Corpse for sale...

William Burke, Edinburgh, 3d January 1829

He and Hare went in the evening to the yard of the College, and saw a person like a student there, and the declarant asked him if there were any of Dr. Monro's men about, because he did not know there was any other way of disposing of a dead body—nor did Hare. The young man asked what they wanted with Dr. Monro, and the declarant told him that he had a subject to dispose of, and the young man referred him to Dr. Knox, No. 10, Surgeon Square; and they went there, and saw young gentlemen, whom he now knows to be Jones, Miller, and Ferguson, and told them that they bad a subject to dispose of, but they did not ask how they had obtained it; and they told the declarant and Hare to come back when it was dark, and that they themselves would find a porter to carry it. Declarant and Hare went home and put the body into a sack, and carried it to Surgeon Square, and not knowing how to dispose of it, laid it down at the door of the cellar, and went up to the room, where the three young men saw them, and told them to bring up the body to the room, which they did; and they took the body out of the sack, and laid it on the dissecting-table: That the shirt was on the body, but the young men asked no questions as to that; and the declarant and Hare, at their desire, took off the shirt, and got £7 10s. Dr. Knox came in after the shirt was taken off, and looked at the body, and proposed they should get £7 10s., and authorized Jones to settle with them ; and he asked no questions as to how the body had been obtained. Hare got £4 5s. and the declarant got £3 5s. Jones, &c said that they would be glad to see them again when they had any other body to dispose of...

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Burke and Hare Anatomy Murders

The first cadaver...

William Burke, Edinburgh, 3d January 1829

An old pensioner, named Donald, lived in the house about Christmas 1827; he was in bad health, and died a short time before his quarter's pension as due; he owed Hare L4; and a day or so after the pensioner's death, Hare proposed that his body should be sold to the doctors, and that the declarant should get a share of the price. Declarant said it would be impossible to do it, because the man would be coming in with the coffin immediately; but after the body was put into the coffin, and the lid was nailed down, Hare started the lid with a chisel, and he and the declarant took out the corpse and concealed it in the bed, and put tanners bark from behind the house into the coffin, and covered it with a sheet, and nailed down the lid of the coffin, and the coffin was then carried away for interment. Hare did not appear to have been concerned in any thing of the kind before, and seemed to be at a loss how to get the body disposed of...

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Burke and Hare Anatomy Murders

When Burke met Hare...

William Burke, Edinburgh, 3d January 1829

Compeared William Burke, at present under sentence of death in the jail of Edinburgh, states that he never saw Hare till the Hallow-fair before last (November 1827), when he and Helen M'Dougal met Hare's wife, with whom he was previously acquainted, on the street: they had a dram, and he mentioned he had an intention to go to the west country to endeavour o get employment as a cobbler; but Hare's wife suggested that they had a small room in their house which might suit him and M'Dougal, and that he might follow his trade of a cobbler in Edinburgh; and he went to Hare's house, and continued to live there, and got employment as a cobbler.

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Burke and Hare Anatomy Murders