Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-10-25

It was generally believed that bands of
assassins were organized for the pur-
pose of providing " subjects by muir
der. These were supposed to lie in
wait at nightfall for a stray passer, who
was suddenly pounced upon, cloth
covered with pitch clapped over his
mouth and nustrils, and when he was
in this way suffocated the body was
stripped, placed in bag, and sold to
the doctors, who paid the money and
asked no questions. Hundreds of per-
sons were believed to have been dis
posed of in this way. The newspapers
published the sensational rumors as
facts, and the "pitch plaster" has
passed into history in connection with
these murders and appears in most
books of reference where mention of
the matter is made, though no such ex-
pedient was actually employed. The
official reports of the trial of William
Burke in 1928 and of John Bishop in
1881 and the full confession of these
men furnished the facts of the crimes
which caused the excitement.
William Burke, an Irishman in Edin-
burg, one evening called upon an ac-
quaintance named William Hare. The
latter was in trouble on account of a
lodgcr, an old man, dying on his hands.
Burke suggested that as there was a
great demand for bodies for dissection
the body could be sold and the money
divided, together with what effects the
lodger had left. There was no difficult
ty in disposing of the " STIFF to one DIR.
Knox, who paid eight pounds for it.
The ease with which this business was
transacted set Burke to thinking. The
market price for " subjects was eight
pounds. The regular way of procuring
| them was grave-robbing, which was an
unpleasant and risky proceeding. As
no bodies could be obtained unless by
| illegal methods, with the exception OF
persons dying by the hangman, sur
geonS were not anxious to know how
the d" subjects came to them and hence
asked no questions. Burke thought
that if poor and friendless persons were
put out of the way nobody would be the
wiser or worse off, and he would be a
few pounds richer with but little risk.
Hare was taken into partnership and
| the two went to work. Their method
of procedure was the same in all cases.
a BpOly lllSlNAlNoNt IlduSl1
sometimes an old man or boy, but gen
orally woman-was found in the
streets, seduced to the house of Burke
or Hare under promise offood and shell
ter and stupelied with drink. When
thus helpless, one of the murderers
would lie upon the body of the victim
whilst the other held the mouth and
nostrils closed. In this way the victim
died of sutfocation and there was no
outward sign of violence. The busi-
ness was carried on successfully for
about a year, and fifteen bodies were
disposed of to DR.. Knox for about eight
pounds apiece, when blunder brought
the whole ghastly story to light. An
old woman named Mary Docherty went
into grocery to beg. Burke was in the
| shop and asked her name and where
she was from. On learning she was a
stranger to Edinburg he said she was a
| relative of his mothers, took her home,
gave her meal, and in company with
Hare and some women had carouse
for the purpose of getting the intended
victim drunk. She proved tough
customer, and all hands got drunk to.
gether, the carouse ending in row
which disturbed the neighbors. Next
day an inquisitive person saw a dead
body partly concealed under bed. The
result was the arrest of Burke on infor.
nation furnished by Hare. He was
tried, convicted, and made full con-
fession of fifteen murders, all committed
in the same way. Burke was hung in
1929, after giving a new verb to tie En-.
glish language, ito burke" being tc
stifle or suppress, as Burke stihed his
victims.
Three years after the Burking''
sensation. excitement was removed by
the arrest in London of man named
John Bishop, for the murder of an
Italian boy and the disposition of his
body to the doctors. Bishop, after con.
viction, confessed to three murders for
the purpose of furnishing subjects y
His method of procedure was similar to
that of Burke, except in the manner OF
causing death. Two of his victims were
boys, and one young woman. Each
was found friendless and hungry in the
streets, taken home, stupetied with
liquor, drugged with laudanum, and
whilst in this condition tied to a rope
and let down into a we'll to drown.
When dead the body was taken up,
hung by the heels to let the water and
liquor run out of the stomach, packed
in box or barrel, and sold to the doe
tors. One body was yet plant and
scarcely cold when delivered at the
surgery. Both Burke and Bishop de-
MED knowledge of any other murders
than those committed by themselves,
and of any other parties operating in the
same way.
The result of the excitement caused
by these revolving disclosures was the
passage of law in 1882 providing that
bodies of friendless persons dying in
the hospitals, warehouses, and other
places should be turned over to the use
of properly licensed anatomists, and
that quarterly returns should be made
of the bodies so used and whence OBJ
tained. Since that time no complaints
of body-snatching have been made pub
lie, sufficient supply being obtained in
legal manner. - Cleveland Herald.