For murdering Maria Marten, I was hang’d upon the tree.
Printed by J. Catnach, 2 and 3, Monmouth Court.—Cards, &c., Printed Cheap.
THE TRIAL, SENTENCE, FULL CONFESSION, AND EXECUTION OF
BISHOP & WILLIAMS,
THE BURKERS.
BURKING AND BURKERS.
The month of November, 1831, will be recorded in the annals of crimes and cruelties as particularly preeminent, for it will prove to posterity that other wretches could be found base enough to follow the horrid example of Burke and his accomplice Hare, to entice the unprotected and friendless to the den of death for sordid gain.
The horrible crime of “Burking,” or murdering the unwary with the intention of selling their bodies at a high price to the anatomical schools, for the purpose of dissection, has unfortunately obtained a notoriety which will not be soon or easily forgotten. It took its horrifying appellation from the circumstances which were disclosed on the trial of the inhuman wretch Burke, who was executed at Edinburgh in 1829, for having wilfully and deliberately murdered several persons for the sole purpose of profiting by the sale of their dead bodies.