MA

Burke and Hare

Burke’s the Butcher, Hare’s the Thief & Knox the Boy that buys Beef

  • In 19th-century Scotland, two Irish immigrants succumbed to greed and turned into unlikely grave robbers and murderers.
  • In 1827, William Hare and William Burke became laborers in Edinburgh. The both of them met them Burke and Helen McDougal moved into a rented house — managed by Hare and Margaret.
  • Whenever there’s elderly lodger died from natural causes, Burke and Hare would creep into the cemetery, dig their coffins, snatch their bodies, put each body in a tea chest, and carry it to Edinburgh University’s medical school.
  • Dr. Robert Knox, a well-known anatomy lecturer who desperately needed corpses for anatomy lessons offered them around £7 and 10 shillings for the corpse.

Unique Business Idea

  • The two repeatedly engaged in the act of robbing freshly buried coffins and selling the bodies to Knox, spurred on by their success and delighted by such a simple source of income. But they quickly grew weary of digging up graves in the dead of night.
  • In November 1827, when a lodger fell unwell, Burke suffocated him by covering his mouth and nose while holding him down; this smothering method became known as "burking."
  • The pair began their killing spree after committing their first murder, picking off stray animals and prostitutes on Edinburgh's streets.
    • They attacked by giving their victims with drink until they passed out. Then, Burke used his special method to smother them.
    • They carried the body to Dr. Knox's office at night after loading it inside a tea chest. For each body, they received £7 to £10.
  • Burke and Hare managed to get away with murder for 11 months before Irishwoman Margaret Docherty's body was found by Ann and James Gray, two visitors to Hare's boarding house.
    • After the Grays called the police, their investigation led them to Dr. Knox.
    • Since then, Docherty's body had been transferred to Knox's dissection room in the university lecture hall.
  • Burke and Hare were implicated in a newspaper article, which sparked a public outcry calling for their prosecution.
    • Shortly after, the police detained William Burke, William Hare, Helen McDougal, and Margaret Hare and charged them with murder.
    • Police questioned Dr. Knox, but he was not detained because he had not actually broken the law.

Every Man for Himself

  • The Lord Advocate of the court attempted to coax a confession from one of the four because he needed more proof to convict, and he chose Hare.
    • After Hare was offered immunity, he testified that Burke did all of the killings.
    • Burke was later found guilty of three murders and hung on January 28, 1829, in front of up to 25,000 cheering spectators.
    • People reportedly paid up to £1 for a clear view of the scaffold.
  • Burke's corpse was openly dissected by Dr. Monro, a rival of Dr. Knox, in the anatomical theater of Edinburgh University's Old College, drawing so many onlookers that a small riot broke out.
    • Later, his skeleton was sent to Edinburgh Medical School.
  • Despite admitting to being an accomplice, Hare was released and made his way to England.
    • Knox, whose reputation was in ruins, relocated to London in an effort to rebuild his medical profession.
  • Burke and Hare were responsible for 16 total murders, which came to be known as the West Port Murders.
    • Due to the killings, the Anatomy Act 1832 was passed, which improved the availability of cadavers by allowing the dissection of unclaimed remains from workhouses within 48 hours.
    • This worked well to lower the number of body-snatching incidents.

Related Crime

  • In November 1825, Thomas Tuite, a bodysnatcher, is apprehended by a guard in Dublin, Ireland, with five bodies and a pocket full of sets of teeth.
  • In November 7, 1876, Abraham Lincoln's body is taken by a group of forgers who break into Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, and hold it hostage. A Secret Service agent disguised as a gang member prevents the plan.