npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-10-27 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

POISONED BY BAD DRAINAGE. Mr, A. Braxton Hicks has held an inquiry at Battersea, into the death of Walter Philip Wilson, aged 6 years, who was alleged to have died from the defects of a defective drain at 13, Surrey-lane South, Battersea. Mrs. Wilson, the mother, stated that the had resided at the above-mentioned address for :.bout six months. When they had been there a fortnight witness found that the drains were stopped, and she informed Mr. Evans, the landlord's agent, of the matter. He sent a man to cleanse them, and the latter left some of the refuse in the ysd Her son Arthur then complained of a sore th: oat. and was unable to go to school, and the deceased was similarly affected, though not so seriously. The drains were taken up on four separate occasions; but the nuisance continued, until at length witness was obliged to leave the house. The chi. ceased died, rather suddenly, three days later.— The coroner said he had visited the premises, and the stench was 80 abominable that it made him quite ill, although he was there only a quarter of an hour.—Mr. C. E. Gritton, sanitary engineer, said be inspected the houses in Surrey-lane South, in pursuance of an order received from the coroner. New drains were in process of being laid, and the stench arising from the earth was intolerable. The drainage system was opposed to all sanitary rules.— Mr. Edward Evans,wbo said he was the agent for 700 el 800 houses in Battersea, including those in Surrey; lane South, stated that he always gave instructions for the drains to be repaired in a proper manner, and he employed what he thought were efficient workmen.—The jury returned a vei diet that the &ceased died from pleuro-pneumonia, accelerate d by bad drainage, and censured Mr. Enans, the agent, for not sending competent men to do the work. They exonerated the parish authorities from all blame in the matter.  Captain Bridle has been tried by court-martial r.t Aix for stabbing a corporal. During the recent Alpine manmuvres, it was stated in evidence, 11 men of the captain's company deserted over the Italian frontier. Captain lirulle was acquitted. An extraordinary suicide occurred at Farnwnrth, near Bolton; on Friday. An old man, named Ford, who had beeil out of employment, locked himself in a room, got upon a table, and held his bead in a large basin ot water until he was suffocated.  It appears that the telegraph poles of the German Empire are largely, if not exclusively, obtained from the forests of Prince Bismarck's estate at Friedrichsruh, as the despatch of ti o 100,000 th pole was aelebraturi there the other day.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-11-03 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

ASKED TO MYR EVIDENCE BY ME. CHAMBERLAIN. (To witness) : When were you first asked to give evidence for the Times?-0n the 3rd August last. By whom'—By Mr. Chamberlain. How was that iseent.o see Mr. Chamberlain when I came back from abroad, with regard to the attack made upon myself and Mr.. Chamberlain, by Mr. Parnell, on the 30th July, and he 'hewed me is letter from Mr. Buckle, theaditer of the Times. Wtto Sbno Uri-retie To Tiii'"ThiltS "t. Asked who.m...else..he-bad.men in conneedian. with this matter, witness said 115 I?ad met Mr. Buckle at dinner in London at it hotel. Sir Rowland Blennerhassett was slap present , He was formerly a member of Mr. Butt's Home Hui° party. There was no,!litcussion on the matter of the letters at the meeting. Witness knew a man named Piggott, formerly an editor of a newspaper in Dublin, but he did not hear that Hewston had obtained the letters from riggott. Piggotti name was mentioned, but it was said that witness was mixed up with others in a conspiracy to obtain the letters. Another name that was mentioned was that of Mr. Philip Callan. At the 1889 election you were not supported by Mr. Parnell ?—No. Did you complain that he had not kept faith with you in not supporting you ?—Yes I did. Do you remember the pledge given by the Irish members as to sitting and acting together ?—Yee ; but I declined to make that pledge. Cross-examination continued: In the spring of 1886 witness stood for Galway, and was returned by Mr. Parnell's assistance. He subsequently reingned the day after the defeat of Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill.  T JrLr  4"vieNGF•w°- • xou ans no. %%ice on the bill 7—No, I did not. Then you committed suicide to save yourself front slaughter ?--That is your comment upon it. Cross-examination continued: A man named Mulqueeny told him thit Mr. Parnell had paid for the escape of the Phrenix Park murderers. Witnesscould not possibly say when that communication was made to him by Mulqueeny, as when he found the authorities had not got the letter, the matter did not impress itself on his mind. Mulqueeny was an advanced Nationalist, but he had never told witness he was a member of any secret society. He was once at a public-house in Wardourstreet, but he did not know that it was kept by 3 Mrs. Lynch He did not know that this house was remarkable for anything. He went there because he was told that a number of advanced Nationalists had signed a protest against witness's exclusion from Irish politics, and he was told he should meet them if he went there, and he went. He did not know that any of these people were Fenian' or members of any secret society. He could not remember whom he met there, but he believed they were all members of the old Nationalist party. He believed Mr. Parnell to be  ABSOLUTELY FREI FROM CONNIVANCE with any outrage, and to be anxious to carry on his policy in a constitutional manner. When you talk of the old Nationalists, you mean the old Fenians?—Yes.  Since the political events of 1886 have you threatened Mr. Parnell ?—Well, I was very angry when I
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-03-24 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

BURNING THE BABY.  On Monday, at the Middlesex Sessions. Hannah Barrett, aged 14, was sentenced to one day's imprisonment and three years' detention in a reformatory for a peculiarly cruel assault on a baby three years old. The prisoner, with other children and a baby were in a recta t a house in Hammersmith, and she suggested that they should burn the baby. She got a spoon which she made hot by placing it in the fire, and then compelled the baby to clasp it in its hand. This operation was repeated, and on the baby screaming the prisoner again made the spoon hut and rubbed it on the baby's arm. The prisoner then went upstairs and told her uncle that the baby had fallen into the fire. This assertion was disproved, and the guilt of the prisoner established, principally by the testimony of the other children.  Sensation has been excited in Hereford by the suicide of one of the principal witnesses at the Tupsley murder trial. George I'arry, a postman, who deposed that he saw the prisoners crouching under a hedge on the night the crime was committed, had been despondent for some time, and on Sunday night, after returning from chapel he drank a quantity of landanittn, from the effects of which he died. The governors of Guy's Hospital have determined on the erection of a residential medical college upon a site immediately adjoining the hospital. It is pro. posed that the sum required for this purpose, estimated at £20,000, should be raised by private subscription among the governors, the medical staff, the lecturers and teachers in the medical school of Guy's Hospital, and their friends. - •  An action to recover over £lOO,- balance of a betting acomint, came before the Queen's Bench Division on Tuesday. The plaintiff, a carpenter named George tole, of Deptord, alleged that, he had taken various sumeto the defendant, a pavtnbroker named Johnson, who acted as commission agent, with instructions to "invest " them on certain horses. The defendant had given him £7O in respect of his winnings ; hut re-fused to give him the remainder. In the end judgment was given for the plaintiff.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-02-11 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

FEARFUL DOMESTIC TRAGEDY.  MURDER OF A FAMILY OF EIGHT.  The shocking discovery was made in Salford on Friday of a whole family—consisting of father, mother, and six children—having been poisoned. The circumstances left no doubt that the mother and the children were murdered, and that the father, after administering some fatal drug to each of them, committed suicide. The fathei, Samuel Hill Derby, was a chemist's assistant, who appears to have been in poor health and in a desponding frame of mind for some time past. A disagreement with members of his family respecting some property in Ireland left by an uncle, it is believed, together with Ma own indigent circumstances, preyed upon him, and led him to take the lives of his wife and children, and afterwards his own life, in a fit of insanity. None of the family having been seen for several days, Derby's father procured a ladder, by means of which he ascended to a bedroom window, and then discovered his daughter -in - law lying dead in bed, with a dead child on each side of her. The old man at once informed the police, and the house was entered, with the result that every member of the family was found dead, the condition of the bodies indicating that death had taken place some days previously. The father was found lying upon a sofa downstairs. There was a teacup in the front bedroom containing poison, and on a table close by were three bottles labelled " chloral hydrat," "Acid Prue poison," and "morphia." Letters were found on the kitchen mantel-piece which indicated that Derby and his wife had been greatly troubled about monetary matters, and expressing their intention of dying together. A post mortem examination on the bodies revealed the fact that death resulted in each case from poisoning by prussic acid. At the inquest held on Monday, several remarkable letters, written by Derby, were read. They shewed that he had poisoned the family, and intended, when he had finished his writing,to take poison himself. He wrote under a strong feeling that his relatives had behaved unjustly to him about some property—at impression for which there was no justification.— The jury found that the murderer was temporarily insane.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-11-24 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

BALFOUR.  At Leeds, on Friday, the Chief Secretary replied in detail to the allegations of Mr. Gladstone at Birmingham concerning Irish administration, which allegations, he said, were characterised by unblushing impudence. It was a shameful thing that a man in his position should describe as infamous the reside:ll:magistrates who lived in a country and in a society where invectives of that kind more than once led to murder and suicide. These men were risking their lives in carrying out the law, and it was monstrous that the very man who had appointed most of them should, in order to get a cheer from the Birmingham mob, hold them up to the odium of their fellow-countrymen. Never once in the course of his long speech at Birmirglia.m had Mr. Gladstone deviated into accuracy. A more scandalous performance than that speech a great statesman had never on a great occasion been guilty of before. Tactics and methods like these were inexcusable in any controversy, however noble the cause might be; but what was the cause in which Mr. Wadstone had so lavishly expended his wealth of inaccurate statement? He should like to know how, in Mr. Gladstone's phra.se,lrishmen were to be "given securities for getting their livelihood in peace and quietness" by a system which prevented a man taking a farm, when, where, and from whom he would, selling his produce in the market, and hiring a labourer who desired to work for him—a system which made his life a misery, and which refused him burial after he was dead? He should like to ask Mr. Morley, too,how 'the brightness of the humble home" was to be increased by taking out at midnight the master of that home and shooting him in the legs in the presence of his wife and daughter? The truth was that while the Government policy had benefited the rich, who after all, were God's creatures, its chief benefits had been conferred on the poor, who gained by the restoration of order ' • by the promotion of industries which could only flourish where order was secure; by the suppression of crime which was principally directed against the poor and not against the rich ; by individual liberty ; by the power of spending their little capital in the manner they liked; and by freedom to carry the labour of their hands to the master that pleased them. It was the poor, he claimed, that the Government's policy had chiefly benefited, and it was in the name of the poor that he asked the people to support it.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-04-21 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE.  "In the wheat trade there has been rather more tone." So write several country correspondents. So also reports from Glasgow and Liverpool 'declare. The backwardness of the season is beginning to exercise decided effect. The wheat crop of 1888 will need as hot a summer as that of 1887 to be an average early harvest. The present probability is that the wheat harvest will be two to three weeks late. This throws the burden of 54655 weeks' supply upon the present cereal years. which, although sufficiently supplied with grain, is well known to have no superabundance. But for the large supplies of flour during the past three months wheat almost certainly would have advanced.—Farmer, April N.  Fine and mild weather has come at last, and it is to be hoped it may continue. The great change in temperature has lready effected a change in the appearance of the country side. The wheats will grow very fast if no further check occurs and the recently sown sprilig. grain will not be long bef3le it makes an appearance above ground. A great deal of work has been got through during the past fortnight, and where there was not very much to do, many farmers have already completed their spring sowings of grain. The clay lands work like ashes as a rule, but a genial shower every few days would be of service in some localities. TheAeliveries d home-grown wheat continue to fall off, and as result the markets have shown some improvement. 6d. to is. advance having been quoted from several important provincial exchanges, whilst at Marklane the turn has been against buyers. The mild weather, however, has somewhat checked the upward movement, just as it was becoming pronounced. The sales of English wheat noted last week were 41,551iqr., at 30s. 3d., against 36,066igr., at 325. Bd. in the corresponding week of last year.  At Birmingham, on Tuesday ,a man named Patrick O'Neill was charged with attempting to commit suicide by hanging himself. A few days ago his wife eloped with a neighbour, leaving four children behind her, and O'Neill was subsequently found hanging in the kitchen, but was cut down just in time. Be was discharged witlj a caution. . .  I
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-09-29 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

ATROCIOUS TREATMENT OF A WIFE. A case of wife-beating, attended with circumstances of unusual atrocity, has occurred at a village near Devizes. A man named Jacob Smith Dowse came home and found his wife cooking supper. He complained that the quantity was insufficient, and immediately knocked the unfortunate woman senseless with a violent blow on the forehead. When she recovered consciousness he drove her up to the bedroom, tore her clothes off, and made her walk up and down the room for two hours in a state of nudity, before her three children. She got under the bed, but he dragged her out and round the room by her hair, which was torn out, and produced in court at the trial. He then kicked the woman several times, and she tried to jump out of window. The ease was tried at the Devizes police-court, and defendant, who was already under a bond to keep the )kot was sent to prison for three months with hard f:11 .  Letters have been received in Calcutta from the Ameer bearing the date of the 13th of September, according to which he had recovered from the recent attack of gout from which he had been suffering. They furthermore stated that he was in good health. Mary Snowden, wife of a potato salesman in Sheffield market, left home one morning after a disagreement with her husband. Two days after Mr. Snowden's son left home for business about 6 o'clock, his father promising to follow. He did not do so. In the afternoon his son returned home and found his father dead in bed. An hour later he found the body of his metier hanging in the cellar, having apparently been dead several hours. Dr. Doherty is ot opinion that the man died from bronchitis, and the supposition is that Mrs. Snowden, finding hins dead, committed suicide.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-07-07 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

SAD DROWNING FATALITY.  INQUEST AT THE BLACK SWAN HOTEL. On Friday morning, Mr. W. Barstow (die riot coroner) held an inquiry at the Black Swan gotel into the oiroumstanoes attending the death of Arthur Sharpe (32), of Bonegate-road. The jury comprised the following :—Messrs. G. H. Wilkinson (foreman), Fred Wood, Jos. Marsden, Hy. Marshall, Arthur Oregson, Allen Morton, Alfred Beauchamp, W. J. Whiteley, Job Crowther, Edwin Boltoo, R. Gibson' and John Kerr. lospeotor Punton was also present. The first witness called was Sarah Higgin, wife of William Higgin, labourer, Bonegate-road, who deposed that the deceased was tier son by her first husband, W. L. Marne. Deceased was 32 years of age, a tailor by trade, and had always lived with tier. She last saw him alive on Wednesday morning, when he went out soon after breakfast% lie had been very quiet lately, not talking much. He had spoken with reference to committing suicide but it was a long while ago, and he was not right when he was in drink. He hai very rarely slept away from home. Inspeotor Punthn : Was your son a steady man Witness : No..  Jas. Fox, newsagent, Bethel-street, said that about 10-45 p.m. on Wednesday he was crossing over the canal bridge in Huddersfield-road, when he heard a very loud splash in the water. He, with another man, then went on to the towing path by the Perseverance Mills, when they saw a black speck in the water, which afterwards turned out to be a man's cap. Simeon Howell then came along, took off his coat and cap, and jumped in. He got fast in the mud the first time, and, pulling himself out, dived in again, but could find no traces of the body, only being able to bring the cap out. A boy ran round to the stone wharf, and procured a boat book; Inspector Punton came up, and soon after the body was got out with the boat hook : it then being about three yards from the place where he (witness) saw the cap. He never heard a cry. He could not tell whether deceased bad gone in accidentally or purposely from anything he had seen or heard. Mary Ann Brockletiurst, Book Bethel-street, said she laid out the body. There were no marks of violence on the body. Win. Wheelhouse, silk dresser, Goodar-lane, said about nine o'clock, on Wednesday, he went with deceased to the Snip Inn, and from there to the Freemasons Arnie, and they were together there all day. Deceased lett him (witness) in the Freemasons Arma about 10-30 p.m., without saying anything, and he never ka w him again. Deceased was what might be called "fresh" but was not drunk when he left.  The coroner: Perhaps you might not be able to judge. In answer to further inquiry, witness said deceased did not leave in an ill-temper, and never mentioned doing away with himself. Simeon Howell, wiredrawer, Bridge End, said he did not think deceased ever came to the surface after he went in the water. It was very dark.  The Foreman said the jury thought- they could not speak too nighty of Howeit's conduct on the night in question, and it would not go by without recognition. The jury returned an open verdict.
Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-04-07 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

DIARY OP A PESSIMIST.  Down to breakfast. Tea and dry toast. Couldn't manage egg. Afraid of indigestion. Looked over the morning papers. Read through the "Deaths." Skipped "Births "and "Marriages." Never care to read them. Only want to know who's dead, and what's to pay, which I may be the worse for. No hope of a legacy. No news. That is good news. Glanced over the debates with fear and trembling, in dread of the proposal of some new tax or privation of liberty and property. Police reports uninteresting. Accidents and offences ditto. Sad sameness, dulness, and want of originality in robberies, suicides, and murders. Bell. What's that? Rates and taxes, I expect. No. Another circular. Ha! Prospectus of the uggery-Muggery Gold Mining Company. I rap to catch an investment. Glad it's prepaid. Hate all circulars.  Out for a constitutional. Obstruction. Crowd of people in the way. Horse down, I suppose, or somebody in a St. Gave it a wide berth. No business of mine. Hate being hustled, and perhaps implicated somehow or other.  Irritated by the flaming pictorial advertisements,. especially the theatrical groups in attitudes of bogus emotion. Detest sensational dramas. They all end happily—that is, in marriage, of which experience in real life proves the reverse. Home to dinner. No appetite. Been recommended Gulliver's Dinner Pills. Shall recommend them to somebody else; shan't take 'em myself. Bell and knock. Shall have knocker removed. This time, telegram. Somebody dead, I suppose, to my expense or trouble. Not quite so bad. Invitation to an evening party, which I shall have to answer, and of course decline. I'm not an evening party. After dinner smoke a pipe, and meditate preca4tions to avert the troubles and misfortunes which I anticipate, and so up to bed after a dose of morphia with a view to get a little sleep in spite of them, if I Can.  • I