voluntarily, as he alleged, to speak to the magistrates. The prisoners,
it being then early in the forenoon, were not yet brought up for
examination; and Lea informed Mr. J----y that, if he wished it, he
might then communicate to the magistrates what he had to say, as,
most probably, several hours might elapse before the prisoners would
be brought up. Mr. J----y, however, declined the offer, saying he
would wait until the prisoners came; and he did actually wait in
and about the office for nearly four hours. That a conduct of this
kind was calculated to excite suspicion, may be easily conceived;
for an individual seldom enters into the defence or justification of
an accused person, without some ostensible motive being displayed.
Friendship, or a long acquaintance, or personal interest, may induce
a person to come forward and exert himself to obtain the exculpation
of the accused party; but in the present instance the question was
asked, what connexion could possibly exist between Mr. J----y and the
Cooks, to sanction the zealous manner in which he presented himself to
espouse their cause, at the same time that, on a previous occasion,
he had publicly stated that he knew nothing at all about them? Mr.
J----y has been heard to declare that he could always get plenty of
cheap subjects, if he had the means of paying for them; and it has been
ascertained, that although Mrs. Cook may be regarded as one of the most
finished Burkers of her time, yet that she never disposed of any of her
victims in those quarters where it was supposed she would most readily
apply, and where the greatest prices were to be obtained, namely, the
hospitals and the anatomical schools. She appeared to be contented
with almost any sum she could obtain, to satisfy the immediate
necessities of the day; and therefore the probability exists that she
did actually dispose of her victims in that quarter, where confidence
was established, and where cheapness was a primary object.
On one occasion Mr. J----y presented himself to the magistrates during
the time that the prisoners were under examination; and although he
was very pointedly asked the cause of his thus presenting himself so
voluntarily before the magistrates, yet he sheltered himself under the
plea of a love of justice, and therefore that he considered himself
bound to come forward and state, in common justice to the accused
parties, that he knew nothing at all about them, nor did he possess any
knowledge of the manner in which they had disposed of the body of Mrs.
Walsh. Having given this statement, Mrs. Cook turned to him, saying,
'Thank you, Sir; thank you, Sir.'
No doubt whatever exists that great suspicion attaches to this
individual in regard to his dealings with the Cooks; for he was
frequently heard to say, that he knew where to obtain cheap subjects,
if he had but the means of purchasing them. In justice to him, it must,
however, be stated, that no direct proof has ever been adduced of any
of the victims of Mrs. Cook having fallen into his hands, nor during
any part of the examination of Mrs. Cook or her husband was the name
of this individual ever implicated. It is not to be supposed that at
this remote period any clue will be obtained as to the actual disposal
of the body of Mrs. Walsh, but of its ultimate fate, no doubt whatever
rests on the public mind.
The police establishment of Worship-street had, however, scarcely
finished their labours with Mrs. Cook and her associates, than
the attention of the Worship-street officers was directed to other
circumstances, which afforded strong grounds for suspicion that several
Burking murders had been committed by some persons who had recently
taken a house in Severn-place, Three Calfs'-lane, Bethnal-Green,
described as a lonely spot near the fields between Bethnal-Green and
the Whitechapel-road. A search-warrant was accordingly issued, and
executed by the Worship-street officers, who apprehended three persons
whom they found on the premises.
The prisoners, George Bradley, a young fellow about twenty years of
age, Sarah Skinner, a young woman with whom he cohabited, and Louisa
Covington, alias Carpenter, his sister, were placed at the bar for
examination before Mr. Broughton; and Sarah Bradley, an elderly
Irishwoman, mother of George, who had gone to the office to see the
prisoners, was taken into custody, and placed at the bar with them.
Mrs. HANNAH SMITH, a respectable-looking, middle-aged widow, deposed
that she lived at No. 6, Severn-place, and the two young women at the
bar lived in the next house, No. 7. She had also seen a young man
there, whom she believed to be the prisoner, George Bradley.
The prisoner, who wore a fustian jacket, was ordered to put on a white
great-coat produced, and his hat, and the witness then said she was
sure he was the person whom she had seen go in and out of No. 7.
The witness proceeded to state, that they were very small houses, only
one story high, and the partition between them so thin, that in her
apartment she could hear any talking or noise in the next house. On
Wednesday evening she was sitting at work in her lower room, close to
the partition, and heard a female voice faintly but distinctly cry
'Murder, murder!' and she then heard one man say to another, 'Hold the
b----h, hold her!' Some boys then tapped at the window of No. 7, and
called out 'Burkers,' and a female went and opened the door, but they
had ran away.
The prisoner Covington here went into hysterics, and the examination
was suspended until she recovered.
The witness, in continuation, said, that after what she had already
stated took place, all remained quiet until about half-past eight
o'clock, and she then heard a noise in the same room, like persons
cording a box, and after that there was a stamping noise upon the
pavement before the door, which was then opened.
Mr. BROUGHTON.--Was it a stamping of feet, as of persons carrying a
load, or by way of signal?
WITNESS.--It was the signal used by the persons who went to that house.
They always stamped upon the pavement, instead of knocking at the door.
She then heard them carrying something out, and she went to her own
door and looked out, and saw a box put upon a lad's head. She could not
positively say that it was the prisoner Bradley. Three men then came
out of the house and went after him, and two women followed. Witness
then went back into her room. She did not give any alarm.
Mr. BROUGHTON.--You appear to be a respectable woman, Mrs. Smith; but
how did it happen, that, having heard the faint cries of 'murder,'
and some hours afterwards the cording of a box, which you saw carried
away, you did not take any measures for having the parties stopped, by
alarming the neighbourhood, or calling the police.
The witness said she did not know what to do. She felt some alarm
for herself, and did not like to venture out; and she had not heard
or seen a policeman pass between the time of her hearing the cry of
murder, and the carrying off the box. Her niece, who lived with her,
was at home at the time, and heard and saw the box, but had returned
home after the cries of murder.
Mr. BROUGHTON.--You are badly off, indeed, in such a lonely situation,
if you had no policeman pass all that time.
Mr. YOUNG, a police inspector, of K division, said that policemen were
on duty, and must have been frequently past; but the witness might not
have heard them, as they did not call the hour, like the old watchmen.
Mr. BROUGHTON.--Did you hear anything more of the people at No. 7 that
night?
The witness said, that at nine o'clock, or shortly after, she heard a
tap at the door, and the stamping of feet again; and looking out, she
saw another box brought out, and put upon the lad's head by a tall man,
who had on an old Witney white coat, and a dirty white hat. The box was
followed by the men as before.
In reply to various questions, the witness said, she had reason to
believe that the two young women at the bar occupied the room in which
all this took place. They were at home, and in the room, that evening,
for she heard and knew their voices; and it was the impression upon her
mind that they were the two who followed after the box. They had lived
there about a fortnight. The box appeared to her to be about a yard in
length; but her niece saw it more distinctly than she did.
MARY HARDING, the niece, stated, that she lived with her aunt, and knew
that the two young women at the bar lived at No. 7; and she had seen
the young man go in and out, but did not know that he lived there. She
had been out on Wednesday, and upon her return home, soon after four
o'clock, her aunt told her that she had heard the cries of 'murder.'
She afterwards heard the cording of the box, and saw it carried away as
described by the last witness. She did not like to follow it. It was a
larger box than her aunt described. She thought a person might be put
into it. Three men and the two females followed it; and about an hour
afterwards she saw a second box carried out in the same way.
Neither of the witnesses knew anything of Sarah Bradley, the mother.
JAMES BROWN stated, that he and the other officers went to No. 7,
Severn-place, on Friday evening; and he, with another, got in by a back
way, while Attfield went to the front. They found the three younger
prisoners together. He produced two men's coats, with some other
apparel, a very thick pair of men's shoes, and an old pair of women's
shoes.
THOMAS EAGLES said that the prisoners made no explanation of any kind
to him. He saw the produced coats lying upon a bed, and he found a long
stout cord, and a bundle, containing some ragged articles of apparel,
all tied up together.
WILLIAM ATTFIELD stated, that he went to the front door, which was
opened by Sarah Skinner, and he asked if Mrs. Smith lived there?
She said no. He afterwards asked the three prisoners where they had
lived before they came there. Skinner said that they came there from
No. 16, Foster-street, Whitechapel, but Covington said, from No. 10,
Luke-street. He did not know where Luke-street was, and she would
not tell him; but upon inquiry at the place mentioned by Skinner,
he found it was three months since they lived there. He had heard
that they came from No. 12, Thomas-street, Whitechapel, which they,
however, denied. Upon searching up stairs, in a box were the clothes
produced, and a bottle, labelled 'poison,' and containing oxalic acid
in solution, which the prisoners said was for cleaning boot-tops.
The box had no cover, and upon the top of the clothes in it was the
drab-coloured hat produced, with a broad crape band upon it.
It was remarked in the office that it was precisely such a hat as the
boy Newton had described to have been worn by the tall man whom he
saw run from the spot where the body of Margaret Duffy was found in
Cowheel-alley.
JAMES HANLEY produced a small tin box, which he found in the room with
the prisoners. It contained six pawnbrokers' tickets; one of them for
a shawl, and two for other articles of female apparel, all pawned on
Wednesday, the day mentioned by Mrs. Smith.
Police-inspector YOUNG produced a small phial which, he said, had been
found in the house that morning, by a constable who had been placed
there, but was not now present. It contained some oil of vitriol.
It appeared that Mrs. Smith had intimated her suspicions to the police,
and a constable had been placed in her house since Thursday, to watch
the next, and a written statement made by her was now shown to the
magistrate.
Mr. BROUGHTON recalled Mrs. Smith, and asked if she had seen any
females at the house besides the prisoners, or seen or heard anything
suspicious previously to last Wednesday.
She said, that on Monday week an old woman, leading a young person who
was intoxicated, knocked at her door, and asked for Covington. She
directed her to the next house, No. 7, and saw her go in there with the
girl. She afterwards heard people going in and out, and thought at the
time that they were fetching liquor from the public-house. The girl
afterwards ran up stairs, and witness heard her run about the upper
room, followed by a man. The girl said, 'Oh! you'll kill me, you'll
kill me.' The old woman remained in the lower room, and the witness
heard her say, 'Oh, my dear,' when the girl cried out, but she did not
appear to move, or take any further notice. Witness heard the girl fall
when she cried out. It was then late at night, and about two in the
morning she heard a rustling in the passage, as if two persons were
carrying something out.
Mr. BROUGHTON, after some further inquiries, had the prisoners placed
at the bar separately, to hear if they wished to make any defence
or explanation; but he repeatedly cautioned them that they were not
obliged to say anything, and that if they did, it might be used against
them.
They all protested very earnestly, that what Mrs. Smith and her niece
saw carried out was nothing but a bedstead and a table, and other
things, which had been carried away by night. The noises and crying out
which she had heard were laughing, which ended in a quarrel; and an old
woman, named Smith, who had lived with them, moved away in consequence.
It appeared, in fact, that the prisoners had been shifting about, from
place to place, and bilking their landlords.
The witness Harding being again questioned, declared that what she saw
were boxes. She was near, and saw them distinctly, and was certain she
could not be mistaken.
It was stated, that a daughter of Mrs. Smith's, who is married to a
policeman, also saw the boxes, and she actually followed the party
some distance; but seeing that they were going across the fields, she
was afraid to proceed further. She was not then present, however.
Mr. BROUGHTON said, that from the positive swearing of the witnesses,
he must believe that it was a box which they saw carried out; and it
was exceedingly to be regretted that means had not been taken to stop
the party, and ascertain what the box contained. God forbid that he
should say that it did contain a body; but the circumstances stated by
Mrs. Smith as to what had occurred on Monday week, when she heard the
girl running about, followed by a man, and crying out, 'you'll kill
me,' and her hearing the faint cries of murder on Wednesday, and seeing
the box carried off some hours afterwards, made it a case of strong
suspicion, and he would give ample time to search for further evidence.
Sarah Bradley was discharged, nothing having been stated against her.
The other three prisoners were remanded for a week.
Accordingly, on that day, the prisoners were again brought up; but no
conclusive evidence being adduced against them, they were discharged.
On taking a summary view of the chief subject connected with the
crime of Burking, and which has particularly engaged our attention
during our progress through this work, we are fully aware that we
have, in several instances, laid ourselves open to the animadversions
and the opprobrium of the surgical profession at large, inasmuch
as we may have been supposed to attach to it a positive degree of
stigma, as having been the encourager, and in some cases, the actual
parent of the Burking system, which, without their co-operation and
connivance, would never have been known in this country. In this
respect, however, the charge against us is unfounded. We have adhered
to a strict line of impartiality in recording the different arguments
which have been adduced, publicly and privately, against the practices
of the anatomical schools in general, and particularly in regard
to the culpable ignorance which has been manifestly displayed by
several persons connected with the purchase of dead bodies, in their
discrimination between a murdered person and a corpse that has been
exhumed. It would be an affected display of sensibility to condemn
altogether the sale and purchase of human corpses; for it is a practice
which must and will prevail, so long as a knowledge of the anatomy of
the human frame constitutes a part of the education of the medical
student. Our great aim, however, has been, by a collision of arguments,
and an impartial exposition of facts, to devise those measures by which
the science of anatomy may be encouraged, facilitated, and maintained,
without having recourse for its support to midnight murders, and to
the reckless sacrifice of life, on account of the tempting gain which
is held out to those whose consummate villainy can lead them to the
commission of such dreadful crimes. It is on record in the preceding
pages that several individuals have fallen under the murderous grasp of
the Burker, whose bodies have been conveyed to the hospitals and the
anatomical schools, and there disposed of with the utmost facility,
and apparently without the slightest suspicion, as if they were the
carcasses of so many pigs; whilst at the same time the experience of
the purchasers of the subjects, leaving the extent of science out of
the question altogether, should have enabled them at once to decide
upon the manner in which the subject came by its death, or, in other
words, whether it was violent or natural. In the illustration of this
part of our argument, let us, for instance, take the cases of Mrs.
Walsh and Sarah Vesey. It was proved in evidence, that on the morning
after the murder of the former, her body was carried out of the house
by the husband. Of its destination no doubt whatever can exist. What
opinion, then, can we form of the surgical professor, who can have
a human corpse offered to him before it is scarcely cold, destitute
of all the distinctive marks of exhumation, and without any of the
concomitant signs of corruption, coolly and deliberately purchasing the
same, without instituting the slightest inquiry into the suspicious
nature of the subject, and whether he was not himself actually abetting
and encouraging a human wretch in the crime of murder? We have never
been told by any of the surgical professors of the anatomical schools,
that their science, or, more properly speaking, their knowledge, is
still so far in its infancy, that they do not know of any criteria
by which to judge of a murdered subject, and one that has undergone
the ceremony of exhumation, and been torn from the grave by the
resurrectionist. The public, however, must take it for granted that
such ignorance on the part of the professor does actually exist; or
what is the natural inference that must be drawn? that he must be
conscious to himself that some deed of violence has been committed
upon the body, so as to occasion death, but that it does not become
him to institute any inquiry into the business, as he is not supposed
to entertain the slightest suspicion but that the body has been
clandestinely obtained from the grave. We cannot designate this conduct
by any other term than a bonus held out for the crime of murder; and
it is on this account, and on this account only, that in our arguments
we have dwelt particularly on the necessity of the interference of
the legislature to devise those legal means, by which the science of
anatomy may be supported, without being obliged to have recourse to the
dreadful crime of murder, or even to the disgusting avocation of the
resurrectionist.
It appears that, notwithstanding the greater facility which is offered
in France to the surgical student in the prosecution of his anatomical
knowledge, owing to the removal of many of the impediments which exist
in this country in the procuring of human corpses for the purpose of
dissection, yet that the attention of some of the most enlightened
men of that country has for some time been directed to the devising
of those measures, by which the human body may, in a great degree, be
dispensed with, whilst, at the same time, the promotion of science
is neither frustrated nor impeded. Amongst those men, who have
chiefly signalized themselves in these laudable endeavours, stands
conspicuously M. Auzouz, who, by perseverance, industry, and skill, has
succeeded in the construction of an artificial skeleton, which promises
to answer almost all the purposes of the human body. In the preparation
of this extraordinary piece of mechanism, if it may be so called, he
has been employed for several years. It has received the sanction and
approbation of the principal medical professors of Paris, and it is now
brought to this country as an exhibition, with the intent of promoting
the science of artificial anatomy, and the removal of those abuses and
inconveniences with which the dissection of the human body is attended.
We have been favoured with the pamphlet of M. Auzouz, descriptive of
the uses and plans of his ingenious invention, as well as with the
Report of the Royal Academy of Physic at Paris on its peculiar merits
and advantages. We give the following translation of it.
'Since, in 1822, after a number of experiments, and several years
of incessant application, I published my first work on artificial
anatomy, a kind of excitement arose in the schools of medicine, and
amongst those individuals who are supposed to guide the public opinion.
Hitherto the study of anatomy was confined to the amphitheatres; and
it was not considered possible to perfect the study of it in any other
manner. On the other hand, so many ineffectual attempts had been made
to procure a regular and sufficient supply of subjects, that artificial
anatomy became the subject of very contrary and dissimilar opinions.
'Some individuals, by a method of reasoning wholly divested of proof,
beheld in artificial anatomy nothing less than the means of encouraging
the idleness of the students, and a fallacious resource for the
practitioner; whilst, on the other hand, others, exaggerating the
benefits of it, beheld in it the means of dispensing with dissections;
others, as is always the case when anything of a novel nature appears,
declared the thing to be both impossible and impracticable; and the
remainder were content with decrying it altogether, or they became the
servile imitators of it.
'The academies, where judgment is always the result of profound
deliberation, having announced the importance of this discovery,
encouraged me to prosecute my plans and experiments, pointing out to me
at the same time some imperfections in them. These learned societies
scrupled not to place artificial anatomy above everything which had
been hitherto done in France or in other countries, and to regard it
as the means of facilitating the study of that particular branch of
natural history.
'In the report which M. Le Baron Desgenettes made to the Academy of
Medicine, on the 5th of September, 1823, he says, "If this work be
continued, it cannot fail to be useful to those who devote themselves
to the study of the medical science, and more especially to those who
practise surgery and physic at a distance from the great cities."
'Professor Desruelles, in his report to the Medical Society, at their
sitting on the 19th of November, 1823, says, "If we declare to you
that a piece of artificial anatomy, placed in an amphitheatre, in
exhibiting to the student the parts of which he is in search, as well
as those which he ought to avoid, adjust, or even take away, may be
useful to him, abridge his labour, and save him from many fruitless
experiments; if we declare to you, that these pieces would be very
advantageously placed in the studio of a painter; if we declare to you,
that they might, more advantageously than books, remind the surgeons
and physicians, not having the benefit of a corpse at hand, of the
relations of certain parts; and finally, if we finish by showing to
you certain individuals curious to become acquainted with their own
formation, studying it with success, in order to obtain a superficial
knowledge of anatomy, without having recourse to the disgusting and
afflicting spectacle of a corpse,--then, gentlemen, so far from
censuring our eulogium, you will approve of it; you will applaud the
zeal of M. Auzouz, you will give encouragement to his efforts, and you
will assist him to the utmost of your power, to enable him to succeed
in rendering that perfect, which, under his hands, has already made
such rapid advances to positive perfection."
'In the report made by Professor Dumeril to the Academy of Sciences, at
its sitting on the 11th of April, 1825, he says, "No one is ignorant
how great is the natural repugnance which is felt for the study of
anatomy, and especially to the examination and inspection of those
objects which form the subject of it, by all those persons who are not
attached towards it by the necessary calls of their profession. It were
desirable that general ideas of the organization of the human frame
should be imparted to young people, and which ought to form a branch of
their earliest education. Is it to be supposed that an educated man of
the present day should be ignorant in what manner, and by what organs
our motions are executed; in what consist the instruments by which
our sensations and our principal functions are performed? Besides, it
is indispensable that every skilful designer, who wishes to become a
painter or a statuary, may be enabled, without applying himself to
anatomical researches, to learn in what manner the forms are constantly
modified in the motions by the organs by which they are either
permitted or produced."'