npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1841-10-23 (London, England)

UNITED STATES.  PHILADELPHIA, OCT. I.—The mail for the Boston steamer to Liverpool had not quitted this city an hour, before a gentleman called whose friend had that moment arrived direct from Utica, which town he left on Tuesday night. As the Liverpool packet from this port is now getting under way, I avail myself of a few moments to give you the pith of his conversation. He was on his way home from Ohio, and intended to come through Pennsylvania, but hearing so much of the M‘Leod case, he thought he would stop a day or two at Utica, and possess himself of the exciting news. He fancied that that town would preseht a scene of interest and anxiety, without parallel in the Union for many years, especially as the account of the secret "Hunters .odges," and of armed men had been so vividly coloured. Imagine his surprise, then, to find very little excitement, indeed not more than occurs on ordinary trials for murder in Philadelphia, and the great masses of the population attending to their business as usual. True, something like a stir existed in the immediate vicinity of the Court, and at the hotels where the prineipal witnesses, reporters for the Press, Mackenzie, Sutherland, 'Teller, newsruongers and panic-makers were sojourning. The evidence,' it was generally understood, would be very contradictory, especially as some of the witnesses on both sides were said to be without character. Still the prevailing sentiment among the moderate and reflecting was, that M‘Leod would be able to prove an alibi. My' friend asked him " did you hear much of the patriots ?" " No," he replied. " I heard little or nothing about them; there are such, however, and they have secret lodges. In short, much of the excitement that prevails in the large cities on the subject, and many of the alarming rumours that are circulated, gathering in magnitude as they-go, like a rolling snowball, are little better than humbug." I quote the 'very words of the gentleman alluded to, who is one of our most respectable citizens, and a member of the Society of Friends. Most of the proceedings of the Patriots are doubtless a profound secret—but, founding an opinion on the information of the citizen just arrived here from Utica, I am convinced their numbers are much smaller than has bsien represented: Still they must be considerable, and the danger must be, or must have been imminent, as the President of the I.W.ted States, acting from official information, issued his Proclamation on the subject, and despatched troops to the frontier to keep the peace. The fi:ontier and M‘Leed excitement has had a de' pressing influence on the Money Markets, from the impression that so generally prevails of the intentions of the so-called "Patriots ' to embroil England and the United States in difficulties, if not war. Letters from Savannah, Georgia, say that the United States Government declines giving permission for a depot for the new British mail steamers at Cockspur, in the South, on the ground that they would probably injure the American trading vessels in taking passengers and letters.—Chro. nicle's Correspondent.
The Sun. — 1841-03-22 (London, England)

TIATTON-GARDEN.  Harriet Langley, a fine-featured young woman, 21 years of age, was charged with the wilful murder of her infant, under circumstances of a most heartrending nature.  Sergeant King, of the N division of pace, stated  . . that on Friday evening, about the hour of eight, the prisoner called at the station-house, and delivered herself into his custody, on the charge of having murdered her offspring ; at the same time expressing a desire for witness to walk with her a short distance, and she would point out the spot where the body would be found. She appeared so distressed in mind that witness had not the slightest doubt of the correctness of her awful admission, and he accompanied her to the New River, in front of Owen's-row, Clerkenwoll ; she then said, if search were made there, the lifeless remains of her babe would be discovered. Witnesit caused the water to be d egged, and in the course of two hours the body was taken out. The unfortunate prisoner afterwa-ds informed witness that the child was born three weeks ago in Maid• stone gaol, where she (tile mother) was imprisoned for vagrancy ; and that when it was a fortnight old she was liberated, but had no home to go to. On the day she committed the act for which her life, she said, might ray the forfeiture, she went to the overseers of St. Marylebone. and was tell that nothing could be done for her, as she did not belong to them. She wandered about, scarcely knowing whithor she was going, her sole attention being turned to the poor babe, whose cries for food were working her up to a pitch of madness, her breast having ceased to afford the 1 unfortunate little creature its wonted nourishment. She at length found herself in Owen's-row, and, setting herself on the step of a door, she put her infant to her bosom. It sucked in vain, and in despair she flung it it into the stream, and saw no more of it- until it was brought out by witness. In answer to the Magistrate, Serjeant King said that the usual means were used by Mr. Edmondson, surgeon, of Clerkenwell, to restore animation of the body, but all was of no avail. Mr. COMBE told the prisoner that he should remand her until that day week, when it would be his painful duty to commit her to Newgate. Janus Johnson alias Jones, who, in answer to Mr. Combe, said he lived at " No. 2, over the water," but in what street he could not tell, was charged with stealing two sovereigns, the money of Mr. James Watts, the proprietor of the White Horse, No, 100, Holborn. The case excited an extraordinary decree of interest, the description of depredation being of a novel character. It has, however, been attended with very extraordinary success. The prosecutor's son stated that on Friday the prisoner and anot.her man entered his father's house aid called for some refreshrreat at the bar. They spoke to him about the spirit taps leaking, and wanted to examiue them, the prisoner contending that it was at tno part
The Sun. — 1841-08-07 (London, England)

PERSIA. A French officer, who went into Persia with Hussein Khan, and has lately returned to Paris, has furnished with the following account of the present state of that country. When he left Teheran, Persia was in the terrible crisis of a civil war. Ali Mirza, a Lear relation 0 the Shah, long in the pay of England, and urged by hi: protectors, had raised the standard of revolt. As then is always some one of the Khans in rebellion, this woule have been only a common occurrence had not Ali Mimi, shown all the signs of serious warfare. Thus, he collected 'an army of 10,000 men, made himself master o the southern part of the empire, and led the Shah to fear an attack. Exasperated by these apprehensions the. Shah spread the terror he felt on all around him. HiF government, at no time paternal, became sanguinary and, using the dreadful privilege he holds of decapitatio: by his own free will, he cut off as many as thirty, am' sometimes forty, heads a day on mere suspicion of treason. Mirza Ali, (who must not be confounded with Al: Mirza ; Mirza, when placed after the name, signifying Prince), was dismissed with disgrace from his office 01 Minister of Foreign Affairs, and reduced to such a state of destitution that he thinks himself fortunat, when able to buy two sous-worth of melon. His successor is Mirza Aboul Hassan Khan, his uncle, who takes goof. care not to show his relationship to his distressed nephew b \ any act of charity or commisseration. The Shah's w rati. generally extends over a whole house, and when the chief denounced, every. subaltern is iftidanger. Thus Mirz: Mohammet Ali, the secretary of the ex-Minister, narrow-I; escaped with his life : being called into the presence e the Shah, the fatal li:ow7string was drawn round his throat, and his-ktongue was already protruding from hi. mouth, when the Prince ordered the cord to be relaxed. and in hia caprice even allowed him to resume his functions under his patron, who is his uncle. The Shah', rage also fell upon Hussein Khan, the late Ambassadot to France, who so shamefully treated the Freud officers that were induced to go with him into Persia. Thik ex-Ambassador had six hundred strokes applied t, the soles of his feet—was then thrown, half dead, into ditch, and reduced to a state of distress equal to tha Hof Mirza Ali. Every one around the despot trembles Mirza Hadgi Agassi, who has long been his Prime Ali nister, is the only one who has hitherto escaped the sus picions of his master, and whose favour seems to increase with the embarrassments of the Prince. The disorder arising from this state of civil war and tyrannical system of government may be easily conceived. Genera. Damns and all the officers who accompanied him are returning to France. One of the latter has been murdered in a caravansary on the road, and his assassin: have not been brought to punishment. They arc know!. to be the muleteers who served him as guides. '
The Sun. — 1841-05-04 (London, England)

ATTORNE Y-GENERAL opposed the amendment. The subject to which the clause related was one of great difficulty and embarrassment. There were many arenas of the most revolting nature which came within its operation, but there were others of a less aggravated nature. Notwithstanding all the attention which he had given to the matter he had been unable to frame provisions which would exclude the punishment of death in certain cases of the kind, and would retain it in others. The only ' course, therefore, he saw open to them was to abolish the capital punishment in all the cases in question. Sir R. H. INGLIS supported the principle of the amendment. He thought every Hen. Member should consider the subject as if it related to the members of his own family. Lord DUNGANNON did not wish to see the punishment of death abolished altogether, in regard to the crime to which the clause referred. There were certainly cases of a more and cases of a less aggravated character, but he thought the punishment to be awarded might be safely left to the discretion of the Judge.. Me. O'CONNELL said the worst feature of our criminal law was the quantity of discretion left with the Judge—it made- the punishment uncertain. Let them make the conviction as certain as possible, and let the punishment follow as a matter of course, and then the crime would be checked. He instanded the case of two gypsies NI were convicted of stealing 18/, from a pensioner in the neighbourhood of Monmouth about four years ago--they were transported for life, and at the lapse of two years it was found out they were entirely innocent, and were brought home at the Government expense. Under the old law they would Gave what position would they then bavveebbeen executed, and in Lord DARLINGTON defended thebeen ? character of the Learned Judge who tried Misters,he was tried in a crowded Court, and there was not a his being guilty of the atrocious ciirtiec"d opinion as to imputed to him. In ins opinion the Judges generally had exercised their discretion in a sound manner. Mr. HOB HO US B opposed the amendment, and derecated any extension of the discretion of the Jud p Magee' ice Mr. GODSON supported the clause. Man tions would be had if the crime was reduced to yaconv portable offence, which now were lost, because Jurietsrahnawsi a horror of the punishment of dbath. Lord J. RUSSELL said the object of legislation Was to present crime, and in his opinion that would bestbe done by ensuring convictions, which could only be done by abolishing the punishment of death as attached to such a crime.  • 4  ' Sir R. PEEL could not concur in the feeling that the punialment of death should be abolished in the cases of murder, attempts to murder, or rape. Mr. C. BULLER supported the clause. Captain POLHILL hoped the Hon. Baronet would withdraw his amendment, and I;.‘t the division be taken On the clause itself. He was strongly opposed to it. and would certainly vote against it. Sir C. DOUGLAS withdrew his amendment.
The Sun. — 1841-08-27 (London, England)

THEODORE HOOK, ESQ. We regret to have to record the death of this eminent wit and novelist, which, we understand, took place on the night of Tuesday last. Mr. Hook's father was a wellknown musical composer, and much of his ready talent appears to have been inherited by his son, who, even in early youth, was remarkable for his facility of improvising songs, which he would furnish also with extempore words, and sing at the piano with a skill and an expression that made him a general favourite in the fashionable circles. He first came before the public, we believe, as a writer of melodrames and farces ; but he was by no means excellent as a dramatist, for his Tekeli, though it attained a certain popularity, is sad stuff ; and his Killing No Murder owed its success almost entirely to the admirable acting of Liston. Mr. Hook's next efforts were political. He was one of the chief contributors to the John Bull at the period of its first establishment, and much of its popularity was owing to his humourous prose and verse, which he wrote with great spirit and ease, though there was at times a rancorous personality about his writings, which cannot be too severely reprobated. Tired of politics, which he understood but superficially, and never cordially entered into, Mr. Hook next turned his attention to prose fiction, for which his social habits and quick apprehension of peculiarities in character eminently qualified him. He is the author of upwards of a dozen tales or more, all of which evince great knowledge of town life, great powers of caricature, great ease and spirit of style, and, it must ' be added also, great negligence, both in the disposition of incident, and the construction of plot. His " Jack Brag" is perhaps his master•piece ; at any rate, the chief character is drawn with more breadth and vigour than its author ever evinced before or since ; and will give the reader a clearer insight into his peculiar turn of mind than any of his other productions. We have said that Mr. Hook was a discerning judge of character ; we wish we could add that he was a kindly and profound one. But he seldom pierced below the surface ; it was with manners rather than with emotions that he dealt ; the human heart was a mystery that escaped his penetration, and which apparently he did not much care to solve. The spirit that pervades his tales—disguised though it is beneath a show of broad drollery—is one of utter scepticism, as respects the more elevated and generous feelings of humanity. He is a decided satirist, quick and eager to point ,out the follies and vices of human nature, but slow to believe in the existence of its good qualities. We may add, by way of wind-up, that Mr. Hook was a max of little or no reading, but of considerable conversational talent ; full of anecdote and arch repartee ; and in habits of familiar intercourse with many of the most distinguished men of his day. Those who have had the good fortune to be in his company, will long_ remember the vivacity of his manner, and the arch twinkle of his eye, when relating a droll story, and the heartiness with which he enjoyed the wit and humour of others.
The Sun. — 1841-07-31 (London, England)

MARYLEBONE. On Thursday Eli:abeth Maxwell was placed at the bar for final examination, on the charge of having attempted to murder her husband, James Maxwell, by plunging into his back a dessert knife. A few particulars connected with the case have already appeared, and it will be remembered that at the first investigation, which was gone into on the 12th inst., the sufferer was unable to attend in consequence of his being confined to liial3ed in Middlesex Hospital, in which Institution he remained for some time in so dangerous a condition as to render it doubtful if he would recover. Ever since the period of the first remand the prisoner had been in a very desponding state of mind, and on her being brought into the court yesterday burst into a flood of tears, at the same time covering her face with her hands. The wounded man, who still seemed to be suffering very much from weakness, got up with some difficulty into the witness-box, when his wife looking steadfastly at him, and, on his turning towards her he appeared so much overpowered by his feelings as to be scarcely able to stand. The prosecutor, the driver of one of Hansom's patent cabs, on being sworn, stated with considerable reluctance the particulars of the case, and • with tears in his eyes, informed the Magistrate that he did not wish to press the charge. George Hunt, Gloucester-mews, deposed, that on the day in question, between one and two o'clock, he went home and found the prisoner sitting in his house crying ; he asked her what it was for, when she said, that for two hours she had been following her husband, who was in company of Mrs. Cooper. They were out eating and drinking together, and her (prisoner's) feelings were more than she could endure. Edmund Weller, one of the party at the public-house, said that he saw the prisoner look in at the parlour-door. She went away, and in a quarter of an hour afterwards she returned. She immediately quitted as before, and at the same moment prosecutor exclaimed " See what's the matter with my back." Witness told him he was stabbed, and drew from his back a white handled dessert knife ; he then led him to a surgeon's in the neighbourhood, and subsequently conveyed him in a cab to the hospital. Mrs. Cooper, the female previously alluded to, stated that, while sitting in the parlour of the City of Hereford, she saw the door open ; one of the company said to Maxwell, " that's your wife,"" when he replied, " No, it's not, she wouldn't do such a thing as come after me." Soon after this she (witness) heard a voice exclaim— " Take that," and at the same instant the door, which had been opened by some one, shut to. Maxwell fell with his head across the table, saying to Weller, " Oh, take that out !" Weller then took from Maxwell's back a knife, and witness saw no more ; she was so much terrified that she left the house. The surgeon from the hospital was examined, and his evidence went to allow that the wound' inflicted was of a very serious and alarming description. The prisoner was fully committed for trial.
The Sun. — 1841-06-10 (London, England)

THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Sta—Our worthy representative, E. B. Clive, Esq., M.P., presented to Parliament on the 2d instant a petition from the city of Hereford, praying for the removal of those unwise and unjust laws which deny the right of the people to exchange the produce of their labour for the productions of other countries, and which sanction tie iniquitous monopolies in corn, sugar, and other food ; and that those measures introduced by her Majesty's Ministers may not be obstructed; ire. The petition was signed by persons professing every shade of politics, Whigs, Tories, Radicals, and Chartists, the whole number amounting to 1,007, obtained in three days; among them the Mayor and Magistrates, the Aldermen and Town Council, several of the resident clergy of the Establishment, all the Dissenting ministers except the 'Wesleyan minister, with the names of the oldest and most influential tradesmen of the citNy. ow, Sir, as your paper is more read in this city than any other, I was rather surprised that it was not reported when the petition was presented. I trust you will take an opportunity of doing so. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, Hereford, June 9, 1841. F. W. H. [ We do no, see any notice of the petition in the ether papers, and p;obably Mr. Clive was not heard. Our Correspondent would not complain if he knew the difficulty reporters have s,Nroetinies in catching the names of Members and ulaces. ]  AI:•LEGED MURDER AT D EPT FO R greatest;excitement has prevailed in Deptford since Tuesday, in consequeOP of a woman having been discovered with her throat cut, in a house occupied by a man named Thomas, in Giffen-street, in the above neighbourhood. Suspicion has fallen on a man n:ssned Jacobs, who has been tacit into custody. On inquiry into the case yesterday at the Police-court, before Mr. Jeremy, it transpired that. the prisoner had long resided separately from his wife, and on the night previous to the murder, brought home the deceased woman with him. Jacobs's statement before the Magistrate ran thus :—He met the deceased about 1 o'clock in the street. She came to him and asked him if he could tell of a lodging, adding that she had come from Rotherhithe. He offered her to go with him, which she agreed to. He went to sleep and did not awake till 7 o'clock. When he first woke she was sitting up. He said, t, Why don't you lie down ? " The clock struck 7. Deceased asked what time it was, and he told her. He afterwards went to sleep, and was awoke by the rattling of the deceased's throat. She was sitting up, and had her gown turned over her head. The blood was streaming from her throat. The razor was lying in her lap. It was nearly shut up, and she appearel nearly exhausted. He ran down stairs without speaking or doing anything to her, or touching the razor. His own razor w:s at the other lodging, and had a black handle. ' When they first Went in deceased asked for a light, but he could not get one. The prisoner said he had nothing further Ito add. Mr. Jeremy real the statement over, and the prisoner said it was correct. An inquest will be held on the body tomorrow.