Prisoner.—I might have been.
Mr. Corder.—Did you not see Bishop and May there?
Prisoner.—They might be there. (The prisoner, on being further pressed, admitted that they were there; and said, that Bishop told him he should want him the next morning to do a job for him.) I very often go to the Fortune of War. I remained there for about half an hour, and I met Bishop and May there by accident. They went away before I left. When I said that I met Bishop and May in Covent Garden at ten o'clock on Friday morning, I did not speak the truth. I now state that I met him at the Fortune of War, on the Friday morning, at eight o'clock.
Mr. Corder.—I suppose that you know that the Fortune of War is a sort of house of call for resurrectionists?
Prisoner.—It may be. I have seen several respectable persons there.
Mr. Cribb.—Now, Shields, answer this question truly. Do you know anything relating to the death of the deceased?
Prisoner.—Bishop said, while coming to Bow-street, in the van, that the body was got from the ground, and that he knew where it was got from. He smiled as he said so, adding, that if he was brought before the Jury he would give them ease about it.
The examination of Shields having been concluded, the prisoner Bishop was brought before the Jury; and the Coroner cautioned him as to the awkward situation in which he stood, there being no doubt but that the boy had been unfairly dealt by.
Bishop.—I dug the body out of the grave: the reason why I decline to say the grave I took it out of is, that there were two watchmen on the ground, and they intrusted me, and being men of family, I don't wish to 'deceive' them. I don't think I can say anything more. I took it for sale to Guy's Hospital, and, as they did not want it, I left it there all night and part of the next day, and then I removed it to the King's College. That is all I can say about it. I mean to say that this is the truth. I shall certainly keep it a secret where I got the body. I know nothing as to how it died.
Coroner.—You have a right not to implicate yourself; and certainly I must say, that the account which you have given is by no means satisfactory.