the crowd who enjoyed the sight hair at last became so thoroughly exasperated that he told his tormentors to come on and give him fair play the torment into which he was subject became unbearable and he seized his bundle and walked toward the door determined as he said to let the mob take their will of him but in this effort he was checked by a medical man who happened to be present the position of affairs in Dumfries had now become positively alarming and mr. Fraser the landlord of the king's arms saw that while his obnoxious guest remained in his house he was in danger of being wrecked and he was therefore naturally anxious for his removal in fact the whole town and neighborhood was completely convulsed and it was impossible to tell what might be the next movement on the part of the excited people the burg magistrates met to deliberate upon some plan for preserving the peace of the town after long consideration they agreed upon a plan which ran every risk of failure but which was perhaps the only one they could have adopted a chase and a pair drove up to the door of the king's arms between two and three o'clock in the afternoon a trunk was buckled to it and a great fuss was made while these movements were going on before the people to attract their attention from what was the really important part of the magisterial plan hair slipped out of a back window crept along the stable wall to a chase in readiness to receive him once he was in the doors were closed the postillian whipped his horses to the gelt and drove rapidly along the streets toward the river the mob having received a hint of what was going on from a few boys who had been lounging about the end stables made after the chase with a rush volleys of stones were thrown at it and some of the missiles went through the windows of the vehicle narrowly missing hair who cowered at the bottom of it on the horses flew and taking a turn sharply the coach was nearly overturned but after running a short distance on two wheels it righted at the bridge the fugitives were almost intercepted but the people were too late after some furious driving the jail door was reached and the governor having been informed that he might expect a distinguished guest opened the door immediately hair sprang out of the chase and in passed a strong chain that had been placed behind the prison gate for greater security against a rush of the mob into this gulf he leapt said the dunfries courier of the following week hopped step and jump a thousand times more happy to get into prison than the majority of criminals are to get out of it the people saw how they had been deceived and they were furious with rage and disappointment hair if he fell into their hands now could not hope to escape but fortunately for him the high strong walls of the prison were between him and the excited populace the mob laid siege to the jail blocked up all the door and gateway and no one could pass out or in with a considerable personal risk this began at four o'clock in the afternoon and for four hours later the angry mob howled and shouted and even sought to break down the prison gates with a heavy piece of iron which they used as a battering ram when the street lamps in the vicinity were lighted at nightfall they were immediately extinguished by some of the rioters many of whom had now come to the conclusion that the best means they could adopt for forcing a surrender was to burn down the gate by lighted tar barrels and peats about eight o'clock in the evening however the magistrates had made arrangements for dispersing the people the malicious staff and the police force had been found quite insufficient to quell the disturbance a hundred special constables were therefore sworn in and were drafted to assist in the preservation of the peace the augmented force quickly cleared the streets and the people, tired and exhausted with their exciting days employment at last reluctantly retired to their homes but their efforts were plainly manifest in the amount of wreckage about the town and scarcely a window in the prison or its neighborhood was intact while the tumult was at its height hair fatigued and worry slipped away to the bed provided for him and soon he was fast asleep for he had had no rest since leaving Carleton jail in Edinburgh about one o'clock on Saturday morning he was awakened by the officials who told him that now the town was quiet he must depart immediately trembling violently he put on his clothes and before leaving asked for his cloak and bundle but these had been left at the end and were not at hand the officers said he must do without them and thank his stars into the bargain that he had escaped with whole bones they also advised him that as the whole of Galloway was in arms and as the male coach had been stopped and searched the day before at Crockett Field Tollvar probably also at every other stage between Dumfries and Port Patrick he would be better to take a different road with this advice he set out on the journey on foot and by three o'clock in the morning he was seen by a boy passing Doedbeck by daybreak he was probably over the border on Saturday and Sunday it was reported that hair's identity had been discovered at Anunn and that he had been stoned to death but this was a mistake for the driver of the English male on his return journey saw him seated by the roadside within half a mile of Carlyle shortly after five o'clock on Saturday afternoon the fugitive was then seated talking to two stonebreakers and as the coach passed by he held down his head but was recognized by the driver and an outside passenger on the Sunday morning he was again seen about two miles beyond Carlyle having skirted the city the inhabitants of which were stating to be prepared to give him as cordial reception as the men of Dumfries it is believed that after this hair turned eastward toward Newcastle but as a matter of fact nothing is authoritatively known of his subsequent movements there is a story which an old resident of the east end of Glasgow who died over 80 years of age in the autumn of last year 1883 used to tell with great gusto in his younger days this old gentleman was of a wondering disposition and traveled on foot over the greater part of the island in the spring of 1829 he passed through Burwick on Tweed and put up for the night at a lodging house there he was told by the landlady that he could not have a bed for himself but would require to sleep with another lodger who was of course a stranger to him on retiring to the room MacA the glass vagan found that his bedfellow was before him and was sound asleep this however was of little consequence and he was soon himself in a similar condition in the middle of the night he was awakened by his companion grasping him firmly by the throat and greatly alarmed he flung off his assailant sprung out of bed and he meant to know what such behavior meant the stranger replied in an apologetic tone that he must have had the nightmare for he knew nothing about what he was doing until he was thrown off after a little conversation the two men became quite friendly and again retired to rest the night passed without further incident in the morning when he woke MacA found that his bedfellow was gone he told the landlady at breakfast of the adventure and she then informed him that the man with whom he had slept was none other than the notorious hare he shivered with horror but the danger was passed and for more than half a century MacA told how in his youth he had spent a night with hare the accomplice of Burke if the identification was correct it was probably the case that hare was really suffering from the nightmare for it is not at all likely you would attempt a murder among strangers so soon after his narrow escape in Edinburgh in the preceding pages the story of hare's departure from Scotland has been told very much as given to the world in the columns of the Dumfries Courier but the ballot makers had another version which may prove interesting now as it did at the time of his publication here are a few verses dark was the midnight when hare fled away not a star in the sky gave him one cheering ray but still now and then blue lightning did glare and strange shrieks assailed him like shrieks of despair but still as a fugitive ran down the wild glen not a place that he feared like the dwellings of men where he played before him on dismal and bare the ghost of death Jamie appeared to him there I am come said the shade from the land of the dead though there be for poor Jamie no grass covered bed or hills and or valleys I'll watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wonderings and follow these still I am come to remind you of deeds that are past and tell you that just as we'll find you at last when night darkens the world oh how can you sleep in your dreams do you never see my poor mother weep and long will she weep and long will she mourn till her wondering Jamie from the grave can return from the grave did I say ah calm is the bed where sleepless and dreamless lie the bones of the dead their friends may lament them and the sorrows may be but no grave grows green in the wild world for me oh hair go and cover your fugitive head and some land you're not known by the living or dead for the living against they will justly combine and the dead will despise such a body as thine end of chapter 32 chapter 33 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 33 the confessions of Burke the interdicts against the Edinburgh Evening Current Burke's note on the current confession issue of the official document publication of both confessions passing mention was made in a previous chapter of the confessions of his crimes made by Burke while he was in prison awaiting the time fixed for carrying out the final sentence passed upon him by the High Court of Justiciary and it was then stated that the curious history of the second or current confession must be reserved for the proper time part of that history has already been related for it has been seen how when the current announced the Monday before Burke's execution that the document would be published in its columns on the following Thursday the High Court granted interdict prohibiting the publication until the proceedings against Hare were concluded the current bowed to this decision but promised at the same time to lay before its readers the interesting paper as soon as possible this however was only the beginning of the difficulty in its issue of Thursday 5th of February the current stated that the interdict granted by the High Court of Justiciary on the application of Mr. Duncan Menil as Council for Hare having expired on the Monday previous the second of February the publishers fully intended to have inserted the confession by Burke in their paper of that day but unfortunately they had been laid under a new interdict by the sheriff at the instance of Mr. J. Smith SSC this Mr. Smith was the gentleman who would apply to the Lord Advocate some weeks before for permission to visit Burke in prison for the purpose of receiving from him a full confession of his crimes and who on being refused had unsuccessfully appealed to the Home Secretary on Tuesday 3rd February this gentleman applied to the sheriff craving that the current be interdicted from publishing the confessions of Burke the application was founded upon an allegation that the document in the possession of the editor of the current was intended by Burke to be delivered to Mr. Smith and had been given by the condemned man to a fellow prisoner named Ewert for that purpose Ewert entrusted it to the care of Wilson a turnkey who had disposed of it to the editor of the current by this means it was alleged the intention of Burke was defeated and it was further stated that the night before his execution in the presence of Bailey Small Mr. Porchis and Mr. James Byrne Burke signed a document authorizing Mr. Smith to uplift from the editor of the current the declaration now under discussion this paper was in these terms the document or narrative which I signed for Ewert was correct so far as I had time to examine it but it was given under the express stipulation that it should not be published for three months after my deceased I authorized Jay Smith to insist upon the delivery of the paper above alluded to from the current or any other person in whose possession it may be and at the same time I desire Bailey Small to be present when the papers are demanded and got up and that they may be taken to the sheriff's office and compared with my declaration made before the sheriff which is the only full statement that can be relied on the sheriff granted interdict but on the following day a petition was presented on behalf of the current praying for its recall in support of this it was stated that Wilson the turnkey had disposed of the confession to the editor of that journal for a fair price while the document itself had not come unfairly into his hands the question of the right or power of a condemned criminal to bequeath property of any description was also raised but was not seriously entered into the sheriff however did not see his way to recall the interdict and said it was worthy of some attention whether the document given to Ewert was not to be published until three months after the death of Burke but whatever may have been the method adopted by the current to obtain possession of the confession it is at least certain that the document though its publication for a time was laid under interdict was not uplifted and that it was ultimately issued to the public long before the period stipulated for by Burke this was probably due to the fact that a new set of outside circumstances emerged which rendered it imperative that the private confession should be published if any profit was to be gained or enterprise shown the lord advocate had given orders for the issue of the official confession to all the newspapers and the competitors for the ownership of the other document were thus forced to come to a mutual arrangement on the fifth of February the day on which hair was liberated the sheriff addressed a letter to the lord provost of Edinburgh in the course of which he said as it is now fully understood that all proceedings of a criminal nature against William hair have terminated it has appeared to the lord advocate that the community have a right to expect a disclosure of the contents of the confessions made by William Burke after his conviction I have therefore to place those confessions in your lordship's hands with the view to their being given to the public at such a time and in such a manner as you may be most advisable it may be satisfactory to your lordship to know that in the information which hair gave to the sheriff on the first December last while he imputed to Burke the active part in the deeds which the latter now assigns to hair hair disclosed nearly the same crimes in point of number of time and of the description of persons murdered which Burke has thus confessed and in the few particulars in which they differed no collateral evidence could be obtained calculated to show which of them was in the right your lordship will not be displeased to learn that after a very full and anxious inquiry now only about to be concluded no circumstances have transpired calculated to show that any other persons have lent themselves to such practices in the city or its vicinity and that there is no reason to believe that any other crimes have been committed by Burke and hair accepting those contained in the frightful catalog to which they have confessed this action on the part of the lord advocate was simply a formal way of making the public aware of the contents of the confession the lord provost being the official representative of the citizens of Edinburgh he in his turn sent the document to the newspapers for publication of course when the people read it they would be initiated into the secrets of the conspiracy engaged in by Burke and hair and the current managers saw that it would forestall their confession even though it was fuller in detail there must have been a hasty consultation with Mr. Smith for on Saturday the 7th February the two confessions appeared in that journal accompanied by the following editorial note the interdict of the sheriff on the publication of the confession and declaration of Burke which has been for some time in our possession having been withdrawn in consequence of a mutual compromise we now publish this document along with a declaration signed before the sheriff and sent by him to the Lord provost for publication the day after he had pronounced it interdict against the current it will be observed that the declaration before the sheriff is dry and meager in its details the declaration which we publish is much fuller and contains minute and striking circumstances which were never before laid before the public the publication of this declaration and confession has been delayed by various proceedings of which however vexatious we are not disposed to complain the interdict of the court of justiciary being deemed essential to the ends of justice we yielded an immediate and respectful obedience to this order the first interdict by the sheriff at the instance of a private party was granted as a matter of course and that interdict after our application to have it recalled was continued by a well meant but erroneous judgment however we might be disappointed by the decision we did not conceive that we had any right to complain but we certainly do complain that after the sheriff had laid the declaration which we possessed under an interdict he should the very next day have published or sent for publication another declaration we complain of this the more because the very ground on which he decided to continue the interdict against us was that our interest would be less injured by delay than that of the other party by removing the interdict and yet in the face of this decision he publishes a document which for ought he knew might be identically the same as ours and by the publication of which our interest would not merely be injured but utterly ruined we certainly think that this is an extraordinary mode of procedure a judge in the first case interdicts the publication of a certain confession or declaration telling one of the parties that he cannot suffer much injury by the delay and the very next day publishes a declaration by the same person to the injury perhaps to the utter destruction of any interest the party had in the matter at issue we really think that the dangers of delay are here exemplified in a very instructive manner for if we had known that the very paper as we could judge about which the parties were at issue would be published the next day by the sheriff himself how would this have strengthened our argument against the continuance of the interdict such are the facts of the case considering them carefully they certainly appear to be somewhat irregular and the effect was certainly calculated to prejudice nay to ruin our interest if the paper in the possession of the sheriff had not been so meager and unsatisfactory compared with the declaration we publish the current showed its annoyance at the turn affairs had taken but while doing so it made every effort and that successfully to outstrip its contemporaries besides publishing the two confessions in full it gave a facsimile of the note in Burke's handwriting appended to the document in their own possession over which there had been so much dispute there is one thing in favor of the current or unofficial confession and that is the paper signed by Burke the night before his execution he there testifies as to its accuracy so far as he had had time to examine it at the same time in view of the many discrepancies between the two documents themselves and what was brought out by subsequent investigation it must be admitted that in many respects they are defective as records of the terrible series of crimes in which Burke and Hare participated. End of Chapter 33 Chapter 34 of the history of Burke and Hare and the resurrectionist times this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by John Brandon the history of Burke and Hare by George McGregor Chapter 34 Burke's confession before the sheriff a record of the murders the method complicity of the women and the doctors murderers but not body snatchers the official confession of Burke was made in the condemned cell by the criminal on the third of January 1829 in the presence of Mr. George Tate sheriff substitute Mr. Archibald Scott procurator Fiscal and Mr. Richard J. Moxie assistant sheriff clerk the following is a copy of the document. Compeered William Burke at present under sentence of death in the jail of Edinburgh states that he never saw Hare till the Hallow Fair before last November 1827 when he and Helen McDougal met Hare's wife with whom he was previously acquainted on the street they had a dram and he mentioned he had an intention to go to the west country to endeavor to get employment as a cobbler but Hare's wife suggested that they had a small room in their house which might suit him and McDougal and that he might follow his trade of a cobbler in Edinburgh and he went to Hare's house and continued to live there and got employment as a cobbler an old pensioner named Donald lived in the house about Christmas 1827 he was in bad health and died a short time before his quarters pension was due that he owed Hare four pounds and a day or two after the pensioner's death Hare proposed that his body should be sold to the doctors and that the declarant should get a share of the price the declarant said it would be impossible to do it because the man would be coming in with the coffin immediately but after the body was put in the coffin and the lid was nailed down Hare started the lid with a chisel and he and the declarant took out the corpse and concealed it in the bed and put Tanner's bark from behind the house into the coffin and covered it with a sheet and nailed down the lid of the coffin and the coffin was then carried away for interment that Hare did not appear to have been concerned in anything of the kind before and seemed to be at a loss how to get the body disposed of and he and Hare went in the evening to the yard of the college and saw a person like a student there and the declarant asked him if there were any of Dr. Monroe's men about because he did not know there was any other way of disposing of a dead body nor did Hare the young man asked what they wanted with Dr. Monroe and the declarant told him that he had a subject to dispose of and the young man referred him to Dr. Knox number 10 Surgeon Square and they went there and saw young gentleman whom he now knows to be Jones Miller and Ferguson and told them that they had a subject to dispose of but they did not ask how they had obtained it and they told the declarant and Hare to come back when it was dark and that they themselves would find a porter to carry it declarant and Hare went home and put the body into a sack and carried it to Surgeon Square and not knowing how to dispose of it laid it down on the floor of the cellar and went up to the room where the three young men saw them and told them to bring up the body to the room which they did and they took the body out of the sack and laid it on the dissecting table that the shirt was on the body but the young man asked no questions as to that and the declarant and Hare at their request took off the shirt and got seven pounds ten shillings Dr. Knox came in after the shirt was taken off and looked at the body and proposed they should get seven pounds ten shillings and authorized Jones to settle with them and he asked no questions as to how the body had been obtained Hare got four pounds five shillings and the declarant got three pounds five shillings Jones and etc said that they would be glad to see them again when they had any other body to dispose of early last spring 1828 a woman from Gilmerton came to Hare's house as a nightly lodger Hare keeping seven beds for lodgers that she was a stranger and she and Hare became merry and drank together and next morning she was very ill in consequence of what she had got and she sent for some drink and she and Hare drank together and she became very sick and vomited and at that time she had not risen from bed and Hare then said that they would try and smother her in order to dispose of her body to the doctors that she was lying on her back in the bed and quite insensible from drink and Hare clapped his hand on her mouth and nose and the declarant laid himself across her body in order to prevent her from making any disturbance and she never stirred and they took her out of bed and undressed her and put her into a sheet and they mentioned to Dr. Knox's young men that they had another subject and Mr. Miller sent a porter to meet them in the evening at the back of the castle and declarant and Hare carried the chest till they met the porter and they accompanied the porter with the chest to Dr. Knox's classroom and Dr. Knox came in when they were there the body was cold and stiff Dr. Knox approved of its being so fresh but did not ask any questions the next was a man named Joseph a miller who had been lying badly in the house that he got some drink from declarant and Hare but it was not tipsy he was very ill lying in bed and could not speak sometimes and there was a report that there was fever in the house which made Hare and his wife uneasy in case it should keep away lodgers and they declarant and Hare agreed that they should suffocate him for the same purpose and the declarant got a small pillow and laid it across Joseph's mouth and Hare lay across the body to keep down the arms and legs and he was disposed of in the same manner to the same persons and the body was carried by the porter who carried the last body in May 1828 as he thinks an old woman came to the house as a lodger and she was the worst of drink and she got more drink of her own accord and she became very drunk and declarant suffocated her and Hare was not in the house at the time and she was disposed of in the same manner soon afterwards an Englishman lodged there for some nights and was ill of the jaundice that he was in bed very unwell and Hare and declarant got above him and held him down and by holding his mouth suffocated him and disposed of him in the same manner shortly afterwards an old woman named Heldane but he knows nothing further of her lodged in the house and she had got some drink at the time and got more to intoxicate her and he and Hare suffocated her and disposed of her in the same manner about mid-summer 1828 a woman with her son or grandson about 12 years of age and who seemed to be weak in his mind came to the house as lodgers the woman got a dram and went in bed asleep he and Hare suffocated her and the boy was sitting at the fire in the kitchen and he and Hare took hold of him and carried him into the room and suffocated him they were put into a herring barrel the same night and carried to Dr. Knox's rooms that soon afterwards the declarant brought a woman to the house as a lodger and after some days she got drunk and was disposed of in the same manner the declarant and Hare generally tried if lodgers would drink and if they would drink they were disposed of in that manner the declarant then went for a few days to the house of Helen McDougal's father and when he returned he learned from Hare that he had disposed of a woman in the declarant's absence in the same manner in his own house but the declarant does not say the woman's name or any further particulars of the case or whether any other person was present or knew of it that about this time he went to live in Brogan's house and a woman named Margaret Haldane daughter of the woman Haldane before mentioned whose sister is married to Clark a tinsmith in the high street came into the house what the declarant does not remember for what purpose she got drunk and was disposed of in the same manner that Hare was not present and neither Brogan nor his son knew the least thing about that or any other case of the same kind that in April 1828 he fell in with the girl Patterson and her companion in Constantine Burke's house and they had had breakfast together and he sent for Hare and he and Hare disposed of her in the same manner and Mr. Ferguson and a tall lad who seemed to have known the woman by sight asked where they had got the body and the declarant said he had purchased it from an old woman at the back of Cannon Gate the body was disposed of five or six hours after the girl was killed and it was cold but not very stiff but he does not remember of any remarks being made about the body being warm one day in September or October 1828 a washerwoman had been washing in the house for some time and he and Hare suffocated her and disposed of her in the same manner soon afterwards a woman named MacDougall who was a distant relation of Helen MacDougall's first husband came to Brogan's house to see MacDougall and after she had been coming and going to the house for a few days she got drunk and was served in the same way by the declarant and Hare that daft Jamie was then disposed of in the matter mentioned in the indictment except that Hare was concerned in it that Hare was lying alongside of Jamie in the bed and Hare suddenly turned on him and put his hand on his mouth and nose and Jamie who had got drink but was not drunk made a terrible resistance and he and Hare fell from the bed together Hare still keeping hold of Jamie's mouth and nose and as they lay on the floor together declarant lay across Jamie to prevent him from resisting and they held him in that state till he was dead and he was disposed of in the same manner and Hare took a brass snuff box and a spoon from Jamie's pocket and kept the box to himself and never gave it to the declarant but he gave him the spoon and the last was the old woman Dockarty for whose murder he has been convicted that she was not put to death in the matter deponed to by Hare on the trial but during the scuffle between him and Hare in the course of which he was nearly strangled by Hare Dockarty had crept among the straw and after the scuffle was over they had some drink and after that they both went forward to where the woman was lying sleeping and Hare went forward first and seized her by the mouth and nose as on former occasions and at the same time the declarant lay across her and she had no opportunity of making any noise and before she was dead one or other of them he does not recollect which took hold of her by the throat that while he and Hare were struggling which was a real scuffle MacDougall opened the door of the apartment and went into the inner passage and knocked at the door and called out police and murder but soon came back and at the same time Hare's wife called out never to mind because the declarant and Hare would not hurt one another that whenever he and Hare rose and went towards the straw where Dockarty was lying MacDougall and Hare's wife who he thinks was lying in bed at the time or perhaps were at the fire immediately rose and left the house but did not make any noise so far as he heard and he was surprised that they're going out at that time because he did not see how they could have any suspicion of what they the declarant and Hare intended doing that he cannot say whether he and Hare would have killed Dockarty or not if the woman had remained because they were so determined to kill the woman the drink being in their head and he has no knowledge or suspicion of Dockarty's body having been offered to any person besides Dr. Knox and he does not suspect that Patterson would offer the body to any other person than Dr. Knox declares that suffocation was not suggested to them by any person as a mode of killing what occurred to Hare on the first occasion before mentioned and was continued afterwards because it was effectual and showed no marks and when they lay across the body at the same time that was not suggested to them by any person well they never spoke to any person on such a subject and it was not done for the purpose of preventing the person from breathing but was only done for the purpose of keeping down the person's arms and thighs to prevent the person struggling declares that with the exception of the body of Dockarty they never took the person by the throat and they never leapt upon them and declares that there were no marks of violence on any of the subjects and they were sufficiently cold to prevent any suspicion on the part of the doctors and at all events they might be cold and stiff enough before the box was opened up and he and Hare always told some story of their having purchased the subjects from some relation or other person who had the means of disposing of them about different parts of the town and the statements which they made were such as to prevent the doctors having any suspicions and no suspicions were expressed by Dr. Knox or any of his assistants and no questions asked tending to show that they had suspicion declares that MacDougall and Hare's wife were no way concerned in any of the murders and neither of them knew of anything of the kind being intended even in the case of Dockarty and although these two women may laterally have had some suspicion in their own minds that the declarant and Hare were concerned in lifting dead bodies he does not think they could have any suspicion that he and Hare were concerned in committing murders declares that none of the subjects which they had procured as before mentioned were offered to any other person than Dr. Knox's assistants and he and Hare had very little communication with Dr. Knox himself and declares that he has not the smallest suspicion of any other person in this or in any other country except Hare and himself being concerned in killing persons and offering their bodies for dissection and he never knew or heard of such a thing having been done before this declaration was signed by Sheriff Tate and Burke it is curious to notice how in it the criminal endeavors in almost every instance to bring out Hare as the chief actor in the horrible events he describes in a fragmentary way but it will be remembered that Burke several times between his conviction and execution said he would be happy if he were certain Hare would also become a subject for the scaffold there is little reason to doubt that had the opportunity been afforded him he would have turned informer himself and twisted events in such a way as to have condemned Hare about three weeks later on the 22nd January Burke was again before the gentleman to whom he made his confession on the third of the same month but there was an addition to the company in the person of the reverend Mr. Reed the Catholic priest who had regularly attended him since his condemnation this gentleman was requested to be present as the sheriff said in his letter to the Lord Provost in order to give the confession every degree of authenticity on this occasion Burke having expressed his adherence to his former declaration declares further that he does not know the names and descriptions of any of the persons who were destroyed except as mentioned in his former declaration he clears that he was never concerned in any other act of the same kind nor made any attempt or preparation to commit such and all reports of a contrary tendency such of which he has heard are groundless and he does not know of Hare being concerned in any such except as mentioned in his former declaration and he does not know of any persons being murdered for the purpose of dissection by any other persons than himself and Hare and if any persons have disappeared anywhere in Scotland England or Ireland he knows nothing whatever about it and never heard of such a thing till he was apprehended declares that he never had any instrument in his house except a common table knife or knife used by him in his trade as a shoemaker or a small pocket knife and he never used any of those instruments or attempted to do so on any of the persons who were destroyed declares that neither he nor Hare so far as he knows ever were concerned in supplying any subjects for dissection except those before mentioned and in particular never did so by raising dead bodies from the grave declares they never allowed Dr Knox or any of his assistants to know exactly where their houses were but Patterson Dr Knox's porter or doorkeeper knew end of section 34 recording by John Brandon