I'm struck by how rigorously the ballad Jim quotes above sticks to the facts of Burke & Hare's career - something's that not always true of ballads like these.

Hare really did come up with the body-selling scheme, recruiting Burke to help him and starting with a man who'd died of natural causes. Their method of killing, the accepted total of their murder victims, the approximate span of their killing career, the two women's part in their activities and Hare's final betrayal of his former partner are all accurately described in the ballad.

That's by no means the only way of judging a ballad's success, of course, but it is interesting to consider. Where did you find this one, Jim, and what sort of vintage is it?