npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Express. — 1868-05-22 (London, England)

THREE CASES OF CHILD MURDER.  INQUESTS.—(THIS DAY.) This forenoon Mr. Humphreys, Middlesex Coroner, held an inquiry at the Crown Tavern, lligh•street, Shadwell, relative to the murder of a female child whose body was found floating in the river. James Pearce, a waterman, saw the body of the child in the Thames, off 131sadwell, on Monday but, and he brought it ashore and gave it to the police. Mr. D. Roam, police surgeon,said that the deceased was a well-developed child, and it had lived until it was strangled shortly after birth. There was a string with a running noose around the neck, and it had been pulled so tight that the neck was very deeply indented. There were also the marks of blows on the back of the Lead. It was evident that the child had been murdered.  The jury returned a verdict of " Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown." The same coroner then proceeded to the Town of Ramsgate Tavern, Wappisg, to bold an inquest on the body of another female child also found in the river on Monday last.  iam Judge, of the Thames police, said that on Monday afternoon a bargeman called his attention to the child as it wu floating put the Hermitage-stairs. He got it out, and found that it was wrapped in a woman's flannel petticoat. There waa no clue to the child's parents. Dr. J. Wood said that the body was that of a female child. There bad been no medical assistance at its birth, but he believed that it had been born alive, and bad bad a separate eaistence. There waa no reason why it should nothave lived in the ordinary course, for it was really a splendid child, but he could not say what warn the canoe of death.  The jury returned an open verdict of " Found dead in the Thames."  Mr. Humphreys held an inquest last evening at the Prince of Wales Tavern, Victoria-park, on view of the body of a male child, which had been murdered. Charles Dowsett, 5, Sugarloaf-walk, Bethnal-green, deposed that on Tuesday last, at half-past 12 o'clock, he was in the walk when three little boys called out that a man had dropped a parcel. They shouted after the man who only walked away the faster. Another man coming round the corner picked up the parcel, and upon opening it said " a child ! Go for the police." Witness went for a policeman, but when the man saw the officer he ran away and the boys also made off. P. ('. Bell, 198 K, said that the child was wrapped in a piece of a linsey dress, some brown calico, and a piece of haberdasher's paper, on which was written iu pencil, •• Allow for the damage." There was • piece of braiding tied round the child's neck.  Mr. J. Ralph,police surgeon, said thatthechild had lived. The Wald of a female's dress had, however, been paned twice round the child's neck, so tightly that skin was lacerated. There were also bruises on the face and back ; but death was the result of strangulation immediately after birth.  __ Tho jury returned a verdict of " Wilful murder against some persons or persona unknown."
The Express. — 1868-05-04 (London, England)

THE POLICE COURT&  CLERICENWELL. John Smith, a rough, powerful-looking yo rag man, described as a sweep, residing at No. 27, Queen-street, Islington, wee charged before Mr. Barker with violently assaulting Mrs. Jemima Just, and stealing from her person a gold watch and chain, of the value of 171., at Mouton-road, on the 17th ult. Mrs. Just said—l am the wife of Leonard Just, and reside at No. 40, Halliford-road, Islington. About • quarter-past 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, the 17th tilt, I was returning home from a walk ; and when at the corner of the Morton-road and Rotherfield-street I saw four rough-looking men, of whom the prisoner is one, loitering there. That is about 300 yards from my residence. One of the four men I have mentioned jumped on me, held me tightly by the neck (taking me by the neck sideways), when the prisoner seized hold of my watchchain, pulled my watch and chain clean away, and then ran off. Until the prisoner had got away I was held, and then his companions ran off. I was squeezed so violently round the neck that I was very much hurt, though I bad no mark on my throat. At the time I was held round the throat I felt a choking sensation, and that feeling continued the whole of the evening. When they loosened their hold on my 'throe, and ran away, I screamed " Murder " and " Thieves " as well as I could. A number of persons oame to my assistance, but it was not until a quarter to five that I saw a police-constable. I saw the prisoner again on the following Monday standing outside the Half Moon public-house, Essex-road, but when I found a constable he had gone. I have again seen him once near the spot. lam perfectlysure that the prisoner is the man that stole my watch and chain, end I picked him out from nine or ten others in a room at the police-I station last night. My watch and chain, which ere of the value of 171., have not been recovered. Police-constable Newbold, 151 N, said—l went up the Essex-road last evening, about a quarter past eight, and saw the prisoner standing outside the Bed Lion public-house. I told him I should take him into custody for being concerned with others not in custody in stealing • gold watch and chain from • lad yesterday fortnight. He said, " Not me ; I was at work at the time for Mr. Myers, the sweep, in Elliott'e-pisse." I took the prisoner to the police-station and fetched the lady ; and the prisoner was placed in the library at the police-station with six or seven other men, and the lady then went and pointed him out, saying, " That is the man that stole my watch." She had no hesitation in the matter, and went straight to him and pointed him out. The prisoner, in &newer to the charge, said—l was at work at the time that was done, and I have witnesses that can prove it, but they are not now in attendance. Mr. Barker committed the primmer to the Central Criminal Court for trial, and refused to allow bail
The Express. — 1868-09-01 (London, England)

KNOX'S DISCRETION.  ON Friday last, a young woman named Zefferey applied to the magistrate at Marlborough-street for assistance under these circumstances :—She was one of the servants at the Café Rkgence, Tichborne-street, having charge of the linen. On Thursday night, about 1 o'clock, she was awakened by finding a man in her bed. She seized the intruder, who was assaulting her with a criminal intent, and her cries succeeded in bringing the mistress of the house and several waiters into her room. Instead of giving her assistance, the waiters did all in their power to enable the man to escape. The man did escape, leaving behind him an umbrella, which had a crest upon it. That umbrella would enable her to identify the person who had assaulted her, but on applying for it she was told she could not have it. What she now wanted was an order from the magistrate to have the handle of the umbrella (the umbrella was broken) given up to her. The magistrate decided that he had no power to grant the applicant's request. We must suppose that this decision rests on some legal grounds, but it is desirable that these should be fully known, as the decision really hivolves a point of very considerable importance in our criminal jurisprudence. Suppose, for example, that instead of criminal assault it had been a case of robbery, of grievone bodily injury, or even of murder, and that the person robbed or injured, or the friends of the murdered person, bad a fragment of something belonging to the criminal, a torn piece of hat, or handkerchief, a part of a tool or weapon broken in the scuffle, and that the other part had fallen into the hands of people who refused to give it up to the police. Could not a warrant be at once issued for its surrender, as essential to the ends of justice—as part of the evidence helping to identify the criminal, and directly connecting him with the crime ? And would not those who refused to give up such an important piece of evidence be regarded as abetting the criminal ? It seems difficult to imagine that there is no adequate legal provision to meet such a case as this. The success or failure of justice might in fact very much depend on securing evidence of this sort at once. In one of the great bank robberies about three years ago, for instance, a chisel belonging to one of the robbers was broken into the lock of a safe. The broken piece was found on examination in the lock, and the criminal was identified by the circumstance that this exactly fitted into a broken chisel found in his pocket. Suppose that in making his escape the robber had been seen to drop a chisel, and the people who picked it up refused to deliver it to the officers of justice. If those who had been robbed applied to a magistrate to assist them in securing it would he be compelled to refuse the application ?
The Express. — 1867-01-04 (London, England)

OWN CORRESPORDIRT.) PARIS, THURSDAY EVENING.  The Patrie commends Narvaez's arbitrary proceedings in Spain, and denies that he is chargeable with a coup d'etat, because there is law for everything he has done, and law made by his rival and predecessor O'Donnell. There is progress after all, says the Patrie, as compared with the pronunciainotto of Vicalvaro, because Narvaez appeals to the nation. No doubt this is • strictly Napoleonic idle, and Narvaez'a forthcoming election, should he remain in power long enough to work it, will, in all probability, be quite as free and fair as was the plebiscite of 1851 in France. But the Patric passes with great levity over the fact that O'Donnell, the hero of Vicalvaro, was an honoured guest at Compiegne only a few weeks ago. M. Lecca, the sub-lieutenant of Zou•ves, who lately killed M. Seguin in a duel, has found it necessary to throw up his commission.  The students about to be tried on a political charge, who selected M. Janson, of the Brussels bar, for their counsel, have determined now that the court has refused to hear M. Janson not to choose any other advocate. A trial is now going on before the Assize Court of the Var of sixteen youths, inmates of the penitentiary on the Isle of Levant, founded ten years ago by Count Henri de Pourtalia on the principle of. the highly successful colony of Mottray, who aro accused of a series of most diabolical crimes. According to the indictment, they rose in rebellion against the authorities of the penitentiary, set fire to a building with the express intention of burning to death the people in it, and committed in all fifteen murders.  The Duchess de Nassau—now that the Prussians are in possession of Wiesbaden no longer a sovereign personage—is lying dangerously ill at the chb.teau of Biberich on the Rhine. She caught a cold three weeks ago while riding out on horseback on a foggy day, and her life is despaired of. We are now having some winter. Yesterday morning there was a very thick coating of snow in the streets of Paris. It melted in the day time in the centre of the city, but not on the exterior boulevards. Last night there was a frost of considerable intensity. The sun shone out brilliantly this morning, without, however, being strong enough to melt the snow, and this afternoon there has been another very heavy fall. The cold is not severe, and we are very far indeed from experiencing the inconvenience which I see by the papers is felt in London. The Skating Club, which last year had not a single opportunity of displaying the glories of its new organisation upon natural ice, is now upon the qui vire. The Bourne was firm. Independently of the operations of the public, which are extremely restricted, there are now, and will be for some time to come, daily purchases in the Rente, for the account of official banks, which must of
The Express. — 1867-02-02 (London, England)

OUR CONTEMPORARIES. (THIS DAY.)  Returning to Mr. Bright's defence of his career, the Times again expresses its surprise that a man who deals blows himself in any direction should expect his antagonists to take all patiently. With two or three exceptions the criticisms on the hon. member have been simply criticisms on his speeches and not on himself. As to his attack on the House of Commons, the postponement of measures is not due to the constitution of the house, which is fully abreast of the public opinion of the country. Taking one year with another, the House of Commons passes more measures, and more useful measures, than any legislative assembly in the world ; and if it be undecided or hostile respecting any measure submitted to it, it is because the same indecision and the same hostility are to be found in the nation at large. As to Mr. Horsman, though he professed to say what ought to be done, the Tim.. cannot exactly discover his views. He dues not appear to see the way to a satisfactory settlement of the question of reform, though it may perhaps be inferred that he would be in favour of a variation of the franchise. However, before many days are over we shall know for certainty whether Ministers have "a policy" or not ; and if not. bo"4 they mean to justify the want of it.  Tne DnilyNews prints nearly the whole of Mr. J. S. Mill's address at St. Andrew's University, and comments upon it in sympathetic terms. That such wise and generous and tolerant teaching should be possible in the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland—the scene of religious feuds and murders—is an indisputable mark of progress. Another article in the Daily News treats of the Italian scheme for the sale and conversion of ecclesiastical pro. PertY•  The Post is disappointed with the lions which now adorn the base of the Nelson column, and contrasts them unfavourably with the two magnificent beast, which watch the entrance to the tomb of St. Peter's in Rome. Whatever their merits, there can be no doubt that from this day tho new lions cast the statue of Nelson in the shade, and he is no longer the principal part of his own monument. The figures are monotonous, and show unmistakably a want of fertility of invention. The Past also devotes au article in tribute to the memory of the Countess• Dowager of Jersey, whose life, it says, from the wide range of its esperience, may be said to be historical. Married at a very early age, she was, says the Post, the leader of London society before Nelson had fought Trafalgar or Napoleon was crowned at Notre Dame ; and at that time " to be a leader of society was something more than to crowd rooms with mere strugglers for happiness." Warm sympathy is tendered by the Herald and Standard to Mr. Rottman in his troubles at Stroud. The Telegraph adheres to its statement that her Majesty's ministers intend to propose a commission of inquiry into the boundaries of the parliamentary constitu• moles, and adds that they have definitively resolved to propose an autumnal session, which shall commence in November, professedly to peas the contemplated measure of reform.
The Express. — 1867-07-29 (London, England)

FRENCH VIEW OF THE SHEFFIELD GI/TRAGER. —The Reeve der Devi Monde., publishes an article on the reform movement in England, in the course of which the writer refers to the Sheffield outrages in these terms : " The list of these crimes is too hideous for us to attempt to produce it. What we must not omit is that the guilty were generally pretty well known, and no one dared denounce them to justice; that the secretaries of other onions bore their share in the expense of these expedition. ; that, finally, these murderers and incendiaries have declared that not only had they no motive for animosity against their victims, but that often they did noteven know them. What is, above all, noticeable in these little jobs is the indifference with which the workmen have always acted, and the entire absence of that sort of shame which is rarely wanting, even in the vilest of mankind. Where morality and religion had I ceased to influence the conscience, it might be supposed that the fear of the law would yet have been &sufficient check. Not a bit of it. The Sheffield workmen seem to fear the vengeance of the chiefs of the unions alone, and obey their secretaries as implicitly as the fanatics of Syria 800 years ago obeyed the Old Man of the Mountain. Only that the assassins of those days were animated by the hope I of going to that paradise of whose delights they were granted a f2rptaste, while it is for a few shillings and for a settled prii% Ihat murder is done in Sheffield. In reading the reports of the sittings of this commission we involuntarliy call to mind the celebrated inquiry which was made at Rome in the time of Alexander VL , of which Burkhardt has preserved us a few particulars, when the Duke of Valentinois, jealous, as it is said, of the preference which his sister, Lucretia Borgia, manifested for his brother, the Duke of Candia, had mused him to be assassinated and thrown into the Tiber. A boatman bad seen the whole affair ; and when he was asked why he had not given his evidence sooner, be declared that ea he had witnessed in the course of his life many similar adventures to which no one had paid any attention, he had not thought that this last could produce more impression that the others. This wire answer gives an idea of the intimidation which used to prevail in Rome, and has prevailed but recently in England ; it explains the indifference with which these crimes, instigated by the heads of the unions, were regarded in Sheffield, even by people who had no interest in the matter and held a respectable social position. Such moral views recall th • most infamous times of Italy in the fifteenth century coupled with the Kenos of brtgandage enacted in London itself by hordes of robbersand thieves who under thepretenee of accompanying volunteer regiments, ;tripped at mid-day those whom they encountered on their route, they are well calculated to teach modesty to nations who are proudest of their power."
The Express. — 1867-08-13 (London, England)

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.  (710)1 001 OWN  PARIS, MoaDAT Evszasa.  The Temps and other opposition journals have received a communique, which I cannot but admit to be well founded, on the subject of certain expressions attributed to the prefect of the Cotes du Nord in his proclamation exhorting the electors not to chose M. Glais Bizoin for a councillor-general.  A garbled quotation from the prefect's address represented him as telling the electors in a threatening tone,that if they voted for M. Mai' Bizoin the governniefirt by way of reprisal would withdraw all state subventions in aid of the churches, schools, canals, and railways of the department. It is plain from the text that the prefect merely spoke argumentatively,and endeavoured to impress upon the electors that if the reductions of taxation which M. Glais Bizoin had called for were to be made, the state could not afford to give the expected aid to local improvements. Given the system of government candidateshipe, that was a very legitimate line of argument, instead of being gross and abominable intimidation. The prefects, as professional enemies of liberty, have sins enough to answer for, and the liberal journals injure the cause they advocate by dishonest quotations such as the one now officially censured.  The examination of witnesses in the Fontainebleau murder case is still going on. A telegram from Melun, dated this afternoon, states that the owner of the Chateau de Creveoceur, in Normandy, deposed that as much as 7,000 fr. were spent in searching for treasure indicated by the prisoner. Nothing was found but a poniard and an old padlock. One witness stated that the prisoner had poisoned wine in her possession, and was addicted to the use of fire-arms.  It may already be collected from the imperfect cross-examination allowed by French law that M. Lschaud's line of defence will be the impossibility of a strong woman being strangled by a small and weak woman without a struggle ; the absence of anything like poison or even narcotic drugs in the stomach ; the medical evidence that the narcotics which the prisoner was suspected of knowing the use of from books found in her possession, would have been easily discovered had they been administered, and, in short, the absence of any material evidence that the prisoner committed the crime. The forgeries M. Lachaud has clearly made up his mind to admit. A pamphlet, published at Florence, entitled " Napoleon 111. and the Ghost of Maximilian," has been seized by the Italian authorities. An advertisement states that a correspondence of Maximilian will be shortly published in Paris. The Gazette de France drily remarks that if this book is really to come out in Paris it is not likely to contain the most interesting letters. The Bourse was extremely firm, owing, it is supposed, to a rumour that on August 16, M. Rouher will make some highly theatrical financial announcement. Rents rose 45c. for cash and 32ic. for account, dosing at 69fr. 85c. and 69fr. 75c.
The Express. — 1867-10-31 (London, England)

ATTIIMPTID WWI MI:RDICR.  John Bishop 30, brushmaker, was charged with felt. niously wounding him wife, Anne Bishop, with intent to murder her.  Mr. Cooper prosecuted. The prisoner was undefended. When the prisoner was called upon to plead to the charge he replied that he knew nothing about it, and The learned Judge directed that a plea of not guilty should be entered._  The prisoner and the prosecutrix lived at No. 2, Northstreet, Ileanal-green, end on the morning of the kith of September they were in the bedroom together, the sister of the prisoner being also present. The prisoner told the latter to go home, and immediately after she left, and while the prosecutrix was in the act of undressing herself to go to bed, the prisoner went up to her, and inflicted a wound upon her throat. The prisoner appeared to have gone out into the street after committing the act, and he exclaimed, " Mother, mother, I have done it," and uNn his being taken into custody he told the policeman that he would give him the knife that it was done with, and he pulled a knife out of his pocket and gave it to him. The officer asked him why be had done it, and he replied that he (the policeman) would have done the same if he had found his wife with another man. The knife with which the wound was inflicted was one which was used by the prisoner in his business as a dealer in cats' meat to cut the skewers with. Anne Bishop, the wife of the prisoner, who was very much affected while giving her evidence, and who repeatedly entreated for merry for her husband, deposed to the circumstances under which the act was committed, and said that she had not bad any quarrel with the prisoner on this night, and he was generally very kind to her except when he had been drinking. They had been out together on the evening before, and the prisoner bad drunk a good deal of gin and beer. It appeared that the wound was now nearly healed, and that no serious consequences whatever were likely to result from it. It should be stated that there did not appear to be the slightest foundation for the statement made by the prisoner to the policeman that his wife had behaved improperly. The prisoner, when called upon for his defence, said he had no recollection of having wounded his wife. They bad been out drinking, and were both the worse for liquor, and he (lid not remember anything that happened after they left the public-house. He said that he was very so for what had occurred, and he would never get d again. The mother of the prisoner was called as a witness in his behalf, and she stated that the prisoner was always kind to his wife, except when be was the worse for liquor, and then be did not appear to know what be was about. The jury found the prisoner Guilty of unlawfully wounding. The learned Judge told the prisoner that the jury had taken a rely merciful view of the case. He had committed a very serious offence, and the least sentence he could pass upon him was eighteen months' imprisonment and hard labour.  (Before Mr. Justice Keating.)