npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1875-10-15 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

ALLEGED PLOT TO POISON THE PRINCE OF WALES. EXTRAORDINARY DELUSION.  Mr. Ernest Ridsdale Ellaby,-of ii-,-Lin-sTO-wn- Place, barrister, has applied to Mr. Knox at the Marlborough street Police Court repeatedly, to ask the magistrate to allow him to make a declaration which he had reduced to writing, and which covered six or seven closely written pages, to the effect that a ralative who had married his sister had, as he believed, administered drugs to him for the purpose of intercepting a book which he proposed to dedicate to the Prince of Wales, that book being in poetry, and showing conclusively that he was of sane mini; next, that he hail discover.' that a conspiracy existed to kill the Prince of Wales by administering to him poison°se drugs, that the proofs of poisonous dings having been administered were these—the Print 3 was getting stout, stoutness being one indication of poison; that he bad been to a fancy ball in the character of Charles I.; that be had taken his children to Sanger's and the Holborn Amphitheatres, and had gone to Mentone in Passion Week. He had additional proof that a plot existed to poi,on the Prince of Wales, to d,,ruy the Throne, and to make the Prince's children unlit to reign. That proof would be found in contemporaneous leading articles of an intluencial newspaper to which bis brother-in-law was appointed medical murderer. He 'heAl made ineffectual attempts to gain an interview with the Prince of Wales, that -he might warn him against going to India, as it was intended when he got out there that he should be destroyed by an attack of artificial cholera, 'produced by certain drugs. Mr. Ellaby said front the nature of his application and stareroeut he should not be surprised if the magistrate considered he was labouring under mental delusion. Mr. Ku us said the applicant's assertion of a terrible conspiracy, the object of which was to poison the Prince of Walc s, can only be attended to on information in writing. Mr. Ellaby promised to do what was proper, as his proofs were conclusiv., and then left the court Mr. Knox reouested Warrant Officer Day to look after the applicant and see that he did no harm. On the 7th just. Mr. Vial.), stain came to the court end was taken into custody by Sergeant Day. Dr. Take, on being sent for was requested to give his opinion of the state of Mr. Ellaby's mind. After being with him privately for a few minutes, Dr. Tuke stated that the defendant beyond question laboured under mental delusion. The defendant here entered upon what appeared to be a very consistent line of argument to show that Dr. Take was in error in stating that ho•was not sane. Mr. Knox directed that the defendant should be removed to St. James's Workhouse, preparatory to being sent to an asylum. The defendant was then removed in the custody of Sergeant Day. It appears that the defendant has been a source of great annoyance to the Prince of Wales both by writing and seeking interviews.
The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1875-11-12 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

THE MINERS OF SALOP AND THEIR GRIEVANCES. To the Editor.  Sir,—Will yon allow ire, as a miner, to make a few remarks on the above subject ? In the first place, with your your permission, I will refer to the late trial in the County Court at Newport. It appeers that some men and the master they worked for could not agree as to the amount of work they had to do, so they'left work and took proceedings against their masters at the above-named Court. When the case comes on for hearing, the Judge tells the men and their advocate that they, the men, are an ingenious lot; there is always a lot of trouble with them • and he must dismiss tile case. Now sir that is a decision I believe to be unfair, and,, from this and other cases I have seen and heard of, I believe we shall never get much good at county courts nor magistrates' meetings. I will, therefore suggest that when there is another grievance of this kind, where masters take advantage of their men, that they take their ease officially to the district council, and that council give them orders to come out and do no more work til the master is shifted straight away from the pit; and then I believe that we should not want to trouble and pat about his Honour at Newport any more. The colliery proprietors would soon settle the grievances and put a stop to the oppression that is put upon the miner by the chartermaster, for the colliery proprietors know that out of twenty moo they can choose nineteen chartermasters, but out of 100 chartermasters they cannot choose five who can get minerals enough to pay for the candles they burn. It is an easy thing for a man to go from a working man to be chartermaster, but it is almost murder to put a chartermaster to work for his living and get it by the sweat of his brow. I should like to see the amount of work they would do in a fortnight. I believe that the furnaces and the pit banks would not be filled with coal and stone like they are at present, but I fancy that the poor sexton's back would ache in less than a week, for nine out of every ten would sooner die than work for their own without they thought of the awful doom that awaits them, for the good old Book says "Cursed is he who oppresses the poor," and that is a nut for them to crack some day or other. In conclusion, let me say a word to the non-union men of our district—come boldly forward, and join our ranks, and not join the ranks of those that push you into the earth! Why do you stand aloof from the ranks of the new national union? It is by union that your hours were shortened and your wages raised; and if your wages have been lowered since it ha e been your non-union men that have been the cause of it to a great extent, for the masters would never have attempted to have reduced the wages of miners so much as they have if you had stuck to your union. So let me beg of you to come and join at once, and by your doing so you will oblige yourself and
The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1875-09-17 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

TRAGIC OCCURRENCE NEAR 'STAFFORD. On Sundv night an extraordinary affair happened at the hamlet of Berkswich, about two miles from Stafford, which resulted in the .Itltli Of a man who is up to the present time unknown but who is supposed to belong to Walsall. 11; Hare, a well-to-do farmer, who resides at the plac4; named, had, after returning from Divine serri„ at Stafford, retired to rest at about a quarter ta ten, and shortly afterwards was aroused by the smashing of windows. He got up, and having dressed himself went down stairs, where he saw one of his own labourers in the kitchen, At the same time he heard a man outside calling to he let in. After some delay, during which the man outside said that two men were following him and would shoot him, Mr. Hare went outside, and the man then repeated his story. Mr. Hare and his maxi having searched round the rickyard, re. turned into the house, and the stranger was uked to go with them, it being Mr. Hare's intention to send for a police-officer. However, in about ten minutes after they had got into the kitchen the man suddenly sprang from his seat, and took np a knife which lay on the table, and with this eon, menced a furious attack on the labourer, whose name is Sollom. The latter was very seriously cut and stabbed in the course of the struggle, but eventually the knife was wrested from the hand of the infuriated assailant, and for a time he appeared to be exhausted. This was, however, only for a short time; in a few minutes he recommenced the conflict, and seemed heat on taking the lives of Mr. Here and his servants, another of whom, named Marshall, had appeared on the scene, and in spite of their united exertions, it appeared as if he would carry out his murderous intent on one or more of them. Hr. Hare, at this point, fetched his gun, and, having loaded it with small shot, said he woUld shoot if the man did not desist. This was without effect, and as he still seemed bent on doing violence, Mr. Hare at last shot over his head, but even this was useless, and ultimately, after repeated warn. ings, Mr. Hare shot him in the legs, and directly , afterwards went for a surgeon. In the meantime a police-officer had arrived, and the wounded man still struggling, was secured, but he sank very rapidly from exhaustion, and at twelve o'clock died, apparently from loss of blood, but it is of course impossible to say whether other injuries received in the course of the fight may not have contributed to his death. On hispersou was found a pawn-ticket with the name " Linner (High. street ?) Walsall. There was nothing else to lead to identification.  It would appear that the unfortunate min on Sunday morning visited the Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine, at Stafford, and there, at early service, grossly misconducted himself, having forced himself within the railing of The Sacred Heart," on the altar of which he put three shillings. Subsequently he attempted to force his way to the high altar, and had to be ejected from the church. There can be no doubt that his mind was affected to some extent.
The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1875-03-06 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

ALLEGED CARD SHARPING ON THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY.  On Monday, at the Divisional Petty Sessions, held at Wolverhampton, Messrs. S. Cartwright, G. L. Underhill. and M. Ironmonger being on the bench, Samuel Birks, an elderly man, was charged on remand, under the Vagrancy Act, with unlawfully gambling in a train on the Loudon and North Western Railway. —Mr. Barrow defended-It appears that a sailor named Mackenzie was travellling from Bristol to Edinburgh, and at Birmingham the defendant and one or two other men got into the compartment in which he was seated. The Killer, who was the worse for drink, pitched some money on the three-card trick, and lost £7. He said, had not the, defendant prevented him betting on one occasion, he should have staked .25 and won £lO. The defendant won three times. At Wolverhampton he complained to the guard, and the defendant was arrested, his companions having meanwhile got away. Nathan Brown said the defendant, on being accused, counted his money, admitting that he had won three times; but the result of the game had been that. whereas he had £29 when he left Birmingham, he had then £23.  Mr. Barrow, for tho defence, contended that his client was a fellow-victim of the sailor's. He called Mrs. Jane Barber, of 36, Berford-street, Birmingham, where she had carried on the business of a provision dealer for twenty years. She was now a widow. Had known the prisoner for about twenty-five years, and until four years since he carried on the business of a wholesale fish salesman. He was a man of independent means, and on the death of his wife he realised some property. He lodged v.iih her. and when he left home she gave him A:25 in gold. He generally carried a lot of money. He had a lot of buildings when he buried Isis wife. He was a wholesale fish merchant, dealing with Jersey and other places. After some consultation. Mr. Cartwright said the Bench were disposed to remand the defendant in custody until. Sat urday. He would remain at Stafford for a week until enquiries were made as to his antecedents and general character. Mr. Barrow said he was prepared to find bail to the extent of £5,000 if it was required—any amount of ball. It was not a murder case---(langhterl. Mrs. Barber: I will telegraph, and get any amount of bail.  The Bench consented to accept two sureties in £5O each, the bail being certified by Mr. Glossop, head of the Birmingham police.—Acting on the suggestion of Mr. Barrow. Mrs. Barber said she could go to Birmingham and obtain the req,dred bail and certifiate. Defendant was detained until the result of Mrs. Barber's efforts were known. She tendered herself as one of the sureties. and was accepted conditionally upon Mr. Glossop's certificate being satisfactory.  The Right Hon. B. Disraeli will give a series of dinner parties, during the Parliamentary session, at his official residence in Dowing-street. The Premier has issued cards for a dinner on Saturday next.
The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1875-07-30 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

APOLOGY FOR MR. PLIMSOLL,  Mr. Edward Baines, ex-M.P. for Leeds, sends to the Leeds Mercury the following letter, received from Mr. Plimsoll some time ago, as a means of showing the engrossing and exciting characteristics of the work that is being carried out by the hon. member for Derby :  "35, Victoria street, S.W., March 13, 1875. "Dear Mr. Baines.—l am in receipt of your kind letter, but I really can't—every day brings me so many, many letters about ships and seamen, that with all the help I can get, my life is almost a burden to me. " Only last night, for instance, 1 reached home from the House soon after midnight, and when I went to bed, there was a telegram came from a seaman, aay-ng, • For God's sake du your utmost immediately, they are sending us to sea with only three inches of side below the main deck.' I dreststd myself and drove to Whitehall, and rang up the porter. He gave me the private address of the Marine Secretary, four miles off. I drove there, but could not find the house. so knocked sip first one sleeping household, then another, then a third, for which I got anything but a kind reception ; then tried the nearest inn, but could not rouse them ; then return a to Whitehall and rang up the porter again, and took him with use and found the house—this brought us to near four o'clock a.m.—rang up tie secretary, and gut authority to stop the ship. "He then opened a telegram whiti hail reached Whitehall before my second visit, and exclaimed, • Why here's another.' Then he opened two others which the porter had brought with him, and they, too, were both of thou cases of gross overloading. 'So he wrote telegrams to atop all four; and having overcome his natural disgust at bring roused out of bed, he told me, in reply to tuy expressions of regret at being obliged to get him up, that a case had just occurred where the owners of a ship, loaded with maize in bulk, had discharged the captain for insisting upon shifting boards to keep the cargo from shifting, and engaged another, and forced the vessel to sea ; that the discharged captain's warning had been vindicated by the vessel turning over and drowning the crew—seven men., "These things are happening every night, and nobody cares, nobody takes it to h.art : and brave and haray men are going to almost certain death every Died, while we all lie soft and warm.  " What can Ido 'e Can you speak a word for Inc to Mr. ; you know him ; he might possibly be induced to help me. "It was piercingly cold coming home, for I had forgotten my overcoat, but we had the telegrams which would save four crews from almost certain death, and that made up for all. It was after five o'clock this morning before I gut home and to bed, well satisfied with the result. _ .  Can you help me with Mr. ? I have thought much lately how greatly a man of his powerful influence could assist in putting a stop to this whulvsule murder. "I am, my dear sir, yours very truly, "
The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1875-01-02 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

STABBING IN WOLVERHAMPTON. At the Wolverhampton Borough Police Court, on Monday (before Sir. J. Morris and J. Moreton), a puddler's labourer, named William Dirkin, working at the Chillington Iron Company, was charged with cutting and wounding Edward Marlow, who appeared in court with his head ban laged.—Complainant stated that on Saturday night, at about half-past nine, the prisoner, a man named John Kean, and himself were "having some words together" at the lodging house in Stafford-street, late the Old Crown Inn, kept by Joseph Lees (where they all lodged), when he called the prisoner an "uncultivated beast." Upon this Dirkiu struck him a violent blow on the lip with his fist. Prosecutor retaliated, and a fight ensued. They were parted, but after a short interval they again fought, and while he was down prosecutor noticed that the prisoner : clasp-knife in his hand, with which Dirkis r . •• 's stabbed him several times in the face —the vor t being one close by the left eye. The prison • , •,•! ••,1 off witness, and the knife was taken from 1 • :Cean deposed to seeing the fight, and to hob; I I boner's arms while a man named Goodiioc old of the knife.—Police-inspector Thomas stated that shortly after ten on the night in question he went to the lodging. house, but at that time the prisoner was in the custody of Police-constables Cumming and Goulden. He saw the prosecutor in the passage with his face covered with blood, and he had him conveyed to the borough police surgeon. He subsequently received the knife produced from the witness Kean. At the police station, when charged, prisoner claimed the knife.—Police-constable Cumming said that about twenty minutes past ten on Saturday night, he saw the prisoner and the complainant struggling at their lodgings. The prisoner was on the top of the complainant, and witness pulled him off. At the time the prosecutor was bleeding profusely from the face. Dirkin was arrested, and on the way to the station, he said, "I'll fight till I die before I'll be bested." The officer told him that he should not fight with his knife, when prisoner said, "It was only my little pocket knife." On Sunday, when charged with stabbing the complainant, prisoner replied, "Marlow came in; he had been drinking, and when he came in he abused me, because I would not take him some drink upstairs. He and his friend.commenced ivarrelling. I had my little jack knife in my hand, and I struck him with it." In answer to the Bench, Dirkin now said, "I had my knife in my hand, paring my nails. But I did not strike him with my knife first."—Mr. Love, surgeon, deposed to examining the complainant on Saturday night. There were eight incised wounds on the head and face, which might have been inflicted by the knife produced. The most dingerous cut was one across the left eyelid, exposing the eye. If this wound had been upwards instead of downwards it would have caused death. The prisoner was committed for trial at the ensuing borough sessions.  Hugh Daley was executed at Durham on Monday for the murder of Philip Purdy in November last.
The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1874-11-28 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

THE MURDER OF MR. NENDICK. ARREST OF ONE OF THE SUPPOSED MURDERERS.  On Tuesday a man came to the Wolverhampton Police t and Station, said a man named Rd. Hickson had made a ! smtement to him with reference to Mr. Nendick's murder. The statement the man made was somewhat in these words:—" I murdered Nendick ; I have had no peace since, and have not slept night or day since it happened. I shall giN e myself up. I took the dagger ! and used it, and left the dagger there because I broke.; it., and I jumped through the window. We took his pocket, and we thought there was about £29 in, but when we looked at it we found there was only ss. 9d.', Upon hearing this statement, Inspector Thomas im. mediately went to the neighbourhood of Brickkiln- ' strer,t, and there found the young man Hickson, whom he apprehended. Before Inspector Thomas had charged him with any offence, the accused said to him, "I know what you have g A me for; you have got me for Nendick's affair." On their way to the station he said he ' knew the other party, who was his "pal." Inspector Thomas at once oronght the man to the police station, and he was there charged with being concerned with others in the murder of Mr. Nendick. His reply was, "Who have you got to swear against me ? " He talked a lot of irrelevant matters, and said he could call his employers to prove that he had borne a good character. On the waistcoat he was wearing there were several marks resembling blood, but it is not at present certain that they are blood stains. With reference to the remark made by the accused concerning the "pocket," it may be stated that the Chief-constable and Inspector Thomas ascertained on Wednesday that the clothes of the deceased had not been cut. It is possible that by the word " pocket " the prisoner meant an ordinary calico pocket worn by grocers in front of 1 their aprons. A pocket was found in the possession of the prisoner on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning the prisoner was brought beforethe Stipendiary magistrate, I.Spooner,Esq., at the Borough Police-court, and formally charged with the offence, and an application was made on the part of the police that he might be remanded for a week, to give them time to make farther enquiries. The prisoner, in  reply to the charge, said, "I am innocent." Imp Aor Thomas, having L;iven evidence as to the arrest of the accused, Mr. Spoober asked him whether, if the application for a remand was granted, he believed he could obtain evidence in support of the charge. Inspector Thomas said he believed he could. The prisoner repeated that be was innocent, adding that at the time the murder of Mr. Nendick was said to have been committed he was at a teinia,ance meeting in another part of the town. Mr. Spooner, considering the serious nature of the charge, felt justified in remanding him. The prisoner was then remanded for a week, and was removed back to the cells.