Year: 1878




She fell upon her knees and rendered
them money to induce them to stay and
refrain from informing the police of
what they had seen. It is highly prob
able that Burke and Hare had de-
termined Upon treating them exactly as
they had Mrs. Campbell and the woman,
therefore, when she took this course had
two objects in view. They were seized
with greater terror, however, at her pro-
posal and fed from her presence. On
the next day the police were We ed.


In the meantime arrs1 gene Is had
been made by Burke and liaE Sbr de-
livering the "shot," which t.sey had
just perfected, into the hands of DIR.
Knox. A tea chest was purchased of
grocer and in this il was packed. 1t was
then conveyed by porter to dissect-
ing room, They received for it the sum
OF 95, and 93 more we're to be paid to
them if it proved as good "shot" as it
was represented to be.


On November 2 the police went to the
house at the bottom of Tanners lane
and found there the murderers and
traces of their crime. The clothes
which the old woman had worn lay in a
corner with heap of other garinents of
all sizes and patterns. There was blood
on the floor, and the pallet of straw was
reeRing with it. The house itself was
dark and grimy, and almost shut out
from the light of heaven. The tea
chest end its contents had already been
seized at the doctors museum, and the
latter had been examined by medical
experts. All the Indications about it
strengthened the suspicion of murder
by suffocation. Hare had no more than
been lodged in the Tolbooth than he
had determined to obtain by his craft an
advantage over Burke and to give kings
evidence. Accordingly he confessed the
crime, accusing Burke and his wife and
seeking to shield himself and Mrs. Hare.
The trial took place on the Oath of
December, 1928, and it was character
lied by the most intense interest. All
England and Ireland and Scotland
had by this time become excited to
fearful pitch over the narratives pub
lished in the newspapers, and the cham
Der of the high court of judiciary was
densely packed with the yeomanry and
peasantry of the lowlands and high
lands. The prisoners secured distin-
guished counsel, among whom were Sir
James Moncief and Henry Cockburn.
Lord Chief Justice Clerk presided.
William Burke was described as he then
looked, as " of middle age, stoutly built
and of determined though not particu-
larly sinister countennnce. He had high
cheek bones, gray eyes set deep in the
head, short, Hnubbish nose, u round
chin, hair and whiskers of light sandy
color, and complexion of nearly the
same hue"


Upon the evidence it appeared that
Madgy or Margery or Mary Nc CONCEAL,
or Duffie or Campbell or Docherty, &C
cording as she bore the names of one or
the other of her successive husbands,
had first met William Burke in the shop
of grocer where she was begging for
charity. She told him she was going
to st. Mary's Wynd to meet her son, a
lad of eleven years. Burke Immediately
claimed to be distant relative of hers
and urged her to go with him and break
fast. She went very willingly. She
was seen by several persons at his
lodgings during the day and evening.
the latter part of the time being much
the worse for drink. Hare and his wife
were also present and they all became
merry-singing, laughing and dancing,
and Mrs. Campbell could hardly keep
her feet. Hare, according to his con.
fession, began to quarrel with Burke,
and they soon came to bl-ws. The old
woman became alarmed and ran twice
into the passage-way adjoining the
room calling for the police. Helen
McDougal went after her and brought
her back each time. In the struggle
Hare pushed her over stool and she
fell upon the floor, and she was too
drunk to rise again. Burke threw him
self upon her 80 that his breast covered
her face. She uttered several cries and
then only moaned. Burke put one hand
on her nose and mouth and the other
under the chin, thus stopping her
breath completely. He never spoke
while doing this, and Hare sat opposite
him on chair, without a sign of pity or
recoiling from the terrible spectacle.
The women, in the meantime, had fed
from the room, unable to endure the
sight of the murder. Burke arose from
his prone position, still holding his
hand over the mouth of Mrs. Campbell.
She appeared to be quite dead, and at
the end of ten minutes they pulled of
her clothing, doubled her up, aud, plac-
ing her in corner, covered her up with
straw.


On the further confessions of Hare
and of Burke himself the extent of the
business which they carried on began
to he realized, and they were corrob-
GRATED by the spoils which they had
| found in the house in Tanners Close.
People began to trace to their door the
many disappearances that had recently
taken place and the sequel of which had
until then remained secret. Tramps on
entering the city with their friends had
been suddenly lost Irish haymakers on
their road to the agricultural districts
of the lowlands had strayed away, and
were never more heard of, and children
who had played truant never went back
to their schools, and now there was
terrible clew offered to all these mys.
teries, Burke acknowledged to the sell.
ing of thirty or forty shots, and as he
denied that he had ever fesurrected any
of them it was inferred that he had pro
CURED all of them by murder. 1t wal
he who did the hunting up of victims
He was of fawning address and grea
favorite with children. 1t was proved
that the fights which always occurred
between Hare and him just previous tc
the burking Of victim were gotten NJ
purposely, for the purpose of de
ceiving any one who might chanc,
to be listening. The first bod,
which they delivered to the doctors wa
that of an old pensioner named Donald
| who lived in the same house. He die,
, about Christmas, 1927, and they stol
him from his coffin and filled IL witt