npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1864-04-22 (London, England)

MALMESBURY—I am quite sure that is best to treat the matter with all discretion under the cir• because the conference now stands adjourned. I think that curnstances about to take Place—l say about to take place, the noble earl is right in the answer he gave in reference to an armistice, but I must say on my own part, that I hope that the noble earl and the Government will be on their guard against a repetition of these postponements. (Hear, hear.) It is impossible not to see the obvious consequences of future postponements ; it is evident to every one that the parties to meet in the conference may make use of these postponements to come before the conference in a different position to that in which they are at this moment. I therefore trust the noble earl and her Majesty's Government will employ themselves in noting most accurately what excuses may be made for a further postponement ; because in this instance, looking in the distance, and at what I know myself has been the course taken by the gentleman to whom the noble earl has alluded, I confess I am extremely suspicions as to the excuse made on this occasion being sincere Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE said it was satisfactory to observe that both sides of the house recognised the importance of avoiding discussion under present circumstances. He had no reason to doubt that her Majesty's Government had already in mind the observations made by the noble earl on the ether side. At the same time it appeared to him great value attached to what had fallen from his noble friend. It was satisfactory to those who observed what was passing that the attention of both sides of the house was directed to the proper disposition of this conference. He felt he was justified in those observations by what was occurring. It seemed to him impossible for an, one to read the accounts of what had transpired with regard to Sonderborg, and to the continuance of those hostilities which were being carried out in a murderous spirit, and likewise with regard to the apparent intention of extending those hostilities to the other principal fortress of Denmark and throughout Jutland, without recognising the great importance that attached to the spirit in which the conference assembled. He trusted that the progress of the conference would be accelerated, and that its proceedings would be brought to a happy end. (Hear, hear.) Earl RUSSELL said that the noble earl opposite was to quitew h justified tt ihfie ne dc oinnf es raeyi cneg he had a right to ask a question, as would begin. But with regard to his observations generally, it was just to all parties to remember, that when Austria and Prussia had declared their willingness to enter the conference, and when that proposition was made by him to Denmark, the answer he received tune t consider the whole subject. He, c the answer would not be pressed o was that there was so much excitement at the time at Copenuh angt theythatil h that me: ruer court Imo therefore, did not press it for a fortnight. At the expiration of that time ho communicated the answer of Denmark to on sor part.fßerlin and Vienna, and no objection was taken h te their
The Sun. — 1864-06-15 (London, England)

BREVET. Colonel Henry Aylmer, on the retired full pay Royal Artillery, to be Major General, the rank being honorary only. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Thomas Trower, 103 d Foot, who retires upon a pension, to have the honorary rant et Colonel. 10 of the Paymaster Roger Sheehy, 74th Foot, to have the honorary rank of Captain. Hon. Assist Surgeon Samuel Mason, in medical charge of the Lunatic Asylum at Madras, to have the honorary rank of Surgeon. The undermentioned officers, having completed the qua" lifying service with the rank of Lieut Colonel, to be colonels, under the provisions of the Royal warrant of the 1401 of October, 1858 : Lieut Colonel George Bourchier. C,8., Royal ArtilleryLieut Colonel Wm Olpherts, C. 8., Royal Artillery. Lieut Colonel Thomas Bromhead Butt, 79th Foot. sth West India Regiment—Capt. James Henry Lawrenco• Archer, trom the 60th Foot, to be Captain, vice Tfifer, who exchanges.  Discovery of the Body of a Female in Thames.  An inquest was held on Monday night at the King's Arms Tavern, Rotherhithe, on the body of le female, which was discovered a few days since 10 the river Thames in a state of nudity. This strange and suspicious circumstance created considerable excitement in the neighbourhood, the belief being that the unfortunate woman had been murdered and the body having been stripped thrown into the water. The matter was communicated to Sir B: Mayne, and two detective officers were instructed to make every inquiry, which they had done, but without effect. Both the officers alluded to were present during the proceedings of the inquest. William Dixon, a labourer, living in Elephant" land, Rotherhithe, deposed that on Friday he was et work on board a dredger off the Horns publichoueet Rotherbithe Stairs. About ten minutes after ten o'clock in the morning he (witness) noticed some` thing at the bottom of the water, and directly after a dead body rose to the surface, and he with afootance succeeded in securing it. An officer afterwards took charge of the body, and it was taken to the dead-house of the parish. The body was much decomposed, and had no clothing on whatever. Dr. W. Mindock, of Rotherbithe, stated that he had examined the body, and found it was that of a female apparently about thirty years of age. The, body, which was perfectly naked, was far advance' in a state of decomposition. One of the lips was wanting, and the head was denuded of hair. The deceased had no doubt been in the water fora con' siderable time.  The learned Coroner said there was no doubt the case was one of a most singular character. Vaft)" tunately, however, it was impossible, from the state of decomposition of the body, to make any ideal' fication so that further inquiries might be Made' Again, as there were no clothes, there was n° chance of gaining-any clue in that way. He 1;1° afraid the case could not be oarried any further, but of course if the police heard of anything more they could act upon it. The Jury ultimately returned an open verdict, to the effect that the deceased was found dead in the river Thames, bat how she came there there was no evidence to show.
The Sun. — 1864-01-22 (London, England)

HENRY LENNOX. has given notice of a motion to inquire into the exercise of that power. This is very desirable, and it is a matter of congratulation that the noble lord has taken up the case in earnest, and so promptly found an occasion for its discussion. It is too important to be neglected, too solemn to be trifled with, and concerns a question of too grave an import to be left any longer at the discretion of those who seem quite unfitted to exercise their lofty trust with meet discernment and impartial conduct. It must not be permitted that the law should rest in the state it is now, for in a short time the deleterious effect of such a procedure would be painfully visible, and the increased number of murders would swell the aggregate of crimes to a fearful extent. All who had rich or powerful friends at hand could easily put forward the plea of insanity ; and a little stretch of ingenuity and a small share of invention would make a very creditable case for court, and furnish ample evidence to swear by. Such devices may suit those who practise them, and serve the ends for which they are designed, but they never can be consonant with the spirit and the sentiment of a virtuous people, or enable our lawyers and judges so to administer the law and deal out its pains and penalties that vice and wickedness may be punished as they deserve, and finally, so far as possible, be uprooted from their stronghold among us. This ought to be the object borne in mind by those who attempt altering and changing the statutes, more often, it is to be feared, to suit their own fancies thau the national interest.  The addresses of oar popular representatives have lost much of their interest, now the armistice in the battle of politics is so nearly at an end. Nevertheless the opinions of a member of the Government are sufficiently important to form some exception to this rule, and the speech of the President of the Board of Trade will certainly attract a good deal of attention from the general public, as well as from his audience at Ashton-under-Lyne. The right hon. gentleman touched upon many topics—on the cotton trade and the American war, first and foremost, as befitted his constituency ; on the state of trade generally, on reform, and on the Danish question—on the latter displaying a due amount of official ambiguity and reserve. His opinions on some of these subjects must have been M issue with those of many of his hearers—still less will they commend themselves to the general sense of the public. In the question of the great civil war, which is now desolating the fairest portion of the western hemisphere, his sympathies are entirely with the North, He adopts that construction which the friends of the Federals are so eager to put upon their unreasonable persistence in this cruel and hopeless struggle—he regards the war as a war for the ex. tinction of slavery. It is fervently to be hopea
The Sun. — 1864-01-22 (London, England)

THE EDITOR OP THE SUN.  Sin,--Are wilful deliberate murderers to escape merely because they happen to be rich ? Under the act of 1840 two surgeons or physicians aro to certify when a prisoner, removed to a lunatic asylum on the ground of insanity, has come to his senses again. It is now beyond dispute that Townley was never mad at all, except according to the crotchets of certain " psychologists,' whose theories about the philosophy of the human mind are themselves nothing less than the dreams of a disordered brain. The Derbyshire magistrates, in their last communication to Sir George Grey, place the matter beyond all doubt. The certificate of insanity which caused Townley to be reprieved, seems to have been obtained upon a misunderstanding—or, as plain I spoken people would call it, false pretences. It seems that the givers of the certificate signed it, or some of them sighed it, under the impression that it was to be used, not to reprieve Townley and frustrate justice, but for the purpose of bringing about a full and proper investigation into his state of mind. Matters can never be suffered to remain as they are. Then, again, as the magistrates shoe, there are other objections to the validity of the certificate. One is that the only certificate which was legal in itself, and apart from the grounds upon which it was obtained, was not given and dated until after the reprieve was issued and dated; so that there is nothing to support the reprieve which therefore necessarily falls to the ground. We are now told by Sir George Grey's advocates that ho msy order a proper investigation into the case, "if he sees fit." If he doesn't see fit, he surely must be incapable of seeing anything clearly at all. If he saw reason to reprieve Townley, when no real valid reason existed, surely with such a piercing sight he must he able to see the manifold cogent reasons for instituting a fair, public, satisfactory investigation. If ho declines, then let two surgeons or physicians certify under the Act of 1810 that Townley is now in his right mind, as any two surgeons or physicians are empowered by the Act to do; a thing, moreover, which any two surgeons or physicians may safely do. Even Sir George Grey's prkicipal advocates declare themselves that no impartial al Y:1 sensible person cognisant of the facts, ever really belie red that Townley was, or is, mad. Enquiries of the k;.nd ought to be public, with open doors, with both sides represented, the prosecution and the convicted murderer face to face, with full power of examination and cross-examination of witnesses. ,No hole and corner or ex parte statements within closed doors. I began with asking if rich murderers aro to escape while poor ones are hung; I conclude with asking it human life is to be exposed to destruction because a Home secretary makes a blunder, for this is contrary to  COMMON SElrsE,
The Sun. — 1864-10-26 (London, England)

SCU ICH BANKRUPTS. Bo^mar, pain'er, Edinburgh Pearson and Co., wholesale grocers, Glasgow  Professor Anderson and the Davenport Brothers.  Yes'erday afternoon, in accordr-tce with an Invitation from Professor Anderson, a large p-hy of ladies and gentlemen assembled in St. James's Hal!, to witness a performance in daylight similar to that gone through by the Brothers Davenport in the dark. The whole of the so-called spiritual manifestations, the tying and untying, werp spry oavptls accomplished by the Professor's duoglitor and Mr Sutton, ilia secretary, amidst the yoziferous chcor;ug of the audicince, The tying of Loth artists previous to their being placed in the cabinet, was minutely inspected by Tom Taylor, Esq., and others, and P 41' er ithad been declared perfect, in less than five minutes both the lady and the gentleman appeared perfectly free, the ropes lying at their feet. The musical hick was also very cleverly performed; and at i,s conclusion, - Godwin, Esq., proposed a vote of thrriks to the professor, which was agreed to unanimously. Mr Anderson, in reply, said the only object he had in view was to show the absurdity of the so-called spiritualism, and he hoped that what he had shown would convince all that ropes c)it'd be wm led without the a'd of spirits, Course of Exchange,—Yesterday,  Amsterdam Ditto Rotterdam — 12 2/ 12 rz Antwei p — 25 80 25 83 Bru-qels — 25 80 25 85 Hamb (IT Paris . . Short. 25 30 25 37/ Ditto Marst ales .. — 25 85 25 87/ Frankfort on Maine — 1211 1214 Vienna Trit ,te Petersburgh --28! 9/ Bailin —  Madrid Cadiz —. 47 471 Leghorn — 26 5 26 10 Milan Genoa — 26 7t 26 121 Naples Patermo —. 26 7/ 26 121 Messina — 26 71 26 12/ Lisbon -51/ 51/ Oporto Foreign Gold in Bars (Standard)...... per oz., L 3 17 9 Mexican Dollars ... 0 0 4  TURIN, Oct. 25.—The sittings of the Italian Perlin ment have b :en adjourned until farther orders  _ ..... UDINE, Oct. 23.—A band of about 100 insurgents, among whom are several deserters, have taken re. fuge in the forest of Consiglio. Several deserters at Cadore and Belluno are endeavouring to join them.  Mr Henry Bailer, 11, King's Bench.vralk, has been appo'nfed recorder of Poole, in room of Mr James Stephen, resigned.  Viscount des Meloizes Fresnoy, the new French Minister to the Court of Bavaria, has arrived at Munich to occupy hie post.  The Mexican schooner Angela, which has just arrived at Havre, came in with one of her crew in irons, for the murder of the second mate by stabbing, while off the Azores. The captain, in attempting to protect the officer, received a wound in the breast, and another in the hand, by which he has lost a joint of his forefinger.  A fatal accident occurred in the Rue de Lille, at Montpellier, two days back. The walls of an unfinished house, belonging to a M. Vasserot-Chaffrey, suddenly fell in and buried a mason under the ruins. Immediate steps were taken for rescuing the unfortunate man, but as the remaining walls were in a very dangerous state the opera. tion was likely to oocupy too much time to leave any hope of finding him alive.  A
The Sun. — 1864-10-26 (London, England)

NEW COURT. (Before Mr Justioo Wines.)  SENDING THREATENING LETTERS TO LORD CUItZON.  129 k 31 141 4 5 131 30 741 I 5  John Hill, about 50 years of ago, described as a farmer, was indicted for feloniously writing and sending certain letters to Viscount Curz)n, son of Earl Howe, threatening to kill and murder him for some fancied injury his family had sustained through Earl Howe. The prisoner pleaded not guilty, and conducted his own defence.  160 113 1 66 1031 3 38 113; 15 95 05i 111} 4 131} 301  From the statement of the learned counsel, the evidence of Viscount Curzon and other witnesses, and the letters received by the noble lord, those relied on, containing the threat to kill, were received in the month of February and August last, and stated that the prosecutor's father was formally a tenant and occupier of a farm belonging to Earl Howe in Leicestershire, and that for some cause ho had been refused a renewal of his tenantcy of the farm, and being called upon to give up the farm the prisoner and the other members of his family conceived the idea that their father had been unjustly ejected by Earl Howe's bailiff from the farm, and the prisoner complained that he had been entirely thrown on the world and his family grossly Injured. The prisoner was charged with writing the letters in question, and when the officers arrested him he admitted writing the letters, and intended to carry the threat into execution. It also appeared that the prisoner, on the 12th of July last, was seen by a policesergeant walking up and down Hollis-street, and to deliberately break two windows in Lord Curzon's house. The prisoner merely contradicted all the witnesses, and declared what they had said was false, and stated that when he was taken into custody by Sergeant Bird, of the detective force, he was taken to Scotland-yard, and after Lord Curzon had been sent for, he was offered £5O to go to Australia, which ho refused. The statement was positively denied by Sergeant Bird. The prisoner did not address the jury, but merely stated that he was innocent.  107}  p 761 7  831 3  The Jury found the prisoner Guilty. The learned Judge, in passing sentence, said—lt must be clear to every person in court, as it is to myself, that you ar• an exceedingly silly person—indeed I believe you to bo a very great fool. The jury have had to consider your silly, doltish, and foolish conduct, and they are of opinion that you are guilty of the charge imputed to you. Fools, however, must be taught that they cannot commit crime with impunity. Had the jury not taken a considerate view of your case, and recommended you to mercy, the Court would have felt.it incumbent tepees on you a severe sentenceibecause the idea that landlords can tyrannise over their tenants in this country is perfectly absurd, wicked, and foolish.  Business don(  100/  Prisoner—l never did it. The learned Judge continued—Your conduct has been most contemptible, and the sentence of the Court is that you be committed to the House of Correction for two years, with hard labour. Prisoner—Well, I didn't do it, and I'm as innocent as you are.  100} 1 1001
The Sun. — 1864-10-26 (London, England)

SENDING THREATENING LETTERS TO LORD CURZON.  John Hill, about 50 years of age, described as V. farmer, was indicted for feloniously writing and sending certain letters to Viscount Curzon, son of Earl Howe, threatening to kill and murder him for some fancied injury his family had sustained through Earl Howe. The prisoner pleaded not guilty, and conducted his own defence.  From the statement of the learned counsel, the evidence of Viscount Curzon and other witnesses, and the letters received by the noble lord, those relied on, containing the throat to kill, were received in the month of February and August last, and stated that the prosecutor's father was formally a tenant and occupier of a farm belonging to Earl Howe in Leicestershire, and that for some cause he had been refused a renewal of his tenantoy of the farm, and being called upon to give up the farm the prisoner and the other members of his family conceived the idea that their father had been unjustly ejected by Earl Howe's bailiff from the farm, and the prisoner complained that he had been entirely thrown on the world and hie family grossly Injured. The prisoner was charged with writing the letters in question, and when the officers arrested him he admitted writing the letters, and intended to carry the threat into execution. It also appeared that the prisoner, on the 12th of July last, was seen by a police. sergeant walking up and down Hollis-street, and to deliberately break two windows in Lord Curzon's house. The prisoner merely contradicted all the witnesses, and declared what they had said was false, and stated that when he was taken into custody by Sergeant Bird, of the detective force, he was taken to Scotland-yard, and after Lord Curzon had been sent for, he wan offered £5O to go to Australia, which he refused. The statement was positively denied by Sergeant Bird. The prisoner did not address the jury, but merely stated that he was innocent.  The Jury found the prisoner Guilty. The learned Judge, in passing sentence, said—lt must be clear to every person in court, as it is to myself, that you are an exceedingly silly person—indeed I believe you-to be a very great fool. The jury have had to consider your silly, doltish, and foolish conduct, and they are of opinion that you are guilty of the charge imputed to you. Fools, however, must be taught that they cannot commit clime with impunity. Had the jury not taken a considerate view of your case, and recommended you to mercy, the Court would have feltit incumbent topass on you a severe sentence,because the idea that landlords can tyrannise over their tenants in this country is perfectly absurd, wicked, and foolish.  Prisoner—l never did it. The kernel Judge continued—Your conduct has been most contemptible, and the sentence of the Court is that you be committed to the House of Correction for two years, with hard labour. Prisoner—Well, I didn't do it, and I'm as innocent as you are.