npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-11-19 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

BRIEN AND HIS CLOTHES.  Mr. O'Brien's clothes were taken away early the other morning by a warder, who entered the room to light his fire, and suddenly rushed away with them. Mr. O'Brien has made a declaration to Dr. Moorhead, J.P., which this magistrate at his request committed to writing "They intend to kill me." Subseqwntly in an interview with Mr. Andrew Connolly, J.P., Mr. O'Brien said : "They mean murder. They have acted like dastard.. I feel I shall never leave this place alive, but I ask you as a favour to let the public know what is being done." Pointing to the blue suit of hospital clothes, he added Though I die here, I shall never put these on. I cannot say anything more until I see Dr. Ridley and speak to him about the breach of faith" Mr. O'Brien states that Dr. Ridley had promised him that his clothes would not be interfered with.  Dr-. Moorhead, a visiting justice, who saw Mr. XVilHam O'Brien, M.P., in Tullamore Prison, states that Mr. O'Brien complained to him bitterly that his clothes had been taken from him, and a suit of blue garments, not the ordinary prison garb, substituted. Mr. O'Brien, who was in bed, sad he could never wear the clothes. IHe further said : They have brought me hereto murder me. I don't know how long this slow torture will continue." Mr. O'Brien also intimated that he would take as much food and get as much warmth as possible, so that it might not be said he had committed suicide. At Mr. O'Brien's request Dr. Moorhead wrote this statement down, and he also wrote a note in the gaol diary to the effect that Mr. O'Brien wee in a very excited condition, and showed the symptoms of a person suffering from tubercular disease. Be recommended that every means should be taken to allay the excitement and to keep Mr. O'Brien quiet. Yesterday, Mr. Egan, another visiting justice, saw Mr. O'Brien, who again complained bitterly of the loss of his clothe., and said. Unless they restore them I don't believe I shall come out alive."
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-03-26 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

TRAGIC DEATH OF AN EXMINISTER.  A dreadful discovery was made the other morning at Fern°lough, Bolton, the residence of Mr. John Kynaston Cross, late Under-Secretary for India, and for about 12 years senior M.P. for Bolton. Mr. Cross, who had been ailing for the last 18 months from 'a nervous complaint, and who had lately returned from abroad, retired to rest as nano', and being called in the morning it was found that his bed-room was empty and the door of his dressing-room adjoining locked. The latter was forced open, and a shocking sight presented itself, the body of Mr. Cross being found suspended from a rail of the wardrobe by means of doubled fishing lines. An alarm was at once raised, and a gardener cut the body down. Dr. Gillibrand was sent for, who pronounced that life had been extinct for several hours. Mr. Joseph Cross. brother of the unfortunate gentleman, was at the church adjoining, and was sent for, other members of the family also being summoned. Since a visit to America in search of health some 12 months ago, from which he seemed to benefit, Mr. J. K. Cross had been to Switzerland, from which country he returned a few days before his death. On the , morning prece..ing the tragic occurrence he was at the extensive cotton works of Messrs. Crosses and Wink. worth, where he conducted business, and subsequently spent the evening with his brother and Mr. Joseph Miller, his brother-in-law, arranging with the latter gentleman as to a fishing excursion, a pastime of which he was exceedingly fond. When he retired for the night there was nothing to foreshadow the dreadful event above reported, whi,h has cast a terrible gloom over Bolton and the neighbourhood, dm report of the suicide having spread rapidly. Mr. Cross leaves a widow and three sons and three daughters. The deceased was the eldest ' son of the late Mr. John Cross, cotton spinner, Bolton, and was aged about 54 years. The firm of which he was a member was one of the largest in Lancashire. Mr. Cross was first elected for Bolton in 1874, as an ardent Liberal, and again in 1860, but was defeated in 1885. Be was Under Secretary for Indla from 1883 to 1885, and it is thought the excessive labours is that position, coupled with the business pressure of the immense concern of which he was principal, practically wrecked his nervous systeni, and really led to his tragic end.  A
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-04-09 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION.  A return haa just Ikon issued showing that up to the 28th of February last the number of applications to have fair rents fixed in the Land Commission and Civil Bill Courts had been 136,692, and the number ,fixed, 89,735; the number of applications dismissed or struck out, 23;687; and applications withdrawn, 10,601. The number of agreements made out of court was 89,831, .The number of mieeellaneoue originating noticee on the subj, et of the sale of tenancies and resumption of holdings was 1100; and the number dispwed of up to the 21°th of February was 807, The number of appeals lodged up to that date re fair rent., Ise., was 21,714, of which 7622 had been heard; the number dismissed or struck out, less those reinstated, 554; and the number withdrawn. 9473. Under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1885-86, there had been 480 applications only up to February 20th, of which rents had been fixed in 315 cases, and 411 applications bad been withdrawn. Under the Land Purchase Act of 1985 there had been 5427 leans applied for, to the value of £2,558,569; loans had been sanctioned In 4403 eases, to the amount of • .£1,9117,831 ; and in 2246 eases loans Lad been issued to the amount of £957,615.  _— A Fazeloos Ciirr.—No one will deny that the exotic shrub yielding Pure To is a precious gift ; adding much to our health and comfort. Thousands of persons use daily Hs; siman's Pure Pc, because It is strong, rich, delicious and sold at moderate fixed price..—&r million pad els sold .ueurill. Dn. Thriocs, coroner, has been informed of the supposed suicide of a youth-named Frederick Suffield, aged about 17. The deceased, a labourer, living in Church-street, Staines, was sitting in the kitchen with his sister, when he suddenly rose from his chair and went out. Shortly after a search was made for him, when his dead body was found suspended by a hempen halter in a closet. Deceased's dejected appearance had recently been noticed by his friends. BEFORE the committee of the House of Commons on the charges against the Corporation of London, Mr. Crawford, City Solicitor, has produced accounts showing numerous disbursements on account of the opposition to the movement for the reconstitution of the municipality. Sir John It. Monckton also gave evidence of numerous payments, and explained that Sir It. N. Fowler, though an ex-officio member of the special committee while Lord Mayor, hod never taken any part in its discussions, and had us no way beets cognisant of what they were doing,  , been °P7-1 to Icozn
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-07-02 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

TRIPLE MURDER AND SUICIDE.  Airth, a quiet village on the south bank of the Forth, situate about six miles north of Falkirk, was the other evening the scene of a terrible tragedy -the murder of the three youngest children of the Rev. Robert Leckie, a Presbyterian minister, by his wife, their mother, and the suicide of herself. Mrs. Leckie was in her usual health apparently about two o'clock in the afternoon, and with the three deceased children, boys aged respectively four, three, and one years, went upstairs to a bedroom, as she was in the habit of occasionally doing. Two or three hours after a servant maid had occasion to see her mistress, and on going to the room was horrified to find the three boys lying dead on the floor side by side, with their throats cut, and a razor covered with blood close to the mother lying on the floor. Mr. Leckie was from home at the time of the occurrence. Mrs. Leckie has not been in good health for some time past The tragedy has cast a widespread gloom over the whole district, in which Mr. Leckie is well.known. From the latest particulars it would appear that Mrs. Leckie hid been amusing the children in the garden during the whole of the morning, and that the deed must have been committed immediately after proceeding upstairs shortly after one °Voce. About three hours elapsed between the time of the murders and their diicovery, and although all assistance was speedily summoned, it was of no avail. Mrs. Leckie, who was 36 years of age, and a woman of singularly ph asant disposition, had frequently complained of bodily weakness and pains in the head. The eldest of the family, a boy named John, aged eight years, alone escaped the fate of his brothers, he being at school. Mrs. Leckie was a daughter of Mr. Hugh Farquhar, tailor and clothier, Glasgow, and was married to Mr. Leckie about nine years ago. There Is no inquest into such occurrences in Scotland, the matter only being investigated by the police authorities sad reported to the Crown agents.
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-04-02 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

POLICE DRINKING.  Sir Charles Warren, with the object of putting a stop to drinking by members of the Metropolitan Police Force whilst on duty, has issued some stringent orders, which have been sent to every station in the metropolis. Sir Charles gives the men to understand that any officer found the worse for drink may, first of all, expect to be reduced, and to be dismissed on a second complaint, and that this order will be most rigidly enforced. Several men have already been reduced in rank, and in one case the offender, a sergeant of the Y division, stationed at Holloway, the men consider has been punished with undue severity. A petition, praying Sir Charles Warren to moderate the punishment, is being prepared, and to which efforts see being made to obtain the signatures of Mr. Bartley, M.P. and Mr. Cowley Lambert, M.P., two of the Islington members of Parliament.  KAY'S COMPOuND, a demnloeut anodyne ezpoctoront for Court. and Golds. Or ell Chemists. Bid., lid.. pnst Id.  1; spite of the declaration on the part of the guides of its impossibility thus early in the year, the ascent of the great Peak of Tonerlife was accomplished on the 13th ult. by an English party composed of two ladies and two gentlemen. The path usually available for horses was buried in snow, and the party had to pick their own way by moonlight in a KtUvly cold wind. One of the ladies suffered so much from mountain-sickness that a halt had to be made till sunrise, and all were affected more or less by the rarefaction of the air ; but the two gentlemen succeeded with difficulty in reaching the crater, where they found lumps of hard snow in proximity to jets of sulphurous vapour, and heated rocks, sufficient to show that the volcano is still alive.  Toe Mayor of Cardiff has received an intimates from the Secretary of State to the effect that the Queen is not disposed to entertain the petition of the Corporation in favour of Cardiff being raised to the dignity of a lord mayoralty. The Mayor is further informed that the question of conferring some distincfion in commemoration of the Jubilee year upon the Mayors of the larger towns is under consideration. FOR some time past an epidemic of suicide has prevailed in Hungary In Peath, for instance, in the course of one day only, as ninny as six persons took their own lives. Two artisans and one student shot themselves with revolvers, *pother workman hanged himself, while a fourth cut his throat with a razor. The sixth victim was the wife of a merchant, who cut open several arteries, and bled to death. Is a town in Illinois the following placard w,a affixed to the shutters of a watchmaker who had decamped, leaving his creditors : 'Wound upi and the mainspring broke.' A <mousey WOlllllll was heard informing a neighbour that last night's storm frightened her no that ale 'shook like an ashpari.`
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-06-18 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

SERIOUS AFFRAY NEAR BODYKE.  There were no evictions on Monday at New Pallas. A riot occurred at Feakle, some tour miles from Bodyke. The police were stoned, and thereupon they proceeded to disperse the crowd, belabouritg the people right and left. Several were wounded, including the following : William Purcell, contused wound two inches long on the crown of the head, cut through the scalp; James Ryan, six severe contused wounds on the crown of the head, a very bad case, Dr. Dun. worth stating it is one respecting which he has but Slender hope of the patient's recovery ; Daniel Iluesey, two contused wounds over right and left temple, one about 2in. long and the other an inch and a half, also a very severe contusion on the back of the head, and the right ear cut; Michael Bolton, punctured wound on the crown of the head; Denis Curtin, two contused wounds over the frontal bone, each one an inch and a-half in length, a contused wound on the left parietal bone, all inch and a.half in length, and a punctured wound over the lower part of the oceirital hone; Patrick Halloran, a publican. a contused wound two inches long over the right parietal bone, and a contusion over the upper part of the left bone. Halloran alleges that he was remonstrating with some policemen for running through his place, when they turned back and batoned him without more ado. Denis Daly has also his head cut and contused. It is reported that there area number of other persons in the village injured, but that they are afraid to apply for medical treatment lest the Police may arrest them. The occurrence, in the absence of evictions in tiodyke, was the sole topic of discussion in the district. The people attribute the entire disturbance to the police losing their temper on being refused drink by the publicans, and they even go the length of asserting that several constables forced their way into public-houses and helped th-mselves to liquor when refused by the publicans. No confirmatory or reliable statement could be obtained in support of this extraordinary allegation. The police arrested two men named Patrick Brett and John Tuohy for being concerned in the attack made on them, and the prisoners were lodged in the county gaol.  Tan body of the man Jams "Todd, who murdered Harriet Turner, the woman with whom he was living in Ancoats, Manchester, haa been discovered in the canal, not a great may from his house. The police had reason to suspect from the first that Dodd had committed suicide, and men were engaged all through Wednesday night in dragging the canal and portions of the river. The children of the deceased, seven in number, have been temporarily provided for, but they have, it is Said, no relatives able to support them,
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-06-18 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

DISTRESSING STORY. Alfred Allen, a man about 40 years of age, was brought befire Alderman Sir A. Lusk, at the London Mansion House Police-court the other day, charged with attempting to commit suicide at St. Paul's-pier. The defendant jumped into the river at Blackfriars, and if it had not been for the prompt assistance of the pier-man, he would in all probability have lost his life. He was insensible when taken out of the water, but be recovered sufficiently to enable Fuleber, a City constable, to take him to the hospital. From inquiries that were made by the officer it was ascertaMed that the prisoner was 0 very respectable man who had been employed 12 years at the Beektcn Gasworks. Owing to an explosion he had lost the sight of one eye, and two months ago he was discharged. He had not been able to obtain any employment, and, in spite of their struggles, he and his wife and eight children had been reduced to great distress, and were in an almost starving condition. He told the officer that on the previous night he went home faint and hungry, and found his wife trying to work at her needle, and almost fainting from exhaustion, and his children crying for food, and he could not bear it any longer, and rushed out to attempt to commit suicide. A letter was found on him addressed to his wife. The prisoner, in reply to Sir Andrew Lusk, said he had done all he could to obtain employment. He was willing to do anything, but could 'IA obtain any work. When the order came to shorten hands at the gas works, he pleaded hard to be kept on, but he was told tnat they were bound to reduce their staff, and he was discharged. Sir Andrew Lusk remanded the prisoner for a week, and by his direction assistance was given from the poor-box to relieve the immediate wants of the family. The following is a copy of a letter found on the prisoner "My dear wife,—Hope, hope itself is dead. The future is all ! darkness and gloom. In spite of our struggles the bitter, bitter end is close at hand. Last night I saw you fainting at your work in your brave attempt to fight against fate. We must part, my dear little wife, we must part. But where? At the workhouse gate? No. no, little dueling; till death us do part was the promise we made, and death is the kindest and the best adieu. My dear wife, kW the little ones for me, and even in death believe me, your loving A.
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1878-05-18 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

ATTEMPT OS THE EMPEROR WILLIAM'S LIFE.  On the afternoon of the 11th inst., about half-met three o'clock, when the Emperor, with his daughter, the Grand Auchess of Baden, was returning from his ! ueual drive, a man in the Unter den Linden, near the Russian. Pmbany, fired two shots from a revolver et I his MaiAy, but happily missed his mark. The Grand I Duchess swooned. The Emperor rose in the carriage and asked" Are they aimed at me?" Meanwhile the assassin tried to escape, but was immedia.ely pursued only by the Emperor's attendants, and by thoee who were palming by. He fired two other shots upon his pursuers, but was at length arrested and brought to the police-Mation. The policemen who took him had great difficulty in protecting the prisonegtfrom being lynched by the angry crowd. At th,i first inquiry held by the authorities the assassin denied having any intention to murder the Emperor, but mid he intended to commit suicide on account of his being unemployed, and to show the aristocracy to what end the present social conditions of life must lead. He is a tinker, was born at Leipsic, I is about 20 years of age' and a stubborn Soinalist. He I was in possession of Socialist newspapers and pamphlets, and of photographs of Socialist leaders. He declared that he was an Anarchist, and it seem, to be ascertained that be has travelled in Switzerland, Italy, and Spain as a Socialist agitator. The Emperor, on returning to his palace, was enthusiaetically greeted by the public, who afterwards crowded in thousands before the palace, where his Majesty repeatedly appeared at the window. All the Princes, Ministers, Generals, and Ambassador, drove immediately to the palace to congratulate the Emperor. At bye o'clock his Majesty gave a dinner party, and in the evening visited both of the Royal theatres, where he was the object of most entbueiasti ovations. The public rose and sang the National Anthem. Many houses put out flags and illuminated. All the Sunday newspapers published leaders on the Emperor's lucky escape from danger, and their columns were full of detailed accounts of the attempt on the life of his Majesty and of the would-be assassin. His Majesty did not lose for a moment his usual equanimity. The following day when he drove out with hie daughter in an open carriage to the Potsdam Station, he looked not the least altered, and acknowledged, with his wonted graciousness and kindness, the enthusiastic greeting of the people who crowded along the way. On his second examination the prisoner stood by his first statement that he did not intend to fire at the Emperor, but to shoot himself in the presence of the Emperor, so as to show his Majesty to what extremes distress will lead a person, and that he belongs to a Socialist society. The judge who examined into the condition of the man states that he was not at all impressed with the idea that he is weak-minded, but that, on the contrary, he made all his answers in a clear and reasonable manner.
Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1878-03-23 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

SINGULAR ROBBERY.  A trial for a robbery, accompanied with rather curious circumstances, his just taken place before the Paris Court of Amines. The principal accused, name i Money, was messenger at the bank of Gay and Roetend, and as for back he 1871, haying been sent to receive a sum of 200,000 D., he abeconded with the money. The police sought hint everywhere without success, while he was quietly concealed with a cooper, named Fraipont, who occupied a little but in a piece of waste ground at La Villetto. The eecret of his hiding-place was no well kept that it wee not en-n known to a young woman named Orem with whom he was intimate, and who, after being arrested and detained in custody for a time, was liberated, when the police found they could learn nothing from hEr. Two other rersons were in the affair, a Swigs shoemaker named Butzeaberger, and a woman, Douard, with whom he cohabited. Two months after the robbery the partiev went separately to Belgium, and Motley sent for the young woman Oreps, the two then passing under the napsof Graff. This couple and Butzenberger and Douard next removed to Geneva, and purchased for 500001 r. houee in which they all resided in cominon. Freipant also received his share of the booty. The two couples fell out in 1875, and Manny, having sold his part of the house for 25,000 fr. to Butzenberger, went with the woman Crepe to live at Chandiery. There they became v-ry intimate with a neighbour, who by some means discovered their real Aunts. Mouny from that moment lived in a state of continual alarm. He kept loaded pistols by him i and watch dogs to guard his house. The precautions he took to guard his treasure at last attracted the attention of the police, who discovered his antecedents. He wits arrested, and his extradition having been obtained, he was now brought up for trial with the women Crepe and Doused. Butgenberger being a Swiss subject, his surrendee could not be demanded, and Fraipont, who had remained in Belgium, committed suicide on learning of the arrest of his accomplice.. Moony was now condemned to eight years' imprisonment and the two women each to Ave years.