night a scaffold was erected at the north- west corner of the County Building, High Street, Edinburgh, and when the workmen drove the last spike, around midnight, a hoarse cheer went up from the assembled crowd. From twenty to twenty-five thou- sand people packed the narrow streets in the vicinity of the execution point. Window EXIDE BATTERIES Phone E-6432 B. R. CICERI & CO. Vancouver Island Distributors for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Limited 847 Yates Street VICTORIA, B.C. RYAN, HIBBERSON TIMBER Co. LTD. Timber Brokers Cruisers, Surveyors and Valuators Consulting and Forest Engineers 405-410 Jones Building 723 Fort Street VICTORIA, B.C. Ice Cream Manufacturers VICTORIA Royal Dairy Ltd. j | 707 View Street The Original Rogers’ Chocolates Phone G 7021 VICTORIA, B.C. 913 Government Street A. Mawer, Manager *¥ “The Home of Comfort” LICENSED PREMISES v4 Tillicum Road VICTORIA, B. C. Gorge Hotel Page Eight space sold at from five to twenty shillings per person, depending upon visibility. Dur- ing the execution shouts of execration rose from the mob and, after the hangman had completed his task, the body was allowed to remain suspended for an hour. Cut down, it was taken to Dr. Monro’s dissecting rooms to complete the judgment of the Court. The milling crowd around the scaffold fought for pieces of the rope as mementos of the occasion. On the following day, Dr. Monro com- pleted the sentence of the Court by dissect- ing the body of the condemned man, and lectured for two hours on the brain. Later the public was admitted. A special exit was hastily made and some 30,000 people passed through the dissecting room to view the last remains of murderer Burke. Before the public were admitted, however, the medical students had rioted, demanding to see the body. Peace was restored only when they were assured a pre-view of the corpse if they passed by the table in groups of fifty. The remains were then stored in barrels for further anatomical study. Eventually the -skeleton was re-assembled and hangs today in the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh University. Hare was held in custody for his own safety and, while in gaol, he revelled in the 5 WT MTT So “5 om arewing tn 1302. cova Sketch of Hare’s house in Tanner’s Close before it was pulled down about 1902. widespread interest he had evoked. He was not at all abashed at the fact that all the other prisoners shunned him. As a matter of fact, he was inordinately proud of the fact that he had earned immunity from prosecution. However, the public didn’t feel the same way about it, and a subscription was quickly raised for the purpose of retaining counsel to prosecute a private charge laid by Mrs. Wilson and her daughter with regard to the murder of her son, James Wilson, “Daft Jamie.” This action opened on January 16th 1829, but Hare’s counsel applied for his client’s release and was permitted to apply to the Court of Justiciary on a Bill of Advocation, Suspension and Liberation. It was argued that the immunity given Hare by the Lord Advocate dealt with all the cases in which Hare had made full disclosure; that there were no other crimes other than those in the disclosures. The prosecution argued that the Lord Advocate could not rob a private informant of his rights by making a bargain with an accused or sus- pected person. The Lord Advocate con- tended that the immunity granted Hare covered all matters which had been disclosed even though the accused did not give testi mony thereon in court. After lengthy argu ment, the Court of six Judges gave a decision in favour of Hare, with two of the judges dissenting. Hare was ordered set free. Next a suit was entered against Hare to recover £500 damages with respect to the death of James Wilson. An application was made to the Court to have Hare kept in custody as he was anticipating flight from Scotland. However, this was soon dropped as Hare would never be able to pay a judg- ment of such magnitude and he was finally released on February Sth, 1829. He was taken to Newington, just outside Edinburgh, and placed on the coach for Dumfries. When the coach stopped for supper at Noblehouse one of the passengers recognized him. Upon the arrival at Dum- fries the news quickly travelled that the notorious criminal was in town. Cornered by a crowd estimated at 8000, the ever- vigilant police’ rescued him and put him in gaol for his own protection. As usual, a crowd besieged the station house, and it took a hundred extra police officers to quell the demonstration. A few days later he was escorted out of town by the Sheriff Officer and a squad of militiamen. The last anyone saw of the arch-rogue was about two miles south of Carlisle travelling toward London. There is a story that an old blind beggar frequently seen on the streets of London in the latter part of the 19th century was Hare, and that nursemaids of the period used to point him out to their little charges. Dr. Knox, whose establishment purchased the products of Burke and Hare’s slaughter, continued operating his medical school at Edinburgh, but on all sides he was assailed by press and public. “He tried to defend himself by having a commission review the facts. They submitted a report which exculpated him, but this did not satisfy popular opinion. The populace made no effort to hide their detestation, riots occurred and his premises were attacked. Finally in 1839, he closed his school and, in 1844, moved to Glasgow. All medical schools in Scotland were closed to him so he moved to London and practised for many years in the London suburb of Hackney. There he died on December 20th, 1862, at the age of seventy-one. During the latter part of his life he was a prolific writer and he made many important contributions to medical science. “Dr. K * in Robert Louis Stevenson’s epic’ story, The Body Snatcher, is recognizable as Dr. Knox. Thus closed the final chapter on one of the most sordid and brutal stories to be found in the annals of crime; a tale that, for sheer inhumanity and horror, has few equals. THE SHOULDER STRAP