npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Express. — 1864-08-12 (London, England)

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12.  It is an old saying that in the midst of life we are in death, and it is equally true that in the midst of civilization we are in barbarism. If any one desires to know how little better we are than our "painted" forefathers, or indeed than the beasts that perish, let him diligently study the revelation' in the police courts—especially those of the West-end—and the records of the Assizes. One day a man of good family is brought before the magistrate to answer a charge of half-murdering the landlord of a stew in the Haymarket; another day a highly-educated and refined young gentleman is tried for assassinating the girt who jilted him ; within the last few days the man PARKEte was hung for shooting his own mother dead with a loaded gun—a quiet old gentleman has his brains knocked out in a first class railway carriage, in the very midst of London—a well-to-do labourer in a fit of jealousy cuts his wife's throat, in his own house, in the presence of his two children—and strangest of all, perhaps, Lawn; GOUGH has just been convicted of murdering a blind widow, fifty years old, because of his extreme love for her. It seems that in the month of May there was a certain MARY CURTHOYS living at Olverstone, in Gloucestershire. She had been married to a tailor, who died about a year ago. The remarkable fact is that she had been blind for five years ; but she was able to earn a living by making baskets ; and she was at least fifty years of age. The man Lewis Goron lived close by ;he was exceedingly poor—he got his livelihood by breaking stones for the parish authorities in the road. But he had formed an intimacy with MARY CI:RTHOYA, and in fact paid her a visit every evening. The poor woman lived alone, but she had a small garden in front, with a gate opening into the road. It was her habit to walk in this garden, and "feel her flowers;" and after this she would secure the gate with a padlock, and retire to rest. On Monday, the 9thof May, Mrs. Ct'RTHOYS had done as usual. On Tuesday morning she was found in ber garden dead ; a hammer and stick were by her side, and a razor and its sheath close by. The padlock and key lay just by her side. The door of the house was quite open, but nothing was disturbed within. Her face was mutilated and her throat was cut. She had obviously been murdered by some one at the gate, and it was tolerably clear that there was no attempt at burglary. The murderer was not difficult to find, for the hammer, the razor, and the sheath belonged to Cocoa, and he had not slept in his room on the night in question. He was apprehended, and at once confessed his crime. "It was not through me," he said to the policeman, "it was another man's fault ; "it was Major PEARS'S keeper's fault, Mr. "
The Express. — 1864-09-29 (London, England)

ITALY.  (nom ova owx colacaroxozaT.) TURIN, Sarr. 26.  Yesterday I witnessed the sad spectacle of the funeral of one of the victims of the 22nd, who died at the hospital of Saint John. It was a very mournful scene indeed, for a cry of revenge was beard all along the way to the cemetery, and in the very preciuts of the cemetery itself. It is customary in Italy when a person belonging to the educated classes of society dies for the family to announce the sad:'event to their relations and friends. This letter of " faire-part," as the French call it, is printed on paper, with black edges. The formula is always the same, and ends with the phrase, "that a requiem is requested for the soul of the dead." Well, Signor Gandiglio, a lawyer of Turin, highly esteemed, had the misfortune to lose his only son, a boy of 18, who was killed under the porticos of Po whilst going home. In announcing his misfortune Avvocato Giunliglio said in the letter that his son had been murdered ; and in asking for the requiem he adds, " and the malediction of Heaven over those who have been the canoe of the young man's death." You see that even the grave does not atop the desire of revenge. The ministry, which everybody thought would have been easily formed by General La Marmora, has not been yet completed. Signor Lanza has accepted, and has already taken the direction of, the Home-office ; but it seems that the other gentlemen whose names I sent you yesterday have not yet made up their minds. Some, it is said, have refused ; others have put conditions which General La Marmora could nut accept. I have reason to believe, however, that the list I sent you yesterday will prove to be pretty well correct. It is true that Baron Ricasoli's sudden arrival at Turin Lad led some people to believe that Lamarmora had begged the King to have recourse to the former Governor of Tuscany. 1 think, however, that the illustrious baron has been summoned to Turin more for the object of asking his advice than to offer him the presidency of the new cabinet. The question which everyone asks now is, whether the new cabinet will accept the Franco-Italian Convention and the secret protocol on which it stands, or whether they will open new negotiations with the court of France, and ask for certain concessions, among which, it is reported, that of allowing Italy to take possession of Velletri will be insisted upon. All conjectures, however, are premature, and nobody can yet tell what will be done by the new ministers on this subject. That the convention will be accepted by Lamarmora's cabinet in its main stipulations, I am pretty certain ; but as far as the secret articles are concerned it is altogether another question. The upholders of the convention say that, not only will it lead Italy to Rome, but that it secures the armed support of France in the imminent war against 'Austria. But this, as you see, is the cuuhur de roae of the business, which is too promising to be true. I only wish it were true, fur the good of Italy and for the peace of Europe.
The Express. — 1864-08-30 (London, England)

PARIS, MONDAY EVINIEO.  The evening papers announce that the Emperor has put off for • day his proposed visit with Prince Humbert to Clllons, whilst another paragraph informs us that the Prince Murat and family are going to embark to-morrow at Toulon on board the Cacique for a trip in the Mediterranean. No remark is passed in the papers upon this event, which would seem to bring to an abrupt termination the report so widely circulated of a new alliance between Paris and Turin.  The Pays makes some observations in a kindly strain upon the opening in London of a subscription for the sufferers at Limoges :—"Nothing could indicate better the sympathy which exists between the two peoples." A portion of the French press endeavours to-day —but without success—to unravel the mysterious engagements supposed to have been contracted between the two principal powers in Germany. Attempts are also made to clear up the policy of the secondary states. The atrocity of the crime committed at Labastide, the want of evidence against the prisoners, and the mystery which still shrouds the affair, in spite of the decision of the jury, must be my excuse for again alluding to the matter. There can be little doubt but Jacques Latour has been condemned to death on his previous character ; the only valid piece of evidence against him was the comb, and at the time it was sworn that he was in the habit of using it be had received what in England is called the county crop, and had neither hair nor beard. if he be guilty he adopted very strong language in calling on Audouy to obtain a lesser punishment by betraying his accomplices ; when condemned to death he reiterated this invitation. Audouy, when he heard his sentence, sobbed loudly, and on entering the police van was heard by the gendarme to mutter, "Et lea mitres !" This exclamation has been much commented upon. A letter just received from Foix goes so far as to say that the jury were hardly retired five minutes when a gendarme arrived with a folded note, and shortly after came another gendarme accompanied by a man in a blouse. The report was instantly spread that this man had come forward to state that Audony had acknowledged to one of his relations that he had killed two of the victims at Labastide. You will no doubt find it curious that the jury should have found iu the case of Andony a verdict very common in this country—guilty with extenuating circumstances. What the jury probably meant was that there was doubt as to his culpability, for even if the Hercules had been dragged into the crime by the more astute Latour, that would hardly form an extenuating circumstance for the murder of an entire household.  When told by the President that three days would be allowed him to appeal to the Court of Canation, Latour told the oour t to have the gibbet set up.
The Express. — 1864-09-13 (London, England)

OUR OWII CORIZSPONDZIIT4 PARIS, MONDAY EVINING. . _  Latour has been executed notwithstanding the mystet f which still shrouds at least a portion of the truth regarding the murders at Labastide. Audouy since his condemnation to hard labour for life has persisted in declaring his entire ignorance of the whole affair, and this in spite of promises of commutation. The authorities who investigated the affair and got up the case, as well as the judge who sentenced Latour, are persuaded that six or seven men were engaged in this tragic plot, so skilfully conducted that only one man suffers the last sentence of the law. You will remember that at a certain distance from Bsillard traces of blood were discovered. The authorities at hrst thought that one of the murderers must have been wounded, and that at this spot his bandages had fallen off. As neither Latour nor Audouy had scars, the blood was set down to a scheme to deceive justice, in the same way that it was imagined that the bodies of the victims had been mutilated to make it appear that vengeance and not robbery had been the object of the assassins. The police declared that some animal must have been killed and dragged along the road in order to throw them off the scent. This was searching rather far for presumptive evidence. The instruments with which the murders were committed have never been found, nor have the clothes in which Latour is said to have accomplished his part in the bloody work yet been produced. The cart and donkey which Audouy has described as driving along a certain road have vanished also. Audouy still denying all participation in the crime, has more than once expressed his astonishment that the evidence adduced against him did not send him to the guillotine. Latour, on the other hand, long insisted that there could be no serious intention of carrying out the sentence so unjustly passed on him. The former escapes, the latter has suffered death.  I When the news spread round Foix that Latour was to be executed this morning, crowds of people flocked into the town. At 7 o'clock the prisoner arrived on the place of execution. As he bad frequently declared himself a mussulman, no priest was in attendance. Latour looked round him with assurance, maintaining an attitude of pride hard to describe. He bad written some verses, which he said he should sing on his way to execution. He was as good as his word, and sang with a firm voice. Arrived at the scaffold, he examined the blade without any apparent emotion, and then lightly mounted the steps. On the platform he threw a last look at the blade of the guillotine, and then commenced the " refrain" of his verses (some three hucdred). He had got half through the quatrain • second time when a dull sound was heard, and all w►s over with Jaques Latour.  The market firm, with slight improvement.
The Express. — 1864-01-28 (London, England)

STATE. These considerations ought to make that Minister especially cautious; and even although under ordinary ci.cumstances TOWNLEY ought not to be consigned to the hands of the executioner, the conduct of Sir Geoitoz GAST in the case of WRIGHT may compel him to adopt a different course. As in all serious cases, it is, of course, by no means easy to aftertain who is really responsible for the respite of TowNter. At the trial, Mr. Baron MARTIN, the presiding Judge, delivered himself to the jury in a manner which was evidently intended to ensure a conviction, and the conviction was obtained. When he delivered his charge he seemed to entertain no doubt whatever of the guilt of the prisoner, and of his responsibility both at the time he committed the crime and at the time of the trial. So far, therefore, it would seem that the Judge was free from blame, and did his duty without fl"iching. Sir Geonor GREY declares that he entertained no doubt of the sanity of the prisoner. He did undoubtedly reprieve him, but in so doing he insists that he acted in strict conformity with the Act of Parliament which he could not disobey. The two certificates which were forwarded to him were in accordance with the provisions of the statute, and in obeying it he merely acted ministerially. All this seems clear enough, and the only conclusion would seem to be that the law must be altered, for the law only has been in fault. But, unfortunately, this is not the whole story. , Baron MARTIN had scarcely delivered his vigorous I charge to the jury who convicted TowNter before he sat down to write a letter to the Holm SICRETARY, requesting him to make inquiry as to whether the prisoner was then sane. This, as it seems to us, was either a mistake or an act of weaaness. It was a mistake if Baron MARTIN believed that the prisoner who stood before him was insane, because he had power himself to inquire into the state of the prisoner's mind. And even although the jury might have believed him to be sane at the time of the murder, the judge ought not to have pronounced sentence if he believed him insane at the time of the trial. To pronounce the solemn sentence of death, with such a conviction in the judge's mind, would have been an outrageous mockery. It was an act of weakness if the judge, having doubts as to the sanity of the prisoner before him, but thinking that no such doubts existed in the minds of the jury, withdrew this question from the legitimate tribunal, and threw the responsibility of the execution upon the Hoes fiscarrsav or his medical advisers. If the judge at the time of the trial entertained the same doubts which he entertained a few hours later, he ought to have stated them boldly to the jury, and not . reserved them for a letter to the SZCIAZIARY of
The Express. — 1864-01-07 (London, England)

GEORGE VICTOR TOWNLEY. It is scarcely pretended that he was mad at the time he committed the murder of the unfortunate girl to whom he had been engaged. Even Dr. FORBEs WiNALoW, according to his own Published letter, did not venture to form any opinion of the state of his mind at that period. And the jury, with the concurrence of the Judge, had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that if TowNLEv had been tried on the fatal evening he must have been considered perfectly sane, and must therefore have been convicted. Nor is this all. The Judge, the jury, and the prisoner's counsel must have gone even further. They must have thought that TOWNLEY was tolerably sane on the day of his trial. If such was not their opinion their course was clear. It is a maxim of English law that a prisoner must be able to understand what is going on, and must therefore have intelligence enough to put in a plea of guilty or not guilty. If he be unable to do so there is an Act of Parliament--39 and 40 C Eo. 111., c. 94—which provides that "if any " person indicted appears insane," the question of sanity may lie tried by a jury, and the insane person may be kept in custody during the royal pleasure. Now, ToWN tEI was allowed by his counsel to plead to the indictment, and neither counsel, jury, nor Judge suggested a doubt as to his competence to understand the charge wade against him. On the contrary, the very point was submitted to the jury, and they practically overruled it. For Dr. FoRIIES WINSLoW and the Chaplain of the prison both seemed to be of opinion that at the time of the trial he wns insane, and their opinion was overruled both by the jury and the presiding Judge. It is absurd to suppose that both Mr. Baron MARTIN and the prisoner's counsel were ignorant of the law on so ordinary a point, or that they would have hesitated to urge the prisoner's insanity as an objection to proceeding with the trial at all. The truth probably is that the prisoner's counsel had no confidence in any such plea. They believed that their chance of success lay in attempting to prove not that he was insane at the time of the trial, but at the time when he committed the offence. Perhaps they relied upon the chance that some authority would intervene to stop the execution of the sentence even after it was pronounced, on the ground that by that time at least TOWNLEY had gone mad. And their anticipations have proved correct. Under the provisions of an Act of Parliament two justices of the peace, aided by two local physicians, have certified that TOWNLEY is insane, and accordingly, the Home SECRETARY, in obedience, it is said, to the law, has respited the prisoner. Tow N LEY will, therefore, be confined in an asylum until he recovers his reason. Can any state of things be more unsatisfactory Y It may be that man who, in the opinion of his own counsel, of Mr. Baron MARTIN, and of twelve of his fellow-citizens, was perfectly sane on the day of his trial, has
The Express. — 1862-07-29 (London, England)

SERIOI7B CHARGE AGAINST A CLERGYMAN.—A painful and revolting charge has just been brought before the county magistrates at Slough, against the Rev. C. Reddell. chaplain of the Slough and Etoo Union Workhouse, who had been apprehended on the Sunday evening previous on a charge of having indecently assaulted Elizabeth Salter, • child of 10 yeas of age. Mr. C. S. Vouka attended on the part of the prisoner. Complainant. an intelligent little girl, deposed that she lived at Slough, knew Mr. Reddall, and on Sunday last was in the road near defendant's lodgings, when he called her to come in at the garden gate. She went to him, and he then asked her to bare some wise. Complainant went on to state as follows :—" I said, ' No, thank you, sir.' Afterwards he asked me to walk into his room, where he kept me about three-quarters of en hour." Complainant here described the conduct of the accused towards her. She continued, "My brother koocked the door, and defendant opened the parlour door. La Crook came in. I was crying when she entered. He undid the door before Mrs. Crook came in." Witness proceeded to describe the prisoner's conduct, and then said, "I left after Mrs. Crook had opened the door. I told my toothermd father what bad hspperied as soon as I went home. I have since told Mrs. Crook. He took me on his knee as soon as I entered the room, and then dad what I have stated." Mrs. Crook was then called, but the prisoner objected to her evidence, laying she did not believe in the Bible. The witness said, " The prisoner came to lodge in my house io May last. On Sunday last the little girl came to the house about 6 o'clock. Defendant appeared .to have seen her before, and sent her to ask her brother to fetch it By, who returned in half-an-boor and asked for his ter, who I had no idea had remained in the house. sister, entering the room I observed that the child had been crying. She ran out of the room into the street. I called upon the child's mother to inquire why the child cried. When I charged the prisoner with having insalted the child he seized me by the throat, so that for some time I could not speak. Aa .0" as I could I called out 'Murder! and • neigh' boor came to my assistance. The officer afterwards aline and took the prisoner away." Mr. Footes asked , ness if she did not consider, from the prieoner's general ' rector, that be was occasionally insane. W items— • Not et all It is brought as by drink and his boastful ways." Defeedant's son stated that his father had been is • lunatic) asylum sad disishargail Wearable. Delsodant, after quoting potatoes of sertptum, .cooteaded that the prooeedinP INN infemsal, bemuse his name had not been morel ' spilt in the warrant, the letter " having been subditutoi for the letter "a ;" they consequently had the wrong wan altaptber. Tbe prisoner was remanded for a week, to Inable the magistrates to consult with the Secretary of Sate fa reference to the case.  LORD B1101:70HAY 01t
The Express. — 1858-07-17 (London, England)

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.  MON 001 OWN  PARIS, FRIDAY EVENING.  The energetically worded note in the Moniteur respecting the Djeddah massacre does not distinctly state that France will send ships to the spot although the mention of the "two flags" and the announcement that France and England have taken "measures in common," are calculated to infer that a naval co-operation is intended. Tho Nord says, however, that France, having no naval station near the Red Elea, will be represented at Djeddah by British ships, while French ships act on behalf of the British flag in the Adriatic. The Prase mentions a rumour that Djeddah will be militarily °conpied by the allies until j mai ce is done upon the assassins. It adds, probably with an ironical meaning, that the murderers will doubtless take refuge in the interior of the country where it will be impossible to get at them. In that case, it obviously follows that the occupation will be permanent. The Pays, otherwise called the Journal de rllmpire, which alone yesterday circulated the news that the Turks had broken their compact by making fresh attacks upon the Montenegrins, now turns round upon itself in the following terms :  We won right in 'tempting with reserve the news which was circulated yesterday, of an attack of the Turks upon the Montenegrins. We now know that this statement, most improbable in itself, is altogether devoid of foundation. We have learned, on the contrary, that Kemal Pocha hes gone to Drocha, and that the leaders of the insurgents come to mast him and made their submission. It is also sonounor I that the Beahl-13exonka have left liarsegovine to return to Bosnia.  This is a very meagre and unsatisfactory contradiction on the part of a government journal of a piece of startling news to which it was the first to give publicity. Why does it not give the text of the despatch, which was certainly received in Paris, and state the source from which it came, and why it is unworthy of credit? As it is, the public only knows that the government journals have orders not to believe in a telegram which has been suppressed by order. The eleventh sitting of the Paris Conference is announced for to-morrow.  The Bourse has been again heavy. The Rents was drooping all day and ultimately fell sc. for cash and 10e. for account, closing at 68fr. 20c. in each case. Mobilier fell dull. The railway settlement for the middle of the month turned out to be against buyers, and all the lines experienced a further decline, although the returns Of receipts for the week are favourable. Orleans fell Mr.; Northern, 3fr. 76c. ; Lyons, 6fr. 26e. ; and the other principal lines 2G. 60c. each. Marshal Castellano is ordered to leave bis bead gutters at Lyons to inspect the garrison and fortifications of Corsica, which are within his command. The Eclaireur aviso has been placed at his disposition by the Minister of Marine for the purposes of ti's mission.