The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841Pelham, Camden
History
The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841
Pelham, Camden
Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England)
He was rather the worse of liquor, but he knew well
enough what he was about. He awoke about seven o'clock in the morning;
he found himself on a chair, with his head on the bed; the women were in
the bed, and John Broggan was lying beyond his aunt; Burke was at the
fireside. He and his wife got up and went home. In the course of the
day, Burke called on him, and asked him to assist in procuring a box.
They went first to Surgeons'-square, where Dr. Knox's school was
situated, but failed in obtaining one there; and then Burke went and
purchased a tea-chest at the grocer's. M'Culloch, a porter, took the box
home, and witness arrived there with him before Burke came in. They were
standing at the door when he came; and he asked whether they had put up
the body. He answered that they had not; and Burke then remarked that
they were worth little if they had not done that. They, however,
directly went in; and witness and M'Culloch assisted in placing the body
in the chest, the latter forcing it down in its place. M'Culloch also,
on seeing some of the woman's hair hanging out, pushed it into the box,
remarking that it would be "a fine thing to have that seen!" The chest
was corded; and M'Culloch was instructed to carry it to
Surgeons'-square, witness and Burke accompanying him. On their way they
met Mrs. M'Dougal and his (witness') wife, in the High School Yard, and
they all went together. Having delivered the chest to Paterson, it was
placed in a cellar, and the latter then went with them to Dr. Knox at
Newington, where he and Burke were paid 2_l._ 7_s._ 6_d._ each, 5_s._
being given to the porter.
The witness was cross-examined by Mr. Cockburn on behalf of the
prisoners, when he admitted that he had followed many businesses, both
in Ireland and in Scotland. He had been frequently concerned in
supplying medical schools with subjects, but had never assisted in
raising any bodies from church-yards. He had often seen bodies carried
to the houses of medical lecturers, but declined to say how often; he
also declined to say whether he had been concerned in the murder of any
other person but the old woman, and whether he had been present at any
other murder in the course of the same month of October.
[Illustration: Mob Persuing M^{rs.} M^cDougal.
p. 175]
Mrs. Laird, the wife of this witness, gave evidence very similar to that
of her husband, corroborating his statements as to so many of the
transactions which he had described as had fallen within her knowledge
and observation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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