Part 19

'Regarding the identity of the deceased, his person, as Charles Ferrier, is positively sworn to by several witnesses of unimpeachable integrity, some of whom were his fellow-countrymen, and knew him intimately. Two of them had lived for some time in the same street with him, and one of them (Colla) had actually made the cage for him in which he carried about his white mice. All these witnesses saw the body of the deceased within two or three days after his death, and unhesitatingly recognized him as the same. Two of them had seen him alive and well the same week; and one of them accurately described the trousers worn by the deceased, (which precisely correspond with those found in the garden,) before he was allowed to see them. In addition to this, we have it in evidence that an Italian boy with a cage and white mice was seen close to Bishop's house on the day of the murder; wearing a cap similar to the one found on the premises, and which Bishop endeavoured in vain to account for. We then find the white mice and cage at Bishop's house, in the possession of his children, on Friday, the 4th instant, the day after the murder, as proved by a very young witness, but who gave his evidence with all the simplicity characteristic of truth. And, lastly, we find the clothes of the deceased in Bishop's garden, the lower buttons being cut off the jacket, apparently to admit the revolution of his cage; the tapes also stitched to the lower part of the same garment for the passage of the strap or riband by which the cage was confined to his body. And against this body of evidence what is set up? The unsupported assertion of the wretched culprits, who, to the latest hour of existence, evinced no penitent or religious feeling, and who, during their short passage to the scaffold, on the morning of their execution, execrated the jury who so justly condemned them. A Lincolnshire boy! Where are his friends or relations? It is now nearly six weeks since the murder, and no inquiries are made for him. On the contrary, where is Charles Ferrier? Why does he not appear? It is a fact that the body of the deceased was recognized by at least a hundred persons as a poor Italian boy, whom they had seen carrying white mice about the streets of London. But were there any appearances to indicate that the deceased was a Lincolnshire drover boy? None. His hands were smooth and soft, and no horny substance upon them, as though he had been used to manual labour. These facts, and this evidence, together with the verdict of a jury, after a long and patient trial, before a humane and discerning judge, stand at present alone opposed by the statement of the murderers, and between them the public must judge.

'On the second point, as to the mode of death of the deceased, which is described in the confessions as that of drowning, it will be only necessary to read the following report which the surgeons have been requested to prepare on the appearances of the body, both at and previous to the _post mortem_ examination, and it will then be for medical and scientific persons to say whether it is morally possible that the heart should have been perfectly empty and contracted, and that the other appearances described should have manifested themselves, if death had been produced as the murderers allege.

'_Post mortem_ appearances of the body of the Italian body, who was murdered late on the night of the 3d, or early on the morning of the 4th of November, 1831.

'The corpse was first seen by one of the undersigned, about two o'clock, P.M., of Saturday, November 5, and by the other at a late hour the same night.

'_External appearances._--The body was four feet six inches in length, of rather stout make, face broad, hair light brown, dry, neither curled nor yet matted, eyes gray, general appearance that of a foreigner, judging more from the cast of features than the complexion, limbs rigid, and the upper extremities somewhat contracted, palms of the hands quite soft, face rather swollen, eyes bloodshot, teeth extracted, gums bloody, a wound three-quarters of an inch in length over the left brow; the neck and throat, together with the extremities, were attentively examined, but did not exhibit the slightest indications of violence.

'The dissection was conducted in the following order:--

'_Head._--On turning down the scalp its vessels appeared a little fuller than usual; the wound over the brow extended to the bone, which was not, however, fractured, neither was there any blood effused around the cut; higher up, over the coronal suture, there was a patch of extravasated and coagulated blood between the scalp and bone; the brain and its membranes appeared perfectly healthy, and their vessels were not unnaturally full; the ventricles did not contain more than the usual small quantity of serum. The body was next turned on its face, the brain having been previously removed, and in so doing a quantity of fluid blood gushed out from the spinal canal at the occipital foramen. On cutting through the muscles at the back of the neck coagulated blood, to the amount of five or six ounces, was found extravasated among them; extending from the occiput to the termination of the cervical vertebræ, and upon removing the arches of the vertebræ and that portion of the occipital bone which lies behind the foramen magnum, from one to two ounces of coagulated blood were discovered within the spinal canal (exterior to the theca) pressing upon the upper part of the medulla spinalis; a considerable quantity of fluid blood was likewise contained in the lower part of the canal; there was no blood within the theca, and the cord itself retained its natural appearance and firmness; there was no traceable injury either of the vertebræ or of their ligaments.

'_Chest._--The pericardium contained about two drachms of serum. The heart was healthy, rather small, quite contracted, and its four cavities perfectly empty. This contracted and empty state of the heart struck us at the time as a very remarkable circumstance. Each bag of the pleura contained about one ounce of serum. The lungs were healthy and not congested; there was an old and partial adhesion between part of the right lung and the pleura costatis; the pharynx, œsophagus, larynx, trachen, and bronchi, were healthy and unobstructed.

'_Abdomen._--The stomach was tolerably full of half-digested food, of which some fragments of potatoes formed the only recognizable part; its contents smelt lightly of rum, its coats were healthy, the small intestines were full of recently digested food; the whole of the alimentary canal, and all the abdominal viscera, were healthy, but the liver contained a little more than the usual quantity of blood.

'The urinary bladder was contracted and quite empty.

'It is for professional and other scientific men to judge, whether the appearances above described are compatible with the supposition of death having been produced by drowning, hanging, strangulation, or any other mode of suffocation.

(Signed) 'RICHARD PARTRIDGE. 'GEORGE BEAMAN.

'_December 10._

'The foregoing report, it will be observed, is signed by Mr. Partridge, the Demonstrator of Anatomy to the King's College, and Mr. Beaman, a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, who, in addition to an extensive private practice, holds the appointment of Parochial Surgeon of St. Paul, Covent-garden; their report has been submitted to Mr. Tyrell, a Surgeon of St. Thomas's Hospital, and Lecturer on Physiology, Anatomy, and Surgery, to that Institution. His observations on that report are as follows:--

'SIR,

'According to your request, I have attentively perused the statement respecting the examination of the body of the boy, the subject of the late trial. I find that it perfectly agrees with the evidence given by Messrs. Partridge and Beaman on that occasion, of which evidence I, by the desire of the prosecutors, took notes. It is my opinion, that the death of the boy could not have been caused by any mode of suffocation, as drowning, smothering, &c. I have no doubt that injury to the upper part of the spine, which created the effusion of blood into the spinal canal was the immediate cause of death.

'Yours, respectfully, 'FREDERICK TYRELL.

'_17, New Bridge-Street, 'Blackfriars, Dec. 10._

'I have thus endeavoured, as briefly as possible, to put together a few facts and observations on the two only points in 'the confessions' which appeared to me to call for notice. I consider Williams's confirmation of the truth of Bishop's statement of very little consequence, inasmuch as he was allowed to be present at the making of it, and nothing was easier than for him to say that he fully adhered to the statement made by his partner in crime. If separate 'confessions' had been made, and in the absence of each other, it is possible the wretched culprits might have furnished something more to the world.

'I have to apologize for the length of this communication, which has been hastily written. I hope the importance and anxiety with which the subject is viewed by the public may be pleaded in excuse, and also induce you to give it insertion in your columns. I may add, that I should not have presumed to have addressed you on the subject, had not the circumstance of the management of the prosecution devolving upon me entitled me to be pretty fully acquainted with all the details of the case.

'I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, 'JAS. CORDER.

'_St. Paul, Covent-Garden, Vestry Clerk's Office, Dec. 14._'

On this statement of Mr. Corder we shall make but a very few comments. One part of it is, however, particularly deserving of remark, in which he states, that above one hundred persons recognized the body of the murdered boy, as being that of a poor Italian boy, whom they had seen carrying white mice about the streets of London. If this were actually the case, let us put this question to Mr. Corder--Why a tithe of the hundred persons was not brought forward on the trial to identify the body? The only persons on the trial, who spoke with the least assurance respecting the body, were the Paragallis; for Brin, or Brun, the man who actually brought the boy over to this country, could not speak to the identity of the body. But if, as Mr. Corder affirms, there were a hundred persons who really did recognize the body as being that of the Italian boy, he was certainly guilty of a dereliction of his duty, in not bringing forward some of them; as it would have been attended with the immediate good effect of tranquillizing the public mind, and dissipating every doubt as to the real individual who had been so inhumanly murdered.

It must also be fresh in the recollection of Mr. Corder, that the identity of the clothes as having been worn by the Italian boy, was not definitively established on the trial; on the contrary, by one witness it was deposed that the clothes found in Bishop's garden did not correspond in colour with those worn by the Italian boy, as seen by the witness on the day on which the murder was supposed to be committed. In other respects, however, the arguments of Mr. Corder may be considered as carrying with them a great degree of corroborative testimony, relative to the murdered boy being the Italian youth; and until some more conclusive evidence presents itself, the matter must be considered as resting on the established certainty of the identity of the body, and, consequently, that the statements of Bishop and Williams were not founded in truth. Their statements, however, excited so extraordinary a sensation in the public mind that, on the 13th of December, Mr. Hunt brought the business before Parliament. The Honourable Member said, that he had a question to ask, calculated greatly to relieve the mind of the country. It was with respect to the persons lately executed for the crime of 'Burking.' According to a statement put forth in the newspaper, they, instead of confessing three or four murders only, on the day previous to their execution, confessed sixty; and were going on until stopped by the Ordinary of the prison. This might be a laughable subject, but it had greatly agitated the public mind; and was, he believed, at present, the source of much excitement. He, therefore, was desirous to know of Government whether the fact of this confession was true or not?

Mr. G. Lamb did not know on what authority the statement in the newspapers was put forth, but he (Mr. Lamb) was not aware of any other confession than that officially published.

Alderman Waithman had seen both the Sheriffs and the Under-Sheriff, and the latter had declared his most positive conviction, that these men had told every thing they knew in the confession, which he (the Under-Sheriff) had witnessed. He (Mr. Alderman Waithman) was, therefore, astonished to see the statements that had been circulated in the newspapers.

Mr. Hunt rejoined, that it was asserted that the confession was made to the Ordinary of Newgate. Now it did not appear that either the Right Honourable Secretary for the Home Department, or the worthy Alderman, had any communication with the Ordinary.

Mr. Lamb had intended to give a satisfactory reply. No communication had been forwarded to Government with respect to the confession in question, and in a matter of that importance, had there been ground for such a communication, it would undoubtedly have been made.

Alderman Waithman had communicated with the Ordinary, but had heard of no confession of the kind referred to.

We cannot close the subject of the murder of the Italian boy more appropriately than with the following lines, written by F. W. N. Bayley:--

Poor child of Venice! He had left A land of love and sun for this; In one brief day of tears bereft, Of father's care and mother's kiss! The valleys of his native home, The mountain paths of light and flowers; The Savoyard forsook, to roam-- For wealth and happiness in ours.

And pitying thousands saw the boy Feeding the tortoise on his knee; And beauty bright, and childhood coy, Oft flung their mite of charity. And as he rested on the stone, His organ tuned to some old air, Men paused at its familiar tone, And left their little tokens there.

But now, though hundreds pass the spot, At even time, or early day, They shall not see the unforgot, Whose music all hath pass'd away. Still when they learn that he hath gain'd No riches but a grave-stone here, From gentle hearts, by mem'ry pain'd, The thoughts of him will start a tear.

At the very time, however, when Bishop and Williams were suffering on the scaffold the last penalty of the law for the heinousness of their crimes, the neighbourhood of Golden-lane, Whitecross-street, and Chiswell-street, was thrown into the greatest state of consternation and alarm, in consequence of a fine healthy female child, about eight years of age, the daughter of an Irish labourer named Duffey, who resides in Broad Arrow-court, Milton-street, having been found, about ten o'clock on Saturday night, murdered, in a public privy in Cowheel-alley, Golden-lane. About nine o'clock on Saturday night, the 3rd of December, a woman, about thirty years of age, named Bridget Calkin, was brought to the station-house in Bunhill-row, and given into the custody of Inspector Perry, of the New Police, upon the charge of Mrs. Duffey, No. 3, Broad Arrow-court, Milton-street, who stated, that her husband was a labourer, and she had a fine healthy girl, about eight years old, who was remarkably full-grown and tall for that age. The prisoner lodged within a door or two of her residence, and had known the child for the last three years, and appeared to be rather kind and attentive to her, and which in part won the child's affections. The prisoner, who is occasionally a char-woman, returned to her lodgings on Saturday night, about half-past four o'clock, and a little after five o'clock she was seen to leave the court with the child in her company, and to whom, it appeared, the prisoner gave a penny, for the purpose of decoying the child. All Mrs. Duffy wanted from the prisoner was, to know what became of, or where was her child. The statement of Mrs. Duffy, so far as the child having been seen to leave the court in company with the prisoner, was fully borne out by four or five other persons. The prisoner admitted her return to her lodgings about the time stated, but denied any knowledge of the child, and accounted for herself by stating where and in whose company she was from five o'clock until she was taken into custody. Inspector Perry, seeing the case at that period enveloped in much mystery, and well knowing the desperate characters with which St. Luke's is infested, despatched officers to where the prisoner stated she was, and on their return, they reported that the statement of the prisoner was altogether a fabrication; and one of the parties (Nurse Bryant, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital) admitted she knew the prisoner, but denied having been out with her on that evening. Upon searching the prisoner, Inspector Perry found a gentleman's small memorandum-book, with an account of daily expenditure, but no name or address, so as to trace to an ownership. In about an hour after, informations were given to Mr. Perry that the body of the murdered child had been discovered lying on the floor of a public privy in Cowheel-alley, Golden-lane, under the following circumstances:--It appeared, that about ten o'clock a little girl, the daughter of a green-grocer, went into the privy, and trampling on the murdered child, she became alarmed, and ran back in a fright, and apprised her brother (a young boy) of the circumstance. The boy got a candle, and went to see what had so alarmed his sister; and upon his opening the door of the privy, a man and a woman dashed out, and ran away in different directions, the man having first knocked the candle out of the boy's hand; notwithstanding which the boy thought he should be able to identify him. In the meantime, Inspector Perry sent for Surgeon Leeson to examine the child, whose body was not then cold, and who thought it came to its death about half an hour before by being suffocated. The body of the child was then conveyed to its father's, where two police-officers were stationed in the same room; and as it became cold, marks of discoloration were very apparent round the neck and under the right arm.

On the following Monday Bridget Calkin was brought before the Worship-street magistrates, on a charge of being concerned in the wilful murder of a little girl, five years old, named Margaret Duffy. A man named Cattle, a noted resurrectionist, who had also been apprehended on suspicion, was placed at the bar on the same charge. The prisoners were brought from the police-station in Bunhill-row, in a hackney-coach, guarded by a strong body of the police, and followed with the most appalling yells by an immense mob, hundreds of whom had, no doubt, been witnesses of the awful exit of the murderers, Bishop and Williams, shortly before, in the Old Bailey. The female prisoner, who lived next door to the parents, was seen on the evening of the murder, with the child, whom she had called out of doors, in order to give her a penny to divide between her and her brother. The child could not afterwards be found; and shortly before nine, the prisoner, who denied all knowledge of her absence when questioned by the parents, was charged with stealing her; but while that charge was under inquiry at the police-station, the corpse of the deceased was taken there, having been found in the place before mentioned.

Dixon, a policeman, stated, that the prisoner Calkin, when brought to the station, before the body was discovered, declared that she left the child in the court where they lived, and never saw her again, and she accounted for the disposal of her time by saying that she went to a person (whom she mentioned) in Rotten-row, Old-street, and remained there till about seven, after which she walked about for upwards of an hour, and was part of the time in company with one of the nurses of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, named Bryant. Upon inquiry, both these statements were denied; and at the hospital, it was stated by the nurse herself, and the sister of her ward, that she had not been out of the place all that day, nor had she seen the prisoner for two days previously. A man, named Bailey, deposed that he was passing through the court on Saturday evening, and saw the prisoner Calkin come from the privy where the deceased was afterwards discovered. It was somewhere about eight o'clock when he saw her. Mr. Twyford asked him if he was certain it was the prisoner? He said he had no doubt of it; he could not be mistaken, as he had known her for a length of time. A female, named Jennings, stated, that between seven and eight o'clock she saw the prisoner and the little girl about one hundred yards from that spot.

The female prisoner made a statement of some length, to the effect that she frequently took the child out, and admitted that she saw her in their court, as stated by the witnesses, and gave her a penny. She did not take her away from the place, but left her there, and never saw her again until she saw the corpse at the police-station. She herself went to Rotten-row, Old-street, and afterwards went towards Whitechapel and walked about, and during that time met with Nurse Bryant. The nurse came forward again, and expressed her astonishment at this statement, which she flatly contradicted.

The prisoner Cattle is known to be a resurrection-man, and lives close to the spot where the body was found. A man was stated to have run from the privy, and Cattle was taken on suspicion. The little boy said, that the man who knocked out his light was not the prisoner Cattle; and there being no evidence against the latter, he was discharged.

The prisoner Calkin was remanded, to await the decision of the Coroner's Inquest.

On the following Tuesday, at six o'clock, an inquiry was commenced, before Mr. Baker, Coroner, the Churchwardens and other officers of St. Luke's parish, touching the death of the little girl, Margaret Duffy. The facts were proved as above stated, with respect to the child being seen last alive in Broad Arrow-court, Milton-street, in company with Bridget Calkin, and the finding of the body some hours afterwards in a privy, situate in a court in Golden-lane; but the evidence as to the circumstances which then ensued was exceedingly discrepant, and the Jury after having been engaged between five and six hours, adjourned until the following Friday.

Accordingly on that day the inquest was resumed at the Golden Boot public-house, Milton-street. The privy in which the body was found is common to the inhabitants of several intricate passages, and as there appeared to be some confusion in the statements as to the localities and other circumstances, Dixon, the policeman, procured an accurate plan of the neighbourhood. Upon the return of the Jury, who went in a body to view the spot, and compare it with the plan, the following evidence was adduced:--