Supplement to the trial of William Burke & Helen M'Dougal : containing the whole legal proceedings against William Hare, in order to bring him to trial for the murder of James Wilson, or Daft Jamie. With an appendix of curious and interesting information, regarding the late West-Port murders. Illustrated by a lithographic print of Mrs Hare and her child, as they appeared in the witness box / [William Burke].

  • Burke, William, 1792-1829.
Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Supplement to the trial of William Burke & Helen M'Dougal : containing the whole legal proceedings against William Hare, in order to bring him to trial for the murder of James Wilson, or Daft Jamie. With an appendix of curious and interesting information, regarding the late West-Port murders. Illustrated by a lithographic print of Mrs Hare and her child, as they appeared in the witness box / [William Burke]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PRELIMINARY NOTICE. Immediately after giving their evidence on the trial of Burke, William Hare and his wife were recommitted to the jail of Edinburgh, under a warrant of the Sheriff; where they were detained, either with the view of eliciting from them farther information relative to the atrocious transactions in which they had been engaged, or in the expectation of discovering some new case against them, upon which they might be brought to trial, without infringing the unqualified assurance of protection and indemnity given them by the Lord Advocate, as an in- ducement to turn King's evidence, in order to ensure the con- viction of Burke. It would appear, that in the latter view, at least, the public prosecutor was unsuccessful; and, accordingly, it was ascertained, on the 19th of January, that the commit- ment on the part of the Crown would be instantly with- drawn. In the meantime, the public mind being strongly excited by the horrid disclosures made upon the trial of Burke, the po- pular indignation, after his conviction, was next directed against his associate, Hare, whose evidence,—given with such levity and sang froid,—at once pointed him out as likely to have been the greater villain of the two, and as a monster so conver- sant with such atrocities, that his conscience, seared by his constant career in crime, felt no compunction for the enormi- ties he had committed, but which, he rather seemed to look upon witli callous indifference : Circumstances afterwards transpired, which greatly increased the rancorous feeling against Hare, as they tended to shew that he was not only the principal actor in these bloody and merciless scenes, but was the tutor and insti- gator of his convicted accomplice. The public journals kept alive and fostered this natural, and laudable feeling, on the part of the people, and vigor- ously maintained the necessity of further disclosures; calling