npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1881-12-31 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

HABITS OF THE COCKROACH.—Dr. Buchanan White, in a paper on cockroaches, remarks that, though established all over this country, the cockroach is chiefly found in houses, infesting kitcheners, sculleries, bakeries, etc., where plenty of food can be obtained. It is a most omnivorous creature, and will eat not only any description of human food, but likewise woollen garments, greasy rags, old boots and shoes, etc. In its habits it is strictly nocturnal, hiding during the day in the crevices in the floor, in wainscoting, and dark places generally. It is fond of warmth, and for that reason is found generally near fire-places or ovens. They, or a similar species, were known to the ancients as Lucifitgcs, because they fled from the light, though it is quite possible they may have done so through alaigin on hearing the sound of footsteps, They run with great celerity, and though they are able to ascend walls, etc., they seem to prefer kitchens. When seized they discharge from their mouths a brownish fluid of a most disgusting odour, the fluid itself sticking to any objects they may have crept over. For this reason, and also on account of their voracity, they must be looked upon as most undesirable inmates of a house. WAGSTAFFE AGAlN.—Wagstaffe is incorrigible. Fifty summers have not sufficed to tame down his 0' N aat nhg des t alarm, da ff ooe r . ‘ am d a home le ns oicn iexuberant spirits. Mrs. W., on the other hand, has a proper sense of what is due to her, and has a rooted have you heard anysa naansgy b antipathy says phet night;hvvovy ettephoot aopbpfaeaei face egohfail hoarse full lehh of adhhdsper, have Vt n r o at thing of a double murder and suicide next door ? " "Gracious merciful powers, no ' cries Mrs. W. jumping her spectacles into her tea, and knocking her bad leg against the chair; "not a word." "No more have I," says W. cheerfully. " Once more, and got the money 1" That Is the reason of the coldness in the Wagstaffe family circle—Judy. A
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1881-04-09 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.  A recent wedding in Pennsylvania, had a gloom cast over it by the discovery that, through some unaccountable mistake the bridesmaid had been married instead of the bride. "Julius, did yer belong to der last war?" "In course I " "And was you wounded ? " "You better believe it—three timer. Twice in my hat, and once in my tobacco box."  - An Oswego man who stepped behind a mule that he intended to purchase, asked with much feeling when he was picked out of the gutter, " if the cyclone killed anybody else."  An American editor, noticing the present of a silver cup to a contemporary, says :—"Ho needs no cup He can drink ,rom any vessel that contains liquor, whether the neck of a bottle, the month of a pickle jar, the spile of a keg, or the bung nf 4 barrel." "Julius, what's a coroppr ?" asked a citizen of Alabama of his neighbour. "A coroner, sir. Snow, is a man what sits on de people, to see wedder dey lilled dems,qves or committed suicide." "And what does he do when he finds out" "Bring in de wardict, Julius." "What's a wardict ?" "Why, a long, black pole, painted white on the end—now hold your jaw, and don't bodder any more."  A Detroit lunatic left his house a year ago, and has been wandering about ever since under the impression that he is somebody else, and yet retaining a particular interest in his real self, Now and then he writes to his wife to inquire after her husband, and especially to know "whether he has got over that crazy ilt yet." The case is a curious one.  A new American dance called Raquet is thus graphically described—" First the couple struggle, then dodge, crush up to one another, dart back, try to drive thYough the floor, get mad with being unable to succeed— and it's all over."  - A hatchet-faced woman, of about fifty-one summers, with a wealth of freckles in her face and a snuff-stiek in her month, got into a crowded car on Galveaton-avepue. There were half-a-dozen gentlemen on the car, but none of them offered to give her a.seat. After she had waited a considerable time she said: "El eny of you galoots is waiting for me to squat in yer lap you are barking up the wrong tree, for I want you to understand I'm a lady." A dread that she was not in 'earnest caused six gentlemen to leave the car.  A man in Oregon, on the evening of a recent earthquake, had informed his wife he had an important business appointment which he was reluctantly obliged to keep. When the shock came he rushed home with a billiard cue in his hand, which he had forgotten to replace; and now his wife won't hear of any business appqintments after eight o'clock in the evening.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1881-03-05 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

THE MURDER OF IJEUTENANT ROPER AT CHATHAM.  On Monday Mr. W. J. Harris, one of the coroners for Kent, resumed the inquiry into the cause of death of Lieutenant Percy L. 0. Roper, Royal Engineers, aged 21, who was found murdered on the stairs leading to his quarters at Brompton Barracks, on the 11th of February. Mr. Wontner now appeared on behalf of the War Office to watch the case.  Among the witnesses examined were the following :  Margaret Cruth, employed at the officers' mess, said that she left the mess about a quarter to nine on the evening of the 11th ult. Just before getting to No. 9 house, in which the deceased lived, she heard a crack as of a stick, and afterwards two or three moans. She heard a scuffling on the stairs as well. Three dogs came running out of the house as though they were frightened. By Mr. Wontner : She saw no one came out of the house. Had any one come out she must have seen him.  James sharp, a sapper, who was on duty at the back of the quarters, said that about nine o'clock he heard a sharp crack as of a pistol. The report came from an open window on a landing in the deceased's house. Witness watched the window for several minutes, but did not see any one at the window or pass by. By Mr. Wontner He did not leave his post from the time he went on duty until he went off. He saw no one enter or leave the gateway leading to No. 9 house. It was possible for any one to have entered unobserved by hiding in the shadow of the wall and waiting until witness's back was turntd. Sapper Thomas Plumbret and Corporal George Palmer, who were on duty at the main gate, which is right opposite to the passage leading to the back way of the officers' quarters, said they did not see any strangers pass to or from the lane on the evening in question.  William James, sergeant of the guard, said he went to the house with a file of the guard just before nine. They made a thorough examination of the lower part of the premises, but found no one, nor any traces of strangers having been there. They did Lot examine the servant's kitchens, nor an empty kitchen. They did not know at the time that there was an empty kitchen in the house.  Lieutenant S. Davidson, R.E., said he was at the mess on the evening in question and sat at the back of the deceased. Witness sent a note to the deceased asking if he would go to the entertainment in the barracks after mess. The deceased sent a note in reply.— "Dear Sirt—l want to finish a letter, but will be glad to go a little later.—P. L. 0. R."—Subsequently, he had a talk with deceased, who said laughingly, "You had better look sharp, or you'll not get a seat; don't wait for me." He was of a decidedly cheerful disposition, and not at all likely to have committed suicide.  Lieutenant Herbert Stodhert,
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-12-05 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

INCREASE OF SUICIDE IN NEW YORK.  Some of the American papers are drawing attention to the rapid inc: ease of suicide in New York (says the Standard). In that city during the six years ending with 1872, there were 678 suicides, and there were 100 more in the last of those years than in the first. During the three years ending with 1872 there were 359 suicides. In all the preponderance of men over women is very great—more than four to one. The classification of causes is incomplete, but the net result is that this crime is advancing at the rate of 300 per cent. A very large proportion of these auicidee is among foreigners. It may be supposed that these cases arise from disappointment, or from nervous diseases engendered by had air, vicious companionship, and actual want. Men out of work, far from their native homes and friends, are among the most frequent victims to suicide. Others, living in crowded tenement houses, contaminated with moral and physical impurities, lose their mental tone, and rush out of the world in despair. Immigrants who have been drawn over by false tales of plenty and prosperity are often overwhelmed with grief when they find how cruelly they have been deceived, and these constitute a large proportion of the hundreds who annually die by their own hands. People walking through some of the back streets .of London where in many of our poor are compelled to live in squalid homes surrounded by vice and misery, must often be compelled to reflect that love of life in man must be very strong to enable him to consent to its prolongation under such circumstances. It is interesting to see that the Nets York Times deliberately charges many of the suicides to the condition of the place. It speaks of the great cruel city, with its pitiless and inhospitable streets, its aggressive temptations to crime and its timid appeals to virtue, its polluted air, its violent contrasts of wealth and penury, and its countless disappointments, as an 'insatiate monster that annually absorbs and destroys thousands who might and should have lived happily and long," and compare it with "the fabled Minotaur, which was fed with young men and maidens in the Cretan labyrinth.' l'he same paper adds :—" Progress in the science of life has not kept pace with the human tendency to gregariousness. The manner of living in large sections of our cities is an offence against common reason, a reproach to civilisation. I'rovision for the hell Tess is inadequate; regulations that should compel sanitary comfort are almost unknown; and added to the numberless causes that swell the annual mortality reports are those that drive human beings to ashmurder." We are compelled to say that we cannot accept tl.is theory without modification. The only classed who do not seem to feel these evils very keenly are those who have to endure them. It is the clean people only who are shocked at compulsory filth.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-08-01 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

STRANGE SUICIDE.  In London, on Monday, an inquest was held at Westminster Hospital, on the body of a man named John Stevens, aged 67. It appeared that at 7.30 on Saturday morning last the deceased walked into the hall of Westminster Hospital, and, addressing Foster, the night porter, said he had taken poison because he wanted to die, for he was a wicked man. He appeared to be quite sober and sensible. Foster at once called Mr. Parkhouse, the house physician, who attentled immediately, and to whom the deceased said he had taken a quantity of oxalic acid. handing him at the same time a paper packet, which had contained oxalic acid and was marked " Poison "on the outside. He added that he had taken the poison in its solid state in l'eter-street, choe by the Hospital. The usual remedies were at once applied, and while they were being prepared the deceased was asked who he was and wdere he came from. He said his name was John Stevens, and he was 67 years ot age, and that he came from Stratton, or Streatham, Union. He was not wearing workhouse clothes, but was dressed as a countryman, wearing knee-breeches and gaiters. The remedies applied had no effect. The deceased became pulseless, and sank into a state of collapse, dying in less than an hour after coming to the hospital. Mr. Parkhouse said he had made a post mote= examination of the body, which was well nourished. The gullet and stomach of the deceased were highly inflamed and oirroded from the action of an irritant poison. The symptoms were such as would Ice produced by oxalic acid. He had no doubt that the deceased bittl died from this cause. The clothes worn by the deceased at the time of his sheath had been searehed, but nothing was found to give any clue to his friends.  The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-01-17 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.  On Sunday morning last, a very melancholy occurrence was brought to light in this town. Two boys who were returning from the railway station at about eleven o'clock in the morning of that day, discovered the dead body of a female in a small pond contiguous to the station, which is known as "Pot Pool.' The boys communicated the news of their discovery to a man who was pa,sing at the time. He looked into the pool, and, having verified what the boys had told him, advised them at once to imfoi in the police of what they had seen. This was done, and shortly afterwards Superintendent Freeman hastened to the place. By this time the news had spread with lightning-like rapidity, and hundreds of persons were quickly congregated near the spot. and they accompanied the remains of deceased to her own residence. Medical assistance was procured, but it was of no avail, RS the deceased hail evidently been dead some time. The deceased was die wife of Mr. George Bosworth. fishmonger, of Coventry street, and had been in a low desponding state since her confinement, which had happened only a few weeks ago. She had frequently since that time complained of pains at the back of her head, and said she could not sleep at night. Her husband had accompanied her to Birmingham with the object of obtaining medical advice, the day before she committed the rash act. On her return she went to sleep at her brother's house at Oldswinford, and, in answer to enquiries stated that she felt much better, and believei she should be able to sleep that night. She refired to rest with one of her brother's children, and nothing more was heard until about six o'clock on the following morning, when her brother was astonished to find she had left the house. Search was at once Tr ads for her; but she was not found until the following morning, in the manner related above. Deceased leaves three young children, one of whom is but a baby a few weeks old. Great sympathy has been expressed for Mr. Bosworth. who was a very kind husband to deceaaed, and is generally respected its,.a steady persevering man.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-12-19 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

NICHOLSON AND OTHERS."  The above cause was heard before Baron Pollock on Tuesday, in London, and was an action involving a most important point, both as regards the interests of life insurers and those of the insurance companies.  This case was tried in February last, at Guildhall, before Baron Pigott and a common jury, when a verdict was found for the plaintiff. The action was brought by a widow as executrix of her deceased husband upon a policy for £3,000 effected upon the life of the latter with the defendants, the -Universal Life Assurance Company, the defence being that the deceased committed suicide in contravention of the condition in the policy that it should be void "if he should die by his own hands."—lt appeared that the deceased had been in businessin London for many years as a hatter, and that his affairs were in a very prosperous condition at the time of his death. Shortly before the occurrence in question there was a marked change in his character and demeanour, and from being a cheerful, kindly, and light-hearted wan, he became morose, sullen, and quarrelsome, and was always complaining of the state of his affairs, and expressing his fears that he should have to go to the workhouse. The night before his death he asked his wife whether she had ever seen a man's head open and shut as his was doing, and he was unable to obtain sleep. Early on the morning of the accident he started from home, and, instead of going, as usual, to the Clapham Junction Station, which was close to his residence, he wandered away to the Battersea Station, and went on to the down, instead of the up platform. A train entering the station a few minutes after he crashed it, lie ran towards it and fell on the rails in frof of the engine, which struck and killed him. The quegtion raised at the trial was, whether he threw himself under the engine with the intention of kiiling himself, or whether, in a moment of insanity he merely committed a recklt ss art in endeavouring to get to his proper platform by crossing the rails when the train SUS approaching. The jury having found a verdict for the plaintiff for the amount of the policy, a rule nisi for a new trial was obtained in April last on the ground that the verdict was against evidence; and in November last that rule was made absolute, and the case nu* came on to be tried afresh.  When the case VMS called on, Mr. English Harrison stated, on behalf of the plaintiff, that since the rule for a new trial had been made absolute it had been determined not to proceed further with the case. Under these circumstances the plaintiff would consent to a nomnit being entered. Mr. \V. G. Harrison, for the defendants, was willing that course should be adopted. The plaintiff was nonsmted accordingly.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-02-21 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

DOUBLE MURDER AND SUICIDE.  A horrible crime has lust been discovered in the Rue Montyon, at Paris (6aym Galigna At No. 8 in that street resided a married couple named Coronet, with toeir daughter Anna. aged 21. The husband was a stoker to the Water Company, and in riceipt of good weges, whilst his daughter earnee four francs a day air a dressmaker. About three weeks ago the bouseyorter remarked that he had seen nothing of the Coronets for 'some day a, but he took no steps to secertein the Cause of their disappearance. For the past week as um pleasant smell had been remarked to proceed from their apartment and at leng,h it became so offensive that the concierge gave notice to the commissary of police arder to have the roams opened. An entry having been rffected the bodies of the three persons were found in a state of putrefaction. The husband WWI sitting ' in a chair, and on the ground near him lay a revolver, three barrels of which had beea discharged. The wile , and daughter were aide by rile on the bed, and all three had Wooorl4 showing that they had met with a violent death. Tne decomposition was such that the corpses were black and tumefied, and when an attempt was made to remove that of the yeung woman the arm dropped away from the body. It is supposed that the men had first shot his wife, and then g mete fetch his daughter from the shop at which she worked, so as to murder her also, as the last time that any tf the family had been seen alive was one afternoon, when those two were seen to rei urn together. The two crimes con. summated, he had shot himself. The reports of the firing appear not to have been heard, and what seems more extraordinary is that no inquiry should have been made as to the cause of the absence of the father and daughter from their places of employment.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-08-29 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE OF A RUSSIAN MIDSHIPMAN.  On Monday evening, Mr. Carttar, coroner, held an inquiry at the "Three Tuns," Greenwich, respecting the death of Paul Spalwin, aged 22. The body was identified by the Rev. B Popove, deacon at the Russian Church, Welbeck-street, Cavendish-square, who said that deceased was of the rank of midshipman in the Russian Navy, and had been in London about twelve months, having a mother living at St. Petersburg, but that his father was dead. The deceased was in the habit of atteinling the Russian Church, and the last time he saw him was on Sunday week. He had formerly attended the echool at South Kensington, but since January last had been a student at the Royal Naval College. Evidence was then given showing that the deceased ciccupiesl apartments at Romney-terrace, Greenwich, and that on Saturday morning last he was called, as usual, by the servant, and no answer being received the bedroom door was forced open, when he was found with a six-chamber revolver in his left hand, a lead pencil in his right, and blood over his face and body. He was undressed, had nut been to bed, and was quite dead. On the bed was a piece of paper, on which was written, in Russian, and which was translated by the Rev. B. Popove, as follows : • • ••  " Before my death, my confession. Against me there is no fault, beside that, having been sent, I did not take care of my business, on account of my youth and rather too tardy or slow development ; not so much of intellect as physically. Uncertainty is worse than anything. I do not know whether I shall he allowed to remain. Save my mother do not forsake her. I the a Christian, with the name of Sod upon my lips; say this to my mother. I am saved. Do not blame yourselves or me." This witness said the deceased was one of two selected youths sent over to this country by the Russian Government, and that he had thought he had been sent in lien of some one better fitted, being fearful of being able to pass the necessary examinations, owing to the difficulty of acquiring a knowledge of the English language. He also related a circumstance mentioned by a companion that the deceased, some time ago, when in a state of sonnanffitilism, got out of bed and loaded a pistol, and was only awakened by the knocking over of a book. The jury returned a verdict of" Suicide while labouring under temporary derangement."