Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-10-12
GUILTY AS CHARGED.
Confession of lesley W. Bishop of the
Crime of Wife Poisoning.

Confession of WrsieY W. Bishop of the
Crime of Wife Poisoning.
New London Special to New York World.l
1t has transpired that Wesley w. Bishop,
of Norwich, charged with poisoning his wife,
Harriet Bishop, and Charles M. Cobb, Jr.,
has made confession duplicating Kate M.
Cobb, his paramour, in the guilt. Bishop
confesses criminal intimacy with Mrs. Cobb,
the procuring of poison for Mrs. Cobb, with
which to destroy the life of her husband, and
his knowledge that she administered it. He
denies that he poisoned Mrs. Bishop, and
imputes the crime to the woman.
It will be remembered that Mrs. Bishop
died on Friday, Feb. 8. The previous Tues
day she had been slelgh-riding with Mrs.
Cobb and lunched with her, and that even
ing was taken very sick. She suffered ter
medicine to her, under the influence of
which she fell asleep. From the slumber
produced by the second dose she never
awoke. Mrs. Cobb did not call during her
friends sickness, but she attended the
funeral and seemed to be more affected than
any of the family, swooning in her carriage
on the way to the grave. Mrs. Bishop
was scarcely buried when Mr.. Cobb
took to his bed after drinking cup of tea
one evening at supper. He had the same
symptoms as Mrs. Bishop, and endured
great agony. The doctor told him he had
been poisoned, and suggested that the water
pipes should be examined. Three weeks
| later Cobb had a similar attack that kept
him in bed two days, and another on Fast
| day that confined him at home for two weeks,
and still another about the middle of May
| that kept him until Jure 4. Two days after
| ward, again while drinking tea, he fell back
| in his chair with severer attack than aay
| previous. His wife assisted him to a sofa
and sent for the doctor, but before the
| latter arrived the unfortunate young
man died, within fifteen minutes
from the time he drank the tea.
post-mortem examination by Prof. Doremus
| showed the presence of arsenic, and the body
of Mrs. Bishop was then exhumed and also
examined. 1t was found in wonderful
state of preservation, and the exhumers dis
covered at once enough arsenic to kill five
] persons. Bishop and Mrs. Cobb were at first
| put under police surveillance and afterward
arrested, when they separately attempted to
leave town, presumably to escape. In July
they were bound over by a Justice of the
peace, and later true bill against Bishop for
the murder of his wife and Cobb, and one
against Mrs. Cobb for the murder of her
husband, were found by the grand jury.
All the parties in the case were brought up
in Norwich. Cobb's father was machinist,
and he was until two years ago in the ma
chine shop Of the Norwich & Worcester rail
road, when he was elected town collector of
taxes. He had an income of about $4,000
and was extremely popular, being connected
N some capacity with almost every organiza-
ton of importance in the city. He was OF
excellent social and moral habits, and was
but sc years old when he died. Bishop be
gan life as a drug clerk, and at one time had
store of his own which did good bust
pess but he took to drink, and once put up q
bottle of hydrocyanic acid for some milo
prescription, and the patient nearly dice
in consequence. He had to give up the bus
mess and went to Oregon, but met with ne
success there and returned to Norwich
where he became clerk in grocery store
The intimacy between the families began a
this time. Mrs. Bishop and Mrs. Cobt
J we're constantly together, but the men me
: only occasionally. The undue intimacy be
J tween Bishop and Mrs. Cobb must hay
grown out of his daily calls at her house 70
grocery orders, though II e,e were not muc
remarked upon previous to his wife's death
: Mrs. Cot BIS mother now says, though, tina
: she warned her son long ago, but he woul
! not heed her. Mrs. Bishop left one child
and Mrs. Cobb is the mother of two.