npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1887-08-13 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

FROM ABROAD. to Mr. Medley's/great weight being evidently in one corner of Red Lion-square, stands a distasteful to that gentleman, the dealer in sallow, eolenni-looking house, that has, like preening s ones discretely resolved to avoid its neighb airs, seen better days. But it the subject. differs f itm many of them in being proud of "Well, Michael, have you made your its air of faded gentility. It will have fortune yet?' the one from Jamaica went on nothing to do with modern paint, or new- in a quieter and much more good-humoured fashioned plate-glass windows. It sees that to". melt as are decked with these pude look like "Not yet, George. It's been pretty much ancient beans, mind gin juvenile dress, and up and down with me; but, on the whole, I've it remelt's as digititivd as it is dirty. Tb, kept my head fairly well above water." eieve door bears a barge brass-plate, stained " Nothing like the old days, though—noth. and drill, and on it you may read, if you are ing like the days when the firm was Medley BO curious as to look, the name of and Michilvee MICHAFL MICHILVP "No. indeed," Michael acknowledged with a sigh. "Those were the days for making Neither external'y or internally is there money.. anything to denote Mr. Micbilvee's profession "And those days might have continued," or loneineee, but se there is no in, stery about Mr. Medley cried with sudden passion, "if the matter, we may at once inform the reader that scoundrel of a brottter of mine had not that he was a dealer in precious stones. It robbed us—or me, rather—you'd nothing to hits been observed by a genial essayist that be robbed of." the description, "a di-amond merchant," is Michael acknowledge.] the accuracy of this always pronounced with awe and received statement with a soft smile. with reverence. Such a being is something "ft was his villany that drove me and my more than human. Hinge and Cetus, money out of the firm, out of the country—a Emperors and Caliphs are RR nothing before man who would rob his own brother wouldn't him. You dwell *lien the words with ineffable ston at murdering him." satisfaction, and imagination conjures up He paused for lack of breath, and wheezed glittering palaces and coffin of untold wealth. alarmingly. His children toy with priceless gems; and " How have things gone withyou, George ?" were you so unspeakably for node as to be Mr. Miehilvee ventured, when his visitor had invited to dine with him, you have an idea in some measure recovered. that you would return, like Aladdin from the 'rhe great face grinned all over. enchanted cave, laden wi h jewels of sufficient "I've male a heap of money—a great big value to keep you iii luxnry for the rest of heap a regular pile," he said. your days. Whether Gtere be gentlemen This information appeared to give his cornengaged in this traffic who do eat their meals panion as much satisfaction as it did himself from plates of gold a ndded with diamonds of for as he rolled and chuckled in the chair, great price, and who do lire in stately homes Michael writhed and smirked too.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1887-03-09 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

BRUTAL HUSBAND.  A WELL- MERITED SENTENCE. At the Borough Police Court, yesterday, before Mr. Preston, a shoemaker named John Foy, residing at 122, Albion-street, was charged with having unlawfully assaulted Esther Foy, his wife.  P.C. 42 (Bryan) stated that about two o'clock on the previous night he was called to Albion-street, and there found the prisoner, who was very drunk, assaulting his wife. He had hold of her by the hair, and was striking her on the head and face. On the previous night the prisoner was drunk and would not allow his wife and children to enter the house. He was mad drank and broke all the windows in the konse.  Mrs. Foy stated that the prisoner came home drank on Monday night. She was giving the children their teas, and had a baby six months old at her breast. The prisoner seized hold of the baby, dragged it out of her arms, and threw it on the floor with considerable force. He then kicked her and the children, and while they were upon the floor he picked up a lighted lamp from the table and threw it at them. The glass was broken, her fingers were severely cut, and the 'staircase was set on fire by the burning oil. The prisoner beat the baby with a stick in such a savage manner that it was all black and blue, and had been very ill all night, in fact it was in such a state that it was not fit to bring it to the court. Mr. Preston: How long have you been married?  The Prosecutrix : Eleven years. Mr. Preston: Have you had him here before?  The Prosecutrix: No, I have not been against him before. Mr. Preston: How many children have you? The Prosecutrix: Four. The Prisoner alleged that his wife was under the influence of drink at the time, and be denied having thrown a lamp at her. The Prosecutrix denied that she was drunk. She had not tasted drink since Christmas.  P.C. Bryan stated that the prisoner had been drunk for the last two or three nights. He had seen the baby and saw the marks of violence upon it. He also found that the staircase had been on fire, and noticed pieces of broken lamp glass upon the floor. On Monday night the prison several times threatened to rip his wife open, and said he would murder her.  Mr. Preston (to the prosecutrix): How hag he behaved to you ? The Prosecutrix : He has behaved very badly. Mr. Preston: Has he abased you before? The Prosecutrix : Yes, many a hundred times. Mr. Preston • What has he done? _._ . _  -- --The Prosecntrix : In every way. He ha.' pulled every hair out of my head. I can hardly speak now owing to him having nearly throttled me.  _ Mr. Preston (to prisoner): You seem to be a brutal fellow to behave in such a manner to your wife and to your child. I cannot make any excuse for you having been drunk. The Prosecutrix : He has kapt us out till three o'clock in the morning perishing. Mr. Preston: You have behaved brutally, and you must go to gaol for three calendar months with hard labour.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1887-01-12 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

ALLEGED STABBING. John Langan (26), a labourer, Back St. Anne-street, pleaded "Not guilty" to having on the 20th -November unlawfully and maliciously wounded Catherine Gilfoyle and Mary Cunningham. The Grand Jury cut the indictment with reference to the assault upon Cunningham. Mr. E. W. W. Edwards, who prosecuted, said it appeared that the prisoner lived next door but one to the prosecatrix in Back St. Anne-street, and on the 20th November Mrs. Gilfoyle went to the prisoner's house and asked the prisoner's wife for some money which was due. The prisoner was there at the time and said to Gilfoyle that he had no money, and if he had he would not give it to such a thing as her, at the same time using a bad expression. The prisoner, who had something in his hand, which the prosecutrix believed to be a knife, then struck the woman in the mouth, severely cutting her lip. The prisoner then knocked her to the floor and again assaulted her. Evidence having been given in support of the charge, The prisoner said the women were fighting and pelting mugs at one another. He heard them cry Murder," and he separated them. He denied having raised a hand to either of the women.  Three neighbours were called by the prisoner to prove that he never struck either of the woman, but on the contrary did all that he could to separate them. The Recorder, in addressing the jury, said it was %idle clear that the prosecutrix was severely injured, and the only question for them. to decide was as to, who inflicted the  The Jury returned a verdict a "Not guilty," and _prisoner was discharged. A COMPLAINT FROM THE GRAND  "JblirT  The Grand Jury, after returning several true bills desired to call the Recorder's attention to the fact that the Grand Jury had not been treated as they should have been. There wee no Bible or New Testament, and the jury had had to wait until a policeman had brought one from the court, and otherwise they were put off in a manner which was not at all proper. The Recorder asked who was the officer in charge, but the foreman was unable to give his name. The Recorder said that he could not deal with a general statement, but if they stated afterwards who was the person in charge he would see about the matter. Upon the Grand Jury bringing in the last of the bills, the Recorder said he was very sorry the Grand Jury had found it necessary to make a complaint about the accommodation in the Municipal Offices. He thought the complaint was quite deserved, for there was no proper accommodation to take the business at the present time. He was in hopes, however, that the new Sessions Court would be opened for the next quarter sessions, and then they would have everything in good and proper order. At the present time there was not accommodation for the badness to be (*Waded silt shotild be. _ .
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1887-10-15 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

BIRKENHEAD SHAKSPERE LITERARY SOCIETY.  The first meeting of the tenth session of the Birkenhead Shakspere Literary Society was held in the Charing-cross Lecture Hall, on Thursday evening, when a large audience assembled, the attraction being a reading of "Macbeth," by members of the society, the reading to be completed at the next fortnightly meeting of the society. Mr. J. E. Gray Hill presided, and in his opening remarks he referred to the lose sustained by the society in the removal of Mr Binne from the town, and thanked the members for the honour done him in electing him president of the society. The chairman also referred to the work of the society in the session now upon them. The syllabus provides for the session, which commenced on Thursday evening, and goes on fortnightly until the 22nd March, readings of the plays " Macbeth," "Midsummer Night's Dream," "King John," "Othello," " Richelien," and "Merchant of Venice." The readings will each take one and a portion of another evening, the monthly space to he filled up by the reading of papers by the fol lowing gentlemen, whose productions will be subject to discussion :—Mr. C. L. Melhuish, Mr. W. Yardley, Mr. A. B. Isaac, Dr. Proctor, Mr. Chas. W. Willmer, and Mr. E. R. Russell. The parts in " Macbeth " are in the hands of the following members :—Duncan, Mr. E. E. Dendy ; Malcolm, Mr. W. J. Harris; Donalbaiu, Mr. J. M. Bell; Macbeth, Mr. Gray Hill; Banquo, Mr. C. E. Melhuish ; Macduff, Mr. J. G. Barnes; Lennox, Mr. F. Sanderson; Rosse, Mr. J. R. H. Keyworth ; Angus, Mr. A. W. Willmer ; Fleauce, Mr. H. Armstrong: Murderer, Mr. J. L. Corkhill ; Porter, Mr. H. J. Legge; Lady Macbeth, Mrs. Corkhill ; Gentlewoman, Miss Dunn; Hecate, Miss J. Whinier ; Witches, Miss J. Lloyd and Miss M. Dunn. The difficulty of such a session's work as that taken in hand by the society can only be apparent to those who have attempted the perusal of the plays named and in doing so tried to make clear the fall meaning and emphasis of the treasareladeneentences they contain. We imagine, however, judging from what we saw and heard of the members of the society on Thursday evening, that the majority of them are apt students of Shakspere, and that in assuming so "ifficult a task they are doing no more than their capabilities warrant. Their efforts are bound to provide a most interesting series for all who admire the works of the Immortal Bard, and like to see them done some slight measure of justice. While all the gentlemen read and, after a manner such as circumstances would permit, acted their parts in a very creditable style, mention ought to be made of the efforts of Mr. Gray Hill, who dia exceedingly well with the heavy part alloted him. Mr. Barnes and Mr. Merhuish also were very impressive. In dealing with the lengthy lines and difficult part of Lady Macbeth, Mrs. Corkhill showed decided histrionic talent and a clear comprehension of the character. On the whole, no one could have expected better than actually was.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1887-05-11 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

STABBING A POLICEMAN.  SENT TO GAOL FOR SIX MONTHS. Before Mr. Preston, at the Borough Police Court, on Monday, a young man named George Roscoe, residing at 12, Egerton-street, was charged with having been drunk and disorderly in Ivy-street. The prisoner was also charged with having assaulted P.C. 30 (Burns) and Evan Jones, 46, Leta-street. P.C. Burns stated that about twenty minutes to nine o'clock on Saturday night he went to a house in Ivy-street in consequence of hearing screams of Murder." The prisoner was sitting in the house, and a man put him out. He next saw the prisoner in the middle of the street drunk. He knocked against him (the officer), saying "Burns, you will have a better case Out of me to-night than you expect. We did for No. 1 in the back street, and we will do for you." The prisoner then struck him a violent blow on the side of the head with something in his hand, causing the blood to flow profusely. A man named Jones came to his.p.ssistanee and they took him to the police station. On the way the prisoner was very vident and threatened to murder him.  Evan Jones stated that about nine o'clock he was going along Chester street when he saw the prisoner very drunk and disorderly. He heard Burns advise him to go home, but he refused and knocked the officer's helmet off. He (the witness) went to Burns' assistance and the prisoner knocked him down, and while upon the ground he made a kick at him and struck him on the side of the head. On the way to the bridewell the prisoner was violent. Dr. Cornwall's assistant stated that he examined the officer's head on Saturday night and there found s wound of such a character as to induce him to think that it had been inflicted by some sharp instrument, most likely a knife. It was not a particularly dangerous wound, but it appeared to cause considerable pain. It was incised and about half an inch in length. Mr. Preston: Are there any witnesses who saw him with a knife? ..  Supt. Clarke replied in the negative. The place had been examined but nothing had been found. The prisoner was very disorderly in the police-office. There was no doubt that the man named Jones had rendered the officer valuable assistance, without which things might have been worse. The prisoner was one of the worst characters in the back streets. Mr. Preston: Was he mad drunk? Supt. Clarke said the prisoner was not so drunk as not to know what he was doing. He was in a drunken raging temper, and in the police-office he stripped off his clothes and behaved in a very disorderly manner. Mr. Preston, addressing the prisoner, said he knew that he had been brought up on no fewer than twenty or thirty occasions, and had received heavy punishments. For the assault upon the police officer he would have to go to gaol for lave months with hard labour, and for the assault upon Jones he would have to be be imprisoned for one month, six months in all.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1917-07-14 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

COUNSEL'S SPEECH FOB THE DEFENCE.  Mr. Linden Riley in ass speech for the defence said that trials for murder regarded superficially were not very inviting topics to engage the attention of men of the world, but this case showed that once they became units in the actual mechanism of actual murder *no length of time was regarded as too long, no -attention too minute to be employed either in seeking to avenge the murder or in an effort to save from the gallows 14 man wholutd.been unjustly or at all events prematurely. accused. In this case there was only one issue to try—whether the prisoner at the bar was guilty or not of the murder of his wife and daughter. In the first place counsel said he wished to make a passing reference to the statement that nothing was said on prisoner's behalf about the bloodstains on his clothes until the police court proceedings after the inquest. In explanation • it might be mentioned .that it wee known at the-inquest that the elothing had been sent to London to Dr. Spilsbury to be investigated. It was known. that Dr. Spilsbury was to •ftttand the police court later, and was it not prudent to wait until this evidence was given. The possibility of the crime having been committed by some wandering stranger had been mentioned, and also the -point that having packed the articles in the •portmanteau they had Dot been taken away by the burglar; The an-ewer to that was obvious. The first resolu— tion that would cross the mind of a Mali who had committed a crime of that character would be not to take anything—fromthe house which could afterwards be identified by the police. Coming to Sirinti" of the morning ofrthe murder the prise,' ner said his wife and daughter came downat ten minutia- to eight. If the prisoner was the astute person he was. described to. be by the prosecution, could not the prilsi;" ner have easily said, instead of admitting that he was with them 40 minutes that morning, that they did not come dawn before he left the house? Attention had. also been drawn to the fact that there had been little done in the house that morning. The prisoner had told them that his wife decided. that morning wilich of the oases of knives she would keep, and also paid for the knives. Those transactions may have taken up a good deal et time. As to the account about Hodgson stooping down and flicking his clothes as he was leaving the house given by Mrs. West. more, counsel submitted that it was not worth credibility so far as its implication of the prisoner was concerned. That witness stated that the man she saw had his back to her, and that he left the house at nine o'clock, a time which she afterwards altered to ten to nine. It was raining at the time, and the man according to measurements must have bean 45 or ta feet away. The time given by Mrs. Westmore was 20 minutes or half-an-hour aft:2r the prisoner had left 'Abe house, and he thought
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1917-12-12 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

ALP. moved the following resolution, in ffhe egeenve, as he explained, of Mr, Bigland, MS., in America on the country's business:— " That this meeting recognises the need for the praotice of personal economy so as to provide the money and supplies necessary to bring the war to an early and successful conclusion, and all present pledge themselves to do all that is in their power to promote the success of the War Bonds and War Savings campaign." Jle reminded his hearers that Eugland was having a rather heavy time of it at present in the war. Russia had let ur, down, and America was not quite ready, , and it rested more and more upon the I Britieh Empire to "hold the fort against I the common enemies. They knew what the Bosche had been doing outside this port: I that bodies of women and children had I been picked up on the banks outside the Mersey, and even now bodies might be floating up the river. He was quite sure there was not a man them' who was thinking of lxvioe, or of shaking hands with the pirate murderers who were running the U-boat campaign (hear, hear). Our enemies on land were making a tremen- I dons effort before America came in, and , it woe only by the devoted efforts of every I individual in this country that we could pull through. Mr. J. H. Ziegler, seconding, put pertinent points before the audience. He asked everyone present, from now on, if they I had not been doing it in the pee, to put this point. to themselves:—" The heatingl of Germany depends upon me; not upon somebody else, but me." He was perfectly certain there was not a man or woman there that afternoon who could not put 15s. 6d. into a war savings certiftente. Secondly, he asked them to remember that in this war our ideals were liberty and righteousness, against Germany's ungodly war ideals.- Thirdly, he .piotnead what would happen if we, failed rntiear, and. Germany conquered. The rssehtiffale'lfres carried un4moualy. THE LIBRARY MEETING, I  The Mayor again presided at Ore Free Library meeting, which followed i and Sir J. Rope Sbnpson, Mr. Gershom Stewart, and Sir William Forwood were amongst those on the platform. Several •'umbers of the Town Council were present; but the general attendance wee smaller than had been hoped for. _  The Mayor made another appeal for Birkenhead to take its full share of the war burden. Mr. Gershom Stewart also added to his previous appeal, but fine made feeling and sympathetic allusion to the terrible catastrophe that had happened at Halifax, N.S. While urging the gravity of the position faring England at the present time in the war, he said—" Mind, I do not come here as a peasimiat in the 'slightest way. I have never been a pessimist since the 4bh of August., 1914 (applause). Although Russia has let us down, end we have a heavy weight to bear at the present moment. I was never less of a pessimist than I am to-day" (applause). RR ehowed, however, the need for a great national effort to ensure success.
The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1895-06-01 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

ILA., of Ruth, who stands I confessed, her late gleanings in her hands, a lovely maiden, with her soul shining from her eyes so radiantly that one can eerily conceive how the heart of Boss was possessed at the sight of her. We mnaot attempt to notice the many floe works reproduced in this part, but on a subject that is still hotly debated, we may call attention to the frankly ends pictures of Ernest Normand (Bondage —a luxurious Egyptian composition), and of H. A. Olivier—" Not Jano's heartless Fowls "—a daring, but most effective combination of • peacock in the foreground, • gracefully poised, utterly naked, very beautiful woman, her right arm raised, and • hawk flattering at her finger tips, the surroundings and bankgronnd an open glade in • wood, with flyiug birds, brightly variegated wild flowers, and well : balanced shades of tree trunk* and greenery. In ' other branches of art, we may mention B. W. Leader's delightful bit of sylvan beauty, English Cottage Homes, and David Murray's In Summer Time; George W. Joy's interior of The Bayswater 'Bus, the daring arrangement of light about which has been meoh criticised; and, as of immediate local intermit, W. W. Ouless's fine portrait of His Honour Judge Sir Horatio Lloyd, of Chester, strikingly depicted in his official robes. Part 3 is • very Interesting selection also, but the promos pietures seem hardly so firm and afar as their predecessors. The prints, if not the Nubjects, have a somewhat impressionist look. Very appropriately as companion to these works oomes the May number of The Picture Magazine (George !Townes, Limited) in which, among other good things, are photo-process portraits of about thirty of the leading A.R.A.'s, and looking at the MOMS Of some of these, and remembering the brilliant work they have done, one is led to wonder I bow it is that fate—and the votes of the sacred forty—crate some men Royal Academiuiaus and leave others still on the lower plane of Associates of the Royal Academy. Among curiosities of the number are portraits, at different periods of their living, of two kings who both occupy prominent positions in English history—Henry Vlll—what an ugly, sensual-looking "bluff King Hal" he grew to be at fifty—and his amiable, weakly son, Edward VI, who, if his young life had been spared for another score of years, or even • decade, might have changed the course of our national career and saved us, perchance, some of the shameful horrors of the reign of " Bloody Mary ° and mayh ip the glorious record of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Among portraits of modern famous peramities are those of the Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour, at present leader of Her Majesty's Oppoaition, and of his IIICOMMO; in the Irish Secretaryship, the Right Hon. John Morley, M.P., of Mr Justice Hawkins (who tried the Redeross-streee murderer, William Miller, at the Liverpool Assizes but week) and of the French composer, whose works are No much thought of in this country, U. CassiUs Saint-Saens.