The writer of the Diary was a cemetery-keeper when he first began his resurrection proceedings; his _modus operandi_, in some cases, was to take the body out of the coffin, and place it in a sack, before he began to fill in the grave. Then, as he gradually threw the earth in, he kept pulling the sack to the surface, so that when his work of filling in was completed, he had the sack close to the top of the grave. He had then only to wait until night, when he was able, under cover of the darkness, to remove the body without fear of detection. When the resurrection-men had been successful in their night's work, they were glad to find a temporary shelter for the bodies, as near at hand as possible. This was generally an out-house belonging to one of the schools which they regularly supplied; the men were permitted to place the bodies there for the night, and to fetch them away the next day. This explains some of the entries in the Diary, such as "Took the whole to ----," and the next day, "Removed the whole from ----." Before removing any of the bodies, the men would find out exactly where they were wanted, and so would save much risk of being arrested with the bodies in their possession. If the following broadside could be believed, the resurrection-men sometimes performed a valuable service to those who had been buried-- "MIRACULOUS CIRCUMSTANCE: "_Being a full and particular account of John Macintire, who was buried alive, in Edinburgh, on the 15th day of April, 1824, while in a trance, and who was taken up by the resurrection-men, and sold to the doctors to be dissected, with a full account of the many strange and wonderful things which he saw and felt while he was in that state, the whole being taken from his own words._