npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Weekly Journal. — 1902-03-07 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

CHAPTER IV.  Astley Darwen, though he was not yet seven-and-twenty, had knocked about the world, and had seen something of life, both in peace and war, and at home and abroad. But never had it occurred to him before to meet with a girl like this one, who was both shy and bold, innocent and yet shrewd, at the same time.  Never before either had it happened to him to have on offer of marriage made to him by a lady, and the conjunction of such singular circumstances went nigh to overwhelming him. . . .  Norma guested something of what was passing in his mind, and the blush which had rapidly overspread her face suddenly died away.  "You're disgusted with nie, of course," said she, biting her lip and turning away her bead, while her eyes filled with tears.  Astley. answered tier quickly, with a warmth and kindness there was no mistaking. _ .  " Indeed I'm not. The feeling uppermost in me nt this moment is the most intense sympathy for you, the strongest wish to be of use to you. I'm only wondering what I can do. What you suggest wouldn't do anything but plunge you into fresh troubles."  " I suppose I was mad to suggest it.," mumbled Norma, "but tit would have set me free. And as you're always protesting you would never marry any woman, and complaining of your poverty at the same time, why I thougut you might help me, and let me help you at the same time. For we would have gone shares in what I have, and I should have been grateful to you to my life's end.''  Astlev felt a natural difficulty in realising the inteuke form of passionate feeling in this girl, which made her so unable to face common accidents of life squarely and sanely. That she should have attempted suicide ; that she should now suggest the maddest of mad expedients, merely to free herself from the society of uncongenial companions, did indeed suggest a nature so out of the common run that to suppose her mad would have been a pardonable assumption.  But pardonable as it would have been, Aptley did not fall into this mistake. Knowing what he did of her parentage, appreciating too the constant irritation which the restraints of her uncongenial life put upon her, and the steady determination with which all the members of the Basoot family purzuied their intentlon of forcing her into an ill-assorted marriage, he saw that her desperation was not the result of insanity, but of ignorance. This girl, brought up in a convent school abroad, and accustomed to hear of marriages arranged on business principles only, had bit upon a way out of her misery, without realising the fresh difficulties to which the course she proposed would give rise. It was not easy to put the matter in a right light. "Don't you know," be uid gently, when they had walked side by side fr,r some moments without speaking, " tlaa• there's no such thing as half-marriage? Matrimony contracted in a registry office is every bit as binding as if the ceremony were performed in a church."
The Weekly Journal. — 1902-03-07 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

CHAPTER VI. (Costumer)).  But in those few months I discovered that the other side of his character was accurately painted by his neighbours, and from my own knowledge I know that no fiend could have driven a man to hell with more glee than ha drove the Laird of Inch Ross to disgrace and suicide. At first I had disbelieved the tales about him, out unfortunately I discovered that there was no •loubt about their truth, and I saw him myself one day shatter a half starved mongrel's leg with a heavy stick, and laugh as it howled and writhed on the ground. The villagers said that the soul of the Black Knight of Balath had entered into him, and when he passed down the street I have seen them draw back into their cottages and close their doors until he walked past the houses, as through a deserted I myself could scarcely analyse my feelings towards him. Often I shrank from his path with loathing, and I remember when he kroke the stray car's leg, I tare the stick from his hand and threatened him with it. He laughed and I broke it in pieces on my knee. "I am sorry you have broken it," he , said; "it was a present from my daughter," and he never referred to the incident again, er seemed to beer: me any grudge for the violence of my action. Yet when I have I seen him with his daughter I have for the moment respected and almost admired him; though this one good trait of his did not alter my general estimate of his character —for even the vilest criminals have a soft spot somewhere in their hearts—yet it did much to mitigate the extraordinary disgust that I otherwise might have felt for him.  But of the high quality of his mind there eould be no difference of opinion. I never met a man who had made himself a master of so mane books and subjects. His memory was little short of miraculous, and sold age had not in the least impaired the acuteness of his perception, or the strength of that rare gift which discerns at a glance the difference between the false and the true. When a man is old with the wisdom of age, and still retains the intellect and vigour of youth, he personifies the highest form of intellect. and Dr. Rawlios was certainly f.tted to succeed in attaining to any knowledge that lay within the reach of a finite mind.  _ And for over 60 years all his powers and energies had been directed towards the attainment of a single object. It is true thee his fine memory gave those who only knew him slightly the impression that, like Bacon, he had made ell knowledge his province; but in reality his whole mind was eentred in one direction, and I believe he spoke no more than the truth when he said to me the first night we met that his work was smatter of life and death. I think that
The Weekly Journal. — 1902-02-07 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

THE WEEKLY JOURNAL, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1902.  the train with Sherman, so completely was he altered. A sensation was caused in Paris a few weeks afterwards by the suicide of a lady at a hotel. She was registered under the name of Maitland. "Hon. Mrs. Maitland," but from the papers found in her boxes, she could be no other than Mrs. Archibald Denman, daughter' of Colonel Mainwariog, "at present with the forces in India." That was all the details, excPpt that the lady had died of poisoning. At the inquest a letter in d csised's handwriting was read as follows :  "To my dear husband, Archibald Denman.  "A sorrowing wife claims your forgiveness for the terrible suffering caused to one who loved her dearly. I loved you also, my husband, but some infatuation for a previous attachment, and your absence for so long a period, caused me in a moment of weakness to go away with one whom I had met before at my father's house. He played on my weakness, and I was encouraged to fly with him. Why I did this Heaven alone can judge. He basely deceived me and I loathe his very name. Oh! that I could bring back those happy days of our early married life. I can endure no longer. I could not bear to live with you again after being false to you. So I decide to die. Believe me, I regret my wickedness. Oh! you cannot tell how deeply. Good bye for ever!  "Your lost, but loving Mabel." " P.S.—Apologise kindly to Mr. Sherman for my neglect of him aboard the Cerdic. The scoundrel Captuin Fleming, who cajoled me from my home, insisted on my • cutting him,' and I was completely in his power. Heaven have mercy. ttood-bye !"  "Sherman bhot, by this hand, and he not guilty," criel Denman. "Oh ! what terrible calamity has come over me." He fell backwards on the floor.  For two sears reason tottered on its throne. But it is hard to kill the strong. The error could t.ot be repaired. Henceforth his life would be devoted to an expiation of his enme. lie directed nearly all his possessions to be given to the poor and the grave of Sherman was tended by con'rite hands. No one guessed the secret; that Archia Denman murdered his friend, and 1 the writer am that Archibald I enntan.  [THE Exp.]  NEXT WEEK :—TIIE MADONNA OF Till SEPIACHIE, ay
The Weekly Journal. — 1902-11-07 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

EPILOGUE.  It was Marcella L'Estrange who, in spite of all the efforts she made in life to establish Gilbert's , guilt and cause his destruction, was the means, by her death, of proving his innocence. Her identification was easy, and Gilbert was set free; the part he had played in the rescue of Maggie Linden from the terrible house in Biverton-street being set forth in all the newspapers of the time, and the full narration of his adventures raising him from a criminal to a public hero. From the suicide's grave the stone bearing the name of Marcella L'Estrange was taken away, and the unknown woman slept on for ever unindentified.  No trace of the S.D.M.C. or any member of it has since been found. Mark Langley disappeared. The women servants found in his house said he had told them he was going abroad, but neither abroad nor in England has he come under the eye of the law. The cave beneath the churchyard remains still undiscovered. An examination of the tombs proved futile, and the most careful investigation of number 36, Paul-street, revealed no sign of any secret exit. Gilbert's account of the cave and what he saw there is held by many to be but the imaginings of an excitable brain, upset by the terrorof his positien; but Gilbert himself has never swerved an instant from the Debi in his experiences. On the day when Gabrielle and Gilbert were married, as they came out of church there was great excitement in the streets; the newsboys were shouting, aud there was a sense of exultation in the air. " What is it ?" Gilbert mid.  " Listen," said Gabrielle. They stood ,till side by side. Up rose the shrill voices, and Gabrielle thought of the terrible days when, with sinking heart, she had waited, listening fearfully, for what those voices might still tell her. But now they were like music. No crime or tale of horror did they utter; they called the Relief of Ladysmith.  '
The Weekly Journal. — 1902-02-28 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

THE WEEKLY JOURNAL. FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 28, 190 t.  a full share in the consideration that the prestige of the Empiie gives. For all this our Colonial brethren pay nothing, while they tax the goods we send them. It seems to me, then, that they should pay towards the Nary. But if they are asked to do so and they refuse—well, then the link that binds the Colonies to us will have been gravely weakened. Hence it seems to me that there should be fairly efficient quiet soueding before any proposal of the kind is openly made.. A refusal would be gratifying to Anglophobes all over the world. So much for Colonial difficulties as regards the Navy. Now for a possible trouble in reference to trade. It is said that when Sir Wilfrid Laurier comes to the Coronation he will plead for such a change in our fiscal policy as would enable us to show the Dominion favours denied to foreigners. Sir Charles Tupper, the Chief of the Canadian Opposition, has just declared that& "mutual preferential trade policy at the present time is the greatest, if not in reality the only, means of consolidating the Empire." And on Monday, in the Dominion House of Commons, Mr Charlton, Who was a member of the Inter-Colonial Commission, spoke strongly in favour of this country remodelling its fiscal policy so as to give preference to Canadian products. There can be no doubt that there is a very strong feeling throughout the Dominion in favour of a preferential tariff as between this country and Canada. I devoutly trust that no ouch plan will ever be reali<ed. Better by far that Canada should separate from us than that, we should hark back to Protection, which would be an act of Duro industrial suicide. Yet we may be sure that the proposal will pertinaciously be pressed upon the Government, probably by Australasian Colonies as well as Canada. It will be unpleasant to refuse such a request, but it will be the clear datv of the Government not only to do so but to make it quite clear that further applicati)ns of the kind will be useless. We have not lectured the Colonies upon their trade policies. We have acted as though they knew their own business, and we are entitled to ask them to treat us as though we too knew how to manage our own affairs. If our refusal should lead to the withdrawal of the Canadian abatement of 331 per cent, in our favour we can but regret the fact. In no ease should we depart from the policy which experience has shown to be essential to our success as a great manufacturing nation. Foreigners buy from us twice as much as all our foreign possessions put together, and we cannot afford to enter into tariff wars with these customers merely to tblige the Colonies, from which we derive no monetary profit. C
The Weekly Journal. — 1904-10-28 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

GOOD LOVE STORIES.  Mr. Cooper tells one or two good lore stories. tie is able to show that Love in a Cottage is rot alway 4 as hg a failure as Marriage in a Mansien. A very great elergyman—horourable as well as reverand. a canon to boot, and of pompoeity enormous—kept his two daughters secluded from the common herd of men and curates, lest either should marry anything lower than a duke. The consequence .was that one—happy girl l-.-married a butcher's toy who had been in her Sunday cited class, and lived with him ever after in perfect contentment. "Love has been credited with all sorts of foolish things from suicide downwards, but I could make a good collection of stories where Love has braced men up to work wonders. I was up at Oxford with a man who had been • footman, ard had fallen in love with his master's daughter, a man of title. Ile knew matters were hopeless between them, so he went out as a, waiter for part of the your, and with his earnings Ike kept his terms as an unattached student, lie took his degree, became ordained, got a curacy in the neighbourhood of his master's house, and in the ho had the same succe.s as the blacksmith who made himself an artist."  Tho blocksmith in question was Quintin Matsys. whom the late Mr. Spurgeon was fond of quoting. The suocess to which Mr. Cooper refers was, of course, the hand of his lady-love. Talking of Spurgeon, Mr. Cooper knew a mem• ber of his church who was a builder.  "110 was so strong a Baptist that when he was Mayor Ito would not attend the Parish Church, but went in st.ste to Ids own chapel. ble was so good a builder that when his Parish Church was rostored. the Chun+ authorities felt bound to employ him. When the work was dare, ha wus asked to send in his bill. The till amounted to inure than a thousand Founds, and he sent it in receipted!"
The Weekly Journal. — 1904-10-28 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

TEA AND TATTLE.  "The Playground of the Devil."  "Afternoon tea" is condemned as the playground of the devil, and gossip is variously defined as an infection. disease, moral murder, and eternal suicide by the Rey. H. de Trevelee, curate-in-charge of Holy Trinity Church, Clay. gate. Surrey. The fact that Mr de Trevelee has been a victim of tale-bearing was briefly stated when his acceptance of an apology from a lady for a slander was reported. Mr de Trevelee, who has resigned his position after a year's service in tbe village, preached a striking 'sermon from the text And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busy-bodies, speaking things which they ought not. (1 Timothy v., 13.)" " That text," he said, "can be summed up in the one word 'Gossip.' The chief offenders in this respect are women. In every parish there are a number of persons who, having nothing to do, spend their time in tattling about their neighbours. They are busybodies, speaking things which they ought not to speak about. "Gossip is a specific moral and spiritual disease. It is also an infectious disease, and its chief place is that pernicious institution, afternoon ten, where idle women chiefly collect for nothing else but gossip. "That institution may be said to be tho special playground of the devil. It is there that parochial scandal is heard and nourished, characters lightly taken away, motives falsely criticised and damned; and our fair friends go home and relate to their husbands and before their young children the tit-bits of their delightful intercourse. " Not the least of the evils lies in the fact that young girls now accompany their elders to afternoon tea, and at a comparatively early ago are initiated into the joys of ' moral murder.' " Men also are apt to beguile the time by reuNsip in the railway carriages going to and from luiFiness. •  " Lastly, gossip is eternal suicide. Am I exeggerating? Not a bit. These truths are not niine. They are divine decree.  "Therefore, you people of Claygate, learn to avoid goaFip, wandering from bonae to house; learn not to be mere tattlers and busybodies, lest a great and lasting evil may come upon yoti somo day."
The Weekly Journal. — 1904-01-08 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

VERDICT OF FELO DE SE.  The next day the Coroner for St. James's Palace held an inquest on the body of Settle. He ought to have summoned a jou from the inhabitants of the Palace, but considered it better to take it from the people of the district ; and the jury consisted of tradesmen. A Mr. Francis Place, of Cheri* CTOSie, was elected foreman. Mr. Place seems to have been a petson who would not have been chosen had it Ivrea a packed jury, ae he was a man of very independent character, a radical in politica, and a friend end supporter of Sir Francis Burdett. The reporters were all admitted freely to the Coroner's Court. The witnesses who gave evidence were the Duke of Cumberland, Neale, Mts. Neale, who went to Sellis'a door and heard the gurgling noise, the porter, and another servant who went into the room and saw Setae. The housekeeper said that that evening Sellis asked for Home water to wash in that he told her when she brought it shout ten o'clock that be was going to bed as he was tired, and they would be early the next morning, and that as lie said this he folded back the bedclothes as if he were getting ready to go to bed. Another servant said that 'some time after he saw, through a window, Spills in the Duke's room, and that Seine looked rather earnestly at him, but that at the time he paid no attention to this, as he thought Salim was ' waiting on the Duke. The jury were unanimous in their verdict, which was felo de sc. The only juryman who made any question was one who said that he could not believe that any man who took his own life was in his right mind. So far from there being any attempt to make any mystery about the affair the Duke's apartments in St. James's Palace were thrown open to persons of respectability who cared to visit them—the Duke himself having been moved to a more convenient quarter for an invalid—and people could see for themselves the blood-spattered walls, which were not touched. They were also allowed to see the room in which Sellis cut his throat. Mies Cordelin Knight, Lady-companion to Princess charlotte of Wales. in her diary says that it was the fashion to se:. the looms when they were in this state, "though for her part she did not join the crowd whose curiosity led them to this horrid scene."
The Weekly Journal. — 1904-03-04 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

PULLING DOWN WEIGHT."  Mark Mr Fletcher's experience. " When he began to eat two meals a day, and to eat only what his appetite called for, he weighed 205 pounds and measured 44 inches around the waist. After three months of simple living he weighed 165 pounds and measured 37 inches around the waist. He had lost nearly halt a pound a day, yet the loas was not attended by any physical weakness." I ant waiting— waiting.  I FRIEND OF MINE —a very well-known man—" pulled his weight down" in the same way. I was appalled when I saw him after the lam of a month or so. el could hardly recognise him, but he was pleas thereat. To his friends I predicted bad results —chiefly neurotic. Shortly afterwards he committed suicide. •Here is the common-sense of the situation. Men and women are, by teens porament, born either Pharaoh's fat kine or lean kine. Fate ordains main facts. If a lean person gorges in order to become fat the effect is suicidal; if a fat person seeks by abstention to reduce weight the effect is the same. I make this reservation. If a fat person realises that he or she is over-eating or over-drinking let there be diminution—not in order to become slim but to keep a naturally stout body from becoming painfully stout by over-indulgence. MR FLETCIIER MAY DIE SOON  —sooner than nature intended—because of his efforts to live long. The writer who deals with Ma case says:— Mr Fletcher's experiments with food have proved these (longs for him: (I) He can live on one•third the amount of food usually eaten and be healthy and vigorous. (f) Only Sr. hours' sleep are n T. ,3) When food is thoroughly ohewed the waste of digestion la reduml nine•tenths. (4) The appetite indicates the needa of the body and wants simple food. (5) Since an Important part of digestion is done la the mouth, thorough chewing is necessary. Alton! If there had been fifty Mr Fletcher. each recording the same results I should have said, what I now say of Mr Fletcher—that we have to ace the end of the experiment before forming an opinion, and that, anyhow, only a fool would dream of saying that what does good to fifty men would not harm any other man.
The Weekly Journal. — 1904-04-15 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

THE  JAPANESE WOMEN.  THEIR WARLIKE SPIRIT.  No nation has a better right to be proud of what its women have done in wartime than Japan. Even the mothers and wives of ancient Sparta have been rivalled in deeds of patriotism and self-sacrifioe by the women of Japan. In the feudal times, which came to an end in Japan only thirty years ago, all gentlewomen were trained in the use of the sword and lanes. The women of the samurai class received a regular military education, and if the castle of • daintio .as besieged they were capable of assisting In the Jefonce should it be found necessary. A noted Instance of the martial prowess of the Japanese women occurred during the siege of the es.dle of Wakumateu in 1869, where the Shogun made his final stand against the tomes of the Mika?. Nearly one thousand women and girls belonging to the Shogun fought behind the barrilades on the castle walls. Many of them were killed in battle,while not • few committed suicide rather than undergo the humiliation of defeat. Vet the AtISSIOCIIIIII qualities of the women of (4d Japan did not detract from their womanliness. They were tender mothers and loving wives. The nursing of the wounded and sick was part of the udunition of every samurai woman. With the passing away of the age of chivalry in Japan, upon the downfall of the Shogunate, the Japanese women were called upon to face new cmnditions, and how she met these conditions is illown in the history of the Chinese war of 1895. It is II matter of record that some 10,000 Japan e4n women volunteered to go to the front as nurses in the field hospitals at the outbreak of the Chinese %ar, and advices from Japan state that the number of women volunteering to go to the front as euntet to-day is greater than in 1895. But the women who stay at home are not lacking in pat.