Burke and Hare

Burke and Hare are often called grave robbers. In reality, they did not rob graves. Instead, they murdered people and then sold the victims’ bodies to surgeons for dissection. Today, many people donate their bodies to science but in the early 19th century, attitudes were very different. Most people were horrified by the idea of being cut up after they were dead. As a result, surgeons found it hard to find bodies to dissect in lectures. So some were willing to pay large amounts of money for dead bodies, without asking too many questions. Burke and Hare are believed to have murdered 16 people. 

William Burke was born in Ireland around 1792, and it’s believed he came to Scotland to work as a navvy on the canals. He eventually settled in Edinburgh, where he worked as a cobbler, repairing shoes. It’s not certain when William Hare was born. He was probably from Ireland. At any rate, by 1827, he owned a lodging house in Edinburgh and he had befriended William Burke. 

The murders began in stages. In November 1827, a boarder known as Old Donald died in Hare’s lodging house. He died owing £4 (a considerable sum of money in those days). Hare told Burke and they decided to sell the body to anatomists to recoup the money. They told the authorities that Old Donald was dead. A carpenter made a coffin for him. Burke and Hare filled it with bark (normally used for tanning). They sold the body to a surgeon, Dr Robert Knox, for £7 and 10 shillings (there were 20 shillings in a pound). So they made a handsome profit from his death.

The next step was to murder a man who was ill but still alive. A tenant called Joseph, a miller, fell ill with an infectious disease. That would drive away other tenants from the lodging house. The two men gave Joseph whisky, then suffocated him.

This time, Burke and Hare sold the body for £10. Suffocating him meant there were no marks on the body. When the body was dissected, it would not be obvious that the person had been murdered.

Burke and Hare began regularly killing people and selling the victims’ bodies. It’s not certain in what order they killed the victims, but the third victim was probably a woman named Abigail Simpson. In February 1828, she was lured to the lodging house and given whisky. She was then suffocated. Once again, they sold the body for £10. Over the next months, Burke and Hare continued luring people to the lodging house, giving them whisky, then suffocating them, and then selling the bodies.

One of the victims was a mentally disabled man, James Wilson. He was called ‘Daft Jamie’. He was well known in Edinburgh. He was often seen begging. The unfortunate man was lured to the lodging house, where he was given whisky and suffocated. They sold the body, as usual, but this time several medical students recognised the dead person. Local people also noticed James was missing. Dr Knox likely suspected the truth because he ordered the immediate dissection of James’ body. Like so many other murderers, Burke and Hare became overconfident and started being careless.

The last victim was an Irishwoman named Margaret Docherty. She was murdered on 31 October 1828. Burke and Hare befriended her. She was invited to stay at the lodging house. Two other lodgers, James and Ann Gray, were told they must move out to make room for her. Margaret Docherty was suffocated in the usual way and her body was hidden under some straw. The Grays returned the next day to collect their belongings. They were left alone in the house and they looked under the straw, discovering the dead body. 

The Grays immediately alerted the authorities but while they were away, Burke and Hare removed the body and took it to be dissected. 

On 3 November, Burke and Hare were arrested. But the authorities were not sure if they could secure convictions.

So Hare was offered immunity from prosecution if he turned King’s evidence, that is if he testified against Burke. On 25 December 1828, William Burke was found guilty of murder and he was sentenced to death. 

He was hanged in public in Edinburgh on 28 January 1829. Burke’s body was publicly dissected, as his victims' bodies were. His skeleton was given to the Anatomical Museum of the Edinburgh Medical School. 

William Hare moved to England. What happened to him after that is not known. No action was taken against the surgeon, Dr Robert Knox.

The dreadful crimes were remembered in a rhyme:

‘Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief, Knox the boy that buys the beef’

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The Benders were a family of murderers in Kansas in the 1870s. Little is known about them; unfortunately, there are different versions of what happened. No doubt myths and legends have grown up.

It’s known for certain that the Benders were a family of four. They were German immigrants. Pa Bender was described as being about 60 years old in 1873. Ma Bender was said to be about 50. John Bender was about 27. Kate Bender was about 24.

The Homestead Act of 1862 gave settlers the right to free land if they farmed it for five years. After the Civil War, the Osage Indians were moved to a reservation in Oklahoma, and their land was then given to homesteaders.

At the end of 1870, the Benders claimed land in Kansas. They built a cabin about 2 miles from the town of Cherry Vale next to the Osage Trail. In the 1870s, many people traveled along the trail by horse or wagon. The Benders let travelers stay the night. They also sold groceries to their neighbors. In the 1870s, Spiritualism was popular in the USA. Kate Bender claimed to be a spiritual healer. She even called herself ‘Professor Kate Bender’.

The Bender’s ‘inn’ was divided into two rooms by a canvas curtain. Nobody witnessed their murders, but the victims all had the back of their heads caved in and their throats cut. It’s believed the Benders would ask guests to sit with their backs to the curtain. Standing behind it was a man holding a hammer. At the right moment, he would smash the back of the guest’s head with the hammer. The Benders would then cut his throat and rob him. Under the Bender’s hut was a small ‘cellar’. 

It’s thought the dead body was hidden there until it could be disposed of. The Benders also sold the victims’ horses and wagons.

The Benders killed at least 11 people. The first definite victim was a man named Jones who was murdered at the beginning of 1871. His body was found dumped in Drum Creek. His head had been smashed in, and his throat was cut. 

Shortly after, two unidentified men were found dumped on the prairie, both of them had been killed in the same way as Mr Jones. The Benders then began burying their victims near their cabin rather than dumping them in the open.

The last victim of the Bloody Benders was Dr William H. York. Dr York had been an assistant surgeon in the Unionist army during the Civil War. He was in his early 30s at the time of his death.

In March 1873, Dr. York set out on horseback from Fort Scott, Kansas, for Independence. He told someone that he planned to stay at the Benders’ place. 

He was never seen alive again. His brother, Colonel Alexander York, grew alarmed when his brother did not return, and he set out with a party of men to look for him. The Benders admitted Dr York had stayed at their ‘inn’, but they claimed he had left normally. Colonel York and his men moved on, but the trail went cold. When the Colonel returned to the Benders’ place, he found it abandoned. The Benders had realized the game was up and they had fled. 

On 6 May 1873, Colonel York’s men discovered a trapdoor in the Bender’s ‘inn’ with a ‘cellar’ below. They found it had dried blood in it. Then someone noticed a depression in the ground near the shack. On digging, they found the body of Dr York. His head was smashed in, and his throat was cut. 

Several other victims were found buried near the Benders ‘inn’. Altogether, seven graves were found. One of them contained two bodies.

Among the victims was Henry F. McKenzie from Indiana, who was relocating to Independence. He was about 29 at the time of his death. The body of William F. McCrotty from Cedar Vale was also found. 

Two victims were buried in the same grave. One of them was George Newton Longcor. Mr Longcor served in the American Civil War. He was 30 years old at the time of his death. 

The other body was his infant daughter Mary Ann Longcor. She was only about 19 months old when she died. The child was either strangled or buried alive. A victim named Benjamin M. Brown was identified by his silver ring. 

The bodies of two other men were never identified. Sadly, the bodies were too decomposed to allow identification. Altogether, the bodies of 7 men and a baby were found buried by the Benders’ shack, but it seems almost certain that the Benders also killed the three men found dumped in 1871.

Meanwhile, the Benders had fled with their wagon to the town of Thayer. They then escaped by train. What happened to them afterward is a mystery. A party of men pursued the Benders, but the trail went cold. For years afterward, there were rumors that vigilantes had caught the Benders and killed them, but no evidence was ever found to prove this. 

The governor of Kansas offered a reward of $2000 (a large sum of money at that time) to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the Benders, but nobody ever claimed it. The Bender’s shack was then broken up. People took pieces of it as souvenirs, and it soon disappeared.

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