npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-05-10 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

THE POLICE AND DROWNING CASES.  An inquest was held on Wednesday, at the Public Office, koor-street, Birmingham, upon the body of a man unknown. On Wednesday morning, at about hslf-past four o'clock, P.C. Taylor and Jones were on duty on the bridge crossing the canal, and railway near Northbrook-street, and Dudley-road, when they heard a splash in the canal, and upon proceeding on the embankment they saw a man in the water. They succeeded in getting him out, and placed him across the beam of a boat, face downward, and with his head slightly inclined. He remained in an unconscious state for about a quarter of an hour, and in the meantime Mr. Whitby, surgeon, was fetched, but upon that gentleman's arrival the deceased had expired. —The Coroner asked Police-constable Jones what was the object of laying the man on his stomach and inclining his head.-.—Jones: Because I thought the water would run out of his throat.— The Coroner: But you don't suppose that a man who drowns dies because of the water that gets into him?—Jones : I don't know.—The Coroner: You should study anatomy. Most people suppose that a man who is drowned is full of water.—A Jaryman : Are there no instructions issued to the police as to how to treat persons apparently drowned ?—Jones : There are instructions given as to security of life, but not as to drowning.—The Coroner: There used to be in the old days, but we are reformed now.— Mr. Whitby, surgeon, said he was called to see the deceased, but he was dead when he arrived. Placing the man on his stomach, as the police had done, would still further encumber the breathing apparatus and assist suffocation.—The Coroner: It ' is so deplorable to find people fancying that a man is like a beer barrel, or rather a water barrel.— Inspector Willis said the deceased appeared to be a Working man in respectable circumstances.—The jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased had committed suicide whilst in a state of temporary insanity, and added that, in their opinion, instructions should be given to police officers how to treat persons apparently drowned.—The Coroner informed the jury that this made the fourth case of suicide within five days.  DEArn or A
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-07-26 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

SUICIDE.—The body of a woman named Elizabeth Clark was found in the River Learn, near the Adelaide Bridge, on Sunday morning. Mrs. Clarke, who was a widow, 72 years of age, had been lodging with her sister, Mrs. Hunt, at 41, Shrubland-street. She was of most penurious habits, and somewhat weak in intellect. She had deposited her money with some friends, who, out cf her savings, paid her 10s. a week for maintenance. Early on Saturday morning deceased left her lodgings unknown to her sister, and about an hour afterwards her body Was seen floating in the water near the New River Walk. Mr. W. Poole, District Coroner, on Monday held an inquest.—Mr. William Harper. builder, Wood-street, stated that he had known the deceased fir thirty years, as attending the chapel of which he was a member. Until the beginning of the present year he believed that she was in a most destitute state, as she received coal and money weekly from the alms collected by the congregation. However, about the first week in January last she called at his house, wanted to live there, and his wife accompanied her to her lodgings, where she gave her a tin box without a cover, and told her to take it, as she felt she was going to be robbed, and was not safe. On taking the box home his wife found that it contained £l2O. He called ma lawyer and a parson; the decJased was asked a number of questions, and stated that she saved the money by putting in the box 6d. a time. Deceased had gone out nursing and charring, and was always a very sparing woman. He could not say that she begged independently of the charity of the chapol.—Mr. Lund siid that for some time the deceased received parish relief, and that, on finding she had money, the Board of Guardians recovered two years' pay.—The Coroner: That is not begging; it is a loan which has been repaid.—Dr. Shapley stated that he had attended the deceased, who had made a deed by which she was to receive 10s. a week for life on depositing the £l2O in trust a few months ago. She was well in health, but her spirits were depressed on account of having defrauded the chapel people with whom she worshipped.—The Coroner: Was it on account of her having obtained the money, or because she had been found out ?—Dr. Shapeley kind he could not tell. Her hallucination was that if she went into the street she would be arrested by those whom she had defrauded. On all other points she was perfectly sane. She was in the charge of her sister, and left the house while her sister was asleep, and jumped into the river.--The jury found that the deceased committed suicide whilst in a state of unsound mind.
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-06-07 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

SHOCKING SUICIDE.  On Monday afternoon last, the district coroner, T. Dewes, Esq., held an inquest at the Bull's Head Inn, Bedworth, to inquire into the circumstances touching the death, on Saturday last, of Mr. Dyer Smith, a retired ribbon manufacturer, and for fifteen years a Guardian of the Poor for the Foleshill Union, who was found on Saturday last, in a field bear Idle-dine, Bedworth, with his throat out from ear to ear. The following evidence was adduced:— Josiah Mills, of Bedworth, miner, said: Deceased was my uncle. He was 66 years of age, and was a retired ribbon manufacturer. I was with him in his house ou Friday aftern,oon last. Ido not think he knew what he was talking about. He asked to go a walk with me. I went with him. When we got into the fields he began to talk about the miners' strike. He had a number of houses which were occupied by miners, who were out of work, and when we titrned to come back, he said he heard noises and musfo, which I could not hear. I saw him again, between Amin and eight on Saturday, when Ale came to my door. Marks Wilcox, of Ezhall, miner, said : On Saturday afternoon, about three o'clock I was coming across the fel& from Bedworth Heath to Idle-lane. There is a footpath which crosses the brook by a plank. Just before I got to the plank I saw something in the brook, and on getting closer saw the body of the deceased lying with his right hand across the plank and his head in the brook. The face was not under water, and his throat was ant and gaping. Be was quite dead. I got assistance and got him out of the water. P.S. Richard Poultney said that about four o'clock on Saturday, he went to the spot spoken of by the last witness and found deceased lying by the side of the brook. He got a trap and removed the deceased home. He produced deceased's stool, and pair of spectacles, a razor and a razor-case, a rule, 12s. 90. in money, which articles belonked to deceased.  , Edward William Orton, of Bedworth, said he was called to deceased on Saturday last. He produced the following report:—" About 4 o'clock on Saturday aftemoon (May 31), I was called to Exhall by Arthur Nosy, to see the deceased. He I was then lying upon the bank by the side of the brook from whence he had been removed. I at once recognised the body as that of Mr. Dyer Smith, of Bedworth. Upon examination there was a large double incised wound in the throat severing the right carotid artery, trachea, and all the principal structures. From the severity of the wound death must have occurred in a few seconds. The deceased has been under my treatment for nearly a fortnight past. He was suffering from general debility and mental depression. I saw him at his home on: Friday last and remarked to his wife upon the despondent condition of his mind. I am of opinion that deceased destroyed himself while in a .jstate of  temporary insanity. -7
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-04-19 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE AT LEAMINGTON.  A woman named Deane, wife of a labourer named Daniel Deane, living in St. John-street, Leamington, on Friday, attempted suicide by jumping into the Avon at the Rock Milli'. She had left her home on Wednesday at noon. She had a child in her arms when she jumped into the water. Both were rescued, and the mother was taken to Warwick Gaol.—At the Milverton Police Court, on Saturday, the prisoner was charged with attempting to commit suicide. At about ten o'clock on the morning of Good Friday the prisoner, who had been missed from her home for several days, called at the house of Ellis, a waggcruer employed at the Rock Mills, asked for water, and made a rambling statement which excited his suspicion. She also called at the house of Ellis's neighbour, who joined Ellis in watching the woman. The) saw her walk down the steps near the mill and jump into the Avon. They ran to the spot, and with the assistance of Mr. Hopkins, succeeded in rescuing the woman, who was lying on her back in the water with her child on her breast. The mother was taken into Mr. Norman's house, where she told a tale about having been put under chlroform, and said that someone had tried to smother her. Neither mother nor chill appeared to have suffered from the immersion.—The prisoner was remanded till Wednesday.  A trades' demonstration was held in Hyde Park on Saturday amid a storm of snow and rain, in support of the engineers' strike. The members of various trade societies, to the number of ten thousand or so, assembled on the Thames Embankment and marched in processional order to the site of the swept away "Reformers' Tree," in Hyde Park, where a public meeting was held, presided over by Mr. J. Burnett, secretary of the Amalgamated Engineers, and resolutions were passed in furtherance of the objects of the gatherinc.
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-04-19 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

THE ATTEMPTED SUICIDE NEAR L LEAMINGTON.  hAt the Milverton Petty Sessions, on Wednesday, before Colonel Machen, Mr. G. Unett, Colonel and Captain Pennington, a poor woman, Ann Dean, was brought up in custody, ith attempting to commit suicide on and also with attempting to murder her , drowning it.—Between ten and eleven on Good Friday morning the prisoner called tage at the Rock Mills, near Warwick, and ,r a drop of water. Pointing to the River blob runs close by, she said, "That's the re they tried to smother me last night; to chloroform me, and pulled me about •and forms." In consequence manner she was watched. On cottage she 'went to the water and threw She had an infant child in her arms at Two men, named_ Clement Ellis and  'au  ppc maa Riled, ran and rescued the mother and child. xt they got to the river side the prisoner was 'tfilg in the water on her back and the child was ion her breast.—Colonel Machen asked if she OS WV remark when they got her out of the Ater, to which the witness Reed replied, "I asked her if the water was cold, but she made no answer." i —Di,. Turner, of Warwick, who saw the prisoner tte she was rescued, gave it as his opinion that 4 he as of unsound mind.—lt was stated that she Wen living with her husband in John-street, iseeittergton. Mr. W. Overell appeared for the defence, and called two women, who ittilfde in Satchwell-street, Leamington, who that the prisoner had had a great deal . during the winter, in consequence of her ' having been out of work. On Wednesday __ - a very excited state, and went about asked the cause of her grief she said ..a. had gone away to be married to the of lya.lvi, and that she had seen them both and /leaflet. She also cornJband had been rubbing dragon's -The Bench acquitted her of the and sent her to Hatton Lunatic of unsound %Ind.  .eanaitizq  Woodcock, iikried Mary tadtpedletrti a ild by clock on k coVage 4 for a on, which where 1i la tried if shapes iier peculiar ling the elf in. - • tlale.  band was in Mini, When Ira husbaud bad Pr:inseam of Wales beam, in sky•blue pfshieir that her husband INWen her feet.— M i" 110042 ed, #9011r1431
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-04-19 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

THE KENILWORTH ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1879.  STRANGE CASE OF SITPERSTITIO:  IN W'ALES. A strange ghost story comes from the Principality. There is a friendly society at Pontardawe, in the Swansea Valley, amongst whose rules is one that the funeral allowance on account of a deceased member shall not be paid in oases of suicide. One of the members recently died by his own hand, and the club accordingly refused to pay the death money. For this reasonable and just refusal the members are now complaining that they are subjected to serious persecution from an unseen and presumably a ghostly agent. The manifestations began on a recent Sunday, when one of the officers, returning home over a lonely road, was assailed, as he asserts, by the spirit of the late. member, who, failing to obtain a satisfactory reply to his demand for the money, in a somewhat unspiritlike manner, assailed the unfortunate man, and actually "tore his clothes to ribbons." Such, atleast, was the account he gave, in tones of horor, at the first public-house he came to after this terrific encounter. But the ghost does not appear to have been satisfied with this demonstration. On the following Tuesday evening, whilst the members were assembled in the lodge room, the usual knocks were heard at the door as of a brother seeking admittance. The door was opened, but no one was to be seen. The members, howevert are all very certain that they heard the voice of the deceased utter the words : " Pay my widow my funeral money, and then I shall be at rest." The meeting precipitately broke up, and the members are now puzzled to hnow what to do with such a determined deceased brother. The narrative is worth repetition, if only as bringing to light a novelty in the conduct of those who "revisit thus the glimpses of the moon."
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-05-24 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

SHOCKING MURDER AND SUICIDE NEAR LICHFIELD. On Monday Morning a shocking ease of murder Ish4 finfoidelooettrred at tynn-tane, in the parish of 1-Ih, rinehmonel nem hroten'hills, ant( within about four 'Mika of Ltelifleld. It appears that for some time ta rdthihtfatmer, named •Jemes Freetuani aged At, has been living in a little cottage at a place r called Bitehley Erill# we/exactly two years ago on Monday he married young woman, aged 32, who has since resided, with him,. but apparently not on very happy terms. On Monday morning, about ten minutes to eight, rreeman was seen leaning over US garden gate with a gun in his hand, but there was nothing in his demeanour to attract particular attention. At a quarter alter eleven, a neighbour named Hannah Wheeler went to the house to see Mrs. Freeman, but on knocking at the back door no reply was returned, and Mrs. Wheeler then went round the house, tried the front door, which was looked, and then looked through the window. The spectacle which met her gaze was of an exceedingly horrifying description. Mrs. Freeman was sittiAtt in a chair, quite dead, and covered with blood, and on the opposite side of the room, in another chair was her hasband, also dead and bleeding. Without waiting to ascertain anymore, Mrs. Wheeler ran away to alarm the neighbours, and very shortly afterwards returned with two men named Zechariah James and Solomon Tuokley. Information was despatched to the police, and at about 11.40 a.m. P.C. Billingsley arrived at ,the cottage, and gained an entrance by one of the windows. He found Freeman was quite dead, having a shot wound penetrating from the right temple through the head, the shot itself being lodged in the ceiling. He was sitting in the chair, as seen by Mrs. Wheeler, and held with the right hand the muzzle of the gun,.and in the left hand was the ramrod. The gun had evidently been recently discharged, and it is said that about nine o'clock the report of a firearm was heard in the neighbourhood of the cottage, but does not appear to have given rise to any apprehensions. The deceased woman had also been shot in the head, part of the skull being•blown away, and the brain being exposed. Around both bodies there were pools ot blood. There could be little doubt that the man had first shot his wife, and then shot himself. On the table a statement in his handwriting was found, from which it is gathered that the caw of the murder and suicide was jealousy. Decedsed was known to have lately suspected his wife of unfaithfulness and this, with the difference in their ages, had been the cause of considerable unhappiness between them. The deceased woman was Freeman's second wife, and it is stated that there are several grown-up children by the first wife. Great excitement prevails in the neighbourhood, the Freemans being very well known.
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-05-24 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

MYSTERIOUS MURDER IN PARIS. Another mysterious crime has just come to light in Paris. The decomposed body of a young woman with a rope tied round her neck was found in the Seine. At first it was thought to be a case of suicide, but investigation proved it to be one of murder. The body turned out to be that of a servant named Elise Rouck, who came from Belgium a couple of months ago to seek a place in Paris. She disappeared shortly after her arrival. The rope round her neck, on being examined, was found to be broken. Divers were sent down into the river, and they succeeded in finding a large stone, to which was attached the remainder of the rope. The body, thus weighted, must have kept at the bottom of the Seine till the constant action of the water broke the rope. A portion of her clothes still remained intaet, and in a pocket were discovered some jewellery and money. This fact Would lead to the inference that robbory was not the olive of the crime.  House or Loans.—The Duke of Argyll originated a debate on the foreign policy of the Government, criticising at considerable length the fulfilment of the Berlin Treaty. The Earl of Beaconsfield replied that the debate should not have been raised at a time when Yakoob Khan was tegotiating terms of peace. He explained the various measures by which the Treaty of Berlin had been carried into effect, and vindicated the Government in respect of the charges which had been made by the noble duke. The Marquis of Salisbury and Earl Granville continued the discussian, the motion being eventually withdrawn, after which their lordships adjourned at twenty minutes to nine o'clock. Hones or Comm°Ns.—Lord Bandon stated that the Government intended to bring in.& Bill for the prolongation of the powers of the Railway Commission ; and Lord C. Hamilton, in reply to a question, intimated that the Charity Commissioners possessed a balance of £74,600 from the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund, and advised that application should be made to the Commissioners whether the sum could be applied t 3 the relief of the relatives of the soldiers lately killed in South Africa and Afghanistan. After various measures had been advanced, the sitting was suspended at seven o'clock. On resuming, Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen moved for a Select Committee to inquire into the nature and incidence of brewers' licenses, arguing that the present tax drove small brewers out of the trade, and converted the business into a gigantic monopoly. The Chancellor of the Exchequer declined to accede to the motion on the grounds that the facts were already known, and that there were no new facts to investigate.
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-02-01 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1. 1879.  IT is frequently the boast of a certain class of people that in the country there is but little of that destitution which is so general in all large towns, but a glance at the report of the state of things at Cubbington, which we print in another column goes to show that even in the country people may be very near starvation. One singular circumstance in connection with this village lies in the fact that the Earl of AYLESFORII is one of the principal laud-owners and Lord of the Manor. The thought arises whether the noble Earl would not be better employed in lo king after the destitution and s+arra4ion Cithbington than in quarrelling with the officials at the Italian Opera. There will come a day of reckoning, even in this world, with those who neglect the duties of their position, and we do not envy the feelings of those who can calmly glint their eyes to such misery and wretchedness as seem to exist at Cubbington, while they spend their energies and their wealth in frivolity and waste. We do not wish to use harsh language, but we cannot ignore the facts of a Coroner's inquest, and we most earnestly hope that some prompt measures will be taken to relieve the starving poor of Cubbington.  THE second President of the French Republic, Marshal MACMAHON, has resigned, and M. GREVY, a civilian, has been elected third President in the room of the Marshal.  PEACE would appear to be a perfect bug-bear to those who have charge of him. Not only is he always making some peculiar remark which makes his keepers wonder what he is driving at, but he generally contrives to ask some particular favour or other, which causes the warders to think he either means to escape or commit suicide. One way or another he must make the duty of the turnkeys most onerous and harassing. When he was conveyed from Wakefield to Leeds the other day, the authorities thought they would make up for their previous negligence. He was not only handcuffed, but manacled with leg-irons, while his warders had loaded pistols, and he was further guarded by policemen with revolvers. It was a wonder he was not escorted by a troop of cavalry with drawn swords, and a battery of horse artillery. Surely since the days of DICK TURPIN and JACK SLIEPPARD there has never been a hero equal to this
The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-07-19 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE OF A  FARMER'S DAUGHTER.  On Wednesday Mr. Coroner Poole held at inquest at Princethorpe, near Rugby, on the body of Annie Clayton Sharratt (17), who drowned herself in a horse pond on Monday. The deceased was the daughter of Mr. John Sharratt, farmer, of Longdon, near Rngeley. Two years ago Mr. Sharratt married a second time, and domestic differences arose. About six months since the deceased went into Rugeley twice a week for music lessons, and frequently visited some former neighbours, who were Roman Catholics, and were the indirect means of her subsequent secession to Roman Catholicism. Her father, a staunch Protestant, told her that unless she desisted from going to the Roman Catholic Church his house would be no longer her home. She &dived to recant, left home, and lived with her grandmother. In July she answered an advertisement respecting a nurse, and entered the service of Mr. Hardman, stained glass manufacturer, of Solihull, in that capacity. On the sth inst. she went with Mr. Hardman's family to temporary .apartments at the farmhouse attached to Princethorpe Roman Catholic Priory, but gave notice to leave at the end of the month. On Monday morning, as Mr. Hardman was about to leave for Birmingham, she was missed, and on search being made her body was found in a pond in the rick-yard, about two feet deep, with the eyes bandaged and a seven pound weight attached to the neck by a pocket - handkeichief. A letter directed to her aunt living at Longton was found in a 'clothes drawer written in pencil. It was to the effect that she was very unhappy, and feared she might be tempted to become again a Protestant, and so chose suicide as being the least sinful course. —The jury returned a verdict of "Suicide, and that there was no evidence to show the state of the deceased's mind at the time."