Mr. Thomas, in addition to his former evidence, stated, that in consequence of information which he had obtained, he had discovered the teeth of the unfortunate boy at the house of Mr. Thomas Mills, a dentist in Newington Causeway, who had handed them over to him, and was now ready to state the circumstances under which they had come into his possession.
Mr. Mills, of No. 39, Bridge-house-place, Newington Causeway, then stated, that on Saturday, the 5th of November, May brought him a set of teeth, for which he asked a guinea. Witness observed that one of the front teeth was chipped, and said that it did not belong to the set; upon which May said, “Upon my soul to God, they all belonged to one head, and that not long since,” and added, that the body never had been buried: he ultimately agreed to take 12s. for the teeth. Portions of the gum were adhering to them, and part of the jaw-bone; there could be no doubt that the teeth had been forcibly removed immediately after death. He remarked to May, that the teeth, from appearance, belonged to a female: his reply was, “The fact is, they belonged to a lad about fourteen or fifteen years of age.”
While this witness was giving his evidence, the prisoner May appeared for the first time to change countenance, and to lose that hardness of nerve which had distinguished him throughout the whole previous proceedings. He stared at the witness at first rather wildly, and compressed his lips while listening attentively to the evidence; and as soon as it was concluded, he endeavoured to resume his composure, and forced a laugh; but, almost in a moment after, his countenance underwent another change, and he muttered to himself as he looked over to the witness, “The b—y rascal!” He then asked the witness if he was quite sure of the exact words he had used, when he brought him the teeth, with regard to the body not having been buried?
Witness.—You said that the body had never been buried.
The only other new witness examined on this day was a girl, eleven years of age, named Martha King, who deposed to her having seen a boy corresponding in appearance with the deceased, exhibiting white mice near the prisoner Bishop’s cottage, in Nova Scotia Gardens, about the time of the supposed murder; but Higgins and Kirkman, policemen, produced new evidence, tending to confirm the belief in the horrid guilt of the persons charged. Higgins, in a new search at Bishop’s house, had found a pair of breeches stained with blood, and a brad-awl similarly marked, which had apparently been used to extract the teeth of the deceased; and Kirkman deposed to a conversation which he had heard pass between Bishop and Williams on the former examination. Posting-bills had been widely distributed through the metropolis, offering a reward for the production of certain evidence against the prisoners, one of which was fixed against the wall in the police-office. Bishop, intent upon reading the bill, a passage in which referred to the marks of blood on the body of the deceased, observed, “It was the blood that sold us,” and then, continuing reading, in allusion to a reference to certain marks of violence observable on the person of the deceased, he said “The marks of violence were only the breakings-out on the skin.”
Upon the delivery of this evidence the examination concluded, and the prisoners were again remanded.
Upon the following day, in obedience to a determination which had been arrived at, that a new and more searching investigation of the prisoners’ house and premises should take place, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Corder, accompanied by Higgins and other constables, proceeded once more to Nova Scotia Gardens, and there, after a minute investigation, they made discoveries which filled them with horror, and confirmed, by the most positive evidence, the suspicions which had been excited of the murderous traffic which had been carried on. The particulars of these discoveries were communicated to the magistrate on the same evening, but they were not allowed to transpire until the next examination of the prisoners, which, however, owing to the painful excitement which had been created, and the anxious desire universally exhibited to learn the nature of any new intelligence obtained, was ordered to take place on the following Monday instead of Friday, to which day the prisoners had been remanded.
On that day the new evidence was adduced. The first branch to which the inquiry was directed, was that which traced the poor Italian boy to the neighbourhood of Nova Scotia Gardens; and several witnesses were called, whose testimony distinctly proved that he was observed there on the evening of the Thursday before the 5th of November, wearing a brown hairy cap, and carrying white mice for exhibition.
Higgins was then re-examined, and his testimony excited universal horror, while it at once removed every doubt which might otherwise have existed as to the guilt of two at least of the prisoners—Bishop and Williams. He said, “I was instructed by Mr. Thomas to go with Wadey to Bishop’s house and have the garden carefully dug up; I tried the ground first with an iron rod on the west side of the garden close to the palings, and about five yards from Bishop’s back door I found the rod struck against something soft, and on digging, we found a blue jacket, black trousers, and little shirt. I then tried the ground about a yard further, and there we found a blue short coat, a pair of grey trousers with braces on and a piece of a comb in the pocket, a striped waistcoat the back of the collar of which was bloody, and a shirt torn down the centre: the waistcoat must have been made for a larger person than the last who wore it, as it has been roughly taken in at the back.”
In addition to this, Mr. Thomas deposed to the discovery of a brown hairy cap in Bishop’s house; and witnesses were also called, who swore that the second suit of clothes discovered, and the hairy cap, were similar in every respect to the attire worn by the Italian boy when he was last seen. The prisoners were then again remanded.