The trial, sentence and confessions of Bishop, Williams, and May, at the Old Bailey, London, on Friday, December 2, 1831, for the murder of Carlo Ferrari, an Italian boy ; respite of May; execution of Bishop and Williams; together with an account of many circumstances connected with the period of their early life.

  • Bishop, John, -1831
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The trial, sentence and confessions of Bishop, Williams, and May, at the Old Bailey, London, on Friday, December 2, 1831, for the murder of Carlo Ferrari, an Italian boy ; respite of May; execution of Bishop and Williams; together with an account of many circumstances connected with the period of their early life. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    19/62 (page 15)
    men were also, Mr..Partridge, without seeing tlicni, after seeing the body, went to the secretary's office. In the meantime, several of the gentlemen connected with the college saw the body, and their suspicions were also excited. Mr. Partridge having returned to the place where the prisoners were, showed them a 50/. note, and told them that he must get that changed, and that then he would pay them. Mr. Partridge having pulled out his purse while speaking to them, and there being some gold in it. Bishop said, Give me what money you have, and I shall call on Monday for the remainder. May proposed that Mr. Partridge should give him the 50/, note, and he would go out and get it changed. Mr. Partridge, smiling, said, Oh, no, and then left them. The prisoners remained waiting after Mr. Partridge had gone. In about a quarter of an hour, Mr. Mayo, the Professor of Anatomy at the College, came down with Mr. Rogers, the police inspector, and a body of police, and the prisoners were taken into custody. Before that took place, and while witness was in the room with Bishop, Bishop said to him, Pay me only eight guineas in the presence of May ; give me the other guinea, and I will give you half-a-crown. The body was then delivered by witness to the police, together with the hanjper and sack, and hav- ing accompanied them to the police station in Covent Garden, he saw them delivered into the hands of Mr. Thomas, the superintendent of police. Judging by his experience with regard to deiul bodies, it was his opinion that this body had not been buried, or laid in a coffin. He observed that there was no saw-dust about the hair of it. Cross-examined by Mr. Curwood.—The conversations which he had mentioned had been with Bishop and May only. Williams was not present at them. Mr. Richard Partridge examined by Mr. Bodkin.—Witness is demonstrator of anatomy at the King's College. He was there on Saturday, the 5th of November. A body was brought there that day, and a communication was made to him about it by the wit- ness Hill, about two o'clock in the afternoon. He accordingly 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 that induced him to go for the police. The suspicious appearances were, a swollen state of the face, blood-shot eyes, freshness of the body, and the rigidity of the limbs. There was likewise a cut over the left temple. The lips were also swollen. There was nothing else in the external appearance of the body that excited his attention. After he examined the body, he did not re- collect whether he went to the place where the prisoners were before he called in the police. He was certain, however, that he went for the police before the circumstance with regard to the 50/. note took place. On returning to the College, after going for the police, he shewed the 50/. note to May and Bishop, where he found them at the bottom of the stairs leading to the anatomical department. He then proposed to them that change should be got for the 50/. note, with a view to detain them until the police had arrived. On the fol- lowing day, he made a more particular examination of the body at the police station in Covent Garden, where it lay. There were several