[Illustration: WILLIAM BURKE,
as he appeared at the Bar,
taken in Court.
_Published by Thomas Ireland Jun^r. Edinburgh._]
WEST PORT MURDERS;
OR AN
AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE ATROCIOUS MURDERS
COMMITTED BY
BURKE AND HIS ASSOCIATES;
CONTAINING
A FULL ACCOUNT OF ALL THE EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES
CONNECTED WITH THEM.
ALSO,
A REPORT OF THE TRIAL
OF
BURKE AND M‘DOUGAL.
WITH
A DESCRIPTION OF THE EXECUTION OF BURKE,
HIS CONFESSIONS, AND MEMOIRS OF HIS ACCOMPLICES,
INCLUDING
THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HARE, &c.
ILLUSTRATED BY PORTRAITS AND VIEWS.
“O horror! horror! horror! tongue nor heart
Cannot conceive nor name thee!”
_Macbeth._
EDINBURGH:
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS IRELAND, JUNIOR,
57, SOUTH BRIDGE STREET.
1829.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY A. BALFOUR AND CO. HIGH STREET.
CONTENTS.
Page
INTRODUCTION 1
Narrative of the Officer who apprehended the Murderers, _note_ 4
Trial of Burke and M‘Dougal 9
Indictment 12
List of Witnesses 15
List of Jury 36
_Witnesses Examined_
James Braidwood 36
Mary Stewart 36
Charles M‘Lauchlan 37
William Noble 38
Anne Black or Connaway 39
Janet Lawrie (or Law) 42
Hugh Alston 44
Elizabeth Paterson 45
David Paterson 45
John Broggan 47
Ann M‘Dougal or Gray 47
James Gray 50
George M‘Culloch 51
John Fisher 52
William Hare (or Haire) 53
Margaret Hare (or Haire) 62
Dr. Black 65
Dr. Christison 66
Declaration of Burke, emitted 3d November 67
Do. do. 10th November 71
Do. do. 19th November 74
Declaration of M‘Dougal, 3d November 75
Do. do. 10th November 78
Verdict 92
Sentence 95
List of Counsel 96
Remarks 97
Behaviour of Pannels during Trial 101
Popular Excitement 105
Conduct of Burke in Lock-up-house 108
Liberation of M‘Dougal 110
Burke’s Conduct in Jail 113
Hare’s Behaviour 116
Burke’s and Hare’s Houses 120
Remarks on their Characters 123
Murder of Mary Paterson 124
Janet Brown’s Statement relative to the Murder of Paterson 125
Murder of Daft Jamie 132
Curious Rencontre between Daft Jamie and Bobby Auld 133
Legal Discussions relative to the Trial of Hare and the
_Socii Criminum_ 137
Memoirs of Burke, _with particulars_ of all the Murders
_communicated by Himself_ 170
List of Murders committed by Burke and Hare 201
Town Council Proceedings 212
Confessions of Burke from the Caledonian Mercury 216
Preparations for Burke’s Execution 221
Removal to the Lock-up-house 223
Occurrences on the Street previous to the Execution 227
The Execution 234
Character of Burke 247
Occurrences after the Execution 251
Description of the Body 252
Riot at the College 254
Phrenological Development of Burke 259
Observations on the Head of William Burke 262
Remarks on do. 267
Proceedings against Hare 272
Memoirs of Hare 306
Hare’s Reception in Dumfries 312
Hare’s Appearance 325
Letter from the Sheriff to the Right Hon. the Lord Provost 329
Official Confessions of Burke 331
Confessions of Burke from the Edinburgh Evening Courant 340
Account of Helen M‘Dougal 353
---- ---- Mrs. Hare 355
Popular Tumult 361
LIST OF PLATES.
Portrait of Burke, to face title
Ground Plan of Burke’s House 36
Portrait of Helen M‘Dougal 97
Burke’s House from the Back Court 120
View of Burke’s Execution 237
Portrait of Hare 272
Fac-simile of Burke’s Hand-writing 352
Portrait of Mrs. Hare 355
THE WEST PORT MURDERS.
We have heard a great deal of late concerning “the march of intellect”
for which the present age is supposed to be distinguished; and the
phrase has been rung in our ears till it has nauseated us by its
repetition, and become almost a proverbial expression of derision. But
we fear that, with all its pretended illumination, the present age must
be characterized by some deeper and fouler blots than have attached to
any that preceded it; and that if it has brighter spots, it has also
darker shades and more appalling obscurations. It has, in fact, nooks
and corners where every thing that is evil seems to be concentrated and
condensed; dens and holes to which the Genius of Iniquity has fled,
and become envenomed with newer and more malignant inspirations. Thus
the march of crime has far outstripped “the march of intellect,” and
attained a monstrous, a colossal development. The knowledge of good
and evil would seem to have imparted a fearful impulse to the latter
principle; to have quickened, vivified, and expanded it into an awful
and unprecedented magnitude. Hence old crimes have become new by being
attended with unknown and unheard-of concomitants; and atrocities never
dreamt of or imagined before have sprung up amongst us to cover us
with confusion and dismay. No one who reads the following report of
the regular system of murder, which seems to have been organised in
Edinburgh, can doubt that it is almost wholly without example in any
age or country. Murder is no novel crime; it has been done in the olden
time as well as now; but murder perpetrated in such a manner, upon
such a system, with such an object or intent, and accompanied by such
accessory circumstances, was never, we believe, heard of before, and,
taken altogether, utterly transcends and beggars every thing in the
shape of tragedy to be found in poetry or romance. Even Mrs. Radcliffe,
with all her talent for imagining and depicting the horrible, has not
been able to invent or pourtray scenes at all to be compared, in point
of deep tragical interest, with the dreadful realities of the den in
the West Port. To show this, we shall endeavour to exhibit a faint
sketch of the more prominent circumstances attending the murder of the
woman Campbell or Docherty, as proved in evidence at the trial.
In the morning of a certain day in October last (the 31st) Burke
chances to enter the shop of a grocer, called Rymer; and there he sees
a poor beggar woman asking charity. He accosts her, and the brogue
instantly reveals their common country. The poor old woman’s heart
warms to her countryman, and she tells him that her name is Docherty,
and that she has come from Ireland in search of her son. Burke, on
the other hand, improves the acquaintance, by pretending that his
mother’s name was also Docherty, and that he has a wondrous affection
for all who bear the same euphonous and revered name. The old woman
is perfectly charmed with her good fortune in meeting such a friend
in such a countryman, and her heart perfectly overflows with delight.
Burke, again, seeing that he has so far gained his object, follows up
his professions of regard by inviting Mrs. Docherty to go with him to
his house, at the same time offering her an asylum there. The poor
beggar woman accepts the fatal invitation, and accompanies Burke to
that dreadful den, the scene of many previous murders, whence, she
is destined never to return. Here the ineffable ruffian treats her
to her breakfast, and as her gratitude rises, his apparent attention
and kindness increase. This done, however, he goes in search of his
associate and accomplice Hare, whom he informs that he has “got a
_shot_ in the house,” and invites to come over at a certain time and
hour specified “to see it done.” Betwixt eleven and twelve o’clock at
night is fixed upon by these execrable miscreants for destroying the
unhappy victim whom Burke had previously seduced into the den of murder
and death; and then Burke proceeds to make the necessary arrangements
for the commission of the crime. Gray and his wife, lodgers in Burke’s
house, and whom the murderers did not think it proper or safe to
entrust with the secret, are removed for that night alone: another
bed is procured for them, and paid for, or offered to be paid for, by
Burke. By and by the murderers congregate, and females, cognisant of
their past deeds, as well as of the crime which was to be perpetrated,
mingle with them in this horrid meeting. Spirituous liquor is procured
and administered to the intended victim; they all drink mere or less
deeply; sounds of mirth and revelry are heard echoing from this
miniature pandæmonium; and a dance, in which they all, including the
beggar woman, join, completes these infernal orgies. This is kept up
for a considerable while, and is the immediate precursor of a deed
which blurs the eye of day, and throws a deeper and darker shade around
the dusky brow of night.
At length the time for “doing it” arrives. Burke and Hare got up a
sham fight, to produce a noise of brawling and quarrelling, common
enough in their horrid abode; and when this has been continued long
enough as they think, Burke suddenly springs like a hungry tiger on
his victim, whom one of his accomplices had, as if by accident, thrown
down,--flings the whole weight of his body upon her breast,--grapples
her by the throat,--and strangles her outright. Ten minutes or a
quarter of an hour elapse while this murderous operation is going on,
and ere it is completed; during the whole of which time Hare, by his
own confession in the witness-box, sat upon the front of the bed, a
cool spectator of the murder, without raising a cry or stretching
out a hand to help the unhappy wretch thus hurried into eternity by
his associate fiend Burke. As to the women (Helen M‘Dougal, Burke’s
helpmate, and the wife of the miscreant Hare) they seem to have
retreated into a passage closed in by an outer door, “when they saw him
(Burke) on the top of her” (Docherty), and to have remained there while
he was perpetrating the murder; without, however, uttering a single
sound or doing a single act, calculated to interrupt the murderer in
his work of blood, or to procure assistance to the dying victim. These
she-devils were familiar with the work of death; and one of them, the
wife of Hare, confessed it in the witness-box. She had seen, she said,
such “tricks” before.
No language can add to the impression which these facts are calculated
to produce. The succeeding events, however, are not less picturesquely
horrifying. The murder was committed at eleven o’clock, and in an
hour after, or at twelve, Burke fetches Paterson, the assistant or
servant of a teacher of Anatomy in Edinburgh, to whom he was in the
habit of selling the bodies of his victims, to the spot--the murdered
body being by this time stuffed under the bed and covered with straw;
and, pointing to that truly dreadful place, tells him that he has got
a subject for him there, which will be ready for him in the morning.
The demons then appear to have recreated themselves with fresh dozes
of liquor; and about four or five in the morning, the two women
already mentioned, with a fellow of the name of Broggan who had joined
the party, after the deed was done,--laid down in the bed, beneath
which the murdered body of Docherty, not yet cold in death, had been
crammed, and went to sleep, some of them at least, as coolly as if
nothing of the kind had occurred. When daylight returned, the tea-box,
so often mentioned in the course of the trial, was procured, and the
slaughtered body crammed into it, and sent off by the porter M‘Culloch,
to Surgeons’ Square; after which Burke and his accomplice Hare set off
for Newington to obtain the whole or part of the price of the subject
they had procured by murder, and actually got _five pounds_, being
one-half of the price agreed upon.[1]
Such is an imperfect and feeble outline of the facts of this case, in
the course of which was disclosed the horrid and appalling fact, that,
in certain holes and dens, both in the heart and in the outskirts of
this city, murder had been reduced into a system, with the view of
obtaining money for the bodies murdered; and that it was perpetrated in
the manner least likely to leave impressed upon the body any evident
or decisive marks of violence, being invariably committed by means
of suffocation or strangling, during partial or total intoxication.
The public is therefore to consider the present as only one out of
many instances of a similar nature which have occurred. Hare’s wife
admitted that she had witnessed many “tricks” of the same kind; and
Hare himself, when undergoing the searching cross-examination of Mr.
Cockburn--a cross-examination such as was never before exemplified
in any Court of Justice--durst not deny that he had been concerned
in other murders besides that of Docherty;--that a murder had been
committed in his own house in the month of October last;--that he
himself was a murderer, and his hands steeped in blood and slaughter:
we say he durst not deny it, and only took refuge in “declining
to answer” the questions put to him; which the Court of course
apprised him he was entitled to do in regard to questions that went
to criminate himself so deeply, and but for which caution we have
little doubt that he would have confessed not merely accession, but a
principal share in several murders. In fact, this “squalid wretch,”
as Mr. Cockburn so picturesquely called him, from the hue and look
of the carrion-crow in the witness-box, was disposed to be extremely
communicative, and apparently had no idea that any thing he had stated
was at all remarkable or extraordinary. Daft Jamie was murdered in
this miscreant’s house, and he has mentioned some circumstances
connected with the destruction of this poor innocent, calculated to
form a suitable _pendant_ to the description we have already given
of the murder of Docherty. Jamie was enticed into Hare’s house by
Burke, the usual decoy-duck in this traffic of blood (the appearance
of Hare himself being so inexpressibly hideous that it would have
scared even this moping idiot,) and he was plied with liquor for a
considerable time. At first he refused to imbibe a single drop; but
by dint of coaxing and perseverance, they at last induced him to
take a little; and after he once took a little, they found almost
no difficulty in inducing him to take more. At length, however, he
became overpowered, and laying himself down on the floor, fell asleep.
Burke, who was anxiously watching his opportunity, then said to Hare,
“Shall I do it now?” to which Hare replied, “He is too strong for you
yet; you had better let him alone a while.” Both the ruffians seem to
have been afraid of the physical strength which they knew the poor
creature possessed, and of the use he would make of it, if prematurely
roused. Burke, accordingly, waited a little, but getting impatient
to accomplish his object, he suddenly threw himself upon Jamie, and
attempted to strangle him. This roused the poor creature, and, muddled
as he was with liquor and sleep, he threw Burke off and got to his
feet, when a desperate struggle ensued. Jamie fought with the united
frenzy of madness and despair, and Burke was about to be overpowered,
when he called out furiously to Hare to assist him. This Hare did by
tripping up Jamie’s heels; after which both the ruffians got upon him,
and, at length, though not even then without the greatest difficulty,
succeeded in strangling him.
And all this has happened and has been carried on in a Christian
country, and in the Metropolis of Scotland, without a breath of
suspicion having been excited as to the existence of such hellish
atrocities, till Gray lodged information at the Police Office of the
murder of the woman Campbell or Docherty. It was said at the trial,
that the public mind had been excited and inflamed on the subject to
a degree wholly unprecedented; but how is it conceivable or possible
that even the lightest whisper of such infernal deeds--of an organised
system of murder--could find its way to the public, without producing
this excitement, without kindling up every feeling of horror and
indignation which the darkest and most unheard-of atrocities could
possibly rouse in virtuous and untainted minds? This was a natural
result of a great and unparalleled crime, or rather system of crimes;
it was a result which no power or influence could prevent; it was a
result which, even if it had been possible, ought not to have been
prevented. But as this excitement existed--as it had more or less
pervaded every mind--and as it might eventually, if not controlled,
have interfered with and affected the administration of stern justice,
it was right, nay it was necessary, both for the sake of public justice
and also for the satisfaction of the country, that the prisoners should
be ably and powerfully defended. Under this conviction, the head of
the Bar of Scotland, in conjunction with some other of its brightest
ornaments, came forward to offer their gratuitous services on the
occasion; and certainly never was there a defence in any case conducted
with more consummate ability--never perhaps was there a trial in which
higher talent, greater experience, or more splendid and overmastering
eloquence were displayed. And we rejoice that such has been the case.
Conduct like this reflects eternal honour on the Bar; because there
are instances in which it may throw a shield around innocence; while,
in every case, it is calculated to preserve the course of justice pure
and undefiled, as well to give additional satisfaction to the country,
to create additional confidence in the purity of the law, and to beget
a stronger feeling of security in the protection which it affords.
The most atrocious crimes are precisely those which ought to be most
cautiously and fully investigated; where prejudice of all sorts ought
to be most anxiously excluded or counteracted; where every facility in
the power of the Court to give, ought to be afforded to the prisoner,
both in preparing for his defence and on his trial; where the rules of
evidence ought to be most strictly adhered to, in so far as regards
either the admissibility or credibility of testimony; where the accused
should have the fullest benefit of every presumption in his favour;
and where his defence, ought if possible, to be conducted with the
greatest legal ability. Now Burke had all these advantages. The Court,
in the exercise of the discretion with which it is entrusted, adjudged
the trial of the prisoner to proceed upon only one of three separate
acts of murder charged against him in the indictment; while the
splendid array of Counsel, who voluntarily and gratuitously undertook
the conduct of his defence, exerted their whole skill, talents, and
eloquence, in his behalf. And we repeat that we rejoice at this; for,
as was well observed by the Lord Advocate in addressing the Jury for
the Crown upon the evidence which had been led, if the prisoner had
any good defence, it was thus sure to have ample justice done to it;
and if a conviction was obtained, it would be more satisfactory to the
country, and infinitely more important to the purity and efficacy of
the law.
In these circumstances, however, a conviction _has_ been obtained
against the pannel Burke--the prime murderer--the immediate and
direct agent by whom the crime charged was committed--the agent also,
we firmly believe, by whom not _three_ but _thirteen_ persons were
slaughtered, with the intent of excambing their murdered bodies for
gold; this monster, we say, _has_ been convicted, and adjudged to
suffer the highest punishment of the law: and, with a sort of poetical
justice, he who made subjects of others, is to be made a subject
himself, and he now knows that his vile carcass, when the hangman is
done with it, will be subjected to the same process with the bodies of
his murdered victims. The idea of hanging him in chains would have been
out of all keeping with his crime; and hence, though once entertained,
it was most properly and judiciously abandoned. But the conviction
of Burke alone will not satisfy either the law or the country. The
unanimous voice of society in regard to Hare is, _Delendus est_; that
is to say, if there be evidence to convict him, as we should hope there
is. He has been an accessory before or after the fact in nearly all
of these murders; in the case of poor Jamie he was unquestionably a
principal; and his evidence on Wednesday only protects him from being
called to account for the murder of Docherty. We trust, therefore, that
the Lord Advocate, who has so ably and zealously performed his duty to
the country upon this occasion, will bring the “squalid wretch” to
trial, and take every other means in his power to have these atrocities
probed and sifted to the bottom.
TRIAL OF WILLIAM BURKE AND HELEN M‘DOUGAL.
No trial in the memory of any man living has excited so deep,
universal, and, we may almost add, appalling an interest as that of
WILLIAM BURKE and his female associate, HELEN M‘DOUGAL, which took
place on Wednesday, 24th December, 1828. By the statements which from
time to time appeared in the newspapers, public feeling had been worked
up to the highest pitch of excitement, and the case, in so far as the
miserable pannels were concerned, to a certain extent prejudiced by
the natural abhorrence which the account of a new and unparalleled
crime was calculated to excite. This, however, is an evil inseparable
from the freedom, activity, and enterprise of the press, which is
necessarily compelled to lay hold of the events of the passing hour,
more especially when these are of an extraordinary or unprecedented
kind: but it was more than atoned for by many countervailing advantages
of the greatest moment to the interests of the community; and, besides,
we are satisfied that any prejudice or prepossession thus created,
was anxiously and effectually excluded from the minds of the jury, by
whom this singular case was tried, and that they were swayed by no
consideration except a stern regard to the sanction of their oaths,
the purity of justice, and the import of the evidence laid before
them. At the same time, it was not so much to the accounts published
in the newspapers, which merely embodied and gave greater currency to
the statements circulating in society, as to the extraordinary, nay,
unparalleled circumstances of the case, that the strong excitement of
the public mind ought to be ascribed. These were without any precedent
in the records of our criminal practice, and, in fact, amounted to the
realization of a nursery tale. The recent deplorable increase of crime
has made us familiar with several new atrocities. Poisoning is now, it
seems, rendered subsidiary to the commission of theft: stabbings, and
attempts at assassination, are matters of almost every day occurrence:
and murder has grown so familiar to us, that it has almost ceased to
be viewed with that instinctive and inexpressible dread which the
commission of the greatest crime against the laws of God and society
used to excite. But the present was the first instance of murder
alleged to have been perpetrated with the aforethought purpose and
intent of selling the murdered body as a subject for dissection to
anatomists: it was a new species of assassination, or murder for hire:
and as such, no less than from the general horror felt by the people
of this country at the process, from ministering to which the murderers
expected their reward, it was certainly calculated to make a deep
impression on the public mind, and to awaken feelings of strong and
appalling interest in the issue of the trial.
Of the extent of the impression thus produced, and the feelings thus
awakened, it was easy to judge from what was every where observable on
Monday and Tuesday. The approaching trial formed the universal topic
of conversation, and all sorts of speculations and conjectures were
afloat as to the circumstances likely to be disclosed in the course of
it, and the various results to which it would eventually lead. As the
day drew near, the interest deepened; and it was easy to see that the
common people shared strongly in the general excitement. The coming
trial, they expected, was to disclose something which they had often
dreamed of, or imagined, or heard recounted around an evening’s fire,
like a tale of horror, or a raw-head-and-bloody-bones story, but which
they never, in their sober judgment, either feared or believed to be
possible; and hence, they looked forward to it with corresponding but
indescribable emotions. In short, all classes participated more or less
in a common feeling respecting the case of this unhappy man and his
associate; all expected fearful disclosures; none, we are convinced,
wished for any thing but justice.
As it was morally certain that a vast crowd would be assembled early
on Wednesday, arrangements were made on Tuesday, under the immediate
superintendence of Mr. Sheriff Duff, for the admission of jurymen by
the door which connects the Signet Library with the Outer House, and
also for the accommodation of the individuals connected with the public
press. One half of the Court, the narrow dimensions of which have been
often complained of, and in fact were never more seriously felt, was,
as usual on such occasions, reserved for the members of the Faculty and
the Writers to the Signet in their gowns.
So early as seven o’clock in the morning of Wednesday, a considerable
crowd had assembled in the Parliament Square, and around the doors
of the Court; and numerous applications for admission were made to
the different subordinate functionaries, but in vain. The regulations
previously agreed upon were most rigorously observed; while a large
body of police, which was in attendance, maintained the utmost order,
and kept the avenues to the Court unobstructed. The individuals
connected with the press were conducted to the seats provided for them
a little before eight o’clock; the members of the Faculty and of the
Society of Writers to the Signet were admitted precisely at nine;
and thus, with the jurymen impannelled, and a few individuals who had
obtained the _entrée_ in virtue of orders from the Judges, the
Court became at once crowded in every part.
About twenty minutes before ten o’clock, the prisoners, William Burke
and Helen M‘Dougal, were placed at the bar. The male prisoner, as
his name indicates, is a native of Ireland. He is a man rather below
the middle size, but stoutly made, and of a determined, though not
peculiarly sinister expression of countenance. The contour of his
countenance, as well as his features, are decidedly Milesian. His
face is round, with high cheek bones, grey eyes, a good deal sunk in
the head, a short snubbish nose, and a round chin, but altogether
of a small cast. His hair and whiskers, which are of a light sandy
colour, comport well with the make of the head, and with the complexion
which is nearly of the same hue. He was dressed in a shabby blue
surtout, buttoned close to the throat, a striped cotton waistcoat, and
dark-coloured small clothes, and had, upon the whole, what is called in
this country a _waugh_ rather than a ferocious appearance; though
there is a hardness about the features, mixed with an expression in the
grey twinkling eyes, far from inviting. The female prisoner is fully
of the middle size, but thin and spare made, though evidently of large
bone. Her features are long, and by no means disagreeable,--a pair of
large, full, black eyes, imparting to them even something of interest
and expressiveness; but the upper half of her face is out of proportion
to the lower. She was miserably dressed in a small stone-coloured silk
bonnet, very much the worse for the wear, a printed cotton shawl, and
a cotton gown. She stoops considerably in her gait, and has nothing
peculiar in her appearance, except the ordinary look of extreme penury
and misery, common to unfortunate females of the same degraded class.
Both prisoners, especially Burke, entered the Court without any visible
signs of perturbation, and both seemed to attend very closely to the
proceedings which soon after commenced.
The Court met at precisely a quarter past ten o’clock. The Judges
present were, the Right Honourable the Lord Justice Clerk, and Lords
Pitmilly, Meadowbank, and Mackenzie. Their Lordships having taken their
seats, and the instance having been called,
The Lord Justice Clerk said--William Burke, and Helen M‘Dougal, pay
attention to the indictment that is now to be read against you.
Mr. Patrick Robertson.--I object to the reading of the indictment.
It contains charges which I hope to be able to show your Lordships
are incompetent, and the reading of the whole of the libel must tend
materially to prejudice the prisoners at the bar.
The Lord Justice Clerk.--I am unaccustomed to this mode of procedure.
It depends upon the Court whether the indictment shall be read or not.
Mr. Patrick Robertson.--Certainly, my Lord; but I understand it is not
necessary to read the indictment; and we object to its being done on
the present occasion.
Lord Justice Clerk.--We have found but little advantage to result from
the practice recently introduced of _not_ reading the indictment. It
has rendered constant explanations necessary, and consumes more time
the one way than the other.
Mr. Cockburn.--We object to the indictment being read, because it
is calculated to prejudice the prisoner. Our statement is, that it
contains charges, the reading of which cannot fail to operate against
him, and that these charges make no legal part of the libel.
Lord Meadowbank.--I am against novelties; I am against interfering with
the discretion of the Court.
The indictment was then read as follows:--
William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, both present prisoners in
the tolbooth of Edinburgh, you are indicted and accused at
the instance of Sir WILLIAM RAE of St. Catharine’s, Bart. his
Majesty’s Advocate for his Majesty’s interest: That albeit, by
the laws of this and of every other well governed realm, MURDER,
is a crime of an heinous nature and severely punishable: Yet
true it is and of verity, that you the said William Burke and
Helen M‘Dougal are both and each, or one or other of you, guilty
of the said crime, actor or actors, or art and part: In so far
as, on one or other of the days between the 7th and 16th days of
April 1828, or on one or other of the days of that month, or of
March immediately preceding, or of May immediately following,
within the house in Gibb’s Close, Canongate, Edinburgh, then
and now or lately in the occupation of Constantine Burke, then
and now or lately scavenger in the employment of the Edinburgh
Police Establishment, you the said William Burke did, wickedly
and feloniously, place or lay your body or person, or part
thereof, over or upon the breast or person and face of Mary
Paterson or Mitchell, then or recently before that time, or
formerly preceding, with Isabella Burnet or Worthington,
then and now or lately residing in Leith Street, in or near
Edinburgh, when she, the said Mary Paterson or Mitchell was
lying in the said house, in a state of intoxication, did, by
the pressure thereof, and by covering her mouth and nose with
your body or person, and forcibly compressing her throat with
your hands, and forcibly keeping her down, notwithstanding her
resistance, or in some other way to the Prosecutor unknown,
preventing her from breathing, suffocate or strangle her;
and the said Mary Paterson or Mitchell was thus, by the said
means or part thereof, or by some other means or violence, the
particulars of which are to the Prosecutor unknown, wickedly
bereaved of life by you the said William Burke; and this you
did with the wicked aforethought intent of disposing of, or
selling the body of the said Mary Paterson or Mitchell, when
so murdered, to a physician or surgeon, or some person in
the employment of a physician or surgeon, as a subject for
dissection, or with some other wicked and felonious intent
to the Prosecutor unknown. (2.) Further, on one or other of
the days, between the 5th and 26th days of October 1828, or
on one or other of the days of that month, or of September
immediately preceding, or of November immediately following,
within the house situated in Tanner’s Close, Portsburgh, or
Wester Portsburgh, in or near Edinburgh, then and now or lately
in the occupation of William Haire or Hare, then and now or
lately labourer, you the said William Burke did wickedly and
feloniously attack and assault James Wilson, commonly called or
known by the name of Daft Jamie, then or lately residing in the
house of James Downie, then and now or lately porter, and then
and now or lately residing in Stevenlaw’s Close, High Street,
Edinburgh, and did leap and throw yourself upon him, when the
said James Wilson was lying in the said house, and he having
sprung up, you did struggle with him, and did bring him to the
ground, and you did place or lay your body or person, or part
thereof, over or upon the person or body and face of the said
James Wilson, and did by the pressure thereof, and by covering
his mouth and nose with your person or body, and forcibly
keeping him down, and compressing his mouth, nose, and throat,
notwithstanding every resistance on his part, and thereby, or
in some other manner to the Prosecutor unknown, preventing him
from breathing, suffocate or strangle him; and the said James
Wilson was thus, by the said means, or part of them, or by some
other means or violence, the particulars of which are to the
Prosecutor unknown, wickedly bereaved of life and murdered by
you the said William Burke; and this you did with the wicked
aforethought and intent of disposing of or selling the body
of the said James Wilson, when so murdered, to a physician or
surgeon, or to some person in the employment of a physician or
surgeon, as a subject for dissection, or with some other wicked
and felonious intent or purpose, to the Prosecutor unknown. (3.)
Further, on Friday the 31st day of October 1828, or on one or
other of the days of that month, or of September immediately
preceding, or of November immediately following, within the
house then or lately occupied by you the said William Burke,
situated in that street of Portsburgh, or Wester Portsburgh, in
or near Edinburgh, which runs from the Grassmarket of Edinburgh
to Main Point, in or near Edinburgh, and on the north side of
the said street, and having an access thereto by a trance or
passage, entering from the street last above libelled, and
having also an entrance from a court or back court on the north
thereof, the name of which is to the Prosecutor unknown, you
the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, did both and each,
or one or other of you, wickedly and feloniously place or lay
your bodies or persons, or part thereof, on the body or person
or part thereof of one or other of you, over or upon the person
or body and face of Madgy or Margery or Mary M‘Gonegal, or
Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, then or lately residing in
the house of Roderick Stewart or Stuart, then and now or lately
labourer, and then and now or lately residing in the Pleasance,
in or near Edinburgh; when she, the said Madgy or Margery,
or Mary M‘Gonegal, or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, was
lying on the ground, and did, by the pressure thereof, and by
covering her mouth and the rest of her face with your bodies or
persons, or the body or person of one or other of you, and by
grasping her by the throat, and keeping her mouth and nostrils
shut, with your hands, and thereby, or in some other way to the
Prosecutor unknown, preventing her from breathing, suffocate or
strangle her; and the said Madgy or Margery, or Mary M‘Donegal,
or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, was thus, by the said
means, or part thereof, or by some other means or violence, the
particulars of which are to the Prosecutor unknown, wickedly
bereaved of life, and murdered by you the said William Burke,
and you the said Helen M‘Dougal, or one or other of you; and
thus you, both and each, or one or other of you, did, with the
wicked aforethought intent of disposing of or selling the body
of the said Madgy or Margery or Mary M‘Gonegal, or Duffie, or
Campbell, or Docherty, when so murdered, to a physician or
surgeon, or to some person in the employment of a physician or
surgeon, as a subject for dissection, or with some other wicked
and felonious intent or purpose to the Prosecutor unknown: And
you, the said William Burke, having been taken before George
Tait, Esq. sheriff-substitute of the shire of Edinburgh, you
did in his presence, at Edinburgh, emit and subscribe five
several declarations of the dates respectively following,
viz.:--The 3d, 10th, 19th, and 29th days of November, and 4th
day of December 1828: And you, the said Helen M‘Dougal, having
been taken before the said sheriff-substitute, you did in his
presence, at Edinburgh, emit two several declarations, one
upon the 3d and another upon the 18th days of November 1828,
which declarations were each of them respectively subscribed
in your presence by the said sheriff-substitute, you having
declared you could not write: which declarations being to be
used in evidence against each of you by whom the same were
respectively emitted; as also the skirt of a gown; as also a
petticoat; as also a brass snuff-box, and a snuff-spoon, a
black coat, a black waistcoat, a pair of moleskin trowsers,
and a cotton handkerchief or neckcloth, to all of which sealed
labels are now attached, being to be used in evidence against
you, the said William Burke; as also a coarse linen sheet, a
coarse pillow-case, a dark printed cotton gown, a red-stripped
cotton bed-gown, to which a sealed label is now attached; as
also a wooden box; as also a plan, entitled “Plan of Houses
in Wester Portsburgh and places adjacent,” and bearing to be
dated Edinburgh, 20th November 1828, and to be signed by James
Braidwood, 22, Society, being all to be used in evidence against
both and each of you, the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal,
at your trial, will for that purpose be in due time lodged
in the hands of the clerk of the High Court of Justiciary,
before which you are about to be tried, that you may have an
opportunity of seeing the same. All which, or part thereof,
being found proven by the verdict of an assize, or admitted by
the respective judicial confessions of you the said William
Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, before the Lord Justice-General, the
Lord Justice Clerk, and the Lords Commissioners of Justiciary,
you, the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, ought to be
punished with the pains of law, to deter others from committing
the like crimes in all time coming.
A. WOOD, _A.D._
LIST OF WITNESSES.
1 George Tait, Esquire, sheriff-substitute of the shire of
Edinburgh.
2 Archibald Scott, procurator-fiscal of said shire.
3 Richard John Moxey, now or lately clerk in the sheriff-clerk’s
office, Edinburgh.
4 Archibald M‘Lucas, now or lately clerk in the sheriff-clerk’s
office, Edinburgh.
5 Janet Brown, now or lately servant to, and residing with,
Isabella Burnet or Worthington, now or lately residing in Leith
Street, in or near Edinburgh.
6 The foresaid Isabella Burnet or Worthington.
7 Elizabeth Graham or Burke, wife of Constantine Burke, now or
lately scavenger in the employment of the Edinburgh police, and
now or lately residing in Gibb’s close, Canongate, Edinburgh.
8 The foresaid Constantine Burke.
9 Jean Anderson or Sutherland, wife of George Sutherland, now or
lately silversmith, and now or lately residing in Middleton’s
Entry, Potter-row, Edinburgh.
10 William Haire or Hare, present prisoner in the tolbooth of
Edinburgh.
11 Margaret Laird or Haire or Hare, wife of the foresaid William
Haire or Hare, and present prisoner in the tolbooth of Edinburgh.
12 Jean M‘Donald or Coghill, wife of Daniel Coghill, now or
lately shoemaker, and now or lately residing in South St.
James’s street, in or near Edinburgh.
13 Margaret M‘Gregor, now or lately servant to, and residing
with, John Clark, now or lately baker, and now or lately
residing in Rose street, in or near Edinburgh.
14 Richard Burke, son of, and now or lately residing with, the
foresaid Constantine Burke.
15 William Burke, son of, and now or lately residing with, the
foresaid Constantine Burke.
16 Janet Wilson or Downie, wife of James Downie, now or lately
porter, and now or lately residing in Stevenlaw’s close, High
street, Edinburgh.
17 Mary Downie, daughter of, and now or lately residing with,
the foresaid James Downie.
18 William Cunningham, now or lately scavenger in the employment
of the Edinburgh police, and now or lately residing in Fairley’s
Entry, Cowgate, Edinburgh.
19 George Barclay, now or lately tobacconist in North College
street, in or near Edinburgh.
20 David Dalziell, now or lately copperplate printer, and now or
lately residing with his father, George Dalziell, now or lately
painter, and now or lately residing in North Fowlis’ close, High
street, Edinburgh.
21 Margaret Newbigging or Dalziell, wife of the foresaid David
Dalziell.
22 Joseph M‘Lean, now or lately tinsmith, and now or lately
residing in Coul’s close, Canongate, Edinburgh.
23 Andrew Farquharson, now or lately sheriff-officer in
Edinburgh.
24 George M‘Farlane, now or lately porter, and now or lately
residing in Paterson’s court, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh.
25 John Brogan, now or lately in the employment of John
Vallence, now or lately carter, and now or lately residing in
Semple street, near Edinburgh.
26 Janet Lawrie or Law, wife of Robert Law, now or lately
currier, and now or lately residing in Portsburgh or Wester
Portsburgh, in or near Edinburgh.
27 Ann Black, or Connaway, or Conway, wife of John Connaway or
Conway, now or lately labourer, and now or lately residing in
Portsburgh or Wester Portsburgh aforesaid.
28 The foresaid John Connaway or Conway.
29 William Noble, now or lately apprentice to David Rymer, now
or lately grocer and spirit-dealer in Portsburgh or Wester
Portsburgh aforesaid.
30 James Gray, now or lately labourer, and now or lately
residing with Henry M‘Donald, now or lately dealer in coals, and
now or lately residing in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh.
31 Ann M‘Dougall or Gray, wife of the foresaid James Gray.
32 Hugh Alston, now or lately grocer, and now or lately residing
in Portsburgh or Wester Portsburgh aforesaid.
33 Elizabeth Paterson, daughter of, and now or lately residing
with, Isabella Smith or Paterson, now or lately residing in
Portsburgh or Wester Portsburgh aforesaid.
34 The foresaid Isabella Smith or Paterson.
35 John M‘Culloch, now or lately porter, and now or lately
residing in Alison’s close, Cowgate, Edinburgh.
36 John Fisher, now or lately one of the criminal officers of
the Edinburgh police establishment.
37 John Findlay, now or lately one of the patrole of the
Edinburgh police establishment.
38 James Paterson, now or lately lieutenant of the Edinburgh
police establishment.
39 James M‘Nicoll, now or lately one of the serjeants of the
Edinburgh police establishment.
40 Mary Stewart or Stuart, wife of Roderick Stewart or Stuart,
now or lately labourer, and now or lately residing in the
Pleasance, near Edinburgh.
41 The foresaid Roderick Stewart or Stuart.
42 Charles M‘Lauchlan, now or lately shoemaker, and now or
lately residing with the foresaid Roderick Stewart or Stuart.
43 Elizabeth Main, now or lately servant to the foresaid William
Haire or Hare.
44 Robert Knox, M. D. lecturer on Anatomy, now or lately
residing in Newington place, near Edinburgh.
45 David Paterson, now or lately keeper of the Museum belonging
to the foresaid Dr. Robert Knox, and now or lately residing in
Portsburgh, or Wester Portsburgh aforesaid, with his mother, the
foresaid Isabella Smith or Paterson.
46 Thomas Wharton Jones, now or lately surgeon, and now or
lately residing in West Circus place, in or near Edinburgh, with
his mother, Margaret Cockburn or Jones.
47 William Ferguson, now or lately surgeon, and now or lately
residing in Charles street, in or near Edinburgh, with his
brother, John Ferguson, now or lately writer.
48 Alexander Miller, now or lately surgeon, and now or lately
residing in the lodgings of Elizabeth Anderson or Montgomery,
now or lately residing in Clerk street, in or near Edinburgh.
49 Robert Christison, M. D. now or lately Professor of Medical
Jurisprudence in the University of Edinburgh.
50 William Pulteny Alison, M. D. now or lately Professor of the
Theory of Physic in the University of Edinburgh.
51 William Newbigging, now or lately surgeon, and now or lately
residing in St. Andrew’s square, Edinburgh.
52 Alexander Black, now or lately surgeon to the Edinburgh
police establishment.
53 James Braidwood, now or lately builder, and master of
fire-engines on the Edinburgh police establishment.
54 Alexander M‘Lean, now or lately sheriff-officer in Edinburgh.
55 James Evans, student of medicine, now or lately residing with
Mr. James Moir, surgeon, residing in Tiviot-row, in or near
Edinburgh.
A. WOOD, _A. D._
* * * * *
DEAN OF FACULTY.--We have given in separate defences, which may as well
be read now,--beginning with the defences for the male prisoner.
The defences for Burke was then read as follows:
The pannel submits that he is not bound to plead to, or to be tried
upon a libel, which not only charges him with three unconnected
murders, committed each at a different time, and at a different place,
but also combines his trial with that of another pannel, who is not
even alleged to have had any concern with two of the offences of which
he is accused. Such an accumulation of offences and pannels is contrary
to the general and the better practice of the Court; it is inconsistent
with right principle, and indeed, so far as the pannel can discover,
is altogether unprecedented; it is totally unnecessary for the ends of
public justice, and greatly distracts and prejudices the accused in
their defence. It is therefore submitted that the libel is completely
vitiated by this accumulation, and cannot be maintained as containing
a proper criminal charge. On the merits of the case, the pannel has
only to state that he is not guilty, and that he rests his defence on a
denial of the facts set forth in the libel.
The defences for Helen M‘Dougal were next read as follows:
If it shall be decided that the prisoner is obliged to answer to
this indictment at all, her answer to it is, that she is not guilty,
and that the Prosecutor cannot prove the facts on which his charge
rests. But she humbly submits that she is not bound to plead to it.
She is accused of one murder committed in October 1828, in a house in
Portsburgh, and of no other offence. Yet she is placed in an indictment
along with a different person, who is accused of other two murders,
each of them committed at a different time, and at a different place,
it not being alleged that she had any connection with either of these
crimes. This accumulation of pannels and of offences is not necessary
for public justice, and exposes the accused to intolerable prejudice,
and is not warranted, so far as can be ascertained, even by a single
precedent.