Burke mistress 'murdered by mob'

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By Denise Glass Digging Up Your Roots Helen McDougal was tried for murder but the case was found not proven

Was Burke and Hare's accomplice beaten to death by an angry mob of mill workers in Perthshire?

The apparent murder of Helen McDougal, Burke's mistress, is documented in a broadside written in 1829, which is held in the National Library of Scotland.

In the time before the internet, 24-hour news channels and modern-day newspapers, broadsides were how people got their news.

Broadsides were the tabloids of their day - originally one sheet of paper, printed on one side, which gave details of crimes, public notices and songs.

They cost about one penny and were sold on the streets by pedlars. They could then be posted on the walls of pubs and homes.

The National Library of Scotland has a collection of more than 250,000 broadsides dating from about 1650 to 1910.

Reports of murders and executions were the most popular topics in broadsides - although you could not believe everything you read in them.

Many of the confessions were made up, as were speeches apparently given at the gallows.

I don't think there's any question that Burke set out to have Helen freed John WalkerLocal historian

One report, thought to be from about 1828, details the selling of a woman called Mary Mackintosh in Edinburgh. She had been accused by her husband of being a "notorious drunkard".

There are several broadsides concerning Burke and Hare - the notorious murderers who sold the bodies of their victims to Edinburgh medical school doctor Robert Knox for dissection.

William Burke was hanged for murder, but Hare escaped the gallows after he and his wife gave evidence against his partner in crime.

McDougal was also tried, but the case against her was found not proven.

John Walker, a teacher from Stenhousemuir, has been looking into the Burke and Hare case.

"There's a commonly held perception that only William Burke was prosecuted, but Helen was prosecuted as well," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Digging Up Your Roots.

"According to Burke, she knew nothing about them [the murders], although given that they were happening in what was essentially a one-room apartment that's very very difficult to believe, and of course, at least one of Helen McDougal's relatives went to visit Burke and Hare and then went to visit Dr Knox immediately after.

The broadside states Helen was killed after her identity was discovered

"But I don't think there's any question that Burke set out to have Helen freed. He took all the blame so that she would not have to suffer the ultimate penalty."

The story in the broadside claims that after being acquitted, Helen was forced to move from place to place because she kept being recognised.

One day, she was spotted by a group of workers at Deanston Mills, near Doune, and the angry mob killed her.

However, other stories claim that Helen moved to Australia or the Western Isles.

Mr Walker believes the theory that Helen was murdered in the mill should be given some credence.

"This one has a ring to it," he said.

"The time fits in quite well and of course it's worth considering, if this incident did take place and it wasn't Helen then some poor wretch was kicked to death for thinking that they were Helen McDougal."

<i>You can hear more about Helen McDougal and her apparent murder by listening to Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland's family history programme, at 1200 GMT on Sunday, 24 January.</i>