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.

LIST OF WITNESSES.

A. WOOD, A. D.

Dean of Faculty.—We have given in separate defences, which may as well be read now,—beginning with the defences for the male prisoner.

The defences for Burke was then read as follows:

The pannel submits that he is not bound to plead to, or to be tried upon a libel, which not only charges him with three unconnected murders, committed each at a different time, and at a different place, but also combines his trial with that of another pannel, who is not even alleged to have had any concern with two of the offences of which he is accused. Such an accumulation of offences and pannels is contrary to the general and the better practice of the Court; it is inconsistent with right principle, and indeed, so far as the pannel can discover, is altogether unprecedented; it is totally unnecessary for the ends of public justice, and greatly distracts and prejudices the accused in their defence. It is therefore submitted that the libel is completely vitiated by this accumulation, and cannot be maintained as containing a proper criminal charge. On the merits of the case, the pannel has only to state that he is not guilty, and that he rests his defence on a denial of the facts set forth in the libel.

The defences for Helen M‘Dougal were next read as follows: