Burke and Hare murders two men were hanged in December 1831 for the crime. A bill was quickly introduced into Parliament, and gained royal assent nine months later to become the Anatomy Act 1832. This Act authorised dissection on bodies from workhouses unclaimed after 48 hours, and ended the practice of anatomising as part of the death sentence for murder. The events of the West Port murders have made appearances in fiction. They are referred to in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1884 short story, "The Body Snatcher", and Marcel Schwob told their story in the last chapter of "Imaginary Lives" (1896), while the Edinburgh-based author
USS Fairfield (1828) USS Fairfield (1828) USS "Fairfield" was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy. "Fairfield" was launched 28 June 1828 by New York Navy Yard; and first put to sea 20 August 1828, Commander Foxhall A. Parker, Sr., in command. Reaching Port Mahon in the Balearic Islands 25 September 1828, "Fairfield" cruised the Mediterranean Sea until returning to Hampton Roads 5 May 1831. Among her crewmembers was midshipman George W. Taylor, later an infantry general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Her second cruise, from 15 November 1831 to 23 July 1832, was in the West Indies as