convicted. That she was not put to death in the manner deponed to by
Hare on the trial. That during the scuffle between him and Hare, in the
course of which he was nearly strangled by Hare, Docherty had crept
among the straw, and after the scuffle was over they had some drink,
and after that they went both forward to where the woman was lying
sleeping, and Hare went forward first and seized her by the mouth and
nose, as on former occasions; and at the same time the declarant lay
across her, and she had no opportunity of making any noise; and before
she was dead, one or other of them, he does not recollect which, took
hold of her by the throat. That while he and Hare were struggling,
which was a real scuffle, M‘Dougal opened the door of the apartment,
and went into the inner passage and knocked at the door, and called
out police and murder, but soon came back; and at same time Hare’s
wife called out, never to mind, because the declarant and Hare would
not hurt one another. That whenever he and Hare rose and went towards
the straw where Docherty was lying, M‘Dougal and Hare’s wife, who, he
thinks, were lying in bed at the time, or, perhaps, were at the fire,
immediately rose and left the house, but did not make any noise, so
far as he heard, and he was surprised at their going out at that time,
because he did not see how they could have any suspicion of what they
(the declarant and Hare) intended doing. That he cannot say whether he
and Hare would have killed Docherty or not, if the women had remained,
because they were so determined to kill the woman, the drink being in
their head;--and he has no knowledge or suspicion of Docherty’s body
having been offered to any person besides Dr. Knox, and he does not
suspect that Paterson would offer the body to any other person than Dr.
Knox.
Declares, That suffocation was not suggested to them by any person as
a mode of killing, but occurred to Hare on the first occasion before
mentioned, and was continued afterwards because it was effectual, and
showed no marks; and when they lay across the body at the same time,
that was not suggested to them by any person, for they never spoke to
any person on such a subject; and it was not done for the purpose of
preventing the person from breathing, but was only done for the purpose
of keeping down the person’s arms and thighs, to prevent the person
struggling.
Declares, That with the exception of the body of Docherty, they never
took the person by the throat, and they never leapt upon them; and
declares that there were no marks of violence on any of the subjects,
and they were sufficiently cold to prevent any suspicion on the part of
the Doctors; and, at all events, they might be cold and stiff enough
before the box was opened up, and he and Hare always told some story of
their having purchased the subjects from some relation or other person
who had the means of disposing of them, about different parts of the
town, and the statements which they made were such as to prevent the
Doctors having any suspicions; and no suspicions were expressed by Dr.
Knox or any of his assistants, and no questions asked tending to show
that they had suspicion.
Declares, That Helen M‘Dougal and Hare’s wife were no way concerned in
any of the murders, and neither of them knew of any thing of the kind
being intended, even in the case of Docherty; and although these two
women may latterly have had some suspicion in their own minds that the
declarant and Hare were concerned in lifting dead bodies, he does not
think they could have any suspicion that he and Hare were concerned in
committing murders.
Declares, That none of the subjects which they had procured, as
before mentioned, were offered to any other person than Dr. Knox’s
assistants, and he and Hare had very little communication with Dr.
Knox himself; and declares, that he has not the smallest suspicion of
any other person in this, or in any other country, except Hare and
himself, being concerned in killing persons and offering their bodies
for dissection; and he never knew or heard of such a thing having been
done before.
WM. BURKE.
G. TAIT.
* * * * *
Present, Mr. Geo. Tait, Sheriff-Substitute; Mr. Archibald
Scott, Procurator-Fiscal; Mr. Richard J. Moxey,
Assistant-Sheriff-Clerk; the Rev. Wm. Reid, Roman Catholic
Priest.
_Edinburgh, 22d Jan. 1829._
Compeared William Burke, at present under sentence of death in the
Gaol of Edinburgh, and his declaration, of date the 3d current, being
read over to him, he adheres thereto. Declares farther, that he does
not know the names and descriptions of any of the persons who were
destroyed except as mentioned in his former declaration. Declares, that
he never was concerned in any other act of the same kind, nor made any
attempt or preparation to commit such, and all reports of a contrary
tendency, some of which he has heard, are groundless. And he does not
know of Hare being concerned in any such, except as mentioned in his
former declaration; and he does not know of any persons being murdered
for the purpose of dissection by any other persons than himself and
Hare, and if any persons have disappeared any where in Scotland,
England, or Ireland, he knows nothing whatever about it, and never
heard of such a thing till he was apprehended. Declares, that he never
had any instruments in his house except a common table knife, or a
knife used by him in his trade as a shoemaker, or a small pocket knife,
and he never used any of those instruments, or attempted to do so, on
any of the persons who were destroyed. Declares, that neither he, nor
Hare, so far as he knows, ever were concerned in supplying any subjects
for dissection except those before mentioned; and, in particular, never
did so by raising dead bodies from the grave. Declares, that they never
allowed Dr. Knox, or any of his assistants, to know exactly where their
houses were, but Paterson, Dr. Knox’s porter or doorkeeper, knew. And
this he declares to be truth.
WM. BURKE.
G. TAIT.
* * * * *
_The following is another Confession, as dictated and carefully
revised by WILLIAM BURKE. The words printed in Italics were
added in the Manuscript by himself._
ABIGAIL SIMPSON was murdered on the 12th February 1828, on the forenoon
of the day. She resided in Gilmerton, near Edinburgh; has a daughter
living there. She used to sell salt and camstone. She was decoyed in
by Hare and his wife on the afternoon of the 11th February, and he
gave her some whisky to drink. She had one shilling and sixpence, and
a can of kitchen-fee. Hare’s wife gave her one shilling and sixpence
for it; she drank it all with them. She then said she had a daughter.
Hare said he was a single man, and would marry her, and get all the
money amongst them. They then proposed to her to stay all night, which
she did, as she was so drunk she could not go home; and in the morning
was vomiting. They then gave her some porter and whisky, and made her
so drunk that she fell asleep on the bed. Hare then laid hold of her
mouth and nose, and prevented her from breathing. Burke held her hands
and feet till she was dead. She made very little resistance; and when
it was convenient, they carried her to Dr. Knox’s dissecting-rooms in
Surgeons’ Square, and got ten pounds for her. She had on a drab mantle,
a white grounded cotton shawl and small blue spots on it. Hare took all
her clothes and went out with them; said he was going to put them into
the Canal. She said she was a pensioner of Sir John Hay’s. (Perhaps
this should be Sir John Hope.)
The next was an English man, a native of Cheshire, and a lodger of
Hare’s. They murdered him in the same manner as the other. He _was_
ill with _the_ jaundice at the same time. He was very tall; had black
hair, brown whiskers mixed with grey hairs. He used to sell spunks in
Edinburgh; was about forty years of age. Did not know his name. _Sold
to Dr. Knox for ten pounds._
The next was an old woman who lodged with Hare for one night, but does
not know her name. She was murdered in the same manner as above;--sold
to Dr. Knox for L.10. The old woman was decoyed into the house by Mrs.
Hare in the forenoon, from the street, when Hare was working at the
boats at the canal. She gave her whisky and put her to bed three times.
At last she was so drunk that she fell asleep; and when Hare came home
to his dinner, he put part of the bed-tick on her mouth and nose, and
when he came home at night she was dead. Burke at this time was mending
shoes; and Hare and Burke took the clothes off her, and put her body
into a tea-box. Took her to Knox’s that night.
The next was Margaret Paterson who was murdered in Burke’s brother’s
house in the Canongate, in the month of April last, by Burke and Hare
in the forenoon. She was put into a tea-box, and carried to Dr. Knox’s
dissecting-rooms in the afternoon of the same day--and got L.8 for
her body. She had twopence halfpenny, which she held fast in her hand.
Declares that the girl Paterson was only four hours dead till she was
in Knox’s dissecting-room; but she was not dissected at that time; for
she was three months in whisky before she was dissected. She was warm
when Burke cut the hair off her head; and Knox brought a Mr. ---- a
painter to look at her, she was so handsome a figure, and well-shaped
in body and limbs. One of the students said she was like a girl he had
seen in the Canongate as one pea is like to another. They desired Burke
to cut off her hair; one of the students gave a pair of scissars for
that purpose.
In June last, an old woman and a dumb boy, her grandson, from Glasgow,
came to Hare’s, and were both murdered at the dead hour of night when
the woman was in bed. Burke and Hare murdered her the same way as they
did the others. They took off the bed-clothes and tick, stripped off
her clothes, and laid her on the bottom of the bed, and then put on the
bed-tick and bed-clothes on the top of her; and they then came and took
_the boy_ in their arms and carried him ben to the room, and murdered
him in the same manner, and _laid_ him alongside of his grandmother.
They lay for the space of an hour; they then put them into a herring
barrel. The barrel was perfectly dry; there was no brine in it. They
carried them to the stable till next day; they put the barrel into
Hare’s cart, and Hare’s horse was yoked in it; but the horse would not
drag the cart one foot past the Meal Market, and they got a porter
with a hurley and put the barrel on it. Hare and the porter went to
Surgeons’ Square with it. Burke went before them, as he was afraid
something would happen, as the horse would not draw them. When they
came to Dr. Knox’s dissecting-rooms, Burke carried the barrel in his
arms. The students and them had hard work to get them out, being so
stiff and cold. They received L.16 for them both. Hare was taken in
by the horse he bought that refused drawing the corpse to Surgeons’
Square, and they shot it in the tan-yard. He had two large holes in his
shoulder stuffed with cotton, and covered over with a piece of another
horse’s skin to prevent them being discovered.
Joseph, the miller by trade, and a lodger of Hare’s. He had once been
possessed of a good deal of money. He was connected by marriage with
some of the Carron Company. Burke and Hare murdered him by pressing a
pillow on his mouth and nose till he was dead. He was then carried to
Dr. Knox’s in Surgeons’ Square. They got L.10 for him.
Burke and Helen M‘Dougal were on a visit seeing their friends near
Falkirk. This was at the time a procession was made round a stone in
that neighbourhood; thinks it was the anniversary of the battle of
Bannockburn. When he was away, Hare fell in with a woman drunk in the
street at the West Port. He took her into his house and murdered her
himself, and sold her to Dr. Knox’s assistants for L.8. When Burke went
away he knew Hare was in want of money; his things were all in pawn;
but when he came back, found him have plenty of money. Burke asked him
if he had been doing any business? he said he had been doing nothing.
Burke did not believe him, and went to Dr. Knox, who told him that Hare
had brought a subject. Hare then confessed what he had done.
A cinder gatherer; _Burke_ thinks her name was Effy. She was in the
habit of selling small pieces of leather to him, _as he was a cobbler_,
she gathered about the coach-works. He took her into Hare’s stable, and
gave her whisky to drink till she was drunk; she then lay down among
some straw and fell asleep. They then laid a cloth over her. Burke and
Hare murdered her as they _did the_ others. She was then carried to Dr.
Knox’s, Surgeons’ Square, and sold for L.10.
Andrew Williamson, a policeman, and his neighbour, were dragging a
drunk woman to the West Port Watchhouse. They found her sitting on a
stair. Burke said, “Let the woman go to her lodgings.” They said they
did not know where she lodged. Burke then said he would take her to
lodgings. They then gave her to his charge. He then took her to Hare’s
house. Burke and Hare murdered her that night the same way as they did
the others. They carried her to Dr. Knox’s, in Surgeons’ Square, and
got L.10.
Burke being asked, did the policemen know him when they gave him this
drunk woman into his charge? He said he had a good character with the
police; or if they had known that there were four murderers living in
one house they would have visited them oftener.
James Wilson, commonly _called_ Daft Jamie. Hare’s _wife_ brought him
in from the street into her house. Burke was at the time getting a dram
in Rymer’s shop. He saw her take Jamie off the street, bare-headed
and bare-footed. After she got him into her house, and left him with
Hare, she came to Rymer’s shop for a pennyworth of butter, and Burke
was standing at the counter. She asked him for a dram; and in drinking
it she stamped him on the foot. He knew immediately what she wanted
him for, and he then went after her. When in the house, she said, you
have come too late, for the drink is all done; and Jamie had the cup
in his hand. He had never seen him before to his knowledge. They then
proposed to send for another half mutchkin, which they did, and urged
him to drink; she took a little with them. They then invited him ben
to the little room, and advised him to sit down upon the bed. Hare’s
wife then went out, and locked the outer door, and put the key below
the door. There were none in the room but themselves three. Jamie sat
down upon the bed. He then lay down upon the bed, and Hare lay down at
his back, his head raised up and resting upon his left hand. Burke was
standing at the foreside of the bed. When they had lain there for some
time, Hare threw his body on the top of Jamie, pressed his hand on his
mouth, and held his nose with the other. Hare and him fell off the bed
and struggled. Burke then held his hands and feet. They never quitted
their grip till he was dead. He never got up nor cried any. When he
was dead, Hare felt his pockets, and took out a brass snuff-box and a
copper snuff-spoon. He gave the spoon to Burke, and kept the box to
himself. Sometime after, he said he threw the box away in the tan-yard;
and the brass-box that was libelled against Burke in the Sheriff’s
office was Burke’s own box. It was after breakfast Jamie was enticed
in, and he was murdered by twelve o’clock in the day. Burke declares,
that Mrs. Hare led poor Jamie in as a dumb lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep to the shearers; and he was always very anxious making
inquiries for his mother, and was told she would be there immediately.
He does not think he drank above one glass of whisky all the time. He
was then put into a chest that Hare kept clothes into; and they carried
him to Dr. Knox’s in Surgeons’ Square that afternoon, and got L.10
for him. Burke gave Daft Jamie’s clothes to his brother’s children,
they were almost naked; and when he untied the bundle they were like
to quarrel about them. The clothes of the other murdered persons were
generally destroyed, to prevent detection.
Ann M‘Dougal, a cousin of Helen M‘Dougal’s former husband. She was a
young woman, and married, and had come on a visit to see them. Hare and
Burke gave her whisky till she was drunk, and when in bed and asleep,
Burke told Hare that he would have most to do with her, as she being
a distant friend he did not like to begin first on her. Hare murdered
her by stopping her breath, and Burke assisted him the same way as the
others. One of Dr. Knox’s assistants, _Paterson_, gave them a fine
trunk to put her into. It was in the afternoon when she was done. It
was in John Broggan’s house; and when Broggan came home from his work
he saw the trunk, and made inquiries about it, as he knew they had no
trunks there. Burke then gave him two or three drams, as there was
always plenty of whisky going at these times, to make him quiet. Hare
and Burke then gave him L.1, 10s. each, as he was back in his rent, to
pay for it, and he left Edinburgh a few days after. They then carried
her to Surgeons’ Square as soon as Broggan went out of the house, and
got L.10 for her. Hare was cautioner for Broggan’s rent, being L.3, and
Hare and Burke gave him that sum. Broggan went off in a few days, and
the rent is not paid yet.[7] They gave him the money that he might not
come against them for the murder of Ann M‘Dougal, that he saw in the
trunk, that was murdered in his house. Hare thought that the rent would
fall upon him, and if he could get Burke to pay the half of it, it
would be so much the better; and proposed this to Burke, and he agreed
to it, as they were glad to get him out of the way. Broggan’s wife is
a cousin of Burke’s. They thought he went to Glasgow, but are not sure.
Mrs. Haldane, a stout old woman, who had a daughter transported last
summer from the Calton Jail for fourteen years, and has another
daughter married to ----, in the High Street. She was a lodger of
Hare’s. She went into Hare’s stable, the door was left open, and she
being drunk, and falling asleep among some straw, Hare and Burke
murdered her in the same way as they did the others, and kept the body
all night in the stable, and took her to Dr. Knox’s next day. She had
but one tooth in her mouth, and that was a very large one in front.
A young woman, a daughter of Mrs. Haldane, of the name of Peggy
Haldane, was drunk, and sleeping in Broggan’s house, was murdered by
Burke, in the forenoon, himself. Hare had no hand in it. She was taken
to Dr. Knox’s in the afternoon in a tea-box, and L.8 got for her. She
was so drunk at the time, that he thinks she was not sensible of her
death, as she made no resistance whatever. She and her mother were both
lodgers of Hare’s, and they were both of idle habits, and much given to
drinking. This was the only murder that Burke committed by himself, but
what Hare was connected with. She was laid with her face downwards, and
he pressed her down, and she was soon suffocated.
There was a Mrs. Hostler washing in John Broggan’s, and she came back
next day to finish up the clothes, and when done, Hare and Burke gave
her some whisky to drink, which made her drunk. This was in the day
time. She then went to bed. Mrs. Broggan was out at the time. Hare and
Burke murdered her the same way they did the others, and put her in
a box, and set her in the coal-house in the passage, and carried her
off to Dr. Knox’s in the afternoon of the same day, and got L.8 for
her. Broggan’s wife was out of the house at the time the murder was
committed. Mrs. Hostler had ninepence halfpenny in her hand, which
they could scarcely get out of it after she was dead, so firmly was it
grasped.
The woman Campbell or Docherty was murdered on the 31st October last,
and she was the last one. Burke declares, that Hare perjured himself on
his trial, when giving his evidence against him, as the woman Campbell
or Docherty lay down among some straw at the bed-side, and Hare laid
hold of her mouth and nose, and pressed her throat, and Burke assisted
him in it, till she was dead. Hare was not sitting on a chair at the
time, as he said in the Court. There were seven shillings in the
woman’s pocket, which were divided between Hare and Burke.
That was the whole of them, sixteen in whole; nine were murdered in
Hare’s house, and four in John Broggan’s; two in Hare’s stable, and
one in Burke’s brother’s house in the Canongate. Burke declares, that
five of them were murdered in Hare’s room that has the iron bolt in the
inside of it. Burke did not know the days nor the months the different
murders were committed, nor all their names. They were generally in
a state of intoxication at those times, and paid little attention
to them; but they were all from the 12th February till 1st November
1828; but he thinks Dr. Knox will know by the dates of paying him the
money for them. He never was concerned with any other person but Hare
in those matters, and was never a resurrection man, and never dealt
in dead bodies but what he murdered. He was urged by Hare’s wife to
murder Helen M‘Dougal, the woman he lived with. The plan was, that he
was to go to the country for a few weeks, and then write to Hare that
she had died and was buried, and he was to tell this to deceive the
neighbours; but he would not agree to it. The reason was, they could
not trust to her, as she was a Scotch woman. Helen M‘Dougal and Hare’s
wife were not present when those murders were committed; they might
have a suspicion of what was doing, but did not see them done. Hare was
always the most anxious about them, and could sleep well at night after
committing a murder; but Burke repented often of the crime, and could
not sleep without a bottle of whisky by his bed-side and a twopenny
candle to burn all night beside him; when he awoke he would take a
draught of the bottle--sometimes half a bottle at a draught--and that
would make him sleep. They had a great many pointed out for murder, but
were disappointed of them by some means or other; they were always in
a drunken state when they committed those murders, and when they got
the money for them while it lasted. When done, they would pawn their
clothes and would take them out as soon as they got a subject. When
they first began this murdering system, they always took them to Knox’s
after dark; but being so successful, they went in the day-time, and
grew more bold. When they carried the girl Paterson to Knox’s, there
were a great many boys in the High School Yards, who followed Burke
and the man that carried her, crying, “They are carrying a corpse;”
but they got her safe delivered. They often said to one another that
no person could find them out, no one being present at the murders but
themselves two; and that they might be as well hanged for a sheep as
a lamb. They made it their business to look out for persons to decoy
into their houses to murder them. Burke declares, when they kept the
mouth and nose shut a very few minutes, they could make no resistance,
but would convulse and make a rumbling noise in their bellies for some
time; after they ceased crying and making resistance, they left them to
die of themselves; but their bodies would often move afterwards, and
for some time they would have long breathings before life went away.
Burke declares, that it was God’s providence that put a stop to their
murdering career, or he does not know how far they might have gone with
it, even to attack people on the streets, as they were so successful,
and always met with a ready market; that when they delivered a body
they were always told to get more. Hare was always with him when he
went with a subject, and also when he got the money. Burke declares,
that Hare and him had a plan made up, that Burke and a man were to go
to Glasgow or Ireland, and try the same there, and to forward them to
Hare, and he was to give them to Dr. Knox. Hare’s wife always got L.1
of Burke’s share, for the use of the house, of all that were murdered
in their house; for if the price received was L.10, Hare got L.6 and
Burke got only L.4; but Burke did not give her the L.1 for Daft Jamie,
for which Hare’s wife would not speak to him for three weeks. They
could get nothing done during the harvest-time, and also after harvest,
as Hare’s house was so full of lodgers. In Hare’s house were eight beds
for lodgers; they paid 3d. each; and two, and sometimes three, slept
in a bed; and during harvest they gave up their own bed when throng.
Burke declares they went under the name of resurrection-men in the
West Port, where they lived, but not murderers. When they wanted money,
they would say they would go and look for a shot; that was the name
they gave them when they wanted to murder any person. They entered into
a contract with Dr. Knox and his assistants that they were to get L.10
in winter and L.8 in summer for as many subjects as they could bring to
them.
Old Donald, a pensioner, who lodged in Hare’s house, and died of a
dropsy, was the first subject they sold. After he was put into the
coffin and the lid put on, Hare unscrewed the nails, and Burke lifted
the body out. Hare filled the coffin with bark from the tan-yard, and
put a sheet over the bark, and it was buried in the West Church Yard.
The coffin was furnished by the parish. Hare and Burke took him to the
College first; they saw a man there, and asked for Dr. Monro or any of
his men; the man asked what they wanted, or had they a subject; they
said they had. He then ordered them to call at No. 10, Dr. Knox’s, in
Surgeons’ Square, and he would take it from them, which they did. They
got L.7, 10s. for him. That was the only subject they sold that they
did not murder, and getting that high price made them try the murdering
for subjects.