BURYING THE WRONG MAN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1842, 12 November 1897, Page 3

BURYING THE WRONG MAN.

On the 7th July an inquest was held at Englefield Green, in Surrey, on the body of a man who had been found drowned in the Thames, and an open verdict was returned. The corpse was identified by Mrs Bispham, of Penge, as that of her husband, from whom she had been judicially separated since June of last year. It was handed over to her, and a proper funeral was accorded to it by Mrs Bispham and her relatives, the coffin-plate being duly engraved with the name of Alfred Bispham, and the coroner’s certificate was sent on to the Prudential Assurance Society, in which the dead man was insured. Mrs Bispham’s father also went personally to see the brother of the deceased and to break the news that Alfred was drowned and had been buried. On Friday night, however, Mr Alfred Bispham turned up at Lloyd’s office to give ocular demonstration that he was neither dead nor buried, and that the body so carefully laid to rest by his wife was that of a stranger who has yet to be identified. Mr Bispham had also called upon the Assurance Society to tell them that he was still alive, but they assured him that the coroner’s certificate was good enough for them, and that he was dead so far as they were concerned —a view of the matter which, while it surprised, also considerably amused the subject of it. Mr Bispham is now waiting with considerable curiosity to see what will result from the strange mistake that has been made concerning him.