Читать книгу WEST PORT MURDERS (True Crime Classic) - Various Authors - Страница 6

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No trial in the memory of any man living has excited so deep, universal, and, we may almost add, appalling an interest as that of William Burke and his female associate, Helen M‘Dougal, which took place on Wednesday, 24th December, 1828. By the statements which from time to time appeared in the newspapers, public feeling had been worked up to the highest pitch of excitement, and the case, in so far as the miserable pannels were concerned, to a certain extent prejudiced by the natural abhorrence which the account of a new and unparalleled crime was calculated to excite. This, however, is an evil inseparable from the freedom, activity, and enterprise of the press, which is necessarily compelled to lay hold of the events of the passing hour, more especially when these are of an extraordinary or unprecedented kind: but it was more than atoned for by many countervailing advantages of the greatest moment to the interests of the community; and, besides, we are satisfied that any prejudice or prepossession thus created, was anxiously and effectually excluded from the minds of the jury, by whom this singular case was tried, and that they were swayed by no consideration except a stern regard to the sanction of their oaths, the purity of justice, and the import of the evidence laid before them. At the same time, it was not so much to the accounts published in the newspapers, which merely embodied and gave greater currency to the statements circulating in society, as to the extraordinary, nay, unparalleled circumstances of the case, that the strong excitement of the public mind ought to be ascribed. These were without any precedent in the records of our criminal practice, and, in fact, amounted to the realization of a nursery tale. The recent deplorable increase of crime has made us familiar with several new atrocities. Poisoning is now, it seems, rendered subsidiary to the commission of theft: stabbings, and attempts at assassination, are matters of almost every day occurrence: and murder has grown so familiar to us, that it has almost ceased to be viewed with that instinctive and inexpressible dread which the commission of the greatest crime against the laws of God and society used to excite. But the present was the first instance of murder alleged to have been perpetrated with the aforethought purpose and intent of selling the murdered body as a subject for dissection to anatomists: it was a new species of assassination, or murder for hire: and as such, no less than from the general horror felt by the people of this country at the process, from ministering to which the murderers expected their reward, it was certainly calculated to make a deep impression on the public mind, and to awaken feelings of strong and appalling interest in the issue of the trial.

Of the extent of the impression thus produced, and the feelings thus awakened, it was easy to judge from what was every where observable on Monday and Tuesday. The approaching trial formed the universal topic of conversation, and all sorts of speculations and conjectures were afloat as to the circumstances likely to be disclosed in the course of it, and the various results to which it would eventually lead. As the day drew near, the interest deepened; and it was easy to see that the common people shared strongly in the general excitement. The coming trial, they expected, was to disclose something which they had often dreamed of, or imagined, or heard recounted around an evening’s fire, like a tale of horror, or a raw-head-and-bloody-bones story, but which they never, in their sober judgment, either feared or believed to be possible; and hence, they looked forward to it with corresponding but indescribable emotions. In short, all classes participated more or less in a common feeling respecting the case of this unhappy man and his associate; all expected fearful disclosures; none, we are convinced, wished for any thing but justice.

As it was morally certain that a vast crowd would be assembled early on Wednesday, arrangements were made on Tuesday, under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Sheriff Duff, for the admission of jurymen by the door which connects the Signet Library with the Outer House, and also for the accommodation of the individuals connected with the public press. One half of the Court, the narrow dimensions of which have been often complained of, and in fact were never more seriously felt, was, as usual on such occasions, reserved for the members of the Faculty and the Writers to the Signet in their gowns.

So early as seven o’clock in the morning of Wednesday, a considerable crowd had assembled in the Parliament Square, and around the doors of the Court; and numerous applications for admission were made to the different subordinate functionaries, but in vain. The regulations previously agreed upon were most rigorously observed; while a large body of police, which was in attendance, maintained the utmost order, and kept the avenues to the Court unobstructed. The individuals connected with the press were conducted to the seats provided for them a little before eight o’clock; the members of the Faculty and of the Society of Writers to the Signet were admitted precisely at nine; and thus, with the jurymen impannelled, and a few individuals who had obtained the entrée in virtue of orders from the Judges, the Court became at once crowded in every part.

About twenty minutes before ten o’clock, the prisoners, William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, were placed at the bar. The male prisoner, as his name indicates, is a native of Ireland. He is a man rather below the middle size, but stoutly made, and of a determined, though not peculiarly sinister expression of countenance. The contour of his countenance, as well as his features, are decidedly Milesian. His face is round, with high cheek bones, grey eyes, a good deal sunk in the head, a short snubbish nose, and a round chin, but altogether of a small cast. His hair and whiskers, which are of a light sandy colour, comport well with the make of the head, and with the complexion which is nearly of the same hue. He was dressed in a shabby blue surtout, buttoned close to the throat, a striped cotton waistcoat, and dark-coloured small clothes, and had, upon the whole, what is called in this country a waugh rather than a ferocious appearance; though there is a hardness about the features, mixed with an expression in the grey twinkling eyes, far from inviting. The female prisoner is fully of the middle size, but thin and spare made, though evidently of large bone. Her features are long, and by no means disagreeable,—a pair of large, full, black eyes, imparting to them even something of interest and expressiveness; but the upper half of her face is out of proportion to the lower. She was miserably dressed in a small stone-coloured silk bonnet, very much the worse for the wear, a printed cotton shawl, and a cotton gown. She stoops considerably in her gait, and has nothing peculiar in her appearance, except the ordinary look of extreme penury and misery, common to unfortunate females of the same degraded class. Both prisoners, especially Burke, entered the Court without any visible signs of perturbation, and both seemed to attend very closely to the proceedings which soon after commenced.

The Court met at precisely a quarter past ten o’clock. The Judges present were, the Right Honourable the Lord Justice Clerk, and Lords Pitmilly, Meadowbank, and Mackenzie. Their Lordships having taken their seats, and the instance having been called,

The Lord Justice Clerk said—William Burke, and Helen M‘Dougal, pay attention to the indictment that is now to be read against you.

Mr. Patrick Robertson.—I object to the reading of the indictment. It contains charges which I hope to be able to show your Lordships are incompetent, and the reading of the whole of the libel must tend materially to prejudice the prisoners at the bar.

The Lord Justice Clerk.—I am unaccustomed to this mode of procedure. It depends upon the Court whether the indictment shall be read or not.

Mr. Patrick Robertson.—Certainly, my Lord; but I understand it is not necessary to read the indictment; and we object to its being done on the present occasion.

Lord Justice Clerk.—We have found but little advantage to result from the practice recently introduced of not reading the indictment. It has rendered constant explanations necessary, and consumes more time the one way than the other.

Mr. Cockburn.—We object to the indictment being read, because it is calculated to prejudice the prisoner. Our statement is, that it contains charges, the reading of which cannot fail to operate against him, and that these charges make no legal part of the libel.

Lord Meadowbank.—I am against novelties; I am against interfering with the discretion of the Court.

The indictment was then read as follows:—

William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, both present prisoners in the tolbooth of Edinburgh, you are indicted and accused at the instance of Sir William Rae of St. Catharine’s, Bart. his Majesty’s Advocate for his Majesty’s interest: That albeit, by the laws of this and of every other well governed realm, Murder, is a crime of an heinous nature and severely punishable: Yet true it is and of verity, that you the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal are both and each, or one or other of you, guilty of the said crime, actor or actors, or art and part: In so far as, on one or other of the days between the 7th and 16th days of April 1828, or on one or other of the days of that month, or of March immediately preceding, or of May immediately following, within the house in Gibb’s Close, Canongate, Edinburgh, then and now or lately in the occupation of Constantine Burke, then and now or lately scavenger in the employment of the Edinburgh Police Establishment, you the said William Burke did, wickedly and feloniously, place or lay your body or person, or part thereof, over or upon the breast or person and face of Mary Paterson or Mitchell, then or recently before that time, or formerly preceding, with Isabella Burnet or Worthington, then and now or lately residing in Leith Street, in or near Edinburgh, when she, the said Mary Paterson or Mitchell was lying in the said house, in a state of intoxication, did, by the pressure thereof, and by covering her mouth and nose with your body or person, and forcibly compressing her throat with your hands, and forcibly keeping her down, notwithstanding her resistance, or in some other way to the Prosecutor unknown, preventing her from breathing, suffocate or strangle her; and the said Mary Paterson or Mitchell was thus, by the said means or part thereof, or by some other means or violence, the particulars of which are to the Prosecutor unknown, wickedly bereaved of life by you the said William Burke; and this you did with the wicked aforethought intent of disposing of, or selling the body of the said Mary Paterson or Mitchell, when so murdered, to a physician or surgeon, or some person in the employment of a physician or surgeon, as a subject for dissection, or with some other wicked and felonious intent to the Prosecutor unknown. (2.) Further, on one or other of the days, between the 5th and 26th days of October 1828, or on one or other of the days of that month, or of September immediately preceding, or of November immediately following, within the house situated in Tanner’s Close, Portsburgh, or Wester Portsburgh, in or near Edinburgh, then and now or lately in the occupation of William Haire or Hare, then and now or lately labourer, you the said William Burke did wickedly and feloniously attack and assault James Wilson, commonly called or known by the name of Daft Jamie, then or lately residing in the house of James Downie, then and now or lately porter, and then and now or lately residing in Stevenlaw’s Close, High Street, Edinburgh, and did leap and throw yourself upon him, when the said James Wilson was lying in the said house, and he having sprung up, you did struggle with him, and did bring him to the ground, and you did place or lay your body or person, or part thereof, over or upon the person or body and face of the said James Wilson, and did by the pressure thereof, and by covering his mouth and nose with your person or body, and forcibly keeping him down, and compressing his mouth, nose, and throat, notwithstanding every resistance on his part, and thereby, or in some other manner to the Prosecutor unknown, preventing him from breathing, suffocate or strangle him; and the said James Wilson was thus, by the said means, or part of them, or by some other means or violence, the particulars of which are to the Prosecutor unknown, wickedly bereaved of life and murdered by you the said William Burke; and this you did with the wicked aforethought and intent of disposing of or selling the body of the said James Wilson, when so murdered, to a physician or surgeon, or to some person in the employment of a physician or surgeon, as a subject for dissection, or with some other wicked and felonious intent or purpose, to the Prosecutor unknown. (3.) Further, on Friday the 31st day of October 1828, or on one or other of the days of that month, or of September immediately preceding, or of November immediately following, within the house then or lately occupied by you the said William Burke, situated in that street of Portsburgh, or Wester Portsburgh, in or near Edinburgh, which runs from the Grassmarket of Edinburgh to Main Point, in or near Edinburgh, and on the north side of the said street, and having an access thereto by a trance or passage, entering from the street last above libelled, and having also an entrance from a court or back court on the north thereof, the name of which is to the Prosecutor unknown, you the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, did both and each, or one or other of you, wickedly and feloniously place or lay your bodies or persons, or part thereof, on the body or person or part thereof of one or other of you, over or upon the person or body and face of Madgy or Margery or Mary M‘Gonegal, or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, then or lately residing in the house of Roderick Stewart or Stuart, then and now or lately labourer, and then and now or lately residing in the Pleasance, in or near Edinburgh; when she, the said Madgy or Margery, or Mary M‘Gonegal, or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, was lying on the ground, and did, by the pressure thereof, and by covering her mouth and the rest of her face with your bodies or persons, or the body or person of one or other of you, and by grasping her by the throat, and keeping her mouth and nostrils shut, with your hands, and thereby, or in some other way to the Prosecutor unknown, preventing her from breathing, suffocate or strangle her; and the said Madgy or Margery, or Mary M‘Donegal, or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, was thus, by the said means, or part thereof, or by some other means or violence, the particulars of which are to the Prosecutor unknown, wickedly bereaved of life, and murdered by you the said William Burke, and you the said Helen M‘Dougal, or one or other of you; and thus you, both and each, or one or other of you, did, with the wicked aforethought intent of disposing of or selling the body of the said Madgy or Margery or Mary M‘Gonegal, or Duffie, or Campbell, or Docherty, when so murdered, to a physician or surgeon, or to some person in the employment of a physician or surgeon, as a subject for dissection, or with some other wicked and felonious intent or purpose to the Prosecutor unknown: And you, the said William Burke, having been taken before George Tait, Esq. sheriff-substitute of the shire of Edinburgh, you did in his presence, at Edinburgh, emit and subscribe five several declarations of the dates respectively following, viz.:—The 3d, 10th, 19th, and 29th days of November, and 4th day of December 1828: And you, the said Helen M‘Dougal, having been taken before the said sheriff-substitute, you did in his presence, at Edinburgh, emit two several declarations, one upon the 3d and another upon the 18th days of November 1828, which declarations were each of them respectively subscribed in your presence by the said sheriff-substitute, you having declared you could not write: which declarations being to be used in evidence against each of you by whom the same were respectively emitted; as also the skirt of a gown; as also a petticoat; as also a brass snuff-box, and a snuff-spoon, a black coat, a black waistcoat, a pair of moleskin trowsers, and a cotton handkerchief or neckcloth, to all of which sealed labels are now attached, being to be used in evidence against you, the said William Burke; as also a coarse linen sheet, a coarse pillow-case, a dark printed cotton gown, a red-stripped cotton bed-gown, to which a sealed label is now attached; as also a wooden box; as also a plan, entitled “Plan of Houses in Wester Portsburgh and places adjacent,” and bearing to be dated Edinburgh, 20th November 1828, and to be signed by James Braidwood, 22, Society, being all to be used in evidence against both and each of you, the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, at your trial, will for that purpose be in due time lodged in the hands of the clerk of the High Court of Justiciary, before which you are about to be tried, that you may have an opportunity of seeing the same. All which, or part thereof, being found proven by the verdict of an assize, or admitted by the respective judicial confessions of you the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, before the Lord Justice-General, the Lord Justice Clerk, and the Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, you, the said William Burke and Helen M‘Dougal, ought to be punished with the pains of law, to deter others from committing the like crimes in all time coming.

A. WOOD, A.D.