npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1870-08-29 (London, England)

LOUIS BLANC ON ENGLISH FEELING.  Louis Blanc, in his London letter to the Temps, says : " In the critical circumstances in which we are placed it is necessary, before all things, to face the situation boldly. To repose in indifference would be criminal. To fail would be contemptible. But to nurse ourselves in illusions would be madness. The first step towards repulsing the danger ~is to know its extent. The French people would be strangely transformed if they had lost the heroic habit of extending their courage with their danger. When, therefore, we examine the situation and compare the accounts given in the French journals, official and nonofficial, with the accounts published in England we are driven to fear that France is ignorant of the full extent of her peril. The English do not understand—though history might tell them—of how much France is capable, and they are inclined to think her condition desperate. In fact nothing French that is official obtains the least credence here. Any telegram signed by the King of Prussia is received in England as an article of faith. Any telegram announcing an advantage gained by our arms is received as if it did not exist. When the contradictory news of the murderous battle of the 16th was received, all the placards ran :—" Great Victory of the Prussians. The French Claim the Victory." In other " the Prissiars have conquered, since they say so ; the Frunch, th.ey are telling us falsehoods*" This a Frenchman living in England. that it is a matter of life spoleon to conceal the reverses  words  ,able consequences of his own incapacity, ox ms usulu and foolish precipitation. Every one says that each defeat experienced by the heroic soldiers of France is a formal accusation against the Empire. He is obliged, therefore, to hide the dark side of things as much as possible. This, perhaps, is partly the reason of the incredulity with which French official accounts are received, but the English have another reason for being doubtful of our successes. If I could ever have doubted the existence of the old national jealousy which centuries of war and rivalry have fomented between England and France, what I hear, what I read, what I see now would undeceive me. There is some degree of sympathy for us no doubt, and it manifests itself in some of the English journals, but the general current of English opinion in this war is Prussian. That is the truth. I know that the Liberal press justifies itself by saying that we provoked the war, but have they forgotten that they themselves gave the blame to the Imperial Government alone, and declared it to be a dynastic war, a duel between two men ? Why, then, do they to-day throw all the responsibility of the ills on France as a nation ? Their partiality is evident and no doubt exaggerates our danger ; but that danger is pressing enough, and should rouse us all to heroic effort. Let us recall the cry which brought victory to our fathers, and proved the most powerful which has ever sounded in history. ' The country is in danger.' "
The Sun. — 1870-08-23 (London, England)

THE TIENTSIN MA SSACRE.  The Overland China Mail of July 7th says that a long series of outrages by the Chinese has culminated in the terrible massacre at Tientsin, of which there was no reason to doubt the truth. The steamer Dragon left Tientsin on June 21st. She was overtaken at Taku, at the mouth of the Peiho river, on which Tientsin is situated, by a courier who bore a brief despatch to the effect that the French Missionaries, the Sisters of Mercy, and the French Consul had been murdered by Chinese, and that while the despatch was being written, the French Cathedral and the Consulate were in flames. It was reported as a rumour that similar outrages had been perpetrated at Pekin, and that M. Rochechouart had been killed, together with some Russians. It is thought that there is nothing improbable in this rumour and it may turn out that the affair at Pekin was the prelude to the Tientsin massacre. That the existence of a plot was believed in is shewn by the facts that Shanghai has assumed an attitude of self-defence, and that a steam tea-clipper was diverted from her direct homeward path to convey official despatches about the event to the French Consul and to the Government of Hongkong. The Overland China Mail considers that the matter has assumed a more serious aspect than any which has arisen since the occurrences which terminated in Lord Elgin's entry into Pekin, and expresses its full conviction that the crisis has been brought about mainly by the attitude which the British and American Governments have observed towards the Empire of China. When the news of the massacre reached Chefoo, Her Majesty's gunboat Opossum, which was lying there, started at once for Tientsin. The Dwarf was to leave Shanghai on the sth of July, and the French gunboat Flamme to follow immediately. Either the Manchu or the Appin were expected at Shanghai before the departure of the mails, but it was conjectured that both were kept at Tientsin to afford protection to the foreigners who had not been murdered. The greatest excitement prevailed at Hong Kong, and the preparations which were being made by the military and naval authorities, in the event of active work being called for, met with the unqualified approbation of men of all nationalities, not excepting the Chinese. Private letters state that M. Fontanier (French Consul at Tien-tsin) is unmarried ; but the tact that a gentleman named Thomasin, with wife and child, was staying at the Consulate may explain the rumour of a lady and child having been included in the indiscriminate slaughter. Great excitement prevailed at Nanking, and anxiety was felt at the probable issue of the movement there. It was expected that French troops would be brought up from Cochin China by the Peiho, and a military force from the garrison at Hong Kong was under orders to proceed at a moment's notice to the scene of the disturbances in the North. A rumour was circulated that the attacking. Chinese were on their way to the English consul's residence when they were intercepted by the Tartar-General, but it had met with no authentication.
The Sun. — 1870-03-28 (London, England)

ART AND LITERARY GOSSIP.  A new polar expedition is being got ready at Bremen.— An attempt is being made to cultivate the Japanese teaplant in California. Twenty-seven thousand trees have been imported.—The returns from the departments of Eure et Loire and l'Yonne point to a dreadful prevalence of infanticide. About 60 per cent. of the illegitimate children are murdered.—Recent analyses shew that the standard of the Pope's silver is inferior to that of France by 'OO3. In consequence of this discovery, the Pattie demands that public essays be made of the Belgian, Swiss, and Italian coinage, in accordance with the convention of 1865.—We hear. tlAt a new work byMr. Matthew Arnold will soon appear.—We hear of a curious specimen of a species of literature that we had hopedwas extinct; Mrs. Beecher Stowe is one of the authors of a new book intended to teach the " proprieties " to young ladies !—A couple of weeks ago we gave a story of the late Dr. Duncan, of Edinburgh. A correspondent sends us another instance of the worthyman's strange forgetfulness. He was engaged to officiate one Sunday for the minister of Culter, near Aberdeen ;. and left the latter place in good time, mounted on a " sheltie." Being a great snuff-taker, he frequently had recourse to his " mull " on the journey; and arriving at a turn of the road where the wind blew right ahead, he turned his nag about to enable him to take a pinch more easily; having done so, he forgot to turn his " sheltie " again, and rode into Aberdeen, discovering only when too late that the people of Culter had had no service on that day. —Athenceum.  The following laconic art-notes are from the columns of the Philadelphia Evening Star Tennyson likes venison. Offenbach has three operas on tee.. Olive Lorgan is snorting. through the West. Dickens is expected to give readings at Paris. Kellog exhibits her pannier for 350 dollars a night. There are nearly 15,000 lost women in this city. Carlotta deigns to warble to New Orleans this week. A Brunswick, Me., dentist, has an office over a hatter named Toothtaker. —The Era informs us that "there is a rumour that two popular composers of music are to have the honour of knighthood, viz., Mr. Brinley Richards, the composer of the well known and popular piece `God bless the Prince of Wales' and Mr. J. P. Clarke, a military composer, for his new national chant ' Hail to the Duke.'" We are further assured by the same authority that "the Germans have showered great praises upon it (namely Mr. Clarke's song) as one of the grandest national chants of modern times," Perhaps it is in consequence of this shower that the knighthood is to be conferred—a sort of heraldic umbrella.—Mr. Strange, of the Alhambra, is said to have taken the Folies-Bergeres in Paris, with the view of establishing a palace on the model of that in Leicester Square.—A new comedy, "M. P.," from the pen of Mr. T. W. Robertson, has been read at the Prince of Wales's Theatre. It will be produced immediately, all the old. favourites appearing in it.— Orchestra.  A.
The Sun. — 1870-06-15 (London, England)

SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A MEDICAL MAN.  At an adjourned inquest held to-day by Mr. Humphreys on the body of Isabella Huson, aged 25 years, a married woman, who was an actress in the Alhambra Theatre, in Shoreditch, and who died recently after havingprematurely given birth to a child, the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person unknown. It was thought that her death had been caused by an attempt to procure abortion. Inspector Brady informed the Court that Mr. William Harding, a retired medical practioner, has been arrested by the police, and remanded on the charge of having caused the death of the deceased.  Her Majesty, with their Royal Highnesses Princesses Louise and Beatrice, attended by the ladies and gentlemen of the Court, will, according to the most recent arrangements, leave Balmoral on Friday, and return to Windsor Castle, where they will arrive at nine o'clock on Saturday morning. - -  "ALL THE YEAR norND."—The following fly-leaf accompanies the current number published on Tuesday of Charles Dicken's Alt the Year Round :—Personal—lt was my father's wish, expressed in writing' only a week before his death, that 1, his eldest son, and latterly his assistant editor, should succeed him in the management of the journal so long associated with his name. In accordance with this clearly-expressed desire, and strong in the hope inspired by so encouraging a mark of his confidence, I addressed myself to the fulfilment of the task which he appointed me to discharge. It is intended that the management of All the Year Round in the future, shall be based on precisely the same principles as those on which it has, up to this time, been conducted. The same authors who have contributed to its columns in time past, will contribute to t hem still. The same spirit which has in the past pervaded its pages will, so far as conscientious endeavour may render it possible, pervade them still. The same earnest desire to advocate what is right and true, and to7oppose what is false and unworthy, which was the guiding principle of my father's career, and wbich has always characterised his management of AU the Year Round will, I most earnestly hope, continue to be apparent in its every word. So much, then, being the same, it may not be presumptuous in me to hope that the same readers with whom this journal, and that which preceded it, found favour for so many years, may still care to see the familiar title page on their tables as of old. With this brief explanation of the course I propose to adopt, and omitting all reference whatever to my own personal feelings in connection with the great sorrow which has rendered this statement necessary, I leave the future journal to speak for itself. "It is better that every kind of work, honestly undertaken and discharged, should speak for itself than be spoken for." These are the words with which my father inaugurated the new series of AU the Year Round. I cannot surely do better than repeat them in this pIace.—CHARLES DICKENS, Jul.
The Sun. — 1870-10-01 (London, England)

NAVAL AND MILITA RY.  It is stated that the Sultan, 12, iron armour-plated ship, now lying in the Medway off the dockyard at Chatham, will be removed to Portsmouth for final completion on the 16th of November. A very large body of men are employed upon her at Chatham in getting her as forward as possible before she leaves. The vessel will be almost a turret-ship as well as a broadside one A member of the London Court of Common Council has given notice of his intention to propose next Thursday that £250 be contributed by the Corporation towards the fund in aid of the widows and orphans of the men who perished in the Captain. A committee of the Royal Naval Female School, Twickenham, has resolved to admit to the benefits of the Institution (so far as the rules and space will allow) the daughters of officers in the Captain. The guns already converted on Major Palliser's principle having passed the proof without rejection, the gun factories at Woolwich are proceeding with other orders for similar conversions, and further orders are expected.  The building of iron vessels for lake and river navigation in the United States is making progress, though under some difficulties, owing to the competition of the railroads, which are now carrying the bulk of the inland freight. Cincinnati, however, and Buffalo also, are constructing iron craft, the first for the Ohio, and the second for the lake and river navigation; and it is said the boats will do much more than pay their way.  - A. Prussian correspondent writes to the Lancet as follows : As regards the general character of the wounds, it may be said that those inflicted by the French balls, are vastly more dangerous than those of our own. The ball of the needle-guu being long and conical-shaped, tends to separate the tissues, and the wound in consequence shews a better tendency to heal- The chassepot bullets, being round-shaped, tear the tissues, and, being driven by a great mass of powder, they break and crack the bones in their path. The same is the effect of the mitrailleuse, and an enormous amount of serious wounds is caused by the French tactics of greeting the enemy with a hailstorm of lead. The spots of ground from which the French fired are at once known by their being covered with cartridges. Our army, composed of Hessian, Saxon, and Prussian regiments, lost on the 18th of August, 20,000 in killed and wounded, and the French are said to have lost 10,000 men ; so that this murderous battle involved a loss of 30,000 men.  DUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest holder, .0f whisky iu the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is recommend, by the-medica.l profession in preference to French brand . pima in cask and cases for home use or exportation. Quotationon application to Messrs DUNVILLE it Co., Royal Arisb bit tilleries, Beffast or at,thifl London °Wet.. 4, Restufort roiidiner %Mud, .0.
The Sun. — 1870-09-07 (London, England)

SPURGRON ON THE WAR.  If there is one part of London in which horror at the war, without sympathy fir either belligerent, may be said to express the prevalent feeling, it must be round the Surrey Tabernacle. Mr. Spurgeon since the opening of the war has exhibited unusual concern about it, and has seized opportuhities, other even than those aflbrded by his Tabernacle, of allowing the public to . know his opinions. His last 'attempt at picturing his views possesses more then the ordinary amount of argument, and vivid imagery. So persuasive is gr. S;►urgeou's language that the Peace Zociety. have tiought it worthy of adoption in the interests of their vocation. Mr. Spurgeon's expressions find vent in a letter addressed to the two leaders of the Rhine war, and the following are the more forcible of his observations :  " Did either of you ever think of what war means Did you ever see a man's head smashed, or his bowels ripped open? Why, if you are made of flesh and blood, the sight of one poor wounded man, with the blood oozing out of him, will make you' feel sick. I don't like to drown a kitten ; I can't bear even to see a rat die, or any animal in pain. But a man ! Where are your hearts if you can think of broken legs, splintered bones, heads smashed in, brains blown out, bowels torn, hearts gushing with gore, ditches full of blood 'and heaps of limbs and carcases of Mangled men ? Do not deceive yourselves, you'are no better than the cutthroats whom your own laws condemn ; better ! why you are worse, for your murders are so many. Think, I pray you, for your poor peciple will have to think whether von do or no. Is there so little want in the world that you must go trampling on the harvest with your horses and your men ? is there so little sorrow that you must make widows by the thousand ? You fight for (dory, do you? I am a plain-talking Englislfman, and I tell you the English for glory is damnation, and it will be your lot, 0 kings, if you go on cutting and.hacking your fellow men. .Stop this war if you can, at once and turn to some better business than killing men. Before the deep curses of widows and orphans fall on you from the throne of God, put up your 'butcher knives and patent men-killers, and repent."  If Mr. Spurgeon's sermons on the war are as eleetrifyirig as his letters to sovereigns,-the effect upon the ambitious young men of Surrey will be, in. a short time, very serious. At all events, the occupation afir the recruiting sergeants will be totally unnecessary, and the texts about valour and honour often making a. small man famous in a bold warfare, upon which the sergeants found their persuasive argunients, will no longer be thought worthy of being listened to.
The Sun. — 1870-12-31 (London, England)

CHRISTMAS AT VERSAILLES. Writing from Versailles, December 24, the special correspondent of the Standard at the King's Headquarters, says :—I believe that Christmas and the Reign of Peace are usually held to be convertible terms ; yet Christmas has come, and two hostile armies, each of whose forces we must count by the hundred thousand, are celebrating it in. sight of each other ; in what number we all know too well. Nevertheless, there have been unmistakeable signs in the Versailles shops and in the Versailles streets for days that a merrymalting festival was approaching. Many of the shops are now in the possession of enterprising Germans, and their windows are stocked with the good things which at the end of December commonly greet the eye. Doubtless some of the warriors made purchases in the hope they may reach little hands they themselves had taught both to frolic and to raise in prayer, little hands now clasped about a lonely woman's neck, who weeps and wonders when, if ever, the breadwinner will come home from the war. Well, let them buy what they will, there is no child's puzzle they can lay their hands on a thousandth part as puzzling as the painful, perplexing, insuperable contradictions one has to consider when two whole peoples are arrayed in murderous arms against each other, and the Gospel of Christ is withal not abolished. The distant forts greet me with a well-maintained growl. All day long the same sound has been smiting our ears; and it is evident that Paris is ,not celebrating Christmas in a humble spirit. Yet they tell us to-night, that though there has been heavy firing there has been nothing more; no fresh sortie, no further demonstrations. It is n')l fighting weather. I never remember so cold a Christmas ; and 1 should think that lying out in the open after a wound for three or four hours would to-day be sure death, Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, who has just come back from the Loire, appears to think that there will be a suspension of conflict in that quarter as long as the present weather lasts, seeing that both sides stand sorely in need of repose to recuperate their /energies. I cannot yet get at the precise truth/ as to the considerable action which is reported from near Amiens. When one is told that Manteuffel had 30,000 men, and Faidherbe 60,000—that the French were pushed back, but that other details ire wanting—one sees that no very valuable victory has beert\won. The members of the " Fourth Estate" muster sti4ingly enough at Versailles to have organised a Christmas dinner, though it should be added that it could scarcely have taken place at all, and would certainly have been only a melancholy meal, but for the spirit and energy of one amiable member of our body, who unites with a graceful pen a mastery of many languages, and a rare musical faculty, the qualifications upon which depends the successful ordering of a feast. We sate down 16 guests, the press of America being honourably represented among us. Mr. Odo Russell did us the pleasure of joining our circle, and even Prussian uniforms were not absent from the board.
The Sun. — 1870-08-30 (London, England)

CHARGE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER.  Yesterday, at the Southwark Police-court, George Martin Bailey, aged 46, who described himself as a labourer, living at 269, Kent-street, Borough, and who has lost his left arm, was charged before Mr. Benson with feloniously cutting and wounding Geo. Meyers by striking him with a knife in the abdomen, with intent to murder him, at Violetplace, Dover-road, Borough. The injured man was stabbed on Saturday night, and in consequence of the surgeons .of Guy's Hospital stating that he might die very suddenly, Mr. i3essoii, in company with Mr. Hankinson, the office-keeper, proceeded on Sunday night to the hospital, where the depositions of the sufferer were taken. After being sworn, he said—My name is George Meyers, and I live at 3, Violet-place, Dover-road, Borough. lam a porter in the Borough Market. Last night, about lialf-past nine, I was at my house, when Emma James, a woman I am living with, ran up to me. She warned to have had a blow in the face. The landlady called out, " Mr. Meyers, you are wanted." I then went down stairs to the front deor, and saw the prisoner there. Ho said, " I want a ticket of a shirt." I said, She has not got one ; if you don't go away I shall give you a ticket." lie said, " Will you ?" and I said, "Yes, I shall." I ran upstairs, put my waistcoat on, and when I got down stairs I gave him a punch on the side of the head. I said, " Now go, or I will lock you up." Immoreediately I said that he put his hand into the breast pocket of his coat. He then came close up to me, and gave me a plunge in the stomach. I felt that I was stabbed, and my entrails came out. He made no indication of opening a knife beforehand. It had happened in a moment, and I put my hand to the wound. I walked a hundred yards to look after a policeman, and I then went upstairs and lay down. I did not see what became of the prisoner. Some constables came up and took me to the hospital on a stretcher. Some one stood by when the prisoner stabbed me, but no one was near enough to stab me. I have lived with Emma James about six months. The prisoner has quarrelled with me about it, and I have heard him say he would have his revenge." After corroborative testimony, including that of Emma James, who stated that she had lived with prisoner as his wife, and left him on account of his brutality. Mr. Ashby, one of the surgeons of Guy's Hospital, said the injured man was in a very precarious condition, and no hopes were entertained of his recovery. The prisoner, who seemed to feel his position acutely, was then remanded.  A man named May has been committed for trial at Waterford, for stabbing a person named Daly, with whom he had a dispute.