Part 6

WITNESS, upon being questioned more particularly as to which of the prisoners, May or Bishop, used the phrase which he had mentioned, ascribed it first to one and then to the other, upon which May and Bishop both laughed. The witness, however, who appeared somewhat confused, said that the words were used by Bishop when May poured the gin into his cup.

HENRY MANN, driver of the hackney-coach No. 985, was the next witness examined. He stated that he was in Bridge-street, Blackfriars, on the evening of the 4th of November, between the hours of five and six o'clock, when he was applied to by the prisoner May, to take up a fare in Bridge-street, and go to Bethnal-green.

Mr. MINSHULL.--Can you swear it was the prisoner May who applied to you? Look round and see if you can point him out.

WITNESS.--I know it was May, for I knew him before. There was another man in company at the time, but I cannot say it was one of the other prisoners.

Mr. MINSHULL.--Did they tell you where you were to go from Bethnal-green?

WITNESS.--No; they did not tell me where I was to go. I declined to go with them.

Dr. ROBINSON.--What was your reason for declining the job?

WITNESS.--My horses had not finished their corn, and I had not taken my tea. Besides, I had another reason--I knew what May was, and that was principally the cause of my declining to go with him.

MARGARET KING, who had on a former examination stated, that she saw an Italian boy standing close to Bishop's house, on Thursday the 3d instant, was again called forward, and her evidence having been read over,

Mr. MINSHULL asked her if she recollected how the boy was dressed, whom she had seen on the day in question? She replied, that she recollected no part of his dress, except that he wore a dark blue coat or jacket. [Another female witness on the trial swore that it was a dark green.--Ed.] The boy's dress appeared to be shabby, such as other boys wore who went about the streets.

WITNESS did not remember whether the boy had a cap or a hat on.

Mr. MINSHULL then addressed the prisoners, saying, he had told them before, and now repeated, that they might, if they thought fit, put what questions they pleased to the several witnesses who appeared against them.

MAY said he was aware of that. The prisoners then declined to put any questions to Mrs. King.

JOHN KING, son of the last witness, stated, that he remembered his mother's washing-day before the last; it was on a Thursday. I saw an Italian boy standing at the corner of Nova Scotia Gardens, facing Birdcage Walk; I was looking out at our loft door at the time, and I asked my mother to let me see what the boy had in his cage or box. She refused to let me go and see.

Mr. CORDER.--Can you describe the way in which the Italian boy stood?

WITNESS.--He stood with his right foot turned out, and, I think, his arms were resting on the box or cage, which he carried before him. He wore a brown hairy cap.

Mr. CORDER.--Have you any recollection what sort of leaf or shade the cap had got?

WITNESS.--It was lined with green.

Mr. MINSHULL.--What time would it take you to go from where the boy was standing to Bishop's house?

WITNESS.--It would not take me more than half a minute.

Mr. MINSHULL.--Had you ever seen the boy before?

WITNESS.--I think I have seen him about before; he used to carry a doll with two heads in a glass case. I saw him about a month ago. He looked like the same boy. I have not seen him since the Thursday I saw him in the gardens; he was then standing to see if any one would come and see what he had to show. I did not see him go away.

MARGARET KING being sworn, said, that her mother washed on a Thursday, but she was not sure whether it was on Thursday fortnight or the Wednesday that she saw the Italian boy in Nova Scotia Gardens. She could not describe his clothes, but remembered that he wore a brown hairy cap. She had seen the boy before that day; he was standing opposite Birdcage Walk, and had a box or cage slung over his neck by a sling. The cap which he had on was brown, hairy, and rough. She did not perceive how the shade of it was lined, because the boy had his back towards her. She never saw him since that day.

JOSEPH HIGGINS, a police constable of the F division, No. 35, was then sworn, and his former evidence having been read over, he stated in addition, that on Saturday last Mr. Thomas directed James Waddy and him to proceed to Bishop's residence, in Nova Scotia Gardens, for the purpose of digging up the garden. They went accordingly, and having tried the ground with an iron spit, it struck against some spongy substance in the earth, on the west side of the garden, and at a distance of about five yards from the door of the dwelling-house. They dug up the earth, and found a jacket, a pair of trowsers, and a little boy's shirt. Part of the suspenders, which were composed of yellow calico, were attached to the trowsers, some of the button-holes of which were broken. About a yard farther, the iron rod again struck upon something soft, which proved to be a blue jacket, or short coat, a pair of grey trowsers, and a striped waistcoat.

Mr. CORDER.--Did you perceive anything particular on the waistcoat?

WITNESS.--I perceived marks of blood on the collar, both inside and outside. I found in the pocket of the waistcoat a piece of a small-tooth comb; and I also found an old shirt, which was torn down the centre.

Mr. HARMER.--You swear that the shirt was torn, as it now appears, when you dug it up?

WITNESS.--I do.

Mr. MINSHULL.--Look again at the waistcoat, and say, whether those marks of blood were on the neck part when you took it from the ground?

WITNESS.--They were. They had more the appearance of blood when I took the waistcoat from the ground than now. I took particular notice of the marks; the colour appeared to be deeper, and the blood more fresh than now.

Mr. HALLS, having examined the waistcoat, observed, that it appeared to have been made for a grown-up person, and it had been taken in at the back, in order to make it fit to whosoever it last belonged.

Mr. THOMAS observed, that the waistcoat had been taken in with coarse worsted, and in a very rough manner.

Mr. MINSHULL said, that the fact of the waistcoat having been made for a man was important, and it might be the means of bringing forward the person to whom it originally belonged.

JAMES WADDY was then sworn, and stated, that he was a gardener and labourer, and assisted the last witness in digging up the garden. They began at twelve o'clock on Saturday, and kept on until four, when they came to a narrow border, close to the palings, and about five yards from the door of the house. The witness here identified the child's dress which had been first discovered.

Dr. ROBINSON.--How deep were they buried in the ground?

WITNESS.--About a foot deep. Having found these things, the last witness tried the ground again, and dug up the grey trowsers, waistcoat, and shirt, which have been produced. They were made into a bundle, and were wrapped up in the grey trowsers.

Mr. CORDER.--Had you any particular reason for trying the part of the ground where the articles were found?

WITNESS.--Yes; our suspicions were raised in consequence of seeing some ashes spread over the place, and also on perceiving that the ground was loose.

Mr. MINSHULL to the prisoners.--Have you any questions to ask either of the last witnesses?

BISHOP.--Nothing particular now.

Mr. THOMAS was the next witness examined. He stated that he went yesterday (Sunday) to Bishop's house, for the purpose of making a more rigid search. On examining the front parlour, he found among a heap of old clothes and dirty linen, the cap which he now produced.

Mr. HALLS.--In what part of the room did you find this cap?

Mr. THOMAS.--In a corner, where there was a heap of soiled linen and children's dresses.

Mrs. KING was recalled, and the blue coat last found submitted to her view.

Mr. MINSHULL.--Was that such a coat as the Italian boy had on, whom you saw in Nova Scotia gardens, on the day you have already mentioned?

WITNESS.--The coat is to all appearance exactly like the coat which the boy had on, but there is no mark about it to enable me to swear positively that it is the same coat.

Mr. MINSHULL.--You are not called upon to swear so positively to it, but only to the best of your knowledge and belief.

WITNESS.--All I can say is, that the coat is exactly like, as far as regards colour, size, and shape, and it has every appearance of the coat which the boy had on, when I saw him on Thursday.

JOHN KING, son of the last witness, was then recalled, and the fur cap produced by Mr. Thomas, having been placed in his hands, he was asked if it was like the one which the Italian boy had on, whom he saw near Bishop's house.

WITNESS.--It looks exactly like the cap which the Italian boy had on.

MARGARET KING, sister to the last witness, having also examined the cap, gave precisely similar testimony.

Mr. CORDER sworn and examined. I was present at the examination of the body of the deceased, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday last, and I feel quite sure that the body so disinterred was that of the Italian boy, upon which a coroner's inquest had been held: this body was shown on Saturday in my presence to the witness Brun.

AUGUSTINE BRUN was then called forward, and Joseph Parragalli was sworn to interpret his evidence truly. He stated that he knew a boy named Carlo Ferrair or Ferrari, and that he brought him to this country two years ago, from Piedmont. He was a Savoyard. Witness took him from his parents. His father's name was Joseph Ferrari. Witness had the boy for nine or ten months, and then bound him over to another person for two years and one month. The last time the witness saw the boy alive, was about fifteen months ago. This was after he had been bound, and he then went with his new master towards Bristol, and witness left town in another direction. The boy, who was about fifteen, lodged about that time at the house of Mr. Elliott, No. 2, Charles-street, Drury-lane. Witness saw the dead body of a boy on Saturday, _but he could not identify the face_. The hair, colour of the eyes, and also the size of the body, corresponded with the description of the boy whom he had named. The _tout ensemble_ agreed.

Mr. MINSHULL.--Ask the witness, whether he can swear, to the best of his knowledge and belief, that the body which he saw was that of Carlo Ferrari?

The interpreter having put the question, the witness replied, that 'The features were so disfigured by decay, that _he could not swear that the face was the same_.'

Mr. THOMAS desired the interpreter to ask, whether the witness remembered any warts on the left hand of the boy, Carlo Ferrari.

The interpreter answered, that 'The marks of identity on the hand were also obliterated by the green colour which it had assumed.'

Mr. CORDER said, that although the witness had properly given his evidence with so much caution, he appeared to be satisfied in his own mind of the identity of the body, for almost ever since he saw it he had been crying.

JOSEPH PARRAGALLI, the interpreter, was then sworn, and stated, that he remembered a boy named Carlo Ferrari, who lived with his master about eighteen months ago, at No. 2, Charles-street, Drury-lane. Witness examined the body of the deceased before the inquest took place, and was quite positive that it was the boy, Carlo Ferrari, whom he had so known. Witness saw him alive in the Quadrant, about twenty yards from the County Fire Office, about a month or five weeks ago. It was a very wet day, and the poor boy looked cold and miserable. He had his cage suspended from his neck. Witness had seen him about a week before in Portland-place, and spoke to him then. He could not, however, describe the boy's dress on either occasion, which he accounted for by saying, he was too much occupied with his own business to observe it. The box which the boy used to carry was divided into a cage, which used to turn round with the mice in it, and they slept in the box part.

Dr. ROBINSON.--What opportunity had you for taking such particular notice of the boy, as to be able to identify him after death?

WITNESS.--I was present when the boy was bound over by the last witness to his new master, and had, besides, other opportunities of knowing the boy, for I was constantly at the house of his master. [It will be remembered, that when before the coroner, the Parragallis positively depose, that they do not know the name of the boy whom they saw in the Quadrant, and in Oxford-street. By what means they subsequently and so suddenly attained to the knowledge of it, so as to be able positively to swear, that the boy whom they saw in the Quadrant was an Italian, whose name they knew to be Carlo Ferrari, appears rather enigmatical, and is one of those contradictory circumstances, by which this most extraordinary case is distinguished.--Ed.]

In answer to another question, the witness gave it as his opinion, that the fur of the cap produced was _English_, but that the leaf was of _French_ manufacture. When the boy first came to this country, he wore a cap, the leaf of which was similar to that of the cap now produced.

The evidence having arrived at this stage, Mr. CORDER said it was not intended to proceed further in the case that day.

Mr. MINSHULL then asked the prisoners if they wished to say anything.

BISHOP shook his head, saying, he had nothing to say then. The other prisoners also declined saying anything.

They were then about to be removed from the bar, when Mr. Thomas begged leave, before the prisoners were remanded, to request that Bishop and Williams might be placed at the bar alone, as he meant to charge them with another murder.

Mr. MINSHULL.--Is it your wish, Mr. Thomas, that the other two prisoners should be removed from the bar before you make your charge?

Mr. THOMAS.--I am willing to make my charge in the presence of all four; but I have no wish that May and Shields should remain.

Mr. MINSHULL then directed Dodd, the jailer, to remove May and Shields, and leave Bishop and Williams at the bar.

Mr. THOMAS was then sworn, and stated, that he felt it his duty, as a public officer, to charge John Bishop and James Williams, alias Head, with the murder of another boy, whose name, for the present, was unknown. He was in possession of some evidence at present, and expected much more.

Mr. BURNABY, the clerk, asked Mr. Thomas, if he meant to produce any evidence now before the magistrates, in support of the charge against the prisoners at the bar?

Mr. THOMAS replied in the negative, and said, he meant to charge the prisoners generally for the present, reserving the evidence which he had now in his possession, and that which he expected to receive, for a future opportunity.

Mr. MINSHULL observed, that Mr. Thomas acted very properly, and directed the charge to be taken in general terms, as he wished it. The charge having been written down accordingly,

Mr. MINSHULL asked the prisoners if they wished to say anything touching this charge.

BISHOP answered, 'Nothing.'

Mr. MINSHULL then informed the prisoners that they would be brought forward for re-examination on this and the other charge, on the following Friday.

The prisoners were then removed in custody, strongly guarded.

On the day following the above examination, Mr. Corder applied to Mr. Minshull for the purpose of obtaining an order to liberate Sarah Bishop and Rhoda Head, alias Williams, who had been in custody for some days, charged with being accessories after the fact in the murder of the Italian boy. Mr. Corder observed, that as yet there was no evidence whatever against either of the women, and as they might be wanted by their husbands to procure them the means of defence, should their trial come on at the ensuing Old Bailey sessions, he considered that it would be but an act of humanity to release them from custody, particularly as there was no evidence to warrant their detention.

Mr. BURNABY, the clerk, said, that Mr. Thomas, upon whose charge the prisoners were detained, was desirous that they should not be liberated until after the trial; and as facts might arise between this and the sessions tending to fix the women with a guilty knowledge of the murder, it would, perhaps, be the better way to detain them for the present.

Mr. MINSHULL agreed in the propriety of detaining the female prisoners, at least until Friday next, when their husbands would undergo another examination. Besides, where were they to go if they were now liberated? The police were in possession of the house in which they had resided, and would, no doubt, retain it as long as there was any chance of procuring additional evidence.

The female prisoners, who had been brought from prison for the purpose of undergoing an examination, were then ordered to be placed at the bar; and on their appearance there,

Mr. MINSHULL told them, that he was in hopes he might have discharged them; but from what had been suggested, he felt it his duty to retain them until Friday, when they would be again brought forward.

The prisoners were then conveyed from the bar.

Two of Bishop's children were taken from the workhouse, where they had been placed on the apprehension of their mother, and lodged in the station house at Covent Garden, with a view to their giving evidence in the case, one of them, a little boy, having told another boy, before the murder was discovered, that he had some nice little white mice at home, and that his father had broken up their cage to light the fire. From the tender age of the children, however, it was determined not to make witnesses of them; and they were accordingly sent back to the workhouse at Bethnal Green.

When Higgins, the police constable, was engaged in digging up the garden-ground on Saturday, Bishop's eldest son, a boy about twelve years old, was present; and when the officer looked suspiciously towards the raised pathway, beneath which, it will be remembered, the clothes were discovered, the little fellow told him to be cautious how he dug there, as the cesspool was under that part of the ground; and if he (Higgins) attempted to remove the earth, he would be sure to fall into it. This fact which was stated by the constable would lead to the belief that the child was aware of the clothes having been buried where they were subsequently found.

It is not improbable that the concealment of the articles took place immediately after Bishop and his associates were taken into custody.

It now became a subject of serious deliberation whether the case, as it now stood against the prisoners, with whatever evidence might arise in the interim, should be sent to the ensuing Old Bailey sessions, commencing the 1st of December, or whether it might not be advisable to await the issue of the second charge of murder which Mr. Thomas preferred against the prisoners, Bishop and Williams.

Mr. MINSHULL was in favour of keeping the case open for the reception of fresh evidence; and the Recorder of London waited upon Mr. Minshull to request that a case of such public importance might not be sent to the Old Bailey unless the evidence was as complete as circumstances would allow. The same anxiety was also, we understand, expressed at the Home Office.

The exertions of the police officers were now leading them to the discovery of another murder committed by the horrid wretches, Bishop and Williams; and which, perhaps, never would have been detected, but for the discovery of the murder of the Italian boy.

It will be remembered, that in consequence of the strict search which Mr. Thomas caused to be made at the residence of Bishop, a quantity of human flesh, together with the scalp of a woman's head, to which a considerable portion of long brown hair was attached, were found in the privy. It was at first conjectured that these were portions of a subject which Bishop had procured from a churchyard, and that the limbs had been sold to the surgeons separately,--a practice by no means uncommon. Recent events, however, having raised a strong suspicion that the residence of Bishop has been the scene of more than one murder, Mr. Thomas, acting upon that impression, went yesterday (Wednesday 23rd) to Bishop's house, with the view of making a still further search, and appeared before Mr. Halls on the same day at Bow-street to communicate the result.

Mr. Thomas was accompanied by two females, mother and daughter, who lived in the neighbourhood of Bishop's house. The mother had stated to him, that about three weeks ago a daughter of hers had disappeared in the most sudden and mysterious manner, and under circumstances altogether unaccountable. She had taken tea with her mother and sister on the evening of her disappearance, and went out to execute some trifling errand. Her return was therefore expected every minute; but from that time to the present she had neither been seen nor heard of. There had been no previous quarrel to account for her absence; and her relatives were under the dreadful impression that she had been waylaid and murdered.

Mr. THOMAS added, that in consequence of his having made further discoveries that morning, in the house adjoining to Bishop's residence, the mother and sister of the missing young woman, who were now present, called upon him at the station-house, and upon showing them the hair which was previously found in the privy, they both of them declared it to be similar to that of the young woman, whose absence had given rise to such dreadful apprehensions.

Mr. THOMAS then called forward the mother and daughter, and asked the latter to describe her sister's hair. She replied, that it was of a dark brown colour, very long, and that it closely resembled her mother's hair.

Mr. THOMAS then drew the attention of Mr. Halls to the mother's hair, and observed, that it was exactly like the hair which had been found in the manner before described. He then added, from inquiries he had previously made, he was enabled to prove, that about the time when the young woman was first missed from her home, Bishop had sold two subjects, one of them the body of a young female, at Guy's Hospital. Having been engaged, however, at the time he ascertained this fact, in the case of the Italian boy, he did not feel it necessary to make any particular inquiries respecting the two bodies he had mentioned, but he should now feel it his duty to cause such inquiries to be made.

Mr. HALLS observed, that the circumstances stated by Mr. Thomas had certainly a very suspicious appearance, and he told both mother and daughter, that they might rest assured that every means would be taken by Mr. Thomas to sift the matter to the utmost. The inquiry could not be in better hands.

Mr. THOMAS said it was not without good reason he had prayed for the detention of Bishop's wife and sister, for he considered it quite impossible that they could have been ignorant of what was passing in the house.

Mr. HALLS said he fully agreed in the propriety of detaining both women in custody, and he was quite sure that Mr. Minshull would not part with them until the latest moment that their detention might be necessary.

Mr. THOMAS then observed, that he had that morning deemed it expedient to examine the house immediately adjoining to that in which Bishop had lived, which had been empty for a considerable time, and until a week of Bishop's apprehension. The result was, that a woman's gown, shawl, a pair of stays, chemise, and a pair of stockings were discovered in the privy.

Mr. HALLS asked if the mother and daughter had seen the articles.

The mother replied, that she went to the place for the purpose of seeing them, in order to ascertain if they were her daughter's clothes, but she was not allowed a sight of them.