Surgeons' Hall demand for bodies for anatomical dissection exceeded supply. Two Irishmen living in Edinburgh, William Burke and William Hare, resorted to murdering victims to supply Knox's anatomy school. Hare turned King's evidence and Burke was tried, found guilty of murder and hanged. His body was dissected by Alexander Monro tertius, the University professor of anatomy, and the museum has on display two items from that notorious episode – Burke's death mask and a pocket book made from his skin. Joseph Bell (1837–1911) was an Edinburgh surgeon who was president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh between 1887–89. He was
Night Doctors were patrols called patterollers. After the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan continued the "Night Rider" tradition. It was finally taken up by the Night Doctors. Between the Civil War and the 1930s, labour agents were sent by Northern employers to recruit African Americans from the South. In addition to restrictive laws, Southern employers used rumour to intimidate the workforce into staying in the South. One of the most popular rumours concerned doctors roaming Northern streets nightly, killing African Americans for dissection purposes. White Southern employers would also maraude around black communities in white gowns, further spreading fear, anxiety and