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| The Gibbet in Lawnmarket |
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nIn heavy, driving January rain, they cheered as the gibbet wasnraised at half past ten at night, and at two in the morning, in dismal,nfreezing conditions, they began to take up their positions in the courts, onnthe stairs and on wall tops, as the sightseers preferred to suffer notninconsiderable hardship rather than lose their vantage points. Every windownoverlooking the Lawnmarket had been hired days in advance, at prices rangingnfrom five to twenty shillings, and by seven o’clock in the morning of WednesdaynJanuary 28th 1829 a crowd ofn25,000 people had assembled.
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nBurke himself slept most of that night, arose atnfive o’clock and dressed in a black suit provided for him. He received Catholicnand Protestant ministers and prayed with them, before asking for his shacklesnto be removed – as they were knocked off, some of the fetters fell with a loudnclang and Burke theatrically declared,
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n“So may all my earthly chains fall!”
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| William Burke in chains |
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nHe was taken to a keeper’s room, where he sat by the fire and was heard to sighnperiodically, before being moved to adjoining apartment, but he encounterednWilliams, the executioner, on the way. “I am not just ready for you yet,”nsaid Burke, waving him away, but Williams followed him and pinioned his arms.nBurke was given a glass of wine and he offered the toast, “Farewell to allnmy friends,” before, supported on either side by a Catholic priest, and lednby two bailies, a solemn, formal procession led him from the prison, upnLiberton’s Wynd and onto the scaffold. The baying crowd jeered and hurledninsults and threats, and Burke hastened his step lest they break through andnrend him apart, and as he mounted the steps, cries of ‘Burke him,” “Chokenhim” and “No Mercy, Hangie” resounded across the packed Lawnmarket.nBurke knelt and prayed again, which removed him momentarily from the view ofnthe throng, who took up a cry of, “Hare, Hare, bring out Hare,” whilstnothers called, “Knox, hang Knox, the noxious morsel.”
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| Execution and Confession of Burke |
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nBurke rose, pickednup the silk handkerchief on which he had been kneeling, folded it neatly andnplaced it in his pocket. He mounted the steps of the drop and faced Williamsncalmly, who placed the noose over his head and made to tighten it about hisnthroat. He met a little difficulty with Burke’s neckerchief and was told, “Thenknot is at the back,” the only words he spoke aloud on the gibbet. A whitencotton night cap was placed on his head and pulled down over his face, and in anlow whisper he began to recite the Creed. As he reached the words ‘LordnJesus Christ’ (the prearranged signal), Williams drew the bolt and Burkendropped into the void.
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| Execution of William Burke |
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nAt every convulsive twitch and kick, the crowd jeerednand yelled – he kicked and struggled, asnif seeking some platform beneath his feet, but the undertakers below grabbednhis legs and spun his body around until it was raised level with the gallows.nThe drop was made at a quarter past eight and the body was left to hang untilnfive minutes to nine, when Williams took out his blade and cut it down. Thengloating multitude swept forwards but were held back by the police, as souvenirnhunters tried to lay their hands on anything – the rope, naturally, butnshavings from the coffin and parts of the gallows would suffice. When Burke’snbody was safely in its box, the crowd dispersed, and in spite of being thenlargest gathering in Edinburgh’s history, there had not been a single mishap.
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| Death Mask Bust of Burke |
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n“…thatnof a thick-set muscular man, with a bull-neck, great development about thenupper parts, with immense thighs and calves, so full as to have the appearancenof globular masses,”n
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n‘This is written with the blood of Wm Burke, whonwas hanged at Edinburgh. This blood was taken from his head.’
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| Dr Munro the Anatomist |
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nThenticket-holding students were admitted and other interested students attemptednto gain admission, but many more were left outside in the quadrangle, and thesenbegan to get so unruly that the police were sent for. Fights broke out betweennpolice and students, the police drew their staves and the students broke thenwindows of the lecture theatre; the College Provost and his bailie intervenednbut had to retreat under a hail of abuse. At length, Professor Christison savednthe day by promising the students that he had arranged for them all be admittednin to see Burke’s body in parties of fifty, and he had given the authoritiesnhis own personal guarantee for their good behaviour. The same information wasncirculated in the City – that every interested person would be permitted intonthe lecture rooms in ordered, supervised groups on the promise of their goodnbehaviour.
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| The Skeleton of William Burke |
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nThus it was that on Friday January 30th 1829, the body ofnWilliam Hare was laid out, naked, on a black marble slab in the dissecting roomnof the Edinburgh Medical College, ironically, he was yet another a stranglednvictim made available for anatomical study. The top of the skull removed bynMunro had been replaced and a barely noticeable scar was the only evidence ofnthe operation.
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n“Thenspectacle was sufficiently ghastly to gratify the most epicurean appetite fornhorrors,”
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| Alexander Leighton – The Court of Cacus – 1861 |
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| Pocket Book bound with Burke’s skin |
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n“A portion of his skinnwas tanned. It was very thick, of a dark blue colour, and much resembled thatnof Morocco leather. I remember well that the publisher of Burke’s Trial at thentime had a good piece of it, which he cut up and gave to various of hisnfriends.”n
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| Letter to Notes and Queries – Sept 27 1856 |
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nThenphrenologists sought to use the measurements of Burke’s head as proof of theirntheories, publishing detailed comparisons of its dimensions and finding allnkinds of significance in the associated elements. A new verb entered thenlanguage, ‘to Burke’, meaning to suffocate someone by lying on them andnpressing down, but ‘burking’ eventually came to mean ‘to kill by suffocation’.
nIt has no connection at all with the insulting epithet ‘berk’, which is rhymingnslang for Berkley Hunt, and I will leave you to work that one out for yourself.
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| Phrenological Development of Burke |
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