npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Irvine Express. — 1883-10-05 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

ZPORT.  The CLERK read a statement of the assessment arrears, submitted by Mr Wilson, as follows : Water assessment—Amount of warrant, £ll5 7s 70. Collected, £53. Unrecovered, £62 7s 70. Police assessment (Halfway)—Amount of warrant, £27 3e 2d. Collected, £l2. Unrecovered, £l5 3s 2d. Drainage—Amount of warrant, £6 10s 10d. Collected, £2 15s. Unrecovered, £3 15s 10d.  This was all the business of importance' and the meeting adjourned after a sederunt of three and a half hours. .  A GENTLEMAN named Elliot, who ill said to have been a colonel in the Indian Service, committe suicide on Wednesday in a London hotel by shooting himself in the head with a gun. A PECULIAR Mowumswr.—Mr Alexander Cumming, sculptor. Victoria Buildings, has just erected in Etevension Churchyard a novel piece of monumental work, representing the decayed trunk of an aged ash tree. The monument has Hhen erected to the order of Bailie Hogarth and his brother in memory of their father and mother, and provision is made on six cut branches for the remaining members of the family, two of which are already filled up. The monument is cut from stone obtained at Ardeer Quarry, Stevenston, and was originally five tons in weight. That, however, has been reduced by a half in the process of cutting. It stands 7ft 41n high, is Bft in circumference at the bay, and 7ft 61n in the centre. Under the principal inscription, which is out on what represents the akin of the tree, there is a somewhat large opening representing the decay of the trunk, and this I will probably be filled with ivy. The imitation of the tree is an excellent one—so much so, indeed, that several parties who have seen it declare it to be a fossil, and refuse to believe it has been cut from stone. Amid all the exellent work which Mr Cumming has turned out this , will certainly not be the leant conspicuous.
Irvine Express. — 1883-03-16 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

CLOSING OF THE CHVRCHYAED.  Mr AULD submitted a petition, from 81 ratepayers in the village, against the •clesing of the churchyard, on the ground that a competent authority should first be got to inspect the ground, and report if there was not sufficient room to do the requirements of the village. Mr SYME said the meeting could scarcely consider the document, as it was called fur a special , purpose. It was for the Sheriff to decide if the churchyard should be closed, and no action could effect the matter, although it was competent for the petitioners to disprove the allegations made by the heritora. After a petition has been presented to the Sheriff, an opportunity will be given for the ratepayers to express an opinioti, but it is not for this meeting to adjudicate in. Mr litoncr said Mr Syme had stated their position very clearly; they could not give it consideration beyond receiving it. . .  The CHAIRMAN said, as one—of the heritors, it gave him great pain to agree to the churchyard being closed, but they would not have done so unless they had strong reasons for so doing, although the sheriff might hold they were wrong. It was orly a strong sense of responsibility that made them agree to petition the sheriff to close the burying ground. On the motion of Mr HIGHET, a vote of thanks was accorded to the Chairman, and the meeting then separated.  AT St. Petersburg on Sunday night M. Makoff, a Russian ex-Minister, committed suicide by shooting himself. .  THE reveuue up to Saturday last amounted to £82,270,221, compared with £80,474.762 at the same date last year. A BERLIN registered letter-carrier hns been murdered, and robb.d of a sum of about 51100 marks. The murderer has not been arrested.  AT the annual meeting of the tioottish Bind of Hope Union on Tuewlay it Wa.l reported that there were now 355 Bands of Hope against 250 last year. THOMAS JOHNSTONE, fanner and grocer, Middle'haw, Dumfriesshire, who is proprietor of the land he farms, ha, beim tined £7 for selling wluskey without a linens.
Irvine Express. — 1883-05-25 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

AYR. —The second eleven of the Ayr Club made their first appearance against the Eghnton Castle C.C. on Saturday, the, match resulting in, an easy win for the visitors in the Ist innings by 36 runs, the home players being unable to make any stand against the bowling of Burke and Paterson. Thelellowing are the scores: -En LINTON CASTLIL SommervWe, b Ferguson, .. 0, Burke, ~ Wilson,run out, .. 0 M‘Plimeon, b Allan, .. 3 Kyle, Robertson Imrie, ' ~ AFLaren, not out, * . .. 4 Andrews, c W. Allan, b Ferguson, Muir, Paterson, c Renter,  again, +reseal; Wined me act  .118:n  Total, .. .. 58 Ist Innings. 2ND Arn. 2nd. lapingn. Paton 4 , b Paterson, .. .. 12 b Paterson, .. W. Allan, b Burke, .. 5 „ Smith, b Paterson, .. 2 lb w, Burke, .. 4 Ferguson, e and b Burke, .. 0 e Robertson, b Burke 5 Wallace, b Burke, . : 0 at Lurie, b Burke, .. 2 Weall, to Paterson, .. 0 b Paterson, .. 5 Blakelyte Burke, b Paterson, 0 e Imrie, b Burke, .. 0 hood, bPaterson, 0 e Kyle, „ 6 Hunter, t Kyle, b Paterson, 2 at Imrie,„ 5 Reid b Paterson, 0 not out, 2  Allan, not out, Extras,  o run out, 1 Extras,  Total, .. 22 Total, .. 45 SAD CASE OF StrICtUE.—A very painful case of ;suicide was reported to the police on Sabbath forenoon, whereby Robert Wyllie committed suicide in a most determined manner by hanging himself in the washing-house. He left the house shortly before seven o'clock in the morning, and and at half-past eleven a little niece, in going--1 into the washing-house, which adjoins the main tenement, at Glasgow Vennel, found her uncle suspended, by means of a clothes line', from? the beam which runs across the roof. An alarm was ' promptly given, and several of the neighbours at , once cut the body down, but life was found to be extinct. The deliberate nature of the act is evident from the manner in which it was gone+ about, the rope being doubled in case of it proving too weak to sustain the stress which was put upon it; deceased being a very tall' man. MAI hum.° a drop of about six eet b had barrel plated upon the top of an Old sofa, froth which, ~he had thrown himself. Dr Thomson was called' in Shortly afterwards and inspected the body,, giving it as his opinion that life had been extinct, several IsOnia I.l4fsisp the imly_was taken., down, it being quite cold and the limbs stiff. Deceased Was a miner by occupation,, but on account of an injury which he-nceivek,in the pit+ about six rudfiths ago,, has beat lihable to Work ever since, and was consequently depressed in spirits. Of late he felt rather better, and on Friday he succeeded in procuring work, but on Saturday he found himself unable for the task, and had to return home. Naturally downhearted at his failure, it is supposed by his relatives that this was the cause of his taking his own life. He was about forty-five years of age, and leaves a widow and a large family.  tue  AN
Irvine Express. — 1884-04-04 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

SUICIDE OF A POLICEMAN.—An inquest was held on Tuesday night at Bootle, near Liverpool on the body of Willem van Scharck, a constable of the Lancashire police force, stationed at Bootle, who on Sunday morning list threw, himself down a quarry 110 feet deep, and was instantaneously killed. Shortly ha-fore committing the fatal act the deceased wrist.. a letter to the Liverpool Daily Poet to expnae a eystem of alleged tyranny on the part of the inspectors in the force, and which he said had driven him to suicide. The letter was receiveettoo late to prevent the commission of the deed, but was forwarded to the Coroner in order that the serious allegations It contained might be investigated. The allegations were that favour with the superior offers and promotion in the force were made to depend on the number of convictions obtained by the con,tables, a sheet being kept on which was written each man's name, with black marks against it for •• drinks" and red marks for "felonies," This sheet was produced now and then on pay days, and the men with the fewest marks were threatened with di-missal. The deceased frirther said that false charges had been brought against him to hunt bon out of the force, and appended the names of ei,,,,loeen experienced constables who had been "limited away like doss through lies being told about them." He hoped his letter would receive publicity In the press, the only way of calling attention to the 'nevem of which he complaived, and said that he lei 7 It wit his life for his comrades, and he hoped that bin wife and two children would be cared for after be had gone. Evidence was given at the iequest of deceased's peculiar habits. It was also qateci that he had never complained of undue haralinit-a on the part of his superior officers, except a short period before his death, and that he had been reported by a sergeant for being asleep while being in charge of the Bridewell. This last charge deceased pie t-l.lank denied when brought before the superietendent, but his sergeant affirmed that he had to shake him three times to arouse him from hi. slumbers. The Coroner favourably reviewed the ac, ion of deceased's su erior officers in dealing with Van Scharck, and the jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst under temporary insanity.
Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1886-08-27 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

BRIC-A-BRAC.  Pr is said that a woman paid full table board for her pug at a leading Cincinnati hotel rather than that it should as.ociate with other dogs and eat the table leavings. A BROOKLYN man intent on suicide loaded a run with powder, put in a cork to keep the powder dry, and then filled the barrel with water. The muzzle was then put in his mouth, and the column of water fired into his brain.  THERE is a veritable " man milliner" in the new British Parliament in the person of Mr Isaacson, Tory member for Stepney, whose business olierm is Mdme. Elise, of Regent-street. His millinery establishment is very faaLtionable and profitable.  Mr W. Abraham, M.P. for the Rhondda Valley Division, made the usual declaration as to his expenses at the recent General Election. They came to the unprecedentndly email sum of £7, this being the amount of the returning officer's fee.  A cow's hide produces or yields 351bs. of leather, ant a horse's 1816 s. Horses' hides, which, considering their size, are thin, are used by the harness-maker, especially for collars ;and occasionally, when paired thin, for the upper leathers of ladies' walking shoes. The thickest and most substantial leather now in general use is that made from the hides of the halfwild cattle of South America. .  A PECULIAR freak of nature is presented in the result that attended the experiment of stocking Lake Ontario with shad seven years ago. 'Millions of them were hatched, but they were dwarfs. one of them grow to over seven inches long, and they are not fit to eat. They propagate proltfierilly, and bare become a choice morsel of food for the pickerel and bass.—Nkiltira Covrier. ON all average an express engine consumes 1,000 gallons of water and between one and a half and two tons of coal for every hundred miles it traverses. These quantities must not be considered arbitary, as they vary considerably according to circumstances. The weight of the train, head.winds, and wet or foggy weather which makes the rails greasy, thus rendering the attainment of speed more difficult, have all to be taken into consideration.
Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1886-12-24 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

ABOUT EMIGRATION.—A correspondent who emigrated from Newcastle (says the Chronicle. ) to New South Wales a few months ago, and whose opinion is worth quoting as that of an experienced business man and a shrewd observer, sends a rather depressing account of the commercial and industrial situation iu the capital of the colony. After remarking upon the natural and other advantages which Sydney possesses, and observing that its citizens appear to be rather backward in the development of some of the resources at their command, my informant writes :—" Trade is very bad here, though as wool has gone up in price it should do some good. This, however, will principally benefit the banks. who are said to have a hold on most of the • runs' (sheep stations). Many of the owners of these runs are believed to have committed suicide, though the fact has been kept as quiet SS possible. There are a great number of men out of work; I understand that about one-third of the working men are doing nothing. Many are at test work, making roads and clearing ground at 2s Gel per day; many others are sleeping in the parks, and everyone seems down in the mouth. The building trade is said to be dull, though to me it appears brisk, as there are a lot of fine warehouses and shops being built; but from reports in the papers, which you may have seen, it would seem that fully 35 to 50 per cent of the men in this trade are out of work. The iron trade is even worse, as hardly 30 per cent of the hands are employed. A lot of the passengers who came out with us are working their passage lack in the ship, scarcely a third of the men having succeeded in gotbig employment, though the girls all seem to have found situations, but not at the rates we bear of at home. For a general servant 12. to 15s per week is about the figure, and young girls to mind children only get 5s per week. There were 2.10 clerks after one situation the other day, in which the salary offered was £3 lOs a we..k. The cost of living is. taking all thing a into consideration, about 23 to 25 per cent more than at home." These facts illustrate how necessary it is for caution to be exercised in the matter of emigration.  A nar-rti, pr,ze fight was conducted near II;r-mingham on Sunday. It had just been concluded when the pelicemen appeared, hut the crowd to!d him they would murder him if he dared to apprehend anyone. The officer, however, &lick to the crowd on their wry home, and eventually, being joined by two other policemen, he apprehended three of thoec whn htd taken a premit,en rift in the prc_cc.linz4, :aid the oc .f ,f the baxcre.
Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1886-03-12 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

MURDER AND SUICIDE IN IRELAND.-At Enniscorthy, County Werforb, on Monday, a young man named Daniel Jordan shot another man named John Somers, and afterwards shot himself. Jordan has for some time been suspected of insanity, and a close watch was kept on him, but on Monday morning he escaped the vigilance of his friends, and ran down Slaney Street in the direction of the bridge which crosses the Slaney. Almost the first man he met was Somers, who was married only eight days ago, and who was a successful rival of Jordan. As soon as Jordan saw Somers he rushed towards him, pulled a revolver from his pocket, and fired two shots in rapid succession. Somers was shot through the heart, and died almost instantly. The murderer ran to the parapet of the bridge as with the intention of throwing himself over, but, changing his mind, he turned the muzzle of the revolver towards his heart and he fell dead within a few yards of his victim. Both men held respectable positions, and the tragedy has caused the greatest grief to all their friends. How Jordan obtained the revolver is a mystery.  Much Truth aid Some Poetry. (Anthony Morehead, in February Century.) 'Tie easy to be brave When the world is on our side; When nothing is to fear, Fearless to bide. 'Tim easy to hope When all gocir well ; Whon the sky is clear, Fine weather to foretell. But to hope when all's despaired, And he brave when we are scared— That s another thing, my dear! And will do to tell.  Froaen•ont Footballers. (Austra(ian Herald.) No more they ch:we the sportive sphere Among the green, They shorten tranquil pleasure here With smiles serene. O'er prostrate foes, in rushing throng, No noire they climb, But gently dribble girls along In waltzing lime. The men who give the strongest kicks Before the piist Are not, when with fairy maids they mix, Esteemed the most. All quiet here—no risk of shin, Or neck, or muscle Yet there are subtle dangers in This dancing tussle. For, as the Rev. James observes, Of girls, we grieve, Even the most alluring curves Sometimes deceive. Things are not, as the poet said, Just what they seem, And many a fairy "frond " is clad In piiik, or cream. If modern girls have any hearts, The music feels They meat be hard, when e'en their skirts Are lull of steels. And virtuous youths, so it is told, Oft in the twirl, Wonder how much of the heart they hold, And how much girl.
Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1886-04-16 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

WEDNESDAY. VARIOUS.  Sir H. Selwin-Ibbetson moved the incond reading of the Polie Constables' Pensions Bill. Mr Childers said that he purposed soon after Easter to bring in a bill solving the whole of this question, and he hoped to have it passed this session. In these circumstances he asked his right hon. friend to allow the present debate to be adjourned until he saw the fate of the Government bill. Mr Stanley Leighton moved that statutory pensions granted by Parliament to the police ought not to be provided by imposing fresh burdens on the ratepayers. The delaai.e was ultimately adjourned until the 4th May. The second reading of the Land Cultivation Bill was moved by Mr Bradlaugh. After some ili,cussion, Mr Broadhurst, on behalf of the Government, asked the hon. member to withdraw the bill. The motion for the second reading was by leave withdrawn. The Drowned Persons (Discovery and Interment) Bill and the Burial Grounds (Scotland) Bill were read a third time.  THE Earl of Shaftesbury committed suicide :a London on Tuesday under circumstances of a rtioA distressing nature. His Lordship engaged a cab in Regent Street, and directed the cabman to drive to the foot of the thoroughfare. On reaching the end of the street he told the man to return, and then again ordered the cab to be turned round. After driving about for sometime the cabman hearing a shot, came down from his seat and inquired what was wrong, but was persuaded by the Earl to remount. This he was in the act of doing when another shot was fired, and on again coming down he found the Earl bleeding from a wound in the temple. His Lordship was at once conveyed to the Middlesex Hospital, where he expired in a few minutes, the bullet having penirrateil his brain. It will be remembered that Lord Matte-Wry, who was fifty•five years of age, only succeedel to the title in October lea on the death of his father, the well-known philanthropist. MR JAMEN YEANIAN, late M.P. for Dundee, and who for Many years took a leading part in the public business of the burgh, died on Sunday in his 71st year..  TI;E death is announced of the Rev. Donald MacCaig, parish minister of Muchairn, near Man, at his manse on Sunday. Mr MacCalc was well known in clerical circles, and at the last general election came forward as a candidate for .trgyll, hire in the crofter interest, but afterwards retired in favour of his brother, Mr J. Stittrt MacCaig. TIIE coasting steamer Taiaroa, belttnging to the Union Steamship Company of New Zvaland. has been wrecked near Kaikoura. causing great loss of life. The total number drowned has not been ascertained, but one boat capsized wPh tw tnty-uine persons, of whom only three were saved. A BRITISH victory over Burmese insurgents under limat-Gchi, the Alompra pretender in the Mtntshobo district, is reported Mandalay. Captain Smyth,
Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1886-02-26 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

DECREASE OF CRIMINALS.—The average number of prisoners under penal servitude is gradually decreasing. Notwithstanding an increase of population of five millions, there were on March 31st, 1885. only 8,790 persons in penal servitude, instead of 11,660 in 1869. At the same time, the average number of prisoners in the ordinary prisons has fallen from 20,009 in 1869 to 17,000 in 1884. and to the lowest figure known, in February, 1835, of 15,733, while the percentage of extra punishments in prison has fallen 3 per cent: and the most striking proof of improvement is that the death-rate has fallen 2 per 1,000, and that the average number of suicides from seventeen a year to thirteen a year. It is certain, therefore, that the adoption of the reformatory and humane system of prison discipline has not contributed to the increase of the number of the criminality of criminals. But 'perhaps the most encouraging fact of all is the diminution in the number of juvenile prisoners. In 1816 there were in London alone, with a population of a millon and a half, 3,000 under twenty, or one in every 500 persons. On March 318 t, 1884, out of the whole twenty-seven millions of England and Wales, there were only 5,000 prisoners under twenty, or one in every 5,000 persons. Further, while in 1816 1,500 of the 3,000 prisoners in Landon were under seventeen, in 1384 there were in all England only 275. Even adding the number of children in reformatory schools (6,601), the number of juvenile criminals is 500 per cent, less than it was in 1816. It is also satisfactory to reflect that while the cost of prisons in 1870 was £456,000, it was in 1334 only £381,400. If progress continues at its present rate, we may hope to see the Lumber of prisons, the number of prisoners, and the cost of keeping them reduced almost to a vanishing point. A
Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1884-12-19 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

COLONEL W. R. NEWTON, an American biologist, who had recently come to England to deliver a course of lectures, while riding a tricycle in Alders. gate Street, London on Tuesday, met with an accident which caused his death.  A COLLISION occurred off the North Foreland on Tuesday morning between the Austrian barque Rebus and a schooner. The latter was sunk, and two ef the crew drowned.  A YOUNG man named Woodman, being turned out of doors atlStroud by his uncle, procured a pistol, shot at, and wounded him, and then made off to a wood, where he committed suicide. His body was discovered on Tuesday,  GREAT const,rnation was created in the Metropolis on Saturday evening by an explosion in the vicinity of London Bridge. It seems to have occurred at the south side of the bridge, the western pier m which, close to the shore end, was damaged, apparently by the action of some explosive. The theory, so far as circumstances have enabled any to be formed, is that the dynamite or other explosive used was thrown over the parapet of the bridge, or conveyed dowa the steps leading to the steamboat pier, and left close to the stone masonry of the bridge. No injury was done to the bridge, but the glass of numerous windows in the buildings along the banks of the Thames were shattered. Saturday was the anniversary of the attempt made to blow up Clerkenwell Prison.  Tux Earl of Wemyss, presiding at the annual dinner of the East Lothian Agricultural Society on Monday, referred to agricultural affairs, and condemned State interference with landlords and tenants in the making of their bargains. Recent interference by the Legislature had, he siad, engendered a feeling of uncertainty as to what length it might be carried in the future, and had materially affected the welfare of agriculture and of the landed interest. His Lordship, however, warned farmers against the delusion that a remedy for the existing depression was to be found in a tax on imported grain or meat. Referring to the Franchise agitation, he said it had ended in the House of Lords getting in a great measure what it wanted.