In
the early 1800s, Great Britain's medical colleges grew to capacity, and while
most classes could be taught in lecture halls, anatomy classes needed a corpse
for demonstration purposes.
Up until the 19th
century, the only cadavers that could be used in these classes were those of
recently executed criminals, as at the time it was unthinkable to disturb a
person's remains. The number of executions was, as William Roughead wrote,
"...wholly inadequate to meet the growing needs, and the surgeons' and
barbers' apprentices had been in use diligently to till the soil and reap the
harvest of what has been finely called 'Death's mailing.'"
The practice of grave
robbing soon became the regular occupation of some underworld characters, and
author Hugh Douglas wrote of the proficiency of these grave robbers. They could
open a grave, remove a body and restore the soil between patrols of the night
watch. The following day, the relatives could mourn by the grave, unaware that
their loved one was on an anatomy slab in Edinburgh.
Though doctors and
their assistants most likely suspected that the bodies were from graves, they
generally said nothing in order to keep students interested in the anatomy
classes.
Irishmen William Burke
and William Hare developed a more direct method of providing fresh cadavers to
Edinburgh anatomy schools.
While lodging at Maddiston during his work on the Canal,
Burke met Helen McDougal, a native Scot who was then, after separating from
her legal husband, living with a man with whom she had two children. Burke
and McDougal left Maddiston together after the Canal work was done,
apparently leaving the two children behind, and the couple journeyed to
Peebles and Leith and then Edinburgh, scraping out a living by working on
farms, selling old clothes, and mending shoes.
William Hare had also traveled from Ireland to Scotland to
work on the Union Canal, although it is not known if he came across Burke
there. After the completion of the Canal, Hare went to Edinburgh and found
cheap lodgings in the area known as West Port at the boarding house of a man
named Logue and his wife Margaret, who was also an Irish native. When Logue
died in 1826, Hare and the widowed Margaret were soon living as common-law
husband and wife and running the lodging house as a married couple.
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When Burke and McDougal moved to Edinburgh, they took up
residence in West Port and by chance met Margaret Hare one day, who invited
them back to the boarding house and introduced them to her husband. Soon
after, Burke and McDougal became paying lodgers of the Hares. The four of
them would quarrel often and could never be described as friends, but they became
permanently linked by a fondness for whisky and the desire to make easy
money.
In November of 1827, one of Hares lodgers,
an old army pensioner named Donald, fell ill and died. Hare was not concerned
about the man's death, but was outraged that Donald had passed away owing 4
pound rent.
After the authorities had been called to
fetch the man's body, Hare came up with a plan to get the money Donald owed
him. With Burke's assistance, they took Donald's body out of the coffin and
replaced it with an equal weight of tree bark and hid the corpse until the
coffin had been taken away. The two then went off to find the offices of
anatomy instructor Professor Munro, but, in asking directions, were
redirected to the classrooms of Professor Robert Knox, whose assistants said
that they were interested in the body, and to bring it after nightfall.
That night Knox's doorman answered the bell
to find Burke and Hare and a large sack. Three of Knox's assistants examined
the body and offered to pay a little over 7 pound for it. The two men quickly
agreed, and left the doctors rooms discussing the obvious advantages of this
method of making significant amounts of money with so little effort.
Another of Hares lodgers, Joseph the Miller,
fell ill not many days later.Joseph owed no money to Hare and was not as
seriously ill as Donald had been, but Hare and Burke discussed the situation
and decided, with no medical expertise whatsoever, that Joseph was going to
die, and was in pain, and they decided to put him out of his misery.
The two, showing great sympathy for Joseph's
discomfort, gave the sick man glasses of whisky until Joseph fell
unconscious. Then one of the men held Josephs nose and mouth shut while the
other spread himself across the victim's prone body, pining the arms and
preventing any struggle.
.jpg) Joseph never regained consciousness and was
soon on Knox's doorstep. Burke and Hare had stumbled onto a foolproof method
of murder with Joseph: it appeared that the victim had died from illness or
drunkenness and there were no incriminating marks. They would repeat the
process frequently over the next 11 months.
Hares other lodgers continued to be healthy,
and so Burke and Hare eventually felt the need to seek out new merchandise
for Dr. Knox outside of the lodging house.
In February of 1828, elderly Abigail Simpson
traveled into Edinburgh to collect her pension money. She started back home
with a few shillings in her pocket when she met up with William Hare, who
invited her to his lodging house to have a dram and rest up before her long
journey home. She agreed and soon Burke and Helen joined her and the Hares
and they all drank until the evening. Being dark and cold, Abigail was easily
persuaded to stay the night and then continue home the following morning.
Burke and Hare had other ideas for her, but they were also so inebriated that
they both fell asleep.
The following morning, Abigail awoke with a
bad hangover, and accepted Burke and Hares remedy of a little more whisky.
The first whisky was followed by another, and soon Abigail was once again asleep
on the bed. She didn't put up a fight as Burke and Hare smothered her, and
her body was packed into a tea chest and taken that evening to Knoxs rooms.
For the first time Dr. Knox personally inspected the body, and he remarked on
the freshness of the cadaver, but did not inquire further. He authorized a
payment of 10 pounds.
Not long after Abigail's demise, another of
Hares lodgers, an Englishman who sold matches, fell ill. As they had with
Joseph, Burke and Hare charitably put the poor man out of his suffering.
Although Hare and Burke would later swear
that neither Margaret nor Helen knew anything about the murders, the next
victim brings this assertion into question. One day Margaret Hare encountered
an old woman out in the streets of Edinburgh and brought her back to her
house where she began giving the woman whisky. Margaret told the woman she
should lie down, but the old woman declined and kept drinking. After three
attempts, Margaret finally got the woman to rest in the bed and quickly sent
for her husband and Burke, who later appeared at Dr. Knox's doorstep that
evening with a fresh delivery.
On the morning of April 9, 1828, 18-year-old
West Port prostitutes Mary Paterson and Janet Brown began their day by
heading to a local tavern, where they encountered William Burke, who invited
them back to his house for breakfast. Mary readily agreed, but Janet took
more convincing. Yet soon all three went off to Burke's brothers home, where
the drinking continued and they had breakfast. Mary fell asleep at the table,
and so Burke asked Janet to accompany him to another tavern, where Janet
drank more but did not become drunk. Burke took her back to his brother's
house and offered her more drink, but was surprised by a sudden appearance of
Helen, who screamed at Burke and Janet. A fight ensued as Burke shouted back
and eventually threw Helen out.
Janet, upset by the incident, prepared to
leave, although Burke tried several times to convince her to stay. Janet
refused, but said she would return after Helen, who was still screaming and
cursing from outside the door, had left.
Instead of going home, Janet stopped by the
lodging house of a Mrs. Lawrie, with whom she and Mary had once lodged. Janet
told Lawrie of the day's events, and the landlady became concerned for Mary's
safety and told Janet and one of her servants to return to Hares and fetch
Mary back immediately.
On returning to Burke's brother's home,
Janet found only the Hares and Helen in the house. She was told that Mary had
gone out with Burke but would return soon. Janet sent the servant back to
Mrs. Lawries and sat down to wait.
The servant told Mrs. Lawrie what had
happened, and the landlady again became alarmed and told the servant to go
back and bring Janet back with her. Janet dutifully returned to Mrs. Lawries,
avoiding for the third time that day the fate that had already befallen Mary.
Mary Paterson's murder was the riskiest
Burke and Hare had yet committed. When they brought the body to Dr. Knox's,
several of his students recognized her, probably from having hired her
services previously. Burke and Hare chose not to elaborate on how they came
into possession of the body, and Knox's doorman stated that her body was so
good a specimen that many of the students took sketches of it, one of which
is in my possession.
In his work as cobbler, Burke occasionally
bought leather from a beggar-woman named Effie. One morning she attempted to
sell some scraps to Burke, who invited her in and took her out to the lodging
houses stable. After several drinks, Effie fell asleep in the straw, Burke
went to fetch Hare, and that evening they were 10 pounds richer.
Having brought several bodies to Dr. Knox
without casting overt suspicion on himself, Burke became even bolder and
began taking more risks. In the streets one morning he encountered two
policemen carrying an obviously drunken woman to jail so that she could sleep
off the previous night's entertainment. Burke told the officers that he knew
the woman, even knew where she lived, and would take her home and see that
she was properly taken care of. Burke and Hare divided another 10 pound that
night.
In June of 1828, Burke found an old man
wandering the streets and lured him with promises of whisky to come home with
him. They were later stopped by an old woman and a young boy, who asked for
directions to the home of a friend of theirs. Burke said he knew exactly
where they needed to go, and abandoned the old man and said he would take
them to their friends but why not stop and rest first at his house? The woman
agreed and explained that the boy was her deaf grandson, and they were not
familiar with Edinburgh.
The woman was soon inebriated from the
refreshments , and while her grandson was with Margaret and Helen in another
room, Burke and Hare murdered the woman by their usual method. Debate then
began about the boy. Being young, they feared he would not take whisky, but
they were afraid to let him go out on the streets where he might lead people
back to the house. When the boy became increasingly anxious about the absence
of his grandmother, Burke grabbed the boy and broke the childs' back over his
knee although he later claimed that the boy had been smothered. Both bodies
were wedged into an old herring barrel and fetched 8 pound each from Dr.
Knox.
Also in June, Burke and Helen took a brief
respite from his work to visit some of Helens relatives. In his later
confession, Burke stated that prior to their leaving, Margaret suggested that
Helen be murdered, but Burke refused. Probably for this reason, and also
because Burke discovered that Hare had been working solo in supplying Dr.
Knox during his absence, Burke and Helen moved out of Hares lodging house and
into quarters nearby soon after the return from their vacation.
Although living separately, the two men
continued to ply their trade as a team. A Mrs. Ostler came to Burke's new
boarding house for a celebration in honor of the landlord's new baby and was
never seen again. A relative of Helens, Ann McDougal, visited in Edinburgh
and stayed with Burke and Helen. Ann was soon dispatched by the usual method,
although Burke nobly persuaded Hare to take the active part in that murder
since Ann was a distant friend of Burkes. Ann turned out to be a good friend
indeed, providing Burke and his partner with another 10.
William Hare met Mary Haldane, an elderly
prostitute, in the Edinburgh streets and invited her back to the lodging
house for a dram. Burke joined them and Mary drank and fell asleep in the
lodging houses stable. She was murdered quickly, but Mary's daughter Peggy,
who had been told her mother had been seen with Hare earlier, went to Hares
to ask about her whereabouts. Upon arrival, Margaret and Helen heatedly
denied Mary or any prostitute would be allowed into their house. An argument
ensued that Hare stopped by saying that Mary had been there earlier but had later left. Hare then
offered Peggy a drink and then another -- and once Burke arrived, she soon
joined her mother at Dr. Knox's.
The disappearance of Mary Haldane caused
suspicion, as she was a well-known character in the neighborhood, and many
noticed her absence. Burke and Hare were further emboldened by not being
caught, however, and next targeted a very well known neighborhood resident
whose murder would almost be their undoing.
Eighteen year old James Wilson, known as
Daft Jamie in the West Port neighborhood, was a well-known local character.
He entertained local children with riddles and jokes and he lived on the
streets or with kind souls who would offer him shelter, although he
frequently visited his widowed mother. His only prize possessions were a
snuffbox and snuff spoon that had seven holes in it that Jamie used as a
calendar to tell the day of the week.
In early October of 1828, Hare came across
Jamie wandering the streets, looking for his mother, although some versions
say Margaret was the one who found him, Hare told him that he knew where his
mother was and invited him back to his house to wait for her. Burke was in a
local tavern and watched the two go by and observed Hare lead poor Jamie in
as a dumb lamb to the slaughter.
Burke was fetched from the tavern by
Margaret, and the Hares and Burke tried to convince Jamie to have some
whisky. Jamie drank only a small amount and refused more, although he was
soon dozing on a spare bed. Burke and Hare attempted to put their usual
method of killing into play, but Jamie was strong and fought back
successfully enough that he pinned Burke, who screamed to Hare for help. Both
men eventually overpowered Jamie and smothered him.
That evening, the two men collected 10 for
Jamie's body. Suspicion grew quickly, however, because Jamie's mother made
constant inquiries of her sons whereabouts. Also, when his body was uncovered
at Dr. Knox's, several of the students easily recognized Jamie by his face
and by a well-known deformity of his foot. Dr. Knox denied that the body was
Jamie, but began the dissection quickly, focusing first on those most
recognizable features.
On Halloween morning, Burke was taking his
usual morning whisky in his local tavern when an old woman entered and began
talking with the patrons. Noticing that she had an Irish accent, Burke bought
her a dram and she sat down and said that she was Mary Docherty from
Innisowen. Burke said that his own mother was a Docherty from Innisowen, and
that they must be related. Having established this bond, he easily persuaded
the old woman to come to his house.
The visitor was warmly received by Helen and
by a couple, James and Ann Gray, who were lodging with Burke and Helen. Burke
convinced Docherty to stay overnight with them, and arranged for the Grays to
spend that night at the Hares lodging house.
The arrangements being settled, everyone
drank in celebration of Halloween, and the whisky flowed long past nightfall.
The Grays eventually left, but were told to return for breakfast the next
morning.
The festivities continued and neighbors
later claimed to have heard dancing and drinking and arguments coming from
Burke and Helens rooms. Around midnight, an upstairs neighbor was passing by
Burke and Helens door and heard two men arguing and a woman's voice calling
out "Murder!" and "Get the police, there is murder here!"
The man ran back into the street but could not find a policeman. Passing by
the door again, the man stopped but heard nothing, so he assumed the crisis
was over and went up to his own rooms.
The following morning, the Grays returned
and found Mary Docherty was gone. They asked after her and Helen told them
that she threw the old lady out for being overly friendly with Burke. Ann
Gray later went near the spare bed to get some socks she had left behind, but
Burke shouted at her to stay away from the bed. Burke yelled at her a second
time when she went near the bed in order to fetch some potatoes. In the early
evening, the Grays found themselves momentarily alone in the house, so Ann
Gray took a peek and saw the body of an old woman lying beneath the bed. Both
Grays bolted from the house, running into the returning Helen, who asked
where they were going. James Gray was outraged and asked Helen what she knew
about the body. Helen panicked and begged them not to say anything, claiming
that their silence would be worth 10 a week. This further incensed the Grays,
and James chastised Helen for bringing disgrace upon her family and the
couple went out to fetch a policeman.
Helen and Margaret quickly went off to warn
their spouses, and were fast enough that when the police arrived at Burke and
Helens that night, there was nobody in the house. A neighbor told the police
that two men had recently left the house carrying a tea chest. Burke and
Helen returned home soon after, and innocently asked what the matter was. The
police separated the two and asked them individually what had become of the
old woman who had been there the previous night. Burke, feeling confident
that he and Helen had their alibis in synch, stated that Mrs. Docherty had
left their home at seven o'clock that morning. Helen agreed that she had left
at seven o'clock, but claimed that the woman had left at 7:00 in the evening.
This 12-hour discrepancy was suspicious enough that Burke and Helen were
taken in for more questioning. An anonymous tip led the police to Dr. Knox's
classrooms, where Docherty's body was found and James Gray positively
identified it.
The Hares soon joined Burke and Helen in
prison, and the police began to slowly unravel the disappearances of so many
people from West Port during the previous eleven months.
The busy days following Halloween included
an official autopsy of Mary Docherty, the questioning of Burkes and Hares
neighbors, and multiple interviews with the four accused. The four had
apparently not synchronized their stories. Their tales varied from stating
that they had never met Docherty to Burkes telling of a strange man ,whom he
named as William Hare, coming to his house to get his shoes repaired and who
had a large tea chest with him. Helen apparently did not know of this story,
however, and she did not echo this alibi or claim that William Hare was a
stranger.
November 6th, an Edinburgh newspaper
reported on individuals having recently disappeared , including a lad called
Daft Jamie. This report caught the interest of Janet Brown, who went to the
police and identified some of the clothing the police had found in Burkes
house as Mary Paterson's.
The public were outraged and called for justice
against all four, and Dr. Knox as well. The Lord Advocate, however, was in a
quandary about how and whom to prosecute. As there had been no eyewitness to
any of the actual killings, the entire case depended on circumstantial
evidence which, even including the Gray's testimony and Janet's
identification of Mary Paterson's clothing, was weak at best. He also
suspected that Helen and Margaret were secondary players and that neither
would testify against her male counterpart.
After one month of vacillation, under the
assumption that Burke had been the leader of the two men, a deal was made
where William Hare would receive immunity if he testified against Burke and
Helen. Hare readily agreed, and soon after Burke and Helen were both charged
with the murder of Mary Docherty. Burke was also charged with the killings of
Daft Jamie and Mary Paterson,, and their trial began on Christmas Eve.
The prosecution brought forth both Hares ,who
testified that Burke and/or Helen were the main players in the murders, and
other witnesses who claimed to have seen the victims in Burke or Helens
company shortly before they disappeared.
In defense, Burkes counsel tried to downplay
Burkes role in the murders , and Helens solicitor suggested that it was
Helen, terrified by seeing Docherty killed, who the neighbor overheard crying
"murder" that Halloween night.
Christmas morning the jury deliberated for
only fifty minutes and came back with their verdicts: Burke was guilty and
Helen was freed by the uniquely Scottish not proven verdict. On hearing the
news, Burke reportedly cried and embraced Helen, saying, you are out of the
scrape!
Burke was executed on January 28, 1829. In
the month between his sentencing and the execution, he gave two detailed
confessions. In both of them he cited 16 murders that he and/or Hare had
committed, although he got confused about the order of the murders between
the two confessions. At his scaffold, enormous crowds shouted for Hare and
Dr. Knox to join him at the gallows.
Helen, on being released, went back to the
house she had shared with Burke, where an angry mob found her and the police
had to be summoned so she could escape. She left Scotland for England, but
news of the murders had spread as far south as Newcastle, and police once
again had to protect her from vigilantes in that city. After Newcastle, it is
not known what became of her, although lore states that she went to Australia
and died there in 1868.
Margaret Hare also disappeared. After her
release, she escaped angry mobs in Glasgow and Greenock, and is believed to
have eventually journeyed back to Ireland.
William Hare was released in early February
of 1829, but did not meet up with Margaret. The last known sighting of him
was south of the English town Carlisle, although a popular later tale tells
of his being blinded by a mob who threw him into a lime pit, and of him
becoming a beggar on the streets of London.
Dr. Robert Knox attempted to remain in
Edinburgh, and he maintained a silence about any suspicions he might have had
about how Burke and Hare supplied his classroom with such fresh corpses.
Angry crowds occasionally mobbed his house and classrooms, but he continued
lecturing and giving classes until the number of students who wanted to study
under a man associated with Burke and Hare dropped dramatically. He twice
applied for vacant positions within Edinburgh University's medical school but
was rejected both times. He eventually moved to London where he held a post
at the Cancer Hospital before passing away in 1862.
Burke and Hare live on in Britain's culture,
and in movies like, The Body Snatcher,
The Doctor and the Devils, and The Flesh and the Fiends, and have
inspired writers from Robert Louis Stevenson's , The Bodysnatcher, to Seri Holmans novel, The Dress Lodger.
Their crimes even added to the English
language. The verb "to burke" still means to murder someone by
violent means or by smothering.
Threats of visits from Burke and Hare are
used by some parents to discipline unruly children, and the pair are even
prominently featured in a couple of sing-song rhymes that accompany children's
jump rope and hopscotch games:
Up the close and down the stair,
In the house with Burke and Hare. Burkes the butcher, Hares the thief, Knox, the boy who buys the beef.
Burke and Hare,
Fell down the stair, With a body in a box, Going to Dr. Knox.
I hope you enjoyed reading about Burke and
Hare!
Gwyn
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