npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1856-07-09 (London, England)

THE ATTEMPT TO WIEDER IN TUE HOUSE OF  CORRECTION.  John Wilson, 28, a sullen, determined-looking man, was charged with the capital offence of cutting and wounding William Middleton, with intent to murder him.  In other counts the intent of the prisoner was laid to do grievous bodily harm. The prisoner, it will be remembered, was confined in the House of Correction, Coldbath Fields, under a sentence of this Court, and the prosecutor, who is a warder in the prison, had him under his charge. On the 21st of June, it appeared that the prisoner complained to Middleton that he did not receive his full allowance of bread, and that he picked out the smallest loaves for him. The prosecutor denied that he bad done what the prisoner stated, and told him he might see the governor, and he took the loaf from the prisoner, weighed it, and locked it up. Oa the fallowing morning tho prisoner was taken before the governor of the prison, and he there stated that the officers of the prison had an antipathy to him, and repeated his complaint about the bread. The governor said he considered the prisoner's complaint was a frivolous one and to punish him for making it he was ordered to be deprived of a portion of his dinner. The prisoner was then taken back to the dormitory, which it was his duty! it appeared to assist in cleaning, and he was locked in for nearly two hours. When Middleton returned, and upon his unlocking the door, the prisoner rushed at him and stabbed him on the forehead, and also cut him on the hand with a knife, which it appeared he had obtained possession of by breaking open a box belonging to one of the warders that was in the dormitory. It was proved that this knife, which was an ordinary round-pointed dinner knife, had been sharpened to a point, and a quantity of tow bad been tied round the handle, in order to afford a firmer grasp to the hand. The prosecutor succeeded in getting away from the prisoner after he had made the attack upon him, and locked him in the cell ; and upon the chief warder going there shortly afterwards the prisoner quietly gave himself up, and handed over the kniife with which the injury bad been inflicted, at the same time observing that the prosecutor was a very lucky fellow.  The prisoner, when called upon for his defence, said that Middleton had caused him to be punished without any cause, and he intended to retaliate upon him, but not to take his life.  The learned judge having summed up, the jury found the prisoner guilty of cutting and wounding, with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Mr.. Bodkin informed the Court that the prisoner had been three times convicted of burglary, and during his imprisonment he had twice stabbed the turnkeys who had him in charge. The prisoner was sentenced to be transported for 20 years.
The Sun. — 1849-05-19 (London, England)

MARYLEBO.NE. _  Mr. George Jc Keen, a solicitor, residirg in the vicinity of this Ju rt, was brought before Mr. Long, charged with th e following outrage upon Mr. Henry Israel, a solicito r"s ark, who, in consequence of the serious injury h e had received, was incapacitated from attending to give evidence. Mr. John hems hall, landlord of the Star and Garter, Edgeware-road, fl eposed, that, on Thursday night, about half-past ti eelve o'clock, the prisoner and Mr. Israel were in Ma house, drinking together, at the front of the bar. Sou e words ensued between them, and witness, hearing a disturbance, came out of the parlour to inquire into the cause of the row. In passing into the bar he ea ,w the prisoner striko Israel twice in the face with kss fists. They fought together for some minutes, we hen Keen was knocked down by Israel. liven speed ily got up, and called out that he had had enough. The y then shook hands and made up the quarrel. Keen tlu n sat down on a form in the front of the bar. He sub) 33 quently got up and proceeded across the bar, towards where complainant was standing. A person, by the nee ne of Hallet, who was standing at the bar, called the at .t ention of witness to the prisoner, who had the iron g a i key, a most fermidable instrument, about five feet lon, g, in his hand. With this instrument he struck Israel cA t the head. Witness ran towards the prisoner, and t r'ied to get the gas key from him. The prisoner called ot " Murder," and was so violent that it took three pen 44 ms besides himself to wrest the deadly weapon from him, (the prisoner). Witness then sent for a surgeon to die. t 3 Mr. Israel's wound, and the prisoner was given into th I ) custody of a police-constable. Mr. Edward G a y, surgeon, No. 1, Cambridge-terrace, H) de Park-gard et is, said on Thursday night he was cAlled into the Sae .r and Garter, whore he saw a person by the name of Is rael (the prosecutor), who was bleeding from a wound in the head. Witness examined him, and found a wore ne I on the left side of the frontal bone, about two inches, in length, which, in his (witness's) opinion, might :have been inflicted by the iron instrument produced. The wound was of a very serious nature, and he conk; not, with safety to himself, at present leave his home.  Several other p artics gave evidence in support of the charge, and they were cross•exarnined at some length by Mr. Cooper,, the solicitor who attended for the prisoner. _ _  Mr. LONG 'd what answer there was to the charge? and  Mr. Cooper r ei )lied that he had no witnesses present, and he had u.ol v no answer to make to the charge. Upon a future di ty ho should, no doubt, be prepared with certain wi! int :sses who would throw an entirely different light upe n the matter. In the absence of the injured party all Cif at he Oho Learned Gentleman) could look for was thrtt his client might be liberated upon his giving bail to in 5 ure his attendance en another day. Mr. LoNG he' It 1 the defendant in bail in 3001. and two sureties in 1501, each for his attendance on Saturday next.
The Sun. — 1849-03-19 (London, England)

WIGHTMAN.) Robert TVickson, 30, a marine artilleryman, was indicted tor feloniously casting and throwing Elizabeth Mullinder from a window of the height of twenty feet and upwards, to the ground, with intent to murder her. Mr. Tassel! prosecuted, and Mr. Addison defended the prisoner. _ .  The prosecutrix stated that she was 14 years old, and in November last she was in service at Strood. On the sth of November she had a dispute with her mistress, and she in consequence left her place, without giving any notice, on the following morning. She walked about Chatham and Rochester all that day, and at night she got a bid at a public-house where she was known. On the fallowing day she continued walking about the town, and about seven i❑ the evening she went into the Union Flag, where she met the prisoner. After this they went to several other houses, and at length they went to bed together. After a short time she got up and dressed herself, and the prisoner began to abuse her, and at last said he would throw her out of the window, and after having struck her and used very bad language, he opened the window of the room and took her by the shoulders and pushed her up to the window and left her on the sill, where she sat for a minute or two, and the prisoner then pushed her off and she fell into the yard, a height of 24 feet.  Upon being cross-examined, the prosecutrix said that she had been in the same service two years, and the' reason she went away as she did was because her mistress boxed her ears. She likewise swore positively that she had never before been intimate with any man. Elizabeth Lawrence, the servant of the house, deposed that upon bearing some person groaning in the back yard she went out, and found the prosecutrix lying upon the stone in an almost insensible state. She said to her, " Good God, you have not jumped out of the window have you?" and she replied that she did not jump out, but that the prisoner had thrown her out. Harriet Toomer, the landlady, said that upon hearing what had occurred she questioned the prisoner how it happened, and he said that the girl had got out of the window of her own accord, and that he laid bold of her arm and tried to prevent her from falling as long as he could. He then requested that she might have all the assistance she required, and said he would pay whatever expense was incurred.  Mr. Archibald Robinson, a surgeon, Chatham, deposed that he was called in to see the prosecutrix on the night in question, and found her in s fainting and frightened state. She was bruised about the face, and also on the knees, but none of the injuries were of a serious character.  Mr. ADDISON, in addressing the jury for the prisoner, said that the story told by the prosecutrix was of a most improbable character, and he urged that it was much more probable that in alarm at the position in which she had placed herselfwith the prisoner, she had gone to the window and jumped out, than that he had thrown her from it.  The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty. -----_  OXFORD ClRCUlT.—Staiord Marcia 16.
The Sun. — 1849-11-28 (London, England)

CRESSWELL.)  The second edition of the calendar contains the names of 207 prisoners, being an increase since the last edi Lion of 23. THE ATTEMPT TO MURDER AT CHISWICK,  Mr. HUDDLESTONE said, with reterence to the young marl who was charged with feloniously shooting at and wounding his father, John Farmer Monkhouse, with intent to murder him, he had to apply to their Lordships on the part of the prisoner for a postponement of his trial until the next sessions. The affidavit upon which he made the application was that of an attorney, who stated that he had only just been retained, and had not had time to prepare the prisoner's defence. Mr. BODKIN, on the part of the Crown, said he would offer no obj-etion to the appl:cation. The COURT granted the application, and accordingly the trial will stand over until the next sessions.  Geo, ge Boulelnz Talker, a respectable-lo•,king man, aged 20, and described as a clerk, pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with having stolen a bank-note value 10/., the property of John Sadlier, and others, his masters.  An application was now made for a mitigation of punishment. It appeared that the employers of the prisoner %ere bankers, and that he abstracted the 101. note from a letter which was received in the ordinary course of business by the firm. Several certificates were put in giving him an excellent character for sobriety and honesty, and in palliation of his conduct, it said, he committed the offence from a vain and foolish love for dress. He procured some articles of dress on the understanding that he should pay the tailor by instalments out of his salary—an arrangement which he faithfully nded to carry out, but, unfortunately, the tailor became bankrupt, and his assignees threatened to suo him for the payment of the debt, and this, he said, induced him to take the 101. note. Inquiries had been made to ascertain the truth of this statement, and the accuracy of it had been confirmed. Mr. Baron ALDERSON, in passing sentence said, the prisoner had lost no advantage by pleading guilty, for having looked over the depositions, he found the case was very clear against him. The nature of the case showed his entire inexperience in crime, for the way in which he committed the offence was sure to lead to detection. Through au extravagant love of dress, and a desire to incur expenses beyond his means, he had lost not only his situation but his character and his caste in society, had disgraced his family, and instead of pursuing a course of honest industry to a position of respectability or wealth, he was Pow A convicted felon. At his age repentance and reformation were not hopeless, though difficult; and he beseeched him, if he regarded his own welfare, never again to wander from the straight path of honesty. The seutenee of the Court was, taking into consideration the circumstances of the oase, that he be imprisoned in Newgate for the period of six calendar mouths.  The
The Sun. — 1849-05-31 (London, England)

SOUTHWARK.  Richard Ward Pelham, one of the Ethiopean serenaders, was charged with com►nitting an asssault on Charles Lambert Smith, a professional singer of Yankee songs. The case having been heard, Mr. COTTINGHAM said that he should call upon the defendant to enter into his own recognizances of 511., and find two sureties of 251. each, to keep the peace, and also to pay the damage sustained by the complainant.  GREEN iFICII. Richard Thomas Graham, described on the policesheet of Evelyn-street, Lower-road, Deptford, gentleman, was charged with assaulting Thomas Gunn, of East street, Walworth ; James Davis, of Thomasstreet, Kennington, and his wife, Sarah Davis, under the following circumstances:— Mrs. Sarah Davis stated that she was going home from Greenwich Fair with her husband and fatherin law —it was about two o'clock, when she met the prisoner in Union-street, who came up to her, took indecent liberties with her, and knocked her down. Witness said her husband was at hand, and would punish such cowardly and disgraceful conduct. Prisoner said he would serve her husband with the like sauce if he appeared. Never gave him the least provocation, not even spoke a word to him previously to the attack.  Thomas Gunn proved that he heard a noise some 150 yards ahead, and ran forward, when he saw his daughter-in-law on the ground calling for aid, and complained of the prisoner. Witness was in the act of picking her up, when he received a violent blow or brows which struck him to the ground; whilst on the ground the prisoner blackened his eyes and kicked him most siolently about the jaws and cheek. lie called' murder, murder." Prisorer ran towards the fair, and a policeman came up and secured the prisoner.  Robert Davis said having been out to spend the day, he was returning home with his wife and fatherin-law. Witness heard his wife call out, he ran towards her, when he saw the prisoner strike her to the ground. Murder was repeatedly called, and the police coming up the prisoner was secured. The witnesses, Gun and Davis, showed the severe effects of the prisoner's violence about their heads, eyes, &c. Police constable 292 R, proved the assault on last witness, and said he caught the prisoner in his arms hilst in the act of running away. A married woman, who was going home at the time, corroborated the different assaults made by the prisoner. The witnesses were severely cross-examined, but their testimony was unshaken.  Mr. TUAILZ said he was sorry to see a person of the prisoner's apparent respectability in so degraded a position. The evidence proved to him that the prisoner had acted most disgracefully. He would leave him the choice of going to the sessions, if he did not approve of his decision. He meant to fine him the full penalty of 5/. in each case, in all 151., or three months' imprhoninent. He had cruelly assaulted a wife, father-in-law, and son.  The prisoner retired a short time, and returned, saying he was advised by his friends to pay the fines.  Rorer.
The Sun. — 1849-05-22 (London, England)

MAY 7, P.N.  " There was nothing of importance done in Parliament to-day. The heads assembled in Bonsecours-market, and to-morrow will assemble in the Freemasons'-hall. Both Houses adjourned to remove their furniture to their new place of meeting.. "Everything 'remains quiet. "Quebec partook of the general excitement incidental upon the Rebellion Losses Bill having been sanctioned. The Governor-General was burnt in effigy en Friday evening last. Resistance was made by a section of the Irish party who professed ultra Repeal doctrines, and a tight ensued, which was finally quelled by the police. The military were in attendance, but were not required. One man was wounded, but not seriously. On Saturday an attempt was made to burn Sir A. M‘Nab in effigy, but the moderate of the Irish party prevented it. On Sunday a mass meeting of the French Canadians was held, aided by the same Repeal followers, and a deputation sanctioned to proceed to the seat of Government to present an address to the Governor-General, offering defence and condolence. " On Monday large parties again assembled, but all passed off quietly. " There is a talk of arming on both sides, and the papers in the Canadian interest talk most loudly." "MAY 4,  " News from all over the country stills continues to pour in, both by telegraph and mail, of the monster meeting got up to protest against the Indemnity Bill, and to get up petitions to the Queen to recall the Governor.  " We have just received words from Toronto of an immense meeting held there for the above-named object, and the appointment of Sir Alan M‘lslab as a delegate to England. " There was a fierce debate in the Assembly yesterday evening upon a motion of adjournment—bitter eriminations and recriminations passed between both parties. " Mr. Papinean, the old leader of the rebellion made a furious attack on the Ministry, charging them with incapacity, and being the cause of all the disturbances. 66 Mr. Solicitor-General Drummond replied by charging him with the desire of annexation to the United States, and of being the first Governor of the new State. " Sir Alan M'Nab raked up recollections of murder and outrage committed during the rebellions of 1837 and 1838. The Ministry deprecated the cause of the argument as being got up for mere party purposes, and said that at a proper time they were prepared to justify the whole of that proceeding. The President of the Council likewise said that one of the causes of the excitement was the desire of annexation, which he deprecated. " There were no new disturbances in the city yesterday, but there doubtless would have been if the House had not adjourned at an early hour. Large placards were posted all over the city, unanimously signed by the influential inhabitants, urging the necessity of maintain .ing peace and order. The excitement is great, and there are rumours that Upper Canada will rise. A few days will show if it be true."  "
The Sun. — 1849-08-20 (London, England)

THE MURDER IN BERMONDSEY  LATEST PARTICULARS.  The accounts which were given in the morning papt.ri of Saturday of the circumstances under which this extraordinary murder has been committed, appear to be as correct as the present limited sources of information will allow . The deceased, Mr. Patrick O'Connor, has been many years in the Customs as a gauger, which may be surmised from the fact that he received 3001. a year, and expected shortly to be superannuated. He was a person who was well known, and is described as being about fifty years of age. He was stout, of fair complexion, and generally of a respectable and gentlemanly appearance. The person who is understood to be Mrs. Manning is about twenty-five years of age, and is said to be good looking and interesting. The deceased had known her some time previous to her connexion with Manning; and while, it is said, she was in the employ of the Duchess of Sutherland. Manning, it is now well known, was indicted at the Old Bailey for his connexion with the late robberies upon the Great Western Railway, and he is, we are informed, well known to the police as a person of very doubtful character. The most extraordinary part of the circumstance is, that although the murder is supposed to have been committed on Thursday evening, Manning and his wife should have remained at the house for three or four days afterwards, and should have had daring enough to sell their furniture to a broker in the neighbourhood. It appears that Mrs. Manning went to the deceased's lodging the day after the murder was committed, unlocked his drawers, and took away all the most valuable part of his property, consisting of foreign railway bonds and shares, besides 3001. in cash. No suspicion was attached to her, owing to her being in the habit of visiting occasionally his lodgings during his absence. The house where the murder was committed forms one of three newly and neatly-built residences, one story high, with kitchen underneath, called Minver-place, which abuts on Molesworth- square, and is said to form a portion of the property belonging to Sir William Molesworth, Bart., M.P. The Marmings had resided at :t about three months.  On Saturday afternoon an inquest was held at the Leather Market Tavern, before Mr. Carter, to inquire into the death of the deceased, but only one witness had been examined at the time we went to press, a Mr. Welsh, a personal friend of the deceased, whose evidence went to show simply that he had accompanied the deceased to Manning's house the night previous to the murder (Wednesday), about ten o'clock, and that they remained there together about an hour and :a half. The deceased, being rather faint, laid upon the sofa and smoked a pipe. They left together, and parted at the end of Houndsditch. No evidence except corroborative of the facts already laid before the public was expected to be adduced. After a brief consultation between the coroner and jury, it was ultimately decided that the inquiry should be adjourned to Friday, at eleven o'clock.  AN
The Sun. — 1849-08-20 (London, England)

THE MURDER IN BERMONDSEY.  LATEST PARTICULARS.  The accounts which were given in the morning papers of Saturday of the circumstances under which this extraordinary murder has been committed, appear to be as correct as the present limited sources of information will allow . The deceased, Mr. Patrick O'Connor, has been many years in the Customs as a gauger, which may be surmised from the fact that he received 3001. a year, and expected shortly to be superannuated. He was a person who was well known, and is described as being about fifty years of age. e was stout, of fair complexion, and generally of a respectable and gentlemanly appearance. The person who is understood to be Mrs. Manning is about twenty-five years of age, and is said to be good looking and interesting. The deceased had known her some time previous to her connexion with Manning ; and while, it is said, she was in the employ of the Duchess of Sutherland. Manning, it is now well known, was indicted at the Old Bailey for his connexion with the late robberies upon the Great Western Railway, and he is, we are informed, well known to the police as a person of very doubtful character. The most extraordinary part of the circumstance is, that although the murder is supposed to have been committed on Thursday evening, Manning and his wife should have remained at the house for three or four days afterwards, and should have had daring enough to *sell their furniture to a broker in the neighbourhood. It appears that Mrs. Manning went to the deceased's lodging the day after the murder was committed, unlocked his drawers, and took away all the most valuable part of his property, consisting of foreign railway bonds and shares, besides 3001. in cash. No suspicion was attached to her, owing to her being in the habit of visiting occasionally his lodgings during his absence. The house where the murder was committed fortris one of three newly and neatly-built residences, one story high, with kitchen underneath, called Minver-place, which abuts on Ivlolesworth- square, and is said to form a portion of the property belonging to Sir 'William Molesworth, Bart., M.P. The Maanings had resided at it about three months.  On Saturday afternoon an inquest was held at the Leather Market Tavern, before Mr. Carter, to inquire into the death of the deceased, but only one witness had been examined at the time we went to press, a Mr. Wehh, a personal friend of the deceased, whose evidence went to show simply that he had accompanied the deceased to Manning's house the night previous to the murder (Wednesday), about ten o'clock, and that they remained there together about an hour and :a half. The deceased, being rather faint, laid upon the sofa and smoked a pipe. They left together, and parted at the end of Houndsditch. No evidence except corroborative of the facts already laid before the public was adduced. . .  After a brief consultation between the coroner and jury, it was.ultimately decided that the inquiry should be adjourned to Friday, at eleven o'clock.