For Fifteen Dollars

"Burking" is the practice of killing people so their bodies can be sold to medical colleges for dissection. After the murder of Emily Brown in 1886, people remained extra alert when they walked past the University of Maryland School of Medicine. This horrendous crime resulted in strict laws to combat burking and also inspired Dan to write this haunting, 4-part SATB anthem.

Lyrics:

In the shell of the building through the hell of the fire
With the bodies on the tables just like funeral pyres;
Hard to believe that no one died here tonight,
All of those cadavers are a horrible sight.

And there lies Uncle Perry in the ashes and gloom,
He was waiting for dissection inthis classroom.
Isn’t it uncanny to think he would be found
In the same place he brought Emily Brown
For fifteen dollars.

In 1886 Perry was custodian
At the University of Maryland School of Medicine
And Emily sat by the street in the scum,
Begging so that she could buy her opium.

Uncle Perry got some thugs to hit her over the head,
Then they stabbed her until Emily was good and dead,
Put her in a wheelbarrow which he directed
To the Med School where she could be sold and dissected.
For fifteen dollars.

Let justice roar like a flame,
Let it burn out the sin across the land.
And if human attempts all prove in vain
Let it flash from God’s own hand.

But the hospital staff acted on their suspicion
And called for the police ‘cause of her condition:
Her bruises and wounds made it clear to see
That Emily had not died naturally.

Uncle Perry was lucky to escape prosecution,
But a worse fate awaited than a quick execution:
In solitary poverty he slipped on down
‘Til he ended in the room where he brought Emily Brown
For fifteen dollars.

And justice roared like a flame,
And it burned out the sin across the land.
And when human attempts all proved in vain
It flashed from God’s own hand.

© 2010, Daniel C. Meyer