npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-08-01 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE AT ALYTH.—II is this week our painful duty to report one of the most extraordinary cases of suicide that has ever come under our notice. On the evening of Thursday last, Alexander Ogilvy, who has for some time past been residing with his grandfather, Mr. Ogilvy, farmer, Chapelhill, near'this, after taking his supper with the rest of the family, went out about half-past seven o'clock, with one of the servants, a lad of about seventeen years of age, named John M'Laggan. About half an hour afterwards the ploughman went out for the purpose of suppering the horses, when he found M`Laggan sitting in the window-sole sleeping, and Ogilvy about a foot distant from him, with his knees on the floor, and his head inclined downwards to within two feet of the floor, and suspended by the neck by a plough rein, which bad been thrown across a hook some time before, by one of the servants, who had been carrying hay with it. Not suspecting that anything was wrong, the ploughman laid his hand on Ogilvy for the purpose of arousing him; but, finding him to be completely senseless, he immediately lifted him up, and it was then discovered, to his unutterable astonishment, that he was apparently dead. M‘Laggan, who was still asleep, was now with considerable difficulty aroused, but could give no account whatever of the matter. A man on horseback was immediately sent off to Alyth for medical aid, and Dr. Allan was on the spot by nine o'clock, but found that Ogilvy had been dead for some time. On interrogating M`Laggan, he stated that, after leavinc, the kitchen, he and Ogilvy went into the stable and sat crown in the window-sole. He (M'Laggan) was smoking at the time, and handed the pipe to Ogilvy to take a smoke. He recollects of seeing the plough rein hanging on the hook and Ogilvy "lingering away at it;" but, having fallen sound asleep, he remembers nothing more. Every one who knew the boy agrees that he would never have willingly taken away his own life. During the day, and while at his supper on Thursday evening, he was in the highest spirits about Blairgowrie market, which he was to be permitted to go to on Tuesday next. The most probable conjecture is, that either through accident or reckless folly, he had allowed himself to fall from the place where he was sitting, the rope being about his neck, and had by the sudden jerk been deprived of all power to raise his head or help himself in any way. The deceased was about thirteen years of age, of a remarkably lively disposition and obliging manner.—Dundee Advertiser. A
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-10-14 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

REMARKABLE SUICIDE OF AN AGED FEMALE.—On Thursday, an inquest was held at the Black Horse Inn, Salford, before Mr. Henshall, deputy coroner, for this division of the county, on the body of a woman, 67 years of age, the wife of Matthew Wilcock, plasterer and painter, of Turner's Fold, who had committed suicide, under somewhat singular circumstances. It appeared that, on Thursday morning, the deceased had been seen going about as usual, that she entered a neighbour's house and conversed in her ordinary manner. She went to the door of one person, but finding her engaged she said "Oh, you're busy," and walked away. A quarter of an hour afterwards she was found quite lifeless, suspended by a rope from the ceiling,—having evidently been instru• mental herself in putting an end to her existence. Her husband stated that he had been out of employment, almost entirely, for three years, and that during the whole of that time his wife had been very depressed in spirits, and had frequently said she would drown herself. She had been unwell for some time, and was at Southport a few weeks ago. Since her return, she had never appeared to him to be in a proper state of mind. He also said that last winter he had received 2s. a week from the overseers, but having procured some work, the relief was discontinued. About a month ago, he again applied to a gentleman at the Town Hall, and was informed that he and his wife would have to go into the workhouse. When he told this to his wife, she said, "Are we together there ?" and he replied "I suppose not." She then said, "Well, I will suffer death first." She had thought a good deal about the separation ever since, and he had no doubt that that induced her to hang herself. The jury appeared to be of a similar opinion, and after deliberation for some time, they returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased hung herself whilst labouring under temporary insanity, brought on by a dread of being separated from her husband if sent to the workhouse.
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-09-26 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.—One of the most unaccountable and distressing cases of suicide that we remember to have heard of for many years, occurred at Little Mill, on Wednesday afternoon. A boy of the name of Bogie, scarcely 13 years of age, employed as herd-boy by Mr. Johnston, Northesk !1,11,1, had gone out to tend his cows on the lands of Little  Mill, about-a mile from Montrose. He had expressed no intention to do violence to himself, nor was there anything . _ _  in his appearance that indicated grief or depression a spirits, which might have led him to become weary of what, to him, has seemed a world of suffering and pain. So far from this being the case, he was as cheery and mirthful as usual, and went out to the lea with his cows, cracking his whip, and playfully enjoying himself among the grass. In a short time, however, the terrible thought must have entered his mind, for he was shortly afterwards found to be absent from his charge; and the feelings of the servants at Little Mill may be more easily imagined than described, when they found him suspended from a tree, within a few yards of the house. They instantly cut him down, and sent for medical assistance. Dr. Burness was soon on the spot, when artificial respiration, and everything else that medical skill could devise; was tried to restore animation; but all in vain, the vital spark had fled. On examining the tree, the action could scarcely be called a rash one, as it must have been committed with great deliberation. The child (we can scarcely call him anything else) had taken his knife and carefully notched the branch of the tree, to prevent the cord from slipping; and the rope was adjusted so as to extinguish life in the shortest time. He also must have been very determined to die, for, after he was suspended, he could have easily saved himself, by putting up his hand and taking hold of the branch, which was only a few inches above his head.—Montrose Standard.
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-09-26 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE IN THE LOCKUPS.— On Monday neglecting his family, and allowing them to become chargeIn 1828 he became member of parliament for the borough of birds, blend and intermingle. The' sea shore with the morning, a prisoner, named Ann Lennon, who was corn- able to the parish, being at the time able to support them. • Lynn, and in 1835, seeing that there was no prospect of either active service or promotion, he retired from the army altowide expanse of waters sparkling in the sun-light, the mitted for stealing a silver tankard from Mr. Heap's, of The wife of the defendant stated in evidence that she had b mountain-top with glen and corrie seen in rugged Stalybridge, attempted to hang herself in the lockups. It been married four years, and that she and her husband had, gether, by the sale of his commission. His lordship imbibed breezyappeared, on our making inquiry, that about half-past seven up to a certain date, lived with her father, and a quarrel an early inclination for field and other national sports, and grandeur far below, the undulating plains where tillage o'clock, Marland and Armitage were near the cells, and hear- having taken place between the defendant and his father-infor a considerable period evinced all that active energy for alternates with woodland, all have their peculiar beauties. ing a noise, they went to see what was the cause, and on law, he left the house, and offered his wife a home at his the chase which he afterwards transferred to its more costly There is a vigorous freshness in the season, which looking into the cell where the woman was confined, they own father's house. As she was not content there he had companion—the turf. The latter was a pursuit which even_ sympathises with the practical self-possessed character perceived she was hanging by the neck, she having fastened offered her another house, but when she went to it she found tually worked equally to his own fame, and the advantage-of of Englishmen, and perhaps helps to inspire it. All our one end of a handkerchief round the iron bar of the window, it unfurnished. She went back to her father's, and had apthe sport be so warmly affected. The strength of his lord- favourite athletic sports can now be pursued without and the other round her neck. The handkerchief , being plied to the parish for relief.—The magistrates said they ship's stud was at one time enormous: in the year 1844 he had impediment from storm or oppressiveheat.hence • And h f the woollen, the knot did not hold, else there is little doubt she could not interfere in the domestic quarrels o parties; forty horses running in public, and somewhere near a hundred it comes that Englishmen do and will continue most to would have effected her purpose. and that, as the defendant had offered his wife a home, she in all. Amongst the more celebrated of his horses may be ought to have gone to live with her husband. Defendant
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-07-29 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

RUNCORN. 1 SUICIDE.—On Monday last an inquest was held, at the Egerton Arms Hotel (Mr. Mounfield's), on the body of a young unmarried female, named Elizabeth Ireland, whose parents live in Pinniugton's Row. The deceased was about succeetdedhiisn nineteen years of age. By the evidence before the coroner, H. Churton, Esq. it appeared that the deceased had thrown. herself into the canal from off a wooden drawbridge, at Astmoor, on Friday evening. She had left her bonnet and Shawl on the bridge, which were observed by George Entwistle, the captain of a flat, whose vessel happened to be Vasrmsingonear the place. The captain immediately gave the irnaeinsinagndthtehebyopdyn,t boutt not igioratiplplliifnegwalrsoenxst, ianne td. The saw the body' soon after he obsavedltlie bonnet and shawl, tance from tt come to the surfac of Ih\water, a short digof the horse se flat, but it immediatel entqliown !wain. One the intelligetic was unyoked, tufa I etched to Rtincorn with Halh who immeteo Mr. Richardson, the constable, at the Town fatal spot, accom daiately returned with the messenger to the arrived, finding tri ut ied by one or two assistants. When they was still warm, theay, ealthOUgh the body was much swollen, it limbs, &c. but to no p ndeavoured to restore life by chafing the to Mr. Mountfield's,u7pose. They then removed the deceased home to the parents, ouroat whence the body was conveyed of Elizabeth Constantine, ;:rday last. From the depositions parents' opposition to a marr7r "usin' it appeared that her heart of hers, residing at A retiel With a young man, a sweetcause of disquiet to her mind. grater, was the . principal small presents, which she desired ecave her cousin several to keep for her sake, observing that she might never see her cousin, that she was going to walk asrlaogain. She told her was able. Mr. Richardson found a Wendgdinas long as she pocket, 3d. in copper, and a knife, key, &c. Whit, Ling in her _ e produced before the coroner and jury. She had left her father's house about six weeks ago, and had gone to reside as a companion and nurse witha relation in Church-fields.mother The was called in and examined by the coroner; he. seemed _ much  depressed. nere were some points in her conduct strongly anirnadvertedlipon by the coroner. It appeared that the deceased had pawned her own shawl to pay the rent of her j mother's house. It was thought by the ury, that these things had caused some of the uneasiness under which her mind had been labouring. A verdict was found of "Suicide, committed in a state of temporary insanity, produced by great excitement of mind."
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-06-24 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

ROMANTIC SUICIDE.— On Monday last, an inquest was held at Mr. Barnett's, the Royal Hotel, Higher Tranmere, before Henry Churton, Esq. coroner, on the body of a girl named Emily Kingdon, aged 17, who drowned herself in a pond, on Saturday, in a field adjoining the Woodchurch turnpike-road. It appeared from the evidence adduced, that the deceased, who was apprentice to a dressmaker in Birkenhead, was courted by a young man, apprentice to a joiner, but the connection was disapproved of by her parents. On Friday night the deceased was seen by her father in the company of the young man alluded to, at Oxton. He asked her to go home. The young man, whom the father declared be bad an utter abhorrence for, replied, "You must not blame me, I'm going to Dublin to-morrow." The father told him he might go to h— if he liked, and if he had been there long ago it would have been better for him (witness). The deeeased then told her father that nothing should part her from William (the young man who was with her). He then told her there was no home for her at his house so long as she kept such company. Next morning, the deceased went home, and asked for her clothes; but her mother told her her father had given orders that she was not to have them. Soon after that the deceased was seen to go into the field where the pond was situate. On Saturday afternoon the body was observed floating under the surface of the water in the pond. A large Newfoundland dog belonging to P. F. Currie, Esq. coroner of Liverpool, was directed to the spot; but he only succeeded in bringing her shawl to land. The body was shortly afterwards recovered, quite dead, it being evident that it had been in the water some hours. The jury returned a verdict of "Found drowned."
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-06-13 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE OF A FEMALE.—On Saturday last, Sarah Gardner, aged twenty-five years, a servant in the employ of Mr. Maymon, Ribble Bank, Sainlesbury, committed suicide through, it is thought, an expected disappointment as to marriage. The unfortunate deceased had lived with Mr. Maymon seven years. An inquest was held on Monday last, at the New Hall public-house, when it appeared from the evidence of Mrs. Maymon, that on the Saturday morning the deceased seemed excited in a manner that attracted attention, but was not at the time accounted for. About five o'clock in the afternoon the deceased was discovered to be a good deal under the influence of liquor. She was desired to go to bed, and was assisted up to her room, and left there. She then began to cry very bitterly; and shortly afterwards, on going to her room, she found the deceased standing near to the dressing-table, on which were writing materials. She was still crying; and was desired to lay down in bed, where she was left. About twenty minutes afterwards, on Mrs. Maymon going to the room with some tea, she found the door fastened. After calling several times, and receiving no reply, the door was burst open, and the deceased was perceived to be hanging by the neck from the foot rail of the bed. She was cut down, but life was quite extinct. Upon the dressing table a paper was found, on which she had written, "God bless my dear James," and stated that her trouble had been too much for her; and on another paper inside a paper case was written, "God bless Mrs. Maymon and Mrs. Fisher, and I should like to be buried at Cockerham." The parents of the deceased were both buried at Cockerham. The "James" mentioned is a farmer in the neighbourhood, who had been paying attention to deceased, but it was said she had heard that he did not intend to marry her, and this had an effect upon her spirits. The liquor she had got was supposed to have been obtained from a place in the cellar, which had on that day been left unlocked. The jury, after a patient inquiry, brought in a verdict that "she had destroyed herself whilst labouring under a fit of temporary insanity."—Preston Guardian.
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-01-18 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

STATISTICS OF CRIME IN FRANCE.—In the course of the year 1847, the Court of Assize of France pronounced 67 sentences of death; during the year 1846 there were but 57. Of these 67 sentences of death, 43 were for assassination, 8 for robberies and murder, 5 for poisoning, 4 for parricide, 3 for infanticide, 3 for wilful conflagration, and one for assault and battery. The courts-martial established in France and Algeria have pronounced during the year 1847, 102 sentences of death, classed in the following manner:82 for having struck superior officers, 12 for assassination, and 8 for desertion. The average of crimes committed yearly against persons and property varies from 5,000 to 6,000; the number of accused persons from 7 to 8,000, of whom one•third are generally acquitted. The affairs of correctional police were much more numerous. During the year 1847, 77,000 affairs of this nature were brought before the Tribunal de Premiere Instance, comprising 98,000 accused, of whom 23,000 were dismissed without prosecution. During the same year the magistrates have had to bring in a verdict of 7,400 accidental deaths; 3,000 by drowning; 600 accidents by carriage; 400 caused by the falling in of ground; 200 by the immoderate use of spirits; 80 by lightning; 14 by railway accidents, &c. Suicides were also very numerous. In 1847 they amounted to 3,000; men always form at least the two-thirds of the number of suicides which take place every year. The business of the cultivator, or the daily workman, generally furnishes onethird of the number ; in 1845, upon the number of suicides, 1,000 were of this class, while there were but two artists, four wood-cutters, and five ehiffonniers, who had recourse to such violent means to put an end to their sufferings. The greatest number of suicides are caused by strangulation, submersion, and asphyxia, very few by poison. It has been observed that May, June, and July are the months which offer the greatest number of suicides.
The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-01-18 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

SUICIDE OF AN ARTIST.-MELANCHOLY CASE.—On Saturday Mr. Wakley, M.P. coroner, held an inquest at the sign of the Queen's Head, Keppel Terrace, Chelsea, on the body of Mr. Joseph William Brett, aged 34 years, who committed suicide under the following distressing circumstances :—lt appeared from the evidence gone into, that the deceased was the son of the Rev. Joseph Brett, a clergyman of the Established Church, and resided with his parents, both aged persons, living in a cottage, No. 4, Keppel-street South, King's Road, Chelsea. The deceased was an artist, and one of the very numerous unsuccessful competitors for the prizes offered for subjects for the cartoons to embellish the new houses of parliament. The subject the deceased chose was that of "King Richard pardoning the Soldier who shot him," and no doubt it will be recollected by those of our readers who visited the exhibition of the cartoons in Westminster Hall in the summer of 1843. The bligi,t of disappointment there is no doubt, operated most severely on the deceased's mind, although he never complained of it, and appeared in general cheerful. His health had, however, for a long time before his death been failing, and he had become so weak as to be unable to use his right arm and hand. On the evening of Tuesday last deceased was seen alive by his parents about half-past ten, at which time he was in bed. About nine o'clock on Wednesday morning his father, who is very nearsighted, went into the deceased's bedroom (the front parlour) and saw him lying in bed, as he at first thought with a red • handkerchief round his neck, but on closer examination he found that it was blood, and that the deceased was dead. No alarm was, however, made until half-past one o'clock in the day, when by the advice of a neighbour the police were called in, and Mr. Smith, a surgeon, was sent for, who pronounced life to have been extinct for some hours. It was then found that the deceased had cut his throat with his left hand with a razor, which was found in bed, the handle and blade having been tied round with a handkerchief. The wretched appearance of the deceased's room, and also the interior of the house bespoke the poverty of the unfortunate family, who, however, still prize the picture of the deceased, who, it is stated, had refused £3OO for it. The coroner and jury commiserated greatly with the feelings of the family, and returned a verdict, "That the deceased was found dead with his throat cut, supposed by his own act, but as to the state of his mind at the time there was not sufficient evidence to show."—Observc-r. .