The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 350: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE CRIME o19 Burker; ‘‘ you must ’custom yerselves to get familiar with stiff’'uns. You come too, Jack.”’ The gold-beater and the Burker descended into the vault, with a candle, — the two Scotts following with readiness and alacrity. A spade and pickaxe were in the pit, a hole was speedily dug, sufficiently large to receive the corpse, a quantity of quicklime was thrown upon it, the earth was shovelled back, it was well flattened down, so as to make the bottom of the subterranean level, and thus the work was accomplished. The trap-door was closed, the carpet was drawn over it, the table was restored to its place, quantities of spirits and water were mixed, and the wretches caroused above the spot to which their victim had been consigned. The Burker and Bab Smedley ascended to the chamber where the deed was accomplished; they ransacked the contents of the carpet-bag, but they found no papers of any kind, no further hoard of money. But on the drawers was a very handsome repeater-watch, together with a gold pencil- case and two or three rings. These valuables were of course taken possession of, and the two wretches descended to rejoin their companions. A division of the booty now took place, more grog was drunk, and it was past two in the morning when the Burker and the Scotts took their departure, at intervals of a few minutes, by means of the back part of the premises and the narrow alley by the side of the chapel. “You behaved like a fool to-night,’ said Bab Smedley to her husband, when they were at length alone together in their own chamber. ‘I can’t tell what it was that came over me when we were all three together at his door,’ said the gold-beater. ‘‘ And then the affair in the vault was horrible enough. To have that corpse come tumbling down upon one was sufficient to make the hair stand on end. And mind you, Bab, you were not altogether yourself to-night; you were frightened up at the door, and you were frightened again too by the noise of that cursed cat.” “ Well, there’s enough of it,’’ said the woman sharply, for her husband had spoken truly, and she herself had been more accessible to terror on this particular night than on the occasion of any previous deed of iniquity. “I tell you what, Bab,” said the gold-beater, looking COUN a LOOKS (GO)