npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1872-01-06 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

MURDEROUS ASSAULT AT STOCKTON.  Samuel Davis was brought up in custody charge I with inflicting grievous bodily harm upon John McCann, on the 24th December last. Superintendent Booth said: In this case, your worships, I apply for a remand of the prisoner for a week, in 130TISt quenoe of the dangerous state of the prosecutor. He is very ill, and the doctor Faye that he is not likely to recover, and therefore I apply for a remand.—Mr Draper said that he appeared for the prisoner. It was really a case of mistaken identity, which he had witnesses to prove, and he asked that the prisoner might be admitted to bail. —Mr Jackson: Oh, no, no; read the depositions. —Mr Robinson, the , assistant clerk, then read the following : ' The examination of John APCann, of Stockton, in the county of Durham, puddler, taken on oath before me, Richard Jackson, one of Her Majesty's justices of the peace for the said borough, on this third day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred; and seventy-two, at Stockton, in the presence and hearing of Samuel Davis, who is charged this day before me, for that he (the said Samuel Davis), on the 24th day of December, in the year of our Lord, 1871, in the borough of Stockton aforesaid, unlawfully and maliciously did inflict upon the said John M-Cann, grievous bodily harm. The said John M'Cann, on his oath, saith : —lam now confined to my bed suffering , from injuries inflicted upon me by the prisolaer, Samuel Davis. I believe that my life is in danger. I fear that lamin a dying state. On Sunday evening, the 24th December last, between half-past ten and eleven o'clock, I met the prisoner and two other men in the High-street, at the south end of the Shambles, The prisoner struck me a blow on my right eye with his fist, which knocked me down. Whilst I was down I got several blows upon my head, nose, and forehead. I get up, picked up my cap, and ran across towards the Vane Arms, up the flags, and into Green Dragon yard. I stood up beside the publichouse, thinking that the men who were pursuing me would pass on. They all three came up and said "Here's the b— here." They then commenced to kick and beat me till I became insensible. I said, when they were kicking me, " For God's sake don't kill me." When I came to myself they were gone. I was a long time getting home. I got to bed as soon as I got home, and I have been ill ever since from the effects of the injuries I then received. lam quite certain that the prisaber Samuel Davis was one of the men who struck me. He was the first man that did so. I had known him before.—Cross-examined by the prisoner: I did see you on the Sunday night, about half-past ten o'clock. You were the first man that struck me. I did not know the other men who were with you at the time. You and the other men followed me. Yen followed me into the Green Dragon Yard.—The Mayor: Are the other men in custody? --Supt. Booth: We have not yet identified them.— The Mayor: This is a case we cannot admit to bail. It is remanded for a week.
Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1872-07-27 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

MURDERS.  On Monday morning, sonic excitement was occasioned in the neighbourhood of the Clerkenwell Police Court by the announcement that a man was in custody who, it was suspected. was the person who easainiated the double murder at Iloxton, on the Itith inst. It appears that on fi.itnnlay night a man, who said he was 52 years of age (the age of the supposed murderer is given in the police information as SO), was given into custody for uttering counterfeit coin, and on that charge he was taken to the Kentish Town Police *Ration. He was placed in the dock in the usual manner, and while Inspector Pound was making the usual inquiries preparatory to entering the charge on the sheet, he noticed that the prisoner was wearing a waistcoat on which were many visible marks of blood, which hail apparently been there for some days, and, also marks of blood on one of the pockets, as if the hand had been smeared. This aronsea, suspicion, the more especially as the age and height of the prisoner correspon led with that given of the supposed murderer. Inspector Pound having ascertained from inquiry the person's name and address, the latter of which he gave in the neighbourhood of St. Johit's Wood, he had him searched, and on him was found a pocket book, in which was a name dissimilar to the one the prisoner gave, and also an address at baton. He also had on him a white linen bag, about the size of a pillow case, and on that were several marks of blood, apparently of sonic Jays' standing. He was asked to account for the blood on the waiaLcoat, and also for the possession of the bag, and to the first question he replied that he hail a rush of blood to the head, and that his nose had bled, and for the possession of the bag he said that he had picked it up in the neighbourhood of Camden Town, and that he did not know how the blood came on it. Police-constable Lode was at once sent off to ascertain if the prisoner had givea a correct addriaii, and this being found out not to be correct, a graver suspicion arose. It will be remembered that at the coroner's inquest Inspector Palmer, of the detective police, said that he had examined the bodies, and in the hands of the younger woman lie had found some grey hairs, and this, coupled with the fact that the man in question had grey whiskers, caused Inspector Pound to communicate by telegraph with iietective Inspector Palmer and Inspector Ramsay, of the N division, and they are actively engaged in making further inquiries into the case. On Sunday morning, it is worthy of remark, the man in custody made auother and voluutary statement as to :the blood on his clothes, remarking that lie did not knon how it came there. The prisoner when taken into custody was perfectly sober, so that there is no reason why he should make two contradictory mtatementa with regard to the blood.
Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1872-05-25 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

FRAUD ON THE CESTOMS.—JOSepiI Horlock Gann, a shipping agent in Railway-place, Fenehurch-street, was last week brought before Sir Benjamin Phillips, at the Mansion House, London, on remand, at the instance of the Commissioners of Customs, charged with unlawfully unshipping certain prohibited, restricted, and " uLcustomed" goods, and knowingly evading the Customs duties, whereby he had forfeited the sum of £2.00 odds. The prisoner had taken a large quantity e cigars out of bond in order, as he atleged, to tranship them abroad. It was afterwards discovered that, instead of doing so, he sold them in Lor don. The prisoner having pleaded guilty, Sir Benjamin Phillips ordered him to pay £248 5s 6d, being treble the value and duty of the articles, or to be imprisoned until the money was paid. The money was net paid, and the prisoner was scut to prison. • Meurer! TRAGEDY IN heme.—A. correspondent of the Bonsbaq Gazette gives the following account of the murder of two officers at Deese on the 17th of April:— As Capt. Laurie. of the 108th Regiment, was leaving his house to go to parade about 3 a.m., he was fired at by a private soldier of his own conipauy, who, it appears, was lying concealed behind a hedge. The shot missed its object. Captain Laurie must then have turned in a different direction to get out of the man's way, when a second shot was fired, which took effect in his leg and brought him to the ground. The murderer must then have approached him and deliberately fired several shots at him, while lying on the ground, which all took effect. The Adjutant (Lieutenant Munro), whe lived close by, alarmed by the firing, came out of his house, but, there being a thick and impenetrable hedge between him and the scene of action, could render no immediate assistance. He mounted his horse and (the teurderer by this time having left Captain Laurie) .allc,ped to the Barrack Guard for assistance. He, however, only went a few yards, for seeing another r he callea out to him to send help from the guard-room. He then turned hack, and was almost lino:, diately dropped by a shot fired by the same man. The shot entered his right side and lodged in the left rns, passing right through. his body. He never spoke after falling from his horse, and must have died almost immediately. The murderer, a man named John Butler, then blew his own brains out. Captain Laurie, who was most fearfully wounded, having no less than six different wounds, lingered till 1 o'clock, whea he expired. Poth officers were buried the same evening with the usual military honours. The whole affair did not occupy two minutes, the man having in that time fired eleven shots. Captain Laurie leaves a wife and two children. Both officers were great favourites with the men of their regiment, and it is believed that Butler could have no motive to commit the murder but the morbid prompting of an unsound mind. It may be mentioned however, that Butler was a bad character. As
Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1872-09-28 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

ATTEMPT TO MURDER POUR PERSONS. EXTRAORDINARY CASE.  At the Ulverston Police Court on Friday, an Irishman named James Martin, was charged with shooting, with intent to kill Thos. Milburn and Frank Smith, and also with stabbing a gamekeeper, named J. Newby and stealing his gun. On Tuesday evening, between six and seven o'clock, Newby, and a young man of the name of James Mann, were walking along the Road leading from Barrow to Furness Abbey, and when near Newbarni" thr y observed the prisoner on a fence, in company with a female. The latter made sonic remark to Mann, and he stopped, Newby continuing to walk on. Almost immediately after the prisoner rushed at Mann, and seized him. He succeeded, however, in getting away, and the prisoner then drew a knife, and ran after him. He tried several times, after overtaking Mann, to stab him, but he managed to ward of the blows with a stick. Newby returned to the assistance of his friend, when the prisoner made a dash at him and stabbed him in the left shoulder. Fortunately the thickness of Newby's clothing prevented the knife inflicting more than a slight flesh wound. The prisoner then swore he would have a double-barreled gun Newby was canying, and a most determined struggle took place between tke two, the prisoner several times striking at Newby with the knife. The latter eventually became too exhausted to continue the struggle, and the prisoner possessed himself of the weapon. With the view of getting out of the prisoner's way, Newby threw himself over the hedge, and the man ran off into field. About this time Milburn, in charge of a load of barley, arrived on the scene, and the prisoner deliberatell fired at him. Fortunately the aim was ill directed, and only part of the charge lodged in Milburn's right leg. Another carter, named Smith, passed shortly afterwards, and the prisoner discharged the other barrel of the gun at him, hitting him on the side of the face, and causing him to fall out of the cart on to the road, where he lay for some time in an unconscious state. When he recovered he found the prisoner standing over him and kicking him. He managed, after a time, to get away, and ran off in the direction of Newbarns. Meeting two men on the way they returned to the spot, where they found the prisoner who seems 'to have become somewhat exhausted by this time. They secured him in the cart, and conveyed him to the police station at Barrow. No cause, except that he was slightly intoxicated, was assigned for the prisoner's outrageous conduct, and he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.  A fire occurred at the old Seaham Station, Hendon, Sunderland, on Monday morning. It was extinguished without material damage being done. There are at this time four chemical laboratories in Japan where the science is taught, three of them being presided over by Germans, and the fourth by an American.
Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1872-10-19 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

AUCKLAND. Instructions have at length dieen reeektld from the Home Otfift, and the !wall magistratea at their meeting, on Monday, reteaved that the exhnunttion of the boaiee of Frederick Cottou, the prisoner's late husband, Frederick Cotton, his eldest, and Robert Cotton, his youngest son, should be proceeded with as early as possible. ['he exhumations have siace been arranged to take place at an early hour next morning. The bodies of Charles Edward Cotton, and the lodger, Joseph Nattraas, have been already disinterred, and an examination øf a portion of the viscera of each by Dr Scattergood, the eminent toxicologist, of Leeds, shows the presence of white arsenic in considerable quantities. From what has come to light during the past few days, we fear we have not heard the whole history. The death of four persons (Cotton's wife, two children, and a sister) is reported to have occurred under suspicious circumstances at the village of Walbottle, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, shortly before the prisoner became housekeeper to Cotton. Cotton married the prisoner in the early part of October 1870, under the name of Mary Ann Mowbray. They lived a quiet and apparently peaceful life for some four or five months, when Cotton took ill and died within a few days, his death being followed by that of his eldest son and youngest son, both of whom showed similar syniptons. After the death of her husband Cotton, Nattraas went to lodge at her house, and was with her three or four months, when he took ill and died, after suffering great agony, about a week afterwards '1 he poor fellow evidently suspected that all was not right, and, on being visited by one of his friends, he remarked, "If I was only better, I will be out of this." The day before his death, he told hie tnedical man, Dr Richardson, who had been treating Lim for gastric fever, that he had no fever upon him, and that, if it was not for that grinding pain in his stomach, he had nothing to complain of. He also said be believed it was caused by the medicine he had been receiving, and he would take no more of it. On the 12th of July, the remaining child, Charles Edward Cotton, died. An inquest was held, and a verdict was returned to the effect that the boy had died from natural causes. The decision of the jury gave the greatest dissatisfaction in the neighbourhood, and a few days after Dr Kilburu was induced in consequence of what he had been infourned by Mr Chalmers, his assistant, to make another examination, and on submitting a portion of the contents of the stomach, which he had buried in his garden, to Reiuch's process for the tetecrion of poison, he discovered indications of the presence of arsenic. The prisoner was apprehended the next day by tha police. An order was obtained from the Home Secretary for the exhumation of the body, and on portions of the viscera Wig sent to Mr Scattergood, of Leeds, that gentleman found the system completely saturated with arsenic. As already intimated, the prisoner stands committed for trial on the charge of having murdered her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton.
Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1872-08-03 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

PARIS TRAGEDY.  A shocking case was tried on Friday, before the Court of Assizes of the Seine, viz.—the murder of a son who was in the Versailles Army during the Commune of Paris, by his parents. The names of the accused are Pierre Joseph Louis and Marie Euphrasie liamard —both 51 years of age, and parents of (strange to say) 15 children. During the sanguinary times which followed on the departure of the troops to Versailles, both father and mother espoused the Communist cause, the father taking a most active part in the insurrection. The felt that their eon was in the army outside the city greatly exasperated them, and both father and mother were frequently heard to menace him with vengeance, the mother invariably saying, when speaking of her son : "I should not be at all sorry to kill a Versailles—a drinker of blood, like that !" The father was of a ferocious disposition; and, together with his wife, had spent the whole of their fortune in drinking, irregularity, and debauchery, and the fortuse of the five surviving children were, to his intense disappointment, settled on themselves. The eldest sou, Peter, the victim of the tragedy, knowing the antecedents of hisAather, and the' part lie took in the March insurrection, and all the events which followed, took a small lodging for himself, when he left the service a few months afterwards, in preference to returning under the parental roof. On the 13th of April of the present year he went to his mother's laundress to re-claim some linen which his sister had left there two months previously. The mother, on hearing this, went on the 14th to demand the linen, which the son offered to give up on the reimbursement of the sum he had paid for it—viz , 31r. 75c. The whole day was occupied in sending messages to and fro concerning the linen, and at eight o'clock in the evening, the father, exasperated, and with his wife, in a state of intoxication, went to his son's lodgings, and invited him to corne down into the street, where he called him a "drinker of blood," made use of the vilest epithets, and challenged him to fight. The son replied that be would never fight his own father; on which his mother, excited by drink, seized him by the hair, and, while she held his head back, the father plunged a knife into his heart, killing him on the spot. The depositions of the witnesses, principally the children of the murderers, were conclusive as to the totally drunken and demoralised existence of the parents; as for the tragedy itself, both father and mother disclaimed any intention of taking their son's life, notwithstanding their reiterated menaces in presence of neighbours, and their own children, who were present when the crime was accomplished. The Jury, after ten minutes' consultation together, rendered a verdict of guilty, without any mention of extenuating circumstances; and both father and mother were condemned to transportation for life.
Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1872-11-30 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

TRIAL FOR A MASSACRE. The Court of Assizes at Constantina has just tried twenty-one Arabs of Belezma, charged with the massacre of twelve French colonists in April last. 'rhe victims were all emphyed at some extensive saw mills in a forest at about ten miles from Batna, and belonging to M. Prudhomme, who was one of the murdered. The natives had always been on friendly terms with the Europeans there until about the month of March, when an insurrection broke out in the province. The tone of the Arabs suddenly changed; they became first more reserved and then insolent, boasting that France was ruined, and that all the French would soon disappear from Algeria. Some of the tribes, however, remained, if not friendly, at least less hostile. The revolt had become almost general, and on the 21st April the Sheik Brahim of the Halymias informed the little colony that they were no longer safe in the foreskand offered to escort them to Batna. The Europeans, consisting of eighteen men, one woman named Dorliat, and her four children, set oat one morning, accompanied by Brahim and about forty of his men. They had gone but a short distance on their journey when they were warned not to proceed further as the Arabs would not allow them to pass; after some hesitation they resolved to continue, confiding h. the assurance of the sheik that they were safe under his charge; but on arriving in a ravine, they were suddenly attacked by a large body of rebels. Six of tne party, who were in the rear, suceeded in escaping, but twelve of the men were massacred. Madame Dorliat owed her life to a native named Abdallah, at the sawmills, who, on seeing her in tears before starting, said to her, "Woman, you have nothing to fear; no harm will be done you or your children; as for the men, I will not answer for them." Asshe continued to weep, he added, " Listen ; when you see the guns pointed at your breast, say this prayer : 'Allah I Allah! Mohamed mconl Allah !'—and you will be saved." In the midst of the slaughter several Arabs had levelled their fireerms at her to shoot her, when she remembered Abdallah's lesson, and throwing herself on her knees to them, repeated the invocation. The murderers stopped; made her say it over again, and asked "Do you mean it ?" On her replying in the affirmative they spared her, but stripred her entirely naked, and took from her three of her children ; she only recovered them 32 days later, and one of them died from a sabre wound in the head received during the fight. The woman's husband was among the killed, and although her life was saved, she was grossly outraged by an Arab who had offered to conduct her to a place of safety. The natives who had started with the party as an escort either fled or joined the hostile natives during the attack. Of the twenty accused now brought to trial twelve were condemned to death, and three to hard labour, the others, among whom was the sheik of Brahim. being acquitted.  A