public. It is very generally believed that the members of the medical
profession are a party concerned, and that they have an interest beyond
that which others have in obtaining greater facilities of dissection.
This is true, as far as it relates to the teachers of anatomy and the
students; but the former are very few in number, and the latter are not
of sufficient importance, and are too limited in their acquaintance
and connexion for their sentiments to be much regarded, or even to
be known. It is not true as to medical practitioners generally: they
have laid in their store of knowledge; they rarely find it necessary
to return to the labours of the dissecting-room; or if they wish to
inspect the dead body for the purpose of satisfying themselves as to
a particular point, they have ample opportunities of doing so in the
_post mortem_ examinations made for the purpose of ascertaining the
cause of a patient's death.
'If the existing race of medical practitioners were so narrow-minded as
to consult only their own private interests, they would be pleased to
see the rising generation brought up in comparative ignorance, inasmuch
as it would make it more difficult for themselves to be superseded in
their practice as they advance in years. If they have been more active
than others in calling the attention of the legislature to the subject,
it has been on purely public grounds; not because they expect or can
expect any benefit to themselves, but because their peculiar situation
makes them more competent than other individuals can be to form a
judgment of the mischiefs which may ultimately arise to the community,
if nothing be done to remove the existing evil.'
It must be admitted that the foregoing remarks, emanating from so
eminent a man as Mr. Brodie, cannot but possess, at the present
juncture, considerable value, as the subject has been again brought
before the legislature by Mr. Warburton, and no doubt now exists that,
from recent circumstances, some enactments will be passed to legalize
dissection, and to facilitate the procuring of bodies for the supply
of the anatomical schools. As we shall have occasion to recur to
the subject in a future part of our work, we shall now refrain from
making any further comments on it, and proceed to the trial of the
resurrectionists, for the murder for which they were committed.
The 2nd of December was the day fixed for the trial of the prisoners
charged with the murder of the Italian boy; and as early as eight
o'clock in the morning the court was crowded to excess.
We cannot but here speak in terms of reprobation of the vexatious
conduct pursued by some of the city officers in regard to the admission
of persons to the body of the court and the galleries, who, in some
respects, had a title to be admitted. Personally speaking, when we
presented ourselves at the gate, demanding entrance, as having the
key of the box appropriated to the Committee of the City Lands, we
were told, in the first place, that the box was full; this was at
half-past eight in the morning. On remonstrating with the officer, and
expressing our opinion that he was acting reprehensibly in refusing
admittance to a person having the key of one of the committee to whom
the box belonged, we were met by the objection, that it was by no
means improbable but that the common-councilman would come himself.
This we declared to be almost an impossible case; for, as we were
in possession of his key, it amounted to the proof that he had for
that day relinquished his right, and that we were to be regarded, in
every respect, as his substitute. Mr. Cope was then sent for, and he
declared also that the box was full; that nine persons had obtained
admission with _one_ key, and that were he to admit us, we should
not be able to find room. We then asked Mr. Cope, how he would act
if the common-councilman appeared himself, demanding admittance, and
whether he was invested with any power to refuse such an admission to
an accredited member of the Corporation, who, as such, possessed a
positive right to a seat in that box, of which it was not in the power
of Mr. Cope to divest him. Still the plea of the fulness of the box was
urged; and finding all remonstrance to be vain, we despatched a friend
for the common-councilman himself to come and insist upon his right. In
the interval, however, the gate was opened, as if by some talismanic
power, and on our entering the box, we found the statement of its being
full completely false--two out of the five benches were not occupied at
all, nor during the whole of the day was the box ever full.
We have merely adverted to this circumstance, as it may operate as a
warning to those who so unjustifiably took upon themselves the power
of refusing admittance to a court of justice to individuals invested
with an authority to exact admission, and by which act they were, in
reality, setting themselves up in opposition, and in actual defiance of
the very persons by whom they had been appointed to the offices which
they hold.
At nine o'clock the deputy recorder, Mr. Sergeant Arabin, came into
the court, when the prisoners, John Bishop, Thomas Williams, and James
May, were placed at the bar; and the indictment having been read over,
charging them, in one count, with the Wilful Murder of CARLO FERRARI,
otherwise Charles Ferrier; and in another with the Wilful Murder of a
male person, whose name was unknown. They severally pleaded Not Guilty.
The jury was then sworn, and a short case having been disposed of, at
ten o'clock Chief Justice Tindal, Mr. Baron Vaughan, and Mr. Justice
Littledale entered the court, with the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs.
The bench was crowded with persons of rank, amongst whom we perceived
the Duke of Sussex.
The prisoners were again put to the bar. They seemed but little moved
by the awful situation in which they were at that moment placed, and
they encountered the inquisitive glances of the assembled crowd with
a careless air. Their appearance rather indicated low cunning, than
hardened ferocity. In the countenance of Williams, there was something
unusually repellent, and on the Duke of Sussex taking his seat, and
applying his glass to his eye, Williams appeared to direct his stare
full upon his Royal Highness with all imaginable impudence, as if he
were almost determined to stare him out of countenance.
Mr. BODKIN having opened the case,
Mr. ADOLPHUS proceeded to state the leading facts of it to the jury.
In doing so, he said, that he did not feel it necessary to solicit
their most serious attention to it, for he knew it would receive such
attention from them, being a case in which the three prisoners at the
bar stood charged with the foul crime of murder; and one of which, as
persons living in society, they must have heard a great deal for many
days past. After paying the usual compliment to the jury, on the ground
of their respectability, which, by the bye, would be 'more honoured
in the breach than in the observance,' and declaring, as usual, that
he never had the honour of addressing a jury more competent by their
talents and station in life, to deliver a true and conscientious
verdict; he also, as usual, declared himself to be a very humble
individual, and that he was fully impressed with the conviction, that
a case of such great importance might have been entrusted to far more
abler hands than his own. After this positive compliment to the jury,
and the negative compliment to himself, the learned counsel proceeded
to state, that he was fully aware that the jury knew this to be a case
of the greatest and most important interest, and he felt certain,
that the gentlemen of the jury required no suggestions from him to
induce them to pay the strictest attention to all its details; and
having alluded to the interest which it excited out of doors, he was
sure that he need scarcely remind them, that they should not allow
themselves to be at all swayed by any thing that they might have heard
with regard to this case, previously to their entering that box, but
that their duty there was merely to judge the case by the evidence
which should be laid before them. When he spoke on their deciding on
this case according to the evidence which should be laid before them,
he begged to say, that there was one point on which he was anxious to
call their serious attention. In cases of murder, it often happened
that the direct evidence of eye-witnesses could not be produced as to
the blow which had been struck or the injury which had been inflicted,
and the infliction of which constituted the crime; but it was settled
by the constitution of this country, that, in all cases of this kind,
a jury might select from the circumstances of the evidence laid before
them, such facts as might produce a conviction in their minds as to
the guilt of the prisoners charged with the offence. The application
of the facts and circumstances of a case for such a purpose was, by
the law of the land, vested in a jury constituted as they now were;
and it was for them to decide according to the evidence which should
be laid before them, as it appeared in their minds; and it was for
them, after they had heard the great body of evidence which would be
submitted to them in this case, to say whether the prisoners were or
were not guilty of the heinous crime laid to their charge. If the
facts which would be laid before them, should produce in their minds a
conviction of the guilt of the prisoners, he was sure that they would,
without hesitation, pronounce a verdict which would consign some, if
not all of them, to a certain, speedy, and ignominious death; and he
was equally sure, that if an opposite conviction was the result of
the evidence, the jury would at once acquit the prisoners at the bar.
Without further introduction, he would proceed to state to them the
facts which had given rise to this painful and extraordinary inquiry,
as he felt justified in calling it, for the murder, to which it had
reference, did not appear to have been committed through any of those
motives that have ordinarily occasioned the commission of such a crime
in this country. It was not to gratify revenge for a wrong done, that
the unfortunate victim in this case had been deprived of existence.
The minds of his murderers were not stimulated by any passions of that
description to the commission of the dreadful deed. Neither wealth nor
the other common allurements which influenced the actions of wicked
men under such circumstances had impelled them to perpetrate this
crime. Nothing but the sordid and base desire to possess themselves
of a dead body, in order to sell it for dissection, had induced the
prisoners at the bar to commit the crime for which they were now about
to answer before a jury of their countrymen. The learned gentleman
then proceeded to detail the facts of the case, as they were afterwards
stated in the evidence subsequently produced. He dwelt in terms of
well-deserved eulogy on the meritorious exertions of Mr. Thomas, the
superintendent of police, and of Mr. Corder, the vestry-clerk of St.
Paul's, Covent Garden, in prosecuting the inquiry which had led to
the trial. He acknowledged that the case depended upon circumstantial
evidence, but he contended that a large and well-connected body of
circumstantial evidence was, in many cases, superior to the positive
testimony of an eye-witness. The judgment of an eye-witness was, in
several instances, liable to be deceived; but it was impossible that
the jury, after putting all the circumstances of the case together, and
weighing them seriously and deliberately, could be mistaken in their
judgment. It was for them to say, after doing so, whether the prisoners
at the bar were or were not guilty of the crime with which they stood
charged. He concluded by repeating his confident expectation that they
would give to this important case the deep and serious attention which
it deserved, and by expressing his complete reliance on the integrity
and good sense of a British jury, which a long life of practice had
left him no room to doubt.
WILLIAM HILL, the first witness called, was then examined by Mr.
Clarkson. The witness stated, that he is porter to the dissecting-room
at the King's College. At a quarter before twelve o'clock on Saturday,
the 5th of November, the bell of the dissecting-room having been rung,
he answered it; and having opened the door, he found the two prisoners
at the bar, Bishop and May, there. He had known the prisoners before.
May asked him if he wanted anything, and he said 'Not particularly.'
Witness asked him what he had got; he said, 'A male subject.'
Witness asked him what size. He said, 'A boy about fourteen;' and
he demanded twelve guineas. Witness said they could not give that
price, for they did not particularly want it; but if he would wait, he
would acquaint Mr. Partridge, the demonstrator of anatomy, with the
matter. He accordingly went to Mr. Partridge, who said he would see
them. Witness then went back to them, and told them to go round to
the place appropriated for them. When he had got them into the room
appropriated for them, Mr. Partridge joined them. They could not agree
as to the price. Mr. Partridge said that he would not give twelve
guineas for the subject. Witness then heard May tell him he should have
it for ten guineas. Mr. Partridge then left them, and went into the
dissecting-room. The prisoners then asked witness how it was to be, and
whether he would have the subject? Witness then followed Mr. Partridge,
and, in consequence of what Mr. Partridge said to him, he returned to
the prisoners, and told them that Mr. Partridge would only give nine
guineas for the subject. May said, he would be d--d if it should come
in for less than ten guineas. May was intoxicated at the time. On his
going out to the door, Bishop, taking witness aside, said to him,
'Never mind May, he is drunk. It shall come in for nine guineas in the
course of half an hour. They then went away. About a quarter past two
o'clock on the same afternoon they returned, in company with the other
prisoner, Williams, and a man named Shields. They had a hamper with
them. Shields appeared to be employed as the porter for carrying it.
May and Bishop carried the hamper into another room, while Williams and
May remained where they were. On opening the hamper, a sack containing
the body was found in it. May and Bishop remarked that it was a good
one, to which observation the witness assented. May, being tipsy, then
turned the body very carelessly out of the sack. The witness perceived
that the body was unusually fresh; and, in consequence of what struck
him with regard to the appearances of it, he went to Mr. Partridge.
Previously to his doing so, he asked the prisoners what the subject
had died of? They said, they did not know, and that it was no business
either of his or theirs. Witness replied, that it certainly was not.
The appearances with regard to the body with which he was particularly
struck were these:--It appeared different from a body that had been
laid in a coffin. The left arm was turned up towards the head, and
the fingers of the hand were firmly clenched. In consequence of the
opinion which he formed from the appearance of the body, he went to Mr.
Partridge, and detailed to him what he had seen, and what he thought
about the matter. Mr. Partridge accordingly returned to the room where
the body was lying, to have an inspection of it. The prisoners had been
removed from that room to the room into which they were originally
introduced, and where the other two men were also. Mr. Partridge,
without seeing them, after seeing the body, went to the secretary's
office. In the mean time, several of the gentlemen connected with
the College saw the body, and their suspicions were also excited.
Mr. Partridge having returned to the place where the prisoners were,
showed them a fifty pound note, and told them he must get that changed,
and that then he would pay them. Mr. Partridge having pulled out his
purse while speaking to them, and there being some gold in it, Bishop
said, 'Give me what money you have, and I will call on Monday for the
remainder.' May proposed that Mr. Partridge should give him the fifty
pound note, and he would go out and get it changed. Mr. Partridge,
smiling, said, 'Oh, no,' and then left them. The prisoners remained
waiting after Mr. Partridge had gone. In about a quarter of an hour
Mr. Mayo, the Professor of Anatomy at the College, came down with Mr.
Rogers, the Police Inspector, and a body of police, and the prisoners
were all taken into custody. Before that took place, and while witness
was in the room with Bishop, Bishop said to him, 'Pay me only eight
guineas in the presence of May; give me the other guinea, and I will
give you half-a-crown.' The body was then delivered by the witness to
the police, together with the hamper and sack; and having accompanied
them to the police-station, in Covent Garden, he saw them delivered
into the hands of Mr. Thomas, the Superintendent of Police. Judging by
his experience with regard to dead bodies, it was his opinion that this
body had not been buried, nor laid in a coffin. He observed that there
was no saw-dust about the hair of it.
Cross-examined by Mr. CURWOOD.--The first conversation he had was with
May and Bishop only; Williams did not appear. Williams was in the
College, but not in the same room.
Mr. RICHARD PARTRIDGE examined by Mr. BODKIN.--Witness is Demonstrator
of Anatomy at the King's College. He was there on Saturday, the 5th
of November. A body was brought there that day, and a communication
was made to him about it by the witness Hill, about two o'clock in the
afternoon. He accordingly went and looked at it. None of the prisoners
were present at the time. The body externally exhibited some suspicious
appearances, and it was those appearances that induced him to go for
the police. The suspicious appearances were a swollen state of the
face, bloodshot eyes, freshness of the body, and the rigidity of the
limbs. There was likewise a cut over the left temple. The lips were
also swollen. There was nothing else in the external appearance of
the body that excited his attention. After he had examined the body,
he did not recollect whether he went to the place where the prisoners
were before he called in the police. He was certain, however, that he
went for the police before the circumstance with regard to the fifty
pound note took place. On returning to the College, after going for
the police, he showed the fifty pound note to May and Bishop, where
he found them at the bottom of the stairs, leading to the anatomical
department. He then proposed to them that change should be got for the
fifty pound note, with the view to detain them until the police arrived.
The following day he made a more minute examination of the body at the
police-station, in the presence of other medical men--the external
appearances near the muscles were rigid, though less so than on the
preceding day, and there was a superficial wound on the temple. Beneath
the scalp and the bone there was some contused blood. On opening the
body, he found the whole of the chest, breast, &c., in a healthy
condition; the stomach was full. The spinal cord and brain were then
examined--the brain was perfectly healthy. In cutting through the skin
that covers the spinal cord, he found a quantity of coagulated blood
in the muscles, and on removing the back part, blood was found on the
membrane that envelops the spinal cord. The spinal marrow appeared to
be perfectly healthy. From these appearances he thought the external
marks of violence were sufficient to produce death. The violence
exerted had had an effect on the spinal cord. The violence must have
been on the back of the neck. A blow from a stick, he believed, would
have caused the appearances he had described. The injuries might not
produce instantaneous, but would cause a speedy death.
By Chief Justice TINDAL.--Witness believed that the appearances of
external violence to the spinal marrow had been caused by a blow or
some other species of violence inflicted on the back of the neck.
Examination continued by Mr. BODKIN.--It was the opinion of witness,
that the blow of a stick at the back part of the neck might have caused
such appearances. He would not positively say, that such an injury
would produce an instantaneous death; but he believed that it would
cause a very speedy one.
Cross-examined by Mr. CURWOOD.--On the external examination of the
body, he could not discover anything that would have been sufficient
to produce death. The extravasation of the blood in the spinal marrow
might have produced death. He would not positively say that it did
so, but his conclusion was, that it did. He could only arrive at
belief, and not at certainty on the subject. He did not think that
the appearances which he had mentioned could have been produced by
pressure, or any other means besides a blow. At the same time they
might have been produced by a blow of something else as well as a stick.
Re-examined by Mr. BODKIN.--On examining the heart, he found it was
empty, which was an unusual circumstance. The face too was swollen
and flushed, and both these appearances, namely, the empty state of
the heart, and the swollen state of the features, have been found in
persons who have died suddenly, but not from violence. They have been
found in persons who have met with a sudden but a natural death. But
the appearances about the spinal cord, and the coagulated blood at the
back of the neck, have not been found in persons dying a natural death.