THE MURDER OF BISHOP.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 271, 17 November 1887, Page 3

THE MURDER OF BISHOP.

MRS VON'S STATEMENT.

ELEVEN JURORS FOR HANGING HER.

During the trial of Mrs Mary Yon for the murder of Geo. Wesley Bishop at San Francisco the accused was placed in the wit-ness-box and examined by Assistant District Attorney Dunne.

" Will you please illustrate to the jury just how you P shot Mr Bishop?" he reqU "Why, I never shot him." And a peal of silvery laughter rippled from the doctor s ripe Hps and set the plums in her Rembrandt hat to violently qmvenng in sympathy with the shaking of her soft and he M^unn°e n coaxed a little, however and the lag. finally consented to . Uutmto «iiisb how" Bishop received hie fatal wound The revolver wa ß produced, and The part of the deceased Australian as- ■ Vifn -Dunne Mrs Yon experimented S e nim Sseverafminutes bu P t owing to ceaeed Impatiently, and exclaimed-

"I can't do it right with you. If any other gentleman in the audience will come up and assist me, 111 show exactly how it was lone."

" Never mind," said the bad actor, " I will do just as you say, if that will atford the illustration."

" But I doirt want you," persisted the coy defendant. " I want a passive man ; you resist too much."

" Did not Mr Bishop resist ?"' "Not much ; he was too big a coward. He didn't even dare to point it at me." The exhibition was again resumed, but Dunne did not give satisfaction, as the pistol would not leave his hand except barrel first, and Mrs Yon finally gave it up, after vainly suggesting that some gentleman from the audience should take the stand with her.

"It was very easy for me to take the pistol from him," she said. "He was so scared that he trembled like a leaf, and was afraid to point the pistol at me. He was an awful big coward and wouldn't kill anybody. He pulled the pistol out slowly, and I grabbed it and got it. I grabbed his hand and the pistol went off. The idea of shooting him never occurred to me, and we had the pistol in both our hands when it went otf.''

There was a long series of questions over the precise moment and manner of the discharge, but all that could be extracted from Mrs Yon was that the weapon went oil while it was slipping- from Bishop's hand to that of herself. " Bi&hop cocked it before he drew it from his pocket," she said, and she could not explain how- the trigger was pulled.

After .seven hours' deliberation the jury returned a verdict of murder in the first degree, and fixed the punishment at imprisonment for life. The jury also found that the previous conviction of Mary Yon under the name of Hammersmith, for shooting a man, which she denied, was proved. The jury stood eleven to one for hanging from the beginning, Juror Cogau being the one who favoured life imprisonment; and the rest finally yielded.

In pronouncing sentence Judge Toohy referred to the manner in which the deceased, "by the wiles of a clever «md fascinating woman," had been entrapped and did not realise his position until it was too late. Then thinking of the wife and family he had left behind in New Zealand he repented and determined to return to his home again. He next referred to the claim made by the prisoner that Bishop was bound to her by some sort of Fijian marriage, a marriage which is not recognised in any Christian community or by the laws of the state. "You pursued him to the steamer Alameda on July Ist last,"' said the Court in conclusion, " and, after lying in wait for several hours, without notice or a feeling of mercy or pity in your heart, you murdered him. The jury saw that, this was the case and rightfully convicted you of murder in the first degree. I will not intimate that their verdict was not heavy enough, but the fact remains that eleven of them believed your crime so atrocious that they voted that you should suffer the extreme penalty of the law. But one of them was obdurate and the others yielded to him. There is nothing left for me to do but pass sentence in accordance with their verdict. The sentence of this Court is that you be imprisoned for the term of your natural life in the State Prison at San Quentin.

" Thank you," said the prisoner, sweetly, as she bowed to tha Judge and took her seat. She summoned up a sickly smile the next moment, and, making a sweeping bow to the spectators, walked out of the courtroom.

The San Francisco " Chronicle " says :— " Tho sentence of Mary Yon to San Quentin for life was not what she deserved, but according to the verdict it was all that could bo done in the case. It will be a great thing when tho foolish sentiment in favour of a woman shall fail to save a murderess from the gallows. Alary Yon deserved hanging fully as much as any of the gang in murderers' row, and it would have served as a good example to women of her class if she had been forced to undergo the death penalty."