npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Press. — 1856-10-11 (London, England)

THF. MALTESE JURY summoned to try the assassin Giuseppe Meli, for the murder of Captain Graves on the 25th of August last, in the face of the boasts of the prisoner before the magistrates that he intended to assassinate Captain Graves, and of the ee d--nce of fourteen medical witnesses—the highest medic authorities in the island—that the death of Captain Graves ensued from the effects of the wound inflicted by Meli, deliberately found—right against judge and evidence—that the death of Captain Graves was owing to "a supervening accidental cause, and not to the nature or consequences alone of such harm as Meli was only guilty of." The prisoner was sentenced to nine years' labour at the public works.  AUSTRIA, as a great agricultural country, is thus des gibed by "J. C." in the Times : In reviewing the various productions of Austria, it will he found that she may truly be designated an agricultural country, as three fourths of the population, nearly 30,000,000, are in one way or other engaged in or dependent upon agriculture. The annual value of her agricul• tural produce has been estimated at 174,000,0001. sterling ; and if all the good land of the country were as highly cultivated as England that estimate might be doubled. In examining the map of Europe one cannot but be struck with the fact that the greatest extent of rich corn land is to be found in the least civilised part of it. Beginning at the shores of the Black Sea there are all the fertile pro. vinces of Southern Russia, then Turkey and her rich Danubian provinces, then Hungary, Galicia, and Poland. In England we are accustomed to deal with a soil where nature must be constantly aided by art; and an English farmer will find it difficult to believe that in these out•ofthe•way countries there are immense plains of the richest corn land, many times larger in extent than in England, where manure is little needed, and, in the more favorable districts, possessing a climate which admits of a double crop in the same year. Hitherto their competition has not been formidable, because they have no roads to convey a heavy corn traffic, and the river navigation has been obstructed. The expense of carriage over several hundred miles of country without roads is an effectual barrier against foreign demand; and, however fertile or populous a country may be, if there is no foreign demand, no market for the surplus, there will be no exertion made to gain a surplus. In some parts of Hungary at this moment corn is worth twice as much as in other parts, just as it was in England one hundred years ago, before roads, canals, and now railways have equalised prices. But the astute politicians who manage matters in Austria have discovered this defect, and in two years more the fertile provinces bordering the Danube will be tapped by railways in every quarter. The market of the world will then be open to them, and remunerative prices will at once be followed by increased production.
The Press. — 1856-03-08 (London, England)

THE. MARCH SESSIONS OF THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL OUST were opened on Monday with the usual ceremonies. The Right Hon. J. A. S. Wortley, M.P., Recorder, in his charge to the Grand Jury, regretted the remarkably heavy nature of the calendar. first edition contained the names of 110 prisoners. regretted to find that there were no less than seven charges of wilful murder and manslaughter, that there were five prisoners charged with murder, ' that the cases involved the destruction of the Ives of no less than nine human beings:— During the last twelve months, after having for forty years enjoyed the blessings of peace, they had been familiarised with all the horrors of war, and there was no doubt that, during the same period, the most heinous crimes had been committed by persons of high station, by persons also holding a high position in the commercial and banking community, and also by persons in a more humble position f life; and in this court there had certainly been a most 4iusual number of cases involving the destruction of human life. It was no part of his duty, or of that of the grand jury, to enter into any consideration of the causes that had led to this state of things, and whether it arose from any peculiar circumstances in the state of the country of the law ; but the subject was one that was entitled to ire reflection ; and it certainly ought to urge them all to everything in their power to extend education among to people, and improve their condition, as the most effectual means for the prevention of crime. Although the cases to which he had alluded were of a very heinous character, yet it would not be necessary for him to detain them at any length by referring to the facts connected with them, because none of them appeared to present any difficulties in point of law. learned Recorder then briefly referred to the cases of Bousfield, Mrs. Somner, and three cases of child murder, in all of which, he remarked, he feared it would be the duty of the grand jury to find bills. He then alluded to the remaining cases, the court was opened.  .HE PRISONER BOUSFIELD, charged with the murder of his wife and three children, was tried at Central Criminal Court on Thursday. The evidence differed in no material point from that previously given before the coroner. Mr. Ballantine attempted a defence on the plea of insanity, but the found the prisoner Guilty. Mr. Justice Wightman then passed sentence of death, without hope of mercy. WESTRON, the murderer of Mr. Waugh, is, by the decision of the Home-office, to be condemned penal servitude for life. _ _ _  Mn. WILLIAM DUNN, of Staines, charged by the mtli-Western Railway Company with fraudulently riding in first-ciass carriages with a second-class • -ket, drowned himself last week at the Royal Baths, ,ewgate-street. He is said to have been seriously lharrassed.  HANNAH BRAMWELL, charged with the murder of infant by drowning it in the Serpentine, was tried and Acquitted, on Thursday, at the Central Criminal Cone. `
The Press. — 1856-08-16 (London, England)

FORBES WINSLOW UPON DOVE.  A LETTER from Dr. Winslow to Mr. Barret upon Dove's case has been published this week. Dr. Winslow says Dove's case was one of" imbecility" :  His actions were not merely those of a wicked, vicious, or eccentric man, but they evidently sprung out of a stunted, irregularly developed, congenitally defective, and badly organised brain and mind. If Dove had been made, a short period before murdering his wife, the subject of a commission of lunacy, the question at issue being his competency to manage his property, what, I ask, would have been the verdict of the jury ? If the fact of his writing letters in blood to the devil, his faith in the supernatural  power and prediction of Harrison, the wizard ; the tremendous influence which this " weird " person obtained over him ; his cruelty to animals ; his having threatened to shoot his father, and afterwards himself ; his cutting down his corn when quite green simply because his neighbour had cut his down when ripe; his recklessness of conduct, want of moral perception ; his inability in early life to acquire ordinary knowledge, and other facts sworn to in evidence as illustrative of his sad mental state, were laid before an intelligent jury empannelled to try the question of Dove's mental soundness and ability to manage himself and his affairs, can any reasonable doubt be entertained as to the result of the inquiry ? Upon evidence considerably less satisfactory and convincing than that adduced in Dove's case, I have seen juries unanimously decide as to the mental unsoundness of individuals. Consider, for example, the celebrated case of Mrs. Cumming. This lady was pronounced insane by a jury, among whom were several county magistrates, simply because she was fond of the society of a few favorite cats, had an impaired memory (no wondertul fact, considering her bodily indisposition and advanced age ), and was alleged to entertain a strong aversion to some members of her family who had by force dragged her out of her own house, and confined her in a lunatic asylum. From my knowledge of the conduct of juries, I feel convinced that Dove never would have escaped the verdict of insanity if the question for their consideraticn had been of a civil, and not of a criminal character—one of property, not of life. In conclusion, Dr. Winslow says he considers the case one of "undefined responsibility " If Dove were positively insane and incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, I would send him to a lunatic asylum for the rest of his days, instead of to the hulks or to a penal settlement, but recognising in this case a partial degree of responsibility, co-existing with much evident mental disorder, evidently interfering with the healthy exercise of volition, it would be unjustifiable and cruel to treat him like a perfectly sane man, or as an ordinary and responsible criminal, and consign him to the hands of the public executioner.
The Press. — 1857-07-11 (London, England)

SMITH. and he contrived to retain them. After a twelvemonth's acquaintance he finally seduces her, by what arts and under what circumstances we do not know. But this we do know, that from that time forth her letters betray a degree of licence and a disregard for decency which, in one so young, it is truly painful to contemplate. Was this inherent depravity, or was her mind as well as her person debauched by her seducer? We cannot tell, but the natural inference is obvious. The clandestine meetings continue, and one passionate note after another is despatched by the unhappy girl to her lover. But she soon awakes from her guilty dream. She probably begins to penetrate the weak points of her lover's character. She wearies of his selfish and exacting temper. Another person appears upon the scene—a rival for her hand, more eligible in every point of view than the foreign adventurer who had first won her affections. To excuse, or even to extenuate, her conduct at this point of the case, is impossible ; but bad though it was, it was innocence itself when compared with the baseness of her lover. His refusal to deliver up the letters which contained the damning evidence of their intimacy, and his repeated threats to make them public, show such an utter want of all manly feeling that we can feel neither interest nor sympathy for one so worthless and designing. According to the theory of the prosecution, it was this obstinacy upon the part of L'ArnmEs which led to his murder. It was necessary for MADELEINE SMITH to get rid of him in order that she might marry his rival. But to this theory there occurs a very grave objection. The great object of Miss SMITH in the latter months of their correspondence was to get back her letters, for she well knew that their publication would be fatal to her reputation. Could she hope to attain this object simply by making away with her lover? Clearly not. Nay, on the contrary, she must have known that in the event of his sudden death the fatal letters were morally certain to come to light. The motive suggested by the prosecution is thus weakened in a material point, which, we doubt not, had its weight with the jury in inducing them to pronounce a verdict of acquittal. We cannot close these remarks without adverting to the tone of the Lord Advocate's speech in summing up the case for the prosecution. It was unfair to the prisoner throughout. He assumed her guilt from first to last. He put forward his own inferences as established facts ; nor did he, as he was from his position bound to do, state a single circumstance in favour of the prisoner. He would not admit the possibility of her innocence. He spoke throughout, not as a responsible officer of the Crown, but as a zealous partisan. Fortunately for the interests of justice, both the Court and Jury took a more unprejudiced view of the case ; and no one, we believe, on this side of the Tweed will dispute the propriety of the conclusion at which they eventually arrived.
The Press. — 1857-10-17 (London, England)

JUBBULPORE.  A letter from Jubbulpore has been received from serjeant-major of the 52nd Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry:— Jnhbnlpore, 3rd Aught, 1857. My dear Mother,—l am happy to he able to write this letter to you, as I expected to be launched into eternity this two months back, and every day since, up to the present. About 70,000 of the Bengal native troops have mutinied, and it is expected the whole will break out in mutiny. The mutineers murdered all the Europeans they could lay hands on, men, women, and children. My regiment has not mutinied yet, but it is not known the moment they will do so. All my officers, with all the Europeans in this station, are collected into the commissioner's bungalow, for protection. We have plenty of small arms, such as muskets, swords, and spears, but we have not one piece of cannon. Poor Mirk Blanchfield, his wife, and five children were cut up in Cawnpore last month (14th). About 600 of our countrymen, women, and children, were cut up in Cawpore by the mutineers ; Ist company 6th battalion, Foot Artillery; 2nd company of her Majesty's 32nd Foot; seventy-five men of the Ist Madras Fusiliers ; the officers of the 2nd Light Cavalry, Ist, 53rd, and 56th Regiments of Infantry and Artillery, with all the staff of the station, military and civil. All the above were in trenched in the Artillery Hospital, but for want of food and ammunition were compelled to surrender to the mutineers to be butchered. Fifty-five men, women, and children, were cut up in Jhansi in the same manner.—ln some of the stations they took the baby from the mother, held it by both feet, and then tore it in two as you would a piece of cloth, and cut up the wife in presence of the husband, and him after. In other places they cut open the infante and forced the entrails into the mothers' mouths. In more, they ill-used the ladies and cut them up. In Allahabad, they nailed some of our countrymen and women to trees and burned them alive. More, they cut the limbs from the body, and lastly the head. Also, in Allahabad, they stripped the women naked, made them run through the streets by the point of the sword, and after cut them up. It is frightful to bear how the E,,ropeans are slaughtered in this country. I don't know the moment it will come to my turn; but my dependence is in the Almighty. Where we are at present is ivtrenched all round, but we cannot count ourselves site till we get relief from England of troops. There would not be one white face in this country at this date, only for the China troops that came to our assistance. I am sorry to inform Mr. and Mrs. Mara that I saw the death of poor Tom in the general orders. Two years back be belonged to the Ist troop 3rd brigade of H)rse Artillery. He died at Peshawur. If yon should never hear from us more, pray for us.—Your affectionate son, One of our correspondents in the Behar district, writes as follows, dating his letter the 24tli of August  P. O'
The Press. — 1857-01-31 (London, England)

LIEUT.-COL. STERLING brought an action this week against the owners of the barque James Holmes, for that vessel having, on the evening of the 22nd of August last, run into his yacht, the Viking, off Beachy Head. The wind at the time was N. by W. The yacht was close hauled, steering for Cowes, the barque running full for London. After hearing the evidence on both sides, and the Trinity Masters having expressed an opinion that the blame lay entirely with the barque, judgment was giving accordingly. The amount of damages was not reported. AGAR'S PROPERTY, seized by the police, it has been decided by the Judges of Exchequer, should be in part handed over to the railway company—that is to say, as much as can be proved to have been the produce or the gold robbery—and that the remainder be given for the present into the custody of Sir Richard Mayne, the Chief Commissioner of Police. The convict Agar, it is said, will receive from Sir George Grey a full pardon, on condition of leaving the country for ever.  BACON AND HIS WIFE, charged with the murder of their two children, were re-examined before Mr. Elliott on Wednesday. Several witnesses were examined, who deposed to the conduct of Bacon immediately after the discovery of the murder : it was nervous, timid, and desponding. The police also produced a pair of trousers and a waistcoat stained with blood. The prisoners were remanded.  ANDERSON AND SAWARD were on Wednesday again examined before the Lord Mayor. Mr. Alfred Turner, the solicitor, of Red Lion•square, whose name, it will be remembered, was forged to a cheque upon Messrs. Gosling for 4101. 7s. 4d., swore to the cheque not being in his handwriting. He had lost three or four blank cheques out of his pocketbook. The wife of Hardwick, convicted some time since for this very forgery, was examined as to her acquaintance with Seward. She knew him well, and had been "to a party " at his house at Walworth. This witness made a certain admission of some importance. When Hardwick was in gaol at Brecon on a charge of burglary she was sent for by him. She went down, and bribed the gaolers, who " let" Hardwick out of gaol. Several lodging-house keepers and hotel waiters identified the prisoners, who were ultimately remanded for a week. THE SPRING CIRCUITS OF THE JUDGES are settled as follows :—the Midland, Lord Campbell and Mr. Justice Wightman ; Northern, Mr. Baron Martin and Mr. Justice Crompton ; Western, Sir A. Cockburn and Mr. Justice Williams ; Oxford, Mr. Justice Crowder and Mr. Justice Willes ; North Wales and Chester, Mr. Baron Bramwell. The Vacation Judge, in consequence of the lamented death of Mr. Baron Alderson, who was placed on the rota as vacation judge, remains unappointed, and the death of Baron  107  Alderson will create some alteration in the arrangements on the latter circuits; but it is gennally understood that Mr. Justice Coleridge, who is named for the Home Circuit, will remain in town, and in the event of the new judge not being appointed, Mr. Sergeant Channell will be placed in the commission as locum tenens.
The Press. — 1857-02-21 (London, England)

FEBRUARY 21, 1857.  although no proof of his guilt was before the house. He then detailed the history of Mr. Sadleir's case, insisting upon the notoriety of the proceedings, and that there could be no doubt that he was aware of the charges against him. He read reports of the strenuous and unremitting exertions of the constabu• Lary and police to discover and apprehend him, and also a letter from Mr. James Scully, dated " Hotel de Louvre, Rue Rivoli, Thursday, February 12,, which was to the following effect I think it my duty to inform you that the notorious culprit, James Sadleir, is in Paris. 1 saw him entering a restaurateur's where I was about to dine; and having caught his eye he instantly withdrew. I tun informed by the proprietor of ►he restaurant that he dines there every day, and therefore if the Government wish to arrest him, they should send some persons who know him, as he is a good deal altered, hie face being much thinner, and he wears a large moustache.  Mr... Fitzgerald then resumed:— It might be asked whether the Government would proceed to arrest Mr. Sadleir in Paris, and by anticipation he would answer such a question by saying that they could not do so, because the case did not come within the treaty of 1843, signed between England and France, and which was made law in this country by the fith and 7th Vic., c. 73. In that treaty the crimes included were murder, attempt to commit murder, forgery, and fraudulent hankruptcy ; these were the only offences for which the treaty provided ; so that the Government had no power to arrest Mr. Sadleir in France, or, if he was arrested there, to demand his extradition.  Under these circumstances lie called upon the house to perfo m the office of self purgation by proceeding to the expulsion of an unworthy member. Sir F. THESIGER observed that there could be no difference of opinion regarding the resolution, in which the house must be eager to concur ; but the ground of proceeding should be well understood, and he wished to know how the case of Mr. Sadleir now differed from its position on the 24th of July, when Vie Government resisted the motion of Mr. Roebuck for his expulsion. Mr. WHITESIDE censured the dilatory proceedings of the Government in this case, and contended that it was as clear and strong and full on the 24th of July as it was now. Sir G. GREY justified the Government from the charge of inconsistency. The objection to the motion last session was, he said, that there was no evidence that Mr. Sadleir had any opportunity of vindicating himself. Mr. NAPIER believed that no man was more convinced at the present time than he was on the 24th of July, that Mr. Sadleir ought to be expelled, but perhaps his expulsion would now be more" politically convenient" than it was at that time.  The motiou was then put and agreed to.
The Press. — 1857-11-21 (London, England)

CANNING. Observe the facts.  At a crisis when our empire is in jeopardy, when the rebels and mutineers have appealed so successfully to the traditions of an effete race, and the sanctity of a false religion, Lord CANNING has thrown contempt on the patriotism of British subjects and the piety of the Anglo-Saxon race. Like the cosmopolite satirised by his father, Lord CANNING'S aspirations are for large masses of mankind in India, and not for the English race threatened with extermination Does " his father's son " recollect who wrote the admirable lines in " New Morality "  Shall one half-peopled island's rocky round, A love, that glows for all creation, bound ? No narrow bigot he—his reasoned view Thy interests, England, rank with thine, Peru! In fact, the allegations of the Calcutta Petition for the recall of Lord CANNING may be summed up in the assertion that in an internecine contest Lord CANNING exhibited towards the English race in India the feelings of what his father would have called a " candid friend." The Times assuredly is no enemy to Lord CANNING ; and that journal in its Calcutta correspondence contains facts which cannot be refuted. The Europeans, or English, are now placed exactly on a par with the native Indians. Every Englishman in Calcutta must register his arms, and is liable to punishment for carrying them in the street. By an act of power resembling the wild and wayward deeds of the French revolutionary leaders, there is no distinction made between classes, prejudices, traditions, and ties of race and civilisation. Lord CANNING acted as if he were a political alchemist, who had been gifted with some magic crucible, by means of which he could at one experiment melt the English into Indians, and at the same moment raise the native dross into the true British metal. There has been, and is, a large party in the Government of India which holds that, while the country should be ruled by Europeans, the Civil Service should have the chief superintendence. They hold, as the Times correspondent admits, " that all other Europeans " should be placed exactly on a par with the " natives, he tried by native judges (!), 'and be " reduced to a powerless section of the Indian " popularity." In other words, and in plain English, the virtue of their blood and lineage should be washed out of them. They should be squeezed out of their Anglicism. " This " party in the Government almost felt a pity " for the sepoy." They actually appointed a Mussulman, named MEER ALI, over the heads of Europeans to put down an insurrection of Mussulmans. They forgot the native cha meter, and believed it to be " murders, not" withstanding as good as the European." We are not surprised accordingly to read that " the measures adopted by this party produced " a burst of hatred towards the Government, such " as Englishmen accustomed to party spirit " cannot even imagine." In short, the feelings of the English at Calcutta have been aroused against Lord