npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1891-10-24 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE ALHAMBRA SHOOTING CASE. THE ACCUSED COMMITTED. At the Marlborough-street Police-court, on Friday, Louis Albert Benzon, 37, a Frenchman, living in Old Compton-street, was charged, after several remands, with having fired at Mary Claes, a foreign woman, described as a servant, of Neal-street, Soho, with intent to murder her. --The evidence previously given was to die effect that Claes, who lived with a man named Monfils, spent a day in Benzon's company, and on the evening in question went with him to the Alhambra, where a man, known as "Jules," joined them. Nothing noticeable occurred until towards the conclusion of the performance, when Benzon and the woman were descending the stairs from the gallery. It was alleged that on the woman asking lienzon for a sovereign, which he had promised her, he became excited, and made an attempt to catch hold of her. She, however, eluded him by running down the stairs. A moment later, when she returned, Benzon put his hand behind him, drew a revolver from his belt, and when she was within a yard and a-half of him fired at her. Just as he pulled the trigger, the man "Jules" knocked his arm aside, so that the bullet struck the staircase, near to where the woman was standing. Benzon was about to present the revolver again, when Charles Baker, a man who had joined them on the stairs, seized t oth his arms, and held him until an attendant came and took him outside to a constable. When taken to Vine•street police-station, Benzon was found to have in his pockets a revolver, £56 in nench bank-notes, and a large Norwegian knife. Inspector M'Kenna examined the former weapon, and found it to be loaded in two of its chambers, aid it contained one discharged cartridge case. In explanation of his conduct he said, " I I met Monfils to-day, and had a drink with him. I never saw him before. I then went away with this woman and the man Jules. When we gA. to the .Alhambra Monfils said that he was the proprietor of the woman, and asked me for the money to pay for my lodging with her. I went downstairs and Monfils seized me. When he caught hold of me I lost my head, and we both rolled downstairs together. I pulled out my revolver and fired, but not at the woman. I fired it down. I did not fire at anybody."—A flattened bullet was found by the inspector afterwards upon the gallery stairs.—On being recalled, the woman said that Benzon held her by the left arm when he fired at her, but Baker cohtradicted her testimony in this respect. Monfils denied that he was with the party when the shot was fired. He did not tell Benzon that he was the proprietor of the woman, although at times he had received some of the money she had earned.— Inspector M'Kenna and Detective-Inspector Stroud now said that they had made every effort to find the man "Jules," for whose appearance the prisoner had been remanded, but they believed him to be abroad, and therefore not to be met with.--The prisoner was eommitted for trial.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1891-07-25 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER. At Southwark Police-court, on Friday, James Kelly, an ex-soldier, was charged with the manslaughter of Mary Tobin, 49, a married woman and his aunt.—Michael Tobin said deceased was his mother. She went out on Saturday afternoon, the 27th ult., and was brought home on Sunday morning shortly after 12 o'clock. He asked her what was the matter, and she replied, "Oh, I'm all right," but pressed her hands to her head as if in pain. The next morning he found his mother lying in a pool of blood. The landlady was called, and she said, "I'll lay my life Jim has done this," referring to the accused. Witness went to the Kellys' house, where she saw:Mrs. Kelly, who told him "Jim did it with that iron pot," producing an iron saucepan which lay on the floor. She added, "he broke it over her head."— Laura Smith, of Globe-street, said the prisoner lived in her house with his mother, and little brother and sister. - About 12 o'clock on the night in question the prisoner's little sister came running to her shouting "Oh, Mrs. Smith, Oh, Mrs. Smith, come upstairs, there is murder !" She met deceased and prisoner 's mother, and noticed that ' deceased was bleeding from the left side of the head. The prisoner's mother said "Oh, Jim what have you done to your aunt?" and the prisoner replied, "Why didn't you let me alone?" The prisoner's mother took the deceased away.—Mary Ann Kelly, aged 10, a sister of the accused, said she remembered her aunt coming to their house at nearly midnight. Witness had had a fit on the way home, and on the deceased mentioning the fact the prisoner said "It would be a good job if she was a corpse." The deceased told him he ought to be ashamed of himself, and the prisoner replied, "Ought I?" and ordered her out of the room. At this witness ran out of the room, and did not see what took place. She denied that there was a saucepan about the place, and said sly did riot see a tumbler on the mantelshelf.—Catherine Kelly, the prisoner's mother, said when she met Mrs. Smith on the staircase she shouted upstairs calling her son names,and he shouted back, "Why can't you let me alone? " She saw the prisoner take up some instrument, but she didn't know what it was, or what he did with it. He took a glass from the mantelpiece and "aimed "it, and she next saw it in pieces on the floor. Witness added that she did not see the prisoner strike the deceased with the saucepan, and was positive that lie didn't. She might have pointed it out to Michael Tobin the next morning, but she did not tell him that her son struck his mother with it. —Dr. Herbert Daniel, of Guy's Hospithl, said the woman .died in that institution from laceration of Ithe brain, which might have been caused by a fall. The police evidence having been given the prisoner was committed for trial.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1891-08-08 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

MSS. in the possession of De Quincey's daughters, will be found some delightful Suspiria, another short and very dainty paper on "Murder as a Flite Art," a most characteristic note on "Great Forgers," some exquisitely chatty little essays under the general title of "Brevia," and a great many other articles of substantive value, several of which deal with topics not touched upon in the collected works. Altogether, it is a volume which the student of De Quincey will prize; and I may add that it leaves the publisher's hands in a very attractive form. The second, and I believe concluding volume, is awaited with no small interest.  The decision in the Berkeley Peerage case is a remarkable illustration of the tardiness of justice. The Privilege Committee of the House of Lords have unanimously confirmed the judgment of the Committee which tried the case in-18111 Of course the ruling of that Committee ought to have settled the controversy; yet eighty years later Baron Fitzbardinge is found persisting in a claim which was absolutely untenable. There is great rejoicing amongst the friends of Lord Berkeley, who with very small means has fought this battle in the pluckiest fashion. Be is a lieutenant in the navy, and his wife is the sister of Mr. Deane Blanche well-known vocalist. Lord Berkeley has won his title, and the dispute is now finally determined; but there is no property attached to the peerage, as all the Berkeley estates went to the illegitimate branch of the family, whose origin is described in the extraordinary romance which came in evidence before the Committee of the Lords.  Mr. David Christie Murray is to make his debut as an actor on the English stage towards the end of August at the Globe Theatre, when he will anuawr in a niece  -vrif,ren fly himself. I have no doubt that Mr. Christie Murray has improved a great deal in his acting since he was entrusted wrji the ril of the Baron in "Jim the Pc7iman," in Melbourne, last autumn. Mr. C:nistie - Murray used to inform Australian intei viewers of the circumstances that led to his adopting a stage career in language highly eulegistie of his own performances. It seems that a company was acting a play by Mr. Murray in New Zealand, and, one of the actei s failing at the last moment, the author took the part himself. He was so much pleased with the result that he determined to take to the footlights professionally. This was more than six months ago, and I have no doubt that Mr. Christie Murray has meanwhile been able to acquire a certain modicum of dramatic training, in which case there is no reason why Le should not achieve a reputation.  It is news that in "The Profligate*" one notorious character drinks poison and dies. So says the .Pall Mall Gazette, which also informs us tha.c, the incident had to ha remodelled at Melbourne, when the "v;llain was obligAl to clash the poison fr,n his lips. Very well ; but this is piecisAy what the "villain " did at the Garrick Theatre when the piece was first played.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1891-08-15 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

PEDITION.  An official telegram from M. de Brazza, Governor of the French Congo, announces that ths French explorer, M. Crampel, and his escort were, on April 9th, murdered by the natives of a district lying between Oubanghi and Baghirmi. The persons who accompanied M. Crampel were M. Biscarrat, a Frenchman, an Arab interpreter, and two Senegalese Sepoys. The rear-guard, commanded by M. Nebout, beat a retreat, and reached the French post of Bangui, whence it was conveyed on board a gunboat to Brazzaville. The sad news, says a Daily 2trems correspondent, has been received with consternation in France. The disaster which has befallen the Crampel Expedition, upon which such great hopes had been founded, is a blow to the extension of French influence to the north of the Congo possessions. Its object, above everything a political one, was to connect, by means of paper annexations, the French Congo with Lake Chad, and thus secure a route over French territory from tha Congo to Algiers. Another result of these annexations would be to cut off England and Germany from any further progress towards the interior, and enable France slowly, and without fear of intruders, to gradually extend her influence over the Mohammedan States between Lake Chad and the upper course of the Nile. M. Crampel sailed from Bordeaux on March 20th, 1890, reaching the French Congo on May 6th. After long delays due to the inexperience of several of his companions he arrived at Brazzaville on August 15th. His escort included M. Lauziere, civil engineer, M. Nebout, a half-pay colonial officer, second in command, Mohammed Ben Said, a medical student interpreter for Arabic, a Touareg, Ishekhad ag Rhali, and a Fahouin girl of 10. Niarinzhe, whom M. Crampel had received as a gift from an African chief in 11:187. There were besides 30 armed Senegalese and 223 native carriers. The expedition set out from Brazzaville on August 16th, calling at the Belgian Catholic Mission of Kassai and the English Protestant Mission of Bolobo. On September 2.5 th it reached Bangui, the last French outpost on the Oubanghi. M.Musy,who was in command of this post, had been murdered several months before, and the corn t:y was in a state of great disturbance. M. Crampel, after exercising terrible reprisals, and resstablishing French authority, continued his journey northwards, concluding treaties with all the Chiefs on his way. The Committee of French Africa, a private society in Paris, had realised that M. Crampel's Expedition would end in disaster if it did not receive reinforcements, and a second expedition:was therefore sent out from France to overtake him. It reached Brazzaville in time to learn of the disaster, and did not proceed further. It is hoped, adds the correspondent, that after this disaster, which is not only a blow to French influence, but to European prestige in general, the system of stealing marches in Africa over rival European nations will be discontinued. The coveted districts between the French Congo and Lake Chad were the "Hinterland" of the German and British coasts.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1891-09-05 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

EPIDEMIC OF CRIME.  Some very ugly crimes are reported from the Provinces of France. At Limoux, near Narbonne,and between Bordeaux and Cette, a woman named Conquet, having a hot dispute with her husband, took her baby out of its cradle and dashed it on the floor. Madame Conquet had on several occasions since her marriage given proofs of bad temper. She was constantly in the habit of quarrelling on the slightest pretext with her spouse, who is a farmer in comfortable circumstances. The other day M. Conquet was preparing to go out to a local fête, when his wife upbraided him with wanting to leave her in order to enjoy himself. The farmer suggested to his wife that instead of endeavouring to annoy him she should look after her child. Hardly had he uttered the words than Madame Conquet rushed to the cradle, seized the baby, and flung it with force on the floor. The child's skull was broken by the concussion, and the unnatural mother took up the infant immediately in order to put it out of its pain by strangling it. The mother then ran out of the place and tried to poison herself in the cellar with sulphate of copper. She was restored afterwards to health by an emetic, and is now in the Limoux prison. A double infanticide, followed by the self .inflicted death of the mother of the two children murdered, who herself had deprived her offspring of life, is recorded from Beauvais in the Department of the Oise. Madame Dupont, a young married woman, discovered that her husband, a grocer and publican, had relations with a female, who, although much older than himself, had succeeded in making him prove faithless to his wife. The grocer and his elderly friend were found in a back parlour by Madame Dupont. The husband ran away on the approach of his wife, but the woman remained on the spot, and was vituperated and abused by the angry wife before a crowd of customers and neighbours. After the scene Madame Dupont took her two children with her, went up to the garret of her house, and hanged the young ones from a beam. She then "noosed" herself near them, and the husband, on returning home, found the three coprses dangling before his affrighted gaze.  liangoon Imes reports moat two bands ot dacoits, one 50 strong and the other 25, and both well armed with rifles, have attacked and plundered villages in the Katha district, on the borders of Wuntho. Both bands are believed to consist of the ex-Tsawbwa's men.  In consequence (says the Lisbon correspondent of the Times) of the death from pftlson of a young girl in a convent at Lisbon, who afterwards was found to have been violated, and of the importance given to the case by the entire Press, the Government has appointed a Commission to institute inquiries respecting the management and mode of living in and the salubrity of hospitals, convents, and other religious establishments, and periodically to inspect them
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-10-06 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

LONDON.  MUTILATED TRUNK OF A WOMAN FOUND.  About 3 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon a shocking discovery was made in a vault beneath the buildings of the New Central Police Offices, Cannon-row, Westminster, the site of the Opera House which it was some years since proposed to construct on the Victoria Embankment. A labourer engaged upon the works noticed a large bundle tied up with cord, and drew the attention of theaassistant-foreman to it, who ordered him to pull it out and untie it. Upon doing so he found wrapped up in an old black skirt the trunk of a human being much decomisosed. The police at King-street police-station were at once communicated with, and Inspector Marshall, from the Criminal Investigation Department, took charge of the remains, and immediately summoned a doctor. Upon a close examination it was found that the intestines were slightly protruding. The arms, the legs, and the bead had been cut off, and were missing. Nothing in the shape of clothing beyond the black skirt referred to covered the remains, which are those of a female of about 25 years of ago, so far as it was possible to judge. The doctor gave orders for the remains to be preserved in spirits, and the coroner's officer having been apprised of the discovery, they were removed to the mortuary in Millbank-street to await an inquest. An opinion was expressed that the body had probably been dead for about a month. The general belief is that the trunk forms part of the same body the limbs of which were recently found in Pimlico.— Dr. Hibbert, who examined the body, is stated to have expressed an idea that the woman had been dismembered by an unskilful person, and further, he was fully of opinion that the arm found at Pimlico belonged to the same individual. The body must have been carried bodily and placed in the position in which it was found. It is impossible for anything to lodge in such a manner if thrown over the hoarding on the Embankment, and it would be equally difficult for any person to climb over at that part, in order to gain access to the building. The spot where the discovery was made is at the extreme end of a long subway of vaults, which are being constructed for store-rooms, and the bundle was deposited in a dark recess, about 100 yards from the roadway. The workmen engaged there state that, in their belief,it must have been left there between Saturday and Monday last, and one man asserts that hesaw the bundle on Monday, but passed it, thinking it was probably some old rags dug up out otbe excavations. Some pieces of black material corresponding with the black skirt in which the body was wrapped have been collected from other parts of the premises, and they appear to be portions of the same covering. On the discovery becoming known hundreds of persons congregated throughout the afternoon and evening discussing the matter, the rumour having spread that the Whitechapel murders had been repeated in the neighbourhood. •
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-07-28 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

ENGAGEMENT ENDING IN SMOKE. Affidavits have been Sled in Glasgow Sheriff Court in a breach of promise case, in which a young lady of 24, named Maggie Watson, sues William Kirkland, a warehouseman, also aged 24, for £5OO. The parties became engaged three years ago, an pursuer avers that by her society and influence she was the means of elevating defender socially and ad. vancinghiin in hisworldly prospects. This he admitted in his correspondence. In a letter to her mother he wrote: "It is to her (Maggie) as God's agent that I owe my present position, if not more. I feel that at present it is me that is getting all the good, and Maggie who is giving it; but lam taking it on loan, and will pay it back with interest.' Writing to herself he said : " I know what it is, darling, to have the love of one of the best of women. Put for you, dearest, my life would have been a failure, 'one vast and dreary wilderness the world to true.'" In other letters he used the following: "Darling, don't you think I am not the lad for you, always makieg great resolutions and as often falling through them? My darling, you will help me. I must have communication with you once a day." Pursuer maintains that it was a condition of her accepting defender that he should abandon smoking and continue, as he then was, a teetotaler. She noticed in the spring of this year, however, that he appeared to be indulging in cigars, and, at the same time, his visits were less frequent. Alarmed at such declension, she made an earnest appeal to him in a long letter, and lectured him on the formation of bad habits. In the course of that letter she said: "You seem to put my happiness on a level with a cigar.' You must choose between me and a cigar." In reply he wrote: "1 .do not intend to give up smoking; perhaps if we meet when we are boa. older the breach may be stepped over, but mean. time I can only subiniE to separation. There is just a little too much (soercion in your letter, and I won't be coerced." In his defences, Kirkland denies that there was any cenditiou about smoking or drinking. He promised not to smoke in her coin. pany,but that was out of consideration for her family and regard for the purity and sweetness of the kisses he and Maggie would exchange. As she gave him the opportunity to exercise his choice, he claims ab solvitor.  A violent storm has caused great damage in Rome. The loss it is feared will amount to a very large sum, but nobody appears to have been seriously injured. Great havoc was done in the outskirts of the city, and on the Tiber, where the rowing boats have been much damaged. Such a violent storm, and such a strange season, have rarely been known in Italy. At Manchester on Friday, Harriet Moon was coin. milted for trial on a charge of attempting to murder her husband. It appeared that the two had led an unhappy life, and Mns. Moon was once an inmate of a lunatic asylum. They quarrelled, and she husband was wounded on the head with a poker. Hi wife afterwards attacked him with a knife, cutting his throat severely. He was detained at the infirmary -for a long time.