 Chapter 42 of the History of Birkenhair 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 William Jones. Chapter 42. The Passing of the Anatomy Act, Its Terms and Provisions. Such were the circumstances that led up to the passing of what was familiarly known as the Anatomy Act. In view of the long course of restriction to which it put an end, and of the fact that this measure is still operative as regards the matter of which it treats, it is proper that it should be reproduced here. It received the royal assent on the 1st of August 1832, and is technically known as 3-in-4-g-o-4-c-75, the short title being An Act for Regulating Schools of Anatomy. The following are its terms and provisions, whereas a knowledge of the causes and nature of sensory diseases which affect the body, and the best methods of treating and curing such diseases, and of healing and repairing diverse wounds and injuries to which the human frame is liable cannot be acquired without the aid of anatomical examinations. And whereas the legal supply of human bodies for such anatomical examination is insufficient fully to provide the means of such knowledge. And whereas in order further to supply human bodies for such purposes, diverse, great and grievous crimes have been committed and lately murder for the single object of selling for such purposes the bodies of the person so murdered. And whereas therefore it is highly expedient to give protection under certain regulations to the study and practice of anatomy and to prevent, as far as may be, such great and grievous crimes and murder, as aforesaid, be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lord's spiritual and temporal and commons in this present Parliament Assemble, and by the authority of the same, that it shall be lawful for His Majesty's principal secretary of state for the time being for the Home Department in that part of the United Kingdom called Great Britain, and for the Chief Secretary for Ireland in that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, immediately on the passing of this act or so soon thereafter, as may be required, to grant a license to practice anatomy to any fellow or member of any college of physicians or surgeons or to any graduate or licentiate in medicine or to any person lawfully qualified to practice medicine in any part of the United Kingdom, or to any professor or teacher of anatomy in medicine or surgery, or to any student attending any school of anatomy on application from such party for such purpose, countersigned by two of His Majesty's Justices of the Beast acting for the County City Borough or place for in such party so applying is about to carry on the practice of anatomy. Two, and it be enacted that it shall be lawful for His Majesty's said principal secretary of state or Chief Secretary as the case may be immediately upon the passing of this act or as soon thereafter as may be necessary to appoint respectively not fewer than three persons to be inspectors of places where anatomy is carried on and at any time after such first appointment to appoint if they shall see fit one or more other person or persons to be an inspector or inspectors as a foresaid and every such inspector shall continue in office for one year or until he be removed by the said secretary of state or Chief Secretary as a case may be or until some other person shall be appointed in his place and as often as any inspector appointed as a foresaid shall die or shall be removed from his said office or shall refuse or become unable to act it shall be lawful for the said secretary of state or Chief Secretary as the case may be to appoint another person to be inspector in his room. Three, and be it enacted that it shall be lawful for the said secretary of state or Chief Secretary as the case may be to direct what district of town or country or of both and what places where anatomy is carried on situate within such district every such inspector shall be appointed to super intend and in what manner every such inspector shall transact the duties of his office. Four, and be it enacted that every inspector to be appointed by virtue of this act shall make a quarterly return to the said secretary of state or Chief Secretary as the case may be of every deceased person's body that during the preceding quarter has been removed for anatomical examination to every separate place in his district where anatomy is carried on distinguishing the sex and as far as is known at the time the name and age of each person whose body was so removed as a foresaid. Five, and be it enacted that it shall be lawful for every such inspector to visit and inspect at any time any place within his district notice of which place has been given as is here in after directed that it is intended there to practice anatomy. Six, and be it enacted that it shall be lawful for his majesty to grant to every such inspector such an annual salary not exceeding one hundred pounds for his trouble and to allow such a sum of money for the expenses of his office as may appear reasonable such salaries and allowances to be charged on the consolidated fund of the United Kingdom and to be payable quarterly and that an annual return of all such salaries and allowances shall be made to Parliament. Seven, and be it enacted that it shall be lawful for any executor or other party having lawful possession of the body of any deceased person and not being an undertaker or other party entrusted with the body for the purpose only of interment to permit the body of such deceased person to undergo anatomical examination unless to the knowledge of such executor or other party such person shall have expressed his desire either in writing or at any time during his life or verbally in the presence of two or more witnesses during the illness whereof he died that his body after death might not undergo such examination or unless the surviving husband or wife or any known relation of the deceased person shall require the body to be interred without such examination. Eight, and be it enacted that if any person either in writing at any time during his life or verbally in the presence of two or more witnesses during the illness whereof he died shall direct at his body after death be examined anatomically or shall nominate any party by this act authorized to examine bodies anatomically to make such examination and if before the burial of the body of such person such direction or nomination shall be made known to the party having lawful possession of the dead body then such last mentioned party shall direct such examination to be made and in case of any such nomination as a foresaid shall request and permit any party so authorized and nominated as a foresaid to make such examination unless the deceased person surviving husband or wife or nearest known relative or any one or more of such person's nearest known relatives being of kin in the same degree shall require the body to be interred without such examination. Nine, provide it always and be it enacted that in no case shall the body of any person be removed for anatomical examination from any place where such person may have died until after forty eight hours from the time of such person's deceased nor until twenty four hours notice to be reckoned from the time of such deceased to the inspector of the district of the intended removal of the body or if no such inspector have been appointed to some physician surgeon or apothecary residing at or near the place of death nor unless a certificate stating in what manner such person came by his death shall previously to the removal of the body have been signed by the physician surgeon or apothecary who attended such person during the illness where have he died or if no such medical man attended such person during such illness then by some physician surgeon or apothecary who shall be called in after the death of such person to view his body or who shall state the manner or cause of death according to the best of his knowledge and belief but who shall not be concerned in examining the body after removal and that in case of such removal such certificate shall be delivered together with the body to the party receiving the same for anatomical examination ten and be it enacted that it shall be lawful for any member or fellow of any college of physicians or surgeons or any graduate or a licentiate in medicine or any person lawfully qualified to practice medicine in any part of the United Kingdom or any professor teacher or student of anatomy medicine or surgery having a license from his majesty's principal secretary of state or chief secretary as aforesaid to receive or possess for anatomical examination or to examine anatomically the body of any person deceased if permitted or directed so to do by a party who had power in pursuance of the provisions of this act to permit or to cause the bodies to be so examined and provided such certificates as a foresad were delivered by such party together with the body 11 and be enacted that every party so receiving a body for anatomical examination after removal shall demand and receive together with the body a certificate as aforesaid and shall within 24 hours next after such removal transmit to the inspector of the district such certificate and also a return stating at what day and hour and from whom the body was received the date and place of death the sex and as far as is known at the time be Christian and surname age and last place of abode of such person or if no such inspector have been appointed to some physician surgeon or apothecary residing at or near the place to which the body is removed and shall enter or cause to be entered the aforesaid particulars relating there to and a copy of the certificate be received therewith in a book to be kept by him for that purpose and shall produce such book whenever required to do so by any inspector so appointed as foresaid 12 and be it enacted that it shall not be lawful for any party to carry on or teach anatomy at any place or at any place to receive or possess for anatomical examination or examine anatomically any deceased person's body after removal of the same unless such party or owner or occupier of such place or some party by this act authorized to examine bodies anatomically shall at least one week before the first receipt or possession of a body for such purpose at such place have given notice to the said secretary of state or chief secretary as the case may be of the place where it is intended to practice anatomy 13 provided always and be it enacted that every such body so removed as a foresaid for the purpose of examination shall before such removal be placed in a decent coffin or shell and be removed therein and that the party removing the same or causing the same to be removed as a foresaid shall make provision that such body after undergoing anatomical examination be decently interred in consecrated ground or in some public burial ground in use for the persons of that religious persuasion to which the person whose body was so removed belonged and that a certificate of the internment of such body shall be transmitted to the inspector of the district within six weeks after the day on which such body was received as a foresaid 14 and be it enacted that no member or fellow of any college of physicians or surgeons nor any graduate or licenciate in medicine nor any person lawfully qualified to practice medicine in any part of the United Kingdom nor any professor teacher or student of anatomy medicine or surgery having a license from his majesty's principal secretary of state or chief secretary as foresaid shall be liable to any prosecution penalty for future or punishment for receiving or having in his possession for anatomical examination or for examining anatomically any dead human body according to the provision of this act 15 and be it enacted that nothing in this act contained shall be construed to extend to or to prohibit any post mortem examination of any human body required or directed to be made by any competent legal authority 16 and whereas an act was passed in the ninth year of the reign of his late majesty for consolidating and amending the statues in England relative to offenses against the person by which latter act it is enacted that the body of every person convicted of murder shall after execution either be dissected or hung in chains as to the court which tried the offense shall seem meet and that the sentence to be pronounced by the court shall express that the body of the fender shall be dissected or hung in chains whichever of the two the court shall order be it enacted that so much of the said last resided act as authorizes the court if it shall see fit to direct that the body of a person convicted of murder shall after execution be dissected and the same is hereby a repealed and that in every case of conviction of any prisoner for murder the court before which such prisoner shall have been tried shall direct such prisoner either to be hung in chains or to be buried within the precincts of the prison in which such prisoner shall have been confined after conviction as to such court shall seem meet and that the sentence to be pronounced by the court shall express that the body of such prisoner shall be hung in chains or buried within the precincts of the prison whichever of the two the court shall order 17 and be it enacted that if any action or suit shall be commenced or brought against any person for anything done in pursuance of this act the same shall be commenced within six calendar months next after the cause of action accrued and the defendant in every such action or suit may at his election plead the matter especially or the general issue not guilty and give this act and the special matter in evidence at any trial to be had thereupon 18 and be it enacted that any person offending against the provisions of this act in England or Ireland shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanor and being duly convicted thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or by a fine not exceeding 50 pounds at the discretion of the court before which he shall be tried and any person offending against the provisions of this act in Scotland shall upon being duly convicted of such offense be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or by a fine not exceeding 50 pounds at the discretion of the court before which he shall be tried 19 and in order to remove doubts as to the meaning of certain words in this act be it enacted that the words person and party shall be respectively deemed to include any number of persons or any society whether by charter or otherwise and that the meaning of the aforesaid words shall not be restricted although the same may be subsequently referred to in the singular number and masculine gender only. End of Chapter 42 Chapter 43 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 William Jones. Chapter 43. Conclusion, review of the effects produced by the Resurrectionist movement, the Houses in Portsburg, the popular idea of the method of Burke and Hare, origin of the words Berker and Birking. Such were the Resurrectionist Times in Scotland and such the crimes committed by Burke and Hare and their English imitators. Nowadays it may seem strange that events like these were possible in a country professing a civilizing Christianity, but no one with the knowledge of the depths of which humanity can descend will deny that even in our much boasted time with all our social advancement men could be found who would dare to put their consciences under the burden of such terrible inequities were the other circumstances and necessities still the same. There was little wonder that the public sense of security was alarmed that the heart of the nation was touched at the shocking disclosures made at each successive trial and at the daily actions of men who seem to be safe from the law. We have seen how the people of Scotland felt under the constant robbing of their church yards, how they were awestruck at the mysterious disappearance from among them of some unfortunate whose whereabouts was never found out and how they rose in righteous anger when the mystery was cleared up in the High Court of Justiciary. The wonder indeed is that considering the reverential regard for the dead, which has always characterized them, that they bore the terrible pillage of their Golgotha so long and that when the end came they did not work more mischief than they did. But the times hard as they were at best and suffering under such a shocking blemish were productive of real and lasting good to the nation, socially, scientifically and even spiritually. For a long time after the execution of Burke and the flight of his accomplices, the houses in Westerportburg were objects of horror and detestation and having acquired a ghastly interest from the horrible crimes of which they were the scene were among the best visited places in Edinburgh until at last they were knocked down as eyesores to the community and as permitting a series of crimes which were too deeply impressed on human memory to be easily forgotten. But the tradition clung long to the district and even to this day the locality is pointed out to the stranger as being notable. The interest taken in these buildings and their internal arrangement was so great that paintings of them on canvas were taken through the country and shown at village fairs and markets. But an annoying and reprehensible practice arose out of the actions of Burke and Hare, which while certainly not so serious was not without its dangerous element. This was a habit which many young men dropped into of attempting to put pieces of sticking plaster over the mouths of unsuspicious passengers on the street. Most commonly this prank was played upon girls, many of whom were almost out of their wits and who would not venture out of the doors at nights. This practice obtained not only in Edinburgh but also in Glasgow and the other large towns in Scotland and though examples were made by the miscreants being apprehended and punished by the police magistrates, it became after a time such an intolerable nuisance that the strictest measures had to be taken for its repression. One case of this kind in Glasgow created an extraordinary commotion. A servant girl was attacked in the street and a sticking plaster of so strong and adhesive nature was placed over her mouth that it could not be removed without taking a great portion of the skin of her face with it. There was a little wonder that the Glasgow Chronicle in a comment on the occurrence said that the wretches who can behave thus at any time and more especially in the present state of public feeling are a disgrace to society. But it is curious to note how this silly imitation of the method of Birkenhair came to be regarded as the actual mode in which these men had performed their manifold murders. The fact that so many terrible crimes had been committed by them kept a firm hold on the mind of the people. But gradually the method which had been made so public through the medium of the newspapers was forgotten and the impression as gradually gained ground that slipping up to the intended victims on the street, Birkenhair's accomplice gave them their quietest by skiffedly placing a piece of sticking plaster over their mouths. Of course the preceding narrative and the confessions of the condemned criminal show that it was far otherwise but the impression amounting laterally to an absolute belief became so fixed that even yet it still holds sway though certainly in a less degree now than a generation ago. Allusion has already been made to the remarkably strong hold the whole clot took upon the minds of the Scottish people and to the fact that it has exercised an influence on the inner life of the Scottish mind down to the present. This is generally acknowledged but perhaps a better idea of the original character of the impression made by the discoveries of 1829 may be gained when the great events and movements going on all around at and after the time are taken into consideration. In the year 1829 the country was agitated not only by stirring news from the continent where armies were marching to and fro and there was a tendency to a general European configuration but also by the Catholic Emancipation Movement and their parliamentary reform. Everyone knows the interest the people of Scotland took in these matters and especially in the reform bill and how many suffered on the scaffold for overboldness in the struggle these were events that might have assort all the attention the people could spare from their daily toil for the sustenance of life but yet the Burke and Hare tragedies were always to be heard repeated by some fireside and the tales of the resurrectionists were rehearsed to willing listeners. Such great events affected the rights of people as citizens of the Empire as free men in the state but the violation of church charge the murder of poor human beings for the sale of their bodies touched the heart it related to the home life of the man independent of his citizenship it was the same with the other general political movements of the early half of the century the stories went from mouth to mouth from father to son from nurse to child and the horrid memory of the foulest series of murders on the criminal calendar of Scotland was kept fresh young minds grew up in fear of a terrible unknown something of which the preceding generation had had a full realization a something which happily was impossible but which exercised a baneful and dwarfing influence all the same the old bogals of superstitious times were thrown aside the stern realities of human criminality were used in their stead many still remember their youthful impressions and shutter it is well that these influences are losing their power but it would be unfortunate if the lessons taught by these awful times were forgotten by the country happily however the resurrectionist times were not without their good elements as well as their bad had such events not taken place two things would have been evident first that up to that time anatomical study and research had made little progress and second that the study would have continued in a state of stagnation under restrictions discreditable to the country and its rulers but quite another state of matters existed and do exist the scientific order which from an early period of his history had characterized the medical faculty in Scotland and particularly in Edinburgh may be said to have created the necessity for resurrectionists or body snatchers and the fact that the research so needful to the happiness and comfort of humanity was being conducted under such unfortunate auspices and debasing restrictions gradually awoke the community to sense of what they owed to themselves and to those whose ultimate object was the general good the church yards were being robbed of their silent tenets the poor were being surreptitiously bribed to part with the bodies of their dead relatives and even the streets were being laid under contribution for their living wonders the exigencies of science had created a necessary evil the natural and even justifiable prejudices of the nation outraged and grieved were against the seeking of a remedy but the evil became so great its worst and latest development was so shocking that some steps had to be taken even at the expense of human sentiment to put matters on a right and proper footing men could not live without doctors who were thoroughly trained and experienced in all the intricacies and mysteries of the human frame these doctors could not gain their experience without subjects and subjects they must have by some means or other not certainly that the profession approved of murder to obtain their ends but the results showed that the men upon whom the profession mainly depended had resorted to that terrible act to supply their patrons the only feasible course open therefore was that made lawful by the anatomy act of 1832 which put upon a legal basis the purchase of bodies from relatives under certain wise and not too irksome conditions it has been said not withstanding the unhappy state of matters than existing and the terrible scourge under which the country had so long suffered there was a strong feeling against the passage of that measure but on the other hand an interesting testimony was given in its favor when many of the highest in the land amongst them the Duke of Sussex the youngest son of King George III and uncle of Queen Victoria gave directions that if necessary their bodies should after death be an atomized the science of anatomy therefore for the first time in its existence made rapid progress the art of healing and alleviating diseases became more perfect and though there is much still to be desired research is unfettered and the possibility of discoveries valuable to humanity are increased it is curious however did in the last few years of these baneful restrictions extraordinary results accrued from the researches of anatomists and strange though it may seem the science was really put upon a scientific basis it had never occupied before but there was still another effect of the resurrectionist movement and that was that it had a widening tendency on the religious beliefs of the people the old idea is well expressed in the ballot written in 1711 and quoted in an early chapter in this volume when the unknown author says me thinks I hear the latter trumpet sound when empty graves into this place is found of young and old which is most strange to me what kind of resurrection this should be the people prefer to think of a resurrection which would in one respect and to a certain extent be comprehensible to them they thought they could understand the dead rising from the grave if their bodies were placed intact in the sepulchre but they deemed that a body dissected and cut to pieces probably portions buried in different places was unlikely to be under the influence of the last call in this they distrusted God in the belief of a doctrine which above all required a distinct act of faith in his almighty power their ideas however were widened and they came to see that if it were possible for the great father of the human race to wake the dead on the judgment day when their dust lay peacefully beside the village shirts it was also possible for him to call them to him though their particles lay far apart there is one other point which must not be admitted in a work of this kind the transactions in the west port of ettenberg in 1828 gave new words with a peculiar significance to the English language a burker was unknown before the crimes of William Burke were made public burking was an undiscovered art until he discovered it this in itself is another testimony to the effect the crimes chronicled in this book had upon the minds of the men and women of the period many other words similarly derived have had a brief popularity and dropped into oblivion to be only hunted up by the philological antiquary but these have retained their significance and by their aptitude to many actions in all phases of life have attained to a classical position in the language to which their usefulness rather than the origin entitled them end of chapter 43 chapter 44 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 appendix chapter 44 the case against Torrance and Waldy at page 24 anti a brief note is given of the case against Torrance and Waldy for the murder of a boy for the purpose of disposing of his body to the surgeons the account there given is founded upon a brief jotting in the Edinburgh evening current and as the case is one of considerable interest the following more lengthy record is taken from the Scots magazine for 1752 Helen Torrance resident her and Jean Waldy wife of a stapler servant in Edinburgh were tried at the instance of the King's Advocate before the Court of Justiciary for stealing and murdering John Dallas a boy of about eight or nine years of age son of John Dallas chairman in Edinburgh the indictment bears that in November last the panels frequently promised two or three surgeon apprentices to procure them a subject that they pretended that they were to sit up with a dead child and after the coffining slip something else into the coffin and secrete the body but said afterwards that they were disappointed in this the parent refusing to consent that on the third of December Janet Johnstone mother of the deceased having come to Torrance's house was desired by her to sit down that Waldy who was then with Torrance soon left them on pretense of being ill with the colic and went upstairs to her own house which was immediately above that of Torrance that thereafter on hearing a knock upon the floor above Torrance went upstairs to Waldy stayed a short while with her then returned to Janet Johnstone and invited her to drink a pint of ale in a neighbouring house which invitation she accepted of that after they had drunk one pint of ale Torrance offered another that this second pint being brought in Torrance went out of the ale house that then both or either of the panels went to the house of the above mentioned John Dallas Chairman stole away the poor innocent boy in the absence of its parents and murdered it that Waldy immediately after went and informed the surgeon apprentices that Torrance and she had now found a subject desiring them to carry it instantly away that on this the apprentices came to Waldy's house and found the dead body stretched on a chest that having asked what they should give for the subject would not two shillings be enough both panels declared they had been at more expense about it than that some but that upon their giving Torrance 10 pints to buy a dram she and Waldy accepted of the two shillings in part payment that at the desire of the apprentices Torrance carried the body in her apron to one of their rooms for which she received six pints more and that when the panels were apprehended some of the facts were confessed by them by Torrance before one of the Baileys of Edinburgh and by Waldy before the Lord provost Waldy in particular having confessed that Torrance told her that should this boy die he would be a good one for the doctors that at Torrance's desire she frequently went to see how the boy was that thereafter Torrance having asked her how he was and she having answered that he continued much in the same way Torrance replied that it would be better to take him away alive for he would be dead before he could be brought to her house that accordingly after the boy's mother had seen Waldy upstairs to her own house December 3rd Torrance came and told her that she and the mother were then drinking a pint of ale and that it would be a proper time for Waldy to go for the boy that Waldy accordingly went found the boy looking over a window took him up in her arms and carried him directly to her own house whether she was immediately followed by Torrance that before Torrance came in Waldy had given the boy a drink of ale but it would scarce go over and he died six minutes thereafter and that Waldy at Torrance's desire went for the surgeons and sold the dead body to them as above on missing their child the parents made inquiry for him in about four days the body was found in a place of the town little frequented but with evident marks of having been in the surgeon's hands the parents were there upon taken up and likewise the panels the panels were examined the parents sat at liberty and the panels kept in prison their trial came off on the 3rd February after debates the lords found the libel relevant to infer the pains of law a proof was taken on the same day among the witnesses were the boy's parents and the surgeon's apprentices next day the jury returned the following verdict found that the panels are both guilty art and part of stealing John Dallas a living child and son of John Dallas chairman in Edinburgh from his father's house at the time and in the manner libeled and of carrying him to the house of Jean Waldy one of the panels and soon thereafter on the evening of the day libeled of selling and delivering his body then dead to some surgeons and students of physics counsel were heard on the import of this verdict on the 6th when all defenses were overruled both panels were sentenced to be hanged in the grass market of Edinburgh on the 18th March they were executed accordingly Waldy in her last speech says the torrents prevailed on her when much intoxicated to go and carry the child alive from its mother's house then she carried it in her gown tail to her own house that when she arrived at home she found the child was dead having as she believed been smothered in her coats in carrying it off that it really died in her hands that she acknowledges her sentence to be just torrents declines saying anything about the crime on page 152 of McLauren's remarkable cases under date February 3rd 1752 there is a short account of the pleadings at the trial the following is a note of the matter contained there with the exception of the finding of the jury which has already been given his majesty's advocate against Helen torrents and gene Waldy they were indicted for stealing and murdering John Dallas a boy about eight or nine years of age son of John Dallas chairman in Edinburgh on the 3rd December 1751 the council for the prisoners represented that however the actual murder might be relevant to infer the pains of death yet the stealing of the child could only infer an arbitrary punishment and as to the selling of the dead body it was no crime at all answer though the stealing of the child when alive when disjoined from the selling of it when dead might not go so far yet when taken together they were undoubtedly relevant to infer a capital punishment the court pronounced the usual interlocutor end of chapter 44 recording by John Brandon chapter 45 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 William Jones Benita Springs Florida the history of Burke and Hare by George MacGregor chapter 45 appendix an interview with Burke in prison the following appeared in the Caledonian Mercury early in the month of January 1829 the information from which the following article is drawn up we have received from a most respectable quarter and its perfect correctness in all respects may be confidently relied on in truth it is as nearly as possible a strict report rather than the substance of what passed at an interview with Burke in the course of which the unhappy man appears to have opened his mind without reserve and to have given a distinct and explicit answer to every question which was put to him relative to his connection with the late murders after some conversation of a religious nature in the course of which Burke stated that while in Ireland his mind was under the influence of religious impressions and that he was accustomed to read his catechism in prayerbook and to attend to his duties he was asked how comes it then that you who by your own account were once under the influence of religious impressions ever form the idea of such dreadful atrocities of such cold-blooded systematic murders as you admit you have been engaged in how came such a conception to enter your mind to this Burke replied that he did not exactly know but that becoming addicted to drink living in open adultery and associating continually with the most abandoned characters he gradually became hardened and desperate gave up attending chapel or any other place of religious worship shunned the face of the priest and being constantly familiar with every species of wickedness he at length grew indifferent as to what he did and was ready to commit any crime he was then asked how long had he been engaged in this murderous traffic to which he answered from Christmas 1827 till the murder of the woman dogherty in October last how many persons have you murdered or been concerned in murdering during that time were they 30 in all? oh not so many not so many I assure you how many? he answered the question but the answer was for a reason perfectly satisfactory not communicated to us and reserved for a different quarter had you any accomplices? none but hair we always took care of when we were going to commit a murder that no one else should be present that no one could swear that he saw the deed done the women might suspect what we were about but we always put them out of the way we were going to do it they never saw us commit any of the murders one of the murders was then in Brogan's house while he was out but before he returned the thing was finished and the body put in a box Brogan evidently suspected something for he appeared much agitated and entreated us to take away the box which we accordingly did but he was not in anyway concerned in it you have already told me that you were engaged in these atrocities from Christmas 1827 till the end of October 1828 were you associated with hair during August time? yes we began with selling to Dr. X the body of a woman who had died a natural death in hair's house we got 10 pounds for it after this we began the murders and all the rest of the bodies that we sold to him were murdered in what place were these murders generally committed? they were mostly committed in hair's house which was very convenient for the purpose as it consisted of a room and a kitchen Daft Jamie was murdered there the story told of this murder is incorrect hair began to struggle with him and they fell and rolled together on the floor then I went to hair's assistance and we at length finished him though with much difficulty I committed one murder in the country by myself it was in last harvest all the rest were done in conjunction with hair by what means were these fearful atrocities perpetrated? by suffocation we made the person's drunk then we suffocated him by holding the nostrils and mouth and getting on the body sometimes I held the mouth and nose while hair went up on the body and sometimes hair held the mouth and nose while I placed myself on the body hair has perjured himself by what he said at the trial about the murder of Dockarty he did not sit by while I did it as he says he was on the body assisting me with all his might while I held the nostrils and mouth with one hand choked her under the throat with the other we sometimes used a pillow but not in this case now Burke answering this question were you tutored and instructed or did you receive hints from anyone as to the mode of committing murder? no except from hair we often spoke about it and we agreed that suffocation was the best way hair said so and I agreed with him we generally did it by suffocation did you receive any encouragement to commit or persevere in committing these atrocities? yes we were frequently told by Patterson that he would take as many bodies as we could get for him and when he got one he always told us to get more there was commonly another person with him of the name of Blank they generally pressed us to get more bodies for them to whom were the bodies so murdered sold? to Dr. X we took the bodies to his rooms in Blank Blank and then went to his house to receive money for them sometimes he paid us himself sometimes we were paid by his assistants no questions were ever asked as to the mode in which we had come by the bodies we had nothing to do but to leave the body at the rooms and go and get money did you ever upon any occasion sell a body or bodies to any other lecturer in this place? never we knew no other you have been a resurrectionist as it is called I understand no neither hair nor myself ever got a body from a churchyard all we sold were murdered save the first one which was that of the woman who died in natural death in hair's house we began with that our crimes then commenced the victims we selected were generally elderly persons they could be more easily disposed of than persons in the vigor of health such are the disclosures which this wretched man has made under circumstances which can scarcely fail to give them weight with the public before a question were put to him concerning the crimes he had been engaged in he was solemnly reminded of the duty incumbent upon him situated as he is to banish from his mind every feeling of animosity toward hair on account of the evidence which the latter gave at the trial he was told that a dying man covered with guilt and without hope except in the infinite mercy of Almighty God through our blessed Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ he who stood so much in need of forgiveness must prepare himself to seek it by forgiving from his heart all who had done him wrong and he was emphatically adjured to speak the truth and nothing but the truth without any attempt either to palliate his own iniquities or to implicate hair more deeply than facts warranted thus admonished and thus warned he answered the several interrogations in the terms above stated declaring at the same time upon the word of a dying man that everything he had said was true and that he had in no respect exaggerated or extenuated anything either from a desire to inculpate hair or to spare anyone else end of chapter 45 an interview with Burke in prison chapter 46 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 this recording by Michelle Fry, Baton Rouge, Louisiana the history of Burke and Hare is by George McGregor chapter 46 appendix confession of Bishop and Williams the London Burkeers the following are the confessions of Bishop and Williams the London Burkeers an account of whose case is given in chapter 41 they were emitted in presence of the under sheriff on the 4th of December 1831 the day before their execution quote I John Bishop do hereby declare and to confess that the boy supposed to be the Italian boy was a Lincolnshire boy I and Williams took him to my house about half past 10 o'clock on the Thursday night the 3rd of November from the bell in Smithfield he walked home with us Williams promised to give him some work Williams went with him from the bell to the old Bailey watering house whilst I went to the fortune of war Williams came from the old Bailey watering house to the fortune of war for me leaving the boy standing at the corner of the court by the watering house at the old Bailey I went directly with Williams to the boy and we walked then all three to Nova Scotia Gardens taking a pint of stout at a public house near Holloway Lane sure ditch on our way of which we gave the boy a part we only stayed just to drink it and walked on to my house where we arrived about 11 o'clock my wife and children and Mrs. Williams were not going to bed so we put him in the privy and told him to wait there for us Williams went in and told them to go to bed and I stayed in the garden Williams came out directly and we both walked out of the garden a little way to give time for the family getting to bed we returned in about 10 minutes or a quarter of an hour and listened outside the window to ascertain whether the family were gone to bed all was quiet and we went then to the boy in the privy and took him into the house we lighted a candle and gave the boy some bread and cheese and after he had eaten we gave him a cup full of rum with about half a small file of ladenum in it I had bought the rum that same evening at the three tons in Smithfield and the ladenum also in small quantities at different shops there was no water or other liquid put in the cup with the rum and ladenum the boy drank the contents of the cup directly in two drops and afterwards a little beer in about 10 minutes he fell asleep on a chair on which he sat and I removed him from the chair to the floor and laid him on his side we then went out and left him there we had a quarter of gin and a pint of beer at the feathers near Shoreditch church and then went home again having been away from the boy about 20 minutes we found him asleep as we had left him we took him directly asleep and insensible into the garden and tied a cord to his feet to enable us to put him up by and I then took him in my arms and let him slide from them headlong into the well in the garden whilst Williams held the cord to prevent the body going altogether too low in the well he was nearly holy in the water in the well his feet just above the surface Williams fastened the other end of the cord around the pailing to prevent the body getting beyond our reach the boy struggled a little with his arms and his legs in the water the water bubbled for a minute we waited till these symptoms were passed and then went in and afterwards I think we went out and walked down Shoreditch to occupy the time and in about three quarters of an hour we returned and took him out of the well by pulling him by the cord attached to his feet we undressed him in the paved yard rolled his clothes up and buried them where they were found by the witness who produced them we carried the boy into the wash house laid him on the floor and covered him over with a bag we left him there and went and had some coffee in Old Street Road and then a little before two on the morning of Friday went back to the house we immediately doubled the body up and put it into a box which we courted so that nobody might open it to see what was in it and then went again and had some more coffee in the same place in Old Street Road where we stayed a little while and then went home to bed both in the same house and to our own beds as usual we slept till about ten o'clock on Friday morning when we got up took breakfast together with the family and then went to both of us to Smithfield to the fortune of war we had something to eat and drink there in about half an hour May came in I knew May but had not seen him for about a fortnight before he had some room with me at the bar Williams remaining in the tap room parenthesis the condemned man then described the movements of himself and Williams and May during that day in course of which they were principally occupied in visiting public houses though they called upon two lecturers on anatomy and offered them the body but were refused and parenthesis at the fortune of war we drank something again and then about six o'clock we all three went in the chariot to Nova Scotia Gardens we went into the wash house where I uncorded the trunk and showed May the body he asked how are the teeth I said I had not looked at them Williams went and fetched a broad awl from the house and May took it and forced the teeth out it is the constant practice to take the teeth out first because if the body be lost the teeth are saved after the teeth were taken out we put the body in a bag and took it to the chariot May and I carried the body and Williams got first into the coach and then assisted in pulling the body in parenthesis the rest of this part of the confession is simply a record of having something to drink and visiting lecturers who refused to purchase the body it concludes with an account of the apprehension of the men at St. Bartholomew's hospital with the body in their possession and parenthesis in an addition to this confession of the murder of the boy Bishop made this further statement quote I declare that this statement is all true and that it contains all the facts so far as I can recollect May knew nothing of the murder and I do not believe he suspected that I had got the body except in the usual way and after the death of it I always told him I got it from the ground and he never knew to the contrary until I confessed to Mr. Williams a clergyman since the trial I have known May as a body snatcher for four or five years but I did not believe he ever obtained a body except in the common course of men in the calling by stealing from the graves I also confess that I and Williams were concerned in the murder of a female whom I believe to have been since discovered as Fanny Pigburn on her about the 9th of October last I and Williams saw her sitting about 11 or 12 o'clock at night on the step of a door in shortage near the church she had a child four or five years old on her lap I asked her why she was sitting there she said she had no home to go to for her landlord had turned her out into the street I told her that she might go home with us and sit by the fire all night she said she would go with us and she walked with us to my house in Nova Scotia Gardens carrying her child with her when we got there we found the family a bed and we took the woman in and lighted a fire by which we all sat down together I went out for beer and we all took beer and rum I had brought the rum from Smithfield in my pocket and the woman and her child laid down on some dirty linen on the floor and I and Williams went to bed about six o'clock next morning I and Williams told her to go away and to meet us at the London Apprentice in Old Street Road at one o'clock this is before our families were up she met us again at one o'clock at the London Apprentice without her child we gave her some half-pence and beer and desired her to meet us again at ten o'clock at night at the same place after this we bought rum and laudanum at different places and at ten o'clock we met the woman again at the London Apprentice she had no child with her we drank three pints of beer between us and stayed there about an hour we would have stayed there longer but an old man came in whom the woman said she knew and she said she did not like him to see her there with anybody we therefore all went out it rained hard and we took shelter under a doorway in the Hackney Road for about an hour we then walked to Nova Scotia Gardens and Williams and I led her into number two an empty house adjoining my house we had no light Williams stepped into the garden with the rum and laudanum which I had handed to him and there he mixed them together in a half-pint bottle and came into the house to me and the woman and gave her the bottle to drink she drank the whole at two or three drops there was a quarter of rum and about half a file of laudanum she sat down the step between two rooms in the house and went off to sleep in about ten minutes she was falling back I caught her to save her fall and she laid back on the floor then Williams and I went to the public house got something to drink and in about half an hour came back to the woman we took her cloak off tied the cord to her feet carried her to the well in the garden and thrust her in it headlong she struggled very little afterwards and the water bubbled a little at the top we fastened the end to the palings to prevent her going down beyond her reach and left her and took a walk to shore-ditch at back in about half hour we left the woman in the well for this length of time that the rum and laudanum might run out of the body at the mouth on our return we took her out of the well cut her clothes off put them down the privy of the empty house carried the body into the wash house of my own house where we doubled it up and put it into a hair box which we courted and left there we did not go to bed but went to Shields a street porter's house in Eagle Street Red Lion Square and called him up this was between four and five o'clock in the morning we went with Shields to a public house near the Sessions House Clarkinwell and had some gin and from fence to my house where we went in and stayed a little while to wait the change of the police I told Shields he was to carry the trunk to St. Thomas's hospital he asked if there was a woman in the house who could walk alongside of him so that people might not take any notice Williams called his wife up and asked her to walk with Shields and to carry the hat box which he gave her to carry there was nothing in it but it was tied up as if there were we then put the box with the body on Shields' head and went to the hospital Shields and Mrs. Williams walking on one side of the street and I and Williams on the other at St. Thomas's Hospital I saw Mr. South's footmen and sent him upstairs to Mr. South to ask if he wanted a subject the footmen brought me word that his master wanted one but could not give an answer till the next day as he had not time to look at it during this interview Shields, Williams and his wife were waiting at the public house I then went alone to Mr. Appleton at Mr. Granger's Anatomical Theater and agreed to sell it to him for eight guineas and afterwards I fetched it from St. Thomas's Hospital and took it to Mr. Appleton who paid me five pounds then and the rest on the following Monday after receiving the five pounds I went to Shields and Williams and his wife at the public house when I paid Shields ten shillings for his trouble and we then all went to the flower pot in Bishop Gate where we had something to drink and then went home I never saw the woman's child after the first time before mentioned she said she had left the child with a person she had taken some of her things to before her landlord took her goods the woman murdered did not tell us her name she said her age was 35 I think and that her husband before he died was a cabinet maker she was thin rather tall and very much marked with a smallpox I also confessed the murder of a boy who told us his name was Cunningham it was a fortnight after the murder of the woman I and Williams found him sleeping about 11 or 12 o'clock at night on Friday the 21st of October I think under the pig boards in the pig market in Smithfield Williams woke him and asked him to come along with him, Williams and the boy walked with Williams and me to my house in Nova Scotia Gardens we took him into my house and gave him some warm beer sweetened with sugar with rum and laudanum in it he drank two or three cups full and then fell asleep in a little chair belonging to one of my children we laid him on the floor and went out for a little while and got something to drink and then returned carried the boy to the well and threw him into it in the same way as we served the other boy and the woman he died instantly in the well and we left him there a little while to give time for the mixture we had given him to run out of the body we then took the boy from the well took off his clothes in the garden and buried them there the body we carried into the wash house and put it into the same box and left it there till the next evening when we got a porter to carry it with us to St. Bartholomew's Hospital where I sold it to Mr. Smith for eight yenies this boy was about 10 or 11 years old said his mother lived in Kent Street and that he had not been home for 12 months and better I solemnly declare that these were all the murders in which I have been concerned or that I know anything of that I and Williams were alone concerned in these and that no other person whatever knew anything about either of them and that I do not know whether there are others who practice the same mode of obtaining bodies for sale I know nothing of any Italian boy and was never concerned in or knew of the murder of such a boy until the transactions before set forth I never was concerned in obtaining a subject by the destruction of the living I have followed the course of obtaining a livelihood as a body snatcher for 12 years and have obtained and sold I think from 500 to 1,000 bodies but I declare before God that they were all obtained after death and that with the above exceptions I am ignorant of any murder for that or any other purpose end quote Williams whose proper name was Thomas Head confirmed the confession given above as altogether true End of Chapter 46 Chapter 47 of the History of Birkenhair and of the Resurrectionist Times This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Larry Wilson The History of Birkenhair by George McGregor Appendix Songs and Ballads The following songs and ballads were published at the time the news of the Westport tragedies was agitating the people of Scotland They are rude and unpoetical for the most part but they are fairly representative of a very extensive class in which the feelings of the common people are not unfaithfully mirrored Rhymes On Reading the Trial of William Burke and Helen Madougal for Murder 24 December 1828 An Expostulation Thou canst not say I did it Ah, canst thou with cold indifference see the hand of execration point to thee? Canst thou unmoved bear a whole nation's cry to cleanse thyself from the polluted stye of Birkenhair and all that fiendish crew who for mere gain their fellow mortals slew and sold to thee as thou hast not denied such bodies as by students were described near to have been interred nay bore some say strong marks of life by violence reft away and thou didst not attempt the truth to find though oft it must have flashed across thy mind but with a reckless carelessness received what air was brought and any lie believed told by the gang whose very forms to show they would not tell thee ought thou didst not know or shouldst have known if true thy science says that marks of death by murder anyways may well be seen when the dissecting knife opens all the sure and secret seats of life art thou a scotsman then haste to prove that patriotic feelings can thy bosom move haste to wipe out the stain thy country shares while such astigma fair adinah bears art thou a son of science quickly then show she does not make roots of lecturing men art thou a father then thy child may plead to cleanse thyself from this unholy deed art thou a husband haste thine honest wife yet were not better to descend in life than traffic with the basest violence band and thus for blanks assumes the deed is planned a ready market keep and hide away an old tea box that's all which you can say art thou a Christian thinkest thou not this avails with him on high who with unearing scales weighs all the thoughts and words and deeds of men and searches through even the souls in most can if this dread argument will not prevail not can thy cold obdurate heart assail yes time is spent and surely worse than vain tis to attempt to arouse by my poor strain the proud rich man hedged round by many a friend whose voice the applause of a hundred youths attend if his own conscience will not wake and cry assert thine innocence reply reply to all the accusations lately raised against thy fair fame till even blank has gazed engaged in vain to see thee blank come forth armed with thy blank thy blank and thy blank set a dissent William Burke oh Burke cruel man how detested thy name is thy dark deeds of blood are astane on our times oh savage relentless forever infamous long long will the world remember thy crimes thrice ten human beings weep all you who hear it were caught in his snares and caught in his den the shades of thy victims may elude thy vile spirit oh Burke cruel monster thou basest of men the weary the old and the wayfaring stranger were wooed by his kindness and led to his door but little knew they that the path led to danger oh little knew they that their wanderings were o'er little knew they that the beams of the morning to wake them to brightness would shine all in vain and little their friend knew who watched their returning that they were near more to return back again oh gather the bones of the murdered together and give them a grave in some home of the dead that their poor weeping friends with sad hearts may go thither and shed tears of sorrow above their cold bed ye great men of learning ye friends of dissection who travel through blood to the temple of gain and bright human life for your hateful inspection oh give the poor friends the white bones of the slain but woe to the riches and skill thus obtained woe to the wretch that would injure the dead and woe to his portion whose fingers are stained with the red drops of life that he cruelly shed though Burke has been doomed to expire on the gallows the vilest that ever dishonored the tree yet some may survive him whose hearts are as callous oh who will be safe if the tigers be free that none ere reside in the crime marked dwellings for ever disgraced by Burke and by Hare may the cold damp of horror lie dark in their ceilings and their pale ghastly walls still be dismal and bare let their guilt and their doom speak of nothing but terror some dark deeds of blood to the stranger declare and ages to come ever mark them with horror for the ghosts of the murder will still gather there L.A. J. Klein's written on the Tragical Murder of Poor Daft Jamie Attendants give whilst I relate how Poor Daft Jamie met his fate it will make your hair stand on your head as I unfold the horrid deed that hellish monster William Burke like Reynard sneaking on the lurk koi ducked his prey into his den and then the woeful work began come Jamie, drink a glass with me and I'll gangue ye in a wee to seek your mother in the tomb come drink man, drink and set ye doomed nay I'll no drink we ye thenoo for if I do it will make me full touch man, a wee will do ye good will cheer your heart and warm your boot at last he took the fatal glass not dreaming what would come to pass when once he drank he wanted more till drunk he fell upon the floor now said the assassin now we may seize on him as our lawful prey wait wait said Hare, ye greedy ass he's yet too strong let's take a glass like some unguarded gem he lies the vulture wants to seize his prize nor does he dream he's in his power till it has seized him to devour the ruffian dogs, the hellish pair the villain Burke, the meager hare impatient with their price to win so to their smothering pranks begin Burke cast himself on Jamie's face and clasped him in his foul embrace but Jamie, waking in surprise writhed in an agony to rise at last with nerves unstrung before he threw the monster to the floor and though alarmed and weakened too he would have soon or come the foe but help was near for it Burke cried and soon his friend was at his side Hare tripped up Jamie's heels and or he fell alas to rise no more now both these bloodhounds him engage as hungry tigers filled with rage nor did they handle axe or knife to take away Daft Jamie's life no sooner done than in a chest they crammed this lately welcomed guest and bore him into Surgeon Square a subject fresh, a victim rare and soon he's on the table laid exposed to the dissecting blade and where his members now may lay is not for me or you to say but this I'll say some thoughts did rise that filled the students with surprise and so short time did intervene since Jamie on the streets was seen but though his body is destroyed his soul can never be decoyed from that celestial state of rest where he I trust is with the blessed Mrs. Wilson's lamentation on hearing of the cruel murder of her son I ditch thou wonder from my side my joy, my treasure and my pride though others little thought of thee thou wert a treasure dear to me I little thought when thee I left so soon of thee to be bereft or that when after me you sought you would by ruffian men be caught thy playful manners filled with joy the age sire-insportive boy of real joy you had enough when you could give or take a snuff the tricks you played with childish art bound you closer to my heart thy kindness to thy mother proved how dearly she by thee was loved what horde monsters were these men who lured thee to their fatal den that den whose deeds as yet untold were done for sake of sordid gold but they alone were not to blame for when these dauntless monsters came with human creatures scarcely cold the doctors took them, we were told nor did they leave the doctor's door without an order to bring more but justice stern or loud doth cry that all who wink at murder die and justice shall to me be done on all who murdered my poor son I'll make an appeal to Britain's king that one and all of them may swing but that will not restore my son or remedy the mischief done he murdered is no peace I have I shall go mourning to my grave Daft Jamie the following is a chapbook version of the ballad quoted at pages 205 and 6 O dark was the midnight when hair fled away not a star in the sky gave him one shearing ray but still now and then with the blue lightning's glare and some strange cries assailed him like shrieks of despair over a veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still but lo! as the savage ran down the wild glen for no place did he fear like the dwellings of men where the heath lay before him all dismal and bare the ghost of Daft Jamie appeared to him there over a veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings some said the shade from the land of the dead though there is for Jamie no grass covered bad yet I'm come to remind you of deeds that are past and to tell you that justice will find you at last over veil over hill I will watch for thee ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still O hair! thou has been a dark demon of blood but vengeance shall chase the oar filled and oar flood though you fly away from the dwellings of men the shades of thy victims shall rise in thy den over veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still when nights fall on the world O how can you sleep in your dreams do you never see my poor mother weep sadly she wept but O long shall she mourn ere poor wandering Jamie over veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still from the grave did I say and though calm is the bed where slumber is dreamless the home of the dead where friends may limit their sorrow may be yet no grave rises as green as the world for me over veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still O hair go to shelter thy fugitive head in some land that is not of the living or dead for the living against thee may justly combine and the dead must despise such a spirit as thine over veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still O hair fly away but this world cannot be the place of abode to a demon like thee there is gall in your heart poison is in your breath and the glare of your eyes is as fearful as death over veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still when the blue lightnings flashed through the glen that it shone and there rose a wild cry and there heaved a deep groan and most of the innocent boy disappeared but his shrieks down the glen in the night breeze were heard over veil over hill I will watch thee for ill I will haunt all thy wanderings and follow thee still the resurrectionness in number 29 of the Emmett an old gospel periodical published on Saturday 18th October 1823 is the following resurrectionness a tale and blind alec verse humbly inscribed to the editor of the gospel chronicle printed for John Smith 25 Gallo gate original this elegant poem was put into our hands as we were going to press so we must be excused for passing it over more slightly than such a performance deserves in fact we have only room for a single extract it opens as follows in the style Lewis and Ratcliffe and all our writers on the horrible far in the rear John Stark himself with his the thorus of horror never pinned anything so deliciously frightful it was a cold winter night and dark was the clouds and the dead men lay quietly still in their shrouds the worms reveled sweetly their eye-holes among it was a route night and there was a great throng in the mountains others fed upon liver had we air such a feast all cried out oh no, never we suspect our readers will think we have given them enough of this feast if they pant for more of it let them turn to the work itself more disgusting trash never emanated from the press blind alec is a Milton compared with a blockhead who would sit down and pin such a mass as a spectator of blind alec some heads replete with strange bombastic stuff think words when they rhymed poetical enough the lament whoso shareeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed Genesis 9.6 bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Psalm 55.23 depart from me therefore ye bloody men Psalm 134.19 now thou son of man wilt thou judge wilt thou judge the bloody city Ezekiel 22.2 the voice of thy brother's blood cryeth unto me from the ground Genesis 4.10 oh woe for Bonnie Scotland for murder is abroad and we must flee for refuge to an avenging guide for we have seen that law alone can do us little good and has let three demons loose to work mere deeds of blood ye bloody fiends ye hellish fiends dare ye here yet be seen with the mark of blood upon your brows and murder in your ean oh woe for me and Scotland for thou art now the land chosen for such deeds of darkness as man before near planned alas for Mary Patterson cut off in her young days her sins upon her and in her wicked ways while steeped in drunk stupidity and overcome by sleep on his devoted victim Burke took the dreadful leap but alas for the old woman enticed to revelry under the mask of country kindness by Judas for his fee that he might sell her body when he had done the deed and with the price of human blood his loathsome carcass feed upon for poor Daph Jamie whom we shall miss away in his own happy idiocy say good night to Dengue for who shall cheer the mother for the want of her poor boy by simpleness the more endeared to her her only joy but our all gracious maker will surely look down on this detested murder with all his powerful frown in search of his dear mother Burke found him wandering then to see his parent was lured to Hare's dread den where he was plied with liquor and by Alcoxing's press till he was quite overpowered and laid him down to rest the two fell fiends they watched then until he soundly slept then Hare upon his destined prey with murderous purpose crept and having fastened on him Hare strove his life to take which recalled his long lost reason and did his senses wake he shook the butcher free from him and seeing no help there he fought with all the frenzy of madness and despair his cowardly assassin did crouch beneath his blows and called on Burke his comrade to give the murderous clothes they too can join together deprived him of his life but not before he left them marks of the desperate strife in his tremendous struggle the weakened watch by drink he showed how men do fight for life death's dreadful brink his body it is said if true let those who bought beware was sold to an anatomist and someone did declare when it lay on his table for the dissecting knife that it was poor death Jamie whom he saw strong in life but yesterday and more to a strange as all knew passing well he was astout and hearty youth the rest I may not tell but loudly it's been whispered that damning marks of strife it is clear that death by violence had twined him of his life it is told that then the body was laid in spirit strong to remove all such suspicions and hide the cruel wrong if so O righteous heaven to thee we look for aid nor will thy kindling anger be longer much delayed thou art the poor's avenger the idiots only guard the childless mother's helper the good man's high reward to thee then we are looking to appease the cry of blood which runs throughout our city like a portentous flood and we do hold thy promise we shall not look in vain for whoso sheddeth man's blood he surely shall be slain End of Chapter 47 End of the History of Birkenhair and the Resurrectionist Times by George McGregor