Burke & Hare
William Burke and William Hare lived in Edinburgh, England, in 1828. They were Irish labourers and they lodged with Maggie Laird and Nell Macdougal, described as women of low virtue. Maggie let rooms out to the public, and one day when one lodger died, Burke and Hare saw an opportunity to make money and sold the corpse to Dr Knox. Soon enough the two were in business supplying corpses by means of graverobbery. Dr Knox's demand for bodies for dissection exceeded their regular supply, so they took to murder. Receiveing a handsome price for every corpse, their motive was gain.
In the next nine months they murdered sixteen people. They were finally caught out and brought to justice. Burke and Nell Macdougal were tried, Hare and Maggie Laird turned Kings Evidence. Nell won a verdict of Not Proven, while Burke was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Edinburgh on 28 January 1829 before a large crowd.