Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-29
BISHOP WASN'T DEAD
When the Autopsy Was Held on the
Famous Mind Reader, Or
HIS MOTHER is MUCH MISTAKEN.
Exciting Scenes at the Trial of the Physi-
clans Who Presided.
THE DECEASED WANTED THE AUTOPSY
tsrEc1AI TEL toRAM no. TEE pIsrArcn. !

NEW YORK, June 28.-Washington Irv-
| ing Bishop, the mind reader, was invited to
| dinner at the Lambs Club on the evening
of May 12, 1883. After dinner he gave an
| exhibition of his mind-reading powers. At
the climax of his effort he fell into the arms
of the by-standers in cataleptic trance.
He was taken to an upper room in the club
house and attended by physicians.
Whether he remained in cataleptic
trance until the following afternoon when
an autopsy was made, or died before the
autopsy, has been matter of dispute ever
since between the physicians who were con-
cerned in the autopsy, DrA John Arthur
Irwin, Frank Ferguson and Irwin b.
Hance, and Bishops mother, Eleanor
Fletcher Bishop. Mrs Bishop endeavored
to have the three doctors indicted
for murder, for killing her son while he
was in cataleptic trance, but the grand
jury indicted them only for a misdemeanor
in making an autopsy without the per-
mission of the nearest relative of Bishop or
of the Coroner.
Mrs Bishop has been untiring in her ef-
forts to bring the doctors to trial: but her
efforts came to nothing until to-day, when
they were called to the bar of the General
Sessions for trial before Judge Fitzgerald.
A Scene Confidently Anticipated.
Mrs. Bishop, in deep mourning and car
rying crutch-for she is lame--sat in the
inclosure for women witnesses. 1t was ex-
pected that she might make scene, and
two court officers were directed by Judge
Fitzgerald to sit near her to restrain her if
the necessity arose.
Assistant District Attorneys Weeks and
al he u Ii
Moeran and Alfred Pagelow appeared for
DR.. Irwin, John M. Bowers for Dr.. Fer
euson, and Nelson j. Waterbury, Jr., for
DR.. Hance.
Each of the defendants demanded
separate trial, and Dr.. 1rwin's turn came
first. Assistant District Attorney Weeks
said that setting aside as entirely out of the
case the consideration whether or not
Irving was alive when the autopsy was
begun, the jury would have to determine
whether or not the autopsy was held con-
trary to law. All men naturally recoiled
from the suggestion that man would dis
sect the body of a living person, and the
jury must not permit any thought of this
horrid suggestion to prejudice them in
weighing the evidence.
The Mother Deeply Affected.
At this moment Mrs Bishop burst into
tears and sobs. Mr. Weeks called as his
first witness, DR.. Hance, one of the de-
PENDANTS. DR.. Hance testified that at about
2 o'clock on the afternoon of May 13, 1889,
DR.. Irwin called upon him and informed
him of Bishops death. DR.. Irwin said that
Bishops death was due to heart failure and
failure of respiration as result Of the
nervous exhaustion following mind-read-
ing performance.
The final feat that Bishop performed, Dr.
Irwin said, was a most exhausting one
Two members of the club went to the Office
of the club and picked out from an old
register the name of visitor to the club.
Bishop, meanwhile, remained in another
room blindfolded. When he was told that
that the two members had picked out, he
placed hand on the shoulder of each of the
gentlemen and walked downstairs to the
Office. ls
Bishop went direct to the register and
asked for pencil and paper. When they
were produced he wrote the name that the
two members had picked out from the old
register. Almost immediately afterward
he fell unconscious into the arms of the by
ISLANDERS. He was taken to an upper room
and laid upon lounge. He received medi-
cal attention, but he died.
Description Of the Autopsy.
The witness went to Hawks undertaking
shop at Sixth avenue. He found Hawks |
and several assistants who had prepared |
Bishops body for the autopsy. Drs. Irwin |
and Ferguson were there. DR.. Ferguson |
performed the autopsy after having made
the usual preliminary examination. The |
chest was opened and the heart and lungs
were taken out and examined Then the
skullcap was removed and the brain was
taken out and examined. Bishops brain
weighed 40 ounces and was intensely con-
gested.
DR.. Ferguson, another of the defendants,
testified that DR.. Irwin called on him on
the afternoon of May 13 and said that a |
patient of his had died He wanted DR..
Ferguson to make the autopsy for him. DR..
Irwin said that Bishop had died at IL I
O. clock The witness received the impress
sion from this statement that DR.. Irwin
meant that Bishop had died at midnight
the night before. He did not discover until
after the autopsy that Bishop had died at IL |
J. clock noon that day.
ION that autopsy, doctor, had you anv
loubt that the subject was dead?" asked
Mr.. Weeks.
Had Not the Slightest Doubt.
81 had not the slightest doubt in the
world"
Lawyer Moeran moved that Judge Fitz-
,erald advise the Jury to acquit Irwin on
he ground that the prosecution had failed
% make out a case. Judge Fitzgerald
lenied the motion.
Mrs. Bishop arose, leaning upon her
rutch. Tears flowed down her withered
heeks. She cried out: IT am willing to
,rove that they were guilty of numbering
ny boy"
1.-THE officers will preserve order" said
Judge Fitzgerald briefly, and the officers
eside Mrs. Bishop stepped up to her and
ersuaded her to take her seat
In his opening for the defense Lawyer
opsy was performed in accordance with a |
7ish often expressed before the death of
Washington Irving Bishop. This wish was
epeated on many occasions in the presence
fDr. Irwin.
Warned to Discontinue His Work.
DR.. Irwin testified that he first met .
'ishop in 1879 in Liverpool As he was
assing the Lambs Club on the evening of ,
lay u, 1889, he remembered that there was
n entertainment going on, and he went in. !,
'ishop had just concluded one of his mind ,
eading feats. He complained of feeling ill, :
nd asked the doctor to feel his pulse. The
octor did so, and advised Bishop to discon-
nue. the performance Directly afterward,
owever, Bishop performed the feat of dis
overing the name in an old register of the '
ub. Just as he had written the name he {
Ill backward in a cataleptic it, !
The doctor attended to him and. he recov-
red consciousness Then he was taken to :
room upstairs and was laid upon alounge. .
'r. Irwin sat opposite him and Bishop y
poke freely of his physical condition. The
octor told Bishop that his performances
ere dangerous to life and that there were