npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-10-29 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

NEILL'S CAREER IN CANADA.  Some particulars of Neill's career in Canada were I published on Saturday, from which it appears that he has previously been convicted of poisoning. i Neill, who was taken to Canada at a very early age,graduated in medicine at Montreal, and gained some distinction by writing an essay on chloroform. He had been in the habit of going to a place called Waterloo, some 73 miles from Montreal, were he formed the aquaintance of the daughter of an hotel-keeper. After one of his visits the young lady was taken very ill. So great was her agony that her groans disturbed the honsehold, and the family doctor was at Once suminenea. Le' WAS tames found that the girl had been subjected to treatment of a very serious character. The young lady's tether immediately proceeded to Montreal and traced Neill to the Ottawa Hotel, where, revolver in hand, he threatened to shoot him unless he atoned for his wrong by marrying his daughter. This Neill readily consented to do; but he left his wife the day after marriage and went to Quebec. Afte: being lost sight of for some time, he turned up in London, Ontario. At this place he was visited by a young woman who was one morning found dead at the rear of the house with a bottle of chloroform by her side. Neill was called as a witness at the inquest, and the circumstances were regarded as so suspicious that he lost his practice. Neill then migrated to Chicago, and started a surgery in West Maddison-street. Here he soon tamed an unenviable reputation. In 1881 Neill was advertising a specific for the cure of epileptic fits, and a railway official sent his wife, a young lady of prepossessing appearance, to his surgery fo: the prescription. Neill used to send her to a drugstore in Clarke-street for the medicine, and on one occasion he added something to the mixture, and the husband died 20 minutes after taking the first dose. In the meantime Neill had tried to insure the man's life, but failed. A doctor was called in, and as the deceased had been suffering from fits he was buried in the usual way. Neill, upon hearing this, telegraphed to the coroner, informing him that the chemist who prepared the medicine put in too much strychnine. Getting no reply from the coroner, he wrote to the district attorney, who decided to take action in the matter. The body was exhumed, and it was discovered that the man had died from the effects of an overdose of strychnine. Both the wife of the deceased and Neill were then arrested, but the former gave States' evidence against the latter, who was found guilty of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He remained in Joliet Prison until July 31st, 1891. In explanation of his early discharge it is stated that some influence had been brought to bear on the Government, which commuted his sentence to 17 years, and,allowing for good conduct, &c., his time expired on the date already mentioned. After his discharge Neill went to Quebec, and after staying for a time with his brother Daniel his friends sent him to England.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-08-13 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

OUTRAGE ON AN OLD WOMAN.  I  according to her own account an extraordinary adventure has befallen an elderly woman who keeps a shop on the Bou:evard Flaussmann, Paris, much patronised by fashionable customers belonging to the "fair sex." She was lying in bed a little later than usual on Sunday morning when she heard a tap at the door. Thinking that it waa the concierge she rose at once, and without making any toilet proceeded to open the door. Instead of the eoncierge, however, she found a short, dark female, attired in black, who handed a letter to her. The missive was signed with two initials. It contained an order for some articles of clothing, but as no address was given the shopkeeper asked the stranger to walk into the sitting-room, and to supply her with the necessary particulars. During the conversation which ensued,says the Daily Telegraph Paris correspondent, the visitor asked for a few circulars, and when they had been presented to her she let them fall on the floor apparently by accident; but the heroine of this alleged adventure says that this had evidently been done in order to induce her to stoop and pick them up, and that having her suspicions on the subject she returned to her desk, a-id took out a fresh set. At last the short dark female took her departure, hut she had hardly left when another tap was heard. The door was again opened, revealing the mysterious stranger, who explained that she had lost her purse, and must have lot it fall in the sitting-room. Thither she went with the tenant of the alpartement, who suddenly, while engaged in the search, found that a heavy veil had been thrown over her head and face. At the same moment the felt herself tightly grasped, and, after a brief struggle, she was thrown violently to the ground. fler assailant, who throughcut the interview had kept her face averted as much as possible, held her down and tried to throttle her by pressing both her hands on her throat. As, however, she could not succeed in her murderous attempt, she put a girdle round her neck. Her intended victim was, however, able to insert two of her lingers between her flesh and the cord, and resisted so stoutly that this fresh effort was also frustrated. Then the visitor seized the elderly shopkeeper by her hair and banged her head on the floor. Her face was covered with blood, but she did not lose consciousness. She says that she then begged for mercy in the name of her children and grandchildren, asked what harm she had done, and said that she did not care to die. Rill 11,r adversary continued to strike, till at last the happy thought occurred to her to ask if any money was wanted. The woman said that she would take 100 f., but she produced a knife and held it ominously while her victim was searching for a bank note. The shopkeeper was then enjoined never to reveal what had occurred, and with her eyes steadily nxed on her the stranger walked backwards out of the place. Not until half-an-hour had passed did her victim dare to go downstairs and relate her adyeuturo to the concierge.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-08-13 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

NARROW ESCAPE.  A rather mysterious affair, which may be called that of the "Women in the Wood," has happened at Meudon, outside Paris. A few days since, write. the Daily Telegraph Paris correspondent, the °WM of a shop in which mourning is sold near the Madeleine received a letter signed by a doctor, jod asking for the despatch of a female assistant . 1.1 villa at Mendon,in order to take some measuremeilp for black clothing. The letter further set out tit, f f route through the wood to be taken by the sheni it . who was to be met by a servant at the crossroads the Etoile du Pave and conducted to the villa. young woman was at once sent from the place business near the Madeleine to the spot indica and she has given a remarkable account of journey. She said that, having reached the c • roads, she met a shopgirl from the Boulevard Mo • marte,who was on the same errand as herself. HOing waited for a time she saw at some distance .1,1 woodrauger. She went up to him and asked him direct her to the villa mentioned in the letter, he had never heard of such a house. In the m time another girl from a shop on the Boule Saint-Martin arrived, and the woodranger WI ascertained that the three damsels had been sent for by the same unknown person, began suspicions. He accordingly told the to wait, while he hid himself a little ' in order to watch events. In a few girls saw approaching them a dani man,badly dressed and wearing down. Before the stranger could come near the ants he was arrested by the woodrareinforced by his colleagues. The man to the police-station at Meudon, where that the letters sent to the Paris written by one of his friends. As no, proved against him he was set at lil he had a loaded revolver in his be summoned for illegally ca- _ was also provided with a long ugly , young shopvromen were naturally glad to to Paris after their curious adventure in the  to have  Ice a  moment  dangerous i:at-1  roodranger,  -heel  was 1 he dec ps bad ing Co'  shops nothi r  ibeFfy,  , 1p  firearms,  knife.  get  soca.  The Duke Gf Norfolk announces that the Catholic Union has been requested by the Archbishop Elect of Westminster to organise a British pilgrimage to Rome in February of next year. The route taken will be Dover' Calais, Paris, Turin, Genoa, Rome. It is proposed that non• Catholics who desire to join the pilgrimage should be allowed to do so. Moses Cudworth, 40, a weaver, who is to be exs. cuted at Leeds on the 18th inst. for the murder of his wife at Earby, near Skipton, is quite resigned to his fate. He expresses deep regret for what he has done, and says he would not have committed the crime but for drink, and for the provocation his wife gave him in regard to the disposition of some money which he had eiven her to save.  _ !gm wornit wit ,t. tI lookif boos: shop-assi 4 lobo w vas , dec ad eu mil but 4 , vi , „ The
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-11-05 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

ABROAD.  A telegram from Buenos Ayres states that the rebels at Santiago del Estero have all been dis.. armed by the Federal troops and order is restored. Three coloured men and five coloured boys who have been convicted of murdering a physician in Kent county, Maryland, have been sentenced to be hanged.  According to the official report, 248 houses were destroyed by the floods at Sansperate' in Sardinia. The total number of deaths occasioned by the catastrophe is not yet known, but the number of personS notified as missing is about 100.  The Ameer of Afghanistan is reported to have sent another evasive reply to the Indian Government in reference to the proposed British mission, and it IS thought that there is little likelihood of the mission being despatched within the next three months. An unsuccessful attempt was made on Tuesday to burn down the Star Theatre on Euclid Avenue, in Cleveland (Ohio). The incendiary, who escaped, is believed to be the same man who caused the tiro at the Euclid-avenue Opera House the previous Saturday.  On Monday evening, as the express train running from Buda-Pesth to Vienna was passing through Galantlia, the window of the dining saloon was suddenly smashed to atoms by some missile. Count Szapary, the llungarian Premier, was dining in the saloon at the time.  Twenty persons belonging to the town of Groitsy, in Poland, who had partaken of the flesh of a cow which had died of Siberian cattle plague, were shortly afterwards seized with all the symptoms of acute poisoning. Ten of th2m died the same day and the others are not expected to survive. Whilst seeking shelter from a violent storm which blew throughout the night the yacht Princess Alice, with the Prince and Princess of Monaco on board, ran ashore on Monday evening at the entrance to the roads. Assistance was immediately despatched from the harbour, and the Prince and Princess and the members of the crew were brought safely to land. The yacht sustained somewhat serious damage. Two brothers named Burgess, who had been lodged in gaol at Lebanon, Virginia, on the charge of murdering a man named Sutherland, recently attempted to escape from prison. The friends of the murdered man, on being apprised of this, forced their way into the gaol, and, breaking into the cells in which the prisoners were confined, led them out and hanged them handcuffed together on the nearest tree, afterwards emptying their revolvers into the suspended bodies. Another eensational murder was committed on Tuesday in the Rue Gaudot de Mauroy, Paris, where a madman named Follett stabbed the house porter to the heart with a sword-stick. Follett was accompanied by his cousin, who ran away after the crime was committed. The murderer appears to be quite unconscious of what he has done, and has not hitherto shewn signs of homicidal mania, The porter had roused his anger by trying to prevent him from mounting the staircase and by pushing him towards the door
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-02-27 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE AMERICAN TRAIN ROBBERY. SENSATIONAL DETAILS.  A New York correspondent sends the following additional particulars of the sensationaltrain robbery on Saturday night: A gentlemanly man entered the ca s at the New York Central Station, having secured ticket for Syracuse. After the train started, he made his way to the express car, where, without warning, he shot the messenger in charge of the v.iluables on the train. Altogether he fired three shot s, and his victim was riddled with bullets. An lain was immediately given. The conductors signalled to the engine-driver and the train was stopped at the •Lyons Railway Depot. The robber ilAmtly jumped from the'car on to the permanent way. The officials at the station and many of the passengers in the train advaneed towards hitn, but with his revolver pointod towards them and with threatening menace kept the crowd back. Further help was called for, and seeing that to stay in his ecsition would mole only certain capture, the lesperado ran quickly across the track, and sprang upon a freight engine, the driver and fireman of which were interestedly watching the development a events. It only needed a threatening gesture with the deadly weapon to induce hoth these men to.spring hastily to the ground. In a mon-feat the thief had handled the levers,shewing a thorough acquaintance with the engine, and :,way he dashed along the track toward Syracuse. By this time the officials had recovered from their momentary scare, and two or three of the most intrepid uncoupled the engine attached to the passenger train, and started off in pursuit on a parallel track, with a bigger engine and better :aelfing. They gradually bverhauled the runaway, who, seeing the immediate danger which threatened him, turned off the steam while his pursuers were still 100 yards from him. Then. reversing his engine, he allowed his pursuers to fly by at top speed. The disconcerted railway men fired as they ran past, but the speed was too great for a good aim, and no harm was done. The robber then ran back at his best speed, but the pursuing engine again followed and once more overhauled him. The thief pursued the same tactics, and with a similar result though he exchanged shots with his pursuers on this occasion. Then he ran onward again, but this time instead of waiting until his pursuers were able to reverse their engine and overtake him he slackened speed on reaching a thick wood. Here he jumped off and made his escape. The daring outrage, and the murder of the express man, had, however, created an intense amount of indignation. A sheriff's posse was speedily gathered, and the whole district scoured by hundreds of men. On Sunday afternoon the desperado was found in hiding and, seeing the force by which he was surrounded, yielded. The man proved to be one of the most daring train robbers in America, who had perpetrated many similar outrages. His name is Perry, and at Utica last summer he was engaged in a similar robbery, but on that occasion he succeeded lin making good his escape.  Tia
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-09-10 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

TRAGIC DEATH AT DOUGLAS.  ARREST OF A MANCHESTER MAN.  Great sensation was caused at Douglas on Saturday by the rumour that a man named Cooper was suspected of murdering his wife at the Regent Hotel. It was subsequently ascertained that George Barker Cooper, who resides at Stretford, and is a member of the firm of I. J. and G. Cooper, of Manchester, was staying at the Regent Hotel, and that the dead body of his wife was found lying on lite foor of the bedroom which the couple occupiel. It was afterwards ascertained that the couple arrived at Douglas by the boat from Fleetwood on Friday evening, and proceeded to the Regent Hotel, where they were known, they having resiOad there on previous visits to the Isle of Man. They seem to have retired to bed early on Friday night, there being at that time no reason to suspect that they were on other than friendly terms. Nor early en Saturday morning was there an appearance of disagreement having taken place. Cooper wfv‘ met ty the manager of the hotel at the hotel door about half-past 7 oklock, his manner and appearance being then as usual. Later in the morning he transacted some business at a bank in Douglas with a friend, who returned with him to the Regent Hotel. It was not until about 11 o'clock that anything occurred to attract attention. At that time the chambermaid of the hotel heard an alter. cation in the bedroom occupied by Cooper and his wife, and shortly afterwards there was a scream and a thud as of a body falling on the floor. The servant informed Mr. Weldon, the hotel manager, of what she had heard, and he immediately went to the room. Finding the door fastened on tl:e inside, he demanded admittance. On entering the roan the manager saw Mrs. Cooper lying undre,sed near the bed, and Cooper sitting on the lied close by. There was blood on the pillow and counterpane, and further examination revealed a wound in the woman's left breast. Mrs. Cooper was then dead. When the manager entered the room Cooper said that his wife had fainted, and on Mr. Weldon remarking that she was dead, he replied that she was in a dead faint. The police were sent for and Cooper was arrested.  Later in the day an inquest was opened, at wit;el evidence detailing the facts above mentioned was taken, and the inquiry was then adjourned. It is stated that Mrs. Cooper, who was about 25 years of age, was a native of Shirley, and that she had been a barmaid at the Central Restauram, in Birmingliam,and subsequently at the Central Hotel, Douglas. She was married to Mr. Cooper about 10 months ago at Shirley Church. At the resumed inquest on Tuesday, the results of the post-mortem examination were disclosed, death being attributed to a stab in the breast by a sharp instrument, which had pierced the left lung and the pulmonary artery. The wound, it was said, could not have been self-inflicted. A Miss Yeaman deposed that Cooper told her he had given the deceased a good horse-whipping the night before they arrived at the hotel. The im!uiry was again adjourned.  MR.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-11-19 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE PAYMENT OF WROTH MONEY. The custom of paying wroth money to the Duke of Buccleuch as Lord of the Hundred of Knightlow was observed at Knightlow Cross, Warwickshire, on Friday. The payment is made by 28 parishes comprised in the Old Hundred of Knightlow, and varies in amount from a penny to 2s. 30. Tlu representatives of the various parishes assembled round the remains of the old monastic cross which formerly stood on the brow of the hill, and at sunrise the agent of the Duke of Buccleuch read to them the charter of wroth silver. The representatives of the various parishes then dropped the coins into a hollow which time has worn in the head of the stone. The agent of the Duke having collected the money the party adjourned to a neighbouring hostelry, where the representatives were entertained to a substantial breaktast, the health of the Duke of Buccleuch being toasted according to custom in glasses of ruin and milk. The payment of wroth money is one of the most curious among the many ancient customs which are still faithfully observed in rural Warwickshire, and even its origin is lost in the dim mists of the far distant past. Warwickshire historians are divided as to the origin of the custom between ward money paid by belants in the Middle Ages in lieu of castle guard or military service, and wroth money tribute laid upon districts as compensation for the murder of some notable person. It may be, however, that there may attach to the custom some more or still less romantic explanation of its origin. The penalty which may be enforced for non-payment at the time and place appointed is a fine of 20s. for every penny, or the forfeiture of a white bull with red nose and ears. With the litigious spirit which characterises the average Englishman, it is not surprising to know that the dues have been disputed; but the Law Courts have held the payment of wroth money to be a just and legal due. On one occasion during the present century the due has been refused, and the lord of the manor claimed the forfeiture of a white bull with red nose and ears. An animal was tendered in payment of the penalty, but, as it had not the prescribed points, it was refused, and no futher claim was made upon the i defaulter. The intrinsic value of wroth silver s not of much account, as the dues only amount in the aggregate to about 9s.,!but payment is no doubt valued at a much higher figure by the Duke of Buccleuch for its romantic and historic associations.  At a meeting or a cercain local vestry lately it was debated whether or no a chandelier should be purchaaed for the town hall. "Well, gents," at length put in one of the economy members, "it's all very well for you to talk o' wasting the ratepayers' money on a chandelier, but what I want to know is, when you've got it, who's a-going to Play gs it 2"