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The final two victims
Margaret Docherty
The breach between the two men did not last long. In late September or early October Hare was visiting Burke when Mrs Ostler (also given as Hostler), a washerwoman, came to the property to do the laundry. The men got her drunk and killed her; the corpse was with Knox that afternoon, for which the men received £8. A week or two later one of McDougal's relatives, Ann Dougal (also given as McDougal) was visiting from Falkirk; after a few days, the men killed her by their usual technique and received £10 for the body. Burke later claimed that about this time Hare's wife suggested killing Helen McDougal because "they could not trust her, as she was a Scotch woman", but he refused.
Burke and Hare's next victim was a familiar figure in the streets of Edinburgh: James Wilson, an 18-year-old man with a limp caused by deformed feet. He was mentally disabled and, according to Alanna Knight in her history of the murders, was inoffensive; he was known locally as Daft Jamie. Wilson lived on the streets and supported himself by begging. In November Hare lured Wilson to his lodgings with the promise of whisky and sent his wife to fetch Burke. The two murderers led Wilson into a bedroom, the door of which Margaret locked before pushing the key back under the door. As Wilson did not like excess whisky—he preferred snuff—he was not as drunk as most of the duo's victims; he was also strong and fought back against the two attackers, but was overpowered and killed in the normal way. His body was stripped and his few possessions stolen: Burke kept a snuff box and Hare a snuff spoon. When the body was examined the following day by Knox and his students, several of them recognized it to be Wilson, but Knox denied it could be anyone the students knew. When word started circulating that Wilson was missing, Knox dissected the body ahead of the others that were being held in storage; the head and feet were removed before the main dissection.[
The final victim, killed on 31 October 1828, was Margaret Docherty, a middle-aged Irish woman. Burke lured her into the Broggan lodging house by claiming that his mother was also a Docherty from the same area of Ireland, and the pair began drinking. At one point Burke left Docherty in the company of McDougal while he went out, ostensibly to buy more whisky, but actually to get Hare. Two other lodgers—Ann and James Gray—were an inconvenience to the men, so they paid them to stay at Hare's lodging for the night, claiming Docherty was a relative. The drinking continued into the evening, by which time Margaret had joined in. At around 9:00 pm the Grays returned briefly to collect some clothing for their children and saw Burke, Hare, their wives, and Docherty all drunk, singing and dancing. Although Burke and Hare came to blows at some point in the evening, they subsequently murdered Docherty and put her body in a pile of straw at the end of the bed.
The next day the Grays returned, and Ann became suspicious when Burke would not let her approach a bed where she had left her stockings. When they were left alone in the house in the early evening, the Grays searched the straw and found Docherty's body, showing blood and saliva on the face. On their way to alert the police, they ran into McDougal who tried to bribe them with an offer of £10 a week; they refused. While the Grays reported the murder to the police, Burke and Hare removed the body and took it to Knox's surgery. The police search located Docherty's bloodstained clothing hidden under the bed. When questioned, Burke and his wife claimed that Docherty had left the house, but gave different times for her departure. This raised enough suspicion for the police to take them in for questioning. Early the following morning the police went to Knox's dissecting-rooms where they found Docherty's body; James identified her as the woman he had seen with Burke and Hare. Hare and his wife were arrested that day, as was Broggan; all denied any knowledge of the events.
