npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Miner and Workman's Advocate. — 1864-11-19 (London, England)

THE ERITH EXPLOSION—STORAGE OF GUNPOWDER.— The inquest on the sufferers by the explosion at Erith was brought to a close .on Tuesday. Some further evidence was given, including that of Mrs. Harriet Rayner, whose husband was killed by the explosion. Aft,r a lengthy summing up by the coroner, the jury returned an open 'verdict. They take occasion to state: "From the evidence which has been adduced before us, we would respectfully call the attention of Her Majesty's Government to the many serious omissions and imperfections in the present Acts of Parliament relating to the gunpowder trade, and would urge upon their consideration the following as a few of the points on which immediate legislation is required: First : The quantity of gunpowder stored in any one place, or conveyed in any one barge, waggon, or railway train. Second: The construction and situation Of magazines, their proximity to populous districts, to river walls, and other sources of danger, and the licensing the same. Third: The construction of barges and other vessels for the conveyance of powder, and the necessity of their having better distinguishing marks. Fourth: The shipping and discharging powder generally. Fifth: The importance of Government inspection and supervision of the storing, packing, and conveyance of gunpowder. Sixth: The penalties relating to the infringement of all acts of Parliament bearing on the subject."  Igisallantous.  Lord Londesbnrongh I:as accepted the presidency a the Yorkshire Rifle Assr.:c'atirm.  Mrs. Lincoln is abcn', to pnt a rpresentative roc/mil into the army.—Anzer can paper.  Photojaplis of Beethoven's s.:ull are exposed for sale In the shop windows o Berlin. _ _ .  A woman, well up in years, named Hill, was brought np at the Dundee police court, the other day for the 135th time for drunkenness.  The German journals contradict the statement that Baron Liebig is about to Eettle in London. The Handel Festival is due at the Crystal Palace in 1865; the date of it, however, is not yet fixed. At Beverley, on Saturday, a man, named Wm. Branton, was comm.tted for trial on a charge of firing a stack at Withernwick.  Mr. Benedict has received from the King of Wurtemberg the Order of the Crown—a decoration which confers "title of nobillty" upon its holder.  - A meeting has been held at Wimbledon to promote the formation of a public park at that place, and the proposal is supported by Earl Spencer, the lord of the manor.  A woman in Michigan lately took hold of what she supposed to be a stove-holder on the floor of the kitchen, and found it to be a large rattlesnake. She escaped being bittzn, but how is a mystery.—Atnerican Paper. A man, named Patwell, collected a great crowd in the fling's Cross Road, London, on Saturday night, by -houting that he was the murderer of Mr. Briggs. He Was locked up as drunk and disorderly for a few hours, and then liberated on bail. He came before the Clerkeuwell Magistrate, and was fined ss.
The Workman's Advocate. — 1865-11-18 (London, England)

WHOLESALE CHILD MURDERS.  On Tuesday evening Mr. Payne held no less than four inquiries into cases of child murder. The first was relative to the deathaf a male child, about eight or nine months old, who had been strangled and pitchplastered under circumstances of extraordinary barbasity. On Friday night a police-constable found the body in the middle of the roadway in Crescent-lane, Clapham. It was wrapped up in a sheet of the Sportsman newspaper, dated Sept. 19, 1865. The body was taken to the station, and the divisional surgeon of police sent for, who found it to be in an advanced stage of decomposition. Over the mouth there was a plaster, which had evidently been put on for the purpose of stopping the breathing of the child. Around the neck was a distinct mark as if a ligature had been tied tightly round it; the eyes protruded from their sockets, and the tongue was swollen and pushed oat to the edge of the lips. A post-mortem examination proved that all the organs were healthy, and that death had been caused by intentional strangulation. The inquest was adjourned in order to give time for the police to make inquiries and to obtain the proclamation of a reward from the Home Secretary.— Inquests were then held upon the bodies of two male children, newly born, found in the grounds of Mr. Southwick, Clarence-house, Clarence-road, Clapham-park, on Monday morning. The children were tied up in a piece of unbleached calico, and the surgeon who had examined them said that they were male children, fall timed and well developed. They had been born alive, bat he could not state the cause of death until he had made a post-mortem examination. There were very suspicions retake around the necks of both. In this case, also, the Coroner adjourned the inquiry. He then proceeded to Essex-street, Strand, and held an inquest upon th 3 body of a female child, found in Carey-street, by a couple of little girls on Friday night, sewn up In a parcel. The medical evidence showed that the child, a female, bad been born alive, and had died from suffocation, how caused, it was impossible to say. The jury returned a verdict,'" That the deceased child was found dead from suffocation, but that there was no evidence to show how the suffocation was caused. Mr. William Carter also held an inquest at the Newington Workhouse, Walworth, on the body of an illegitimate female child, the offspring of MF37 Ann Wright, a domestic servant. On Friday morning it was discovered that the woman had given birth to a, child at 42, Lorrimore-road, Walworth, and had concealed the body in a clothes-boy. The post-mortem examination showeda large superficial abrasion on the neck, which, there was little doubt, was the result of pressure, and there was also signs of asphyxia, caused in all probability by pressure. The inquiry was postponed to permit the head of the child being opened, and in order that the woman might be present to hear the evidence.
The Workman's Advocate. — 1865-11-18 (London, England)

CONVICT PRISON. On MondaY inersing„two convicts escaped from the Portsnioat Conv Prison in a very daring and somewhati? ict ingenious tlanaer. It appears that in one of the infirmary vvards were two c mvicts named Thompson and Nairey7 the former undergoing a sentence of fifteen years, and the latter one of ten years' penal servitude. The men were seen safe in their beds on Su rd Sunday night bs. the guard. but on the latter entering the shortly atter one in the morning for the purpose of aserteiain,g that all was right, he discovered that h prisoners had escaped. The fact was at once reported to the geyernor, and on an examination of the ward being made, it was found that the men, who were the only occ!ipants of this ward, had cut through the floor, and ganasd access to the messengers' room, where it appeared there were two uniform coats, which the convicts took with them. From the messengers' room scouredd li y they passed nato the steward's quarters, and afterwards scaled a wall, dropped into the street, and got clear away. Throughout the whole of the day the neighthe pclice and the officers of placards offering a reward for the the ur phrolisdon7t apprehensio, of the convicts were issued. About two o'clock, Thompson was seen by a policeman of the gants constabulary in the neighbourhood of Havant; At that time the convict was wearing the messenger e 04 stolpn from the prison, his prison drawers an shirt, a.nd a handkerchief tied round his head. On being ehallenged by the policeman, the convict drew °' knife, and threatened to murder the officer if he iut9rferel with him. At that moment, one of the convict keepers, who was in search of the men. came,, TO and a desperate struggle ensued, during which tne keeper was severely wounded in the arm with the Itotfe. The convict, however, was ultimately over Powered, and Thompson was at once brought back to portstuenth. He alleges that his companion is not yet °lit of Portsmouth, and hopes are entertained that he will eeon be in cristodv. Nairey is described as being teutY-five, Years of age, lift. Vin. high, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, stoutly built, two scars in the centre of the forehead, blue mark under the right eye, .'j. M. N", A." being inside the left arm, and a cross inside the right arm.  The Case of Mr. Meade, a gentleman connected with the engineering department of the Bank of vnglatd, residing at Ponge, who was treated most harshly by a detective at the Crystal Palace, about a week ego, Was gone into at the Lambeth Police-court on Teeaclay. Warren, the detective, was put into the dock and charged with excess of duty in having charted Mr. Meade with picking pockets, and in havitig marched him to a station-house and searched him there. Warzeu wished to apologise; but Inspector Dunlop, of the P division of police, said that for Et constable to consent to publish an apology was contrary to the regulations of the force, and he must thetefore object to Warren making such an apology. Th() ease went on, and the magistrate convicted wkrrett, who was fined 40s. and costs.
The Commonwealth. — 1866-12-29 (London, England)

ATROCIOUS WIFE MURDER FOUR YEARS AGO. At the Liverpool Assizes, before Mr. Justice Smith, Robert Reid was charged with the murder of his with Anne Reid, on the 3rd December, HU, in Liverpool. The case derived an additional interest from the fact that after the murder Reid escaped from England, and was only captured in August last, the arrest being made in the city of New York, and the prisoner being brought to Liverpool by detective officer Marsden. Reid, when in Liverpool, woiked as a tin-plater, and lived with his wife and child in a collar in Myrtle- street. About midnight of the 3rd of *December, 1862, the ptisoner entered the cellar in company with his eon. His wife was sitting there together with a female neighbour named Rogers. The prisoner sat down. The cellar was dark, the only light being a faint glow from the fire. Reid appeared quiet, and Rogers did not notice any appearance of intoxication about him. Pointing to his lad, he said to Rogers, "Mary, is not that a fine boy ? " After a while Reid asked his wife to sing a song. She did so, and when Elio ceased, Reid, after looking at his wife in a wild manner, began himself to sing: "Rambling round the world fot sport." He stopped in the middle of the song, and rising from his seat seized his wife by the hair, and dragged her towards the door. Roger implored him not to do her any harm as eh lad not provoked him in any way. Reid di, not speak, but he loosed hold of his wife. What followed is best told in the words of Rogers herself: "He loft hold ef her, and she crawled along the well to the fire-place, and hay down with her back to the wall. She was not able to stand. When she sank down saw two little fountains of blood coming from under her left side, right under her arm, like water from tap. tap." The prisoner stood a monieut in the doorway, and when Rogers said, "Oh, Bob, yon have murdered the woman," and came forward a little, and saying to the boy, "Johnny, come en," he took him by the hand, and left the place. Rogers then gave the alarm, but Reid couid not be found. The wife had been stabbed twice under the arm the wounds being from two to three, inches in length, and she died in a few minutes afterwards. A witness named Adams saw Roid coming cut of the cellar, with a bloody knife in his hand, and noticed that he afterwards dropt it down a sewer grating. The jury found the prisoner guilty, aria he was sentenced to death.  Charity sermons in aid of the British Charitable FnEd at Paris were preached on Sanday in the different English churches in Paris, and at the church%) of St. Roch, and St. Nicolas, Faubourg, St. lioncrd. The Bishop of London was advised by his medical attendants to abandon his intention of holding his Chrietmas ordination in person. The bishop is Nble to take walking exercise, but is still far from strong.  t-1( 1 t igl  A  /4t'f' kift
The Commonwealth. — 1866-10-27 (London, England)

THE ALLEGED MURDER AT BETHNALGREEN.  The investigation into the circumstances of the alleged murdcr of Mary Ann Scott, otherwise Burgess, by her husband, William Scott, was resumed on Friday morning by Mr. J. Humphreys, Middlesex coroner, at the Prince Albert Tavern, Mape-street, Bethnalgreen. /dr. Abbott appeared on behalf of the friends of the deceased; Mr. T. Beard defended the accused. The prisoner, William Scott, was brought up in cuNtody, by Inspector Honey, under a warrant from tho Secretary of State. He trembled much while the coroner read over the two depositions made on the previous week.  Herbert Matthew Burgess, 12, &sex- street, Bethnalgreen-road, said that he was the son of the deceased's first husband. About 31. years ago witness went with his mother-in-law and \trim Scott to Hackney Church. Witness was to give her away to Mr. Scott. Before the clergyman performed the ceremony Scott went out of the church and Mrs. Burgess then went away. They wore not married then nor afterwards, nor were they married before to his knowledge. But she told him that she hai been married to Scott while Burgess was still alive. Burgess went to sea afterwards, and it was believed that he was drowned.  The Prisoner: I eau easily prove that we were married.  By Mr. Abbott: The prisoner said himself, four years' ago, that he was not married. Elizabeth Marsh, 1, Park•street, Bethnal-green, said that on the Saturday prior to the deceased's death, she went into her shop in the Dethnal-green-road. Scott sent for a quartern of gin. Deceased said, "That is bow he spends tho money." Scott replied, "Yes, I will while I can get a sixpence to spend." Deceased stooped to settle her stocking; Scott took up a poker and said "I will smash her - legs." Witness interfered, and shoved him away. That took place in the room behind the shop. She left to go into the shop, saying, "That is langnage to use to a dying woman." She took up a peund weight, and flung it at him, but witness caught it in her hand. Mr. Scott kicked the deceased behind, and then in the chest, saying that he would kick her eyes or nose; witness could not rememlecr which. Deceased, when kicked, screamed violently and seemed much hurt. Some time since Scott said he would be her death. Other witnesses spoke to acts of violence on the part of the prisoner during her gying hours, and to statements made by the deceased, when ling in her bed, respecting blows which he had given her. The medical evidence testified to the existence of bruises of recent infliction on almost every part of the body. Mr. Gant, of the Royal Free Hospital, said he was of opinion that death resulted from repeated acts of violence; and Mr. IZolph, who was present at the postmortem examination, fully concurred. A verdict of " Mo.nslaughter " against William Scott was agreed to. The prisoner was then removed in custody, and 'area crowds assembled in the street to see him, giving the police some trouble.
The Commonwealth. — 1866-03-03 (London, England)

MEETING OF THE FINSBURY BRANCH OF THE REFORM LEAGUE.  A very full and enthusiastic meeting of the Finsbury Branch of the Reform League was hell at the Sash and Cocos Tree on Sunday evening last (the mooting being convened op account of the difficulty of the mernbrs attending on week•day evenings, ()hying  to the late hour at which they leave work), when after several new members had been enrolled, two elected to represent the branch at the conference, and some other routine business was got through, Mr. J. Weston, who attended as a deputation from the central council, addressed the meeting at some length, commencing with an exposure of the conduct of the Government in regard to their measure for compensating the farmers for the losses they have sustained by the cattle plague, and showed that although individuals amongst them had been losers, yet as n class they had sustained no loss. He agreed with these who maintained that when individua's were subjected to a loss by the order or action of the Government, they were justly entitled to be recompensed out of the national exchequer; but as that course had not been adopted in respect to those who had suffered losses by the cotton famine, which, he affirmed, was brought about by the action of the Government towards the slave-holders' confederacy in "aiding and abetting" their infamous rebellion, he did not see why it should be in the case of the farmers, whose losses have not been caused by such act ons ; and if they had, are nothing compared to those the cotton operatives were subjected to. He next called the attmtion of the meeting to the "fancy franchise" bill brought forward by Mr. Clay and seconded by Mr. Gregory, whose speech in support of the measure he subjected to a severe criticism, and thought, if that was a fair sample of his "barrel of malmsy," it contained less of either intelligence or honesty than would be found in a "butt of swipes?' He was rather pleased to find that Mr. Holyoke had become an authority in the House of Commons, but he was surprised that some honourable member did not call gr. Gregory's attention to a passage in Mr. Holytake's writings, where he says that "those who are not brought within the pale of the constitution owe no allegiance to it," which sentiment the meeting fully endorsed; and the speaker concluded his remarks by urging the necessity of a vigorous and determined effort to secure their political rights. Blackstone he thought an authority on law, who had said that "taxation without representation was tyranny." Some one else, Chatham he believed, had gone a little further, and called it " robbery "; but he (the speaker) would go farther still, he affirmed that taxation without representation, resulting in starvation and death, as it constantly did in this country, was, in the sight of moral law, both robbery and murder; and it was for them to say whether they would submit any longer to a handful of useless drones.
The Commonwealth. — 1866-09-08 (London, England)

PRINCESS'S.  A loving mother, struck down by grief at the news of her son's death, yet stands between the man who killed him and the punishment of his offence, because she had given him her word of honour for his safety. This is the one great scene in "The Huguenot Captain ; " and the struggle between love and honour is finely depicted by Mrs. Stirling, who supports the chief character.  The scene of the drama is Paris; the time is just after the Massacre of Bartholomew. The first scene is a tavern, in which some Catholic nobles are drinking. One of them, the Duke of Armenonville, offers some insult to Juanita, a gipsy girl, who is protected by Rene de Pardillion, the" Huguenot Captain," who has ventured to Paris to find out some young lady with whom he is in love. A duel is the result, and the duke is supposed to be killed, while the Huguenot escapes by jumping into the river. Afterwards, still pursued by the soldiers, he enters a palace, and finding its lady alone, implores her protection. Affected by his story, and by the fact that he fought in defence of a woman, she pledges her honour for his security while under her roof. At this moment the friends of her son enter to tell her of his death in a duel, and Rene finds that the woman who stands between him and his pursuers is the mother of the man with whom he fought.  Remembering her pledge, she does not give him up, but assuring him that when he is once away from her house she will use all means to avenge her son's death. At this moment her niece, Gabrielle, whom Rene is in search of, enters, and the lovers at once recognise each other, while the Duchess also learns the name of her son's murderer.  The second act shows us Rene still daring detection and death in order to see his Gabrielle. Though disguised as a monk, he is discovered and imprisoned, but escapes, with the assistance of the gipsies, to whom Juanita belongs, and by sliding down a long rope from a tall tower. In the third act he ventures once more to the palace of the Duchess, hoping to induce Gabrielle to go with him away from Paris. On the point of success, he is discovered by the Duchess, who is about to give him tip to the soldiers who are pursuing him, when her son, who is not dead after all, enters, and all ends happily. The scenery is very beautiful, and aims at reproducing Paris as it was in the 16th century. The dresses and decorations are in exceedingly good taste. The acting:7 is also very good, especially of the chief characters, which are supported by Mrs. Stirling, Miss Neilson, and Mr. Vining. Also Mr. Honey is amusing as a drunken captain of guards. There is a very charming "Ballet of Bohemians " in the second act which is, of itself, enough to ensure the success of the piece.
The Commonwealth. — 1866-08-04 (London, England)

UPON GARDENING.  We extract the following from the Field :—We went to Battersea-park the other day, and were delighted with the way they water the "sub-tropical" garden there by means of a powerful hose, with a large rose at its end, which the workmen guide over the beds of thirsty plants' and give them a thick, dense, and heavy, though gentle shower. It is done in a few moments, and without any tiresome nasty labour which occurs where the water has to be dragged by men. Where every pound of water is carried at the end of man's arms, we fear that more good than harm is often done by the insufficient and superficial doses that are given. Every large garden liable to suffer from drought should have the water laid on in this way; then watering would be a pleasure instead of a laborious and dirty operation, as it is now in too many places. We know of many gardens where the cost of men'slabour in watering, and for watering-pots, &c., is greater in the end than laying on the water would be. Much of the success of the sub-tropical of Battersea is owing to the thorough and efficient waterings given to the plants there. It is quite a pleasure to see how luxuriously they apply it on hot evenings just now. At this season watering concerns all gardeners, from those whose subsoil is formed by the window- sill to those that contain acres of glass. It will soon be time to think of propagating the rarer bedding plants' new kinds, &c. A little prickly spinach may be sown for use late in the season, and there is no more suitable period for smoking the philosophic weed under the shade of a dense weeping elm or other tree of pendulous habit, especially in the late afternoon, when the tree shadows are thrown long and far upon the grass, and the grass itself seems of golden green. Trap earwigs, murder snails, exterminate moles—gentlemen that sometimes do a lot of daeiage in a garden—and annihilate green fly. Continue to train in the wood of fruit trees, and remove superfluous wood. There may be a good deal of pegging down in some cases, and in swain if pegs run short, bits of mat are quite as good as anything that can be had, and very much cheaper. Cut it iuto strips from a foot to eight inches long or thereabouts, and then, by passing a bit over a shoot and electing the two ends, and giving them a good firm deep prick into the the earth with a wooden dibber or even a very strong finger, they will hold as well and firm as any, while they are free from objections that some iron and other pegs are liable to. Shallots should now be taken up, the ground got ready for winter spinach. Strike roves to make plants on their own roots. Make a list of bedding likely to be most wanted for next year, and study the planting of the most tastefully-planted gardens you have access to. Sow seeds of the herbaceous oalceolaria for next spring bloom and in gentle heat. To