The History of Burke and Hare Part 12

When the coach arrived in the morning at the King's Arms in Dumfries, the news spread rapidly that Hare was among its pa.s.sengers, and by eight o'clock a crowd of some eight thousand people surrounded the inn, all eager to obtain a sight of the notorious murderer whose terrible crimes had caused such a sensation in that, as in other parts of the country. It was known that he was bound for Portpatrick, and the interval of four hours between the arrival of the Edinburgh mail and the departure of the Galloway and Portpatrick coach was one of the most exciting in the history of Dumfries. Meanwhile Hare was inside the inn drinking ale with a number of stablemen, giving them such ridiculous toasts as "Bad luck to fortune."

Some of them tried to get a story of his crimes from him, but he declined to say anything about them, as he declared he had said enough about that before, and had done his duty in Edinburgh.

It was deemed impossible to drive the mail along the High Street, when the time of departure arrived, if Hare were in it, with safety to the other persons connected with it, for the people had laid their plans for the attack. They intended stopping the coach at the bridge and throwing Hare into the river, or failing that, they had closed the gates at Ca.s.sylands toll-bar where they proposed to deal with him in another manner. Two pa.s.sengers were sent forward a part of the way in a gig, and the coach left the inn empty. The mob surrounded it, but their fury was only intensified to find that the West Port murderer was not in it. The coach was allowed to proceed, and attention was again turned to the inn, towards which a large number pressed their way. An old woman attempted to strike at "the villain" with her umbrella, and another, after exhausting herself with verbal abuse, seized him by the collar of the coat and gave him such a shaking that he was nearly strangled. An hostler addressed the now trembling Hare:--"Whaur are ye gaun, man? or whaur can ye gang tae? h.e.l.l's ower guid for ye. The very deevils, for fear o' mischief, widna daur to let ye in; and as for heaven, that's entirely oot o' the question." As he crouched in a corner a small boy menaced him, and was backed up by the crowd, who enjoyed the sight. Hare at last became so thoroughly exasperated that he told his tormentors to "come on," and give him "fair play." The tormenting to which he was subject became unbearable, and he seized his bundle and walked towards the door, determined, as he said, to let the mob "tak' their will o' him," but in this effort he was checked by a medical man who happened to be present.

The position of affairs in Dumfries had now become positively alarming, and Mr. Fraser, the landlord of the King's Arms, saw that while his obnoxious guest remained in his house it was in danger of being wrecked, and he was therefore naturally anxious for his removal. In fact the whole town and neighbourhood were completely convulsed, and it was impossible to tell what might be the next movement on the part of the excited people.

The burgh magistrates met to deliberate upon some plan for preserving the peace of the town. After long consideration they agreed upon a plan which ran every risk of failure, but which was perhaps the only one they could have adopted.

A chaise and pair drove up to the door of the King's Arms, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. A trunk was buckled to it, and a great fuss was made. While these movements were going on before the people to attract their attention from what was the really important part of the magisterial plan, Hare slipped out of a back window, crept along by the stable-wall to a chaise in readiness to receive him. Once he was in, the doors were closed, the postilion whipped his horses to the gallop, and drove rapidly along the street towards the river. The mob having received a hint of what was going on from a few boys who had been lounging about the inn stables, made after the chaise with a rush. Volleys of stones were thrown at it, and some of the missiles went through the windows of the vehicle, narrowly missing Hare, who cowered at the bottom of it. On the horses flew, and, taking a turn sharply, the coach was nearly overturned, but after running a short distance on two wheels it righted.

At the bridge the fugitives were almost intercepted, but the people were too late. After some furious driving, the jail door was reached, and the governor, having been informed that he might expect a distinguished guest, opened the door immediately. Hare sprang out of the chaise, and in past a strong chain that had been placed behind the prison gate for greater security against a rush of the mob. "Into this gulf he leapt," said the _Dumfries Courier_ of the following week, "hop, step, and jump, a thousand times more happy to get into prison than the majority of criminals are to get out of it."

The people now saw how they had been deceived, and they were furious with rage and disappointment. Hare, if he fell into their hands now could not hope to escape; but, fortunately for him, the high strong walls of the prison were between him and the excited populace. The mob laid siege to the jail, blocked up all the door and gateway, and no one could pa.s.s out or in without considerable personal risk. This began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and for four hours later the angry mob howled and shouted, and even sought to break down the prison gates with a heavy piece of iron which they used as a battering-ram. When the street lamps in the vicinity were lighted at nightfall, they were immediately extinguished by some of the rioters, many of whom had now come to the conclusion that the best means they could adopt for forcing a surrender was to burn down the gate by lighted tar barrels and peats. About eight o'clock in the evening, however, the magistrates had made arrangements for dispersing the people.

The militia staff and the police force had been found quite insufficient to quell the disturbance. A hundred special constables were therefore sworn-in, and were drafted to a.s.sist in the preservation of the peace. The augmented force quickly cleared the streets, and the people, tired and exhausted with their exciting day's employment, at last reluctantly retired to their homes. But their efforts were plainly manifest in the amount of wreckage about the town, and scarcely a window in the prison or its neighbourhood was intact.

While the tumult was at its height, Hare, fatigued and weary, slipped away to the bed provided for him, and soon he was fast asleep, for he had had no rest since leaving Calton Jail in Edinburgh. About one o'clock on Sat.u.r.day morning he was wakened by the officials, who told him that, now the town was quiet, he must depart immediately. Trembling violently, he put on his clothes, and before leaving asked for his cloak and bundle. But these had been left at the inn, and were not at hand. The officers said he must do without them, and thank his stars into the bargain that he had escaped with whole bones. They also advised him that--as the whole of Galloway was in arms, and as the mail-coach had been stopped and searched the day before at Crocketford toll-bar, probably, also, at every other stage between Dumfries and Portpatrick--he would be better to take a different road. With this advice he set out on his journey on foot, and by three o'clock in the morning he was seen by a boy pa.s.sing Dodbeck. By daybreak he was probably over the border. On Sat.u.r.day and Sunday it was reported that Hare's ident.i.ty had been discovered at Annan, and that he had been stoned to death; but this was a mistake, for the driver of the English mail, on his return journey, saw him seated on the roadside within half-a-mile of Carlisle shortly after five o'clock on Sat.u.r.day afternoon.

The fugitive was then seated talking to two stone-breakers, and as the coach pa.s.sed he held down his head, but was recognised by the driver and an outside pa.s.senger. On the Sunday morning he was again seen about two miles beyond Carlisle, having skirted the city, the inhabitants of which were stated to be prepared to give him as cordial reception as the men of Dumfries. It is believed that after this Hare turned eastwards towards Newcastle, but as a matter of fact nothing is authoritatively known of his subsequent movements.

There is a story which an old resident of the east end of Glasgow, who died over eighty years of age, in the autumn of last year (1883), used to tell with great gusto. In his younger days this old gentleman was of a wandering disposition, and travelled on foot over the greater part of the island. In the spring of 1829 he pa.s.sed through Berwick-on-Tweed, and put up for the night at a lodging-house there. He was told by the landlady that he could not have a bed for himself, but would require to sleep with another lodger who was, of course, a stranger to him. On retiring to the room, M'A----, the Glaswegian, found that his bed-fellow was before him, and was sound asleep. This, however, was of little consequence, and he was soon himself in a similar condition. In the middle of the night he was awakened by his companion grasping him firmly by the throat, and, greatly alarmed, he flung off his a.s.sailant, sprung out of bed, and demanded to know what such behaviour meant. The stranger replied, in an apologetic tone, that he must have had the nightmare, for he knew nothing about what he was doing until he was thrown off. After a little conversation the two men became quite friendly, and again retired to rest. The night pa.s.sed without further incident. In the morning, when he awoke, M'A---- found that his bed-fellow was gone. He told the landlady at breakfast of the adventure, and she then informed him that the man with whom he had slept was none other than the notorious Hare. He s.h.i.+vered with horror, but the danger was past, and, for more than half a century, M'A---- told how in his youth he had spent a night with Hare, the accomplice of Burke. If the identification was correct, it was probably the case that Hare was really suffering from the nightmare, for it is not at all likely that he would attempt murder among strangers so soon after his narrow escape in Edinburgh.

In the preceding pages the story of Hare's departure from Scotland has been told, very much as given to the world in the columns of the _Dumfries Courier_; but the ballad-makers had another version which may prove interesting now, as it did at the time of its publication. Here are a few verses:--

"Dark was the mid-night, when Hare fled away, Not a star in the sky gave him one cheering ray, But still now and then blue lightning did glare, And strange shrieks a.s.sailed him like shrieks of despair.

"But still as the fugitive ran down the wild glen, Not a place did he fear like the dwellings of men; Where a heap lay before him all dismal and bare The ghost of Daft Jamie appeared to him there.

"'I am come,' says the shade, 'from the land of the dead, Though there be for poor Jamie no gra.s.s-covered bed; O'er hills and o'er valleys I'll watch thee for ill, I will haunt all thy wanderings, and follow thee still.

'I am come to remind you of deeds that are past, And tell you that Justice will find you at last.

"'When night darkens the world, oh, how can you sleep?

In your dreams do you ne'er see my poor mother weep?

And long will she weep, and long will she mourn, Till her wandering Jamie from the grave can return.

"'From the grave, did I say? Ah, calm is the bed Where sleepless and dreamless lie the bones of the dead; Their friends may lament them, and their sorrows may be, But no grave grows green in the wide world for me.

"'Oh, Hare, go and cover your fugitive head, In some land you're not known by the living or dead; For the living against thee will justly combine, And the dead will despise such a body as thine.'"

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

_The Confessions of Burke--The Interdicts against the "Edinburgh Evening Courant"--Burke's Note on the "Courant" Confession--Issue of the Official Doc.u.ment--Publication of both Confessions._

Pa.s.sing mention was made in a previous chapter of the confessions of his crimes made by Burke while he was in prison awaiting the time fixed for carrying out the final sentence pa.s.sed upon him by the High Court of Justiciary, and it was then stated that the curious history of the second, or _Courant_, confession, must be reserved for the proper time. Part of that history has already been related, for it has been seen how, when the _Courant_ announced the Monday before Burke's execution that that doc.u.ment would be published in its columns on the following Thursday, the High Court granted interdict prohibiting the publication until the proceedings against Hare were concluded. The _Courant_ bowed to this decision, but promised at the same time to lay before its readers the interesting paper as soon as possible.

This, however, was only the beginning of the difficulty. In its issue of Thursday, 5th of February, the _Courant_ stated that the interdict granted by the High Court of Justiciary, on the application of Mr. Duncan M'Neill, as counsel for Hare, having expired on the Monday previous (the 2nd of February), the publishers fully intended to have inserted the confession by Burke in their paper of that day. But, unfortunately, they had been laid under a new interdict by the Sheriff, at the instance of Mr. J.

Smith, S.S.C. This Mr. Smith was the gentleman who had applied to the Lord Advocate some weeks before for permission to visit Burke in prison for the purpose of receiving from him a full confession of his crimes, and who, on being refused, had unsuccessfully appealed to the Home Secretary. On Tuesday, 3rd February, this gentleman applied to the Sheriff, craving that the _Courant_ be interdicted from publis.h.i.+ng the confessions of Burke. The application was founded upon an allegation that the doc.u.ment in the possession of the editor of the _Courant_ was intended by Burke to be delivered to Mr. Smith, and had been given by the condemned man to a fellow-prisoner named Ewart for that purpose. Ewart entrusted it to the care of Wilson, a turnkey, who had disposed of it to the editor of the _Courant_. By this means, it was alleged, the intention of Burke was defeated; and it was further stated that the night before his execution, in the presence of Bailie Small, Mr. Porteous, and Mr. James Burn, Burke signed a doc.u.ment authorising Mr. Smith to uplift from the editor of the _Courant_ the declaration now under discussion. This paper was in these terms:--"The doc.u.ment or narrative, which I signed for ---- Ewart, was correct, so far as I had time to examine it; but it was given under the express stipulation that it should not be published for three months after my decease. I authorise J. Smith to insist upon the delivery of the paper above alluded to from the _Courant_, or any other person in whose possession it may be; and, at the same time, I desire Bailie Small to be present when the papers are demanded and got up, and that they may be taken to the Sheriff's office and compared with my declaration made before the Sheriff, which is the only full statement that can be relied on." The Sheriff granted interdict, but on the following day a pet.i.tion was presented on behalf of the _Courant_ praying for its recall. In support of this it was stated that Wilson, the turnkey, had disposed of the confession to the editor of that journal for a fair price, while the doc.u.ment itself had not come unfairly into his hands. The question of the right or power of a condemned criminal to bequeath property of any description was also raised, but was not seriously entered into. The Sheriff, however, did not see his way to recall the interdict, and said it was worthy of some attention whether the doc.u.ment given to Ewart was not to be published until three months after the death of Burke.

But whatever may have been the method adopted by the _Courant_ to obtain possession of the confession, it is at least certain that the doc.u.ment, though its publication for a time was laid under interdict, was not uplifted, and that it was ultimately issued to the public long before the period stipulated for by Burke. This was probably due to the fact that a new set of outside circ.u.mstances emerged which rendered it imperative that the private confession should be published if any profit was to be gained or enterprise shown. The Lord Advocate had given orders for the issue of the official confession to all the newspapers, and the compet.i.tors for the owners.h.i.+p of the other doc.u.ment were thus forced to come to a mutual arrangement.

On the 5th of February, the day on which Hare was liberated, the Sheriff addressed a letter to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, in the course of which he said:--"As it is now fully understood that all proceedings of a criminal nature against William Hare have terminated, it has appeared to the Lord Advocate that the community have a right to expect a disclosure of the contents of the confessions made by William Burke after his conviction. I have, therefore, to place those confessions in your lords.h.i.+p's hands with the view to their being given to the public, at such a time, and in such a manner, as you may deem most advisable.... It may be satisfactory to your lords.h.i.+p to know, that in the information which Hare gave to the Sheriff on the 1st December last (while he imputed to Burke the active part in the deeds which the latter now a.s.signs to Hare), Hare disclosed nearly the same crimes in point of number, of time, and of the description of persons murdered, which Burke has thus confessed; and in the few particulars in which they differed, no collateral evidence could be obtained calculated to show which of them was in the right. Your lords.h.i.+p will not be displeased to learn, that after a very full and anxious inquiry, now only about to be concluded, no circ.u.mstances have transpired, calculated to show that any other persons have lent themselves to such practices in this city, or its vicinity; and that there is no reason to believe that any other crimes have been committed by Burke and Hare, excepting those contained in the frightful catalogue to which they have confessed."

This action on the part of the Lord Advocate was simply a formal way of making the public aware of the contents of the confession, the Lord Provost being the official representative of the citizens of Edinburgh.

He, in his turn, sent the doc.u.ment to the newspapers for publication. Of course, when the people read it they would be initiated into the secrets of the conspiracy engaged in by Burke and Hare, and the _Courant_ managers saw that it would forestall their confession, even though it was fuller in detail. There must have been a hasty consultation with Mr. Smith, for on Sat.u.r.day, the 7th February, the two confessions appeared in that journal, accompanied by the following editorial note:--

"The interdict of the Sheriff on the publication of the confession and declaration of Burke, which has been for some time in our possession, having been withdrawn in consequence of a mutual compromise, we now publish this doc.u.ment, along with a declaration signed before the Sheriff, and sent by him to the Lord Provost for publication the day after he had p.r.o.nounced an interdict against the _Courant_. It will be observed that the declaration before the Sheriff is dry and meagre in its details.

The declaration which we publish is much fuller, and contains minute and striking circ.u.mstances which were never before laid before the public. The publication of this declaration and confession has been delayed by various proceedings; of which, however vexatious, we are not disposed to complain.

The interdict of the Court of Justiciary being deemed essential to the ends of justice, we yielded an immediate and respectful obedience to this order. The first interdict by the Sheriff, at the instance of a private party, was granted as a matter of course; and that interdict, after our application to have it recalled, was continued by a well meant but erroneous judgment. However we might be disappointed by the decision, we did not conceive that we had any right to complain. But we certainly do complain, that, after the Sheriff had laid the declaration which we possessed under an interdict, he should, the very next day, have published, or sent for publication, another declaration. We complain of this the more, because the very ground on which he decided to continue the interdict against us was, that our interest would be less injured by delay than that of the other party by removing the interdict; and yet, in the face of this decision, he publishes a doc.u.ment which, for ought he knew, might be identically the same as ours, and by the publication of which our interest would not merely be injured, but utterly ruined. We certainly think that this is an extraordinary mode of procedure. A judge in the case first interdicts the publication of a certain confession or declaration, telling one of the parties that he cannot suffer much injury by the delay, and the very next day publishes a declaration by the same person, to the injury, perhaps to the utter destruction of any interest the party had in the matter at issue. We really think that the dangers of delay are here exemplified in a very instructive manner; for if we had known that the very paper, as we could judge, about which parties were at issue, would be published the next day by the Sheriff himself, how would this have strengthened our argument against the continuance of the interdict? Such are the facts of the case; considering them carefully, they certainly appear to be somewhat irregular; and the effect was certainly calculated to prejudice, nay, to ruin our interest, if the paper in the possession of the Sheriff had not been so meagre and unsatisfactory, compared with the declaration we publish."

The _Courant_ showed its annoyance at the turn affairs had taken, but while doing so it made every effort, and that successfully, to outstrip its contemporaries. Besides publis.h.i.+ng the two confessions in full, it gave a _fac simile_ of the note in Burke's handwriting, appended to the doc.u.ment in their own possession, over which there had been so much dispute. There is one thing in favour of the _Courant_, or unofficial, confession, and that is the paper signed by Burke the night before his execution. He there testifies as to its accuracy, so far as he had had time to examine it. At the same time, in view of the many discrepancies between the two doc.u.ments themselves, and what was brought out by subsequent investigation, it must be admitted that in many respects they are defective as records of the terrible series of crimes in which Burke and Hare partic.i.p.ated.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

_Burke's Confession before the Sheriff--A Record of the Murders--The Method--Complicity of the Women and the Doctors--Murderers but not Body-s.n.a.t.c.hers._

The official confession of Burke was made in the condemned cell by the criminal on the 3rd of January, 1829, in the presence of Mr. George Tait, Sheriff-subst.i.tute; Mr. Archibald Scott, Procurator-fiscal; and Mr.

Richard J. Moxey, a.s.sistant Sheriff-clerk. The following is a copy of the doc.u.ment:--

"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 to 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.

"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 was due: that he owed Hare 4; and a day or two 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 in the coffin, and the lid was nailed down, Hare started the lid with a chisel, and he and declarant took out the corpse and concealed it in the bed, and put tanner's 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. That Hare did not appear to have been concerned in anything of the kind before, and seemed to be at a loss how to get the body disposed of; and 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's Square; and they went there, and saw young gentlemen, whom he now knows to be Jones, Miller, and Ferguson, and told them that they had 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's 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 s.h.i.+rt was on the body, but the young man asked no questions as to that; and the declarant and Hare, at their request, took off the s.h.i.+rt, and got 7 10s.

Dr. Knox came in after the s.h.i.+rt 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.

"Early last spring, 1828, a woman from Gilmerton came to Hare's house as a nightly lodger,--Hare keeping seven beds for lodgers: That she was a stranger, and she and Hare became merry, and drank together; and next morning she was very ill in consequence of what she had got, and she sent for some drink, and she and Hare drank together, and she became very sick and vomited; and at that time she had not risen from bed, and Hare then said that they would try and smother her in order to dispose of her body to the doctors: That she was lying on her back in the bed, and quite insensible from drink, and Hare clapped his hand on her mouth and nose, and the declarant laid himself across her body, in order to prevent her making any disturbance--and she never stirred; and they took her out of bed and undressed her, and put her into a sheet; and they mentioned to Dr.

Knox's young men that they had another subject; and Mr. Miller sent a porter to meet them in the evening at the back of the Castle; and declarant and Hare carried the chest till they met the porter, and they accompanied the porter with the chest to Dr. Knox's cla.s.s-room, and Dr.

Knox came in when they were there: the body was cold and stiff. Dr. Knox approved of its being so fresh, but did not ask any questions.

"The next was a man named Joseph, a miller, who had been lying badly in the house: that he got some drink from declarant and Hare, but was not tipsy: he was very ill, lying in bed, and could not speak sometimes, and there was a report that there was fever in the house, which made Hare and his wife uneasy in case it should keep away lodgers, and they (declarant and Hare) agreed that they should suffocate him for the same purpose; and the declarant got a small pillow and laid it across Joseph's mouth, and Hare lay across the body to keep down the arms and legs; and he was disposed of in the same manner, to the same persons, and the body was carried by the porter who carried the last body.

"In May, 1828, as he thinks, an old woman came to the house as a lodger, and she was the worse of drink, and she got more drink of her own accord, and she became very drunk, and declarant suffocated her; and Hare was not in the house at the time; and she was disposed of in the same manner.

"Soon afterwards an Englishman lodged there for some nights, and was ill of the jaundice: that he was in bed very unwell, and Hare and declarant got above him and held him down, and by holding his mouth suffocated him, and disposed of him in the same manner.

"Shortly afterwards an old woman named Haldane (but he knows nothing further of her), lodged in the house, and she had got some drink at the time, and got more to intoxicate her, and he and Hare suffocated her, and disposed of her in the same manner.

"About Midsummer, 1828, a woman with her son or grandson, about twelve years of age, and who seemed to be weak in his mind, came to the house as lodgers; the woman got a dram, and when in bed asleep, he and Hare suffocated her; and the boy was sitting at the fire in the kitchen, and he and Hare took hold of him, and carried him into the room, and suffocated him. They were put into a herring barrel the same night, and carried to Dr. Knox's rooms.

"That, soon afterwards the declarant brought a woman to the house as a lodger; and after some days she got drunk, and was disposed of in the same manner: That declarant and Hare generally tried if lodgers would drink, and if they would drink, they were disposed of in that manner.

"The declarant then went for a few days to the house of Helen M'Dougal's father, and when he returned, he learned from Hare that he had disposed of a woman in the declarant's absence, in the same manner, in his own house; but the declarant does not know the woman's name, or any further particulars of the case, or whether any other person was present or knew of it.

"That about this time he went to live in Broggan's house, and a woman named Margaret Haldane, daughter of the woman Haldane before mentioned, and whose sister is married to Clark, a tin-smith in the High Street, came into the house, but the declarant does not remember for what purpose; she got drink, and was disposed of in the same manner: That Hare was not present, and neither Broggan nor his son knew the least thing about that or any other case of the same kind.