npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1872-05-11 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

HORRIBLE MURDER AT GENEVA.  A correspondent, writing from Oeners, the 3rd instant, says : A barbarous murder was committed here on Friday last, the 26th of April, mid the measures taken by.the murderer to conceal the deed surpass in horiible details any of the sensational and atrocious murders which have of late agitated the public of Europe. The victim is one Vioget, about 65 years of age, a money lender well known in Geneva. He had not been seen since bat Friday at his place of abode in the quarter of the Madelaiue, where he occupied .three rooms tilled with old furniture, old clothes, odds and ends on which he had lent money at usurious interest, or which he had purchased at low sales. Ile lived entirely alone in the midst of this accumulation of pledged property. His prolonged abseuce rather surprised his neighbours, causing some suspicion of foul play. The police authorities, informed on Tuesday last of this circumstance, set watch near the premises, and about 6 o'clock in the evening a man was detected trying to open one of the doors of the apattments, which he at last succeeded in doing. Instantly arrested and interrsgated, he eventually confessed the following facts, though the horrible confession he made slid not seem to trouble his conscience. On Friday last, he said, he gave Vioget a rendezvous at his own apartments in a str. et of the Eaux Vices, on some business connected with a loan he had if Vioget —quarrelling with him aboui. the money. Viuget ntaaised Lim of being a cheat and thief, and enraged at this accusation he knocked him down with a hatchet, and afterwards murdered him. The deed was no sooner accomplished, than he felt horrified, not knowing what to do with the body, but at last decided to adopt the horrible process of cutting it up into small pieces with the intention of burning them in the furnace of the room he occupied. This confession was hardly believed by the Commissary of Police, to whom it had been made; but oa Wednesday morning, when the Precureur-General, the Jtim d'lnstruction, a meslical gentleman, and the Commissary of Police proceeded to the scene of the murder, they found the statement to be too true. They found the remains of the body cut up aY the murderer had described. In one bucket were the entrails, in smother a quantity of congealed blood • in a trunk and in a cupboard other parts of the body. Portions of the limbs and the greater part of the head, of which only the tones calcined remained, had been consumed in the  furnace. Reports of another person being an accomplice in this laurible butchery were current, and a butcher's boy was arrested; but ~Il accounting for his occupation for the last few days, he was soon after released, and it seems probable the murderer alone and deliberately consummated this disgusting work. His Lame is Veuehet, and he is a native of a village in the Canton de Vaud. He is dint up, closely watched, in the town prison.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1872-05-11 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

THE "ALABAMA' QUESTION.  MURDER AT LITTLEHAMPTON.  On Tuesday afternoon, the Coroner for West Sussex, resumed aninquiry respecting tne death of John Temple, • boy. It is alleged that on Sunday tact the dices,' I was deliberately murdered by John Jordan, a gunner in the Royal Artillery, stationed at the hat. Solomon Temple, a bombardier in the Royal Artillery, said that the deceased was his son. Witness knew of no quarrel or disagreement between him and Jordan; but on the 11th nit, witness had occasion to make him a prisoner through his being absent from duty. He had been absent for 11 hours without leave, and was detained in custody two days. On Sunday morning last there was a church parade at the fort at half-past 10 o'clock, and the prisoner went with witness and another gunner. He spoke to the prisoner in going and returning. About a quarter-past 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, one of his children came hone, and in consequence of a certain statement she made he went out of the house. He then saw the prisoner running away about 100 yards ahead of him. Witness ran after the prisoner some distance, thinking his child was down aulong the gravel pits. Witness returned, and saw the deceased 13 big 1.. u. the gate of the fort. His throat was cut right across, and he was I quite dead. Witness's wife carried the child home. The I murder had evidently been committed on the bank, where there was a great quantity of blood. Witness knew of nothing at all, except the arrest, that could cause any ill-feeling between them. as . . a  William Dyer, a collector of tolls at Littlehampton, Bald that on Sunday afternoon last about half-past two o'clock he was in a small fen), boat, which was just starting from the western to the eastern side of the river, when he saw the prisoner coming from the direction of the fort. He hailed witness, and he got into the boat. Witness knew him welL He was dressed in his artillery uniform. When he got into the boat witness asked him what he had been at to get all over blood, and he replied, " I cut it with a knife, and it is a deep cut," He further said, "Whore can! get a piece of rag? my finger is cut to the bone." Witness toll him to go to a beerhouse. He looked very pale and trembled while he was talking to witness_  Mr. ('andy, of Littlehampton, said he was called to see the deceased on Sunday afternoon, Ile was deal. The throat was dreadfully cut, and all the arteries were divided. The throat must have been cut by some sharp instrument. William Wright, a hairdresser, said that he sold the prisoner a razor a mouth ago. Police-sergeant Milehani said that he arrested the prisoner in a beer-house. Witness told him the charge, and he replied, "I ought to have been dead long ago." At the station he said he cut the child's throat with a razor, which he afterwards threw on the grass. He was asked why he killed the child, and he mid "the Devil caused him to do it."  The jury returned a verdict of "Wilful murder against Jordan," who was committed on the Coroner's warrant.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1872-12-21 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

TRIAL FOR MURDER.  At the Darkim ASO,II, John flrant, at 31, a plasterer, was in.:if:tea for the wilful murder of his wife Mary Grant, at the Felling, near Cateshead, on the 27th of July last ----•• • • • •  The locality of the offence, Mr. Moynell stated in opening the case was known as Little Ireland, the place being all but exclusively inhabited by Irish (+Mai.% The prisoner, who 'lea furnaceman and was employed at the Felling chemical works hal rmided fio. several min the with his wife a wciaan about thirty.three yea, s of age, at the place The day of the occurrence was pay-day a: the chemical works, and the plisener, on receiving his money, proceeded with a lodger of his, named Macartney, to a public-house. There they remaieed some time, and eventual;, about five retook in the afternoon, Grant's wife went to the public.bouse and endeavoured to induce her husband to accompany her home. Ile did not at once comply with her re. queet, but soon afterwards he left, and Grant, his wife, and the lodger proceeded Milne. On arriving home the deceased aakaa her husband for some money, as she wiehed to go out aml purchase some provi.ione. Ile tendered her 7e. fid, out of his fay. Mrs. I Grant took the money, but began to find fault with her husband, and upbraided him with having spent his money in the puolic-house and left her to starve. A I quarrel ensued, and the prisoner struck and kicked his ' wife in such a brutal manner that conic of the neighbours interfered and held him back, and two women lifted up Mts. Grant and carried 11. r out of her husband's reach. She was at that time quite insensib'e, ant the neighbours did all in their power to restore animation, but she died within five minutes from the time she was tut assailed by her husband. -  His Lordship, in summing up, laid down with great clearness the.distinction between minder and manslaughter, and what circumstances would reduce the crime of murder to manslaughter, and then, summing up the evidence, left it to the jury to say, as reasonable men, whether there was in the present case any act of violence on the part of his wife which might have provoked the anger and hot blood of the lansteind, in which he had struck and kicked his wife. Her threats to him to give him six or twelve months for what he had done to her she had a right to make, and, if she had been able, to give him there and then into custody for it; and it would be a most dangerous doctrine to hold that such threats or acts would extenuate the consequences of a blow which catn,ed death from murder to manslaughter. If the jury, on the evidence, thought there bad been mere words of abuse and threats by the wife, the blow which caused her death was murder. If they saw anything in the circumstances which led them to suppose that the prisoner's act was caused by hot blood, resulting from violence used to him, they might find him guilty of manslaughter. The jury, after au absence of an hour, found the prisoner Gici/ty of manslaughter. His Lordship sentenced him to penal servitude for life.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1868-07-11 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

AMERICAN MURDER. STRANGE CONFESSION.  Mr. Cornelius Holmes, bmther of Mr. Alex. Holmes, formerly president of the Old Colony Ilt.ilroad, was found murdered at about seven o'clock on the morning of 27th of May last, in abye road near the back entrance to the cemetery of Kingston (adjoining Plymouth), Mass. His brains had been beaten out with a stone. 'the report which came by telegraph represented that at eight o'clock on the evening of the 26th, whilst Hoboes was at Deacon Samuel Andrew's house, ahoy delivered a note to him, upon which he remarked that he must be going. He started by the path across the cemetery for the Stony Brook neighbourhood, at the delta. Mr. Holmes was a wealthy man, but, not being of a strong mind, his property had been held in trust. It is known that he received a large sum of motley on the 26th. which was found upon him. The scene of the murder bore evidences of a violent struggle. For awhile no arrest was made; but at length suspicion fell on Deacon Androxs, at whose house and in whose corn pony the deceased gentleman was last seen, and he was, on the .ird of June, taken into custody. The community of Plymouth and Kingston, among whom the Deacon lore a high reputation, was shocked by this arrest, and the general imFression was that the suspicions of his guilt were not ooly unfentoled but cruel. Deacon Andrews waived any preliminary examination, and on the sth of June avowed his determination to make a confession of all he knew to the Grand Jury. That confession was made, and was qualified by the claim that the killing was done in selfdefence. The confession, it is understood, was rejected I y the Grand Jury, and is now made public by the onsrnt of Deacon Andrews's counsel. In it the Deacon details his interviews with Mr. Holmes two days prior to the tragedy and on the evening of the homicide, showing that he and Mr. Holmes were on terms of intimacy and friendship. Afterdescribing ' their last interview, which took place at about eight o'clock p.m., on Tuesday, May 26, when Holmes , found the Deacon at work in his garden, Andrews says :  lie '.bed me to walk with him down to the new cemetery to see some new lot. We passed out by the back end of my lot. by Mr. Bradford's and tic. Si •Laughlin's lots, and by the path that leads to the stile into the cemetery. We looked at Mr. Thomas Prince's and sonic other lots, and then returned to the stile and sat dawn on the steps a few nannies, and he then told me that he was pang to buy hint, In Roston, tw.i hats—a ten dollar silk and an every-day hat, and asked my advice as to buying an every-day coat, and then again asked me what he should buy me In Boston. I told him to suit himself. He then asked me to walk a little way %Rh him. I told him I was tired, amt thought we had better go notue. We then started. lie took me by the arin, and drew me down the road on winch his body stun found. Ile stepped up on the beak, ea tie lett head ride et the reed where
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1868-09-26 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

BURGLARY AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.  About 2 o'clock on Monday morning dreadful shrieks were heard proceeding from No. 6, Tavistock-crescent, Notting-hill, London, the residence of Mrs. Langley, a widow lady, of about 20 years of age. Shortly afterwards her bedroom window was raised and she threw herself into the garden beneath. When picked up by those attracted by her cries she was found to be in a shocking condition. Her face was gashed in a terrible manner, and part of her skull had been chopped off. There was also a severe gash on the leg. 'Medical assistance was at once obtained, but though she was found to be alive, she is in such a condition that no hope is said to be entertained of her recovery. Upon a search of the house being mmle it was found that there had been a robbery and attempt at murder. The wounds had been inflicted with a butcher's chopper, and the police found that the murderer in his hurry to escape had left his hat and boots behind him. The burglar, it is believed, only succeeded in making off with two five-pound notes. A full description of a person suspected has been given to the police.  The following are the authentic details of the dreadful affair : —About twelve months ago a person took the house 64 (not 6), Tavistock-street, Notting-hill, and said that she was a widow. She stated also that her name was Russell, not Laylarel. She was waited upon by a young servant girl named Sale. The girl's family lived in a street off the Portland-road, Nottinghill. She had no followers, and was very much liked by her mistress. On Sunday night she and her mistress went to bed in different ammo. All was then quiet, and no other person ought to have been in the house. At about three o'clock on Monday morning a little bull dog that generally slept in Mrs. Russell's room growled. Mrs. Russell awoke, and saw a light. She became alarmed, jumped out of bed, and said, "Who is that?" She at first thought it was the girl. The person addressed made no answer. Mrs. Russell went towards the light. It was blown out. She then felt a sharp blow on the forehead. The room was the second floor back one, and she rushed towards the window of it. While she was throwing up the window her unknown assailant still struck at ler. She leapt out and fell on the soft earth beneath. Her screams brought the neigh',ours. 'Upon their arrival Dr. Harding was sent for, and he found that a piece of Mrs. Russell's skull had been chopped off the forehead. The brain was exposed. She is thirty-four years of age. The house has been robbed of two Eli notes, a purse, and 10s. in silver. In the kitchen were found a pair of boots, the property of the brother of the girl (a soldier), who states that she knows nothing about the affair. Her mistress believes her. lier brother is only twenty years of age. He was living with his family the night before she outrage was committed.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1868-03-14 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

ALLEGED MURDER IN STAFFORDSHIRE.  A man named John lt,gers, all itinerent potseller, living at Burslem, is in custody at Hanley, charged with the wilful murder of Mary Darwin, an Irishwoman, with whom he had cohabited for several years. The circumstances, as at present known, are briefly these On Thursday night the prisoner and the murdered woman were Peen together in several public-houses in the neighbourhood of Buralem. At the village of Milton they had a violent quarrel, the woman upbraiding her paramour with wasting the money which she earned, and the latter telling her that as she was not his wife she had no claim upon him, and that lie did not care how soon she left him. He was proceeding to violence, when the landlord of the house interposed and protected the woman. At a late hour they left the house together and went through several fields in the direction of Hanley. They were met by two colliers, who, before they came up to them, had heard a woman screaming " Murder!" and who, on seeing them, were satisfied from her appearance that the woman had been grossly ill-treated, but they do not appear to have interfered. The deceased and Rogers were not again seen together, but at half. past four o'clock on Friday morning a collier going to his work reported to two men whom he met coming from a pit that he had passed a woman lying , on the canal bank, and that she appeared to have been ' in the water. He asked them to look after her, but they contended that as they had just left work, while he was fresh from sleep, it was more reasonable to expect that he should charge himself with this act of humanity. The wrangle ended in all three of the men going about their own business with the most perfect indifference as to the fate of the woman. .I\othing more was heard of her until seven o'clitek on Saturday morning, when her dead body was accidentally discovered in a disused colliery engine-house a few hundred yards from the bank of the canal. The body, when found, was lying across a wheelbarrow, and a subsequent examination of the locality showed that in all probability the murderer had first of all endeavoured to bury the body in the shale lying at the mouth of a neighbouring coal-pit, but had abandoned that idea for soil.e reason or other, and had then wheeled it straight to the engine-house. A post-mortem examination of the body has been made by Mr. Oldham, sturgeon, of Burslem, who is of opinion. from appearances presented by the woman's throat, that she was strangled. In addition to marks of violence on the throat, there are bruises on both arms, caused apparently by the tight grip of a man's hands. The prisoner, on being taken into custody, said that as he and the woman were walking along the bank of the canal she fell into the water through being very drunk, that he pulled her out at the risk of his own life, and then left her.  On Monday, ad H ay police-oourt, Rogers
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1868-12-19 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

HORRIBLE MURDER.  An Inquest has been held at haddoley-Buser, a village in North Warwickshire, to inquire la,, the circumstances connecte.l with the death id a IVMM, eny twenty-three ears of age, named Harriet Atkins. The evidence went to show that the husband of the deceased, Michael Atkins, is a miner, and lives at Badlenley-Ensor, a village some three miles from Atheretone. On the night of Friday last the prisoner was seen drinking at a publichouse in the neighbourhood, but proceeded in the direction of his home at a little after ten o'clock. A few minutes later the report of a gun was heard by several persons residing in the village. Among those who heard the gun discharged was a man named Bedford, who happened to be standing talking to a friend some short distance from the prisoner's cottage. While conversing together the prisoner Atkins came up to them saying, "Have you heard a gun go off?" Bedford replied that he had, when prieoner remarked, "Oh, I hope it is not in Harriette ! " lie asked Bedford and his friend, a Mr. Day, to go with him to l,ii house. Day accompanied him thither. When they got to the house Day found the prisoner'i4 wife lying upon the floor in a pool of blood. tihe never moved, but appeared tube quite dead. A gun wa.l hanging up on two nails, about lift. from the floor. Prisoner, who seemed to be a little affected, took down the gun and broke it in two parts. Many of the villagers came flocking to the house almost immediately afterwards, together with the police, to whom the prisoner declared that he had not shot his wife. At the same time he admitted that he and his wife and their little child were the only persons present when the deed was done. The primmer was at once taken into custody, and lodged in the lock-up at Atherstone. Mr. Allsworth, surgeon, in conjunction with Dr. Mousley, proved ha, Mg made a post mortal' examination of the body. They found an irregularly-fornied circular opening, about an inch in diameter, under the left angle of the month. The hole went upwards and backwards towards the left temple, and terminated under the left ear. There were wadding and shot in the wounds. The lower and upper jaws, and also the cheek-bone were broken: and the soft parts very much injured and torn. The injuries were such as would cause immediate death. In their pinion, after receiving such a wound deceased could not possibly have placed the gun where it was found. They believed that the muzzle of the gun could not have been more than twelve inches from the face of the deceased when the shot was fired. The whole charge went into the deceased's face. After hearing the evidence, the coroner summed up, and the jury almost ininiediately afterwards returned a verdict of " Wilful murder" against the prisoner, who was formally committed to take his trial at the ensuing Warwick <V