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The outbreak of the Black Plague in the
14th Century, showed scientists how
little they new about the human body, and
how to cure illness.
This forced scientists to rethink
their scholastic discipline. By the 16th
Century, people were cutting into dead
bodies to see how they might deal with
live ones, but dissection alone wasn't
enough. They had to retain what those
dissected bodies had shown, so art joined
medicine. Although not the first of these
artists, Leonardo da Vinci became the
most famous for recording his own
dissections.
After dissection became accepted as
standard medicine practice, the demand
for corpses grew. By the 18th Century,
every medical student performed
dissections as part of their course. As
governments around the world only allowed
bodies of executed criminals to be used
for dissecting, there were not enough
bodies to fill demand, this seeing the
act of grave robbing grow out of
control.
Grave yards in many countries by then,
had to be surrounded with high walls and
be continually guarded. People with
enough money, would even have high spiked
railings erected around the grave, or
heavy stone slabs put on top, not for
show, but to keep out grave robbers. Even
with these security measures in place,
many bodies would be dug up in the middle
of the night, some covered over again so
no one would notice, or if disturbed by
the watchmen, the grave would be left
open.
In the early 1800s, the classes of
surgeon anatomist, Robert Knox in
Edinburgh, had become particularly
popular, as he seemed to have an endless
supply of bodies.
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William Burke and William Hare
were born in Ireland. Both had
moved to Edinburgh in about 1818 to
seek work on the Edinburgh Union
Canal, Burke having left his wife
and child in Ireland.
After the completion of the
canal in 1822, both decided to stay
in Edinburgh. Burke had met a woman
named Helen MacDougal and began
working as a shoemaker.
Hare became friendly with a lady
named Margaret Log, or Logue, who
with her husband, owned a lodging
house in Tanners Close.
After the death of the husband,
Hare married Margaret Log, this
seeing him take over the lodging
house.
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At that time, even though both had
worked on the canal, Burke and Hare had
never met. A chance meeting with Helen
MacDougal and Margaret Log, in November
1827, ended with Burke and MacDougal
moving into the lodging house.
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An old soldier by the name of
Donald, who had been staying at the
lodging house for some time, died
unexpectedly. Hare was upset, as
the old man owed him rent.
Burke and Hare would no doubt
have been well aware, newly buried
bodies were being dug up in
Edinburgh churchyards to be sold to
Dr Knox at the College of
Surgeons.
Soon after the coffin arrived
for the old man, and his body put
inside, Burke and Hare reopened the
coffin, took out the body, filled
it with bark from the local
tannery, then placed old Donald in
a sack. They then proceeded to the
College of Surgeons where they were
paid £7 by Dr Knox for the
body. Burke and Hare were then bid
farewell and told they would be
more than welcome when they had
other bodies to dispose of.
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After realizing how easy it was to
make money by supplying bodies to the
college, Burke and Hare began discussing
the best way to get their hands on more
bodies. They must have found grave
robbing too risky, as by that time, there
were night watchmen at most grave yards,
also, it was hard dirty work.
It is unclear if they ever dug up any
newly buried bodies from Edinburgh grave
yards. The way they were known to get
bodies, was to entice down and outs,
prostitutes, or people with mental
disabilities into the lodging house then
ply them with alcohol. Once under the
influence of alcohol, Burke and Hare
would suffocate the victims.
The pair killed at least 16 people
that way, with 15 of them being sold to
Dr Knox. On at least two occasions, Dr
Knox had to think fast on his feet and
diffuse situations with lies after
students thought they recognized the
corpses, people that should still be
alive.
Burke and Hare's luck ran out when a
friend of Burke, by the name of James
Gray, and his family, were staying at the
lodgings. After Mrs. Gray stumbled upon
the body of their last victim, hidden
under a bed, she reported the murder to
the police.
Burke and Helen were taken to the
police station to be interviewed. The
Hare's were also arrested soon after with
the four being questioned over the next
month. As the police came to the
conclusion they hadn't enough evidence to
convict the four of them, they offered
the Hare's the chance to turn
King’s evidence, to avoid
execution.
On Christmas Eve, the trial began with
both of the Hare's, along with other
witnesses testifying against the Burke's.
The jury took just 50 minutes to reach a
verdict of guilty for William Burke, and
not proven in the case of Helen
MacDougal.
On January 28th 1829, before a crowd
of 25,000 people, William Burke was
hanged. His body was then put on public
display. This attracted enormous crowds,
with people queuing all day to get a
glimpse of his body.
The two women, Mrs. Hare and Helen
MacDougal, eventually disappeared as they
were hounded wherever they went.
Although Dr Knox was never charged
with a crime, Edinburgh citizens were so
outraged at his involvement, they caused
a riot outside his house shortly after
the trial. He was eventually forced to
leave Edinburgh, moving to Glasgow, and
later London, where he died in 1862.
William Hare, a mass murderer, was set
free. He was last sighted in the English
town of Carlisle.
In 1832, British law changed with
regard to bodies used for dissection with
the 1832 Anatomy Act. The law required
that, all bodies used in dissection,
could only come from those persons who
had died in hospitals, and remained
unclaimed for 72 hours.
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In an ironic end to the story,
Burke’s body was donated to
the medical school for what they
called "useful dissection".
His skeleton can be seen to this
day in a glass case at the
Edinburgh Medical School.
A pocket
book was also made of his skin,
this is on display at the Police
Museum on the Royal Mile.
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