npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1829-06-16 (London, England)

OLD BAILEY.-(THIS DAY.)  OLD COURT.  George Haynes, a labouring man aged 42, was indicted for committing a rape upon Hannah Harris, a young girl 14 years of are. The prosecutrix, an ill-looking girl, stated that she lived at a hamlet about two miles from Uxbridge. On the 13th of April she was standing at her cousin's door in Uxbridge when the prisoner came up and invited her to go to the Red Lion public house with him, to this she assented, and after drinking some beer they walked together on the Uxbridge road; after they had got some distance they had to cross a field, in which the prisoner threw her down, and began to act very indelicately. Witness attempted to cry murder, but the prisoner put his hand on her mouth, and prevented her. She struggled as much as possible, and cried murder once, but Po one was within hear ing. (The proSecutrix here detailed, minutely, the prisoner's conduct, which went to prove the capital part of the charge, and is of course unfit for publication.)  The -prosecutrix was cross-examined at great length by the prisoner, who kept continually cau. tioning her " not to tell a story." He tried hard to convince the Jury, that he was the seduced, and not the seducer; he so far succeeded as to show that they were together for a long time, and that she did not tell her father or mother what had transpired until the next day. She, however, positively declared it was against her consent. The prisoner displayed a great deal of cunning in the manner he shaped his questions.  James, landlord of the Castle, at Uxbridge, stated that he saw the prisoner and prosecutor together on the morning of the 13th of April. It appeared to him that the girl had been drinking and held out strong temptations to the prisoner. Harriet Harris, mother of the prosecutrix, stated that on the 13th April she sent her daughter to Uxbridge about nine o'clock in the morning. She returned about three o'clock. A short distance before she got to the door she fell down in the road, and exclaimed several times, " Oh, my mother ! Where is my mother ?" She appeared, very faint and exhausted, but certainly was not tipsy. She told -witness that she had been ill•used by George Haynes, ,but not the particular nature of it until the next day: Her clothes at the time she came home were very wet and dirty, and witness advised her to go.to bed. . By the prisoner—My husband did not beat the prosecutrix when she came home, he might have struck her once, but that was before lie knew what was the matter.  William Harris—Husband of last witness, gave similar evidence.  . The prisonet in his defence, put in a long written statement, which tilled two sheets of foolscap paper, he did not attempt to deny having had a connexion with the prosecutrix, but declared it was with her consent ; he called no witnesses.  Mr. Baron flut.Locx recapitulated the evidence. The Jury, after a few minutes' consideratiow, reAirned a verdict of Not Guilty.
The Sun. — 1829-01-22 (London, England)

BOW.STREET.  A grave-looking elderly man presented himself before Mr. HALLS yesterday, and told him that a woman was in custody upon a charge of murder and  felony. " Murder and felony !" repeated Mr. 1-lau.s, " and where is the prisoner ?" " She is here, your Worship." said an officer, and at the same time an elderly female advanced in front of the bench, and acknowledged that she was the person alluded to. " By whom is the charge preferred ?" asked the Magistrate. " I am her accuser," exclaimed a middle-aged woman, who wore the appearance of better days. " I charge this woman with having trepanned my husband six years ago, and I further accuse her of putting him to death either by poison or some other means, she first having caused him to make a will in her favour, by which she became possessed of 6001. and other property, to all of which I alone was entitled as his true and lawful wife. The truth is, your worship, that this woman here, this Mrs. Reynolds, was my husband's anise, in a fit of sickness; and she, aided by her husband, caused him to ‘vill away all the property he possessed, and make her husband his heir. The poor man died while under the prisoner's care ; and I have reason to believe— indeed I have proof of the fact—that she hastened his death by some unfair means. " And what has become of the prisoner's husband?" asked the Magistrate. " He is dead also," replied the complainant. " In that case," observed Mr. 1-laaes, " I fear you have no remedy. The money having been willed to him, if he obtained it by any undue influence, he is gone to his trial elsewhere, and is no longer amenable to human justice. " Mrs. White knows," said the prisoner, " that she had been parted :"rom her husband for some years previous to his death." " And what of that," rejoined Mrs. White; " what of that, you wretch ? Was he not my lawful husband, and am I not better entitled to his property than you, who were a stranger to him ?" " Moderate your passion, my good woman," exclaimed the Magistrate, " 1 see how the matter lies. You, perhaps, have been uefairly dealt with, but I regrut to say I have no power to serve you. Who administered to the effects of your deceased linahand ?"—" I w ill explain the matter to your worship," said a Mr. Mott, pushing his way to the bench. " I was appointed executor to the will of the deceased, and I beg to assure your Worship that every thing was conducted in the fairest and most honourable way." " Talk of honour and fairness, you villain," exclaimed the complainant, " can you look in my face and say that you did not conspire to rob me of my just right ?"—" She is deranged, your Worship," said the executor, in a suppressed voice. " But vet there's method in her madness," observed the Magistrate, "and I do believe, for the
The Sun. — 1829-08-18 (London, England)

EXEECUTION OF STRATFORD, 'I HE  MURDERER.  NORWICH, MONDAY, AUG. 17.  This day at noon, the malefactor, John Stratford, suffered the just penalty of the lkw, on the platform erected on the summit of the lodge of the new city gaol. A report had been generally circulated yesterday, that the execution would take place at eight o'clock instead of at noon, and the consequence was that at that hour a large concourse of persons had assembled in order to get eligible standing places, and in the course of one hour the large triangular square front of the prison was so completely blocked up, as to prevent the passage of horses or Vehicles.  At this time no preparation had been made, and the crowd began to disperse in a sullen mood ; but after breakfast there was an increase of numbers with those who left at eight o'clock. The morning was remarkably fine, and it appeared that the harvest-men had thrown aside their scythe and sickle to see the last of " poor John Stratford," as the halfpenny accounts vended before and at the execution termed the unfortunate man. Even the cottages, for some miles round, poured forth their inhabitants, and long before the fatal minute every elevated position and the windows of the houses were full of occupants, while the battlements of St. Giles's church (the tower of which was let for 21) presented a crowded group of spectators. At the entrance of a pasture which overlooked the gaol was posted, " Admission in here is 2d. each," and hundreds, willing to emerge from the pressure of the crowd, availed themselves of the opportunity, and it was said that the owner of the field cleared enough to pay a year's rent.  At nine o'clock Messrs. Stevenson and Groutt, the Sheriffs, and Messrs. Staff and Newton, the Under. sheriffs, arrived at the prison, where they found the unhappy object of their charge engaged in religious duties with the Rev. C. F. Millard, the chaplain of the gaol, to whose pious exhortations he listened with great attention and correctness of demeanour.  Shortly before noon, after all the necessary preliminaries had been gone through, the Rev. Chaplain said, " Well, Stratford, have you any thing more to say to me, relative to your friends or otherwise ?" " Sir," said the prisoner, " 1 thank you, I don't think I have forgot any thing." The chaplain then told him to kneel down, when the former read a beautifully appropriate prayer which he had composed for the occasion. The prisoner complied, and at intervals uttered ejaculatory sentences, such as, " Lord have mercy upon me, and save my soul !" " Christ stretch out thine arm and redeem me," &c. &c. He was finally asked whether he had any thing more to say ; he replied, " No, my work is now almost done." He then approached the Sheriffs, and thanked them for the kind attention which they had paid him, and promises which they had made on behalf of his widow and children. He shook hands with them, and every body within his reach, and immediately ascended the platform. One minute enabled the expert executioner to adjust the rope, cap, &c., and the signal being given, the platform fell, and the unhappy man was dead in an instant.
The Sun. — 1829-01-10 (London, England)

RIVAL TOPICS.-AN EXTRAVAGANZA.  (From the Times.) Oh W-11—ngt—n and Stephenson, Oh morn and evening papers, Times, Herald, Courier, Globe, and Sun, When will ye cease our ears to stun With these two heroes' capers? Still " Stephenson" and " W-11—ngt--n," The everlasting Two ! Still doom'4l, from rise to set of sun, To hear what mischief one has done, And t'other means to do : What bills the Banker pass'd to friends, But never meant to pay ; Whath Bills the theinotthbeerirWwigalyit;_intends, As Bills, payable at distant sight, Beyond the Grecian Kalends, When all good deeds will come to light, When W-11—ngt-11 will do what's right, And Rowland pay his balance. To catch the Banker all have sought, But still the rogue unhurt is ; While t'other juggler—who'd have thought ? Though slippery long, has just been caught By eld Archbishop Curtis ;_..... And, such the power of Papal crook, The crosier scarce had quiver'd About his ears, when, 10, the Duke Was of a Bull deliver'd ! Sir Rickard Birnie doth decide That Rowland " must be mad,"  In private coach, with crest, to ride,  When chaises could be had. And t'other hero, all agree, St. Luke's will soon arrive at, If thus he shows off publicly, When he might pass in private. Oh W-11—ngt—n, oh Stephenson, Ye ever-boring pair, Where'er I sit, or stand, or run, Ye haunt me every where. Though Job had patience tough enough, Such duplicates would try it; Till one's. turn'd out and t'other off, We shan't have peace or quiet. But small's the chance that Law affords,— Such folks are daily let off; And, 'twixt tit' Old Bailey and the Lords, THEY Baru, I fear, will get off.  There was a very fashionable and numerou' audience at the Wolverhampton Theatre on Friday evening, the attraction being the appearance of the " celebrated Amateur" in the character of Lord Ogleby, which he performed with complete success, and which drew forth the spontaneous applause of the house.— Wolverhampton Chronicle of 'Wednesday.  The Editor of the Lancet, in noticing the late murders at Edinburgh, says—" We have ourselves, within a recent period, seen bodies brought into dissectingrooms in this metropolis, exhibiting none of the appearances usually found in the bodies of persons who had died from disease, but with all the indications presented by the bodies of men who had died within a few boors, and in a state of perfect health. One bead in particular—subjects are now frequently sold piecemeal—attracted our attention, and that of other gentlemen present. It was the head of a perfectly fresh subject; nut the slightest indication of disease could be traced ; it was apparently the head of a man who had lived in health and vigour within a few hours. We could not learn from whence it was brought, nor how the man (from whose trunk it had been severed) had come by his death. He might possibly have expired suddenly from natural causes; he might have destroyed his own life; but the late horrible disclosures prove that be right also have been slaughtered for the price of his corpse."
The Sun. — 1829-11-27 (London, England)

EXECUTION OF A MURDERER.  jThe following account of the condemnation and execution of a negro named Attention alias .3faquita, at Cayenne, in French Guiana, appears in a French Paper. For more than nine years past the negro Attention had spread terror through the forest of Guiana. He had escaped from his master, and had become leagued with all the deserters from the colony. Several detachments had been sent against him, but they had never succeeded, and the superstitious children of Africa looked upon him as a supernatural being, whom neither the Indian arrow nor the European bayonet could wound. At length, however, he was taken jin the mountains of Kaw, and his wife and another negress- were also apprehended with him as accomplices. He was tried and condemned to death by the Criminal Tribunal of Cayenne; but he appealed to the Cour Royale, and the circumstances of his case were again investigated. When he made his appearance in Court the greatest attention was excited. He was a man about 40, of middle height, but of colossal proportions, and the two women were placed at the bar with ,him. He persisted in denying the crime of brigandage imputed to him, but admitted that he had run away from his master. In reply to the various accusations of highway robbery made against hint, he said that if such crimes had been committed, the authors might perhaps belong to his band, but he had no participation in them. The Court, however, confirmed the previous sentence, and he was ordered for execution. At seven o'clock the next morning he was brought out of prison ; he had on a red cap, and wore a shirt of the same colour. He mounted the cart without the least emotion, and the executioner, Antonio, placed himself by his side. The moment the horse proceeded, the culprit began to sing a song in a sepulchral tone, which struck the spectators with astonishment and terror. He was  inattentive to all around him, and his savage and melancholy aspect indicated the most determined firmness. He continued to si►ag until he arrived at the place of execution, and he descended from the cart in the most careless manner. He refused to have a bandage placed over his eyes, and the executioner had raised the axe three times without daring to strike the blow, such was the terror which the prisoner's glance inspired. At last, however, the fatal stroke was given, the head rolled from the scaffold, over which the blood gushed in torrents, and the Child of the Niger was launched into eternity. The execution attracted a great ma►►y spectators, such spectacles being rarely seen, as the infliction of a cap►tal punishment at Guiana is becoming less frequent than ever.  Maineluke having won the tan)) at the last Newmarket Meeting, his owner, Mr. GULLY, now holds the championship of the Turf, as he once did that of the Ring.  The first English Physician employed at Court was JOHN GADDLSDEN, who was called to attend
The Sun. — 1829-04-13 (London, England)

EXECUTION THIS DAY, AT THE OLD  BAILEY.  Esther .Hibner the elder, aged 61, was this morn-1"g hanged for the murder of Frances Colpits, aged lime years; and seldom has the " last sentence" "en employed, to better purpose than in the remoral of such a being from the earth. She was tried• on Friday, for the murder of the abovementioned poor child, who was apprenticed to her by the parish authorities of St. Martin's,_ to learn the tarnbour-work. Such, however, was the treatment that this child with others received, that she and another actually died from exposure to the cold and starvation. After death her toes were found mortified. Esther Hibner was tried with her leerdaughter and Anne Robinson, but the two latter acquitted. -The mother and daughter took their of each other yesterday, and very few symptoms of affliction were manifested by either. The wretched convict, after that, refused to conII verse with any one, and maintained a sullen and Mischievous deportment. At about half-past five o'clock in the afternoon she retired from her cell, attended by two women, one of whom summoned I,ler to •return and immediately heard a gush of blood. Roth instantly rushed into the prisoner's Presence, and found, her with a knife in her hand, and the blood gushing from her neck, on which she had inflicted-a deep but almost longitudinal wound. The surgeon found that she had not injured the arteries or windpipe, and had evidently not intended ro.destroy herself. Indeed it was afterwards ascertained from her conduct and inquiries, that she had hoped by those means to gain a few more days of miserable existence. The Reverend Mr. Cotton peered: the .wretched woman spiritual comfort, but .renabruptly.deelined having any thing to do with and this morning refused taking the sacrament. During the night she made an attempt to tear open chatlv°""ds and was confined in a straight waist,in which she was hanged. She declared that no inducement should 'make her walk to the gallows, and said she was determined to make them Larry her. At the usual hour this morning • 41° Sheriffs arrived, and she was conducted la her last scene. She still preserved the same sulky, vicious, demeanour, and her expression of lountenance was ghastly and disgusting. She was below the middle size, and her features were minute, repelling, and tag-like in appearance, she never spoke after leaving her cell, and although the aSsembled mob saluted her with a yell, she remained unmoved, and not a tear escaped her. All das soon over, and every one turned with icgust, from the exhibition of the wound drawn °Pe" by the rope. The crowd was immense, iand an eighth part of it composed of women, many of them in decent attire. The cruelty of the line -seemed to excite the greatest horror among • them; and perhaps no case has raised so much inMterest among the fair sex since the execution of other Brownrigg, of Kentish Town, who was ged for the same species of offence in 1767. After hanging en hour, the body of Esther Hibner Was eta down and given to the surgeons for dissection.
The Sun. — 1845-03-20 (London, England)

THE SUN, LONDON,= TAU'RSDAY IWORNING, MARCH 20, 1845.  out in the garden towards the privy, which was situated near the kitchen door. She remained a very short time, and then returned, but without her apron. Witness now observed that prisoner's hands were bloody, and she asked witness to net some warm water to wash her hands, which she did. %% itness did not hear at any time the cry of a child. After the prisoner returned from the privy she said she was better. About half an hour afterwards she again complained that she felt worse, and must go to bed, which witness desired her to do. She afterwards made her some tea, and took up to her. Mr. West, a surgeon, proved that he was sent for. He went to the privy, from which he saw the constable, who was also present, take the body of a new born infant. On examining it he found that the head had been nearly severed from the body, and was only hanging by some of the muscles. The throat had been cut so as to divide the trachea, the carotid arteries, the oesophagus, and the spinal marrow. He went to the prisoner, whom he found on the bed, and inquired of her if she had had a child. She at first denied that such was the case, but afterwards admitted it. She was asked whether she had cut the throat of the child before or after its death. She said it was afterwards. She was then asked with what she had done it, and she produced a knife, which another witness stated she had always carried about her. On examining this knife its blade was found to be covered with blood. The surgeon would not undertake to say whether the throat of the child had been cut before or after death. In his judgment the child had been born alive, but the wounds inflicted might have been inflicted after death. Evidence was also given that in an outhouse adjoining the privy the prisoner's gown, which she had first put on in the morning, and the apron which she had carried through the kitchen, were found bundled up together, and saturated with blood.  Mr. Justice ERLE, having summed up the case in a very able manner, the jury, after some consultation, acquitted the prisoner of the murder, and found her guilty of concealing the birth.  The Learned JUDGE, after an impressive address, sentenced her to two years' imprisonment. Mary Ann Warr was then placed in the dock. She was indicted for the murder of her child, by administering to her a quantity of poison, called white arsenic. Mr. Stock conducted the prosecution. The prisoner was defended by Mr. Edwards. After hearing the evidence of Mrs. Oastler, with whom the prisoner lodged, and the surgeon who examined the body of the child, the jury almost immediately returned a verdict of Not Guilty. The whole of the business for this county has 13.2 en got through. To effect this, Mr. Justice Erie has again sat the whole of the day trying prisoners in the Nisi Prius Court. Mr. Crowder has also been engaged in trying cases in the grand jury-room. The Learned Commissioner did not finish his labour till after twelve o'clock at night.
The Sun. — 1845-03-13 (London, England)

THAMES POLICE.  DEFRAUDING A GAS COMPANY.—Tnesday' Henry Nicks, the landlord of the Cricketers public-house in London-street, Ratcliffe, was charged on a summons with committing a fraud on the British Gaslight Company, who sued for a penalty of 10E It appeared that the defendant was a gas consumer, and that his bill for the first quarter, commencing in September, 1844, was a very large one, but in the succeeding quarter the register, as denoted by the meter, exhibited a very great diminution, and a suspicion arose in the mind of Mr. Grumwood, the Company's inspector, that a fraud was being practised. On the Ist of. March, in company with another man, named Coote, he examined the meter in the defendant's cellar, and found the inlet pipe disconnected from the service pipe, and the outlet pipe belonging to the meter disconnected from the fittings or pipe leading to the burners in the bar, parlour, and tap-room, consequently the meter was out of action, and no gas passed through it. Another pipe was connected with the service pipe which led to the burners, and no register was kept. Any quantity of gas could be consumed without the Company knowing anything about it. It was also proved that oa a former occasion Coote wished to examine the meter, and was told their was a fierce dog in the cellar, which turned out to be false. Mr. BRODERIP sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of 81. and the costs of the prosecution. The penalty was paid. MURDEROUS AsSAULT.—Tuesday two young men, named Thomas Wilmott, a currier, and John White, a cigar manufacturer, were brought before Mr. Broderip on remand, charged with wounding William bridges, a painter and glazier, with intent to do him bodily harm. The prisoners have been in custody since the 10th of February, and the prosecutor, who became an inmate of the hospital on that day, could not attend till yesterday. It appeared from his evidence that early on the morning of the 10th of February he was in the Globe and Friends publichouse, in Morgan-street, St. George-in-the-East, when a quarrel took place between him and the prisoners. Wilmott struck him under the ear, and he returned the blow. A row ensued, and the prisoners, who struck the potboy with some hard substance, which one of them had tied up in a handkerchief, were turned out of the house. A few minutes afterwards Bridges left the house, and found the prisoners waiting for him. White struck him with some instrument, which appeared to be about ten or twelve inches long, on the forehead, and inflicted a dangerous wound. He fell to the ground, and when he rose he laid hold of his assailant, on which the other prisoner, Wilmott, struck him with something he had in his hand, supposed to be a stone. He was removed to the London Hospital, and Mr. Ward, the housesurgeon, stated that when he was brought there he was bleeding profusely from an irregular wound on the scalp, a little above the left brow. The man was for some time in danger.—The prisoners were committed for trial.