The New York herald., 1878-11-09
Wholesale Murder to Supply Sub
jectS for Dissection.
TWO HUMAN VAMPIRES.
How Burke and Hare Carried on
Their Operations.
SUFFOCATION OF VICTIMS.
suFFocATloN OF VIC
Discovery Of the Crimes and Punishment
of the Assassins.
"7o burke, bstrking, bring bszked, buked .


English language the 3lst Of October 1928. when
was perpetrated at Edinburgh series Of the most
revolving and brutal crimes that have ever been re-
corded The definition Of the new word, the different
forms Of which given above explains the manner
the deed and may be found in any of the modern
dictionaries 1t will be sufficiently illustrated in the
following narratye:-
A little before the period named the great demand
subjects for dissection caused by the increased in
terest in the development Of medicine. had enhanced
the prices which paid for human bodies. and
the traffic in them had become extensive az 1t was
lucrative. Very soon all sorts Of strange methods
were adopted by the resurrection men to sup
ply the voracious medical schools. and the pro-
and physicians not too scrupulous about
the obtaining of materials of which they stood in
need. In Dublin, about 1896, it was rumored among
the popuace that many children had been kidnapped
in Ireland and sent to London and Edinburgh, while
vet living to be subjected the investigating scalpe
The poor peoples terror at this supposed fact OF
course absurd. and yet the history of sur
gerry had they been familiar with it, would
have afforded them plenty of examples sustain
ing their view of Esculapian ferocity. Erasstratus
born Ceos, 800 B. c., the first TO dssect human
bodies and he obtained from Selencus Nicanor and
Antiochus Sotbr license to thus examine, while they
still lived the criminals who condemned to
death. Herophilus also practsed vivisection upon
men and women. Berenger having been accused OF
dissecting living Spanards was chased or exiled to
Ferrara vesalius cut into the body of Spanish
noblcman while the heart was yet beating, and WAS
Obliged to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in expia-
tion.
The rumors which originated in Dublin. caused by
the eagerness Of the medical profession to get
sion of dead bodies may have suggested the actual
horrors which afterward occurred. In the biogra-
phes Of some of the old physicians Of London. many
curious instances may be mct with which showed the
tendency the thought Of the lower criminal classes
about that time.
PROFESSIONAL REsURRKc1IoNIsrs.
On one occasion professional resurrectionist was
walking in the vicinity Of hospital when he saw
man totter as with sudden faintness and then fall.
He hurried to him with the best Of impulses but
bending over him he found that he was dead. Imme-
diately the cold craft and sordd calcula-
ton of his nature became uppermost.
and like . consummate actor, he assumed
with scarcely effort expression and attitude of
the most poignant grief. wrngng his hands and en-
treating the psssers-by to assist him TO carry his
cousin" to the hospital On the next day inquest
was made by the Coroner and the resurrection man
laid claim to the body and took it away
with him, ostensbly for burial with the
usual Christian rites But instead OF .
graveyard he sought another hospital where he and
his calling we'll known and sold 1t to the faculty
for considerable sum. One night young practi-
TONER who had gone to bed reused by the knock
Of . resurrection man, and on opening the door OF
at hand in readiness for delivery. II he
cared to purchase it. It was paid for without inspec
ton and the doctor kicked 1t jocosely down flight
OF stairs leading into his dissecting room. Then he
turned and about TO ascend To his bedroom when
ceedng from the sack which enclosed the contraband
merchandise. 1t was indstinct and broken.
but certain epithets and ;I;I sspiesves belonging
meaning to his horrifed His first thought was
that some one had murdered for the sake Of the
price Of his body and that the murderer murderers
had erred in not doing their work efectually. He
turned and was not . little astonished to behold .
sitting erect on one of the steps and beside him
an empty sack When he advanced toward him tho
apparton the greatest terror and for
his life He afterward explained that he had been
roustsbout companions who did not love him too well
had slipped him into . sack and carried him OF for
sale. The doctor victim AZ well as he, for he
had expended pounds, shillings and pence for live
subject. and thus had been swindled
oUroRowTH OF THE sAroLEosIc WARS.
But very horrible phsse Of this trade in the images
OF God was that which developed during the Ma
poleonic II was long before the invention Of
false teeth had been perfected ana wealthy people
ture had given them were willing to pay
immense sums for sets made up of mo.
sorts OF persons and from all quarters Of the globe
Agents sent from the chief cities of Great Britain
the Continent to follow the armies and after every
battle TO thoroughly scour the field and reap
harvest Of teeth. They carried with them In.
struments made specially for the purpose of
extracting them. and the dead and wounded
alike were outraged by them. With this occupation
they linked others Of scarcely less endsh character,
having rst taken care TO protect themselves by being
called vampires. since they must having caused the
death of many . poor wretch whose Legitimate
wounds were not necessarily fatal Doubtless they
were sometimes resisted by soldiers who possessed
greater strength than they had counted upon, and
thus were compelled to choose an alternative between
exposure and their own punishment and the murder.
of their victim.
The nightmare of so many years Of military slaugh-
ter must have enumbed the sensibities of the Euro
pean public and 1t was not unprepared
for series Of monstrous murders. of which
those which were disrctiyey called burting are the
shocking In great many Of their details those
crimes bear striking resemblance to those Of which
Mrs Alexander and her paranlour Bassett stand a.
in the Scottish case were living with two
who were not legally their wives, but
who shared their dull and sodden brutality.
aud only less ferocous because less bold They
never have protested against the deeds which
done before their eyes and with their help. and
there evidence 10 show that they were coerced
into incurrng part Of the guilt One Of them
endowed with very little intelligence; the other was
devoid Of any good insuncts.
TWO AccoMpIIcEs.
william Hare. OF the murderers, was born At
Newry, in Ireland in 1872. His father u cotter
small farmer. and he was brought up TO the same oc
cupation. When he was twenty five years Of age he
went TO Edinburgh and was employed ~ boatman
ON the Union canal. fenBW laDOfer was W1tuam
Burke the son Of Neil Burke. He born In tha
parish Of Urney near 5trabsne, in the county Of
Tyrone. Ireland about the year 1893. He had been
ffer in the Donegal militia sid played well ON the
flute. "a proof. says sstirioal writer the
philosophy of burking in Froser's Magazine. .'of
the sterling sensibility Of his heart He left
his regiment shortly after the battle OF
Waterloo and went 10 Scotland in 1877 The
two well adapted to mutual partnership.
but In the subsequent events IL shown. according
% the same humorous commentator that in concep
tion Dir Hare evidently had the superiority over his
colleague. but in details and In elaborate
minuteness OF finish II seems To be
admitted that Mr.. Burke had the advantagc."
Hare impaired 10 Burke a scheme of improving upon
the then slow production Of subjects for dissection
and the latter embraced II Immediately with the
ready decision Of genius They proposed 10 lure
their victims into hitting den and there to do away
with them in such that II would appear that
they had died from natural causes. They dis
cussed the different methods which had before
been tried by people desirous Of removing their
neghbors from these earthly scenes, and they philo-
sophically rejected them all. Burke conceived al
idea in comparison with which in his superb i'm.
xs,sl.. a&S.xI