npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1849-10-16 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MESMERISM.—A HOAX.—On Friday a number of gentlemen assembled, by appointment, at a private room in this town, for the purpose of witnessing the marvellous powers of a disciple of Mesmer, from Bolton. The soi disant discoverer—through the renowned clairvoyant —of the very identical pistol used by the murderers of O'Connor was, of course, looked for by the sceptics with anxiety, and by the disciples with a smile of triumph. A little after nine in the evening this " Great Wizard of the North" made his appearance, accompanied by two patients, one a boy, about 14, the other (an " old uu") might be 20. Breathless silence reigned around, and in walked the wizard with the boy on his back. After placing him on his legs, proceedings commenced, but the youth, who, it was stated, had not been mesmerized for six months, could not be brought up to the mark, and was therefore permitted by his indulgent tutor to luxuriate in a blessed state of apparent stupidity until he forgot himself and the state he should have been in by quietly sipping some gin and water. But the time had now arrived for the star of the evening to come on the stage, and certainly a more cool and collected specimen of humanity could not have been chosen. " Art thou a goin' to mesmerize me ?" says the " old un." " Yea, David !" mildly remarked the wizard. "Then Ton mon do it as I sits," says David. " Very well, David ; now for it." David opened his saucer eyes, and into them the wizard peeped, passed his magic hand twice over the purple visage of the patient, and lo 1 David was mesmerized ! The organs, as shown on a phrenological cast, were severally touched, and David (" give the d—l his due") danced, tried to sing, swore, and quoted Shakspere all at one and the same time, greatly to the admiration of some, and much to the disgust of others. After David had bawled himself hoarse by murdering the sublime sentiments in Hamlet, a gentleman present requested to be put into the "ecstatic delirium." To this the wizard reluctantly consented, provided the patient would accompany. himinto another room. This done, the company waited impatiently the result, and in a few minutes the wizard reappeared, and in extacies declared to the astonished assemblage that he had succeeded to perfection. The patient was asleep. " Now, what you think of it ?" shouted the disciples. The sceptics looked aghast. There indeed sat their friend with paralyzed frame and askant phiz, and, to give coup de grace to the picture, the wizard was busily poking the nasal organ of his inanimate subject with a pin, and exultingly, though solemnly, exclaiming, " Oh, prodigy of wonders ! He cannot feel it ! Now, gentlemen, are you one and all convinced ?" In the midst of a pause of triumph, wonder, doubt, and incredulity, up jumped the gentleman with the pricked nose, and insinuatingly enquired if they had been " humbugged sufficiently ?" The ruse was seen, the wizard discomfited, and he with David voted " humbug and collusion."—Blackbrit ft Standard.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1849-10-30 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE CLAPHAM MURDERS.—On Tuesday, Jas. Weston gives tried for the murder of his wife and child. The poor man was evidently insane, and appeared to be quite unconscious of what was going on ; and the jury returned a verdict accordingly.  A gentleman,- Connected with the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, is at present travelling along the coast of Scotland, for the purpose of inquiring into the titles of parties who exercise the right of salmon-fishing on the sea-shore. Much litigation is anticipated. At Farmfield, Sussex, on Tuesday week, an infant, about seven months old, was attacked in the cradle by a ferret, and severely bitten about the head, face, and neck, before the mother could compel it to relinquish its hold. The child is recovering.  On Tuesday morning, shortly after one o'clock, a terrific fire broke out in the premises belonging to Mr. Nelson, a hat-manufacturer, Holton Old Town, London. It was at first thought that a young woman had perished in the flames, but she has since turned up. _ _  The north-eastern coast is strewed with wrecks. On Sunday week, the Conqueror, of Glasgow, 600 tons, went down on the Gunfleet Sands, and all on board (twenty in number) perished. Several other large vessels were wrecked on the same spot, but the crews were saved. The rivers Don, Trent, and Derwent have been so swollen by great rains in the North Midland Hills, that they have overflowed at various places not usually subject to such mishaps. At Dartry -three pernims have been drowned in the stream and floods of the Derwent. On Thursday, at Melton Lunatic Asylum, Thomas Stones, one of the patients, suddenly rushed upon Wm. Kidby, another patient, and, after knocking him down, jumped upon his head so violently and so frequently, that the bones of the poor fellow's skull were literally smashed. The total number of brewers in the United Kingdom is 2,460 ; the number of victuallers 88,465 ; the number of persons " licensed to sell beer to be drunk on the premises." 34,606; the number of persons licensed to sell beer not to be drunk on the premises, 3,400. The old firm of Messrs. Charles Henry and George Enderby, for many years connected with the whaling trade, and lately engaged on a large scale as rope-manufacturers at Greenwich, have announced themselves as unable to meet their engagements. A three-story tenement is at present being erected in the Low Calton, Edinburgh, in which fire-brick alone is employed as the building material, instead of stone. The principal advantage in the use of fire-brick is its resistance to fire and damp, but the expense is greater than stone.  A little boy was gathering blackberries, near Millport, along with his schoolfellows, when he fell over a precipice to the depth of 108 feet, unnoticed by his comrades, for they had left him a little way. The distance from the top to the bottom of the cliff is 172 feet, but he fell on a projecting rock 62 feet from the base. He died soon after.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1849-09-18 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

RAILWAYS. ending Amount. Amnt. 3 i 582 0 0 669 Aberdeen Amiens and Boulogne ---Sept. s. d. -----.e 9 1 1590 0 0 1608 Belfast and Ballymena Birkenhead, Lan. and Cheshire. 9 ! 1046 0 0 976 Bolton, Blackburn, C. and W. Y 9 1 587 0 0 402 Bristol and Exeter Caledonian — 2 6605 0 0 5036 Chester and Holyhead — 9 i 2271 0 0 2107 Dublin and Drogheda — 6 , 854 0 0 843 ! Dublin and Kingstown Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen East Anglian — 9 ! 605 0 0 632 Edinburgh and Glasgow — 8 j 3951 0 0 4253Edinburgh and Northern — 8 2625 0 0 2401 Eastern Counties — 9 1 14088 0 0 15598 East Lancashire Eastern Union — 9 i 1553 0 0 1423 Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ayr. 8 i 3512 0 0 3163 Glasgow and Greenock Great Northern and East Line — 9 ' 2228 0 0 Great Southern and Western Great Western Kendal and Windermere — 0 0 0 .. Lancashire and Yorkshire — 9 13249 0 0 12900 Lancaster and Carlisle Leeds and Thirsk — 2 , 910 0 0 .. Liverpool, Crosby, & Southport. 9 192 0 0 .. Londonderry and Enniskillen — 8 126 0 0 133 London and North-Western —lo 46463 0 0 47905 London and Blackwell London, Brighton & South Coast 8 12594 0 0 11376 London and South-Western Archester,Sheffield, and Lincoln 8 ' 5153 0 0 3412 Midland, Bristol,Bz Birmingham 9 23389 0 0 24519 Midland Great Western(lreland) 9 . 1042 0 0 1064 Newcastle and Carlisle North British — 9 ' 3587 0 G 3058 Paris and Rouen Rouen and Havre — 8 , 3053 0 0 2605 Scottish Central — 9 , 1893 0 0 1376 Shrewsbury and Birmingham Shrewsbury and Chester Shropshire Union —9 , 343 0 0 .. South-Eastern ! South Devon — 2 1655 0 0 1739 Taff Vale — 8 I 2209 0 0 1924 Ulster Waterford and Limerick West Cornwall Whitehaven Junction — 2 . 222 0 0 199 York, Newcastle, and Berwick — 9 12926 0 0 13881 York and North Midland, &c., — 8 I 6626 0 0 9635  113tOtrfrt c tluo.  A verdict of manslaughter has been ret ned at 13 near Manchester, against a man nameci _ ddleton  killing his antagOni;t in a prize fight. A verdict of wilful murder has been returned gab 't .ne blacksmith, in Manchester, who killed a man oy stabbing him with two pieces of red-hot iron. Last week an inquest was held at Chaddesle Cor att, on the body of an old woman, named Hannal B vies, who met her death by drinking some herb tea Rh •h she herself had prepared from water hemlock, in mistake for other herbs. On Tuesday, a man named Richards, who lived inManchester, and had recently been depressed in spirits,• destroyed himself by jumping down a coal-pit. A female observed him put a plank on the rails placed round the pit, and jump down.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1850-12-03 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

STANDARW.  SHAMEFUL RIOTS AND MURDEROUS ATTACK AT BIRKENHEAD.  In compliance with the requisition mentioned in our last, a meeting was held in the Town-hall, Birkenhead, on Wednesday last, to address her Majesty on the recent Papal aggression. The hour fixed for the meeting was twelve o'clock,, but before that hour a vast concourse of people, principally Irish navigators, some of them armed with thick bludgeons, made their appearance in front of the hall, and seemed bent upon creating a disturbance.. In the vicinity- the greatest consternation prevailed, and many of the shops were closed. The Birkenhead police force only consists of some twenty men, and were as nothing compared with the mob collected. The yells and imprecations of the multitude, which became every moment more and more intense, were perfectly fearful, and the most serious apprehensions were entertained. Mr. Dowling, the head constable of Liverpool, had been applied to for assistance; and fortunately about half-past twelve o'clock a section of about thirty police arrived, under the superintendence of Mr. Ride, formerly of the• Birmingham and metropolitan police. This gentleman displayed considerable tact in the disposal of his men, who were received as they entered the town with cries of " Down witl► the Liverpool police." &c. As they en. deavoured to clear a way to the principal entrance, they met with considerable resistance, but ultimately made a passage to the door. .At this period ft would appear that the police had the upper hand, and no doubt, had their force been a little stronger, they would have effectually quelled the disturbance. However, a cry was raised among the mob to go for assistance and to " arm."' Some of the men then went away, and shortly afterwarsis returned with their numbers considerably augmented, and with bludgeons, conisting of iron rails, pokers, and wooden staves, in their hands ; others carried large stones, which abound in the neighbourhood, and as they pressed forward their yells and cries were most alarming.  In the meantime a number of gentlemen—inCludingt Sir Edwd. Cust, Mr. Wm. Jackson, M.P., Mr. John Jackson, the Rev. A. Knox, Mr. P. F. Curry, the coroner of Liverpool, Mr. Townsend, the magistrates' clerk, and Mr. Aspinall, a Roman Catholic barrister—had assembled in  the room where the meeting was to be held, and. arrangements were being made as to the order of the proceedings. Sir Edward Cust was to occupy the chair, and the resolutions were allotted to the various gentlemen who were to address the meeting. The principal resolution was :  " That this meeting desire to express their extreme indignation at the Papal bull and other documents which have recently been issued from Rome, and which treat the Sovereign of the realm as a nullity and her kingdoms as a spiritual waste, being alike repugnant to the sr hit of the law and insulting to the Crown and people of England." It was also intended to present the following address to the Queen : " To
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1850-01-22 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

CRIME IN FRANCE.—At Mormant, neur Melun, a woman named Pachant, on Friday, murdered her husband. For many years the couple had lived together on bad terms, and for years the woman had refused to share her husband's bed. On Friday evening they supped tozetlier with their two children, and the man retired to rest. The woman then made her little boy read to her, and she told him when he went to bed to his father to lie as far from him as possible. The child answered that he would not go to bed for the present; whereupon she went softly to the bedside to see if her husband was asleep, and, ~nn seeing that he was, exclaimed, "Oh God ! give me courage to execute my design !" She-then went and took a heavy stick from behind the door, and advanced to the bed, as if about to strike. She, however, paused, retired a few steps, and then returned. Again she raised her arm, hut at; she paused, and retired from the bed, At length surnolonino- up all her resolution, she returned hastily, and sti-uck' her husband three violent blows on the head. The ,man, who was dreadfully injured, gasped out, " Arsene, Ars;.ne, come to me !" and his little boy climbed on the bed. The woman still continued to strike her husband on the head, and the little boy threw himself over his father to protect him. She, however, flung the child violently aside, saving, " Let me alone, or I will do the same to you !" and 'll,l continued to strike. The little boy seized a knife and exci,2itned, " Mother, mbther ! if you do not leave off I will kill Lnyself!" but the boy's sister, having that moment entered the room, took the knife from him. The woman contina-ed to beat her husband until sho was quite sure he was dead. She then went to the house of his brother, and said ,I• 0 her nephew, Celyi see how I have settled your uncle and at the `78.._ tuggment the little boy came up weeping and said, - "yoaliFr has killed my father !" Information having been- given to the authorities, the woman was arrs.'sted• 'She doernot attempt to deny her guilt, but encteavouo to excuse herself by saying that she committed the crime un . a moment of passion cmecl.l by the unjust reproacLes of the decease 4. • It appeared, however, that, she had long I entertained the intention of committing the crime, having frequently been heard to declare that it was impossible to  live with her husband, that either she or he must be put out of the way, &c. It further appeared that on the morning of the murder she had caretully selected the heavy stick with which the crime was committed, and that her daughter, having a presentiment of what she intended, endeavoured to take it from her, saying, " Ah ! I know what you mean to do !"—Galignani's Messenger.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1850-03-26 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.  let any reasonable person ask himself the question, whe- At Nottingham assizes, John Sansome was sentenced to ther it can be right to saddle the overburthened rate- death for the murder of a young woman named Elizabeth payers with a charge of £5,000 per annum, in order to put Bailey. The prisoner caused the deceased's death by £350 per annum in the pockets of each one of the 13 using an instrument to procure miscarriage, for which he parish doctors, and a nice little balance which I suppose was paid 7s. The judge told him he feared he had long goes towards the support of the parish dispensaries, esta- carried on the practice.  nen, in  ouuuay weeK, miss liabrielle Jervis, the daughte: d of Sivynfen Jervis, Esq., of Darlaston Hall, near Stone :e Staffordshire, publicly abjured the Protestant religion  lities to at  end to  are e nab  In hauel at  e doctrines of the ied to Swyn think a parish dector'situa, with £350 from the parish,  )mas Fitzherbert  in; of the proprietary of the Bank  can get t  recom mended  to the subj  half year  When the  Ind to a  dintheCt  money market during the last six months, iirninution that has taken place in the dis Zany children  ss of the bank, are but be viewed as k  onsiderea, the above diving as satifactory as could  about 300, althot  a institutions  rick Watmough, said to be an illegitimate son of Duke of St. Albans, has had to enter into recog,  n consequence  his extr  3ur cor  .en from Ireland and els( Can it  threaten Duchess  weretary to the  ns. It appeared that the allowance iich had been paid him during -his I been discontinued by the duchess,  Whether 11  that let  in the C  ,sts,l do not know,  is facts  •ks (ori  ) per share, with £5 per share ]dad to carry out recent improvements), were sold by action at the Albion Hotel, in Whitehaven, on Thurs.  lent has clearly proved how bad tb  s not more  ear to e  Ve may further add that ered dear.—Cumberland  yone h  ,es were not  is for a poor person to be treated and  ight, until now, that are poor creatures liv ed cellars, in the mi  Whitehurst, employed  at Kid  , if any, comforts about them; and I should ha -,,hen these poor creatures required an op  be better to remove them to one of t 4L :als of the to  wholesome fooc  with the best advice the town affords, kind attention good nursing, without being deprived of nf  this without costing a shilling to the pa•"spondent thinks differently : I very  But your corr  fear that the money influence in forming  art of the question I  Will he t  for ti
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1850-04-02 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MURDER BY POISON.—An old man named Samuel £25,280, being the amount of the joint valuation of John Turncliff died at Swinscoe, near Ashburne, lately, who, Stewart, Esq.. and the Corporation surveyor; and to it has been discovered, was poisoned, and the coroner's amend the hackney-coach bylaws, so far as !regards the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against William tares authorized to be taken. The Mayor's communica- Chadwick. This man having been apprehended made a tions comprise a letter from Mr. Thomas Jevons, calling statement that his wife, Mary Chadwick, was the instigathe attention of the Corporation to the intended sale by for and active party in the murder, he having only purauction of the Roscoe and Howard Arcades, and suggest- chased the poison for her, which he saw her administer ing that they should become the purchasers ; and a me- from day to day. He has also implicated his wife's mother. morial of owners and occupiers of premises near the Lime- WILL 'WHEAT BE LOWER ?—For a year or two more, street Station of the London and North-Western Rail- bad harvests, foreign troubles, or other adverse circumway Company, complaining of the great deterioration in stances, may postpone the final result : that result is, howtheir property, caused by the alteration and width of ever, absolutely certain. America alone would decide the Gloucester-street by the above company. Mr. Picton question. She can now send us corn as freely as she can has given notice of a motion for the appointment of a send us cotton. The result will lie, that she will perpecommittee to consider the practicability of forming a free tually increase her growth and diminish her price. The public library. Mr. Thompson will bring on again his history of the growth of cotton may show us how this motion for giving up Birkenhead Ferry, which will no can be done. Tn 1820 America sent us 89,999,174 lbs. of doubt meet with its usual fate ; and Mr. Alderman Hors- cotton-wool, and the price of Uplands cotton was 114 d. fall has given notice of the following motion That aln 1833 she sent us 237,506,758 lbs., and the price was special committee be appointed for the purpose of consi- 91d. In 1840 she sent us 488,572,510 lbs., and the price dering how far it is practicable to amend the present was 6d. The like progress may be expected to be made mode of levying poor and local rates, with the view to with corn. If it were possible to suppose that the prerelieve the inhabitants from such taxes as press most sent lunacy could last so long, we should see nothing unheavily, and to consider the propriety of petitioning Par- reasonable in the expectation, that in 1860 the United liament in favour of a bill to amend the present law appli- States might send us 20,000,000 of quarters of wheat, at cable to the levying of poor aad local rates, and for an average of 245. per quarter, delivered at Mark-lane. making all public property rateable thereto." We shall
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1842-04-15 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE AND DEATH OF A LADY. —About three weeks since, Miss Stabbins, who resided with her brother and sister at Worle, Somerset, after she had retired to her bed-chamber at ten o'clock, said to her sister, " I will go down and see if the street door is locked," which she did, but not returning, her sister went down purposely to ascertain the cause, and found ,on a table the young lady's cloak, shawl, and her purse, containing several pounds, and the street door open. Having called up her brother and the servants. search was made in the village, and the neighbouring ponds were also raked, but she could nowhere be found. The dirtracted relatives continued making every inquiry, but could hear no tidings of her till Monday last, when her body was discovered by John Cox. in the river Yeo, in the parish of Congresbury, full five miles from the house of Mr. Stabbins, at Worle. No cause whatever can be assigned for the deceased's leaving her home. She was 27 years old, and her person remarkably fine.  " THE THROWING AWAY OF THE TIMBER DUTIES A GREATER MISFORTUNE THAN THE DISASTERS IN AFFGHANISTAN !"—Let this atrocious proposition never be forgotton while the name of whig survives—let it he placarded at every public place—sounded forth at every public meeting. The remitting of £600,000 a-year to the industrious classes in England a greater misfortune than the disgrace of the British arms—the imprisonment of British women at the mercy of licentious, savage murderers—the lost lives of 10,000 or 12,000 of our fellow;subjects, a spark kindled that may consume our Indian empire ! By what military disgrace-by what social calamity will Mr. Macaulay balance the surrender of the post-office revenue? It must be by something equivalent to Napoleon's last Russian campaign. But mark the "miserable financier;" allowing him to make his balance sheet between military shame, political danger, and peril to the honour of English women, on one side, and pounds, shillings, and pence on the other, how does he complete his accounts? You must employ, says he, 10,000 more men in India—the cost of 10,000 men will not be more than £400,000 per annum, and you give away (to the industrious classes in England) £600,000 per annum. Indeed ! And where did Mr. Macaulay learn that a campaign can be conducted, anywhere, however near to resources, at the rate of £400,000 per annum for every 10,000 men ? Not, certainly, in Europe. The Duke of Wellington bad seldom more than 40,000 men with him in the Peninsula, often less, and as a military economist his grace is confessedly unrivalled, yet we do not find that the four years' war in the Peninsula was completed, gloriously as it was, for less than seven millions sterling ; but we must not waste time upon such trash. Twenty millions sterling will not repair the disaster in Affghanistan, if that disaster can be ever repaired in a political and military light ; in other regards it is unhappily irreparable.—London Standard.