npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1884-08-02 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

THE MORRIS-CRAVEN LIBEL  Mrs. Lewis said her husband had been employed by a firm of publishers, but he was now too old to work. His Lordship said the prisoner had pleaded guilty to having written foolish, and, in one sense, highly malicious letters. He thought they contained sufficient evidence of malice, though, at the same time, he entertained very little doubt that 'she assumed her sister had really been poisoned. In plain terms she accused Mr. Morris of having poisoned his wife, because she had said that every time he gave her medicine she complained of burning inside her body and other pains; and she had also stated that he was a greater villain than she expected. This was an accusation of the gravest possible character, and the only excuse that could possibly be advanced in her behalf was that she believed it herself, as it was extremely probable she did, although it might be upon the slenderest grounds, or without any grounds at all. It might be said in her favour that these statements were not publicly made, and it might also be urged that where persons suspected a murder by poison, it was their duty to inquire into it. The task might be a difficult and dangerous one, and therefore it was equally necessary that there should be no discouragement to persons who believed they had discovered grave circumstances pointing to the perpetration of murder, providing that they made reasonable and proper inquiry. The prisoner's lettsrs showed that she had exercised nothing like a reasonable judgment; that her mind was prejudiced; and that she had a conviction herself that her sister had been murdered. The difficulty was what he should do to prevent a recurrence of these offences, not only on her part, but on the part of other people, while he should not wish to discourage proper inquiries where circumstances of suspicion existed. The prisoner was now in advanced years. She had delicate health as far as appearance went, and he did not wish to do more than mark his sense that she had acted improperly. It would be useless for him to impose a fine upon her, because she could not pay it, and that would only result in an indefinite imprisonment. He should, therefore, sentence her to a month's imprisonment without hard labour, and he hoped it would brim, her to her senses, and would teach other peoPie not to act hastily and injudiciously as shehad done. On prisoner hearing the sentence she said: My lord, I had every reason to believe that my sister was poisoned, her body was in such a fearful state. His Lordship: Well, I give you credit for believing in the truth of the accusations you made, but what I do not give you credit tor is that you had not sufficiently reasonable ground for acting as you did. I have taken everything into consideration. This is not a heavy sentence. The Prisoner: My lord, don't send me to prison. I was never in prison in my life. Mr. Morris (who sat near the dock).—Your lordship. I was in prison myself. The prisoner was then removed below.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1884-10-18 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

UNCERTIFIED DEATHS.  Dr. Vacher calls attention to the large number of uncertified deaths which there are every year in the borough. In 1883 there were no fewer than 52. Only 6 of the deceased were adults at the time of death, and 32 were under one year old. Commenting upon these unpleasant facts, he remarks, "asunder the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, Clause 20, every registered medical practitioner is required to certify as to the cause of death of any person he may have attended during the person's last illness, it is but reasonable to assume that when a cause of death appears in the register as "not certified," the subject of the death has either been without attendance or committed to the care of some quack or herbalist. The only local practitioner who possessed a registerable qualification, without being on the register, died in January, 1879; the alleged causes of death in the uncertified entries are, therefore, absolutely valueless and must be accepted merely as representing the opinions of nurses or nostrum vendors. Some of the expressions made use of in the above list, as phthisis, enteritis, &c., are terms that would hardly be employed except by those laying claim, rightly or wrongly, to some knowledge of medicine, and indicate that in several instances the information supplied to the register has been derived from an irregular practitioner. This, indeed, is well known to be the fact, and the number of fatal cases attended by this man during 1883 appears to have sensibly increased the proportion of uncertified deaths in the locality." In addition to denouncing quacks, herbalists, and an irregular practitioner," who would appear to be driving a roaring trade in our midst, Dr. Vacher raises a very startling hypothesis as to why the services of unrecognised professors of the healing art are sought. "In any case," he says, "in which the services of a qualified medical practitioner are not procured they are, probably not sought, for so manifold are, the means of obtaining medical relief in Birkenhead that no one can plead poverty as an excuse for not doing his duty to his child in this respect. Then he asks, "Can it be that a certain class of parents by preference bring their children to charlatans 2" He does not attempt to return a direct answer to this alarming query, but he proceeds to marshal a number of significant facts. "Certainly," he writes, the uncertified deaths tend to occur in the same streets. In one short byestreet, for instance, no less than three uncertified deaths of infants occurred in one week—death in the case of two is ascribed to bronchitis and in the case of one to phthisis." Now, if undeserved imputations are not being cast upon the parents referred to, these persons are inhuman wretches who ought to be looked after by the police. "Charlatans "may be merely ignorant. But if people patronise them because they are believed to be much better at killing than curing these people are little better than murderers who expiate their blood guiltiness on the gallows.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1884-03-01 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

THE EDITOR OF THE BIRKENHEAD NEWS.  would not have troubled you with any further remarks on the above was it not for the receipt of the accompanying letter from Mr. Blacker, wherein he promises not to publish any further correspondence on the above subject; but, finding that he is just as truthful with private as public publications' I send the enclosed for your insertion, so that the public of Birkenhead may judge for themselves as to whether the author is in a position to defame the character of such noble institutions as friendly societies.—Yours, etc., J. H. Giu., or  "Mr. Gill—Sir,—l have been a political, social, and medical reformer from my youth, even to the injury of my own pocket; and I should be glad to cease my attack on Oddfellows if they would get rid of the dishonest elements associated at present with them. I beg to call your attention to paragraphs 3 and 4 of the enclosed printed circular, and to say that if those statements are true, and I am prepared to prove that they are, against all comers, you are encouraging a lot of murderous, falsely-educated ruffians who call themselves respectable duly-qualified surgeons' to deceive, swindle, and manufacture disease by wholesale under the false pretence of treating patients. "Your clubs could do better without 'doctors' than with them. A committee of three members cqjild decide whether a member should receive sick pay or not. I know of a case wherein a surgeon gave a certificate that a member was to receive sick pay on account of a bad leg, and he never looked to see if the man's leg was bad or not. "If you do not get rid of such impostors people will desert your clubs when their eyes are opened, as they will be ere long. " The next thing I would like done would be to leave off encouraging Tory politicians and State Church parsons to deceive your members with what Byron calls Slavery's jackal cry" on gala days and club feasts. Let your lodges be al I:ey:nolaT hmoutt e ane causes),krlialii et.tpma qpwould proper, regret,nt ayob u 1 Y 1 inhkat vet4disbursed,e pleasure,p ea h r ja among I lout enthe letters Ilinve published On this subject, and,  to make whatever use you like of this letter, provided it is not published unless the whole of it is allowed to appear. "1 beg to say the enclosed printed title-page cannot set as an advertisement in this case, as I have had none of • Zetetie Lessons for sale for two years or more; and I do not keep Mr. Dobson's pamphlets, but only assist to make known his case, to show what dishonesty and cruelty can be done by the mai-administration of English law at present. "I contemplated getting my letters, entitled Friendly Society Fallacies, reprinted as a pamphlet; but if you will give my proposals, contained in the former part of thisletter, consideration I will postpone it, and, if you make the needed reforms, will abandon the idea.— Yours respectfully, batss BLACKER,
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1884-06-14 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

CRAVEN." Dr. Byerly swore to having received the letters.  Robert Roberts, a solicitor's clerk, deposed that he visited Mrs. Craven at Manchester. She admitted that the letters were in her handwriting, and that she had sent them to Dr. Byerly. Cross-examined by Mr. Wharton: He did not pretend that he was a detective and that he took a great interest in the case, which was a very shocking one. Mr. Wharton remarked that he would admit the libels, as to which there would be a plea put forward in another place. It was his intention to apply for a warrant at the close of the proceedings. The letters had not been written from any personal motive, but were the result of honest conviction on the part of the woman. He, therefore, asked that she should be admitted to bail. She was not likely to run away, and the matter would be carried a great deal further than anybody seemed to fancy. The Bench decided to accept bail in the woman's own surety of £2OO and in two other sureties of zoo each. Mrs. Craven was then charged with having written a number of letters to Mr. Morris with the object of extorting money from him by threats to charge him with the crime of murder.—Mr. Tbompson, in supporting the charge, said that her sister was the wife of prosecutor and had left her money to him, as she had a perfect right to do. But the defendant had expected to be a beneficiary under the will—hence the course which she had pursued. Prosecutor had been inundated for about a year and a half with anonymous letters of a most disgraceful character, which had made his life a positive burden to bim, and the object of the letters was to extort money from him. The following letters were then put in as evidence:— "91, Hendhana Vale, Queen's Park. "No villion we have traced your career at last. All is now known to us. do not think ash money with the justice clark can save your neck from the gallows, as yer history has  ben traced for years back, now I charge you with poisoning my sister and forgin that will, also tlad—owatee with the shopman and allso the woman you have in the house her little games with your other wife are all nown and will be implecated with you. We shall not trouble the New Brighton police. We shall go a step hier, Man, how can you rest with this threble crime on your soul does that poor old lady and her daughter that you destroyde for her money. You was ashamed of her and told your boon companions he was your housekeeper. Man, you are a dubble dyed villion and all the three cries to heaven for justice. How can you for shame to looke people in the face. Now that your crimes is run and you are follied where hever you go so you neail not think you can escape. Hangen is too good for you, and the woman you have with you; and you think nothing of murder you old gray-headed reptile. I hope all three of your victims will haunt you to death and God curse follow you to the grave. "M.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1885-01-21 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

THE SUPPOSED CHILD MURDER.  ADJOURNED INQUEST AT SEACOMBE. The enquiry touching the circumstances of the death of a male child unknown, whose body was found on Wednesday morning. the 14th inst., in a dry e.shpit at the back of 9 St. Paul's-road, Seacombe, enclosed in a piece of sacking, which also contained a brick, was resumed in the Seacombe Hotel, yesterday morning, before Mr. H. Churton, and a jury of which Mr. John Davies was the foreman. The only witness called was Dr. Craiginile who stated that on Friday afternoon, the 16t1; inst., he saw the body of a newly-born male child at the deadhouse, Seacombe Ferry. The only external mark of injury was a bruise on the left cheek. There was no sign of external violence on the head, but on feeling it the bones on the crown of the head were quite soft and pulpy. The head was much softer than that of a newly born child, and when he touched the top of the head there was no resistance whatever. The body was comparatively fresh to all outward appearance, there being nothing whatever offensive about the body. There was an umbilical cord about six inches in length, which was quite fresh, but it had been torn across, and was without a ligaea. Upon examining the head he found between the scalp and the bones of the skull a large quantity of clotted blood. The two parital bones were fractured. There was no other fracture in the skull, The. brain was healthy with the exception of some extravasated blood lying under the fractured bones. He next examined the chest. The limp were fully inflated and in a healthy condition. There was nothing more noteworthy about the internal organs. The heart was healthy, and contained a quantity of blood. The abdominal viscera was healthy, and the stomach was quite empty and had never contained any food. The only internal sign of decomposition as that between the membrane covering the hings ; there were a few air bubbles. Owing to the very cold state of the weather at the time, it was very difficult to say how long the child hail been born, but according to his judgment it must have been born over a week. Ile attributed the cause of death to the injuries ou the head. It was quite possible that the injuries might have been caused by an accident. He did not think it was very likely that such injuries could have been sustained by the child having fallen upon a hard floor, but it was quite possible. The Coroner, after going over the evidence tendered by the doctor, observed that every enquiry had been made by the police, but without having found the mother. With such facts before them he could not say that the jury could return a verdict of "Wilful murder." The only verdict that could in his opinion be returned was that the child had died from the injuries received to the head, but how those injuries were caused there was not sufficient evidence to show. The jury unanimously returned an open verdict.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1896-01-22 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

DISORDER IN  PLLIDINO TO HI 81NT TO GAOL.  •WINDOW SMAPAINO FOB FOS.  Before Meters. Edmund Taylor and J. Craven, as the Borough Police Court on Monday, • young woman sented Jane Hannah, of Egerton-street, was. charged with having been drunk and disorderly in Borough-road ; Idao with aessulting P.O.'. Wylie and Wood while in the execution of their duty ; sod further with breaking six panes of glass in the main bridewoll, the property of the Corporation of Birkenhead. .  P.C. 1.3 (Wylie) gave evidence to the effect that on Sunday night, about eleven o'clock, he heard someone shouting in Borough-road and saw a crowd there. He found the prisoner intoxicated and making use of bad language. She complained that, some young man had struck her is the face. Witness advised her to go away. She went about a hundred yards down the street and again commenced using bad language. Witness then took her into custody, and she threw herself down on the ground, took her hat off and struck him in the face with it A civilian came to witness' assistance and Hannah spat in his face. When they got into As Market-square P.O. Woods came to witness's help, and they took the prisoner to the central bridewell where she gave him a kick on the leg, and struck Woods over the eye with her fist. A short time atter she had been in the cell they heard a noise as of glass being broken, and then discovered that prisoner, with her boot, had broken six panes of glass is the cell in which she had been placed. She said she had broken the windows and was satisfied. P.C. 11 (Woods) gave corroborative evidence, and deputy bridewell keeper Sherwood stated that when he went into she cell where the prisoner WM confined that morning he found six /ewes of glass broken. Asked by witness why she had done this, she replied that she had done it for fink . .  Prisoner now said she had some drink in her and wee going home along Borough-road, on Sunday night, whets P.C. Wylie who was pasting, told her she bad better go home. Sh• replied that she was was going kome, and with that he struck her soros the face, causing a swelling over the right eye. P.O. (Wylie) recalled said that prisoner complained of a young man having struck her Us (witness) had not assaulted her.  Prisoner: There was no one struck me until the two officers were murdering me going into the cell. I told them that I would rather go to gaol than be alined by them. Bridewell- keeper Parker deposed that prisoner made no oomplaint to him about having been inured by the officers. The magistrates said that prisoner would have to I go to gaol for a mouth. Prisoner: Only a month I You might give us the other two to make the three. (Laughter.) Prisoner was then removed below, whence the sound of her singing could be distinctly heard in court fee some time.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1896-01-25 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

DISORDER IN BOROUGH-ROAD.  BRIDEWELL-WINDOW SMASHING FOR FUN.  PLEADING TO BE SENT TO GAOL.  Before Messrs. Edmund Taylor and J. Craven, at the Borough Police Court on Monday, a young woman named Jane Hasina,h, of Egerton-street, was charged with having been drunk and disorderly in Borough-road; also with assaulting P.C.'s Wylie and Wood while in the execution of their duty; and further with breaking six panes of glass in the main bridewell, the property of the Corporation of Birken• head. P.C. 13 (Wylie) gave evidence to the effect that on Sunday night, about eleven o'clock, he heard someone shouting in Borough-road and saw a crowd there. He found the prisoner intoxicated and making use of bad language. She complained that some young I man had struck her in the face. Witness advised her to go away. She went about a hundred yards dews the street and again commenced using lad language. Witness then took her into custody, and she threw herself down on the ground, took her hat off and struck him in the face with it. A civilian came to witness' assistance and Hannah spat in his face. When they got into the Market-square P.C. Woods came to witness's help, and they took the prisoner to the central bridewell where she gave him a kick on the leg, and struck Woods over the eye with her fist. A short time after she had been in the cell they heard a noise as of glass being broken, and then discovered that prisoner, with her boot, had broken six panes of glass in the cell in which she had been placed. She said she had broken the windows and was satisfied. P.C. 8 (Woods) gave corroborative evidence, and deputy bridewell keeper Sherwood stated that when he went into she cell where the prisoner was confined that morning he found six panes of glass broken. Asked by witness why she had done this, she replied that she had done it for fun. Prisoner now said she had some drink in her and was going home along Borough-road, on Sunday night, when P.C. Wylie who was passing, told her she had better go home. She replied that she was was, going home, and with that he struck her across the face, causing a swelling over the right eye. P.C. (Wylie) recalled said that prisoner complained of a young man having struck her He (witness) bad not assaulted her. Prisoner: There was no one struck me until the two officers were murdering me going into the cell. I told them that I would rather go to gaol than be ill used by them. Bridewell - keeper Parker deposed that prisoner made no complaint to him about having been illused by the officers. The magistrates said that prisoner would have to go to gaol for a month. Prisoner: Only a month! You might give us the other two to make the three. (Laughter.) Prisoner was then removed below, whence the sound of her singing could be distinctly heard in court far some time.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1915-05-15 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

MAGAZINES.  °France in Danger,"! by Pant Veignet. Translated by Beatrice 'Barstow. Published by Mr. John Murray, 56; Albemarle-street, . London, W.; 2.5. 6d. net. • This book must attract considerable tittention among all readers of contemporary history. Originally a French prcduotion, it was published on the other 'aide of the Channel, nine months before war was de. Mitred, viz., in October, 1913. It has now been translated into English by Miss Barstow, and read by the light of subsequent events, the warning given to France by 'Monsieur Vergnet is amply justified. In the course of his book he lays great stress on the growth of the inffiteuee of the Pan. German -League during the past twenty years, how it has fostered German public opinion into the belief that might is right, and that in the interests of progress and, civilisation the weak and the smaller nations must go to the wall. The author held the conviction that Germany would be compelled by this League to declare war against France at the first' opportunity, and this course, he contended, would be against the wishes of the Kaiser , and his people. Quotations from authors' of repute and from official newspapers are given galore to substantiate this theory, and the evidence is overwhelining. The whole case is put in a nutshell in a para. grapn which appears in the preface, and runs as follows :—"The real truth is that, allowing for some exaggerations and extravagances, the Pan-Germans have always succeeded in the end in getting what they asked from the people, the Parliament, and the Imperial Government; the real truth is that these people at whom we jeer in France, as ridiculous and harmless cranks, have contrived, on almost every occasion, to impose their will upon the Empire." The general impreesion of the Kaiser in Great Britain, and indeed in all civilised communities, is that of a monster who revels in murder, cruelty and oppression of every hind. Monsieur Vergnet, newever, mil we presume on good authority, would have us believe that William IL has in lis heart "unsettled pacific leanings." He is, nevertheless, so much under the toadnation of the Pan-German League, wift-its belief in the power of the mailed fist, that he is unable to carry out his inclinations.. We find this statement a little difficult to swallow as a fact.  In the course of some 130 pages the author makes out a strong case, *hid] he proves right up to the hilt. Further than this he foretells Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality, and exposes the treatment which the Pan-Germane contemplate, for conquered nations—a system of mental, moral, and material slavery." The work is therefore of significant importance, showing that .the "frightfulness" was psemeditated and carefully planned ont in advance. The book contains much information of great general interest. It. is bound in red cloth and set out in clear type, and a word of praise is also due to the lady will has translated it into such excellent English.