Note 3 — WILLIAM BURKE.
Reading edition
As every thing relating to the ruffian Burke, may be interesting at present, we add the following particulars about him, during his residence in the parish of Peebles.
He, and Helen M‘Dougal, resided in that burgh in the years 1825 and 1826, and part of 1827.
I find, says our correspondent, that he is a native of Armagh, in the north of Ireland, that he was a Roman Catholic, was a labourer, and employed in working on the roads and in cutting drains.
He made considerable pretensions to religion, as I recollect on my first visit to his house he had one or two religious books lying near him, which, he said, he read, being at that time confined by a sore leg. He seemed a man of quiet manners, and, on my questioning him about his country and profession, there appeared a mystery about him. Since he has gained a guilty notoriety, I have made inquiries among his neighbours about his character, and, I am informed, that he was an inoffensive man, but that he kept suspicious hours. On the Saturday night and Sabbath days, his house was the scene of riot and drunkenness with the lowest of his countrymen.
When he left this place, he owed the woman from whom he rented his room, between forty and fifty shillings. He was then going to the harvest, and promised to return and pay the rent, which he never did. On application being made to him afterwards, in Edinburgh, for payment, he sent word to the woman to meet him at the head of Eddlestone water, a wild and desolate part of the road leading from this place to Edinburgh. The meeting was to be at ten o’clock at night, when he would pay her. Recent disclosures have fully proved for what purpose such a meeting was to take place.