commenced, and the scene was too fraught with enjoyment for the females,
always ready for scenes of excitement, to be absent. The inevitable whisky
was brought, and the poor stranger, to whom it would be as warmth to a
heart cold enough from poverty and privations, must partake. And now there
was to be one of those apparent inconsistencies which the one string of
catgut exhibits in every day of our lives. If the joyous scene was to
finish by the death of her around whom, and for whom, it was celebrated,
surely the more remote it was kept from observing eyes the safer; so says
prudence, but prudence forgets that she belongs exclusively to the natural
and the rational, and like all reasoners who argue from _egoism_ to
_tuism_, she expects abnormals to follow her maxims, which appear to them
to be as abnorm as they are to her. So while their spirits are up, as well
from the stimulant of drink as from that of the coming sacrifice, they go,
whither the destined victim had preceded them, into the neighbouring
apartment, occupied by a Mrs Connoway. There the scene was continued, or
rather begun afresh. More drink was brought by M'Dougal, and the enjoyment
was elevated into the altitudes of dithyrambism. Songs were sung,
accompanied by a chorus of hoarse, broken voices, among which the
_tremula_ of the "brisk" little old woman mixed its quavers, till at
length they all rose and danced. This scene continued for a considerable
time, when they left. It was now eleven o'clock, and they were all again
in their old quarters.
We have already seen that it formed a part of their plan of assault that
some of the parties should quarrel and fight--the confusion thus produced
being the opportunity of the assault. And the scheme was not departed from
on this occasion. In the heat of the pretended _mêlée_ the little old
woman, who had interfered on behalf of Burke, because he had been "kind to
her," was cast down by force, for she had not drunk so much as they wanted
her to do, and by keeping her senses had driven them to the necessity of
the fighting prelude. This was the sign. The women, in the knowledge of
the approaching struggle, hurry out of the room. At the very moment, Burke
throws himself, with all the desperation of his purpose, on the body of
the prostrate woman, clutching her by the throat, while his companion,
bounding to his help, joins his energies in the old way, so that by the
combination of powers utterly beyond resistance, she was held for full
fifteen minutes, until, amidst the silence of deep hush and listening,
they thought her dead. Not yet. They were deceived: there was more life
than they counted upon in the little old woman, and the signs of
reaction, as nature vindicated her guardship of the spirit, challenged a
further effort. The weight and compression were renewed, and continued
till there could be no doubt. The little old woman was dead, and in an
instant after doubled up and thrown among a parcel of straw there for the
purpose, in a corner of the room, between the foot of the bed and the
wall.
When they were satisfied that the act had been accomplished, the women
returned from the dark passage; whereupon Burke--it was now about
twelve--went to the residence of Dr Knox's curator of the rooms, who lived
near by, and bringing him along with him, pointed to the straw, and said,
"There is a subject for you, which will be ready in the morning." After
the departure of the curator, the party sat down to begin again their
debauch, in the course of which they were joined by a young man called
Broggan, when the revelry being continued, was carried on till four or
five in the morning, at which time the two women lay down in bed, with
Broggan alongside of them. Next morning, and after Hare and his wife had
left for their own house, Mr Gray and his wife, who had slept there during
the night, returned to Burke's, in consequence of an invitation given them
by him to come to breakfast. On entering the house, they looked for the
little old woman, and were surprised that she was not to be seen.
Thereafter Mrs Gray having, during a search for her child's stockings,
approached the bundle of straw, was met by Burke coming forward and
intercepting her, by crying, "Keep out there!" with a _nod_. Broggan was
then requested by Burke to sit on a chair so situated as to guard the
straw, and prevent an approach; but during the day he deserted his post,
and Mrs Gray, still more satisfied that there was something to be
discovered, took the earliest opportunity of a search. The dissipation had
driven all the actors right and left, so that at length the coast was
clear. Assisted by her husband, she began to remove the straw, and the
first thing she touched was the arm of the dead woman. They then examined
the body, which was entirely naked, and discovered that the mouth and a
part of the face were covered with blood. They had seen enough, and
thought it high time to get out of that house--a purpose they were in the
course of executing when they met Helen M'Dougal on the stair. Gray
immediately told her he had seen the dead body, whereupon she got alarmed,
implored him to hold his tongue, and said that if he did it would be worth
ten pounds a week to him; but the man was honest, and replied, "God forbid
that I should have that on my conscience!"[10]
Now, at last, the great secret had got into a mind true to God and nature;
and here you have to mark, with gratitude to Him who takes His own time to
bring evil to light and crime to retribution, the beginning of the end of
all these terrible evils.
The Discovery.
The records of human actions, though so often blotted by stains of blood
shed by the power of money, have, as we have observed, seldom shewn more
than some one individual act of violence. We exclude, of course, those
which set forth the actions of regularly-organised banditti; and even
there the robberies with mere violence form the general theme,--the cases
of killing being the exception. Here again we see the agent not only
working its wonders in the four actors, but extending its influence all
around in closing up the issues of discovery. The bribe offered by Helen
M'Dougal to Gray, gives us a further insight into this collateral part of
the conspiracy; and while we have the young man Broggan clearly enough
brought in as an additional confidant, we cannot avoid the conclusion that
he too had been got over by the all-powerful agent. Nor can we account for
the conduct of one more, who came into the scene at a still later period,
by anything short of this paid "winking toleration."
In the evening, after Gray and his wife left the house, the body of the
little old woman, which had been seen by them, was despatched to Surgeon's
Square in a manner somewhat different from that of the others. Indeed,
during the whole of this day, all the actors appear to have been deranged,
hurrying hither and thither without definite aim, as if under the
influence of a demon. The invitation to breakfast given to the Grays; the
nod of Burke when he scared Mrs Gray from the straw; the imprudent watch
committed to Broggan, and, above all, the leaving of the house with the
body lying in the corner, and the Grays there, so evidently upon the
alert, can only be accounted for on the supposition of frenzy. The new
element of the discovery made by the Grays, with the threatened
communication to the authorities made by the husband, was calculated to
aggravate that restlessness, so much better expressed by the German word
_verwirrung_. The nest was fluttered: all went to and fro, but whether it
was that the main chance could not, even by all this confusion and fear,
be driven from their minds, or that they saw the pressing necessity of
getting the body quickly out of the house, Burke hastened and engaged a
porter of the name of M'Culloch to convey the tea-chest, already procured,
with its burden, to Surgeon's Square. When the man came in the evening,
the body was not even put into the chest, and so confused and irresolute
were the two principals, that M'Culloch was obliged to help the packing.
He saw and handled the body,--forced it down with much pressure, and, even
when he was on the point of getting it upon his shoulders, he noticed an
oversight to which the others were blind. A part of the hair stuck out,
and so, with great caution, this careful cadie took the trouble to put all
to rights.
Meanwhile, the other harpies, under the prevailing restlessness and
flutter, were on the watch. M'Culloch, with the burden, sallied forth by
the Cowgate to find his way to the top of the High School Wynd, where he
was to be met by Burke. When half way up that passage, he was joined by
Burke and Helen M'Dougal, and before he got to the Square, Hare and his
wife were there, so that all the four were thus, and on this occasion of
delivery only, drawn together by the double motive of clutching the money,
and the apprehensions enveloped in the long-reaching shadow of frowning
justice. Nor did they stop there. When the burden had been deposited, and
M'Culloch requested to go to Newington, where Dr Knox resided, to get his
five shilling fee for his winking toleration, they all set off together,
and, though there was some straggling and separating, the women never lost
sight of the men. Arrived at Newington, Dr Knox's curator took the
principals, along with M'Culloch, into a public-house, the women hanging
about outside on the watch, and a part of the price, to the extent of £7,
10s. having been paid and divided, the whole party returned to the city.
While all this was going on, the man Gray, having been finally moved to
his purpose of informing the authorities of what he had witnessed, and
having also seen the removal, had repaired to the Police-office, where,
after waiting some time, he saw the officer, John Fisher. To him he
detailed what he and his wife had witnessed.[11] The bringing in of the
"brisk" little old woman--her good health--the manoeuvre to get him and
his wife to sleep at Hare's--so much of the orgie with its dancing and
singing as he knew--the disappearance of the stranger in the morning--the
discovery of the body under the straw--the blood upon the mouth--the bribe
of £10 a-week--the removal of the body. Whereupon Fisher, after
despatching his informant before him, repaired to the premises, but he
went with no other thought in his mind than that Gray was influenced by
spite;--so near again was the conspiracy to an escape from detection. Nor
did even what Fisher found and heard tend to awaken him. On getting to the
house, he met Burke and M'Dougal, with Gray and another man called Finlay,
coming up the stair, and having told Burke that he wanted to speak to
them, they all returned to the room. Fisher then began his interrogations.
"Where are all your lodgers?" he said, directing himself to Burke.
"There is one," replied he, pointing to Gray. "I turned him and his wife
out for bad conduct."
"But what has become of the little woman who was here yesterday?" he
continued.
"She's away."
"When did she leave?"
"About seven o'clock in the _morning_, and Hare will swear he saw her go."
"Any more to swear that?"
"Oh, a number!" replied Burke, insolently.
Whereupon Fisher began to look about the house, and especially the bed,
where he saw many marks of blood.
"How came these there?" he inquired at Helen M'Dougal.
"Oh," replied she, confidently, "a woman lay-in there about a fortnight
ago, and the bed has not been washed since; and as for the little old
woman, she can be found. She lives in the Pleasance, and I saw her
to-night in the Vennel."
"And when did she leave this?" he rejoined.
"About seven o'clock _at night_," replied the incautious Helen.
Upon this small discrepancy depended the further prosecution of the
inquiry, and, consequently, either the present discovery of the
conspiracy, or the continuation of it, with, probably, if possible,
increased atrocity, for Fisher was satisfied as to the blood as well as to
Gray's spite, and, according to his own assertion, came to the resolution
of taking Burke and M'Dougal to the Office, _only_ on the mere chance
ground of their difference about a time of the day. On arriving before the
Superintendent, Fisher mentioned what he had seen, and also what he
thought; but the superior, quickened by the mention of the blood, which so
far, hypothetically, at least, harmonised with Gray's story, took another
view. Yet how far was he from suspecting that he had in his very hands the
key to that chamber of horrors, the untraceable existence of which had for
a time produced so much deep-breathing oppression in the public mind! He
immediately paid a visit to the house, along with the police surgeon, Mr
Black, and Fisher himself. There they found a stripped bed-gown, which Mrs
Law, who came in, stated belonged to the little old woman, and in addition
to what Fisher had seen, a quantity of fresh blood, mixed with _fifteen or
sixteen ounces of saliva_, among the straw now under the bed, but which,
as we have seen, lay formerly between the end of the bed and the wall.
On the following morning, the same three parties proceeded to Dr Knox's
rooms in Surgeon's Square, and having got the curator formerly mentioned,
who felt no hesitation in assisting their inquiries, they were led by him
to the cellar. "There is the box," said he, "but I do not know what is in
it." On opening it they found the body of a woman quite naked, and Gray
having then been sent for, came and identified it as that of the little
old woman. Thereupon the body and box were conveyed to the Police-office;
and on the day following an examination was conducted by Dr Christison and
Dr Newbigging, assisted by Mr Black, which, according to the conjectures
of the first, who as yet knew nothing of the real manner of death,
harmonised wonderfully with the _res gesta_. There were several contusions
on the legs, probably caused by the heavy shoes of the assailants--another
on the left loin--another on the shoulder-blade--one on the inside of the
lip, the consequence of pressure against the teeth, and two upon the head,
probably from being knocked against the floor in restraint of efforts to
rise. Above all, as an index to the _modus_, there was a ruffling of the
scarf skin under the chin, and as a proof of the _force_, a laceration of
the ligaments connecting the posterior parts of two of the vertebræ,
whereby blood had effused among the spinal muscles as far down as the
middle of the back. There was also blood oozing from the mouth and nose.
The body appeared to be that of a healthy person, all the organs of the
vital parts being unusually sound. From all which, Dr Christison, and also
the two other doctors, drew the conclusion, that the woman had met with a
violent death by means of throttling--a form indicated by the ruffling of
the skin below the chin as more likely than that of smothering or
suffocation. Nor was this conclusion liable to be affected by the fact
stated by Mr Black, that many of the intemperate people of the city, and
so many that he had seen six cases in the Police-office at one time, were
often on the eve of death, nay, altogether deprived of life, through
accidental suffocation from drink, produced by chance obstruction of the
mouth, or lying with the face on a pillow.
All this information having been obtained, the authorities were at length
roused, and the Lord Advocate, it is said, saw at once that he was on the
eve of a great discovery, which would explain the recent disappearances.
All secrecy was imposed upon officials, yet in spite of the precaution,
parts of the story got currency among the people, and, offering a solution
as they did of the prevailing mystery, deepened the awe, while they
stimulated the curiosity not of the city only, but the kingdom. Hare and
his wife were laid hold of, and inquiries in every direction set on foot
and prosecuted. Recourse was had to the culprits, in the hope that some
one or more of them would confess, but at first there was no success in
this direction, each of them maintaining that they knew nothing of the
death of the woman, or the fate of any of the prior victims. On the 3d and
10th of November, Burke and Helen M'Dougal, finding that one fact could
not be denied, that a dead body was found in their house, issued
declarations whereby a story was trumped up to the effect that it was
brought there by a stranger, who called one day to get some work performed
by the former; but these were disregarded as inconsistent and ridiculous,
and the authorities were left to their scent. The evidence of the Grays
was of great importance, and other people were found who could speak to
isolated facts. Hugh Alston could swear that at half-past eleven on the
night of the 31st of October, when he was going to his house, in the same
land where Burke resided, he heard a noise coming from the latter's
room--men quarrelling and fighting--(the feint preceding the
onslaught)--and amidst the uproar the peculiar voice of a female crying
murder, then after some minutes the uproar diminished, and he heard a cry
as if proceeding from a person or animal that had been in the act of being
strangled. This circumstance recurred to him, and struck him forcibly next
evening, when he heard that a body had been found in that house.
Additional information was got from Mrs Connoway, who occupied a room on
the right hand of the main passage leading to that other which terminated
in Burke's apartment. She remembered that, on Hallowe'en night, Burke
brought in with him a little old woman; that, on subsequently going into
his house, she saw her there sitting by the fire supping porridge and
milk, and upon her saying, "You have got a stranger," M'Dougal replied,
"Yes, a Highland woman, a friend of Burke's." In the darkening, the woman
came into her house, and she was surprised to hear her calling Burke by
the name of Docherty, wherein she corrected her. By and by, Hare and the
two women followed, one of the latter having a bottle of whisky, part of
which the stranger partook of along with the rest. Thereafter they got
merry, when they all rose and danced, the little old woman among the rest.
When the others left, the woman remained till such time as Burke, who was
out, should return to his own house, because she trusted to him for
protection. During the night she was disturbed by a terrible noise as of a
fight; and in the morning, about nine or ten, having gone ben, she found
collected Mrs Law, Young, Broggan, M'Dougal, and Burke, the last drinking
whisky, and sprinkling it over the bed and the straw, and M'Dougal singing
a song. On inquiring where the little old woman was, she was told by Helen
that she had kicked her out, because she was "ower freendly" with her
husband. Towards six she was called upon by Mrs Gray, who having
previously told her of the dead body, asked her to go in and see it, but
when she complied, she got so frightened that she turned and ran out.
Further on, her husband told Burke that it was reported that he had
murdered the woman; on hearing which he laughed very loud, as well as
M'Dougal, who was present, and then said, he "did not regard what all
Scotland said of him." Nor did he seem to be in the smallest degree
afraid. This information afforded by Mrs Connoway was corroborated to a
certain extent by Mrs Law, who occupied a room in the main passage
opposite to that of the former; and Broggan was willing to go so far as to
admit certain things, among the rest, the charge of sitting on the chair
opposite to the straw.
Withal though this evidence could leave no doubt on the mind that murder
had been committed, it did not amount to proof against any particular
person. All that pertained to the disposal of the body at Surgeon's Square
was frankly told by the curator; but, with this exception, there was much
to complain of as regards the doctors. Knox and his assistants, all of
whom shewed from the beginning a marked, if not determined, refusal to
help the authorities in the furtherance of justice. But if all the
testimony that could be procured in support of the charge in this case was
insufficient, the deficiency was still greater in regard to those of Mary
Paterson and Daft Jamie, for unfortunately no one, with the exception of
the accomplices and the gentlemen in Surgeon's Square, had seen their dead
bodies, or could even say they were dead, so that the _corpus delicti_ was
literally little better than a myth. The authorities were therefore placed
in a very trying position. The people cried for vengeance; and the Lord
Advocate could only respond, "The decrees of the blind goddess are not
gropings in the dark;" and he moreover, said, that an ineffectual trial,
followed by an acquittal, would not only be injurious to the interests of
justice, damaging to the prestige of official dexterity, but dangerous to
the country, in the humour in which the inhabitants of Edinburgh felt
themselves. That humour had often shewn itself before. The example of the
Porteous mob was not only a lesson, but, as regards the crimes, a
derision; and it was just as certain as the death of the brisk little old
woman, that the big old Edinburgh would take the blind lady into their own
hands, and if she would not _see_ that it was right that these four
persons should be hanged, whether on a barber's pole or not--they would
extract her cataract or cure her _amaurosis_ for the purpose, and then
immolate the criminals at her altar.
From this anxiety with which the Lord Advocate was oppressed, there was an
impending relief. The diligent officials, all straining for the
satisfaction of the people, the vindication of justice, and the comfort of
their superior, were continually attempting the prisoners, and at length
it was discovered that the crafty, cruel, and cowardly Hare, and also his
wife, were beginning to shew signs of inclination to buy their lives at
the expense of those of their perhaps less guilty associates. The leer of
the "fearful man," when the proposition was made to him, was a repetition
of the old satisfaction when a "shot was in the house," and it is not
unlikely that he chuckled at the rising thought of sending him to the
college for the benefit of science and the good of his fellow-creatures;
nor was the indication either unnatural to him or fallacious to the
public. In a short time he declared himself, but on the condition of a
firm bargain. The "shot" must be paid for by the price of immunity to his
person and that of his wife.
When this information reached the law officers of the Crown, they hailed
it with that amount of satisfaction which might be felt when a man
procures by chemical agents from pollution the means of reproducing
health. It could be doubted by no one that the evidence of such a _socius
criminis_ as Hare, or _socia criminis_ as the amiable Mary, would be worth
less than the value of an old song, insomuch that while the old song
_might_ be true, the words of Hare, in a transaction where he himself was
concerned, could _not possibly_ be true. He would represent, and the
people knew it, the Janus head with one face looking simpering peace to
himself, and the other bloody war to his friend. Nor was this
foreknowledge of the man, founded as it was upon such an array of actions,
belied by the result. The precognition was, from beginning to end, a long
train of lies, wherein he represented himself as a good, easy soul--his
wife as well--who allowed Burke to have his own way, neither advising him
nor assisting him, only not obstructing; and even where he could not avoid
some confession of participation, attributing his weakness to the
easiness of his nature. How innocently he took a little liquor so as to
make him, not drunk, but merely put him in a sort of "drunkish way!" How
benignantly he sat on the chair at the side of the bed when the ruffian
Burke was fighting like a tiger to squeeze the life out of the little old
woman! As for the money, he merely accepted it--never earned it; and who
refuses money? So glaring was the falsehood of the man's statement, and
not less that of his wife, that the Lord Advocate was by no means sure of
a verdict. _Socii criminis_ have shades of character, but they are only to
be believed when they shew penitence, and strike with vigour their own
persons; but Hare only held on and kicked out; and a jury true to their
consciences might, after all, become disgusted, and find a verdict of "Not
proven."
The Complicity of the Doctors.