“You have been convicted by the jury on overwhelming evidence of the crime of willful murder. You stand in that dock, an example where no such example was needed, of the awful effects of intemperance. You are a man, we are informed, of high education and great intelligence, but reduced for the time being by drinking to the level of the lowest and most worthless of human creatures. It is my most painful and most melancholy duty to pass upon you the sentence which the law prescribes for your offense.”

The above words spoken by Mr. Justice Mathew, the judge presiding over the case at the Leeds Assizes. Dr. Burke did not speak a word. Supported by two wardens he was escorted from the courthouse and on to Armly Gaol to await execution.

Sources

07 May 1888 – Sheffield Independent – Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

Image

File:Old Gate – HM Prison Leeds.jpg. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository