Mrs. Hare, and after becoming hopelessly
ntoxicated one was killed by Hare and the
sther by Burke. Again their bodies were
jisposed of to the ever-ready dissecting
ble.

An old woman scavenger who used to sell
scraps of leather to Burke for mending shoes
iso became a victim of the hideous team.
Enticed into Hare’s stable she was given
sufficient liquor to make her demise easy.
The body was handed over to Dr. Knox for
the usual fee. One night Burke observed
the police taking ani unknown woman into
custody for intoxication. Always on the
lookout for a victim, Burke went to the
police station and told them he knew where
the woman lived and that he would look
after her. Glad to get rid of their charge,
the police released the drunk, and Burke
took her to Hare’s lodging house where she
was in turn reduced to a “subject” and sold
for £10.

Oxtp AGE AND YOUTH VICTIMS ALIKE

Another of their operations involved an
old Irishwoman, who, with her 12-year-old
grandson, journeyed from Glasgow to Edin-
burgh to visit friends. She met Burke in
a casual way, and the latter at once told her
that he knew the people she was seeking
and led her to Hare’s in the West Port. At
the sordid lodging house the old lady was
made welcome and the ubiquitous bottle
was soon being passed around. Soon the
old lady was a case for the rear room, where
Burke and Hare murdered her and divested
her of her clothing.

In the meantime the small boy had been
kept with the women, but could not con-
verse with them as he had been dumb from
Firth. After the old grandmother had been
disposed of, the evil group discussed the
disposition of the boy. The suggestion that
he be taken out and lost was considered
too dangerous, so they elected the little chap
to their growing list of victims. The follow-
ing day, before taking the old grandmother
away, the lad was taken into the rear room
and Burke killed him by breaking his back.
Both bodies were then placed in a herring
barrel and loaded on to Hare’s cart. The
horse, however, was incapable of finishing
the journey, and a porter’s cart was hired
to take the barrel the rest of the way to Dr.
Knox’s institution. Burke and Hare received
£16 for the two bodies.

In the early part of April, 1828, two
street-walkers named Mary Paterson and
Janet Brown, both about 18, were living
with a Mrs. Worthington’on Leith Street.
On the 8th of April, 1828, the two girls
were apprehended by the police and kept
in the Canongate Police Station overnight.
They were released early the following
morning and, after calling at a friend’s
house, both sought refreshment in a spirit
dealer’s shop in the Canongate. While there,
Burke, who was also a customer, eyed the
girls and entered into conversation with
them. After some discussion Burke invited
both girls to his lodgings, painting them a
picture of affluence and sealed the intro-
duction by presenting each girl with a bottle
of whiskey. After some hesitation on the
part of the Brown girl, they accompanied
Burke to his lodgings for breakfast.

THIRTEENTH EDITION

Instead of taking the girls to his own
domicile, he took them to his brother’s house,
a one-room affair just off the Canongate.
The brother, Constantine Burke, was em-
ployed by the scavenging department and,
at that early hour, was still in bed with his
family. Burke made a pretence of upbraid-
ing them, as if he were master or landlord,
and in a few minutes had a breakfast pre-
pared which was eaten by the three guests,
accompanied by the greater portion of the
two bottles of whiskey. Mary Paterson
became very drunk and went to sleep, but
Janet Brown remained reasonably sober so
Burke took her out and, at a nearby inn,
bought her further drink, then returned to
his brother’s house. There they found Helen
McDougal making a violent scene and
accusing the Brown girl of attempting to
steal her husband. During the uproar, Mary
Paterson lay across a truckle bed, entirely
oblivious of what was going on. During
the argument, Mrs. Constantine Burke left
to get Hare, while Burke threw a glass at

Burke

McDougal cutting her eye. He then thrust
McDougal out of doors and locked the door.
He made some overtures to the Brown girl,
who refused to let him take any liberties.
Burke allowed her to leave on her promise
to return later.

FRUITLESS SEARCH

The girl then went to a friend’s house
and «elated what had transpired. The friend,
sensing something wrong, sent Janet back
to look for Mary, accompanied by a servant.
When they arrived at the house, after some
trouble in locating it, Janet found the two
Hares and McDougal there, but Burke,
they said, had gone out with Mary Paterson.
The Brown girl was invited into the house
and more liquor was consumed. Had she
known it, her friend, Mary Paterson, lay
dead within a few feet of her behind the
bed curtains, and Burke was on his way to
Surgeon’s Square to arrange the usual
sequel.

The servant girl had not accompanied
Janet into the house, but returned to her

employer, who promptly told her to go
back and bring Janet with her. When the
servant again reached the house with in-
structions to bring Janet back, neither the
Hares nor McDougal made any effort to
stop her, and for the second time she barely
escaped with her life. Later the same day
Janet again called at the house to enquire
for Mary, but by this time the Hares and
McDougal had left and Mrs. Constantine
Burke told her that Mary and Burke had
not returned.

During the next few months many
enquiries were made as to the whereabouts
of the Paterson girl but nothing was heard
of her and her clothing was unclaimed at
the lodging-house. It was generally thought
that she had gone off with some man. In
the meantime Burke and Hare had disposed
of the body to Dr. Knox for £8.

It is said that Mary Paterson was a par-
ticularly beautiful girl with a figure that
would have delighted a painter of the classic
school. On the body being admitted to the
dissecting rooms, one of the students recog-
nized the girl. He enquired where Burke
and Hare had secured the body and was
told they had bought it from an old woman
in the Canongate. It was also remarkable
that Dr. Knox accepted this body, only four
hours dead, without any apparent reason
for dying in the full bloom of youth.

In fact, the body drew so much attention
in the doctor’s laboratory that it was kept
for three months in whiskey before being
finally dissected. Many a well-known
painter of the period called to inspect the
body of Mary Paterson.

MURDERERS FALL OUT

During the summer of 1828, Burke went
with McDougal to Falkirk for a trip, and
it is suggested that the Hares tried to induce
Burke to convert McDougal into “merchan-
dise” by saying that she had died while they
were away. However, both returned to
Edinburgh to their abode of infamy. Soon
Burke discovered that Hare had been doing
a little business on his own account and not
dividing the profits according to their in-
formal agreement. After an acrimonious
scene, Burke and McDougal left and secured
lodgings with a man named Broggan. The
latter was related by marriage to Burke.
However, when they ceased working as a
team, luck seemed to turn against them.
Eventually Burke and Hare decided to
return to their former working arrangement,
although still maintaining separate domiciles.

The firstfruits of their resumed partner-
ship was Ann McDougal, cousin of Mc-
Dougal’s former mate. Ann was treated
in the same way as all the others, although,
after being reduced to a state of alcoholic
insensibility, Burke’s “finer feelings” were
revealed by his request to Hare to begin the
smothering. Once started, however, Burke
did not hesitate to assist despite the fact that
the girl was a “distant friend.” Dr. Knox’s
doorkeeper furnished a fine trunk to bring
the body to Surgeon’s Square, and this was
left in the house for a short time. Broggan
coming in, noted the trunk, and also the
absence of his “country cousin” and became
suspicious. Hare and Burke, however, ad-
vanced him some money and Broggan

Page Five