npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Blackpool Herald. — 1880-02-27 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

THE OUTRAGE ON THE CZAR.  The London correspondent of the "Preston Guardian" says the news of the cowardly and murderous plot against the Czar has created a profound sensation, To common humanity there is something almost solemnly pathetic in the picture of this man, the most autocratic sovereign in the world, living in constant fear of his life, not knowing what new form the ingenuity and perseverance of the assassin may next take, A man existing in daily circumstances of this kind would excite human pity if he were the worst of his kind. But everyone knows the Czar has gone beyond all his predecessors on the throne in the endeavour to ameliorate the lot of his people. It was his band that freed the serfs, striking a blow at the foundation of the social state of Russia that might have cost him his throne. In other ways he has shown a desire to earn the title of " Little Father" which the Russian peasantry are accustomed to bestow upon their Emperor, and it is well know that he has yielded only under strong pressure and a sense of duty in sanctioning the repressive measures that followed upon the last murderous attack on his life. Now, in his 62nd year, shattered in health and broken in spirits ' • estranged from his son and heir, with his wife dying, he never knows from moment to moment from which quarter of the darkness surrounding him the hand that carries his inevitable doom may not suddenly and swiftly strike. It was not generally known or immediately recollected, that the Duchess of Edinburgh was with her father and shared his danger. It is not pleasant to record the fact that one does not perceive any traces of the thrill of gratitude and delight which doubtless filled the popular mind at the knowledge of her escape. If it had been the Princess of Wales thus so nearly escaped murder, we should probably have had a National Thanksgiving. But many reasons have conspired to prevent the Duchess of Edinburgh from being taken to the heart of the people amongst whom her lot has been cast. In the first place there is the unreasoning hatred of the Russian which large classes of the English people imbibe with their earliest food. Against this the Princess was not able to place exceptional popularity on the part of her husband. It could not be expected that a Russian would expand with affection for a race among whom a bitter enmity was cherished for her own people. Thus it has come to pass that the unfortunate Princess feels herself an alien and even an enemy among her husband's people, a condition of affairs especially aggravated by the strong Russophobism that exists among our own Royal Family. She lives in England as little as possible, and if she had met her death amid the ruins of the Winter Pa'ace of the Czar some people would have had cause for the bitter reflection that if life had been happier for her in her English home she would not have chanced to be in St. Petersburg at the fatal moment.
The Blackpool Herald. — 1880-10-01 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

THE MURDER OF AN IRISH NOBLEMAN.  A terrible murder was committed on Saturday night at a place called Rusheen, within half a mile ;of Cloubur, Cone, the victim being Viscount , Mountinorres, of Ebor Hall. It appears that his lordship attended a meeting of magistrates at the Courthouse, Clonbur, on Saturday, and was seen to . leave that town at about eight p.m. In a half hour afterwards his horse and car arrived at his I residence, a mile distant, without him. This • aroused suspicion among his family, and search having been made, be was found at Rusheen lying by the side of the road surrounded by a pool of • blood and lifeless. The police were at once sent for, and the body was conveyed to his own house. The unhappy nobleman was about 48 years of age, and, except in his own neighbourhood,, was very little known throughout Mayo or Galway. He had a small estate and farmed to some extent. He had fifteen tenants, with whom he had most unfriendly relations, and quite recently obtained ejectment decrees against some of them. As a magistrate he was also unpopular, and at the meeting of justices, which he was after attending, a resolution was passed calling upon the Government to adopt coercive measures. He appears to have received one rifle bullet in the head, penetrating his skull, three in the neck, and two in the body. Any one of them would be sufficient to cause death. A lantern was got near where the deceased lay, and a bottle of whisky was found in the well of the car. Up to quite recently he was guarded by the police. A large land meeting was held at Clonbur on :••unday. The speakers repudiated, on the part of the Land League, any connection with the horrible deed.  Father Conway, cnrate of Clonbur parish, in which the deceased lived, has expressed his strong conviction that the man Sweeney, now in custody, had nothing to do with the murder, and attributed the outrage to a well-organised scheme on the part of professional agitators. From a statement made by one of the brothers of the deceased nobleman there seems reason to believe that the perpetration of the crime had been under consideration for a week past. Further painful evidence has been afforded of the feeling prevailing in tke neighbourhood in regard io the murder. The men accompanying the hearse and mourning coach employed to remove the body from Ebor Hall to Galway for conveyance to Dublin were asked by the relatives to assist in placing the body in the coffin, but they refused to do so. They then wrangled as to the route which they should take to Galway, their inclination being to pass through the neighbourhood of a fair which was being held and which the majority of the Mountimorres tenantry were enjoying themselves, and thr,ats of violence had to he used to bring them to compliance.  BIRD'S CUSTARD POWDER  A V E'i
The Blackpool Herald. — 1880-12-31 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

THE  FEBRUARY.  X w 1 Morning. Evening. at W 1 Morning. Evening. t, D Tline.lEght Time. I light D D Time. jaght Time Hi,t 18a 1 New Year's Day 11 44 28 8 —1 Tu Partridge Shooting ends 04328 6 429 10 2 Sit *ad afterChristraw 010 28 0 035 29 4 2 W Candlemas. 125 28 2 45 29 2 3 X Qrtr. Sessions this week 1 0' 28 2 124 29 2 3Th S. Blaise. 2 6 27 1 24 27 7 4Ta Newton born 1642 1 46127 4 2 8128 54 Fr Holmtlrth flood, 1852 24825 8 125 s.5 W Bank Dividends due 230' 26 2 252 i 27 2 sBa Gen. Paoli died, 1807 1320 23 5 40 23 8 6Th Epiphany 314,24 11 33525 7 6 Sis 5011 after Epipkaayp 4421 6 32 21 8 7Fr 357! 33 3 421 23 8 TI Day 9h.11 m. long 5 4 20 1 4.1 19 10 Baa P. Albert Victor b. 1864 4 48121 8 519 21 10 BTu lialf-Qanter Day- 829 19 3 8 19 5 9Su ist after Ept 1 5551 20 6 635 21 0 9 W Darnley murdered, 1 750 19 7 29 19 10 10 X Plough Monday 1 7 15120 e 753 21 0 10 Th Q Victoria married 18471 9 420 8 I 34 20 11 11 Tu Hilary Term begins 18261 21 0 go2t 5 II Fr Washington born, 1732 95822 0 1 17 22 4 12 W S. Benedict 1 9 291 .111 PSi 22 2 12 Ba Sir AetleyCooper 0. 1841 j 10 84 23 5 1 51 23 9 13Th Cambridge Term begins 10 16123 1 1036 23 2 138. Septuagesima 11 8 2410 1 25 24 10 14 Fr Oxford Term begins 10 55 23 11 11 13 21 1 14 X 8 Valentine lii 41 25 11 1 57 23 8 15 Ba Brit.. Museum op. 1759 11 43124 10 11 48 24 9 15 To Atterbury died, 1742 18 26 8 116 Su 2nd after Epiphany 1 05238 18 W Dr. Kane died, 1857 p 029 26 5 45 27 4 17 II Battle of Falkirk, 1756 0 221 25 6 038282 17 Th 111 28 7 17 17 8 18 Tu S. Prism 054 25 8 110 28 4 18 Fr Luther died, 1546 133 28 4 49 213 6 ,19 W James Watt born, 1736 126' 25 4 142,28 2 19 Ila Copernicus born, 1473 2625 6 22 25 8 , 3.) Th Fabian, Bishop ,158' 25 10 14125 10 20 Su Sexafeedina 24024 5 59 24 3 21 Fr Louis XVI gllotnd. 1793' 2 91124 7 49125 1 21 1 Car. hettman bom, 18071 32023 4 44 22 9 22 Ba Isandula disaster, 1879 137, 23 8 27 23 11 22 To Sydney Smith died, 1845, 41222 1 45 21 3 23 8. 3rd after Epiphany 348 22 9 12 22 7 23 W Sir J. Reynolds d., 1792. 328 20 9 15 90 5 A X Day increased 1 hour .440' 21 8 14 21 424 Th S. Matthias 7721 51 28 21 1 25 Tu Conversion of S. Paul. 555 21 2 39 21 2 25 Fr Sir C. Wren died, 1723 831 23 2 10 i 3 1 28 WS. Poly I-carp 72521 9 8211126 Sa 94023 4 ' 1 625 3 27 Th Audubon died, 1851 I 8 48 23 5 22 23 5 27 Kis Qialequagesiesa 10 29 27 8 1 51 26 10 28 Fr Peter the Great d., 1725 951 25 6 1 18 25 6 281 A. Lamartine died, 181 11 13 29 0 1 3512711 La George 11l died, 1820 110 43127 4 1 8 28 11 I I 3d Su 41h after Epiphany 111 321 28 8 1 56 27 11 31 X Hilary Term ends ' 20 2° 9
The Blackpool Herald. — 1875-12-24 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

AIIIEGED DECLARATION BY HENRY THAT THOMAS WAS THE MURDERER.  A London correspondent sends the folh.wing statement purporting to be the substance of the declaration of the deceased convict, now in the possession of the Home Secretary. In giving publicity to it, we think it right to say that it was likewise published by the London ?degraph on Tuesday, together with a substantial reason for questioning its authenticity. It is as follows : " After briefly referring to his early history, Henry recounts the incidents of his connection with Harriet Lane, and throws the onus of the crime upon his brother Thomas. The story is briefly as follows :—That he grew weary of the importunities of Harriet Lane and the constant drain upon his purse; that he much straitened by the want of money, but nevertheless , Harriet Lane showed no relaxation in her demands; that she had threatened, unless he gave her more money, she would expose him to the world as the father of her children, which to a manin his then social position meant ruin and degradation; that he mentioned these circumstances to his brother Thomas, who assured him that for a consideration of £2O he was confident he could get some man to marry her or take her away; that he subsequently supplied Thomas with the sum in question on the assurance that she was to be got rid of in the manner indicated; that one day Thomas went to at 84, Whitechapel road, and said he had got rid of her, and on being asked how, replied that he had shot her, and that she was lying at 215, Whitechapel road. Henry exclaimed, ' Good God, Tom, what have you done?' and threatened to ' inform the police of the commission of the crime, whereupon Thomas replied that if he did so be would swear Henry did it, and added that inasmuch as the body was lying upon his premises, ard that she was Henry's paramour, and from his circumstances had every apparent mode of getting rid of her, that his (Thomas's) story would be believed in preference to that of Henry. Hereupon, in a moment of excitement, it was decided to bury th'e body, and this Thomas undo'took to do and actually did. The well-known fire baying occurred on the premises, the effluvia ,f Toth the remains being of an unpleasant character, and the officials of the Sun Fire ()Weo being expected every day to make an inspection of the premises, it was arranged between them that a box was to be made, and the remains taken away to the Hen and Chickens. Thomas arranged to procure this, but neg. Meted to do so, and hence the purchase of the oilcloth wherein the remains were deposited for removal. Previous to this Thomas, by means of the chopper and • pade, mutilated the body. When the time came for ;isting in the removal, the packages having been ‘ady prepared, and as delay. was consequently dan. 'a, Thomas failed to put m an appearance, and •non Henry, thinking be might rely upon the he -*a, accordingly engaged his services, with what already been seen." NS 7;0 THE HOME S EnETARX. 'T Tan
The Blackpool Herald. — 1890-08-22 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

THE BARBEE.  The barber is a treacherous creature. He is sever to be depended upon. He has been known ic cut his best friends. He is SiSirtarkably sharp in a business trantaction, and he will shave yom if you will give him a chance. The barber is a strapping fellow, and is ever ready to razor row. I have frequently seen him take a man by the nose without the least provocation. He always wants his " hone" way, and is every ready for a brush. He has his short com(b)ings, to be sore, and is apt to stir up your dander; but he has a very smooth tongue, and knows how to lay on the lather. He is generally honest in his judgments, and sincere in pooh-poohing shams and delusions; but at the same time be is given to a'great deal of shampoohing. I can't say that he yeas ever charged with murder, but thousands of people dye in his shop yearly. The barber is a very secretive fellow. You will find locks everywhere about his place. He has little recreation. Curling is his chief amusement. He always stands well in his profession. You will generally find him at the head. He never makes game of his work, unless hairdressing may be considered a rare bit of pleasantry. The barber's wife goes shopping, just like other women, though she ought to be able to get hirsute at her husband's establishment. She probably prefers to whisker-round elsewhere.  you*  IS CONSUMPTION CURABLE I If the Medical Congress in Berlin result in the `professional acceptance of the accuracy of the one statement that a specific cure has been discovered for consumption, there is no portion of the habitable globe to which the news would bring greater joy and hope than to the Three Kingdoms, and the Congress shall not have assembled in vain. Consumption is the plague of our humid climate, and there are few of our towns and villages where the insidnous disease has not had-its victims in every class of life. The famous Professor Robert Koch has been for a lengthened period experimenting on the bacillus of tuberculosis. To him belongs the distinction of discovering that beelike and all also the bacillus of cholera. He makes no concealment of the fact that he is acquainted with several substances which:will destroy the bacillus when acted upon outside the diseased organ. But he has also discovered one substance which will destroy it within the affected part. Professor Koch has the reputation of being a most careful man, and when he is announced as sanguine over this matter the chances are that he has made certain of this great discovery. He has experimented on vertebrate animals that are also mammals, and his experiments are said to have been cnewned with success. Of course he has not mentioned the nature of the remedy which he has discovered. But he would not make the declaration which he has made before the Congress if he had mach hesitancy or doubt. The discovery has natataily excited the most lively interest.  "
The Blackpool Herald. — 1881-11-04 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

FEII.III. Up the quiet lane that led to the liouse, which, as a rule, was so seldom trodden by the 'f eet of men or the feet: of women, a constant stream of  visit ors was to be seen. The Coroner's inquest on George Rendall's body was held in the parlour of the farm house, about twelve o'clock. Indeed, there was no other house near enough to the scene of the murder for it to be held in. The jury viewed the body in the loft first, and then a lengthened inquiry was held in the parlour. But nothing further was discovered. Jean, or Jenny, Wren, somewhat stumbled and contradicted herself, however, in giving her evidence. She was asked when she had last seen the murdered man before (as she had previously stated) she found his dead body lying in the loft. Upon this question being asked, Jenny blushed, and fidgetted. ' cannot call to mind quite," she said. "What," said the Coroner, "not when you last saw your young master before you discoveLred him lying dead Did you see him after dinner?" Jenny twisted her stout, comely form about uneasily. "Did you see him after dinner?" repeated the Coroner. I "Yes," said Jenny, as if unwilling. I " Whero ii,ked the Coroner. ' Again Jenny hesitated. Then she said— ' " I saw him u the stable—he said L,3 was going tt  Fothergal's." "Had you a long conversation? irgat ts;fie did be say ?" was thol asked. "I can't call to mind," said Jenny. "I'm not very certain I did see him in the stable—but I thiak so— d had a host to do that day with it being the New Year, and we had a bit better dinner nor usual, though is wasn't much. Still it pat other things out of my ' head—Geori.e wonted his bo,ts---." "Then yea did. ti::d him 1" inquired the Coroner ieverely. " I—l—think so," hesitated Jenny, and on the whole her evidence gave an unfavourable impression 'against her. But she held fast to her original story about the manner in which she found George's body. "Master sent me to lock in," she said, "and before I locked the stable up, as I had the lantern wi' me, I thought I would like to ha' a look at George's things." "Had you any particular motive for examining his things ?" inquired the Coroner. Again Jenny blushed and fidgetted. "I wanted to know something," she said. "Folks talked about him keeping company wi' Mary Futhergal —and—l wanted to know." "Oh l" said the Coroner, and he looked at Mr. Inspector I'ye, who smiled pleasantly in reply to the Coroner's glance. Then old Rendall was called. He looked old, shaken, and broken down, and he proved that there was no other person known to be on the farm premises on New Year's Day but himself, his Unfortunate son George, and his niece Maud Eliot, and the servant-maid Jenny Wren. His two lads were enough to work the farm in the slack time, he said; in the spring, summer and harvest time they engaged help. But during the three winter months George and Robert did what was needed. He had lost his right hand when he lost George. And the old man began to whimper as he concluded his statement. He was asked if he knew of awyone who bore to his deeessed son,
The Blackpool Herald. — 1881-11-25 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

SUPPOSED MURDER OF A CHILD AT FLEETWOOD.  THE INQUEST. An int.,uest on the body of a child, reported in our last mile as having been found in a watercourse along the Cops, eves held before Mr. Coroner Gilbertson, at the Fleetwood Police Station, on Friday afternoon last. The following gentlemen composed the jury :—Ainsworth Harrison, (fm, man), Alexander Davies, James Harvey, Richard J..linson, Adam Greenvood, Daniel William Dickinson, Henry Miller' Janes Pratt, William Gornall, William Bennett, Alfred John Callund, and John Wilding. The first witness called uas Jotter SMITH, labouisr, 64, Fronton-street, who said—l found the body in the watercourse a'ong the , Cops about 100 yards this side ot what is called the Broadwater Wood, about a mile from Fleetwood. It was about a quarter to one o'clock on the afternoon of Wednesday. We were coming to Fleetwood at the time. I eldn't think it w..,s a child, but was under the implession that it was a dead dog with the hair off it till I went and looked at it. I turned it over and examined it, and found it to be a child. I left it there, and came and reported it to the serge ,nt of the police, going back with him an 1 assisting in its removal to the mortuary. JOHN AUGUSTINE Olen, practical surgeon, was then examined by the Coroner, as follows—Have you examined the child? Yes, yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.—ls it the body of a full-grown, no.' ly-born, male child? Yes, newly born.—Have you been able to form any opinion as to how long it has been dead, or how long it lived before it died! It certainly has breathed for some time.—You took out the lung? Yee—And you are certain that it has breathed? lam perfectly certain that it has breathed.—Can you a.y for how long? It certainly breathed from half an hour to an hour. One lung was full and perfectly buoyant. The left lung WA not so full.—Are there any marks of violence on the body? Well, there was a very minute fracture of one of the bones of the skull, but it was very trivial.—You think it had nothing to do with the cease of death? No; there was no blood about, it.—Was the body clothed? Oh no, not when I saw it.—Was there any apparent neglect? There was. The child had evidently not been attended at birth.—To what do you attribute the cause of death? To suffocation.—You don't think it has been drowned? No. If it had been drowned I should have expected to find Rater in the mouth and windpipe, but it was perfectly free from either water or mud. The stomach also was perfectly empty.—You think it was dead when put into the water? I do.—Why do you think it died from suffocation? Because it had breathed, and I could not discern any other cause.—lt might have died from exposure? Oh, yes, very possibly, but it wee not drowned.  By Mr. DICKINSON: There was no bruise or sink thing to show that it had been strangled? Not; There were no outward signs of suffocation.—lf anything had been tied round its neck, I suppose, it would have shown?  _ The
The Blackpool Herald. — 1881-12-02 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

EXECUTION OF SIMPSON, THE  PRESTON MURDERER.  Within the precincts of Strangeways Prison, Manchester, John Aspinall Simpson was on Monday ,morning executed for the murder of his sweetheart,' Ann Ratcliffe, at Preston, on the 3rd August. Notwithstanding that the morning was cold and damp a large crowd assembled on the vacant land facing the gaol at a quarter to eight o'clock, and waited patiently for the hoisting of the black flag, the first indication given to the world outside that the law had been carried into effect. A strong wind was blowing at the time, and the warder to whom was entrusted the duty of running the flag up the staff found the task somewhat difficult to accomplish, as it became entangled in the cords, and after it had been partly hoisted had to be taken down and put straight. The execution took place at eight o'clock, and was strictly private, not a single representative of the press being admitted. Simpson, we are informed, passed a restless night, and slept but very little. He rose at an early hour and quietly dressed himself. Be was visited at six o'clock by the prison chaplain, who prayed and conversed with him for some time. Judging from the culprit's demeanour the chaplain believes that he was fully penitent, though he never unburdened his mind to the rev. gentleman. It would seem that he hal been reading and studying the 6th, 7th, and Bth chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel during Sunday night; as the Bible in his cell was left open by him at those rages. He ate sparingly of the breakfast which was supplied to him, oonsisting of bread and butter and tea. al ar wood arrived at the prison on Sunday night and superintended the final arraopmenta for the execution. Shortly before einht o'clock on Monday morning he entered the condemned cell, and at once proceeded with the work of pinioning the culprit. Simpson went through the ordeal with surprising coolness, and he walked to the scaffold with as firm a step as anyone who took part in the melancholy procession. First came the chaplain reading the introductory sentences of the burial service, and he was followed by the under-sheriff, the gaol surgeon, the governor, the condemned man (who walked between two warders), and Marwohd. Simpson joined in the responses in a voice which was audible to all present, and he walked upon the scaffold and placed himself under the drop without the least assistance. He had on a pair of "pepper and salt" trousers, and a black worsted coat and vest. He continued to join in the service until the white cap was drawn over his face. He was rather under the average height and weight, and Marwood therefore gave him a drop of between &gilt and nine feet. Be struggled for fully a minute after the bolt was withdrawn, indicating, as was stated by the surgeon at the inquest, that death was caused by strangulation, The crowd outside the gaol gradually dispersed alter the black flag had been hoisted.