npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The North-Eastern Weekly Gazette. — 1888-01-14 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

ALLEGED SHOCKING CHILD MURDER.  A well-dressed, ladylike-looking girl, described t 1.9 a shop assistant, and who said her name was Maxwell Rea, was charged at Marleybone Police I Court last Saturday with causing the death of her ' newly-barit male child on the 29th of November, I at 20, Moutpelier-road, Kentish•town.—Elizabeth Fitch, a servant, who was employed at 22, Mont- ' pelier-road, said thaton the 30th November, in the I morning, she was in the back , garden, when her mistress called her attention to something lying en I the ground. On lookin at it she found that it was ' the head of a child, lying on some ashes, the remains of Guy Fawkes' Day bonfire. She at once fetched a policemati.—ln answer to the magistrate the witness said that there was nothing round the head. It was not wrapped up in anything.—Police-constable William Denniugton, 149 Y, stated that on Wednesday, the 30th of November, he was called by the previous , witness to 22, Montpelier-road, and in the back garden he found the head of a child in about the centre. On making a further examination he found a leg lying near the wall parting the premises from No. 23, and another leg on the gravel path. At the top of the garden he picked up two arms. In the garden of an empty house which adjoined the premises he found the trunk of a child's body.—Mrs Sarah , Osborne, living at 20, Montpelier-road, s widow, I i stated that she had known the prisoner for I four years, and she used occasionally to call on her. She lived in the Holloway-road. Sometimes tho prisoner stopped at her house for the night. On Tuesday, November 29, she came to the house, and, complaining of a bilious attack, witness allowed her to rest all night on a sofa. At ten o'clock the next morning witness entered the room and found the prisoner lying insensible on the floor. She continued unconscious for two or three days, and was at the end of a fortnight removed to the Infirmary.—Mr Holland Wright, surgeon, of 2, Ospringe-road, Kentish Town, deposed that he was called to 20, Montpelier-road. The prisoner was unconscious, and subsequently hal a series of fits of an epileptic form. From an examination he connected her with the discovery of the remains in the garden. The body was dismembered into, he believed, eight parts. It had been hacked to pieces. The knife produced (an ordinary table knife) had been handed to him to see if there were blood marks on it, and he had found there were. Crossexamined, the witness said that the prisoner's , , mind was a perfect blank as to what had taken place. She was suffering from puerperal insanity. She would commence on other subjects, ! but appeared to have forgotten everything in reference to the birth of the child. ( A woman suffering from this did not know what i she was doing.—At this point Mr Hannay ordered a remand, and gave directions that the prisoner ) ebould be taken to the House of Detention in a ) cab.
The North-Eastern Weekly Gazette. — 1890-01-04 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE NORTH-EASTERN WEEKLY GAZETTE. rot out fluor  fear,'  trusted one by whose aid, are a few sunshave risen and asi, I shall be helped, DOI to the main Newgate you would have thrust me into, but to the marriage altar with a bride worth forty thousand. I tell you this will make your reflection pleasant when you are lying in the milt waiting for death." "Yes, that lathe sort of sting I have got in me," said Jerry. "Yours is poisonous, old lass; but we are going to make it harmless, and the sooner we do so the bettor." ' He sprang upon her as he spoke, and with such sadden and swift motion that, ere she had a moment to resist, he had passed a broad bald over her head, and strapped her arms firmly to her side. This made her helpless, even if she thought of resistance; but she knew how useless it was to contend against the power of two strong men; and she 11110 knew that no help could reach her from without. She was weak also from want and fatigue, and never once attempted to struggle. "Base, base, ingrate !" she hissed in Kenneth's face through her clenched teeth. " Your time will come ere long. As you now triumph over me, so another will triumph over you, even—" A large shawl lay near, and while she was speaking, Jerry snatched it up and enveloped her head and face in its folds, catching her up in his arms at the same moment, and signing to Kenneth to lead the way with the candle. The latter clutched at the light and rushed out, Jerry following close behind him with Rachel, who straggled in his grasp. He had little difficulty, however, in bearing her along. Bound and muffled as she was, she tiould make little opposition, and what little she did instinctively make was no hindrance to Jerry's progress. They reached the dungeon, and, without removing the muffler from her face or the belt from her arms, they forced her down the steps of the naarow stair, and quitting hold of her gave her a push forward, when she sank 1 out of sight, and they heard her fall heavily on the , floor of the vault. lOne shuddering cry was all she gave, which was, of course, unheeded by her murderers, whose eager efforts were now directed to the replacing of the slab on the mouth of the vault. A minute, or less, of quick working brought the stone into position, and with a hollow sound, which reverberated through the cavern beneath, it sank into its socket, and Rachel M`Lure was safely immured in her living  grave. Their work being thus successfully done, Kenneth and Jerry left the Castle before the morning light, and when the sun of a new day rose in unclouded brightness from the sea no sign was presented of the tragedy which had been enacted during the night. (To be continued.)
The North-Eastern Weekly Gazette. — 1890-08-09 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

ELECTRICITY,  A PAINFUL SPECTACLE.  THE NEW PROCESS A FAILURE.  The new idea ot doing Amerman murderers to death by electricity was tried on Wednesday in the Auburn Prison. The criminal was a man named Hammier, who was sentenced to death fifteen months ago, and has escaped this length of time owin& to the exceptional facilities of crimidal appeal left by the American law. His victim, it will be remembered, was Lillie Zeiger, a married woman, with whom Hammier, himself a husband, had eloped. The guilty couple cohabited at Buffalo, in New York State, and there it was that, on. the 29th of March, 1889, he murdered his paramour when he was labouring under the combined effects of drink and jealousy. The exact  Tiloi OE TB2 EXECUTION  was in accordance with the State law kept a secret, yet a perfect army of reporters besieged the town for some days before. Kammler, although he knew that his end was drawing near, MIA not notified the exact hour at which he was to die. By half-past six o'clock on Wednesdaymornine the electric chair and the foot-rest had been placed in position for the reception of the criminal. There were present in the chamber where the execution was carried out twenty six persons, includine several physicians, scientists, and officials. Kernmler was then led to the apparatus, said he ' seated himself, and allowed his legs to be placed in a horizontal position without any resistance. He talked pleasantly, and even waisted in the adjustment of the straps by which he was secured to the chair and foot-rest. The attendants cut a hole in his trousers in order to allow the electrode to press the bare flesh at the base of the spine. After the rubber cap and the sponge had been fastened to the head, Kemmler said, "Press that down further." This was done, after which the leather harness was adjusted, and everything now seemed to be ready. Mr Durston, the head warder of the prisoner, asked in a subdued voice, "Do the doctors say it's all right ?" Dr. Fell wetted with a syringe the sponges attached to the two electrodes, one at the top of the head and the other at the base of the spine.  "ALL RIGHT"  from the lips of Dr. Spitzka sounded as death-Jinell to the unhappy wretch. " Ready ?" asked Warder Durston, in a tremulous voice. Saying " Good-bye" to the prisoner, he simultaneously signalled to the next room, in which was waiting someone whose identity is at present 118 mysterious as that of the Man with the Iron Mask. The unknown one turned on the electric current, and the faces of all those present were turned towards the prisoner. The immediate effect of the shock was a sudden convulsion of the man's frame, all the muscles twitching from head to foot. The face was expressive of pain, but no cry escaped the man's lips, which had been left free to move, nor was there any other sound or sign suggesting consciousness. The body soon became rigid. After the current had been in force for seventeen seconds it wee stopped, everyone supposI • mg Kemmler to be dead. The bystanders were, howeNer, soon surprised to
The North-Eastern Weekly Gazette. — 1890-03-01 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

MURDER OF 76 CHILDREN. Fuller details are published about the dreadful Child murders committed at Warsaw by the mid: wife Skublinski, and some other women, who have already been arrested. Skuhlinski resided in an attic, and the other inmates of the house, who all belong to the working claaaes, kneiv that she secretly received young illegitimate children to nurse," as she said. In reality she, with several other women, carried on a regular trade in murdering infants. The attention of the police had already been drawn to this woman, and an unexpected examination of the house revealed several cradles with two or three babies in each. As she feared that her appearance in court would bring her disgraceful trade to light, she resolved to destroy all traces of the crimes. During the night of the 17th she set fire to her lodging, after having first murdered the children committed to her charge. Then this inhuman woman went and stood in the yard of the house among the excited crowd and quietly waited to see what would happen. As the house was only built of wood, she evidently hoped it would be completely destroyed. But one of the inmates of the house suddenly remembered the woman in the garret and her charges, and called out to the firemen to save the children. Then Skublinaki was for the first time seen standing in the yard, and when she was asked if the children were already saved, she answered that they were Ino longer with her. In the meanwhile the firemen had so far succeeded in subduing the fire ' that one of them penetrated into Skublinaki's lodging, and, not knowing what she had said, immediately began to search for the children. Ile soon found one lit'le corpse, and then two more. They were taken down to the yard, and a doctor who happened to be present declared that the children were not choked by smoke, but that a crime had been perpetrated. Then the police came forward and four more corpses were discovered, on one of which were distinct traces of the skull having been battered in. Consequently nublinski and the other women were arrested. All the  little corpses were taken to the hospital, and it was proved that they had died a violent death. Their ages could not be decided on, although none of them appeared to be older than six weeks. Coffins for ten to fifteen children were made by a carpenter. Skublinski is over 30 years of age; she is a handsome woman, but has a hard, cold expression in her eyes. In her youth she was in service, and afterwards became a midwife, but mostly attended the poorer classes. Seventy-six cases of infanticide have been traced to Skublinski. Her son carried out the corpses in a basket. She and her sister have given cynical replies to the questions of the Procurator. She used to eat, drink, and sleep in the recall in which the corpses of the murdered innocents were rotting away in a stove.
Northern Weekly Gazette. — 1905-09-02 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

ANNIE 0' TIBBITS.  it was getting late. Somewhere a clock struck midnight, and all Elmehester seemed to be in bed. The lights had disappeared from the ;elute houoes round about• and only Dr. Clement's lamp burnt brightly, throwin.g a streak of red across the wet, empty, and windswept street. It was an ugly night, and Dr. Clement put down his paper to listen. A fieree sleet beat and hissed against the window-pane, and the wind drove blusteringly round the house. It was an ugly night, and it was going to he worse, and Dr. Clement hoped fervently that no one would call him out again. He had had a hard day, and his room was oosy and he as warm.  • He picked up his paper again. It was full of stories of an absconding solicitor and of rumou*s of his whereabouts. He had disappeared and ruined hundreds of his clients. One of them was in Elmchester. and Dr. Clement frowned is he thought of him, worried and broken and  "They ought to shoot him when they catch him," he muttered. "He is worse than a murderer."  To-night the papers state confidently that he was in Spain. and that the police were following hard on his tra.ek. Yesterday he lind been in Manchester, the day before in New York. Tomorrow he would be in a new neighbourhood altogether no doubt, and meanwhile he vats probably some-where close at hand--perhaps even in Elmchester itself.  Dr Clement threw aside his paper, and rose to his feet. After all, very likely the !)clice would never find him and even if they did it would not do much towards healing the hearts and lives that he had broken and ruined. Nothing would do that; and the old man in Elmcheater who had believed he had sufficient money to last him and his wife the rest of their lives would be penniless all the same. Dr. Clement crossed the room with a sigh, and then stood still. A faint tinkle had sounded in the hall outside, a tinkle like the bell of his front door. Ile listened. Theo sleet whipped the window-panos, and the wind bluotered on. There was no other sound, and for a moment be hesitated before he passed out to open the door.  Who could be calling him out on a night like that? He had no one so seriously ill as to need, him in such haste, and if it was Leidy Lyn. wood again he decided that he would refuse to go. Her "nerves " were too irritating for anything. He flung open the door impatiently, convinced that he should see her tall footman on the step and hear the well-known formula, "Lady Lynwood's oomplimenits, and she is very much worse." But when be looked out only the darkness of the night lay before him. Only his own wet steps and the muddy rood. it' stared and then retreated backwards hurriedly as the cold wind tore past, but as he did so someone started from out of the shadow— someone thin and white, with the face of a ghost, and wkle blue eyes. He stared down at her. She seemed breathless, and as the light fell full on her he saw that ber lips were quivering. "C°rne in," he said quickly. "and tek me what I can do for you."
Northern Weekly Gazette. — 1905-06-24 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

GHOST.  Like mcst other districts in the north, the classic district around Barnard Castle is not without its stories of ghosts. One of these tales, perhaps the most mysterious of any in the series, relates to what is generally known as the Greta ghost. Various accounts are given as to the origin of the supposed ghostly inhabitant of the neighbourhood, and 't is also by no means improbable that in the course of time two distinct legende have become merged into one. Even then there are two distinct versions. That the tales are founded on fact, however, there is good reason to believe; as the murders which gave rise to them are known to have taken place at or near Mortham Tower, the ancient stronghold of the Rokebys. One version make the spectre to he that of an heiress of the house of Rokeby, who was murdered in the woods bordering the River Greta, by a collateral who hoped by her removal to inherit the estates. She was left for dead by her as ilant, but was either found and carried into the Tower, or so far recovered as to make her war thither, where she told her story before expiring. The other version is to the effect that the lady was slain by robbers, and that she was the wife oi the owner of the Tower. Some such murder as this did actually occur.  In course of time the apparition of One or other of thcse unfortunate ladies became known as Mortham Bobby, said is said to have appeared dressed in a rich gown, and with a long streamer of white silk waving or trailing behind her. The ghost quickly became the terror of the countryside, and continued so until, as the legend says, a priest overtook to allay the bogey far ever. Accordingly, he allured the spectre to beneath the bridge which spanned the Greta near the Tower, and persuaded the shady form to remain there, and to make herself invisible. It says much for the very simple faith the folks in the neighbourhood had in their pastor, when note of them claimed to have seen the ghost again until this bridge was washed away in the great floods of 1771. Her resting place having then become untenable, in fact, noai-existent, she appears to have once more assumed her "maldenng habits, and, an a matter of course, was seen by a pod many people, most of whom probably were blessed with a lively imagination.  The belief, however, was not eonfined to the uneducated and credulous peasant 7, but was shared in by some at least of the gentry in the district, and the blood of the victim, real or otherwise, was certainly shown at Mortham Tower up to the end of the eighteenth century. Another tragedy from which an earlier ghost story sprung, was the murder of a. maid, by marauding Scots who destroyed Rokeby Castle. The circumstances of the murder are said to have been attended by great cruelty, and the ghost of the unfortunate maiden for long hau_nted the scene of the crime. As before stated the two stories have become merged into one, and probably few who tell it to-day are aware that In its older form the tade was told by their laoeutors five askl a half centuries .go.—R. Sin itla, 42, Brougham-street, Sunderland.
Northern Weekly Gazette. — 1905-07-01 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

SUMMARY.  The story opens with an interview between Mrs Adelaide Conyers and Esmond Wilmot at the former's fiat in Westbury Mansions. Mrs Conyers' real name is Lady Devereux; but shortly after her ruarria.r.:e to Lord Cecil Devereux he left her, and she has since adopted measures which have led him to belive that she is dead. Esmond Wilmot is the nephew and heir of Sir George Wilmot, an old and very wealthy baronet, whooe title he would also inherit. Lord Cecil Devereux occupies. the same relationship towards Sir George Wilmot namely, that of .nephew. At the. time the gtory ope.na Lady Devezeux, notwitlistandiag the fact of her husband being still alive, has proMiced to marry Prinre Garstain, .e.n intensely . wealthy Ilussian nobleman, who is passionately infatuated Nvitil her. Esthend Wilmot.teils ties Coeyers. that Sir George, his uncle, has heard of her intrigue with Priuee Garstein, and threaten:3 to denennee her to him. rl'he two then arrange to meet at 'Wilmot Ledge to inurder the °id beronet, so that Wilmot may come into hie ir heritance. Two new characters are new ;71-trodesed in the penens of Mary \Viluot, Eseared Wienot's wife, and Jeeet Decd, her old 'servant. Alary Wilmor married Es:nond scretly at Rome.. Pe broel:it he; to En;lond and shut her ep in a seeill howe, where he vieited her occasionally. On the ceenieg of h: appointment at his unsla's house he (ens' on his neglected wife to tell her that the rearriaose was a sham, and refuses her requast to repair the wrong done to her. A young Rad actress now come on the se-ine. 'I his is Sybil Montague, a young girl, who, left eennikes and alone, has adopted the stage for a living. She is tour:eig with a previncial \comeany when &1,3 saves the life of Lord Cecil Vevereux, who is thrown from his horse at her feet. Devereux falls in love with her, and meeting her again ata 13: ighten, propesee ad is exeepted. Wilin-ot, however, has also made the acquaintance of the girl ' and hopes to win her, when he finds himeelf superseded by Devereux. lie, therefore, revenges histee self by informine. Lord Cecil that his wife still ' lives, which causes Devereux to at once break off the connection between himself and Miss Montague, without, however, awigning any reason. Wilmot and Mrs Conyers acoomplish the shameful murder of the defenoeless old man, having for eye-witaiees of the deed, Janet, Mary Wilmot's Varva.nt, who had followed Wilmot when he left her mistress in the hope of softening his hard heart. She decides to say nothing for the present. Wilmot asks Mrs Conyers to go down to Ravensmere, one of his houses, and take Sybil Montague as her companion. Re proposes to the girl, but is rejected. From a discharged clerk, who had been in the service of his unole's solicitors, Wilmot learns that a later will, appointing Devereux as his heir, has been left by Sir George. Janet Deeds pays a visit to London and warns Wilmot, who promises to consider the question of a marriage with her mistress.
Northern Weekly Gazette. — 1905-12-23 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

AKUI —.1,74,..1.3.1* CHAPTER XXI. The Rector is Troubled.  The. Rev. Thomas Campbell, Rector of Baynh,am, was a man of simple pioty, and used to doll with simple issues. A ce/untry parson, p rred of sufficient private means, h..is life, had been uneventful. The simple annals of the poor; :lt le-st, that section of the poor with whom he was brought into parochial contact, 'presented, si far as his experience went, but few oatst,lnding features. What had happened to Alan Thurston in his own garden? that was a. problem which probed its usually placid nature to its deepest depths. For the first time he gained some personal insight into the meaning of the psalmist's words, "Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, 0 Lord." All night long he cried unto the Lord. Not out load; it m.ade his trouble harder to bear that be had to keep it to himself. He ars a man who had no secrets; he never had had. The occurrences of each day he was always willing to discuss with anyone, with everyone; esweially was he willing to discuss them with his wife. His wife and he never had kept any thing from each other, never, from the day on which they had first met., unto this hour.  When Sir Philip Ford had gone, Mr Campion would have given much to have been able to go straightway to his wife, and retail to her, at full length, all the incidents of that eventful evening. It would have been something to have been al:01.e to do th it. But Sir Philip had drawn from him a promise that he would not speak to anyone on that matter; at any rate till he came again in the morning. So he had to keep locked in his own heart the dreadful fear that the girl whom he had oome to regard almost as if she was his own daughter had been nearly, if no quite guilty of the crime of homicide. All sorts of doubts disturbed him. Could it be passible that it Inas she who had removed the body? who had endeavoured to conceal her crime? Fully conscious as he was that there were physical reasons to speak of no other reasons—which made this seem impossible, yet he was haunted by a doubt. The thing was made worse by the feeling that Ford not only shared his suspicions, but was prepared at any risk, and at all oasts, to shield her, whether she was innocent or gtulty. , There, for the rector, was the very crux of his , trouble. His ideas of duty, like all his ideas, were simple on. Nothing, hitherto, had transpired to tempt him to look at what he felt to be his duty with anythinoy but a single eye. Either certain line of conduct was, or was not, his duty • and thiere was an end. Suddenly he found 'himself adrift among what seemed to him to be a maze of hideous complications. He had been the witness, or practically the witness, of a frightful crime. He had found the weapon with which the crime had been wrought; the criminal was under his own roof at that, very moinsait.