The Legalised Liberation of the Flying Fugitive

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n Hare, during all this,nremained in police custody, partly for his own safety (if he had been releasednhe would certainly have been dead within the day) and partly because the LordnAdvocate was looking for a means to bring him to trial on his own account. Burkenhad spoken openly in gaol about Hare’s crimes, not least because he wanted tonpay Hare’s treachery with carefully considered revenge. The press, the publicnand the police all wanted Hare dangling on a rope of his own, the problematicnquestion was, How can this be brought about?

William Hare

nOne avenue, maybe, was a privatenprosecution brought by the family of one of Hare’s victims, and a publicnsubscription raised the funds for the Wilson family, in particular Mrs Wilson,nto prosecute Hare for the murder of her son, Daft Jamie. The Crown might havenafforded Hare with indemnity in return for information, but Mrs Wilson mostncertainly had not.

nBut it was not so simply cut and dried; Hare had made a dealnwith the Crown which had consequences in regard to future prosecutions andnregardless of what anyone thought about him, he was innocent until provennguilty and had legal rights of his own. The original deal had seemed a goodnsolution to a particular problem when it had been made, and it had delivered upnBurke to justice as the criminal he undoubtedly had been, but no one at thentime had thought that Hare was just as bad, if not far worse, than the prize henhad delivered. When the Lord Advocate chose to sup with that particular devil,nthe spoon he brought with him was far, far too short. But in hindsight,nhindsight is a marvellous thing, and we can’t help but concede that what wasndone, was done with the best of intentions.

nThe legal repercussions were nowncoming home to roost, and a bench of six of the best Scottish legal eagles wasnconvened to sort out the whole sorry mess. These Caledonian judicial luminariesnwent back to stroking their beards and furrowing their brows, and quarreled about which i’s needed to be crossed and which t’s should be dotted, andnconsidered in depth the legal niceties of the whole question of sociincriminis, noting that anciently a socius was, as a general rule, notnadmissible, and had no immunity; but by the Act 21 Geo. II., c. 34, annaccomplice to theft or cattle-stealing was admitted, and immunity was grantednhim if his evidence proved the guilt of the prisoner, and obviously, referencento Macdonald and Jameson (1770) was made, and so on and so forth, innever decreasing metaphorically-mixed circles, and naturally if lawyers are involved, then the learnednfriends undoubtedly made many a pretty penny for each other along the way. Drunk on law, they kicked sober justice out of court.
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nSo, when the dust hadnsettled, the backs had been scratched and the palms had been greased, the decision wasnreached that Mrs Wilson and Mr Hare and everybody else involved were all sonirredeemably, unashamedly poor that there was no more money to be made innpursuing the whole miserable business (well, not in as many words maybe, butnthat’s what it amounted to).

Castle Rock – Edinburgh

nOn Thursday February 5^th 1829, WilliamnHare was told he about to be released from custody and would be free to go onnhis way, knowing full well that he could be swinging by his neck from the barnof a lamppost or experiencing uninvited, unassisted flight from the Castle Rocknbefore Friday morning arrived. Mr Lynch and his chums, Mr Howling and Mr Mob,nknew where he lived and what time he went to bed. Helpfully, the prisonnauthorities booked him a seat on mail coach bound for England under thennot-at-all ironic pseudonym of Mr Black, and wrapped in an old camlet cloak,nwith the head turnkey in tow to see him off safely, at eight o’clock in thenevening, he was released from Caltonhill gaol. The night was bitterly cold andnHare was seated on the top of the mail coach, freezing but free, when anscheduled stop was made at Noblehouse.

nAs the horses were being changed and thenmail taken off and on, the passengers disembarked and went inside the inn tonwarm themselves. With his cloak swathed around him, Hare sat with his back to hisnfellow travellers, who mistook his self-preservation for modesty and made anplace for him by the fire. He warmed his hands and put aside his cloak and hat,nand in an improbable twist of fate that beggars belief, was instantlynrecognised by another of the company, a certain Mr Sandford who had been one ofnthe advocates employed by Daft Jamie’s mother to bring the private prosecutionnagainst Hare. What are the chances of that happening?

nSandford shook his headnat Hare, just to let him know that he had been recognised, and when the coachnwas ready to leave, it was discovered that there was a spare seat left inside,nwhich the other, unaware, passengers offered to Hare. ‘Take that fellow out’ndemanded Sandford at once, much to the consternation of the other passengers,nbut Sandford was adamant and Hare resumed his old seat, out in the cold innevery sense. Sandford’s insistence raised questions, which he was only too gladnto answer, and the true identity of Mr Black was revealed.

Old Dumfries

nThe coach reachednDumfries, in Galloway, at about eight o’clock on the following morning and wordnquickly spread through the town about the notorious visitor. Hare sat in thenKing’s Head, drinking porter and chewing the fat with the ostlers andnstable-lads, just whiling away the four-hour interval between the arrival ofnthe Edinburgh mail and the departure of the Portpatrick and Galloway coach.nWhat he didn’t know was that a crowd of over eight thousand vigilantes had madenplans to intercept the Portpatrick coach either at the Cassyland’s toll-bar ornon the bridge over the river Nith. When the coach left, it was empty, with thenother passengers going ahead in a gig and Hare remaining in the King’s Head,nand when the mob discovered this, the inn was surrounded. One or two got in andnphysically threatened Hare, and the publican, Mr Fraser, began to fear for thenfabric of his establishment.

King’s Head – Dumfries

nThis was the most exciting thing that had happenednin Dumfries since, well, someone or other had founded Dumfries in the first place, and thencitizens were determined to have their fun. The magistrates met and strokedntheir beards and furrowed their brows and came up with a plan that had everynchance of ending badly but it was the only one they had, so they went ahead. Anchaise and pair arrived at the front door of the pub, and a great show was madenof loading a trunk aboard, with quite the fuss about strapping it downnproperly, and whilst the multitude was distracted by this pantomime, Harenslipped out of the back window, along the stable wall and into a waitingnchaise, locking the doors behind him and wrapping himself up in a cloak on thenfloor.
nThe horses were whipped up and took off at high speed, but a couple ofnstable-boys spotted what was happening and raised the alarm. The mob floodednround the back of the inn and gave chase, hurling rocks at the departing chaisenand breaking its windows, showering Hare in broken glass. Going pell-mell, thencoach sped on down the road, almost overturning at a sharp turn and running onntwo wheels for a time before righting itself, hell for leather over the Nithnand down towards the gaol.

Dumfries – Bridge over the River Nith

nIn the nick of time, Hare sprang from the chaisenand, surrounded by a chain of police, sprinted in through the prison gates. Thencrowd arrived seconds later and stoned the walls and windows, furiously bayingnfor blood. An iron lamppost was torn down and used as a makeshift battering ramnon the prison gates, and for four hours they laid siege to the prison, evennbringing up tar barrels with the intention of burning down the gates. As nightnfell, the magistrates swore in a hundred additional special constables to swellnthe ranks of the ordinaries and sent for the militia, and these forcesnsucceeded in dispersing the mob.

nAt one o’clock in the morning, the prisonnauthorities told the trembling Hare he was going to be released through thenback gate and advised him to keep off the roads, avoid habitations and do notnattempt to ride by coach. A lone man was seen at Dodbeck, a stranger wasnspotted at Annan, and at Gretna a wanderer was observed heading south, taking carento keep his face covered. Was that Hare seen skirting Carlisle and heading eastntowards Newcastle?

nRumours abounded but none were substantiated. Some said henhad been caught by a gang who had thrown him into a lime pit, blinding him andnthat an old, blind, white haired beggar, led by a dog, who worked the cornersnof London in the 1870s was really William Hare, the notorious murderer. Somensaid he fled to Canada and died there alone many years later. Others said henwas himself killed, strangled by strangers and when his sorry soul reached thenGates of Hell, Satan himself came out and refused to let him in, sending himnback to wander the earth forever.

nMrs Hare fared little better. Like the others, shenwas held for her own protection for a while, but was released two days beforenBurke’s execution. Inevitably, she was recognised, and rather mildly, peltednwith snowballs, perhaps in sympathy for the infant she carried in her arms.

Snowy Edinburgh

nThenpolice intervened and she was again placed in the lock-up until the evening,nwhen she slipped away. A fortnight later, she was spotted in Glasgow, afternapparently having walked there, and the Glasgow Chronicle of February 10^thnreported that she was taken into police custody, for the safety of herself andnthe child. She had, one morning, enquired at the Broomielaw about a boat tonBelfast, but a woman had recognised her and shouted, “Hare’s wife – Burkenher!” and very soon a stone-hurling crowd had formed. The police kept hernunder custody for two days before secreting her aboard the steamer Fingal,nbound for Belfast.

Mrs Hare in court

nBack home in Ireland, she managed to disappear, although onenaccount placed her at Paris in the 1850s, when an elderly nurse of betweennsixty and seventy years, accompanied by a girl in her thirties (the age theninfant would then be), was employed by a Lady. Although she said she was Irish,nshe sang Scots songs in the evenings, gave her name as Mrs Hare, and she lookednsuspiciously like the sketch of the Mrs Hare made in the courtroom.