William Burke was an infamous murderer. He was born in 1792 at Orrery, County Cork, Ireland and died in 1829. In 1827 he lived in Tanner's Close, Edinburgh, in a lodging house kept by William Hare. The two men used to inveigle wayfarers into their house, make them drunk and then suffocate them in such a way as to leave no sign of violence on the bodies (this has subsequently been known as burking) with the object of selling the bodies (for eight or ten pounds) for dissection to Doctor Robert Knox. Suspicion having been aroused, Burke and Hare were arrested; the latter turned king's evidence and Burke was executed. Research William Burke
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