npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1846-04-06 (London, England)

COLTMAN.) CHARGE OF MURDER.—Jess* Bridyer, aged f.'B, stood indicted for the wilful murder of his wife, Jane Bridger, by giving her a kick. It appeared from the evidence, that deceased was seen in a state of intoxication, in the Borough-road, on the 20th of February ; the prisoner was seen to run after her, strike her on the face, and kick her in the abdomen, and sw..ar he would knock her eyes out. She fell, and was subsequently carried home, and from thence to tie holAtal, where she died on the fifth day after the occurrence. On the cross-examination it appeared that deceased bit one of the men who was carrying her home, which compelled him to let her fall, and she came to the ground with considerable violence. On the cross-examination of one or two witnesses, it appearel that the deceased was a most inveterate drunkard ; that she was in the habit of going to public houses and get.ing drunk in the absence of her husband, and had been Mural reeling about the streets drunk ; and was brought home to her husband in that state, with her head cut, &c., upon several occasions. The Surgeon who made the post mortem examination, deposed, that dec aced died from a rupture of the bladder, which was aused by some external violence, and which might have been the result of a fall against any projecting substance ; and that the prisoner called frequently at the hospi rat to see deceased, and appeared very anxious about her. The prisoner bore an excellent character, and was said to be a man of sober and industrious habits, and never absconded, or went out of the way, during his wife's illness. 'the jury acquitted the prisoner of the charge of murder, and found him Guilty of Manslaughter ; but recommended him to mercy upon the ground of the great provocation he had received. The COURT said that in consequence of the recommenda— tion. the sentence would not be a severe one ; it was, that he should be imprisoned for twelve months in the House of Correction. Richard Thorpe, coal porter, stood indicted for cutting Jane Thorpe, with intent to do her some bodily harm, on the 17th March. This was a case somewhat similar to the last in some of the particulars. It appeared from the evidence of his wife that she asked him for a penny to get bread for the chid, which he refused her, and knocked her down ; she remained in the streets all that night; the next morning he met her again and knocked her down. He subsequently induced her to go into a public-house, gave her 4ome beer, put his left arm round her neck, and with his right drew a knife across her throat ; she then gave him in charge to a policeman. Several witnesses deposed that the prosecutrix was a woman of drunken and other depraved habits. The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
The Sun. — 1846-04-06 (London, England)

WIGHTMAN.) ATTEMPT TO MURDER.—Mary Evans, aged 22, was charged with administering two drachms of red oxide of mercury, commonly known as red precipitate, to her infant male child, with intent to murder it on the 3d of December last, at Birkenhead. The prisoner had also been indicted for the wilful murder of another of her children by poison at Bibington, near Birkenhead; but, as the testimony in that case rested principally upon the chemical analysis of theremains of the child, which had been buried six months before the circumstances that led to the apprehension of the accused transpired, the grand jury had ignored the bill. In the case now under trial the Attorney-General for the Palatinate, Mr. HILL (with whom was Mr. Townsend), stated that the child was illegitimate, and was born in September last. It was entrusted to the care of Mary Cheetham to be nursed. The prisoner made occasional visits to see the infant. On the 3d of December she took it to the house where she resided. The nurse accompanied her, and saw her give something to it which she supposed was milk, as the prisoner had said she would give it some, and Cheetham had cautioned her not to let the child haVe cold milk. Cheetham took it back to her own house, but en the way it became ill and vomited She carried it to a druggist, who perceived that the child had been poisoned. A constable was sent for, and Cheetham returned with him to the house where the prisoner lived; a physician having been fetched in the meantime to prescribe for the apparently dying infant. On seeing the policeman, the prisoner asked if the child was dead, and attempted to conceal a cup, which the officer seized. The vomit and the contents of the cup were afterwards examined, and proved to contain red oxide of mercury. The woman begged not to be taken into custody, as she said nobody knew about it. The woman Cheatham who nursed the child, the police• officer ceho arrested the prisoner, the druggist to whose shop the infant was taken after swallowing the poison, another druggist, who sold the red precipitate to the prisoner, Dr. Vaughan. of Birkenhead, who was called in to attend the child, and under whose care it ultimately recovered, and Dr. Brett,  lecturer on chemistry at Liverpool, who analysed the vomit and the contents of the cup, which the constab'e took from the prisoner when he apprehended her—having been severally examined in support of the charge, Mr. BRYAN addressed the jury for the prisoner, arguing that the poison might have been given ignorantly or in mistake.  The Learned Juno: then summed up the evidence with great care and perspicuity; after which, a verdict of Guilty was returned, and his Lordship, in a most impressive address, ordered sentence of death to be recorded against the prisoner. She is a single woman, and has given birth to five illegitimate children, only one of whom is living—the infant which she has been convicted of attempting to murder. THE ROCK FERRY Al
The Sun. — 1846-01-24 (London, England)

MURDER OF THE EARL OF MOR LET'S GAMEKEEPER. SALTRAM, THURSDAY.—This ' morning an inquest was held at the Union Inn, Underwood, by Mr. A. B. Boney, on tke body of Edward Tothill, the gamekeeper, whose unfortunate death in an affray with poachers has been already mentioned. Application was made for the admission of the press, but the Coroner refused to allow any but the witnesses to be present at the proceedings. It is, however, understood that the evidence of Mr. Belvin, the head-keeper, was, in substance, as follows : "At four o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, the 21st inst., I was out in Earl Morley's preserves with a party of assistance, nine in number. The deceased, Edward Tothill, was the second keeper. The first intimation we had that there were poachers out was from reports of guns in the Morefield preserve. We proceeded in that direction, and came up with the poachers, who were armed, and had dogs with them. In the hope of deterring the party we fired upon the dogs, and they ran away. I then challenged the poachers to stand, which they refused, and three shots were fired at us. One of the keepers, named Belevin, was struck in tke shoulder, though not seriously injured. Judging from their number and daring character that our lives were in danger, I ordered the keepers to fire in the direction from whence the last two flashes appeared, and after discharging their guns to rush in upon the gang. They did so, and while I was reloading my gun, I heard one of the keepers call to me for assistance. 1 ran towards him, and found him struggling with one of the poachers, named William Foote Read, whom the keeper had by this time got down. My assistant, Timothy Loper, was endeavouring to wrest from Read a double-barrelled gun. In the struggle Read got away and discharged thet gun at Loper, but fortunately without effect, the charge passed over bis head. I was Loper t near enough to render any assistance, but i, immediately knocked Read down, and be was secured. I then called to Tothill for the handcuffs, but receiving no answer I became alarmed for the man's safety. I afterwards heard another shot further down the plantation. Calling the men together, we went in search of Tothill, and found him hislyingonface; he had either a gun or d N ext pistol wound in the breast, and was quite ead. morning, when sufficiently light, I proceeded with some assistance to the place, and close to where the body of Tothill lay, we found three hats belonging to the party who had escaped; one of the hats had several shots through it, so that I have no doubt but that some of the party were wounded." Several witnesses are still to be examined, and it is probable that the inquest will last for at least another day. It appears that the man in custody, who was not actually present when the murder was committed, was formerly a surveyor, but has latterly kept a butcher's shop. He has received some small shots in the head, but is not considered in danger.
The Sun. — 1846-04-08 (London, England)

THE POOR LAWS. Mr. CHRISTIE asked Sir James Graham whether the attention of the Poor-law Commissioners had been directed to the case of Elizabeth Butcher, tried at Salisbury on the 12th day of March, for the murder of her infant child, and acquitted, the child having been stripped of its clothing on the mother's leaving the Cricklade and Wootton Bassett workhouse ; and to the case of Harriett Bowkett, tried at Hereford on the 30th of March, for the exposure of her infant child with intent to murder, and acquitted of the intention to murder, the child having been stripped of its clothing on the mother's leaving the Ledbury workhouse ; and whether the stripping infants of the clothes which have been supplied in the workhouses, where the mothers have no other clothing for them, when they are taken out of the workhouses, is ordered or sanctioned by the Poor-law Commissioners Sir J. GRAHAM said that the cases to which the Hon. Member had referred had attracted the immediate attention of the Poor-law Commissioners; and he held in his band a letter, dated the sth of February last, which showed clearly that the children of Butcher and Bowkett had not been stripped of their clothing on their leaving the workhouses in ques= tion. If they had been so stripped, the regulations which the Poor-law Commissioners had issued to the different boards of guardians throughout the country would have been openly violated, as there was an express direction given by the Commissioners that all bastard children should be suffered to leave the workhouse in the clothin' given to them by the boards of guardians.—(Hear, hear.) In every case clothing was ordered to be furnished by the guardians to children born in workhouses, and they had no authority to deprive them of it on their being removed from the precincts of the unions. No impediment whatever was offered against mothers taking their tochildrenthem from the workhouses, and every facility was given to obtain clothing for them. Whatever had a risen existingin relfearw. ence to these two cases did not spring from any or regulation approving of the ha which the Hon. Member appeared to suppose had been inflicted on the two individuals in question. He woula take this opportunity of stating that he was very glad to find that the poor-law was being carried out very beneficially in Ireland.—(Hear, hear.) The Government were continually receiving intelligence of the feelings of the people of that country, changing materially in favour of the poor- la w.—( Hear, hear.) Indeed,he then held in his hand two reports to that effect from the Poor-law Commissioners in Ireland, which he would take the liberty of moving to be laid on the table of the House, and subsequently proved, and after Hon. Members had read, he felt convinced that they would arrive at the same conclusion to which he had, viz., that the poor in Ireland were now receiving great benefits from the operatioh of the laws relatirg to the poor in that eountry.—(Hear, hear.) The reports in question were then brought up by the Right Hon. Baronet, and ordered to be printed.
The Sun. — 1846-09-07 (London, England)

CLERKEN WELL.  On Saturday Ann Saunders was charged with severely wounding a young man named Wm. Pipkin. It appeared that the prisoner had on the evening of the previous day been drunk in the streets, and was followed by a mob of boys, who hooted and called her names. She at last rushed into a public-house in Vine-street, St. Andrew's, Holborn, when the complainant happening to go in for his supper beer, she exclaimed in a violent manner, " This is one of the lifting up a large knife, three feet in length, with which she had previously wounded some boys, made a desperate chop at his head. He retreated and held up his arms to ward off the blows, but she continued chopping at him, and swearing to have his life. His arms were dreadfully mutilated. The instrument was very sharp, and one eut which she made at the poor fellow actually cut a large piece of flesh from his shoulder. The young man called for assistance, when the landlord and several other persons seised the prisoner, took the knife from her, and kept her until the arrival of policeman, 209 G, who took her to the station-house, where she gave her name Ann Saunders. She was locked up, and in the morning she was taken before a magistrate, when Mr. Pipkin attended in a weak state, with his arm in a sling. He gave evidence confirmatory of the above particulars. He positively swore that he gave the prisoner no provocation for the attack upon him. He never saw her before in his lifetime. He bled profusely from his wounds, and he was taken to the house of Mr. Dalton, surgeon, of Leatherlane, who dressed them, and he was put to bed. After giving his evidence he was conveyed home in an exhausted state.  In answer to questions, he said that the prisoner deliberately chopped at him, and had the instrument struck his head, he would inevitably have been murdered. Mr. Francis Dalton, surgeon, of 52, Leather-lane, said that the prosecutor was brought to his house bleeding from several severe wounds, which might have been inflicted by such an instrument as the one now produced, about three feet in length, and five inches broad, with a very sharp edge, and such as is generally used by chaff-cutters and skin-dressers. One of the wounds on the prosecutor's wrist was a very dangerous one. The police-constable who took the prisoner into custody saw her flourishing a large knife at a crowd of children who were following her. He heard that some of them were injured. Saw her lift up the knife in both hands and chop at people, and he cautioned her to beware of such conduct. Shortly afterwards he was called upon to take her into custody, when she went quietly to the station house.  The prisoner, in her defence, said she had been drinking freely, when she was lollowed, beaten, and kicked by the mob, when she threw herself under the protection of the police, as she felt her life to be in danger. She thought the prosecutor was one of the party when she struck him with the knife. She was very sorry for what had happened. She was fully committed for trial for the felony, when, in the course of the day, she was conveyed to Newgate in the police van.
The Sun. — 1846-08-08 (London, England)

KLEY—That is not true.  Mr. C. BERKELEY said he would refer the Hon. Member to the reports of the proceedings which had been published from day to day in the public papers.—(Cheers.) With espect to the main question he would say, in answer to the Hon. Member for Bolton, that he knew the case of several persons who had been flogged, and who were now most excellent soldiers. Mr. WAKLEY said the Hon. and Gallant Member had brought several charges against him ; first, that he had exe.!uded medical officers from the post mortem examination. I did do so (said the Hon. Member), and I would do so again.— ( Cheers.) The Hon. Member seemed to have a strange notion of justice, if he thought it was unjust in him to do so. They had prejudged their case; they had come to the conclusion;that death was not caused by the flogging, and he wanted to know whether he would have been justified in permitting those three persons to be present at this examination, after the intimation xhich had been thrown out to him by the jury  They did not want to see any more, they had discovered the cause of death. The rule which he adopted was that usually acted upon in cases of this sort by the superior courts ; nor was it out of any feeling of disrespect for those Hon. Gentlemen that he would not permit them to be present on the occasion referred to by the Hon. Member. Three ex,minations of the bo6ly were made. The first one by Drs. !lall, Warren, and Reid. And it was not until he found that he fourth person employed in the succeeding examination, Mr. Day, had fallen into the same error as the preceding gentlemen upon the subject—(lronical cheers)—that he had de,ermined to send for Mr. Erasmus Wilson to make a toore complete examination of the body. On that occasion Mr. Day was not excluded. He should have exposed himself to much ibloquy if he had acted in any other manner than he had done. rhe next charge brought against him was that contained in !chat the Hon. Member called an excellent medical work. Why, the article that the Hon. Member quoted from was from the pen of a stupid lawyer, so little did the Hon. Member know of the publication in question.--( Hear, hear.) He also complained that upon former occasions he would not go en with the inquest on a murdered man in the absence of the murderer. Why the Hon. and Gallant Member must be aware that there was no prisoner in the present case, or he might rest assurred that he would have had him present, if he could possibly have obtained his attendance.—(Cheers.) He had -xpected this attack upon his conduct, and he had come down prepared with ammunition, although he did not belong to the military profession.—( Laughter, and cheers.) He had a letter trom the solicitor approving of the course he had adopted. Mr. C. BERKELEY rose to order, he did not think the Hon. Member should be allowed to make a second speech. Mr. WAKLEY insisted upon his right to be heard; serious charges had been brought against him of Mr. Wilson's evidence being shaped to order. Mr. C. BERKELEY said it was net his charge. _ .  Mr. WA
The Sun. — 1846-08-08 (London, England)

WAKLEY—That is not true. C. BERKELEY said he would refer the Hon. Memthe reports of the proceedings which had been pubfrom day to day in the public papers.—(Cheers.) With to the main question he would say, in answer to the 'ember for Bolton, that he knew the case of several peru) had been flogged, and who were now most excellent  WAKLEY said the Hon. and Gallant Member had t several charges against him ; first, that he had exmedical officers from the post mortem examination. I so (said the Hon. Member), and I would do so again.— !*) The Hon. Member seemed to have &strange notion rte, if he thought it was unjust in him to do so. They 'Judged their case ; they had come to the conclusion:that ‘as not caused by the flogging, and he wanted to know rtne would have been justified in permitting those three ,Ohe present at this examination, after the intimation ii!sd been thrown out to him by the jury ? '4 not want to see any more, they had red cause of death. The rule which he adopted „ • '144 acted upon in cases of this sort by the superior leeor was it out of an feeling of disrespect for those 4tiellien that he would not permit them to be present referred to by the Hon. Member. Three ex?it,. of the bogy were made. The first one by Drs. 111 Ills and Reid. And it was not until he found that ad arou employed in the succeeding examination, Mr. on 0,41 into the same error as the preceding gentlead t:le subject—(lronical cheers)—that he had dete send for Mr. Erasmus Wilson to make a wore t e -,lnlination of the body. On that occasion Mr. Day ifruded. He should have exposed himself to much robed acted in any other manner than he had done. le /1041 e brought against him was that contained in he arl'', Member called an excellent medical work. le pe iner that the Non. Member quoted from was thenstupid lawyer, so little did the Hon. Member publication in question.—( Hear, hear.) He also rued that upon former occasions he would not go on e Inquest on a murdered man in the absence of the Cr. Why the Hon. and Gallant Member must be aware are was no prisoner in the present case, or he might erred that he would have had him present, if he could Y have obtained his attendance.—(Cheers.) He had 'd this attack upon his conduct, and he had come down id with ammunition, although he did not belong to the Y Profession.—( Laughter, and cheers.) He had a letter le solicitor approving of the course he had adopted. F• BERKELEY rose to order, he did not think the brxher shonld be allowed to make a second spech. 3 insisted upon his right to be heard; serious b • a' been brought against him of Mr. Wilson's evi...alien to order. BERKELEY said it was list his charge. 'rw
The Sun. — 1846-08-08 (London, England)

PRICK SD.  my daughter, and paid her 41. 18s. 6d. on the 23d of March. He had been entered in the club by his mother. On the 9th of Marsh I had paid her 11. 4s. for another child. Cross-merAse4,--rif the child in respect of whom the 11. 4s. was paid bakl af.l-:.•41.5r =nth, the parents would have been entitled to 0,6 r, Thomas Hornby--I am steward of 3li Weas-crharn Sick Clob. The prisoner Joseph was a meta-ten ire isttry Zs, ptr quarter; and the parent is entitled to tha experllste.• 51 the burial of all his children under fourteen years of age, In March last I received a certificete of the death of Richard Pirrblett, and gave an order for 11. 15s. to Wm. Whitley. Mr. TEMPLE then rose to address the jury for the prisoners, and, after a powerful opening, proceeded to examine the evidence that had been detailed. He commenced by adverting to the respectability of the prisoners' circumstances as furnishing the first reason why they should not commit such an offence as that •, to the fact of arsenic being purchased, if it were purchased at all, without the slightest concealment; to the real name and address of the male prisoner being given, and witnesses in each case present; to the circumstances of the female prisoner having taken the child to the surgeon on the first appearance of illness, and having drawn his attention to those very symptoms which it was alleged on behalf of the prosecution were indicative of the administration of - poison ; to the testimony that these symptoms bad been increased after the child had taken the medicine recommended by the surgeon, and which appeared, in consequence of some peculiarity of constitotion, to have operated the very reverse of that for which it wa. intended; to the fact of their neighbours having been sent fc on the day of the child's death, and only in consequence of their remonstrances was the male prisoner induced not to send for the surgeon again immediately before its decease; to the fact that 51., the suns obtained from the burial society, would be barely sufficient to cover the expenses of interment, while incidental evidence had been given of the death of another child, where the sum of 11. 35. was all the money that could be obtained from the club ; to the uncertainty that must always arise is cases like this, where the case in a great measure must depend upon the deductions of scientific analysis; and to the probability (taking all the circumstances of the case into account) that the poison, if it really had been taken, was taken by the child, who was nearly five years of age, by a mistake of its own. These points the Learned Counsel illustrated with great force. Several witnesses were called, who gave the prisoners good characters for kindness and humanity. ' The JUDGE summed up with much ability. The jury retired for a short time, and on their return found a verdict of Not Guilty for both prisoners. The other charge of murder was then abandoned, and the third charge was proceeded with. It occupied the Court until ten o'clock in the evening, terminated in a verdict of Not Guilty, and completed the business of the circuit,