npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1876-12-22 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

SERJEANT COX ON 811 AM SPIRITUALISM.  In his charge to the grand jury at the Middlesex Sessions on Monday, Mr. sAerjeant Cox, referring to the ease of Regina v. Lawrence, !mown as the Nast End Spiritualist Case," said the charge was one of obtaining money by false pretences, the. alleged false pretences being that he represented himself to be a spirit. They need not trouble theme's's*/ with all the controversy raised in recent discussions upon that and other eases. The question for them was, did the defendant falsely represent himself to be a spirit, whatever that might be, whereas in truth and fact it was himself personating a spirit? If they should be satisfied of this, It would be a false pretense, and if he obtained money by pretending to be a spirit, the only other question for them would be if it was so obtained with an intent to•defraud the prosecutor. Shortly afterwards Mr. Cooper, who is instructed to pros-cute by the Treasury, asked the court to be allowed to add two counts for conspiracy to the indictment. Mr. Serjeant Cox concurred, and the application that the case should be postponed until the January general sessions was granted.  The reported capture on Dartmoor of one of the men charged with the murder of a police-conatable at Yeovil a incorrect.  A reprieve was, on Tuesd y, received at Cardiff for 'Lary Mahoney, sentenced to death for the murder of her child near Whitahuroh.  Mr. Handel Cossham is seriously ill, though be is now considered out of danger. He has had an attaot of typhoid fever, which is believed to have been brought on by drinking impure water. - -•  Sir Joseph Napier. Vice-Chanciallor of Dublin Universily and ex-Lord Chancellor of Ireland, is in inch a precarious state of health as to cause serious apprehension on the part of his friends. Mrs. Peake, wife of the Rev. G. R. Peake, curate in charge of St. John's parish, Chatham. caught smallpox while vishing the sick, and died on Monday. The deceased lady had only been married about eighteen months. A woman named Bannister died In the Stockport Infirmary, on Monday, from the effects of injuries which she received on the 15th inst., at the hands of her husband, a factory operative. The latter made • determined attempt on his own life, and he Is In a dangerous state. The Manchester Guardia* announces the death, on Monday, at the Monsen Fever Hospital, of Mr. Pitt, the steward of the Manchester Assize Courts. Mr. Pitt was seized with small-pox shortly after the close of the assizes, and was removed to Monsall at his own request. There is little doubt that he contracted the disease in the performance of his public, duties.  The 11,,tional Rifle Association have made considerable alterations in the size of the targets for the next Wimbledon meeting. assimilating them In certain respects to the new regulation targets, and granting the concession of the "corners • at the MO.and 100 yards, at which ranges the bulls-eye is increased two inches in diameter, a diminution of the saute amount being made at the short range.
The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1879-12-19 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

THE LABOUR MARKET IN VICTORIA.  DEATH OF A NOTED CHARACTER.  On Saturday evening John Calera% who for a great many years officiated as the executioner at itewgate and Horsemonger Lane Gaols, and also at all the principal prisons throughout the country, died at his residence at Hoxton. Calcraft received his official appointment as executioner to the Corporation of London, in connection with the gaol of Newgate in the year 1828, and he had a standing salary of one gninea per week, being allowed, when his servicea were not required at New gate, to officiate at any Other gaol where the capital sentence was to be carried ost. In 1874, in consequence of his advanced age, it was notified to him that it would be better for him to resign, sad he accordingly did so, after 46 years' service, but his salary was continued to him by the corporation. During tlio time he was in office he had to execute some of the most extraordinary criminals, the earliest among them being Bishop and Williams, for the murder of an Italian boy in Bethnal-green, which sweated an ^sti-cordinary sensation at the time it occurred. Caieraft was very retired in his nusnner and habits, and he was very much averse to giving any information regarding the number of criminals who had passed through his hands during his weer; Ile ale aye appeared to con-i ler that he was unfairly dealt with by being compelled to resign his position as executioner, and was reputtedly heard to say to those who were acquainted with him that he was as well able to perform his duty as ever he was, and nothing appeared to give him greater annoyance than when it was stated in the report of an execution in the newspapers that the culprit appeared to struggle a great deal. Calcraft was born in the year 1800, and was by trade a shoemaker.  The Duc d'Aumale is indisposed, and the grand hunting patties at Cempiegne for Christmas eTe çoil oequently postponed. Mr. Tooth continues very 111, and is suffering great pain. There is little hope that he will be able to return to the stage for two months. Fever is causing a great number of deaths in Gujarat. It is reported that GO deaths a day have been registered at Ahmedabad, and as many as 200 a day at Baroda. A nth, r serious outbreak of scarlet fever has occamd Sittingbourne, three or four deaths, all of children, having taken place. nine° Ti opold has consented to preside at the ninety-second anniveasary of the Royal Masonic Institution f..r Girls, in May next. Tito Victoria Station on the Metropolitan Distr.ot Railway will, by way of expetiment, in a few da3s, he lighted with the electric light. The December Se sion of the Central Criminal C.:nit has been opened, with 39 male and 9 female pr:soners for trial. , Mr. Edison will light the whole of the houses in ,M nb,., Falk at Chtistmas with his electric ' which i.e plaints to have breught tet perfection. A O 5 011 plitr somewhat sarcastiolly reinarks ;police of New York no being vaccinated. Itut *hat is the use of it? They never catch anything.
The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1879-03-07 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

SCOTLAND YARD ORDER.—An order has been issued from Scotian' Yard, within the last day or so, addressed to the divisional superintendents of metropolitan rolice, and signed by Colonel Henderson, though it is suppomocl to emanate from the department of directors of criminal investigations. This order sets forth that, with the view of promoting greater vigilance on the part of police employed on fixed point duty, the district superin.' tendents will in future, in all cas s of murder, burglary, robbery, and assault, report to the commissioners whether blame attaches to the police on duty near the place where the offence was committed, or any negligence or want of vigilance. Divisional superintendents will take care that the names of the sergeants and constables concerned In all such cases are placed on the morning report, and that full information is given to district superintendents to enable them to report to the commissioners. This order has O\ cited much indignation, not only among the sergeants and men, but also among inspectors and divisional superintendents, RO that in some divisions the superintendents have hesitated to enforce it, lest It should excite a mutiny amongst the mop The court-martial held on ...optani Brine, of , the ironclad Invincible, has resulted in a verdict William Harrington, a newspaper vendor, was of acquittal. The captain was ordered under at the Low street Police Court on Saturday, final arrest by signal in presence of the fleet, on the £0 for wanionly killing some performing birds. charge of having " nearly caused" a collision by The ow.ler of the birds refused to give beer to an error in the marrouvring of his ship. 'Harrington, who was a strangcr, and whilst the former was in a public-house, time birds in ques. At the annual general meeting of the proprietors of the Oxford Military College, held on the 21st 'tion were killed. When thr.mateued with the olice, Harrington took flow his pocket a Java ult., Major F. Duncan, LL.D., R.A.. in the chair, ' •p • sparrow, which he dashed to the ground and the report of the hoard of management was unani. lulled. mously adopted, 'and very cheering statements were made by the governor, the head master, and The Times understands that several of the Lou. the director of drills, don joint-stock banks which take the lead as acceptors of Eastern bills have agiecid to refuse At a meeting of the Birmingham Trades Council acceptance to bills drawn at six months' sight on Saturday it was resolved to establish a hiders- after the 31st of August next. Credits now opened tion of trades unions, tor the purpose of counter- on that basis will be continued to the end of the acting the National Federation of Employers. year, hut after tho date named all new business It was stated that several trades councils in the must be done by means of our months' sight bills, Midlands, representing ninety trades and about otherwise the Loudon banks will refuse their ac-15,000 workmen, were willing to join in Lousing "Twice. the Imposed Leaoratiou.
The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1869-12-17 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

HORRIBLE MURDER IN BERKSHIRE.  A most cruel and heartless murder is reported to have been committed in a lonely spot between Shillingford and Benton, villages situated about two miles from Wallingford. The name of the murdered mate is Richard Green, who by trade was a dealer in firewood, and was known to be possessed of a considerable slim of money. On the day in question, as was his custom every Saturday, he had been to a vii. doge called Warborongh with a load of wood. He was lost seen alive at the Old Bell, Shillingford, which he deft shortly before eight o'clock on the evening in .que,tion. About ten o'clock his horse and cart was found going through Benson-street, but Green was not men, and as he was accustomed to sleep in the bottom of the cart, leaving his horse to take its chance, this was considered nothing unusual, and so attracted no particular attention. About eight o'clock on Sunday morning, James Betteridge, a labourer, lodging at the Crooked Billet, Stoke Row, saw the horse and cart in front of that house, the torso leaning its head over a gale opening into afield in which it had been in the habit of grazing. On lock. lug into the cart he saw Green, and calling to him twice, and receiving no reply, he examined him somewhat closely, and ascertained that tho old man had been murdered. His head was covered with blood, and there were no fewer than six wounds, either of which medical evidence went to show would have been suf. ficiout to account for death. Besides which there was a wound on his nose, the bridge of 'which was broken, as was also his jaw, and the second and fourth fingers of his right hand. The distance from the scene of the murder to the deceased's house, at Stoke Row, is some seven miles, and the horse found its way there uninterrupted. Deceased was in the habit of performing his journeys at night, and was known in the neighbourhood as "Midnight Green." It seems plunder was not the object of the crime, as the deceased's money and watch were both found upon his person. That a souffle ensued there can be no doubt, f,,r a stick known to have belonged to the deceased was found broken in several pieces near the-scene of the murder, and it is supposed he defended himself with it. Chief-constable Owen, of the Oxfordshire Constabulary, Superintendent Sears, and other members of the force have been vigilantly inquiring into the matter, and we believe have obtained some clue to the murderer. The deceased's son and nephew /nave also been taken into custody for moving title deeds and money from deceased's house. An inquest held upon the body has resulted in a verdict of "Wilful murder" against some persons unknown.  £24,000, the amount of specie recovered from the Carnatio,was returned on Tuesday to the underwriters, who had settled on the total low.  The Earl of Cavan preached before largo emigre. gationa at Newcastle on Sunday—in the afternoon in St. Panl'a Congregational Chapel, and in the evening in the Tyne Theatre.
The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1869-04-30 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

HORRIBLE MURDER AT PENDERYN. On Sunday morning last it was discovered that a most brutalmurder had been committed during the night preceding in a cottage situate on the side of a bare hill about half-a-mile from the highway leading from Hirwain to Brecon. The victim was an old womannamed Mary Jones, about sixty-four years of age, who had as recently as ten weeks ago buried her husband, who had acquired a small independency by keeping a farm. After his death she had had a neighbour's daughter to sleep with her, but for the last three weeks this had been discontinued. On Saturday last she had been to Hirwain, and was seen by some neighbours about eight o'clock in the evening, after her return home. On the following morning Mr. John Jenkins, a farmer, passed the cottage, and called out to her, telling her the hen had laid; he received no answer, and seeing nothing unusual beyond the beast-house door being open, he went home. During breakfast, however, he spoke of the beast-house door having been left open and of his having received no reply from Mary. Thinking there might be something the matter with her, his two daughters went to the cottage, when upon opening the door the saw they deceased on the ground by the firethere was blood on the floor, and some sticks which had been burnt, some hay, and also some straw. There was the mark of fire on the handkerchief over her face, and the mark of fire between her legs, but the shoes and stockings which she had on were not burnt. She had something on her head which seemed like a lump of coal. The blood was flowing from the back of her head, which appeared as if it had been smashed. Both arms were drawn up, and one hand was clenched. The leg of a chair had been broken off, and was in the grate.—At the inquest which was held on Tuesday last at the Brecon Arms, Pontprenllwyd, Penderyn, before Mr. J. Williams, of Brecon, coroner, evidence of the facts above stated was given, and Mr. T. J. Webster, surgeon, who had examined the body, stated that death resulted from injuries which might have been inflicted by the leg of a chair. The other evidence was merely as to the state of the house, and the property found in it. £42 was found by P.S. Jones in a small box enclosed in an old tea chest which was between two beds. The inquiry was adjourned till Tuesday, the 11th of May. As yet there seems to be no trace whatever of the murderer, and the coroner observed in adjourning the inquiry, that he hoped the police would be vigilant in their search for the guilty party, and that they would be successful in bringing him to justice. The matter, as yet, however, remains in perfect. mystery. In most cases of murder there was something found which traced suspicion to some one, but in this case they were left, as it were, entirely in the dark. After the inquiry was adjourned, the parties connected with it attended the funeral of the murdered woman, who was interred in Penderyn churchyard.
The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1869-05-21 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

AMERICAN ITEMS.  CORI( trees ate being raised in South Florida from seed imported from Portnpl. Is one Minnesota town upwards of 40,000 maple trees have been tapped for sugar purposes. IN Pittsburg the velocipede is called the lightning. catcher.  A 130aTON undertaker has just followed to the grave the 14 560 corpses he buried during his lifetime. THE New York forgers have become so bold that they now forge injunctions from courts, in order to interfere in legal proceeding. Tue Dostom T anscript says : "Sheep raisers living near the sea shore have discovered that fish make as good feed as hay.'' AN und,rtaker in a town in Vermont having abandoned his undertaking for the shoe business, invites the custom of his old patrons. JUDOS DOWLING, of New York, In a recent charge, said be couriders an adulterator of milk worse than "fifty liquor dealers."  'nig gear, York Commercial says :—"lf tho cartoon of the Christian Martyr posted about the streets be a correct likeness, he deserved to die."  SINCE the ;lave trade has—been abllisheci, the tribes in Africa eat their prisoners, as they cannot sell them.  TEE Southern Enterprise comes to its subscribers wrapped in 30.dellar coupons attached to I,oo6dollar Confederate bonds due in 1867. LAW hooka in Kentucky do not last long. In one county it is frequently found necessary to replace vo.umes worn out by the lawyers in pounding each other's heads --Philadelphia Ledger. AN intelligent gentleman from Jewry, on his first visit to an American church, had a cmtribation box with a alit in the top presented to hi no, and whispered to the collector, "I don't get mein bapers, nod can't vote." TIIE Chicago Times says a man shot down another a day or two since in cold blood, and then comforted himself with the 'emetic that there was no hanging for murder in Illinois. The President of the new Cincinnati Council made a speech upon taking the chair, which the Commercial of that city calls "a cowardly attack on the English language." THE French Minister of Justice says, in his report on the penal colony of Cayenne, that the infanticides mar. ried to the male convicts make, by far, better wives than the female thieves and pickpockets. Tin= is much emulition in Boston harbour between the rival Hingham boats. They began, one with a fare of twenty.five cents and the other of ten, and now charge respectively ten and five cents. AT a special meeting of the Quebec city council on the 23rd ult., blows were exchanged and revolvers drawn by the city fathers. The police hut to be called in to restore order.  A Mississippi justice of the peace married a couple in 1858, divorced them in 1860, married the man to another woman in 1861, ditto the woman to another man in 1862, and last week married the original couple. TUE BOUlbOrl pi= and princess, whuse romantic marriage recently created such a sensation in New. York, are said to have disappeared from a Washington hotel without paying their board. MR.
The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1869-03-26 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

BEST BUT THE GRAVE.  A CRAZY PRIEST'S DEATH-BED IN THE SNOW. An inquest was lately held at Firbright, Surrey, touching the death of the Rev. John Tighe Wells. The deceased was 60 years of age, mid although a clergyman of the Church of England had officiated for years past at the well-known Irvingite cathedral of Albury, built by the father of the present Duchess of Northumberland. Of late, however, Mr. Wells had shown symptoms of Insanity which greatly alarmed his family, and they sought the advice of Dr. Stedman, of Guildford. lie found him suffering from mental depression and delusions, harmless but painfuL His impression was that persons he could not define were seeking to do him Injury, to rob or murder him, more especially by night A keeper was appointed to look after Mr. Wells, and subsequently he was removed for change of air to Worsplesdon. The deceased had no suicidal tendencies, and depended like a child on his keeper to keep him from invisible enemies. A few evenings since, however, during the temporary absence of his keeper for five minutes, he left his lodgings and wandered away on the dreary common. Ile was seen by a man about half an hour afterwards splashing about In a roadside pond. The deceased was unknown to the man, and, thinking him drunk, as he was drenched to the skin and without a hat, the man simply recommended him to go home. Athough the night was dark and snow was falling heavily, the deceased appeared to have wandered about till nearly eleven o'clock, when he knocked at the door of a cottage tenanted by a labourer named Gunner, who had retired to rest. Ile, however, heard the knock, and asked who was there. The deceased asked to be let in "for the love of God," stating that he was a clergyman and had lost hie way. Gunner did not get up, but told the deceased "to be off." Deceased went away, but came back shortly and continued knocking for half an hour ; but, although he repeatedly said that hc-should die, Gunner made no effort to ascertain anything of the Importunate man. The knocking at last max i, and Gunner went to sleep. On going out at his door in the morning at seven o'clock, he found the deceased lying in front of it covered with snow, and stiff aid cold. In answer to the Rev. Mr. Hawkins, the foreman of the jury, the witness said he heard the deceased say, "I shall die," but it was only a fortnight before that some one wanted to come Into his cottage in the night, and he served him the same. It was a lonely place, and no one knew who might be about. The medical evidence showed that the deceased had died from exposure, and a verdict to that effect was returned.. The aprons?, In summing up, said that he could not atttibute much blame to Gunner, considering the loneliness of the place and that he thought he was speaking to a drunken man. One of the juryman faintly remarked that be thought Gunner ought to have shown more feeling when the man told him he was dying.