There followed three written
statements from the prisoners. Bishop wrote that he was a carrier, who had
supplied bodies to teaching hospitals,
“I declare that I never sold any body but what had died a natural death.”
He had bought the cap from Mrs
Dodswell, a clothes-dealer from Hoxton Old Town, for his own son, Frederick,
and had sewn a green lining into the peak himself. He swore he knew nothing about
the other clothing that had been dug up from his garden and asked that the jury
disregard all the talk about ‘wearing apparel’ as he nothing to do with
it, finishing with,
“May and Williams know nothing as to how I became possessed of the body.”
Mrs Dodswell was called and confirmed that she had
sold a cap to Mrs Bishop; she also mentioned that Bishop’s daughter had been
her servant, twelve months before.
Williams’s statement was a masterpiece of evasion – he wrote (or got somebody to do that for him), that he was a bricklayer and a glassblower, and he hadn’t sold bodies before, and he was only helping Bishop out, and he didn’t know what was going on, and it weren’t me guv’nor, and gorblimey I’m being fixed up, wot wiv me bein’ innocent an’ all, gertcha, and,
“I shall, therefore, leave my case entirely to the intelligence and discrimination of the Jury, and the learned and merciful Judge,”
… that final part, one suspects,
was added to the statement by Williams’s counsel.
May wrote that he was a happily married family man of moderate education who had been apprenticed as a butcher. For the past six years he had been employed in the procurement of anatomical specimens for the medical establishments throughout the metropolis, together with working with horses, and had accidentally met Bishop in the Fortune of War public house, a place frequented by gentlemen employed in his given profession, where Bishop had consulted him on a professional matter, vis-à-vis the procurement and disposal of ‘subjects’ and what remuneration might be the reasonable recompense for such a service. Undoubtedly, he was well accustomed to the commerce in the dearly departed but it were only stiffs guv an’ none ov yer livin’ coves, lor’ luv a duck, wot wiv me bein’ a right diamond an’ pukka an’ all, leave it ahht, me ole china and
“…I shall, therefore, leave my fate entirely to the intelligence and discernment of the Jury, and the learned Judge.”
Which, if nothing else, proves
that lazy lawyers were not above a little copy-pasta even back then, when the
judges and learned friends would obviously swayed by stock phrases that they
had most certainly had not heard before on a daily basis. Or maybe, just maybe,
the defence counsel had a spark of humanity left in their adamantine, avaricious,
legal hearts and were deliberately setting their scumbag clients up to fail.
It’s a tough call to make, I know – lawyers or murderous grave robbers, but on
this occasion at least, I will side with the lawyers. Not least because of the
character witnesses that were called next. Rosina Carpenter, a single lady,
swore in court that Mr May had been in her company throughout the night of
November 4th - she was sure
it was the 4th – and she was sure, too, that he had never left her.
Sure, she was very sure. And she was sure he didn’t have any human teeth in his
pocket. Really sure about that one.
Mary Ann Horne spoke next for
May. She was a single lady, and the happily married family man Mr May had been
entertained by her on November 4th, and had been with her until
eight o’clock on Saturday morning, and he couldn’t give her any money just then
but he would have some for her later, because he was a fine, dependable fellow,
and she knew that because May was with her more than anyone else, and sure, she
had gentlemen callers but not nearly so many as James May. Oh yes, and her
landlady owned a jackdaw.
Charlotte Berry was a single lady
(do you spot a pattern here?), who had a room in the same building as Horne,
and spoke next for May. She had, accidentally, pinched her landlady’s jackdaw
behind the door and it had flown into Horne’s room and its blood must have
gotten onto May’s trousers, because there was trousers and blood and stuff, and
that explains that, right? Sure?
The final witness called by the defence was Dr Edward William Tuson. He was not a single lady. Here is his testimony, in full, to the Old Bailey,
“I am a surgeon, and am subpoenaed on behalf of the prisoners. I know them by seeing them; I believe I have seen Bishop once or twice, but I do not know what I am to prove.”
Excellent bit of lawyering there,
Messrs. Curwood and Barry. You were either so incompetent that you should have
been struck off the day before Tuesday, or so brilliant that you should have
been showered with apes, ivory and peacocks. The Chief Justice then
recapitulated the evidence that had been presented to the jury and directed
them on certain legal niceties before they retired, at eight o’clock in the
evening, to consider their verdict. The prisoners were taken from the courtroom,
to be replaced with conjectures and speculations, and just thirty minutes later
the jury came back in. There was a deathly silence in the room and the windows
were opened wide, so that those outside might hear the verdict. Bishop,
Williams and May were re-introduced to the bar, the names of the jurors were
called over and they were asked if they had reached a verdict, to which they
replied in the affirmative. All three had been found guilty of murder.
The response outside was deafening, with much clapping and cheering and the windows had to be closed again, so that the Recorder of the court could be heard as he passed sentence. The Judge gave a short speech, thanking the jury for doing their duty, and then tuned to the bar. John Bishop, Thomas Williams alias Head, and James May had been found guilty of murder and were to be taken to the place of execution on the following Monday, there to be hanged by the neck until dead. He began to say, ‘… and may God have mercy on your souls’ when he was interrupted by Mr Justice Littledale, who whispered a reminder to him, whereupon he added that their bodies would then be given over to the anatomists, who would publicly dissect their bodies. The three men stood in silence for a moment, when May suddenly pointed at Bishop and said loudly,
The response outside was deafening, with much clapping and cheering and the windows had to be closed again, so that the Recorder of the court could be heard as he passed sentence. The Judge gave a short speech, thanking the jury for doing their duty, and then tuned to the bar. John Bishop, Thomas Williams alias Head, and James May had been found guilty of murder and were to be taken to the place of execution on the following Monday, there to be hanged by the neck until dead. He began to say, ‘… and may God have mercy on your souls’ when he was interrupted by Mr Justice Littledale, who whispered a reminder to him, whereupon he added that their bodies would then be given over to the anatomists, who would publicly dissect their bodies. The three men stood in silence for a moment, when May suddenly pointed at Bishop and said loudly,
“I am a murdered man, gentlemen, and that man knows it.”
This sparked Williams
into action, who started by saying, “We are all murdered men,” and then
threatened several of the witnesses, promising them that they would be prepaid
for their lies within three months. Bishop said nothing. They were taken down
and the court cleared. The Duke of Sussex said, in effect, ‘It makes you
proud to be an Englishman,” and the judicicals, much heartened by his
Highness’s kind words, agreed.
Tomorrow - the executions
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