Show A CELEBRATED CASE Investigating the Death Bishop The Mud Reader L AGONY OF THE WIFE AND MOTHER She Said Slowly and Distinctly Engrave Born March 41830 Murdered May 13 1889The Arrest Special t TIE HERALD ExaminerDispatch 4l NEW YORK May 1SDid Bishop die under the surgeons knife or did he die a natural death i Was ho a victim t the cruelty of science or has theintense grief idle of his nervous mother raised an issue The impression is growing here that the curiosity of the doctors exceeded their discretion dis-cretion or their humanity They have creton evinced throughout the most complete contempt con-tempt for the feelings of the deceaseds mother and appear only to be concerned lout their own position in the case The mother of the dead man howeverhas been most determined in her attitude When te undertaker called on her to ask what x iscription he should put on the dead man coffin plate she said slowly and distinctly Engrave Washington Irving BishopBon March 4 iNrG Murdered May 13 ISbi i It was with difficulty that she was persuaded per-suaded t change the word murdered to dea But she believes her son was and puol > opinion seems to be settling on her sde One thing is certain the doctors are in a perilous pobitioa They are certainlj gtLnSy of some offense This offense at least is a misdemeanor and it may be a soy The simple truth is that Doctors Fergn son and Hance had no right to perform the autopsy in any case The section of the New York ponal code which applys todis ijptions are very explicit X Section SOS says that a dissection when allowed and whenever a coroner is author lied by law to hold an inquest upon the bod so far as such coroner is authorized to have a dissection for the purpose of the inquest and no further and whenever and so far as the husband wife next of kin of the deceased beiu j charged by law with the duty of burial may authorize dissec tton for the purpose of ascertaining the i tauso of death aud no further I Section 300 says A person who makes or causes or procures to be made any dissection I dis-section of the body of a human being except I cept by authority of law or in pursuance of a commission given by deceased is guilty of a misdemeanor i Now there ai no pretense that Doctors Irvine and Hanco acted except upon their own responsibility They arc therefore clearly guilty of I misdemeanor But are they guilty of murder J This is a question the coroner will however decide and I afterwards perhaps a jury of twelve citizens citi-zens Mrs Bishop the mother of the mind reader called upon Coroner Levy to hold another autopsy to ascertain beyond a doubt if possible whether her sou died sargically or from catalepsy and with a view to taking steps to get justice for the alleged mutilation of his body The brokenhearted broken-hearted woman has received an additional sHack by the knowlege that not only was Pe mindreaders head examined but that liis bodv had been mutilated in order that his entrails could be examined Upon a consideration of all the facts the coroner decided to make a thorough inves gm Drb J oI Dr tigation and summoned Dr Frank Ferguson I Fergu-son Dr Hale Dr Irvine and Dr Lee to be present at an examination into their own conduct When the celebrated case was opened the coroner addressed the following question ques-tion t Dr Irvine Did you ever say began coroner that it was better to have an autopsy made by a competent pathologist than to have it bungled by a coroner of the county I made no such remark replied Dr Irvine and if any such statement has been published I a incorrectly reported Have you over had a case like this before e be-fore during your medical practice Once a very similar one Mr Bishop died of catalepsy and it was a very remarkable re-markable case in all its features He called on me several times for advice At this stage of the proceedings T A Atchison entered the room and announced himself as the legal fo representative of Bishops widow He brought a note from District Attorney Fellows which authorized author-ized trim to represent that office Now I make the following motion said Mr Atchison There are certain jjarties here who are certainly guilty of JTsoaie sort of crime I Washington Irving iSishop was dead when the autopsy was made they were according to the law which I shall read guilty of a misdemeanor misde-meanor but if Bishop was alive they are guilty of a felony which is equal to homicide homi-cide I therefore move 1That these imhaeh tnJ i preliminary hearings be adjourned and thai a inquest jbe held 2That the parties present at tile autopsy be apprehended and held under bail After examining tho in and holding a conference with hisJdeputyDr Jenkins the te coroner announced that tie second motibn was granted The coroner held Dr Irvine Ir-vine Ferguson and Hance who were present pres-ent at the autopsy in 2500 bail each The 1 three physicians seemed thunderstruck After the proceedings George Francis Train entered the court room He expressed ex-pressed his gratification at what had been done He announced himself as the representative I repre-sentative of Mme Eleanor Fletcher Bishop and said that he was convinced that her son was alive when the autopsy was made The wife and mother seemed more calm seem cm and resigned yesterday Both expressed themselves a quite satisfied now that the coroner had taken official action but neither neith-er of them has been and moved from the belief be-lief that the mind reader was in a trance when the surgeons knife was used The inquest has been fixed by Coroner Levy for Tuesday or Wednesday A number num-ber of members of the Lambs club Bishops relatives and friends and some experts ex-perts have been subpoenaed as witnesses Deputy Coroner Jenkins will make the official rU nJet ln heti del autopsy on the remains some time today In order that there might be no prror in the finding Dr E G Janeway of Jfjjellevue hospital Prof H Biggs of the patholological section of Bellovue medical college Dr Spitzka and Drs Alan Mc Clean and Hamilton have been asked to assist as-sist It is difficult to guess what defense the ges doctors will make They have become very reticent since their arrest was known I i claimed that Dr Irvine has set up an alleged al-leged understanding between him and Bishop t the effect that should Bishop die the doctor if he was within reach was to perform a autopsy Dr Irvinfe has not Jt vet said that Bishop ever distinctly asked him in so many words or even in so many words gave him permission to make the ors autopsy The most that he has said so far is that he and Bishop frequently talked about Bishops wonderful gift and that Bishop was morbidly anxious that people should be convinced that it was a gift a mysterious power about which he himself knew nothing and that it was in no sense a mere trick and deception I was in this connection the doctors say that he talked on the autopsy expressing the belief that might throw some light on what was so mysterious On the other hand Mrs Bishop the mother of tho deceased de-ceased says her son had a genuine terror of dissection Time and time again sho 38ys he begged her should ho die never t let a surgeoas knife touch him and sever t let electricity be applied t him j 4 and never to place his body on ice This Mrs Bishop says was because knowin his liability to fall into a condition resembling death he feared he might either be killed by a shock or be frozen to death in an undertakers ice chest As to the paper which he is said to hay carried constantly on his person and which carred constanty was addressed to physicians in general and which embodied these same requests he had so often made Mrs Bishop declared that he had not only had such a paper but that he had it with him on the Saturday nigh when he left Philadelphia the Saturday night prior to the Sunday night on which he was taken ill He left her home at 9 oclock that night she said and the last thing before be-fore starting said Now mother mj paper to the doctors This paperiiot only contained the three requests about the cut tins the electricity and the ice but it also coutainel his mothers address in Philadelphia Philadel-phia phiaMrs Bishop said she had recently removed re-moved to her present residence and that her son had inserted the new street and number num-ber in the place of the old iu this same open letter to doctors Whether he had that paper on his person when he died Mrs Bishop does not know but she says she does know to a certainty that he had it with him when he left Philadelphia on the night before he was taken i1 When Bishop died his papers and the valuables he had on his person were taken in charge by Mr Ritchie up I in the Mrs safe Bishop of the Lambs and chief were locket If the I papers of warning to the doctors was in his pocket them that night it will be found among |