npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1844-11-29 (London, England)

MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS.—The number of Sarah Russell lived next door to deceased in Bethnaldeaths during the week ending Nov. 23 is 914, showit,r,r?en:t Isaw her on the night of the 19th about twelve ing a decrease, as compared with the previous week, cloc I • She. appeared to me quite well. I was sent for next morning to go to her room. I went fur the brother of 158. The average for the autumn months being ' and on the way met the prisoner at the top of the street.' 990, and for five years 946. Deaths from Scarlatina, we are glad to see, are on the decrease He asked how is Jan©? I said I would go up,for the number think she is dying. Ile said, "Lord, then I'll go up." being only 60, while, during the previous week, they i Caroline Watson—l was in her room when the priwere 84. With the exception of a slight increase senor was there. I heard her say something about from pneumonia and erysipelas, all the other diseases " brandy bitters" having made her ill. He said, it can% have been less fatal than usual.' The deaths from be that, for I've drank plenty of it in my time. small-pox occurred at the following ages :—Nine then let me see you drink some of it. Se I said, gave me  under one year; ten 1.3; two 3-5; nine 5-10; three 10-?0; sib 20-30; and one 39 years. The following ' is an analysis of the list of violent deaths :—Fracture or Contusion, ten cases ; of which four were by falls (one being suicide), two by the fall of hard bodies, one by machinery, two by horses and carriages, and one case of manslaughter, in which the jury have neglected to state the means by which death was caused. Rupture of the liver, one case (accidental, but the cause not described). Wound, one case (suicide). Drowning, j five cases, but whether accidental or from design, juries were'unable to ascertain, or have neglected to state. flanging, two cases (suicides). Suffocation, one case (accidental). Burns, five cases, of which four were by clothes taking fire. Scald, one case (by drinking hot water). Poison, three cases, of which two were suicides—in ene it could not be ascertained whether it was the result of accident or design. And Overdose of Medicine, one case. Total, twenty males and ten females.—Rain in inches, 0.02.  black look, and then poured about a tablespoonful into the cup, and then drank it, but spat as much into the fireplace as he had poured into the cup. He then took out his handkerchief, wiped his mouth, and went away. At the bottom of the stairs ho spat again. Baron
The Sun. — 1844-10-11 (London, England)

HAMBURGH MAIL. (RECEIVED THIS DAY.) BRUSSELS, OCT. B.—On the 7th of this month Mr. Thomas G. Cleurson had an audience of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and delivered his credentials as Charge d'Affaires of the United States of America of this Court. A melancholy event has excited a great sensation in the diplomatic body at Rio de Janeiro. M. do Schanz, Consul-General of Sweden at the Court of Brazil, has attempted to commit suicide, in consequence of having been discharged by his Government. The dose of arsenic which he took was not strong enough to produce the intended effect. There are hopes of saving him; but still it is feared that all the care bestowed on him will be unavailing, so determined does he seem to put an end to his life. M. de Schanz, having exhausted all his resources in supporting the dignity of his office, was driven to this act of despair at the moment when he ex • pected to be appointed Charge d'Affaires. If we are rightly informed some modifications have been made in the original draft of the treaty of the Ist of September. These modifications are of little importance; the object of them all is better to define the arrangements respecting the navigation in the out-ports. A clause has been inserted in anticipation of the case, that, instead of increasing the duties on foreign corn, the Zollverien should diminish, or even suppress them. This case was wholly omitted in the original draft. It is here that the Prussian Government at first proposed alterations much more important, but they were all given up the Prussian Government having throughout manifested a desire to do away with everything that might delay the final conclusion of the arrangement. We are informed that the treaty of the Ist of September has been ratified by all the States interested, including Belgium. It may, therefore, be immediately published and carried into effect.
The Sun. — 1844-10-11 (London, England)

OCT. B.—On the 7th of this month Mr. Thomas G. Cleurson had en audience of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and delivered his credentials as Charge d'Affaires of the United States of America of this Court. A melancholy event has excited a great sensation in the diplomatic body at Rio de Janeiro. M. de Schanz, Consul-General of Sweden at the Court of Brazil, has attempted to commit suicide, in consequence of having been discharged by his Government. The dose of arsenic which lie took was not strong enough to produce the intended effect. There are hopes of saving him; but still it is feared that all the care bestowed on him will be unavailing, so determined does he seem to put an end to his life. M. de Schanz, having exhausted all his resources in supporting the dignity of his office, was driven to this act of despair at the moment when he ex • pected to be appointed Charge d'Affaires. If we are rightly informed some modifications havebeen made in the original draft of the treaty of the Ist of September. These modifications are of little importance; the object of them all is better to define the arrangements respecting the navigation in the out-ports. A clause has been inserted in anticipation of the case, that, instead of increasing the duties on foreign corn, the Zollverien should diminish, or even suppress them. This case was wholly omitted in the original draft. It is here that the Prussian Government at first proposed alterations much snore important, but they were all given up the Prussian Government having throughout manifested a desire to do away with everything that might delay the final conclusion of the arrangement. We are informed that the treaty of the Ist of September has been ratified by all the States interested, including Belgium. It may, therefore, be immediately published arid carried into effect.
The Sun. — 1844-04-29 (London, England)

SUICIDE OF AN ACTOR.—A remarkable case of self-destruction occurred a.few days ago, at : Blackburn, in Lancashire. The suicide was a gent' Leman most respectably connected,. a Mr. William Vl/4 Teaton Ball, , aged 35. It appears that he had been amt rather of te Lincoln company some time previous to his engar! at Blackburn. The latter situation had be en re *Ment rocured for him, a few days before his death, by afil.r. Arthur Dillon, the theatrical agent, of the Harp Tay t rn, Coventgarden. He arrived at Blackburn via Man tc:hester, and took up his abode at the house of Mr. John Girilson, Dun Horse Inn, Blackburn, and, having introd- ;iced himself to the manager of the theatre (Mr. Mi be was assigned Ferrado Goezago, in the play o. f 'The Wife, and was furnished the book to write hi g character. After passing a pleasant evening in the lam crd's company, he retired to hid room at half :past elcqrf n-1 o'clock, taking with him a glass of rum and water, tinel pens and ink, giving the landlord the prompt book, vhich was sealed up, to send to, the manager after nib e the next morning. At ten on the following morning, tl le manager hastened to the deceased's lodging% and in quired for him, and was directed by Mr. Wilson to his a oom. Mr. Mills immediately returned, and stated that; . he was unable to wake deceas,d, on which the landloallil went up to deceased's bedroom,' and found him dying.. Medical assistance was immediately summoned, but wit hout He expired at half-past eleven. In the row a was found three phials, which had contained laudanu 0 i—one purchased at Boston, in Lincolnshire ; the oth l r two at Mr. Robert Wilding's, surgeon, in Blackburn, on the Tuesday and Thursday previous to his deaf lb on Friday. Each phial had contained an ounce. , k number of letters were lying on the table, some dir acted, others open, and a sam of 245. was placed on the le lter aa s.uressed to Mr.; Wilson, landlord.
The Sun. — 1844-04-29 (London, England)

MART. PURLEY, had just lost her sole remaining chance of providing a day's meal for herself and starving child ; after having, with incredible difficulty, scraped together a few paltry shillings by making shirts at three half pence each, and small dress caps, she was robbed of every farthing she possessed ; and, under the overwhelming agony of mind produced by the sudden discovery of this loss ; feeling that nothing was left her but death by a lingering process of starvation, or a resort to a union workhouse, of which she had already had a most painful and humiliating experience—the wretched mother, we say, under the overwhelming influence of one of those paroxysms of bewilderment which are so apt to beset people in her situation, when the mind has wholly lost its balance, and madness flashes across the brain, resolved at once to put an end to her griefs by suicide, and involve her child in the same fate, knowing well what would be its condition, should it be left on earth, when the only friend and protector it had was gone. It was not a callous nature, but an exquisitely sensitive one, that was exhibited in this phrenzied determination—it was not that the feelings of the mother lay dormant, but that they were too painfully awakened, in the heart of Maar FURLET ; had she been a merely selfish parent she would have acted otherwise, and hurried herself only out of life, while she left her child behind, to take its chance in the great struggle of existence. At the trial which took place before Mr. Justice MAULE, there was no positive proof that she had flung herself and infant into the water; she herself observed in her defence, " I fell off the plank into the wharf;" and the only evidence that was adduced in contradiction of this assertion, was a remark which she had been heard to make a few days before, to the effect that she and her child would meet a watery grave. If ever there was a case that demanded the lenient 'consideration of the authorities, this is that one. Legally speaking, the sentence passed on her may have been a just one ; but, morally speaking, it is a most merciless and unrighteous one ; and pity in shot, —benevolencer humanity— equity—every feeling, of our common nature, alike shrinks with horror from the idea of its being carried into execution. Are there no degrees in such criminality as that of which MART FURLET has been found guilty ? Is the starved, hopeless, heart-broken, halffrenzied mother, who, if she really did endeavour to destroy her own offspring, did so out of the. very excess and agony of her maternal love, to meet with the same punishment u that awarded to such heartless, deliberate murderers as GREENACRI and COURVOISIER, who set about their work with the cool, pitiless malignity of fiends ? Even now, though the day of execution is fixed, we can scarcely believe that the sentence will be carried into execution ; for though in the eye of the law, the sacrifice of' MARY FURLET may be just and orthodox, "in the eye of humanity it cannot fail to be looked on as a murder. Since these observations on this singular case were
The Sun. — 1844-04-29 (London, England)

TCS9. trom Long-acre to Leicester-square, which is to be continued to Piccadilly, has been thrown open for the traffic of carts and carriages. A new floating pier, similar in appearance to the one at Lambeth Pal ice, was.opened on Friday at-Wandsworth ; it is called the Waterman's Pier, and has been erected by some Wandsworth lightermen and watermen, with the hopes of inducing other boats to run between Putney and London, besides those already engaged in the trade.  SUICIDE OF A CHELSEA PENSIONER,--On Friday Mr. Higgs held an inquest at the Compasses, Upper Ebury- , street, Pimlico, on the body of Edward Harrell, aged sixtylive, a pensioner belonging to Chelsea Hospital. Charles Thompson said that the deceased with his wife lodged at No. 51, Upper Ebury-street. At five o'clock yesterday (Friday) morning, witness was called from his bed by one of the lodgers, and told that deceased had made an attempt upon his hfe. Witness immediately arose; and upon going into the kitchen saw him lving upon the floor,-and bleeding from a large wound in the throat. Deceased was first missed by his wife, who went to the kitchen_in search of him, and found the door shut. Upon pushing against it the deceased fell, and it appeared as if he had endeavoured to hang himself by a cord at the top when his wife interrupted him. Being frustrated in his -attempt to hang him• self, he got his razor and inflicted a large gash upon his throat. Witness had never observed anythingan him which indicated insanity. His pension of one shilling and threepence per day, and a trifle his wife earned by washing, was all they had to live upon, and deceased being about to reside in Chelsea Hospital, he went to St. George's workhouse to ask them to make provision for his wife. They refused sinless he also would enter the workhouse. Mr. Hankley, surgeon, said that he attended the deceased, and found him dead from the effects of the incision in the throat—Verdict, "Temporary insanity." A
The Sun. — 1844-11-07 (London, England)

DETERMINED SUICIDE.-011 Saturday morning, about five o'clock, as an engineer, named Henry White, was proceeding by Westbourn-green, Paddington, he beheld the dead body of a man suspended by the n. ck with a cotton handkerchief, one end of which he had fastened to the top of some wooden paling on the premises of the Great Western Railway Company. The deceased was immediately cut down, and shortly afterwards removed to the station-house, Paddington-green ; life had evidently been extinct for some hours. The deceased, who appeared to be about fifty years of age, was dressed in a black coat, waistcoat, and trousers, and Wellington boots ; a razor was found in one of his pockets, butt there were no papers of any description upon him by which any clue could be obtained with regard to his name or connexions.  NOVEL WEDDlNG.—Tuesday forenoon a marriage took place at the parish church of St. George-iu-theEast, Cannon-street, which attracted much curiosity, and caused a large concourse of persons to assemble. The bride was Ann M'Cormick, an exceedingly pretty girl, who belonged to Rains's 1001. School, and the bridegroom William Channay, a smart young fellow, belonging to the Wellclose-square division of the fire brigade. Of the numerous institutions of which the great metropolis abound, there are few from which more positive benefits are disseminated than that of Rains's, near Old Gravellane, in the parish of St. George-in-the-East. The benevolent donor had by his will left a sufficient sum of money to support forty girls, to be elected from the parochial schools, for four years. At the end of that period they are sent out to service, and, upon attaining the age of nineteen, and their characters being irreproachable, they become eligible to draw in a lottery for a husband. Two marriages take place in every year, namely, one upon the merry Ist of May, or " Sweep's day," and the other on the sth of November, or " Guy Fawkes' day," and on the morning r,f each of those days a drawing takes place for the ls. of May or the sth of Nov., as the case may be, awl, Miss Ape". mack having drawn the* prize on the Ist of May last, was, of course, the next for preferme.e t. When the lucky ticket is drawn, the next thing to I,e done by its fortunate owner is to seek out for an eligiKe partner (not a Roman Catholic, for they, according 'Lo the will of the testator, are ineligible) in the parish es of St. George in the East, St. Paul, Shadwell, or S. John, of Wapping, and this being done, notice is p,,ven to the trustees for their approval. In this imr,tanec Miss M'Cormick's choice fell upon the " watertv,an-fireman," and the trustees, finding no reason to fi,D7,l fault with his good looks-or fair fame, nothing more was left but to go through the happy ceremony. In the evening, according to the usual custom, a dinner V.Jok place at the institution, at which the bride wad bridegroom, and several of their friends, attended, 'And after the health of the happy couple was given, the chairman presented the bridegroom with 'one hundred new sovereigns in a bag, as his bridal portion from the institution.
The Sun. — 1844-09-09 (London, England)

MARLBOROUGH-STREET. (THIS DAY.) Thomas Brown, between thirty-fire and forty years of age, of respectable appearance, was charged with robbing his employers, under the. following circumstances : For the last five or six years the prisoner had been in the employ of Mr. Thomas Morris, of Walker's-court, Soho, linendraper and haberdasher, and not the most remote idea was, until lately, entertained of his being dishonest. However, certain sums in money had been recently ~,;ssed from the till at different ttmeq. ILO the. purpose of detecting the thief, a friend of Dlr. Morris made a purchase at the shop, and gave in payment a marked half-crown. This was on Saturday evening, and about twelve o'clock at night the half-crown was missed from the till, to which, in the interim, he had had frequent access. He was accused of stealing it, but he strongly protested his innocence ; but on his being searched, the identical half-crown was found in his shoe. The prosecutor said he did not wish to press the charge, as the prisoner had been in better circumstances, and had a young and numerous family to support. The prisoner foolishly persisted that the half-crown was his own.  Mr. MALTBY said the case would then be proceeded with, and remanded the prisoner until this day week. The prisoner on hearing this wept aloud. Elizabeth Henry, a female of respectable manners, and about thirty years of age, whose garb denoted the very extreme of destitution, was charged with attempting to commit suicide.  Between five and six o'clock last evening she was observed to throw herself into the Serpentine River. She was got out after she had floated to the distance of about fourteen yards from the bank, just as she was sinking. She was then in a state of insensibility, but was speedily restored to a state of consciousness. She at first declared that she had fallen in by accident, but afterwards admitted that she had thrown herself in purposely to put an end to her life, as she had not had any work fora long time, and, was in ill-health, and completely destitute. For many months past she had worked at shirt•making. Mr. MALTBY humanely ordered that she should be taken care of for the present.
The Sun. — 1844-09-09 (London, England)

MARLBOROUGH-STREET. (THIS DAY.) Thomas Brown, between thirty-five and forty years of age, of respectable appearance, was charged with robbing his employers, under the following circumstances : For the last five or six years the prisoner had been in the employ of Mr. Thomas Morris, of Walker's-court, Soho, finendraper and haberdasher, and not the most remote idea was, until lately, entertained of his being dishonest. However, certain sums in money had been recently missed from the till at different times, and for the purpose of detecting the thief, a friend of Mr. Morris made a purchase at the shop, and gave in payment a marked half-crown. This was on Saturday evening, and about twelve o'clock at night the half-crown was missed from the till, to which, in the interim, he had had frequent access. He was accused of stealing it, but he strongly protested his innocence ; but on his being searched, the identical half-crown was found in his shoe. The prosecutor said he did not wish to press the charge, as the prisoner had been in better circumstances, and had a young and numerous family to support. The prisoner foolishly persisted that the half-crown was his own.  Mr. MALTBY said the case would then be proceeded with, and remanded the prisoner until this day week. The prisoner on hearing this wept aloud. Elizabeth Henry, a female of respectable manners, and about thirty years of age, whose garb denoted the very extreme of destitution, was charged with attempting to commit suicide. Between five and six o'clock last evening she was observed to throw herself into the Serpentine River. She was got out after she had floated to the distance of about fourteen yards from the bank, just as she was sinking. She was then in a state of insensibility, but was speedily restored to a state of consciousness. She at first declared that she had fallen in by accident, but afterwards admitted that she had thrown herself in purposely to put an end to her life, as she had not had any work for a long time, and was in ill-health, and completely destitute. For many months past she had worked at shirt.making. Mr. MALTBY humanely ordered that she should be taken care of for the present.
The Sun. — 1844-09-09 (London, England)

THE GAME LAWS.—Two of the gamekeepers of the Earl of Stradbroke committed suicide on Saturday and Sunday, within twenty-four hours of each other. Report attributes the death of both of them " to their anxiety and dread of meeting their master (who was expected at Ilenham-park on Saturday, on his return from his Irish estates, but who is not now looked for till this week), fearing his anger that such extensive depredations should have been allowed among his preserves as have lately thinned the number of his pheasants, &c." There are other reports to a similar effect, showing that the anxiety of mind which ended in these unfortunate men destroying themselves was caused by their solicitude about the game they had to preserve. It is not long since another gamekeeper of this same Lord Stradbroke was murdered by poachers, and, if our memory serves us aright, several transportations beyond the seas were the consequence. Look, then, at the loss of life, the misery, and the expense to the public, that this, single landlord's game may be preserved. Let it be held in mind that, during the last ten years, some thirty gamekeepers have been murdered, and as many poachers hanged for the murders—that in one year, namely, 1843, thirty persons were transported, and 4,500 convicted and sentenced to fine and imprisonment in England alone, for infringements of the game laws—that the cost of prosecuting the " criminals," and in maintaining their families when thrown upon the parish, amounts annually to not less than 100,000/. sterling, not to speak of the immense cost of maintaining those who are transported beyond the seas, nor of the wreck and ruin of virtue and happiness to tens of thousands, nor of the brutal and revengeful feelings engendered, and the desperate criminals who are brought into existence and fostered by these laws ; and who shall say but that they are one of the greatest curses of our land, and ought, without delay to be swept from off our statute-book for ever 2—Leeds Times.