It is impossible to describe the impression which these new proofs produced in the public mind, tending as they did to establish the fact, not only of the murder of the Italian boy, but that other persons had also fallen victims to the horrible machinations of the miscreants who occupied the house in Nova Scotia Gardens. On the day after its publication, mobs of persons assembled in the neighbourhood of the house, and threatened, by their violent demeanour, to wreak their vengeance by destroying the building. The police were compelled to interfere to quell the anticipated riot, and to prevent the entrance of the public to the building; but many thousands were permitted, upon paying a small fee, to pass through the premises.
At an early hour on Wednesday morning, Higgins and some other constables proceeded again to Nova Scotia Gardens, and commenced a new search. They had not long been engaged in their work before their object was discovered, and crowds of persons flocked to the spot. Their manner denoted the anxiety with which they viewed what was going on, and a strong body of police was necessary to prevent their interference with the proceedings of the officers. The garden attached to Bishop’s house was again dug up to the depth of four feet, and every portion of the ground carefully sifted, but nothing worthy of notice was found; the cesspool and privy in the garden were next examined with equal care, and with the same result. But it was deemed prudent that an equally strict search should be made in the ground attached to the adjoining house, No. 2, which had been formerly inhabited by Williams and his wife. For this work several nightmen were employed to assist the police; and not only was the garden dug up, but the cesspool and privy were thoroughly emptied and examined. In the inspection of the privy, the men had been but a short time at work when one of them brought up a thick roll of something, which at first was thought to contain the body of a child, but which, on inspection, proved to be an entire suit of female apparel. The bundle was cleansed; and upon its contents being exposed, they proved to consist of the following articles:—a black stuff or camlet cloak; black worsted stockings, very coarse; a flannel petticoat, very old and ragged, upon the top of which, near the waistband, were to be seen two distinct marks of blood; a pair of stays very nearly worn out, and patched, which were still laced in the usual way behind; an old shift, and a dark plaid gown. The whole of these articles were cut or torn down the front; and the presumption raised was, that the wearer having been murdered, her clothes had been cut from her body.
New interest was produced by this discovery, and numerous were the persons who called at the station-house for the purpose of inspecting the clothes which had been found. It was not, however, until after the final examination of the prisoners that they were identified; and we shall abstain from giving the particulars of the occurrences which followed their recognition, until we have detailed the concluding evidence produced against the prisoners, and the final decision of the magistrate upon their cases.
The last inquiry at Bow-street took place on Friday, the 25th of November; and the attention of the magistrate was then principally occupied by the production of formal evidence with regard to the occupancy of the house, No. 3, Nova Scotia-gardens, by the prisoners Bishop and Williams, and their families. Other testimony was also laid before the bench, however, with regard to the removal of the body of the deceased from Nova Scotia-gardens on Friday, the 4th of November, its subsequent conveyance to Guy’s Hospital, where it was offered for sale, and its tender, also, to a Mr. Appleton, the curator of Mr. Grainger’s medical school in the Borough.
James Seagrave, driver of a cabriolet, stated:—“On the evening of Friday, the 4th of November, I was with my cabriolet on the stand in the Old Bailey. It was about six o’clock in the evening; and having put the nose-bag on my horse, I went into the watering-house to take my tea. I was called out, and saw May and Bishop. May asked me if I wanted a job, and said he had ‘a long job.’ He took me on one side, and said he wanted me to fetch ‘a stiff ’un;’ which I understood to mean a dead body. I told him I did not know, but asked what he would stand; he told me he would stand a guinea. I said that I had not finished my tea, and that my horse had not done his corn. He said that we would take tea together. I went into the public-house, followed by May and Bishop. They took their seats, and called for tea for two. Some person in the room jogged me by the elbow, and hinted that the men were “snatchers;” and I determined not to go with them. I had previously made up my mind not to go with them. After tea I went out, and drove my cabriolet to the bottom of the rank. I afterwards saw May and Bishop going up the rank among the coaches, and I drove off, leaving them apparently making a bargain with the coachmen.”
It appeared that their efforts to obtain a coach there were unsuccessful, and they had recourse to the stand in Bridge-street, Blackfriars, but with no better effect; but they eventually procured a yellow chariot from the rank in Farringdon-street.
George Gissing, a boy, was then examined. He said, “I am twelve years old. My father keeps the Bird-cage public-house, Crab-tree-road, near Nova Scotia-gardens. On the evening of the 4th of November, about half-past six o’clock, I saw a yellow hackney-chariot draw up opposite my father’s house. It is very near Nova Scotia-gardens. I know Bishop’s cottage in Nova Scotia-gardens. It is but a short distance from my father’s house. I did not see who got out of the chariot. I afterwards saw the prisoner, Williams, standing on the fore-wheel of the chariot, talking to the driver. The chariot waited ten or fifteen minutes. The door was open all the time. Williams went down to Nova Scotia-gardens; and, in ten or fifteen minutes, he returned and got into the chariot. Then I saw a strange man carrying a sack in his arms, and Bishop holding up one end of it. They put it in the chariot. Williams put out his hand to help it in. The sack appeared as if something heavy was in it. Bishop and the other man got into the chariot along with Williams, and they drove up Crab-tree-road and towards Shoreditch church, on the road to the city.” The boy added, that Bishop was looked upon as the father-in-law of Williams; and the wedding supper of the last-named prisoner had been held at his (witness’s) father’s house, about two months before.
Thomas Davis, porter to the dissecting-room at Guy’s Hospital, stated:—On Friday evening, the 4th of November, about seven o’clock, May and Bishop came to the hospital, May carrying a sack; I knew them before; they asked me if I wanted to purchase a subject; I declined to purchase it, and they asked me if I would allow them to leave it in the hospital until the following morning; I acceded to their request, and locked the body up in a room during the night. Next morning, between the hours of eleven and twelve, I saw May and Bishop in the hospital. Having been out, I returned to the hospital, and ascertained that the body had been taken away. I had only seen a foot out of the sack, and I believed it was either that of a boy or a female; it was not large enough for that of a man.
Mr. Appleton then deposed, that May and Bishop had offered the body to him on the same evening, but he had declined purchasing it; and this closed the case.
The prisoners were called on to make any declarations they chose in reference to the case, before their final committal, and they addressed the bench in the following terms:—