npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1886-04-24 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

NOT GUILTY.  On this being announced there was an instant outburst of the most hearty cheering which is possible to be conceived, in which almost all took part; indeed, such a scene has hezdly ever before been witnessed in an English Court of Justice. The intensity of the excited feelings of the spectators for the unfortunate woman was too great, too strong, to wild to heed the stentgrian demands for silence made by the ushers of the court. While the applause was continuing Mrs. Bartlett was gently removed from the dock to the waiting-room. _ - _  On silence being at last gained the judge remarked that the expression of delight at the acquittal of Mrs. Bartlett was an outrage. "This," said he, "is a court of justice, and not a theatre. It only remains for me to express my great sense of the attention you have given to this case. The scene in this court just now is disgraceful, and such conduct is inexcusable on the most solemn occasion on which men are called upon to perform a public duty. I think it is due to you that you should be free for five years from attend,  ing on a jury.' The court adjourned and rapidly emptied. Immediately the verdict was known to the crowds outside tumultuous yells of approval followed, which were quickly succeeded by loud and deep groans for Dyson, whose conduct throughout was considered by the people as most deeply reprehensible.  In reply to some criticism the following letter has been addressed to a London paper: Sir,—The expression of the jury preceding the verdict upon which you comment in your leader today was in this, as in many other cases, the result of a compromise. Eleven of our number were in favour of a verdict of not guilty, with a rider that " we were of opinion that, considering the state of health •Mr. Bartlett was in, or imagined he was in, and the state of mind the evidence showed him to be in, he administered the chloroform to himself with a view of obtaining sleep or committing suicide; but the twelfth juryman would only consent to a verdict in the form in which it was given; and the majority, rather than subject Mrs. Bartlett to all the agony and expense of a second trial, gave way upon the point.— Your obedient servant, _ _ _
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1886-05-29 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE OF A YOUNG WOMAN: A. COURAGEOUS CONSTABLE.  On Saturday Mr. William Carter held an inquest at Rotherhithe on the body of Emma Bailey, aged 2(3 years, a single woman, whose body was found in the river Thames. Joseph Church, a lighterrnan, proved finding the hDdy off Mills Stairs, Bermondsey. John Bailey, a police-constable, identified the deceased as his sister, who had been engaged in the kitchen as servant in many noblemen's families. Of late she had given way to habits of intemperance, and the family had tried to refotm her, but without avail. Witness last saw her alive six weeks ago, when she came on a visit to him and his wife. Police-constable Furby Wilson, 182 L, deposed that about a quarter-past four o'clock on the morning of the 11th inst. he was on duty on the Surrey side of Westminster-bridge, when be noticed a woman, whom he now identified as the deceased, walk down the steps leading to the water. As she did not return he went down the steps and found her standing in the water, which was up to her armpits. He shouted to her, but she threw herself backwards and was carried away by the tido. He jumped after her, and was being also carried away, when, in consequence of not being able to swim, and having his great coat on, he clung to an anchored boat some distance away from the bridge, and so saved himself. The deceased sank, and was not seen again. The Coroner, addressing the witness, said that he had acted in a very praiseworthy manner, and he kthe Coroner) trusted that his gallant conduct would be brought before the Royal Humane Society. The jury returned a verdict of "Suicide while in a state of unsound mind through drink,' and added a rider embodying the comments of the magistrate on the conduct of the constable.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1887-10-29 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

ROMANCE OF CRIME.  The Press Association has received information of a series of frauds upon insurance offices in England to the extent of about £13,000. In and prior to 1883 one Von Shearer effected life insurances to about £13,000, which were paid in 1884 to a Miss Bankfalva, who produced assignments of the policies, with certificates of the supposed death of Von Sheurer at Meudon, near Versailles, on the 20th of November, 1883, Inquiry, however, has elicited the fact that the certificates had relation to a sick man who had been made to serve as substitute for Von Shearer. The London offices admitted the death and paid the £13,000 to Miss Bankfalva, who subsequently, in 1885, married Von Shearer in London. Lately Von Shearer was seen in Paris, and information was given by one of his accomplices, which led to the arrest of five persons in Paris, who are now awaiting trial. Von Sl_eircer,"who has been living for some tune in Vienna, last week, it is alleged, attempted to pass a forged bill on the Credit-Anstalt. The manager, having suspicions, refused to accept it, and telegraphed for information as to its genuineness. Yon Silencer thereupon decamped, and, the bill being discovered to be a forgery, his wife was arrested, 80,000 fr. being found upon her. It was then discovered for the first time that Mme. Von Sheurer was indentical with Miss Bankfalva, alias Julie Metz. Upon information of her arrest reaching Paris, the French authorities applied for her extraciilion for participation in forging the certificates of the alleged death and burial of Von Shouter; whilst a similar request has been preferred to flee English Foreign Office by Messrs. Michael Abrahatns, Son, and Co., of London, on behalf of the Engltsh insurance companies, with reference to frauds ,3rpetrftted in this country. The Austrian police l. ye at present declined to extradite the woman on the ground that she has made herself amenable to the Anstrian authorities. The Austrian 'Jolt ,e at present are in possession of the money f ..e i Mme. von Sheurer, upon which Messrs. Abrali • have laid an embargo in the interests of the instir trice companies. On Monday Messrs. Ransom, Bouv erie, and Co., the bankers of Von Shearer (who was known to them by the alias of "Ropers ") received a registered letter from him containing bank notes amounting to .£2OO, forming part of a recent remittance to him of .£3OO. In the letter accompanying the money Von Shearer, after requesting the firm to protect his wife, who warinnocent of the fraud and had acted throughout out of love for him, stated that he was about to commit suicide. The communication was banded at once to Messrs. Abrahams, who immediately telegraphed to the English Consul at Milan for information. An answer to the telegram was received on Tuesday morning from the Consul, stating that on Saturday last Von Sheurer had committed suicide at Como, in Italy.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1887-08-27 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

ALLEGED DRUNKENNESB.—Benjamin Gordon was charged with hing -sunk and disorderly on the highway on the 31st Jul', at the Lye P.C. Newnum save evisence acid the defence was an alibi. Teo Bench gave defeu latit the benefit of the doubt ann distui-sed the case_  ANOTHER DRUNK —Thomas Henry Evans was charged with heipg drunk at Cradley, P.C. Mid t•toved the case, and dcfenAant who did n.:,t ppeat was fint.ci 5 and costs.  AT.CEZIPTED SUlClDE.—Elizabeth Lengstone was c;.aree weh attemptieg suicide, by throw:leg herself into the River Steer, on:the 21st inst. at Sourbridge. After hearing the evidence the Bench di-charged de.', udant wi h a caution. Senooe B. PROSECUTIONS —A number of persuns were nnioned by Inspectors Harvey and Gordon, for attendance of their children at school, and ere fined. CHARGE OF Roneerte.—Sarah T)ler, a married woman, was charged. eith stealing a table c•oth hnd a belt, valued Gs, the property of Mr. E Lowe, pawnbroker, L)wer High Street, on the 12th Workman said be was assistant to prosecutor. On the 19th inst. wi•ness missed a table cloth and a belt from trie counter, betNeen half past and halt-past tour. Tne articles producel were the sa u.—Harriet Chalker, aesista,t to Xi Pears ,pi viai?r,)ker, Street, s.id sIL, roc ‘lIteeed the table do la being b. ought to • hell hop and pled d tor a shilling by prisonte. ,erl William 6 ssereore assistant to Mr. Stringer, pa wnbreker. High Street, said the belt produced v.a3 offered in pLele about 3.30 p.m. on the 20th inst. by prisoner. 'Witness a,1...ed her how she came in possesimi of the belt and she said it had been bought, bat afterwards said she found it by the Viuduet. He sent for the police. P.C. Cooper said on the 20th inst. he received the table cloth from Miss Lhallicr, and he afterwards apprehen&cl prisoner and charged her with the offence. She said she did not steal the belt, but found it by the Viaduct. She said she had never seen the table cloth.—Prisoner sail she was very sorry. She had four little chil ,ren, and it snould never occur again. —Mr. King said he was told that prisoner had hitherto borne a Bend oheracter,—The Bench said it was quite dear that she had stolen the articles, and she nad made several contradictory etatEments as to where she got them from. As she had borne a good character in the past they would give her another chance and Sued her 218; in default one month.  A C CLERGY:NWT will send, free of charge a pres •ription for the care of all those who sailer f rom the err re and indiscretions of youth, nervous debility. physicai exhaustion, and early decay. This great remedy was di. ~overad by a missionary in Old Mexico; it say -d turn fro.n a n iserable existence and an early grave - end a self-addressed, stamped envel pe, to
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1887-01-29 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE OF A POLICE-SERGBANT.—On Wednesday morning, "Pelice-sergeant Benjamin Rudge, an old and highly re,pected officer, was tound dead in bed with his throat cut. He has been suffering for some - time from a bad leg and Las had to keep his bed. He suffered most acute pain, and i: was expected thataan operation would have to be performed. This, with the pain' he h:d to endure, seems to have caused giant depression of spirits. His son took him upaa cup of eaffee abo at seven o'clock in the morning', and he then appeared in his usual frame of mind. Shortly afterwards his daughter went upstairs and made the ghastly discover c. lie was able to speak, and was understood to say that the pain had calmed him to commit the rash act. The deceased Las be n a police officer fo: thirty years, and for twenty years cf that period he was a sergeant. Ills hr. ther efficers are deeply glievedat his untimely en I. On Thursday Mr. Percy Jobson (Borough Corner) held an inquest at the Saracen's He id Hotel, Dudley, resaecting the d ath of Benjamin Rndge (56), in the barougli police force. Alfred Benjamin ltu Age, a sun of the deceased, stated that hie father had been suffering for about two years from two or three complaints, bud several time, he t ad been compelled to go off clut7. He suffered acute rip ain in Lie leg, and for rn(ra - than a foitnight he had be aeaufined to his bed. Witeessal pt in the seine room in order to attend to the deceased, At half past six o'clock in the morning he asked witne,s it he woald get tiim s e coffee. Thia he precur,al, and deceased asked him to place it on a chair at tha side of the bed. so th t he aould get it himelf. Dr. Messiter sad he was called in to tee the dewased a few minutes after he had cu- his throat, and found him conscious, but he died w-th n five minu'es. liopotor Spoke said he found a psnknife near to the deems ad's bet, and , asked him why he comraitted the rash act, and he raplied could not endure the pail any longer." The Coroner said there wa3 no doubt. the deceased was of unsound mind when he committed the !aih act. He afterwards referred to the honourable manner in which the deceased had always prformed his-datie s as a police-sergeant. Mr. Chiefsuperintendent Bur on sad, in a .clition to the great pain he had to endure, the late sergeant's wife and daughter were in a consumption, and another child non coupes lamas, and tire day he committed Buick° his wife's father was buried. A verdict of !;3trie de when of unsound mind" W4B returned.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1887-11-12 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

DYNAMITE BOMBS IN THE PRISON. A search of the cells in which the condemned Anarchists are confined were made on Monday, when. six loaded bombs concealed under newspapers were found in the cell occupied by Lingg. The news of the discovery spread rapidly through Chicago, causing , great sensation, and a marked reaction of feeling , among those who have hitherto been in favour of the prisoners being amnestied was at once apparent. The discovery has caused the adoption of extra precautions regarding the admission of visitors to the condemned men and the receipt by them of newspapers or presents. In some quarters it is thought that the bombs were placed in Lingg's cell to enable him to I commit suicide, and that no wholesale slaughter was. contemplated. On the other hand, the Anarchists declare that it was an official plot against the amnesty-I being granted to the condemned men. The Governor of Illinois has received several letters threateninr with death should the prisoners be executed. The reporter of the Supreme Court of Illinois has forwarded to the United States Ministers and the leading newspapers in Europe the full text of the proceedings in the Illinois court regarding the Anarchist trials, in o-der to present the action of the Stato judicial authorities in its true light. Later particulars concerning the discovery of explosives in Lingg's cell show that the bombs numbered four, and these are believed to have been handed to Lingg in a box by a woman who visited him a few days ago. The box was supposed to contain comesstibles and was examined when brought in, but it has now been found to have a false bottom. The bombs were made of gas-piping. Part of the material contained in two of the bombs has been removed and tested, and the result show that it is dynamite of the strongest kind. It is now believed that Lingg, who is held to be the most desperate of all the seven men, intended to blow up the prison and kill as many people as possible. Strong guards are now posted at the Municipal Court Building. Engel, another of the condemned men, attempted to commit suicide on Saturday night by taking laudanum. Emetics was immediately administered, and the prisoner was kept walking about until the effects of the poison had passed off. Engel refused to say how he obtained the laudanum, but his attempt to commit suicide led to a search of the cells, and it was through this that the bombs were discovered.  ernor  Further examination proves that all the bombs found in Lingg's cell contained dynamite. It is reported that the police have discovered 11 bombs in the house of an Anarchist near the gasworks.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1887-03-26 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

JOHN BULL.  A chance remark of an erudite contemporary has (says the Globe) apparently set certain of its readers to much thumbing of books of reference. "Can it be true," said the oracle—apropos of the new big English dictionary and its researches into the first uses of words—" can it be true that 'John Ball is wanted before 1810? He sounds a good deal more like a word of Swift's or Arbuthnot's time." To be sure he does, as both our contemporary and the editors of tUe i dictionary may be trusted to have known. And as f, by chance, they did not, here comes a correspondent of the former to remind all whom it concerns of Arbuthnot's "History of John Ball," which belongs, as most people know, to the beginhing of the eighteenth century. And we are asked to mark that the Doctor," writing for the Tories, set that example of depreciation of England and exaltation of foreign Powers at her expense, which is now supposed (in some quarters) to be the peculiar habit of the Liberal party." It would seem that this writer has not read the "History" very carefully, for John Bull cannot be said to be exactly " depreciated " therein—rather is his portrait drawn with fair appreciation. "In the main an honest, plain-dealing fellow, choleric, bold, and of a very inconstant temper . . . he dreaded not old Lewis [France] either at back-sword, single falchion, or cudgel-play, but was very apt to quarrel with his best friends. This, surely, is not a very unkind description of the national character. "He was quick, and understood business well, but no man alive was more careless in looking into his accompts"—it is to be feared that this is all too true. But how came Arbil! hnot to think of. England as "John Ball ?t"D e d the he supposed first rorssoetf d bovine oi od d Save u dub it, i d ortheityo did K f h intg'. he " convey " the idea? And did the creator of the nicktypical Englishman? Had Dr. John Bull, once n tha om ue ghbase it upon oe h anything to do with the matter? Here is room surely, e , for even more research than has yet been accorded an interesting incident in the national history.  An inquest was held at Bolton, on Tuesday, touching the death of Mr. J. K. Cross, formerly member of Parliament for that borough, and a verdict of suicide whilst temporarily insane was returned. The inquest on the body of Patrick Hanlon, who was killed in a police charge at Youghal, wan concluded on Tuesday, the jury returning a verdict to the effect that tbe deceased came by his death from a stab inflicted by the police, and they found a verdict of "'VI ilful murder" against the police. On the application of Mr. Harrington, warrants were made out against Inspector Somerville and Sab-constable Garratt Ward. The foreman added a rider that the jury were of opinion that the collision between the police and the people was caused by words used in Parliament by the Chief Secretary.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1887-02-05 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SATURDAY, FEB; 5, 1887.  In the Lord Mayor's Court on Saturday Miss Clompson, of Brompton.square, sought to mover damages from Mr. Getty, a stockbroker, for alleged detention of mining shares. The plaintiff, who admitted she had speculated on the Stock Exchange, was asked by counsel if the defendant speculated for her to the extent of £lBO,OOO without security, and she replied that he never asked for "cover." Before her examination had concluded a consultation took place, which resulted in a juror being withdrawn.  -Mr. W. O'Brien, addressing a meeting on Sunday at Bodyke, called to protest against some threatened evictions, declared that if the Irish people had the power to meet the police man to man and rifle to rifle, in the open field, he would cut short his speech-making, and the next speech they would hear would come from the mouths of the people's guns. Processions of the unemployed started on Sunday morning from central rendezvous in several districts of London, and went to church, where they hissed the names of the Royal Family and interrupted the sex. moos with expressions of approval or the reverse. After Divine service meetings were held and violent speeches delivered.  A boy named Robert Perry Stopford, aged 14, who lived with his parents at Gorton, committed suicide on Saturday night. He had been discharged from his employment in a Manchester warehouse, and on Saturday night he told a companion "that he would be be Heaven or Hell that night." Soon afterwards he was found in the road dead, with a pistol by his side, having shot himself in the stomach. Upon him was found the following note in pencil :—" Dear Mater,— I've gone to meet the Great Mystery face to face. Sorry for what I have done, of course. Good-bye. Tell my brother I curse him with all my heart.—R.
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1872-02-17 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

MURDER AND SUICIDE.  A shocking crime was committed on Tuesday morning at Sheffield, a man inured iirmishaw having attempted to kill his wife, and then committed suicide. Bradshaw was a pensioner, and had recently returned from India, when he found that his wife had got married in his absence. She resumes! cohabitation with him, and he obtained a situation as a night watchman at a large music-hall in Sheffield. After the performances were over on Monday night he was left in cbas go of the building, and in the course of the night his wife.came to the hall with his supper. What °conned subsequently is not known. Early on Tuesday morning one of the officials went to the hall, but could not get admission, the doors being all locked. Procuring a ladder, he got through one of the windows near the stage, and on making his way into the wardrobe-room, used by Bradshaw ass a sort of bedroom, a horrible sight presented itself. lie found Mrs. Bradshaw lying on the ground, her head in a issol of blood and a portion of her brains protruding from some fearful wounds in various parts of the head. She was not dead, but was unconscious. Some assistance was procured, and a diligent search was made for Bradshaw. At length his body was found suspended by the neck amid the cloud scenes at the top of the stage, and between 20 and 30 feet from the ground. lie was dead, and from the appearance of the face death must have been instantaneous, as the features were not in the least distorted. The poor woman was subsequently removed to the infirmary. It is impossible for her to recover. During a minute or two of consciousness she said her husband knocked her down with a poker. A poker and a hatchet were found near where she was lying. It is supposed that a quarrel arose between them, and that he knocked his wife down 'with a poker and then beat her over the head with a hatchet till she became insensible. Thinking that she was dead, he must have made his way to the carpenters' shop above the stage, fastened one of the scene-ropes over his head, and then thrown himself over in the direction of the stage.