npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1857-03-20 (London, England)

MARYLEBONE.—W. Webb, alias P. Levy, the niqn who had undergone two previous examinations on the charge of having attempted to murder Mr. Alfred Buckler in a carriage on the North London Railway, was again placed at the bar. The court was much crowded. Mr. Superintendent Lorton, of the S division, in whose district the murderous attempt was made, was present throughout the proceedings to watch the (Ilse.  Mr. Phillips, the chief clerk, read over the evidence of Mr. Buckler as given by him on the 11th instal t.  Sergeant Webb, 16 S, now brought forward gozne  articles belonging to the prosecutor, ana which he had on when stabbed.  Mr. Long (to Prosecutor)—You have something tl add to the evidence which you have already given, I believe. Pr secutor (after examining the things produced by the serjeant)—This scarf, which went four times round my neck, was cut through, and there are three cuts through my coat co'lar. There is another cut under the left arm, and also one through the sleeve, which caused a deep wound. The coat and scarf were completely covered with blood, and the folds of the scarf had been so saturated as to ba quite matted together. They were shown to the magistrate. Mr. Long (to Serjeant Wehb)—You have afresh witness, have you not ? Webb—Yes, sir.:  • Mr. Long—Let him atm./ up. Mr. David Myeri was then sworn. Mr. Long—What are you ? WitneFs—A butcher. , Mr. Long—Where do you reside ? Witness—ln Middlesex-street, Whitechapel. Mr. Long—Do you know anything of the prisoner ?  Witness—Yes sir; he has been in my service. He was with me twelve or fifteen mouths, and left pie on the 27th of August last. I thought he hacl gone to Australia. _ _  _ Mr. Long—What name did be go by while with you? _  Witness—Philip Levy—l never knew him by any other name. Mr. Long—While in your employ what was his conduct ?  Witness—Very gtiod. lam sorry, and very much surprised also, at seeing him in the situation in which he now is.  Mr. Long—Does any one here know what be has been doing since he left his situation at Mr. Myers's ? Sergeant Webb—From inquiries which I have made, your worship, I believe he has been occasilnally working as a labourer at the docks. Mr. Long—Have you any more evidence to addnce in the case ?  Witness—No sir. I thought I should hive bun able to produce the party from whom the knife was bought, and to have had the prisoner identified as being the purchaser.  Long—lf you can get np such evidence you can bring it forward at the trial. The chief clerk having read over the whole of the depositions, the prisoner, after being cautioned in the usual manner, replied that he had nothing to say,  Mr. Long told him that it was his duty to smd him for trial upon the charge of stabbing with intent to murder. It was not for him to express an opinion as to his guilt or innocence ; the verdict in respect thereto must be pronounced elscwheie. The prisoner was then locked up.
The Sun. — 1857-04-28 (London, England)

REVOLT OF CHINESE COOLIES, AND GREAT SLAUGHTER. The Chinese coolie trade bids fair to rival if not surpass in horrors the African slave trade, which it has cost England such expenditure, both of money and the lives of her most gallant sons, to put down. Last month we heard from China of the officers and crew of a French vessel, which left with coolies'for the .Havannah, having been cut off by the co lies, all the officers and some of the crew murdered, and the vessel destroyed. Then last week the Henrietta Maria, also bound for Havennab, arrived here, having been picked up at sea, without her officers, and the few remaining men of the craw giving rather' contradictory accounts of what had become of the officers and the great3r number of the coolies with which the vessel oriviDaily left Macao. This week has brought accent; is of a fresh disaster, surpassing in the horrible mature of its incidents anything that has yet gone before it. A boat reached Singapore on Monday last containing the chief mate and six passengers of the Peruvian ship Carmen, who communicated the following chocking details :—The Carmen sailedfrom Swatow on the Ist of March for Callao with 200 Chinese coolies and seven passengers. On the Bth, when off the Great Natunas, the interpreter gave information that the coolies intended to take the ship, on which measures were adopted to secure them. Next day everything was apparently quiet until the alarm of fire was given, some of the coolies having thrown burning straw into the bold, apparently with the intention of taking the crew off th tir guard while trying to put out the fire. This did not succeed, however, as the crew armed themselves and drove the coolies down below, putting on the batches. The attempts made to extinguish the fire proved fruitless, and , two boats were lowered, in which the officers and crew and seven passeng ra interpreter embarked, and pulled off from the ship. There being no sails in the boats, the captain in one of them, with 12 or 13 of the crew, approached the ship for the purpose of trying to procure them ; but at the moment the boat neared her the ship went down, and it is supposed the boat must have been carried 'down with her by the suc'ion, as nothing more was seen of it The whole of the co dies perished with the vessel. The remaining boat made the best of its way to Singapore, the persons in it suffering severely from their exposure and want of water and provisions, their being nothing in the boat but two baskws of sweet potatoes. In addition to their sufferings from these causes, they wore attacked off Polo Tingi by a small Malay boat, containing three mea and a boy, who ki led one of the passengers and one of the crew, besides wounding some of the others. The Malays did not, however, succeed iti overpowering them, and they at last reached Singapore in a very miserable condition. A gun boat has ben sent out to the eastward in the hope, alrh,,ugh it is a very faint one, that the boat in which the clpt Lin was embarked may have escaped destruction, and that he' and his companions may still be alive, and so requiring aasistance.—Singapore Free Press.
The Sun. — 1857-08-31 (London, England)

MARYLEBONE.  THE MURDER IN THE HA.RPSTRAD ROAD. Car• nelius Denny was placed at the bare in accordance with the remand, charged with the murder of Gallo Benzonelli.  It will be recollected that on the night of Saturday, the 22d inst., the prisoner, Cornelius Denny, went into the shop of Joseph Baretta, coulee inner, 17, Adam'srow, Hampstead-road, in company with some other persons, and requested to be served with some ginger beer, This request was complied with, after which Denny lay down on a form and went to sleep. At about three in the morning the deceased, who was in the employ of Mr. Baretta, woke him up, when an altercation ensued, and in the struggle Denny stabbed the unfortunate man in the abdomen with a clasp knife. The wounded man was taken into the University College Hospital, where he died on Thursday last. Francis Julian Hanley, 366 S, said he attended at the hospital and took the depositions of the injured man, as follows :  "My name is Gallo Benzonelli. I reside at 17, Hampstead-road. The prisoner before me is the man that stabbed me. He came into the shop at twelve, midnight, and ordered three bottles of ginger beer, and then fell asleep. He slept till three in the morning. I awoke him, and asked him to go out. Oa my doing so he struck me in the face. I defended myself, and struck Lim in return. He then took out a knife and stabbed me. Itnrned;ately I discovered I was stabbed I returned int) the shop. I told the boy, who is called Cresar, that I was stabbed, and that I should soon die. Some one called a policeman, who placed me in a cab, and I was c.inveyed here." Witness said after taking the deposition in French, he translated it to Denny, who said, " All I have. to say is, I am guilty ; but I did not stab him in the shop, I stabbed him on the pavement." Denny asked deceased if he would shake hands with him, as he was sorry. Deceased said, " Yes, but it is no good. You have brought me here. I will shake hands with you, and forgive you, if God will."  Mr. Vincent Jackson, a surgeon, said when deceased was a knitted into the hospital there was an incised wound in the abdomen, inflicted by some sharp instrument. Six inches of the gut were protruding, which he replaced without making a further incision. hflammadon supervened, and he dted on Tuesiay from peritonitis, caused, as was proved by a post mnrtem examination, by injuries to tha peritoneum, the effect of a wound.  Sergeant Edwards, 21 S, and Francis Leverett, 68 S, gave evidence to show that on going to the shop he found deceased and Denny struggling on the pavement. Denny was removed by force, and deceased was found to be bleeding profusely. . . .  Other evidenea having been given, and the depositions having been signed, the prisoner WM fully committed fur trial for wilful murder.
The Sun. — 1857-12-29 (London, England)

WESTMINSTER.—Georte Allen, a mechanic, was bt ought up on -a warrant, charged with neglecting to pay a cab fare. Henry Flock,. a candrver,.said that on the Ist of Nov. last he agreed t):talco the defendant.and three oth-r men froth Francis-street, Tottenham-courtroad, to New street, Brompton, for 6d. each. On arriving there they all refused to pay, and' abused him. Defendaut,....the only one of the fonr whose name and addr4ss-tLe cabman could a-4certain,. was summoned earl.k in- November at this court, and fallingl2ap_pAar, a, warrant was issued against him. He was out of the way until Saturday night-, when a policemin succeeded in apprehending him. Defendant caid he was out of. work at the time he had the ride.- • •  Mr. Punter said that, under those circumstances he should have walked, and adjudged him to pay the fare, 2s.' and lls.. costs, or in default be committed fur 21 days t ) hard labour.  SOI7TLIWAtK.-11ichard Jallrich, a man of dissipated appearance, was charged with cruelly beating one of :his children, a little girl six years of age. Tee child, whole eyes were blackened and facie very much bruised, said that on Satu, day evening her father came home intoxicated, and commenced beating her first with his fists and then with a cane iu a very violent manner. She had not done anything to deserve correction, and she begged of him to save her life. _IF:4. mother called in a policeconstable, when he-left off beating her. --A neighbour said he heard cries of murder before the constable entereil tile house, when he went in and saw the prisoner ill-using his little girl. He hdd her by the neck till her face was quite black, and witness was compelled.to-strike the prisoner several blows• on the head to make him relinquish his hold, or he really believedthe child would have been murdered. Mr. Burchain iiskecl the prisoner what he had to say in;ahswer to the charge. He replied that he knew nothing at all about it as he was drunk at the time. He denied being in the habit of beating his children. Mr. Burcham told him that it was one of the most cruel cases he had ever before him, and his being drunk was an aggravation to the offence. He skfuld sentence him to six months' hard labour in the House Of-Correction. He also ordered the prisoner's wife, a decent-Lioking female, to receive a sovereign from the poor-box, as She was mainly dependiag on him for support.  Oa Saturday morning an order from the Horse Guards wai read-to the regiment of Louth Rifles at Aldershot, reque Ling General Knollys to acquaint Lieutenant-CO:a:Lel Sir J. S. Robinson, Bar,., in commaud of the.reg,fiment, that the Commander-in Chief bad li en much gratified at receiving from the General Cominandino• in Ireland an account of ti:e very order y and soldierliko embarkation of that I) regiment f r..ngland when it left Dundalk. Au:cording to tip te.rms,of the order in qUestion, " the cleanliness and sobi lay of the men, as well as their soldierlike: appearince, reflect credit on the coin-. mantling .officer,-the officers, and the regiment in general."' . Two
The Sun. — 1857-10-14 (London, England)

MURDER AND MIJTILA PI N.  . During the wrkile of yesterday 'the yard of ' Bow-street I"eliCe-court esa3 crowded -numl hers of persons anxious to inspect the clothes of the murdered man, the di,covery of whose remains has creattel so deep a sensation throughout the metropolis, .it is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that nut oue of the many hundreds who grafifled their morbid. curiosity in this respect wi:s seeking for either friend or relative.. -NeVertheless, the authorities gave free ingress to all who chose to examine the' dress ; for, as nose know the quarter in which the ,clue to this mystery may be found, the widest publicity is 7 sought -by the -Felice, who would wish, .if passible, thakall London should see the clothes. We would "however, beg with the utmost deference to suggest that the police are not exactly pursuing that course which is most likely to lead to the diee,s being identified. We have already stated that all the articles have been immersed .in brine, and are therefore shrunken ; they have been roughly ripped from the corpse, and are therefore much torn ; and, in addition to this, they are.soiled with earth and. other marks, and deeply stained with blood, so that even those the most familiar with their former aspect, could now only. recognise them after close inspection. " It was of 'coulee necessary that. they should have been produced before the jury in the state in Which they were found ; it is now only necessary that they should be ident fieoi, and to that end they ought as speedily as possible to be restored, to the appearance which they must have presented when worn by the dk ceased before his murder. For this • purpose they should be sewn: together again, the most disfiguring of the earthstain4 removed, and the whole suit-fieted upon a lay figure like those which stand iu the shop windows of so many tailors. .If this is d.onethe.public iniAt be admitted to walk past them in a stream all day, and then they might be recogn'sed. Up to the present they have not been identified, and as long as they remain a mete dirty pile of rags, are never likely to be. The most absurd rumours are constantly afloat as to the bead and ;other missing portions of the body having been found, the woman having traced, by means of the cab she employed, &c. Unfortunately, for these reports there is no foundation, and 'up to last night themystery Which envelopes the. whole atrocity remained ai (lark as at the first dis,covery of the fragments of the body. At present the chances of any trace being obtained are very.' slight, though the pilice are still indefatigable in :heir endeavours.  At a late hour last night, 'the Government issued pltcards offering a reward of 2001. for the discovery of the supposed murder, and 1001. for the discovery of the person who placed the carpet-bag in the position where it was found; with a free pardon to any accompdce not being the actual murderer.
The Sun. — 1857-10-27 (London, England)

IRELAND.  DUBLIN, MONDAY.  THE LATE MURDER IN TIPPERARY. The Nenagh Guardian supplies the following particulars of the shocking murder of Mr. J. E'lis, a brief account of which appeared in The Sun of Monday :  " Tem- plemore, Oct. 23.-4 have just time to state that Mr. J. Ellis, steward to Mr. J. Trant, Doves, was brutally murdered last night on his way home from this town. He arrived here by the 4 o'clock train from Dublin and left shortly on his own car, which had been in waiting at the station for his residence. When he arrived at Kilrush they found some bushes placed across the road, which the servant got down to take out of the way. He had scarcely stooped to remove the obstruction when his master was fired at from behind the ditch, and he received the contents of the piece, which was heavily loaded wit slugs, through the body. He lived only an hour after. I have not heard if any person is yet arrested for the offence, but the police are on the alert, and I hope their efforts to secure the assassin will prove effectual. Mr. Ellis was a respectable and unoffending man. He was a native of Scotland, but had been for a number of years in the employment of Mr. Trant, by whom he was respected for his integrity and upright discharge of his duties, and he is said to have be-n well likei by those who ha i iintnefilate dealing with him ; but what mattered that in the e,flMttiou of Tipperary murderers ? Mr. Ellis purchased 1 day property it. the Encumbered Estates Court, and on the place coming into his hands he was compelled to evict some tenants. This is the only cause that can be assigned for the bloody and foul deed which has left a widow and, as I understand, nine helpless orphans to lament the untimely end, and mourn the irreparable loss of a loving husband and a good father."  -Another account says :—" As Mr. Ellis, steward to Mr. John Trant, Dovea, was proo.ading to his residence at Kill.ihara, from this town on Thursday night, after returning from Dublin by the 11 p.m. train, and while he was proceeding down a narrow road leading to his dwelling, he was fired at from behind a hedge on the right hand side of the road, and killed on the spo.,ueveral slugs having entered the untortuna e man's body, causing instantaneous death. The midnight assassins laid their hel ish plan well. Bushes were previously laid across the road so as to intercept Mr. Ellis's passage, and it was while his servant had alighted to remove the obstruction the bloody deed was o :m-utated. . Nothing has been seen or heard of the perpetrators since. The only motive that can be assigned for this heinous crime is that deceased had served an ejectment process against a tenant of his. Mr. Ellis had a sum of 901. in his pocket, but revenge not plunder seems to have been the object, for the money was not touched."
The Sun. — 1857-08-17 (London, England)

OLD COURT. The August session of the Central Criminal Court commenced this morninff, befora the Lord Mayor, Al. derman Sir C. Marshall, Alderman Sir R. W. Carden, M.P., Mr. Sheriff Keates, Mr. Mr. Under Sheriff Anderton, and Mr. Under Sheriff Crosley. There ar 106 prisoners to be tried, which is under the usual ave. rage, considering there has been an interval of nearly six weeks since the last sessions. The Common Sergeant, in charging the grand jury, congratulated them on the comparatively small number of prisoners to be tried, and the light character of the offences. With the exception of one charge of murder by a man named Payne, in St. Martin's-lane Work. house, and a charge of manslaughter against the engine. driver, stoker, and signalman on the North Kent Rail. way, the charges that would be brought before them for investigation would be of the ordinary description. During the present session a bill had been intro. deiced in the House of Commons, but withdrawn, for tha abolition of grand juries. Undoubtedly there Iver 3 some strong arguments for their abolition, but at the same time it could not be wondered at that a great des 1 of constitutional jealousy should be expressed at the abolition of an ancient institution that bad been and was of so much advantage to the liberty of the subject, cope. cially against the improper use of the prerogatives of the Crown. There were no doubt many cases in whizli their inquiry, following that taken with great care by magistrates, might be dispensed with, but in others it was essentially necessary they should be called on to pro• nounce an opinion. After alluding to the charge of murder, the learned gentleman said there was a charge of manslaughter against three men, servants of the London and South-Eastern Railway Company, arising out of the melancholy and fatal accident that occurred at Lewisham station at:the end of June last, by the prisoners running into a stationary train at that place. Man. slaughter was murder without malice, and might arise as much from culpable neglect or omission in doing A lawful act, as well as the perpetration of an illegal act ; and the question they would have to consider was whether the deaths of the unfortunate persons who were killed by that accident resulted from the neglect and carelessneFs of the parties charged, when in the discharge of their official duties. The learned gentleman in cor. elusion referred to the case of stabbing in the Queen's prison, to a charge of burglary against certain parties who entered at night an unoccupied house, where goods were stored, for the purpose of regaining possession o f them, from a belief that they would be defrauded of them, which he thought could not be sustained, because the law held that to constitute burglary it should be entering premises within certain hours with the intention of stealing. That he did not think applied to this case, which was undoubtedly an unlawful act, laying the parties open rather to a charge of trespass than burglary. After some further remarks on one or two other cases, he dismissed the grand jury to the discharge of their duties.
The Sun. — 1857-08-17 (London, England)

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LIVERPOOL, AUG. 14. THE CROWN COURT. rt (BefO;e Mr. Baron Watson.) --James Davies was indicted for the wilful mu-der of Robertolitiules ac Liverpool on tlia 25th of May  Mr. Blair appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. A.soinall'far the defer;ce of the pris tner. It appeared from the statement of the learned counsel for the prosecution and from the evidence adduced that the prisoner is a t tilor by trade, and resided at No. 3 Court in Bos'ock-street, Liverpool. On the night ofthe 25i hof May last the prisoner entered a pubic house in Scotand-roa I, drunk and in an excited state, and asked a man name: Robert Hodson to go down with him to his house, as there was .a man in bed with his wife, and he could show hini(aodson) some fun. _Hodson went-with him and on arriving at the prisoner's his wife was found sitting on a chair in the lower ro an. The deceased then struck and abused his wife, and asked Hodson to go upstairs with him. He followed the piisOner into a room upstairs in which there was a bed. No one was in the room, and the prisoner looked under the bed and said hie was in the house somewhere. The bedclothes were tumbled. Th-y then went into the garret and found the deceased there, lying on a bet on the floor, apparently asleep, with his clothes on. The prisoner said, "The is here," and ran and jumped on the deceased'd face. The deceased turned and fell on the florin The prisoner: then took from his pocket a pair of miss era and shoved them into the side of the deceased, woo male no resistance and did nit speak. Hodson asked the prisoner if he meant, to kill the min, and the prigoner cried out, "Stand bac:t.' -or I will serve you the same." The prisoner rh-n went down stairs, and Hodson went for Dr. Horrocks, with whom he returned immediately. The deceased was then dying and unabln to speak, and died in ten minutes. On examining him two wounds were found in the upper part of his left breast, and also some contused wounds on his face. On a post mortem examination the aorta wal found to be perforated in  two places, and the dece,oted had died from loss of blood. There 'were other two wcuuds, which penetrated the chest. The examination of the body of the decea-ed showed that he had had recent connexion with a woman. _ _  His lordship, in summing up the evidence, c►lled the attention of the jury to the law as laid down by the text writers that a man killing another caught in the art of s.dul'ety with his wife was not murder, but inans!augliter in the lowest degre,, and it was for them to sty whether the circumstances of this case warranted such finding. The jury 'found the prisoner guilty of manslaughter of the lowest degree. His Lordship sentenced the prisoner to four days' imprisonment. Hannah Smith, single woman, 44 years of age, was indicted for the murder of her infant child.  The jury acquitted the pri.oner on he ground of insanty, and she was orderei to be detained during her M*jesty's pleasure.