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.

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    hospital. Having been out^ I returned to the hospital, and ascer- tained 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 fepiale ; it was not large enough for that of a man. The sack pro- duced is similar to that in which the body was. Cross-examined by Mr. Barry.—I only saw May and Bishop on that occasion. I never saw Williams until the other day. James Weeks, assistant to the last witness, examined.—On November the 4th, saw Bishop and May bring the sack with a body in it to Guy's Hospital. The sack produced has a hole in it, and resembles that in which the body was brought. The sack was left at the Hospital all night. The following morning. Bishop, May, Williams, and Shields, came for the body, and I delivered it to them in the same state as I had received it. The night before. May and Bishop ^directed me not to let it go, unless they were both present. They took it away in a hamper, which they brought with them. Shields acted as porter, and carried the hamper. I believe the hamper now produced to be that in which they carried the body away. Mr. J. Appleton, curator of Grainger's Anatomical Theatre, Webb-street, Borough, examined.—I know the three prisoners. On Friday, November 4, about half-past 7 o'clock in the evening. Bishop and May came and said they had a subject for sale. I asked what is was; they said it was a fresh subject. I asked whether it was male or female ; they replied, a boy about 14 years of age } I declined to purchase it. The next morning they called to make the same offer, but I again declined it. They had not the body with them. Mr. Thomas Mills examined.—Lives at No. 39, Bridge-house- place, Newington-canseway, and is a dentist. On the 4th of November, between nine and ten o'clock in the morning. May called and offered for sale twelve human teeth, six for each jaw. I observed that one of the front teeth was chipped. He offered the set for a guinea. It was then that I observed that one of them was chipped, as that lessened their value. I said that I would give 12s. for them, and I remarked, that they did not belong to one set. He said, ** Upon my soul to God they all belonged to one head not long since, and that the body had never been buried. I gave him 12s. for the set. On examining them after- wards, I found that some part of the flesh of the gums was so firmly attached to them that I imagined they had been violently taken from the head. I found great difficulty in detaching it from them. I remarked to May that the teeth either belonged to a boy or a female. He replied that they had belonged to a boy between 14 and 15 years of age. Those are the teeth now produced, which I delivered to the superintendent, Mr. Thomas. Cross-examined by Mr, Curwood.—I will swear that the expres- sion used by May was not that the teeth were as fresh as if the body from which they had been taken never was buried. Augustine Brun (examined through an interpreter) deposed, that he was acquainted with the Italian boy. Carlo Ferrari. Witness