npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1834-01-14 (London, England)

UNION-HALL.  Yesterday John Wyatt, the landlord of the Marquis of Granby, in Loman's pond, Southwark, was brought up for final examination, charged under Lord Ellenborough's Act with cutting and maiming his wife. Since the first examination Mrs. Wyatt has so far recovered from the effects of the wound inflicted on her neck as to be enabled to give her attendance on this occasion without risk, and the following evidence, in addition to that which has already appeared, was then adduced : Mrs. Susannah Wyatt was then sworn. The prisoner is my husband, and during the last two years he has given way to drinking, and is frequently in a state of intoxication. When in that condition I believe he is perfectly unconscious of what he says or does, and upon these occasions he has frequently beaten me violently. On Sunday, the .sth instant, my husband was worse for liquor, and very early in the day we had high words with one another, and also throughout the remaining part of that day. At about half-past seven o'clock, as I was sitting by the fireside in the bar, my husband walked in, and went to the cupboard at the other side of the fireplace. Having stopped there a short period he came up to my chair, and, uttering an endearing expression, put his arm round my neck, at the moment I felt the sensation of something cutting my neck, and immediately afterwards felt the blood trickle down into my bosom. This alarmed me so much that I called out " Murder !" and have no further recollection of the circumstance in consequence of insensibility. When I recovered my senses I found myself in the bar, and a number of persons attending upon me. The knife which, it will be recollected, was found in the bar with blood upon it, was here produced, and Mrs. Wyatt, on seeing it, said that it belonged to her husband, and that he generally kept it in the cupboard, or else in his pocket. Mary Ellis, the barmaid—l was in the bar with Mrs. Wyatt when the prisoner entered and went up to the cupboard. While she was sitting in the way described, I saw the prisoner put his arm round her neck, and heard her scream out " Murder 1" immediately afrerwards. I ran towards the:prisoner, and,  seizing him by the coat, pulled him away from Mrs Wyatt, down whose neck I saw the blood streaming from a wound.  Sergeant M'Craw stated, that when the prisoner was brought to the station-house he was intoxicated, and when witness expressed his surprise at seeing him there, charged with such an offence as cutting his wife's throat, the prisoner merely said, " It is a bad job." The prisoner then added, "My son is the sole cause of this, for he keeps late hours and the company of thieves, and when I attempt to correct him his mother takes his part, and that causes the quarrels between us." The prisoner, who declined saying anything in answer to the charge, was then fully committed for trial.
The Sun. — 1857-07-04 (London, England)

JULY 4, 1887.  THE INDIAN ARMY IN THE _PUNJAB.  The following is an extract from t letter dated Lahore, May 14-16 : " You will of cr:drse be anxious to know about this row. thou We, D.': Lahore, are perfectly quiet at present, gh /lore is no knowing how long we shall remain so. You can fancy the excitement we are in here better than I can tell you ; but I do not think we shall now have any row, as we have two battalions of English artillery and the 81st (Queen's). Yesterday morning a grand parade was ordered, and the three regiments of native infantry and one regiment of cavalry were drawn up opposite to them with only 200 yards between, the 81st was drawn up a little in the rear of the guns, an opening being left for them to fire through. The guns were loaded with grape before being brought on the field, and as soon as everything was in its place the 81st had 'orders to load. A proclamation was then read, and the Sepoys had orders to pile their arms, and the cavalry to throw their swords, &c., on the ground, and to march to the rear. To the astonishment end greatly to the satisfaction of the English, they obeyed, and the arms were then conveyed in waggons by the 81st to the fort. I went to see the affair ; it was quite expected that they would have refused. The ring of the Enfield rifles of the 81st, as they loaded ,must have convinced them that, if they did refuse, it would not be taken quietly. "May 15.—1 was just putting this in an envelope yesterday when a mounted orderly rode to the door, saying that the Sepoys had turned out to march to Ferozepore, where there is a magazine of arms,!and intend to help their brother native regiments, then to take possession of the fort, and that I was to go to the gaol, which is half way between the city and cantonments. I went there with my rifle and revolver, but the Sepoys did not try at marching then, but last night I hear 300 of them got off, and are on their way to Ferozepore. Umritsir is, I am sorry to say, in their hands, but they have not tried at burning bungalows or murdering. Happily the Punjab regiments hate the Sepoys and would sooner fight them than not. "Half-past 6 a.m. (16th).—News from Ferozepore. The 10th Light Cavalry have stuck to the European troops, and the 72d Native Infantry have laid down their arms. The 45th Native Infantry refused, and have been cut to pieces by the Cavalry and shot by the Europeans, and orders are issued to kill every man of the regiment wherever he may be found. They have burnt nine bungalows and the church there, but all Europeans are safe. One officer was wounded. "The 300 Sepoys who got away from here yesterday have been well punished by the Punjabees at some village on the road to Ferozepore--report says nearly all killed. " I open this a('min to say that a despatch has arrived from Umballah. All is quiet there, and they march on Delhi to-morrow."
The Sun. — 1857-07-04 (London, England)

THE INDIAN ARMY IN THE PUNJAB.  The following is an from a; letter dated Lahore, May 14-16 : " You will of course be anxious to know about this row. We, at Lahore, are perfectly quiet at present, though there is no knowing how long we shall remain so. You can fancy the excitement we are in here better than I can tell you ; but I do not think we shall now have any row, as we have two battalions of English artillery and the 81st (Queen's). Yesterday morning a grand parade was ordered, and the three regiments o native infantry and one regiment of cavalry were drawn up opposite to them with only 200 yards between, the 81st was drawn up a little in the rear of the guns, an opening being left for them to fire through. The guns were loaded with grape before being brought on the field, and as soon as everything was in its place the 81st had orders to load. A proclamation was then read, and the Sepoys had orders to pile their arias and the cavalry to throw their swords, B;c., on the ground, and to march to the rear. To the astonishment and greatly to the satisfaction of the English, they obeyed, and the arms were then conveyed in waggons by the 81st to the fort. I went to see the affair; it was quite expected that they would have refused. The ring of the Eafield rifles of the 81st, as they loaded ,must have convinced them that, if they did refuse, it would not be taken quietly. "May 15.-1 was just putting this in an envelope yesterday when a mounted orderly rode to the door, saying that the Sepoys had turned out to march to Ferozepore, where there is a magazine of arms,Jand intend to help their brother native regiments, then to take possession of the fort, and that I was to go to the gaol, which is half way between the city and cantonments. I went there with my rifle and revolver, but the Sepoys did not try at marching then, but last night I hear 300 of them got off, and are on their way to Ferozepore. Umritsir is, I am sorry to say, in their hands, but they have not tried at burning bungalows or murdering. Happily the Punjab regiments hate the Sepoys and would sooner fight them than not. " Half-past 6 a.m. (16th).—News from Ferozepore. The 10th Light Cavalry have stuck to the European troops, and the 72d Native Infantry have laid down their arms. The 45th Native Infantry refused, and have been cut to pieces by the Cavalry and shot by the Europeans, and orders are issued to kill every man of the regiment wherever he may be found. They have burnt nine bungalows and the church there, but all Europeans are safe. One officer was wounded. "The 300 Sepoys who got away from here yesterday have been well punished by the Punjabees at some village on the road to Ferozepore—report says nearly all killed. " I open this again to say that a despatch has arrived from Umballah. All is quiet there, and they march on Delhi to-morrow."
The Sun. — 1857-12-10 (London, England)

ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SHOIDE IN THE CALEDONIAN ROAD.  Yesterday Mr. Wm. Payne held an inquest at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, on the body of George Goble, who died in this hospital from injuries he had sustained from a pistol-shot, inflicted by himself after an attempt to murder his wife, on Saturday, the 7th November. Harriet Morris, of No. 22, Bennington-street, Caledonian-road, said the deceased was her father, who was 771 fears of age, and by trade a plasterer. She lived in the same house with him, but on the night of Saturday, the 7th Nov., her mother slept with her because she was ill. She heard nothing of her father duriEg the night. Between 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning her mother got up, and shortly after i-he had gone down stairs she heard her mother cry out for assistance. She ran down stairs, and on going into the room she saw her father striking her mother on the bead with a hammer, which caused a seven cut. Witness pulled her mother out of file room, and having returned she saw her father sitting on the bed with a pistol in his hand. Witness then ran away, closing the door after her, and calling out "Murder." Immediately afterwards she heard the report of a pistol, and a lodger came down, and a policeman being sent for, they went into the room, and found that the deceased had attempted his life. A doctor was sent for, and he directed his removal to the hospital. He was quite alone when he shot himself. She thought that he had not been right in his mind for some time, as six months ago he attempted to poison himself. She thought his mind was disturbed in consequence of being out of work. The wife of the deceased said her husband had been out of work for some time, which had preyed upon his mind, and he had not been right since he attempted to poison himself. There had been no quarrel between them. He went behind her on the morning in question, and, without any provocation, struck her on the back of the head with a hammer, which caused her to bleed profusely, and her daughter dragged her out of the room. She knew that her husband had a pistol, but he always kept it locked up. Mr. Francis Wakefield Skey, house surgeon of St. Bartholomew's Hosiital, said he saw the deceased on his admission. Ho was bleeding from the mouth. Both angles were enlarged. The tongue was lascerated, with several holes in the palate and right cheek. He afterwards extracted some shot from his tonoie, and several shot had come away since. He gradually sank, and died on Monday from the wound. He ,had not been in a proper state of mind since he bad been in the hospital. He often said that he would put an end to himself if he recovered, and that be Should not have cared if he recovered, and that he should not have cared if he had killed hie wife.  The Coroner carefully summed up the evidence, and The jury returned a verdict of temporary insanity.  Country Markets.
The Sun. — 1857-05-18 (London, England)

HORRIBLE MURDER IN FRANCE.  PARIS, Saturday.—The crime of murder is making lamentable progress in France, but, strange to say, the cases are comparatively few in the great towns. The villages and agricultural districts in general supply the hideous announcements which are to be found in every number of the Gazette des Tribunaux. . The case 1 am about to record will astonish oven those who still remember the name of Thurtell and other miscreants of his clasq. M. Lechaux, a retired builder and a member of the Municipal Council, 64 years of age, resided with his son and two daughters in the village of Olivet, in the Department of the Loiret. The old gentleman, who had lost his wife some time since, was paralytic. A misunderstanding existed between the father and son relative to the partition of the property belonging to the late Madame Lechaux. One day last week the old man returned home after a drive in his carriage ; his daughter assisted him to alight, and at the same moment his son approached, and, in an angry tone, asked his father how be dared to dispose of some timber without his permission. Thence an altercation ensued, when the son laid hold of his father by the collar, and the latter raised his cane. The son seized the end of the cane, and by means of it drew the old man towards his workshop. There be loosed the cane, and suddenly seizing a carpenter's axe struck at his father. The daughter, however, stho clung to her father, warded off the first blow. The parricide, who is a man of herculean strength, struck again, and wounded his father in the shoulder. Not satisfied with that, he struck a third time, and with such force that he cut through the face and severed the carotid artery. Lechaux then fell, and the daughter, who had used every effort to prevent the perpetration of the crime, fled, terrified at the ghastly sight, and screaming for assistance- The parricide in the meantime quietly picked up the murdered man's cane, placed it carefully beside the axe, and went upstairs to his room and locked himself in. There be sat down at his desk, receipted some accounts, and, to use his own expression, " set his affairs in order." The officers of justice having been apprisrd of what had occurred went to the house, knocked at the door of the par 7 ricide's room, and commanded him to open it in the name of the law. "Presently," replied he, "in a few minutes. . . . Have patience ; I will not destroy myself ; I will not do my family that honour. I will (Ile on the scaffold." The officer insisted, and the door was finally opened. The Imperial attorney, accompanied by an officer land two Gendarmes, proceeded to interrogate the parricide, who coolly confesseilhis crime, adding, "It must have happened sooner or later." Antoine Lechaux, who is 40 years of age, unmarried, and possessed of an independent fortune, was committed to the prison, of Orleaua at 10 o'clock at night, fol lowed by an immense crowd, who waited severa: hours to catch a glimpse of the assassin. His trial will take place at the approaching assizes.
The Sun. — 1857-05-18 (London, England)

THE MURDER AT WOKINGTIAM.  A few hours after the examination of the maniac John Blackwell before Mr. Dailey, the chief magistrate, on Thursday last, for the murder of Thomas Rance, he was removed to the county gaol at Reading. Since his incarceration the symptoms of insanity have been so strongly manifested that he has been constantly placed under watch of a warder. In the first night the inmates of the gaol were disturbed by his raving noise, and in his violence he broke the windows of the cell in which he was pladecl. He also made a violent attack on the warder, and seized him by the neck, but he did no serious mischief, assistance being immediately procured by sounding the alarm bell, which is connected with each cell. As no doubt can exist as to his insanity, he will in aiew days be removed by au order from the Secretary of State to a lunatic. asylum, where he will be subjected to proper restraint. An inquest was held on view of the body of the deceased man, Thomas Rance, before Mr. R. Clarke, the coroner for the county, on the afternoon of Friday. The only additional particulars elicited were from the evidence of the grandfather, William Blackwell, who said that the deceased came to take care of the prisoner for the night, as he (the grandfather) had been recently much disturbed, and wanted to go out and get a night's rest. There was a female lodger in the house, but but she was so deaf that sbe could not hear anything. He went to sleep at the White Hart publichouse, where the deceased had lodged, and was called up soon after 12 o'clock by a woman, who said there was a cry of murder. He got up and went to his cottage, and there saw Rance lying outside the back door quite dead, having nothing on but his shirt. It was on Monday last he first observed that his grandson was affected in his mind, as he then cried out very much, made sad lamentation, and said, "Oh ! I must die." He was seen by a medical gentleman on Tuesday, who gave him some medicine. On that day he raved very much, but he was pacified on some neighbours coming in in to see him. His grandson had lived with him since the disbanding of the Berkshire Militia, but no symptoms of insanity were visible until Monday last. He, was a shoemaker ; and, although he bad not done much work lately, he could earn from 10s. to 14s. per week. All the knives and razors were put out of his way on Tuesday. The prisoner and the deceased were on good terms, and treated each other as brothers. The relieving officer of he Wokingham Union (Mr. Beecbey) saw the prisoner on Wednesday, and said to him that be must be removed to Littlemore Asylum on the next day if be was not better. He never heard the prisoner talk of destroying himself, or any one else. he was generally talking about religion and praying. On Wednesday the prisoner drank no beer or spirits ;in fact, he took nothing but water. The jury returned a formal verdict of " Wilful murder" against John Blackwell.
The Sun. — 1857-10-06 (London, England)

LAMBETH.--THE MANSLAUGHTER CASE. Henry Welsh was brought up on remand, charged with inflicting such serious injuries upon Eliza Welsh, his wife, as to occasion her death. Police-constable Isaac Sheppard, 49 L, inform the magistrate that an inquest had that mor❑ing been held on the body of the deceased, and a verdict of manslaughter returned against the prisoner. The witnesses were now all iu attendance, with the exception of the medical gentleman who had attended the deceased.  Andrew Morne, a stoker, employed at the Vauxhall Gas Works, deposed that be lodged with the prisoner and the deceased at No. 4, Model-buildings, High street, Lambeth. On Saturday, the 19th ult., he and the prisoner went to Brixton, to see a daughter of the latter, and on their return home at night they found that the deceased had left the apartments, and that the children were alone and crying. Witnesswent to bed and the prisoner set out in search of his wife. About midnight witness was awoke by the prisoner and his wife quarreling, and he got up and went to the room in which they were talking. The prisoner blamed his wife for leaving the children, and said he had found her outside a beer-shop in Vauxhall-walk. The deceased was very much intoxicated, and seemed scarcely able to sit or stand. She was also very aggravating in her language and manner, and at last the prisoner struck her a blow on the side of the head with his flat hand, and she fell to the ground, her head coming in contact with the door-post. Witness lifted her up, and the prisoner ordered her to go to bed, and she did so. The following day she was very ill, and the prisoner sent for a doctor, who attended her up to the time of her death. Honor Stafford deposed that on the night in question she heard violent screaming in the prisoner's room, and the deceased exclaim, " Oh, you will kill me." On the Wednesday the deceased became delirious, and died at midnight on Friday last. Mary Crawford, also an inmate of the same house, gave testimony to the same effect. This witness also heard the dreadful screaming spoken of by the last witness, and, further, that the deceased cried out, "Oh, you will murder me;" and almost immediately afterwards she heard a heavy fall against the room door. She did not see the deceased until the 23d, when she was dangerously ill, complaining of violent pains in her head, n ck, back, bosom, and chest, all of which portiqns of her body were bruised. Her eyes were also blackened. She was only sensible at intervals, but when so she told the witnesci, in the prisoner's presence, that the injuries had been inflicted by him, adding that he ought not to have beaten her so just for taking a drop of beer. The constable Sheppard proved his apprehension of the prisoner, who, when told the charge was for violently ill-using his wife, acknowledged that he had done so, and said he was sorry for it. There being no other witnesses ready to give their evidence, the prisoner was remanded for further investigation.
The Sun. — 1857-01-06 (London, England)

MOTHER.  LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.  About a fortnight ago an inquest was held before Mr. Coroner Curry, on the bodies of Margaret Cochrane, aged six years, and Catherine Cochrane, aged four years, who were supposed to have been suffocated in consequence of a fire breaking out in the room where they were sleeping, in a low Irish lodging-house, in St. Martin's-street. Mr. Kemp, the surgeon usually called to give evidence in such cases, deposed that the children had died from suffocation. The circumstances of the 'case, however, were of so strange a nature, and the antecedents of the mother of so suspicious a character, that the coroner's beadle, Mr. Blake, came to the conclusion that there had been foul play in the matter. He had ascertained by inquiry that the mother had had five children by her husband, three of whom bad also come to violent deaths, either by scalding or burning ; that during the absence of her husband in America she was sett to Walton Gaol, for three months, for larceny ; that there shil gave birth to an illegitimate male child, which was well when she was discharged, and that it had never been seen or beard of ; and that a few days after her release, a male child, of precisely the same age, was found deserted in the street, and it died from exposure. He examined the premises in St. Martin's-street, and found appearances which led to the conclusion that the fire bad been purposely made under the bed. He called in the assistance of Mr. Arnold, of nose-vale, who examined the other body, and his testimony gave weight to the suspicions of the beadle. The inquest was several times adjourned, and when these facts were developed the coroner gave instructions for the bodies, which had been interred in Walton Cemetery, to be exhumed, and an analysis to be made of the contents of the stomach. Up to this point the woman Cochrane had attended the investigations, wrapping herself and her thoughts closely up in her dirty and tattered shawl, her expressionless face giving no sign of emotion. When the bodies, however, were taken from the grave in which they would not rest, she fled and has not since been seen. This act was an indication of what would follow. Professor Edwards analysed the contents of the stomach, and found in each sufficient traces of oxalic acid to account for death. The adjourned inquiry took place this morning, at half-past 11 o'clock, when these facts were evolved : A Detective Officer stated at the inquiry this morning that he and Police-constable Surrey (No. 444) had made every possible search forthe parents of the children, having been in Woolton and Stockport, where they had liveedftbmes.riy, but they had found no traces of their wbrea Detective-officer Eaton stated that the woman Cochrane had been several times committed for felony at ng Woolton. Her husband, it was explained, had not been seeneelnn in obtained replyt h e to as town ajuror,sincet o the theth mode in which the poison had been procured, owing to the great demand for oxalic acid for various purposes. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Bridget Cochrane, and a warrant was issued for her apprehension.