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The Burke And Hare Murders
1827 - 1829
Number of Murders, 16
During the 19th century in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh
was leading the way in medical advancements
none more so than the study of anatomy of the human body
but this in turn led to a severe shortage
of corpses for teaching and research purposes
It was not helped by the fact that Scottish law of that time
said that the only corpses allowed for dissection were restricted
to those who had died in prison, sucide victims or
orphans so in the 18th twenties a illegal
trade of corpses sprung up as they could
fetch to 8 -10 pounds each which was a
small fortune in those days there were even instances of
grave robbing but they were highly exaggerated
by the newspapers but never the less they did happen
in Edinbrugh on the night of November 29th
1827 a lodger died
owing
rent money to his landlord that landlord
was William Hare angry that the lodger owed
4 pounds in rent. Hare decided to illegally sell the body
for anatomical studies in order to
recuperate
his losses. To do this he enlisted
the help of his friend, Willliam Burke
who helped him remove the body from the coffin replacing it
with tanning bark
the body
was hid under the bed. Later on they sold
the corpse to Dr. Robert Knox who paid them
the handsome sum of 7 pounds
in 10 shillings
seeing a money making opportunity
they thought of ways to provide more corpses for Dr. Knox
Without waiting for natural causes
Over the next 12 months, they are thought to have killed
16 people
in total with the eight of their wives
Mainly by getting their victims drunk
And smothering them to death
And despite popular belief the two were never
known to have robbed any graves
Their victims were either transients or homeless
The type of people no one would miss and they were in
plentiful supply in a growing city like Edinburgh
Their victims were made up of 12 women
2 handicapped youths and 2 men. One who was sick
while the other, an old man
All of the corpses had been sold to Dr. Knox
who was head of the local anatomy school
And who later claimed because of the way the victims were murdered
with no obvious signs of violence on their bodies that he never
suspected foul play though the courts believed
Knox as not being involved in any criminal involvement
mainly due to Burke later testifying that Knox
knew nothing of their illegal going ons the press and public
opinion did not and his career was ruined
from that point onwards
Burke and Hare's last victim was on Halloween, October 31st
1828 when Margret Docherty, an Irish immigrant
was invited around to the Hare's for a drink
the next day she was found murdered in one of
the bedrooms by one of the lodgers. They tried to
bribe the witness with 10 pound a week but
they refused.
The lodger went to summon the police but when they arrived
At the lodgings all they found was Docherty's bloodstained
clothing hidden under the bed but no body
The police's suspicions further
arose when Burke and Hare along with their wives
gave differing accounts and times concerning
themselves and Docherty for the night before
The police line of inquiries quickly
led them to Dr. Knox's dissecting rooms
where they found Docherty's body being made
ready for dissection. The police now felt confident
that they had all the evidence they needed
And arrested Burke and Hare along with their wives
For the murder of Margaret Docherty
But the authorities were not as confident as the police were
Even though the police surgeon and two doctors who had
examined Margaret Docherty's body had concluded that
she had been murdered by suffocation it
could not be proven medically and that was just their professional opinion
the other 15 victims had had their bodies dissected
veins stripped away. Some body parts pickled
and other parts taken apart completely
down to the smallest detail. All this rendering
an autopsy impossible to be carried out
was felt quick an decisive action was needed to be taken
as the newspapers were whipping up the public into a
frenzy with sensational and inaccurate stories
about how anyone who had gone missing had probably been
murdered and their bodies sold to science
So the authorities offered Hare
immunity from prosecution. He readily agreed and
this meant in turn all charges were dropped against his wife
because a husband could not testify against his wife at that time
Hare confessed to his and Burke's involvement in all the murders
And on December 4th 1829
Burke and his wife were charged with three counts of murder
including that of Margaret Docherty
Their trial started at 10 a.m. on the Christmas Eve
of 1828. It lasted throughout the night
and in the morning after
55 minutes of deliberation
at 9:25 a.m, the jury found Burke
guilty of Margaret Docherty's murder
Burke's wife was acquitted of all charges
Burke's arrest to execution happened in a short amount of time
And by an ironic twist
The judge had ordered that after his execution, Burke's skeleton
was to be given to science where it is now displayed in the
anatomical museum of the Edinburgh medical school. His
death mask can be seen at surgeon's hall museum
But there is also another more gruesomer display
A book that was created from Burke's skin
Hare was released on February the 5th 1829
A free man and was
seen headed for the English border and was never seen
or heard of again
Three years later
the anatomy act of 1832 was passed
This allowed for the medical authorities to take any
unclaimed bodies from the slum work houses after 48 hours
had passed
This freed up alot bodies
for dissection and eased though did not eradicate completely
the practice of illegally selling corpses
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