npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1901-07-05 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

WEAVER'S RASII ACT.  Particulars of a sad affair were revealed at an inquest held at the Crown Inn, Clitheroe, on Tuesday afternoon, conducted by Mr. H. J. Robinson. The inquiry had reference to the death of Elizabeth Alice Smith (20), single, weaver, whose dead body was found in the Ribble on Monday afternoon. Margaret Jane Smith, aunt, with whom the deceased resided at 30, Well Terrace, said deceased had only two looms. She was not a sharp girl, and was very childish for her years.—The Coroner: You did not scold her at all on Sunday ?—Witness: No further than speaking to her for going a certain walk with her best dress on. I had spent a lot of money on it, and I did not want her to spoil it. Israel Wilson, labourer, King-lane, stated he wo engaged haymaking near the Ribble on Monday noon, when he noticed a straw hat and shawl on the bank. He then noticed the body of a woman in the water. With assistance she was got out, but was then quite dead. Information was then given to the police. Several of the jury were of the opinion that the mint should be recalled, and this was allowed. The Coroner (to Smith): Did you beat this girl on Sunday ?—Witness: No, sir.—The Coroner: Have you struck her any time recently ?—Witness: No, sir. I have spoken to her and pushed her in the mill when she had done anything wrong, that was all.—The Coroner: You never struck her in the mouth ?—W itness : Oh no, sir. Mr. Isaac Riley, uncle to deceased, then interposed with the question: How was it that seeing you are not in the habit of coming to my house you should have come so early as 20 minutes past six to make enquiries? I came to inform you that she was not at home, and of the trick she had done by not coming to the mill.—But on the way back you were informed that she had gone down the road towards Brungerly. Why did you not inform me of it? I never once thought she would have gone towards the water, but into the fields.—A Juror: You had never heard her make any threat? No. A verdict of suicide whilst of unsound mind WM rat tuned
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1901-03-08 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

TROUBLED ABOUT HER WORK.  On Thursday week Mr. S. F. Butcher, district coroner, held an inquest at the Correction Hotel, Leigh, concerning the death of Alice Dauber, aged 25, mill operative, lodging with Mrs. Taylor at Stout-street, Leigh, who was found drowned about half-past three on the Monday afternoon in the canal at Leigh. _ _  Mrs. Taylor, .of 10, Stout-street, Leigh, said deceased had lodged with her several months. She worked at Messrs. Jones Bros.' weaving shed, and about a month before had had some trouble in the factory through putting two shuttles in the loom, and since then she had not eaten so well as previously. On Sunday night, February 17th, deceased asked witness how it felt when she was in the water. Witness had previously told deceased she had learned how to swim. Deceased said there was nothing in the world to live for, and witness called her a soft thing. Dr. King said on Wednesday he made a postmortem examination of deceased's body, and found It well nourished. There were three deep skin lacerated wounds on the face, a scalp wound on the left side of the head extending about five inches, and the skull was fractured at that point. The left arm was broken. All the wounds had been caused after death. The internal organs were healthy, and deceased must have been in the water over three days.  Oeorge Ainscough spoke to finding deceased's shawl in the canal on Tuesday week. George Dale, canal boatman, said on Monday afternoon at 3 33 the body fouled the boat, and he pulled it out and sent for the police. Peter Ratcliffe, weaving manager at Messrs. Jones Bros. and Co.'s Bedford New Mills weaving shed, said deceased was an indifferent worker, and they repeatedly put up with things on account of her poor circumstances. She was willing but incompetent. _  Henry Nuttall, of Leigh, said he formerly kept company with the deceased, but had not seen her since December, wheal she said she was weary of living.  The jury returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst temporarily insane."  - - --A Drotces
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1901-09-27 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

WHY SHE WAS “TIRED OF LIVING."  On Monday at Blackburn Elizabeth Lever (29), married, a weaver, was charged with having attempted to commit suicide by drinking oxalic acid. Bhe was found on Saturday on .the bedroom door by a grocer's assistant named Mayer, who gave her an emetic, and had her removed to the infirmary. She told a constable that she was tired of living, because all her relations were atinst her on amount of herworking at a certain mibl, where a strike is now in progress. Her husbani said she had been drinking heavily daring the past week. beet Friday morning she sent his dinroa to the mill along with a note, in winch she told him that he need not leave the door open again tor her, as she would not be seen any more. On Sunday he and his brother went along the canal beak, and found the prisoner. The latter now told thekmagietrateathat she had been drinking, but she wad she did not wish to return to her husband. She promised, however, not to make another attempt on her life, and to go and live with her sister. On She strength of that promise she ma Mecham*  Co-operative Wholesale Society.  At the quarterly meeting of the Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited, held in Manchester, on Saturday, it was decided to expend £1,978 on the purchase of freehold land situate in Alexandria, Sydney. This is a new departure, and is the i-st works for productive purposes that the society hoe ever undertaken oatside this country. The society's intention is to put up a tallow aril oil works, sod the land has been purchased from the Australian-Government in order to erect the works. It was also decided to invest £7,500 in shares in the Gilsla.nd Convalescent Home Limited, and purchase several freehold warehouses in Balloon. street, Manchester, at a sum of £2,000, and several properties in Newcastle-on-Tyne for £21,954. The meeting also authorised the committee to purchase two additional steamships. The delegates sanctioned the immediate payment of £lOO towards the relief of the distress caused by the fishery lockout at Grimsby, and the committee was authorised to Bead farther contributions up to £4oo—makuig £5OO altogether—in case the distress in the teen warranted more assistance. The report stated that the sales for the half-year amounted to £8,275,887, being an increase of £775,432, or 101 per cent., on the corresponding period of last year. The total supplies from the various productive works for the same period were £1,290,847, being to increase of £203,180, or 14 per cent. The net profit for the half-year, after providing for sll expenses of production and distribution, interest on capital, and depreciation of property according to rule, amounted to £138,174.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1901-01-11 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

OVERLOONER " OVNILLOOKED."—A correspondent writes : In reference to the minder toho was ordered to take a partner because he failed to get a piecer, a few weeks ago, and who left his " shop " rather than submit, it is pleasing to state that the heads of the firm, on getting to hear of the matter, at once reinstated the minder in his old position.  SUICIDE OF A Twurrsa.—On Sunday morning Townsend Jinks, aged 28 years, was found dead, hanging by a rope attached to the towel-roller in his house. Deceased was a married man, and was subject to fainting fits and depression of spirits. On Saturday night he said to his wife as she retired to bed, "I hope I shall be dead when you get up." Jinks was not a member of the Twisters' Union, and had gone in to work for a local firm during a prolonged strike about a year ago. lie had been out of work for a considerable period, which saemed to cause him a deal of worry. DETAINING PiscE-wonsr.sa —lmmediately after the settlement of the cleaning question in the spinning trade, many employers resorted to a system which was annoying and unjust to many operatives, namely, sending in hot water just before meal times, locking the gates until one o'clock on Saturday, /to. Many firms "simmered down" after awhile, and the old condition of things was restored, but at several firms in the district this aggravating system has been kept up, and the officials of the Cardroom Workers' Union have this week interviewed several managers, pointing out that their members—pieceworkers—had a right to leave the mill on Saturdays when their work was done, and not to be kept standing idle until one o'clock, without pay. It is now hoped that these obnoxious testrictions will be withdrawn in every case, and tenters and others allowed to go when their work is finished.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1910-09-02 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

WIFE MURDER AND SUICIDE BY A MILL FOREMAN.  A shocking tragedy is reported from Nochelags, Canada. At three o'clock in the morning of the 18th inst., John O'Keefe, a mill foreman employed at the St Ann's Mill of the Dominion Cotton Co., and formerly of Cornwall Mill, awakened his six children, the eldest of whom was only fifteen years of age, and called them together. "I have killed your mother," he said, "and now I am going to kill myself." Five minutes later O'Keefe was found lying dead on the floor of the kitchen with a bullet wound in his temple. His wife, Rose De Lime O'Keefe, was found lying on a blood-soaked bed. She was also dead, having been killed by a revolver bullet. The crime is attributed to jealous passion, inflamed by drink. At the inquest the Coroner's jury returned a verdict of suicide in the case of the man and murder in the woman's cane. The house was foul and close, with unwashed windows and disorderly moms, littered with all descriptions of filth, and the blood-spattered walls and stained pillow, which marked the spot where the wife of John O'Keefe slept her last sleep, accorded well with the surroundings. It is stated that the man used to drink, but lately had broken off the habit, and had been apparently Waking an honest attempt to reform. Some weeks ago the couple had a violent quarrel, and the husband amused Mrs. O'Keefe of infidelity. Later the quarrel was apparently patched up, and the neighbours say that there were no warnings of impending tragedy. Of the family of six children orphaned by this horrible and sordid crime, Winnif red, aged 18, is the eldest. The children say that their parents began a quarrel at nine o'clock last night, and that they were still quarrelling when the weary children finally dropped off to sleep. Frightened, the younger ones began to cry. Their father came in to soothe them, and after quieting them told them very quietly: "Don't cry. I have killed your mother. Now lam going to kill myself." "We cried out to lira not to," said Winnifred, "bat he took no notice and went out into the kitchen. A moment later there was another terrifying; report, and a fall. Then nothing more." The children are being cared for by a neighbour for the time hoes*.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1910-09-09 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

UNION PIONEER HANGS =SELF.  A causation was caused in Ashton-under-Lyne last week-end when it was made known that Samuel Wardle, a spinner, aged 69, bad coins mimed suicide by hanging himself at his home on Saturday morning. Deceased's niece, Miss Mary Ilarrop, a winder, who lived with him, left him to g..a to her work, and he seemed all right, but later in the morning he was found hanging from a book in the ceiling quite dead. At the inquest a verdict of "temporary insanity" was returned, the foreman of the jury saying that Ware.s had evidently "reached the end of his tether" financially. In the history of the trades union movement in Ashton and district Mr. Samuel Wardle played a creditable and prominent part. As a young fellow ha joined the Afilltoll Spinners' Union in 1860, when unionism was most "unfashionable" and dangerous. He was then a minder at Cryer's Mill on the Liver bank. He subsequently worked at Good Hope Mill (now Ruttenau'sh at Chadwick's in Tame Valley, Mellor's in Gas-street, and finally at Hamer's Union Mill, where he laboured for 30 years and close on three years ago, owing to failing health, he gave up ha mules and took the maximum retiring pay of the Spinners' Union-125. He took a small business, in which he did not thrive.  -a-kales union pioneer Mr. I'l'ardle adsh fine record. ln 1865 he was elected a member of the Ashton Spinners' Committee and Mr. E. Judson, J.P.. who h. looked up tl;e records, finds that Mr. S Wardle was thereafter attending shop meetings and doing organising and missionary work all over the district. De was the union auditor for seven years. On the death of M. Richard McDermott, who had been president for 25 years, in 189. Mr. Wardle was elected Spinners' president, a position he held up to 1897, when he resigned the responsible post on the advice of his doctor. He was succeeded by Mr. Joe. Jones, who is still the president. Mr. Wardle was also one of the men who founded the Ashton Trades and Labour Council nearly a quarter of a century ago, and was for many years the respected treasurer of that body. At the majority celebration some two or three years ago ha was one of the two or three surviving pioneers who were the guests of honour on the oce.ion. . . .  The funeral 'took plane yeeterday (Thursday), at Christ Church Cemetery, Ashton. Mr. Wm. Hamer, junr., representing his father, the Mayor of Ashton, attended on behalf of Mr. Wardle's last employer; Mr. E. Judson (eeoretary), Mr. John Jones (president), and six committeemen, as carriers, from the Ashton Spinners' Union, attended, and laid a beautiful wreath on the coffin as the Ashton operative spinners' last tribute to the memory of one of the pioneere of their now powerful organisation.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1910-01-21 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

ATTACK ON A WEAVER.  SUICIDE OF ASSAILANT.  A BURY TRAGEDY.  Considerable excitement was created in the Fernhill district of Bury on Tuesday ovetring when a man named Fred Walker, aged 55 years, a bleacher's dyer, of Old Doctors, Totting-ton, murderously assaulted a widow named Miranda Rothwell, a weaver, who resides at 76, Hornbystreet, Bury, and afterwards took his own life by cutting his throat with a razor.  ,• Walker was a widower, and had been keeping company with Rothwell. Some difference arose between the pair about a fortnight ago, as a result of which Rothwell told him not to come to her house again. This seemed to upset Walker, who appears to have got some drink, and on Tuesday evening, on Rothwell returning home from her work, he followed her into her house. Walker desired to know if he could again come to the house to see her as before, but Rothwell replied in the negative, telling him that she did not want to have anything to do with a man who was always drinking, and who did not stick to his work.  At the time she was standing near the fireplace with her back to him, when Walker struck her on the head with a stick, cutting her over the left eye. He then threw her on the sofa, and tried to choke her. She struggled fiercely with the man, and eventually sucoosded in getting away from him, and dashing nest into the street screaming. Her screams attracted the attention of a man named Thomas Rowland, of 34, Woodfield-terrace, and a youth named William Etchell, both of whom went into the house. They were just in time to se. Walker fall backwards with a terrible gash in his throat- The man immediately expired. There was a blood-stained razor on the washboiler, pointing to the fact that Walker, after the assault, had taken his own life. The body was remeived to the mortuary. At the inquest held on Wednesday afternoon the jury returned a verdict of suicide, but declined to add anything with regard to the state of mind of the deceased.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1904-07-22 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

CILA.DDERTON.  Payments. The Spinners' Committee had a moderately busy time last Thursday, bting paid out to the spinning section and £2l its. 10d. to the piecers. About 150 received payment in one way or another. Yearly Outing.—The annual outing connected with the Textile Spinning Co. took place on Saturday, the place selected being .Southport. " About 350 persons, including the °Mends, took the hppar_ tunity of visiting this seaside resarte  State of Thrade.,—One or two firms in this neighbourhood have run full time this week. The iron trade is still in a precarious position. Calico and velvet weaving is bad.  Suicide.--A minder named Alfred Stafford (45), residing at Ratcliffe-street, committed suicide on Thursday morning week by cutting his zhroat. The deceased had been very much depressed c wing to being left out of work when the mules were changed at the West End Mills about five months ago. -•- - • •  —Victim Pay.—A spinner applied to the RC. of the spinners' province to be placed on the v;ctim list owing to having been discharged from his work through insisting on having his and his fellow spinners' rights. His application was granted. The young man embarked for America on Tuesday. Accident.—John Wolfendeu, a spinner, recently employed at the Lion Spinning Co., Royton, but residing in Chadderton, and a member of the Chadderton District Spinners' Association, has been sent to be examined by a specialist in Manchester with a view to his receiving the permanent accident grant. He happened an accident alcut four months ago, whilst following his employment, which resulted in a dislocated shoulder. He has not been able to follow his work since.  Officialdom.—A great amount of surprise was felt by the tenters employed at a mill in this district last week when they received notice "that no tenter, big or little, must sit down at any time during engine hours, no matter what spare time they should have." Such conduct (writes a correspondent) contrasts very strongly with the conduct of a manager whom I know well, who says that he delights to see his operatives sit down, because be knows that all is going well, and if -the operatives have spare time it means more production.  Sharp Practice.—The officials at a mill in this district have been indulging in a bit of eitarp practice, and the spinners in a bit of slow practice. From information to hand, the spinners' secretary, Mr. Thomas Ashton, has been preparing a list ef prices at the mill in question in conjunction with the employers' secretary, Mr. Andrew. When the list was prepared some of the spinners had to receive an advance and others a slight reduction. The officials made the minders who had to be advanced tighten their straps and make the mules back off and take up quicker; then the mules were timed again, and found to be running much faster than the official timing stated. These times were put on paper, and the minders signed the papers as being correct, and the papers were then sent up to the operatives' and employers' secretaries for re-consideration. It is about time such practices were put a stop to.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1904-07-22 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

STOCKPORT.  Payments.—The officials of the Cardroom Association paid on Friday the sum of 5.:,•21 to members who had been stopped through various causes.  Accident.—On Friday a young woman named Sarah Gorse met with an accident at the Reddish Spinning Co.'s mill. It appears that a piece of waste had got entangled in the wheels, and in trying to get it out she got her finger crushed. Suicide of a Spinner.—Joseph Bates, of Back Water-street, Portwood, a spinner at Messrs. Greg's Albert Mill, South Reddish, committed suicide on Tuesday morning by hanging himself. It is stated that during the week-end he had been drinking, and had had some unpleasantness with his wife, the wife having spent the night at a neighbour's house, and upon her going home to amuse the children she found her husband hanging in the kitchen. He had placed a box on the table, and had climbed up and attached a rope to a hook in the ceiling, from which he was suspended when found. He was 39 years of age, and leaves a family of several children. Committee Meeting. The committee rf the Card and Blowing-room Operatives' Association held their usual meeting on Friday evening, at the offices, Wellington-street, the president in the chair. After the statement of accounts had been adopted a question arose with reference to a compensation claim, and after considerable consideration the secretary was instructed that if the claim were not acceded to he should take such steps as were necessary to enforce it. The secretary drew attention to a case of a firm who had -vritten stating that they were paying above the list, and asking far a re-arrangement of prices. The secretary was empowered to deal with the matter. A resolution was passed approving of the Trade Disputes Bill, and expressing dissatisfaction at the action of the Government in refusing facilities for the Bill becoming law in the present sission of Parliament, and expressing their determination to continue their efforts to get the Bill passed. The secretary was instructed to send a copy of the resolution to the borough member.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1904-10-07 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

REPLY TO MR. REED. The Federation Sub-committee, who bad the matter to deal with, have issued a further statement, in Which they say that Alderman Reed states that the award had been carried out "both in letter and spirit." If this is so, they ask, why did he not give the general public some data showing that the firm %ad carried out the obligations set forth in the arbitrators' award? "We gave facts and figures supPlied by the firm in our last statement showing that the firm had not carried out the award. The firm Ilso informed a deputation from the Weavers' Association that they would not carry out the award. We can, therefore, only leave the public to judgl on such statements. It would no doubt be interestlo have an answer to the following questions:— r 1) Why are the firm loth to enter into an agreement With anyone, if they can prove that they have acted it) good faith with the award? (2). How many of sse 121 weavers did the firm engage? (3). Do the atm intend to engage the one-third as vacancies c'es cut? (4). How many of the old weavers have the "in sent for since the holidays in July? (5). How In.isty new weavers have the firm engaged since that tine? If the firm would kindly answer these ques,""s the public would no doubt be able to form an °Pinion of the accuracy of Alderman Reed's E talethents. If the decision of the arbitrators had been strried out, why are these weavers in the streets? All the correspondence was not submitted to the arbitrators. We stated our 0.1.,0, believing that we 'll4)uld have the opportunity of discus.ing the mattr: but to our surpri,e they declined to interfere. kW they given us the privilege, we could have r°sed our case from the firm's statements in writing to us."  a At an inquest in the South of England the other aY—a case of suicide—the jury retired to consider their verdict and remained absent for an *ousel length of time •kt last they returned, and the foreman announced 'with solemnity:—" The WY are all of one mind—temporarily insane." In °Pita of the sad occasion there were suppressed 'hears in court.