Part 44

Mr. Richard Partridge was called, and he stated that he was demonstrator of anatomy at King's College. He was at the college on Saturday the 5th of November. A body was brought there that day, and a communication was made to him respecting it by the witness Hill, about two o'clock in the afternoon. He, in consequence, went and looked at it. None of the prisoners were present at the time. The body externally exhibited some suspicious appearances, and it was those appearances which induced him to go for the police. The suspicious appearances were, a swollen state of the face, bloodshot eyes, freshness of the body, and the rigidity of the limbs. There was likewise a cut over the left temple. The lips were swollen. On returning to the college after going for the police, he showed the 50_l._ note to May and Bishop, when he found them at the bottom of the stairs leading to the anatomical department. He proposed to them that change should be got for the 50_l._ note, with a view to detain them until the police had arrived. On the following day he made a more particular examination of the body at the police-station in Covent-garden, where it lay. There were several medical men present at the examination. Externally the body presented the following appearances:--The muscles were still rigid, but not so much so as they had been on the preceding day. There was a superficial wound on the temple, which did not injure the bone. There was not any other appearance of external injury: beneath the scalp, on the top of the skull, there was some blood effused. On opening the body, the whole of the contents of the chest and of the abdomen were found to be in a perfectly healthy condition. The stomach was full; but he could not say what the contents of it were. The brain, and its continuation, the spinal cord or marrow, were likewise examined, and were found to be perfectly healthy. In cutting down through the skin and muscles at the back of the neck, in order to come at the bony canal in which the spinal cord is contained, a quantity of coagulated blood was found in the interstices of the muscles; and on removing the back part of the bony canal, some blood was found upon the membrane which envelops the spinal cord. There was coagulated blood opposite to the muscles, where a blow might have been struck on the back of the neck. There was uncoagulated blood found within the rest of the bony canal which contains the spinal cord. The spinal marrow itself appeared to be perfectly healthy, and there was no other remarkable appearance about it. It was his opinion that the marks of internal violence which he had stated were sufficient to produce death. He believed that the appearances of internal violence to the spinal marrow had been caused by a blow, or some other species of violence inflicted on the back of the neck. The blow of a stick on the back of the neck might have caused such appearances. He would not say positively that such an injury would produce an instantaneous death, but he believed it would cause a very speedy one. On the external examination of the body, he could not discover any appearance of injury which would have been sufficient to cause death.

Mr. George Beaman, the surgeon to the parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, had also examined the body, and his opinion corresponded with that expressed by Mr. Partridge. His belief was that the deceased had died within thirty-six hours of the time when he first saw it on the Saturday; and he was also of opinion that the deceased had not died a natural death. The face and tongue were swollen, the latter protruding through the lips; the eyes were prominent and blood-shot. The teeth had been removed, apparently immediately after death. The witness added, that he was enabled to detect a slight smell of rum in the contents of the stomach, but could not distinguish the nature of the food last eaten. The process of digestion was going on at the time of death.

Mr. George Douchez gave similar evidence.

Mr. Joseph Sadler Thomas, superintendant of the F division of police, deposed, that in consequence of information conveyed to him by Mr. Partridge, he despatched Inspector Rogers and some other officers to the King's College, and in a short time the four prisoners were brought to the station-house in custody. Rogers also brought the body, sack, and hamper. The body was placed in the back room in the station-house, with the hamper. The prisoners were all together, in the outer room. He asked May what he had to say, for he was charged with having come into the possession of the subject in an improper manner. He replied, "I have nothing at all to do with it; the subject is that gentleman's" (pointing to Bishop). "I merely accompanied him to get the money for it." He then asked Bishop whose it was, and he said that it was his, and that he was merely removing it from Guy's Hospital to King's College. He asked Williams what he knew about it? He replied that he knew nothing about it, and that he had gone with them to the King's College to see the building. He asked Bishop in the first instance what he was; and his answer was, "I am a b--y body-snatcher." All the prisoners, Bishop and May especially, were labouring under the effects of liquor. May had resisted violently on his being apprehended, and he was carried into the station on all-fours, with his smock-frock turned over his head.

The only other witness examined was a person named Joseph Perrigalli, an Italian, who was called to speak to the identity of the body. He declared his firm belief that it was that of a boy named Carlo Ferrari, who had been brought from Italy, and who gained a living by exhibiting natural curiosities through the streets.

This concluded the proceedings of the first day's inquisition, which was then adjourned until Thursday, in order that the police might inspect the house stated by the prisoners Bishop and Williams to be occupied by them.

On that day, Higgins, a constable of the F division, was examined, and he deposed, that he had ascertained that the prisoners lived at the house No. 3, Nova Scotia Gardens, Bethnal Green. On proceeding thither he had searched the house, and found all the tools usually employed by body-snatchers. He believed that Bishop, Williams, and May, were of that fraternity, and that Shields had been employed by them occasionally as a porter.

Upon this evidence the jury were unable to come to any conclusive decision upon the case, and they returned a verdict of "Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown;" but expressed their strong belief, that the prisoners, Bishop, Williams, and May, had been concerned in the transaction.

It was impossible that an inquiry which had hitherto terminated so unsatisfactorily should cease here, and Mr. Minshull, with that alacrity and determination by which his conduct as a magistrate was always characterised, immediately took upon himself the arduous and most important task of conducting the investigation to its close. In this duty he was most ably and, as it was on all hands admitted, most humanely assisted by Mr. Corder, the vestry-clerk of the parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, whose exertions were most valuable and praiseworthy, and by Mr. Thomas, the superintendant of police; and through their agency a train of evidence was collected, which laid bare the dreadful transaction in all its hideousness of guilt.

The inquiry which had concluded before the coroner on Thursday was continued by Mr. Minshull on the ensuing day, when the same evidence which we have detailed was repeated by the witnesses. The prisoners were then remanded; but on Friday, the 18th of the month, they were again brought up.

Witnesses were then examined, whose testimony traced the prisoners Bishop, Williams, and May to a noted house-of-call for body-snatchers--the Fortune of War public-house, in Smithfield--on the 4th November, where they appeared to be in earnest conversation. They went in and out repeatedly during the day; and at night May was seen with a number of human teeth in a handkerchief, to which some portion of the flesh of the gum was still adhering, upon which he poured water, in order to clean them. On the next morning Shields joined them, and Bishop was heard endeavouring to induce him to go to St. Bartholomew's Hospital for a hamper, which he refused to do, in consequence of which Bishop went and fetched it himself. They then went away, and were not again seen.

Mr. Thomas, in addition to his former evidence, stated, that in consequence of information which he had obtained, he had discovered the teeth of the unfortunate boy at the house of Mr. Thomas Mills, a dentist in Newington Causeway, who had handed them over to him, and was now ready to state the circumstances under which they had come into his possession.

Mr. Mills, of No. 39, Bridge-house-place, Newington Causeway, then stated, that on Saturday, the 5th of November, May brought him a set of teeth, for which he asked a guinea. Witness observed that one of the front teeth was chipped, and said that it did not belong to the set; upon which May said, "Upon my soul to God, they all belonged to one head, and that not long since," and added, that the body never had been buried: he ultimately agreed to take 12_s._ for the teeth. Portions of the gum were adhering to them, and part of the jaw-bone; there could be no doubt that the teeth had been forcibly removed immediately after death. He remarked to May, that the teeth, from appearance, belonged to a female: his reply was, "The fact is, they belonged to a lad about fourteen or fifteen years of age."

While this witness was giving his evidence, the prisoner May appeared for the first time to change countenance, and to lose that hardness of nerve which had distinguished him throughout the whole previous proceedings. He stared at the witness at first rather wildly, and compressed his lips while listening attentively to the evidence; and as soon as it was concluded, he endeavoured to resume his composure, and forced a laugh; but, almost in a moment after, his countenance underwent another change, and he muttered to himself as he looked over to the witness, "The b--y rascal!" He then asked the witness if he was quite sure of the exact words he had used, when he brought him the teeth, with regard to the body not having been buried?

Witness.--You said that the body had never been buried.

The only other new witness examined on this day was a girl, eleven years of age, named Martha King, who deposed to her having seen a boy corresponding in appearance with the deceased, exhibiting white mice near the prisoner Bishop's cottage, in Nova Scotia Gardens, about the time of the supposed murder; but Higgins and Kirkman, policemen, produced new evidence, tending to confirm the belief in the horrid guilt of the persons charged. Higgins, in a new search at Bishop's house, had found a pair of breeches stained with blood, and a brad-awl similarly marked, which had apparently been used to extract the teeth of the deceased; and Kirkman deposed to a conversation which he had heard pass between Bishop and Williams on the former examination. Posting-bills had been widely distributed through the metropolis, offering a reward for the production of certain evidence against the prisoners, one of which was fixed against the wall in the police-office. Bishop, intent upon reading the bill, a passage in which referred to the marks of blood on the body of the deceased, observed, "It was the blood that sold us," and then, continuing reading, in allusion to a reference to certain marks of violence observable on the person of the deceased, he said "The marks of violence were only the breakings-out on the skin."

Upon the delivery of this evidence the examination concluded, and the prisoners were again remanded.

Upon the following day, in obedience to a determination which had been arrived at, that a new and more searching investigation of the prisoners' house and premises should take place, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Corder, accompanied by Higgins and other constables, proceeded once more to Nova Scotia Gardens, and there, after a minute investigation, they made discoveries which filled them with horror, and confirmed, by the most positive evidence, the suspicions which had been excited of the murderous traffic which had been carried on. The particulars of these discoveries were communicated to the magistrate on the same evening, but they were not allowed to transpire until the next examination of the prisoners, which, however, owing to the painful excitement which had been created, and the anxious desire universally exhibited to learn the nature of any new intelligence obtained, was ordered to take place on the following Monday instead of Friday, to which day the prisoners had been remanded.

On that day the new evidence was adduced. The first branch to which the inquiry was directed, was that which traced the poor Italian boy to the neighbourhood of Nova Scotia Gardens; and several witnesses were called, whose testimony distinctly proved that he was observed there on the evening of the Thursday before the 5th of November, wearing a brown hairy cap, and carrying white mice for exhibition.

Higgins was then re-examined, and his testimony excited universal horror, while it at once removed every doubt which might otherwise have existed as to the guilt of two at least of the prisoners--Bishop and Williams. He said, "I was instructed by Mr. Thomas to go with Wadey to Bishop's house and have the garden carefully dug up; I tried the ground first with an iron rod on the west side of the garden close to the palings, and about five yards from Bishop's back door I found the rod struck against something soft, and on digging, we found a blue jacket, black trousers, and little shirt. I then tried the ground about a yard further, and there we found a blue short coat, a pair of grey trousers with braces on and a piece of a comb in the pocket, a striped waistcoat the back of the collar of which was bloody, and a shirt torn down the centre: the waistcoat must have been made for a larger person than the last who wore it, as it has been roughly taken in at the back."

In addition to this, Mr. Thomas deposed to the discovery of a brown hairy cap in Bishop's house; and witnesses were also called, who swore that the second suit of clothes discovered, and the hairy cap, were similar in every respect to the attire worn by the Italian boy when he was last seen. The prisoners were then again remanded.

It is impossible to describe the impression which these new proofs produced in the public mind, tending as they did to establish the fact, not only of the murder of the Italian boy, but that other persons had also fallen victims to the horrible machinations of the miscreants who occupied the house in Nova Scotia Gardens. On the day after its publication, mobs of persons assembled in the neighbourhood of the house, and threatened, by their violent demeanour, to wreak their vengeance by destroying the building. The police were compelled to interfere to quell the anticipated riot, and to prevent the entrance of the public to the building; but many thousands were permitted, upon paying a small fee, to pass through the premises.

At an early hour on Wednesday morning, Higgins and some other constables proceeded again to Nova Scotia Gardens, and commenced a new search. They had not long been engaged in their work before their object was discovered, and crowds of persons flocked to the spot. Their manner denoted the anxiety with which they viewed what was going on, and a strong body of police was necessary to prevent their interference with the proceedings of the officers. The garden attached to Bishop's house was again dug up to the depth of four feet, and every portion of the ground carefully sifted, but nothing worthy of notice was found; the cesspool and privy in the garden were next examined with equal care, and with the same result. But it was deemed prudent that an equally strict search should be made in the ground attached to the adjoining house, No. 2, which had been formerly inhabited by Williams and his wife. For this work several nightmen were employed to assist the police; and not only was the garden dug up, but the cesspool and privy were thoroughly emptied and examined. In the inspection of the privy, the men had been but a short time at work when one of them brought up a thick roll of something, which at first was thought to contain the body of a child, but which, on inspection, proved to be an entire suit of female apparel. The bundle was cleansed; and upon its contents being exposed, they proved to consist of the following articles:--a black stuff or camlet cloak; black worsted stockings, very coarse; a flannel petticoat, very old and ragged, upon the top of which, near the waistband, were to be seen two distinct marks of blood; a pair of stays very nearly worn out, and patched, which were still laced in the usual way behind; an old shift, and a dark plaid gown. The whole of these articles were cut or torn down the front; and the presumption raised was, that the wearer having been murdered, her clothes had been cut from her body.

New interest was produced by this discovery, and numerous were the persons who called at the station-house for the purpose of inspecting the clothes which had been found. It was not, however, until after the final examination of the prisoners that they were identified; and we shall abstain from giving the particulars of the occurrences which followed their recognition, until we have detailed the concluding evidence produced against the prisoners, and the final decision of the magistrate upon their cases.

The last inquiry at Bow-street took place on Friday, the 25th of November; and the attention of the magistrate was then principally occupied by the production of formal evidence with regard to the occupancy of the house, No. 3, Nova Scotia-gardens, by the prisoners Bishop and Williams, and their families. Other testimony was also laid before the bench, however, with regard to the removal of the body of the deceased from Nova Scotia-gardens on Friday, the 4th of November, its subsequent conveyance to Guy's Hospital, where it was offered for sale, and its tender, also, to a Mr. Appleton, the curator of Mr. Grainger's medical school in the Borough.

James Seagrave, driver of a cabriolet, stated:--"On the evening of Friday, the 4th of November, I was with my cabriolet on the stand in the Old Bailey. It was about six o'clock in the evening; and having put the nose-bag on my horse, I went into the watering-house to take my tea. I was called out, and saw May and Bishop. May asked me if I wanted a job, and said he had 'a long job.' He took me on one side, and said he wanted me to fetch 'a stiff 'un;' which I understood to mean a dead body. I told him I did not know, but asked what he would stand; he told me he would stand a guinea. I said that I had not finished my tea, and that my horse had not done his corn. He said that we would take tea together. I went into the public-house, followed by May and Bishop. They took their seats, and called for tea for two. Some person in the room jogged me by the elbow, and hinted that the men were "snatchers;" and I determined not to go with them. I had previously made up my mind not to go with them. After tea I went out, and drove my cabriolet to the bottom of the rank. I afterwards saw May and Bishop going up the rank among the coaches, and I drove off, leaving them apparently making a bargain with the coachmen."

It appeared that their efforts to obtain a coach there were unsuccessful, and they had recourse to the stand in Bridge-street, Blackfriars, but with no better effect; but they eventually procured a yellow chariot from the rank in Farringdon-street.

George Gissing, a boy, was then examined. He said, "I am twelve years old. My father keeps the Bird-cage public-house, Crab-tree-road, near Nova Scotia-gardens. On the evening of the 4th of November, about half-past six o'clock, I saw a yellow hackney-chariot draw up opposite my father's house. It is very near Nova Scotia-gardens. I know Bishop's cottage in Nova Scotia-gardens. It is but a short distance from my father's house. I did not see who got out of the chariot. I afterwards saw the prisoner, Williams, standing on the fore-wheel of the chariot, talking to the driver. The chariot waited ten or fifteen minutes. The door was open all the time. Williams went down to Nova Scotia-gardens; and, in ten or fifteen minutes, he returned and got into the chariot. Then I saw a strange man carrying a sack in his arms, and Bishop holding up one end of it. They put it in the chariot. Williams put out his hand to help it in. The sack appeared as if something heavy was in it. Bishop and the other man got into the chariot along with Williams, and they drove up Crab-tree-road and towards Shoreditch church, on the road to the city." The boy added, that Bishop was looked upon as the father-in-law of Williams; and the wedding supper of the last-named prisoner had been held at his (witness's) father's house, about two months before.

Thomas Davis, porter to the dissecting-room at Guy's Hospital, stated:--On Friday evening, the 4th of November, about seven o'clock, May and Bishop came to the hospital, May carrying a sack; I knew them before; they asked me if I wanted to purchase a subject; I declined to purchase it, and they asked me if I would allow them to leave it in the hospital until the following morning; I acceded to their request, and locked the body up in a room during the night. Next morning, between the hours of eleven and twelve, I saw May and Bishop in the hospital. Having been out, I returned to the hospital, and ascertained that the body had been taken away. I had only seen a foot out of the sack, and I believed it was either that of a boy or a female; it was not large enough for that of a man.

Mr. Appleton then deposed, that May and Bishop had offered the body to him on the same evening, but he had declined purchasing it; and this closed the case.

The prisoners were called on to make any declarations they chose in reference to the case, before their final committal, and they addressed the bench in the following terms:--