LIFE OF
WILLIAM BURKE.
William Burke, was aged 32 or 33 years, was born in the parish of Orrey, county of Tyrone. His parents were of the order of peasantry, but respectable in their station
He was educated in the Catholic faith; but, as a worthy Irishman, of the same religion, observed to us—"Since he came to Scotland his person was never known to darken a chapel door.” He received good education for one of his rank, this fact is proved, in a certain degree, by the circumstance of Burke having, at one period, made considerable sums of money in the West Port, writing begging petitions. Burke was originally brought up a weaver, in the town of Straban, but, tiring of that sedentary employment, he became a baker. The board being too oppressive for his head, he detected the baking trade, and entered himself a private in the Donegal Militia, in which his brother Constantine was a non-commissioned officer, and in which he himself served for five years. During most of that time he was a servant
to one of the officers, and acquitted himself with such propriety as gained the respect of all who knew him. He married, during the same time, a woman is Ballinha, county of Mayo, by whom he had two children, who are now dead but his wife still survives, and resides in Ireland. When his regiment was disbanded, he deserted his wife and children, and came to Scotland, and picked up from the streets of Glasgow the woman McDougal, with whom he has since cohabited. Her place of nativity is the Reddings in Stirlingshire; she still speaks the dialect of that place; and when her connexion with Burke commenced, she was a common prostitute, though a married woman, and her husband is still living. She has always been and still is most eloquent in her praises of the kindly disposition of her paramour.
Soon after his arrival in Scotland, he engaged as a labourer on the Union Canal, when he came to reside in Edinbro which was about eleven years ago; but he has been occasionally
