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Burke & Hare (page 2 0f 2)

Still the pair became even more daring - their next victim, young 'Daft Jamie' was a well known local character, and his mother reported his disappearance. His unveiling on the dissecting table was shouts of recognition from  students, Knox denied that this was the same boy and realising that the blood was on his hands too in more ways than one set about dissecting the poor boy's face first to ensure no-one would recognise him.

The killing spree of Burke & Hare came to an end on Halloween night in 1828.

Earlier Burke & Hare had argued, Burke had accused Hare and his partner of selling bodies behind his back and Burke and his mistress, Helen MacDougall had set up their own lodging house. On Halloween, Burke befriended a fellow Irish woman Mary Docherty in a local shop, claiming that they were related since his mother was also a Docherty he invited her back to his own lodging house. But Burke had a problem; James & Ann Grey were already tenants in their tiny establishment and Burke knew that murder can be noisy work! Burke paid for the Grays to spend the night at Hares equally infamous home.

The deed was done but next morning Ann Gray returned to collect some items and became suspicious of Burke's behaviour. That evening the investigated the house and found Mary's body hidden under a bed in a spare room. The confronted Helen MacDougall who lost her nerve and offered a ten pound bribe to the Grays. The refused and fled to report the murder to the police but by that time Burke had already been tipped off and by the time the police arrived Mary's corpse was already in the possession of Doctor Knox. An anonymous tip-off led police to Surgeon's Square where James Grey identified the body. It would have appeared that Burke & Hare's fate was sealed.

And yet after months of questioning the courts could not make a strong case against Burke, Hare or their womenfolk. Finally Sir William Rae the Lord Advocate made an offer to Hare, turn King's evidence against Burke and receive immunity from prosecution. The old saying of 'no honour among thieves' was ever more true and Hare willingly confessed all to the police implicating Burke and Helen in all the grizzly murders.

Burke's trial began on Christmas Eve 1828, It was a short trial and he was soon convicted and sentenced to death. Helen's case was not proven and she was released and fled the country to avoid lynching.

burke & hareOn the 28th of January 1829 a huge crowd gathered at Edinburgh's Lawnmarket to witness Burke's 'last drop'. His body was put on public display and was so popular that almost 60 people a minute files past his remains. Then as a supreme irony Burke's body took the same path as so many of his victims to the very same dissecting table, students took pieces of his skin and used it to bind a small book which can be still found along with Burke's skeleton and death mask in the Surgeon's Hall Edinburgh

Hare was released the following month but there was a public outcry and he fled Scotland. A rumour has it that his identity was discovered and a mob threw him into a pit of lime and blinded him and that he ended his days as a blind beggar in Carlisle. As for Knox the affair had damaged his reputation and although acquitted of any wrongdoing he found himself out of favour in Edinburgh and took up a position at a cancer hospital in London where he died in 1862.

burke & hareSo what of the 17 dolls found years later just a short distance from the scene of their victims dissection. Some discount the connection to Burke & Hare and claim they were connected to some form of witchcraft practice. but the number, 17 is intriguing. some suggest that the tiny coffins were buried as some form of atonement for the sins of the evil pair maybe by one of their partners or maybe even by Hare himself as a way of maybe giving a final rest to the troubled souls he had robbed of life! Fortunately you can make your own mind up - if you come to Edinburgh go to the Royal Museum of Scotland on Chamber's Street. On the fourth floor you can see the dolls on display.

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