The Tragedy on the Alameda A NEW ZEALAND CHEMIST ASSASSINATED. A. Strange Story with a Tragic Ending.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 215, 13 August 1887, Page 5

The Tragedy on the Alameda A NEW ZEALAND CHEMIST ASSASSINATED. A. Strange Story with a Tragic Ending.

A cablegram received at Gisborne on Saturday identified tho man named Bishop, who was shot by a woman on board the Alameda, just prior to her departure from San Franscisco, as G. W. Bishop, formerly a chemist carrying on business at Gisborne. The message further stated thai the wound had terminated fatally. The circumstances of the shooting were these : About 2 p.m. on the date fixed for the departure of the Alameda, a woman, tall and powerfully builb, stepped on board and inquired whether Mr Bishop, who had taken a steerage passage foi Auckland, was on board. On being informed that he had gone ashore to make some purchases, she said very quietly that she would wait for him. She went into the steerage apartments, stood alongside of the steps leading 1 o the main deck, and spoke on commonplace topics with the men connected with the steamer. They noticed nothing remarkablo about her up to this time, except that bhe had her right hand hidden under a shawl wrapped round her shoulders. She had not waited long when Mr Bishop arrived and entered the steerage. He asked immediately to be shown his berth, and one of the stewards was proceeding to comply with his request, when he heaid a shot fired, and the woman exclaim, " Take that with you." It seems that nobody actually saw the shot tired. Mr Bishop called out loudly as if in great pain, and pressed his hands on his loft side, where the bullet had evidently entered. He staggered to the deck and was promptly placed in a vehicale and conveyed to the Receiving Hospital. The woman in the meantime was arrested on the steamer, and taken ashore. The Alameda sailed almost immediately afterwards, and those on board did not learn the sequel to the tragedy. From the cable despatch now to hand, however, it appears that the assassin did her work efFectually, as Bishop has since died.

Bishop's Career in San Franrisco. Bishop sold his business in Gisborne a few months ago, and went to San Francisco. Hero he quickly fell into the toils of the woman by whose hands he ultimately met his death. He seems, however, to have been a very willing and apt pupil in the fast ways of the great and reputedly wicked city of the Pacific slope. It appears that on April ISfch Bishop went to a matrimonial agent named Hopkins and a^ked for an introduction to a woman who wis advertised in a eheet which Hopkins published as in search of a husband. Hopkins gave him a letter to a woman he called "Lady Mary Yon," charging ten dollars for his services. The introduction led to a, laioson, Bishop setting her up in a lodginghouse in Powell-street, which he rented for her special benefit. All went well for a time, until Bishop apparently tired of his bargain, and assigned the property to a man named Joseph M. McLaughlin. The woman refused to give up possession, and this led to a suit for the recovery of the furniture, which, according to the complainant, included five beds and bedding, carpets, six mirrors, cooking-stove, chairs in eight rooms, pictures in &arne, three ■washstands, five tables, and various other articles, all valued at 299d015. (about L6O).

Bishop's Evidence in Court The hearing of the case occupied parfc o^ two days, and fills over two columns of the San Francisco "Chronicle." The evidence of Bishop is thus reported : — George Wesley Bishop, who is a partly bali-headed man, who should have known better, and who sports a full beard and looks more like a German than a citizen of New Zealand, testified substantially as follows when on the stand : " I am about four months from New Zealand. I met Mrs Mary Von, and I confess I fell in love with her and she induced me to purchase the house on Powell-street from Mrs Mcßride. 1 came here about March 20th, and put up at 604, McAllister-street. I got acquainted with Mrs Yon by an ad vertisement in the ' Matrimonial Gazette ' by the assistance of Dr. Hopkins. I told her when I met her that she need not suppose I came to her on matrimonial business, as I already had a wife. I paid her considerable attention. I am a chemist. I got her medicine, such as limes, lozenges, and many other things. When she got well we again talked of divorce matters and were very affectionate. Once when she was playing at the piano she broke off rather ' rhapsodically ' and said it was too bad she never could get ready money when she needed it. I said that was all right ; it was only changing money from my pocket to hers. Then she spoke about the house on Powell-street, and she asked me to look it up. If the plan met her approval and expectations it would be all rignt and I was to buy it. It was 104, Powellstreet. Well, we looked over the house and it seemed all right and I bought the place out. The bill of sale was first in her name from Mrs Mcßride, but afterward, at my suggestion, it was put in my name. On May 30th I asked her if she had the money to pay next month's rent, and she said no. Then I aßked her what proposition she had to make, but she submitted none. Consequently the lady depreciated considerably in my estimation." " How did you come to visit Mrs Yon ?" that lady's counsel asked on cross-examin-ation. " Well, a friend of mine showed me an advertisement in the ' Matrimonial Gazette ' about a young lady, blonde complexion, just passed through the divorce courts, now ready for matrimony. I thought I would gc and see how she stood it. I found her an intelligent, nice-looking woman and paid attentions to her," Counsel for the defendant here pressed the witness very hard as to the amatory nature of his behaviour towards Mrs Yon, in the course of which he admitted that; he had purchased her a musical instrument.

Testimony of Mrs Mary You. The report proceeds : Mrs Mary Yon, the defendant, was called to the stand. Mary is a lady of impressive presence. She must weigh nearly 200 pounds. Nevertheless her handsome face and generally shy, maidenly manner were entirely inconsistent with her general claim of being fat, fair and 40 — more fat than 40, to be particular. (It appears that she was a tall stout woman of probably GO years of age.) She appeared in Court in a plain blue dress, whose ample folds enfolded her form with a sort of neglige looseness, and a light yellow-coloured straw bonnet, turned up at the back, which was decorated with several feathers, and which Bet off the powdered face with becoming coyness. "Mr Bishop," said witness, in a low, sweet voice, the harmony of which .was only occasionally broken by a sound like the broken string on a fiddle, " came to me with a letter of introduction from Dr Hop-

kins. He told me he had paid lOdols. , for the letter df introduction, and we had many a laugh over it."' Mr Bishop told me he had just come from Australia and wanted to make a home, and therefore he had gone about the speediest way of doing it. Dr Hopkins told me he was wealthy, and Mr Bishop corroborated thai statement himself. He left a letter of credit for £300 with me as a guarantee of his good faith. "Good faith for what ?" said the attorney. " Why - er— ah— ah-" and Mary blushed and giggled. "He wanted to marry me. Oh, he was a very affectionate man Why, I never had a more devoted lover, and Mary's massive frame shook, as if with the ague, as a sigh escaped her, while her mind seemed to reverb to her bygone flames. Witness then told how in the pure affection of his heart Bishop had bought out the lodging-house for her. On cross-examination she had a hard time. She was compelled to acknowledge that at various times she had boino tho names of Blodes, Hughes and Hummersmeth, and that she did nob now know where her quondam husbands were. The " poor girl " was quite nonplussed Avhen asked if she was a married woman, and how that " under the decisions she really did not know." Then she said she had married Bishop by an agreement. Being asked what her business was, she said she was a physician, although she had no diploma, and could nob tell how many teeth were in the head nor bones in tho body. She desired it to be understood, however, that she did not cure by the use of medicines, but by the laying on the hands, and her method was known as the Roman method. She was a " natural healer." She said : The marriage contract with 1 Bishop was written in ink, and was made jat her suggestion. She got the idea from tho Sharon case, and thought that such marriages were all right. " Were you not sentenced in Judge Murphy's court on January 7th, 1885, for an assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder and sent to San Quentin and served a year V" " Yes— es, sir," faltered the claimant of four names, and the relict of several husbands. On cross-examination by her own at- j toi-ney Mrs Yon stated tl at Bishop had given her a number of presents, and she produced several silk handkerchiefs, various towels, a scarfpin, a large roll of silk, and some linen. Hopkins, the matrimonial agent, admitted advertising" the defendant in tho following terms: "A young and beautiful woman, who has just got out her divorce papex-s from a bad hu&bond, is again in the matrimonial market. She is a beautiful creature, splendid formation, accomplished, prepossessing, beautiful pianist and high-toned relatives, and is now in a prosperous business." Under examination he admitted that the description was false. Mr Uollins, attorney for the defendant, then made a statement in which he denied some of the testimony of Mr Bishop. Mrs Wior, the last witness, testified that Bishop had roomed at her house since he came to the country, but had not slept home fiom May 12th to May 29th, which was the period during which defendant stated Bibhop had been with her.

Speeches by Counsel. The case was then argued. Counsel for iho defendant contended that the furniture had been a gift from Bishop to defendant). J. D. Sullivan, attorney for the plaintiff, said Bishop was the very incarnation of guile, while the defendant was his very antithesis — the perfection of a shrewd woman. Nothing could be gained favourable to Mrs Yon fiom the testimony of this man Hopkins, who had. lived there for a number of years and never had a reputation ; who adveitised women, and who, judging from the sample produced in court, the style of all of them could easily be imagined. " We know what her reputation is,'' Mr Sullivan continued. " She is one of a class who too often ply their nefarious trade in the shadows of the courts of justice. This class of human spide-s that are laying ior human flies like this man, to take them into their nests - could anything good come of her connection with Hopkins ? A ' beautiful, beautiful woman,' and then a man gets a woman built like John L. Sullivan." In rendering his judgment in favour of the plaintiff, Justice Burke reviewed the evidence at length. He did not think the fact of a marriage had been conclusively shown, and thought that the evidence had not shown that Bishop had made a gift of the furniture to Mrs Yon. The Court paid especial attention to the fact that Bishop had caused the bill of sale to be made out in his own name, which Justice Burke considered a point which showed conclusively that Bishop had purchased the property for himself. "I think," said tho Court, " that this gay Lothario brought the property and put this woman in the house to run it and make all she could out of it. lam inclined to think that the plaintiff here, although he probably ought to have a guardian appointed for him - a man who went to Hopkins to get a wife ought to have a guardian — is entitled to judgment I can't see that the defendant in this case, after receiving all those presents, is entitled to this property. Judgment for plaintiff."

The Sequel. The sequel to this extraordinary story has already been told. Bishop had evidently made up his mind to leave San Francisco, and had booked for the return voyage, when his career was cut short in a manner that is not at all surprising under the circumstances. — Auckland Star.