The most famous grave robbers had to be William Hare and William Burke
who sold the bodies to Dr. John Knox of Scotland.
Hare is maintaining a lodging house and William makes pottery in a house
near Hare. The two of them will unearth
graves on the nearby cemetery and supply it to Dr. John. The corpses were sold to Dr. John at around
10 pounds which is more than the average salary of a worker. They thought that the two of them can get
rich in a short period of time. They
only chose those corpses that are fresh and with no sign of decomposition since
their freshness affect their price in the market. After a few months in the business of selling
cadavers, the two of them were able to buy fine clothing, and live the life of
the rich and famous.
On 1828, the demand on the corpses increase but they had to decrease the
price of the cadaver and spend some money on the ice to keep it fresh. None the less they were still making huge
profit in the business.
Hare also had an affair with a prostitute named Mary Patterson. They were caught in the act by Helen and saw
that Mary Patterson had fainted after drinking too much. The next day, the body of Mary Patterson is
in the hand of Dr. John Knox. Helen knew
about their business of selling corpses but she decided to keep her mouth shut
about the incident.
Their business on the dead bodies was uncovered after a neighbor saw a
corpse neatly tuck in one of the closets of Burke and Hare is ready to be
transported. Fortunately, Hare was able
to hide the evidence.
Dinally, someone reported the incident about Mary Patterson ending in
the dissection table of Dr. Knox. The
students of Dr. Knox solidify the statement by testifying that they too saw the
beautiful Mary Patterson.
The police immediately arrested Burke and Hare and raided the office of
Dr. Knox. They were able to find a body
of an old lady who was just recently sold by the two merchant. The investigation showed that they are not
only dealing with the dead bodies. There
came a point that they will lure victims into the inn and they will suffocate
them. They will sell the bodies of
their victim to Dr. John Knox after. Dr.
John Knox claimed that he knew nothing about the atrocities that the two guys
committed and thought that they were only selling him dead bodies from the
cemetery. But nonetheless the reputation
of Dr. John Knox was affected and his identity faded in history.
Only Burke was given a death sentence.
Helen on the other hand was released despite knowing about the
crimes. Hare lived his entire life as a
beggar in London. The skeleton of Burke
can be found at Edinburgh anatomy museum.
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