ance of the subject excited Hill's suspicion
of foul play, and he at once communicated with Mr. Partridge, the
Demonstrator of Anatomy. A further examination of the body by Mr.
Partridge confirmed the porter's suspicions.[21] To delay the men, so that
the police might be communicated with, Mr. Partridge produced a L50 note,
and said that he could not pay until he had changed it. Soon after, the
police officers appeared upon the scene, and the men were given into
custody. At the coroner's inquest a verdict of "Wilful murder against some
person or persons unknown" was brought in, the jury adding that there was
strong suspicion against Bishop and Williams. The prisoners were not
allowed to go free, but were kept in custody. Bishop, Williams, and May
were tried at the Old Bailey, December, 1831. The evidence given against
them showed that they had tried to sell the body at Guy's Hospital; being
refused there, they tried Mr. Grainger, at his Anatomical Theatre, but
with no success. Then they tried King's, where their crime was detected.
The body was proved to be that of an Italian boy, named Carlo Ferrari, who
obtained his living by showing white mice. The boy's teeth had been
extracted, and it was proved that they had been sold by one of the
prisoners to Mr. Mills, a dentist, for twelve shillings. The jury found
all three prisoners guilty, and they were sentenced to death.

From the subsequent confessions of Bishop and Williams, it was shown that
they had enticed the boy to their dwelling in Nova Scotia Gardens; there
they drugged him with opium, and then let his body into a well, where they
kept it until he was suffocated. To the last the prisoners declared that
the deceased was not the Italian boy, but a lad from Lincolnshire. They
seem to have had great difficulty in disposing of the body, as Bishop, in
his confession, said that, before taking it to Guy's, they had tried Mr.
Tuson and Mr. Carpue, both in vain. Bishop and Williams confessed, also,
to the murder of a woman named Fanny Pigburn, and a boy, whose name was
supposed to be Cunningham. Both of these bodies they sold for dissection.
May was respited, and was sentenced to transportation for life. On hearing
of his respite, May went into a fit, and for some time his life was
despaired of; he, however, partially recovered, but his feeble state of
health was aggravated by the annoyance he received from the other convicts
on board the hulks. He died on board the _Grampus