npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Weekly News. — 1891-04-16 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

PAINFUL SUICIDE OF AN OLD COUPLE. Morbid sentimentality has often led young couples to commit suicide together, but it is very rare to hear of old people tying themselves together and deliberately throwing themselves into the river. This has, however, telegraphs the Standard Pad" correspondent, just been done by Madame Alexandrina de Fickler, sir de Markof, aged 82 (whose late husband had the title of Marshal in the Russian nobility, and whose relations occupy high posts under the Government of the Czar), and M. Mitivier, aged 80, formerly a merchant. These two old people had been living under the same roof for the last 20 years, and had been happy together, but of late years they had fallen into very straitened circumstances. M. Mitivier could earn nothing, and Madame de Ficher's relations, who formerly gave her a pension of 4,000 f. a year, had refused to continue doing so, because she would not separate from M. Mitivier. In addition to this, Madame de Ficber, who had previously suffered from weakness of the eyes, had become quite blind in 1875. Being threatened with expulsion by their landlord, and tormented by creditors they could not pay, they left their lodgings the other &y, telling the coscierys they were going into the country for a few days. They lid not return, but their bodies, bound together with a cord, have been found Sooting down the Swim*  There are two schemes for a ship canal from Paris to the sea. One of these is to run from Rouen to Paris-189 kilos—with a depth of six metres, and would, it is estimated, oast £10,000,000. The other project is for a canal from Dieppe to Paris—only 170 kilos—while the distance from Paris to the sea by the other scheme would be 350 kilos. The ports concerned are naturally strongly opposed to both proposes; but the British Consul at Havre points out at " s!lould the project of making Paris a seaport be realised, it might have the result of opening up an easy means of access to the capital for British coal, iruu, cotton, machinery, and ether products, foreign gram aad wines—in a word, all foft ign aid manufactures."  Cobb: "N hat dia you do wlien you came to that part of your dream when all your hopes seemed about to be realised?" Hobb : "Woke up."  *You lost a peat chance by not going into that scheme with us." "I know it, old man. But I'd rather lose a chance than a hundred good'pounds." Hogan "It's February is the month I don't like Gogan : "An' for pfwy?" Hogan: "Because I'm workin' by the day an' min' not by the month."  Di,ln't agrste.—"What we need in this town," Raid tta ,raker, "is real live risen " "I don't agree wit!, 3,,u," retorted a bankrupt undertaker in the au(ii,.l,o.
Weekly News. — 1891-07-09 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

VII. of Reuss. In 1883 King Humbert practically joined the alliance. It will be remembered that in January of that year the interests of Italy in the Mediterranean were threatened. King Humbert did not actually enter into the alliance of the two central Powers, but, it is said, concluded separate treaties with each of them. Signor Mancini made a speech in the Italian Chamber in which he confirmed the complete agreement of Italy with Germany and Austria. On the 11th of Apia he repeated the tatement in the Senate, but declined to disclose the form of thei agreement. The signing of the Triple Alliance, or rather its renewal, took place on the 13th March, 1887, and the Emperor William on his birthday, the 22nd, decorated Count Robilant with the Order of the Black Eagle. Signor Depretis having died in July, Signor Crispi became Premier, and at the beginning of October spent several days in conference with Prince Bismarck at Friedrichsruh. Shortly afterwards the new Premier expressed the same views with regard to the Alliance as those previously delivered by Signor Mancini  Bardsley, the defaulting City-Treasurer of Philadelphia, has been sentenced to 15 years' solitary confinement, and a fine equal to the sum to which he pleaded guilty of embezzling. Prince Vladimir Andreievitch Dolgoroukoff, Aidede-Camp General to the Emperor of Russia, who died in Paris on Wednesday, was born in 1810, served with distinction in the Polish War, especially at the assault of Warsaw, and also went through the Hungarian and Crimean campaigns. He was Governor of Moscow Irom 1865 until last May, when he was succeeded by the Grand Duke Sergius. The cause of death is primarily attributed to over-fatigue. Notwithstanding that he was 80 years of age,the Prince was fond of travelling about Europe. He passed through Paris in May,and went to Vichy for three weeks to take the waters. He then spent some days at Nice, proceeding thence to Milan and Venice. From the last mentioned place the Prince travelled direct to Paris, and it is thought this overtaxed his strength.  A gentleman, whose name has not transpired, but who is known as a regular passenger from Herne FEB Station, on Monday either fell or threw himself in front of a train as it came into the station. He was picked up frightfully injured, and conveyed oa A, stretcher to the hospital. A Winnipeg correspondent states that Alfred Byron, a member of the North-West mounted police force, who either committed suicide or was muriered in his room at the C.P.R. Station, Calgary, on the 9th inst., was a son of H. J. Byron, the English alaywright. He was 32 years old, and joined the ;orce at Winnipeg four years aro.
Weekly News. — 1891-07-09 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

CORNFLOUR PUDDING—One 01111ce cornflour to a pint of milk, 2oz. of white sugar, 2oz. of butter. Mix the cornflour with a little of the cold milk till it is stiff and almost immovable with a spoon, then add a little more; this should be done in the dish in which it is to be served. Boil the milk, sugar, and butter, add a grate of lemon or nutmeg or other flavouring. Pour the milk when boiling to the top of the saucepan, over the oornflour, and stir it for some time, to prevent a skin forming over the top. Serve when almost cold.  Suitable. uniform for Post Office officials—Uniform politeness. "I am a broken man," said a poet. "So I should hi rik, was the answer, "for I have seen your mask.  That time is money is again proved when a bets on the horse which comes in a couple of seconds to) late.  A recently - published book is entitled "Halfhours with insects." What a lively half-hour one can have with a bee!  =II  SAD SUICIDE OF A DOCTOR Mr. Charles Edward Sheppard, aged 3s, M.D., M.R.C.P., of Welbeck-street, Cavendish-square,was on Tuesday engaged in consultation with other medical men as to the desirability of performing= operation of a delicate character upon a young lady. Dr. Sheppard, who was an expert in administering antestheties, had commenced giving the inhalation when he noticed a change. He at once called in his medical colleagues, but death had taken place. The sad event had such an effect upon Dr. Sheppard that he returned to his consulting-rooms in a state of great agitation, and later in the day WM found dead, with a bottle and glass at his side which had contained prussic acid. At the inquest the ru2dical testimony was to the effect that death had resulted from prussic acid poisoning. The coroner, in summing up, said no doubt the death of the young lady was a great shock to the deceased, who had administered chloroform many hundreds of times. There was no doubt that his death was due to his own act, at a time when his mind had become unhinged.—The jury returned a verdict to this effect.
Weekly News. — 1891-09-03 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

NOTORIOUS COINER.  The Birmingham detectives have arrested a man named George Davies, whose chief alias is "Coffee George," and who, during the greater part of a long and busy criminal existence,has been identified with the process of base coining. He is a returned convict, and is, in fact, now out on ticket-of-leave, and until recently he has been in the habit of duly reporting himself to the police. Some six years ago he was apprehended in Birmingham for coining, and sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. Prior to that he had been five or six times convicted of offences of a somewhat similar character. Since his return to the town, the suspicions of the police have been aroused by the fact that spurious half-crowns have been found to abound in the neighbourhood in which he settled. On Thursday morning, as Detectives Cook and Bristol were passing down Moseleystreet, the latter saw a woman whom he recognised. He said to his companion, "There is Coffee George's missis," and the pair followed her to a house in Rea-street. She locked the door, but shortly afterwards came out again to make SOME purchases at a shop, and, neglecting to take the precaution previously observed, the officers stepped into the domicile. Sitting by the kitchen fire was the returned convict; scattered about him were articles used in the process of coining, and by the side of the fire were a couple of plaster-of-paris moulds, half dry. They had evidently been very recently made,•and were meant for the production of spurious halfcrowns. Further search resulted in the discovery of a fine battery, quite new and complete in every detail; a quantity of spelter,borax, plaster-of-paris, files, cylinders, &c. There were also found two ingenious instruments for the purpose of milling the edges of coins. Although a most diligent search was instituted no samples of counterfeit coins were found on the premises. Davies has only lived at his present house for nine days, and the police think that he had not yet begun to manufacture, but the newness of the kit seems to imply that he was about to start a vigorous campaign. The police have in their possession a counterfeit half-crown obtained from the vicinity of Davis's former.residence, and from its general aspect they believe it came from a mould exactly similar to those just discovered. The prisoner has been remanded for a week.  M. Mercier, an electrician, whose speciality was to attend to patients suffering from nervous disorders by supplying them with a galvanic apparatus, has (says a Paris correspondent) just committed suicide. He arranged his electric machines so as to procure a strong current, and then held the wires with his two hands. Death ensued speedily, and the body was found on the floor, the fists of the dec,ased being clenched, the legs drawn up towards tli• chest, and all the muscles contracted. The victim of self-destruction shewcd every appearance of having died a painful, if a prompt, 'death.
Weekly News. — 1891-06-04 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

TILE ALGERIAN POISONING CASE. _ SUICIDE OF MADAME WEISEL  The Ain-Fezza cue has had an unlooked-for, though by the convicted Madame Weiss distinctly threatened, ending. That lady poisoned herself on Friday when relegated to the convict's quarter ,d the prison. She had strychnine sewn up in the hem of a pocket-handkerchief which a fellow pri.eelf r had kept for her, and gave her after the search bad been made in her hair and clothes for possibly hidden means for putting an end to her life. It was noticed at the trial that when her husband was giving evidence against her she tried to tear the hem off her handkerchief, but stopped when she found this apparently nervous action excited the Went ion of her guards. How she got the strychnine does not appear, but it was probably furnished her by a friendly person. Three other women wtre in the room when she took it wrapped up in paper. It stuck in her throat. When she found it bitter she said, "They have deceived me—it is quinine." She then asked for a glass of water to wash it down, and threw herself on a bed. Half an hour after she was attacked with violent convulsions and tetanus, but did not cry out or groan. A doctor was fetched, and forced an emetic down her throat. She said, "You labour in vain. The poison is now in the nervous system. In justice to my children, I have ended my miserable spoiled life. It would have been ruinous to them for people to say their mother was undergoing a hard labour sentence in a penitentiary." She had also spoken to the same effect to her counsel,telling him she would, if all other means failed, beat her brains out against the walls of her cell. He encouraged her to hope, saying that she was so evidently instigated and frightened by Rogues into trying to poisou her husband that the l'resident of the Republic, he felt, would soon commute her sentence to five years. Her answer was that to remove the stigma from her children she must die. The advocate thought this mere talk, but continued to encourage her to live. When word was brought to M. Weiss of the suicide of his wife lie said," The unhappy woman! why did she not take the strychnine eight days ago." The grandmother of the deceased, Madame Daniloff, who went to Oran to try and help her, learned with a sense of relief what had happened. The funeral took place at 10 on Sunday morning. The coffin was carried by volunteer bearers, poor men who refused to be paid for this service. A great crowd and many ladies of Oran followed it. The pastor delivered an impressive sermon over the grave, and commended the children of the unhappy woman to the kindness of all present. Be also asked them for the children's sake to keep silence about her fatal sins and tragical end. Before the deceased took the poison, she wrote a letter to each of her children, to be read when the particular child should reach the age of 15. It is reported that R ques is alive, having managed to pass off as his own corpse that of a man who died in a Spanish hospital, and got a death certificate, which was furnish ,d by the authorities at Madrid to the French Embassy ti ie.
Weekly News. — 1891-06-18 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

THE BACCARAT CASE.—Colonel S. Dewe White, of Bournemouth, Colonel late Bengal Staff Corps. writes as followstothe Daily Chronicle me to ask Sir Charles Russell why he thought proper to outrage the feelings of rightminded people by declaring baccarat to be an innoisent game? It could not have been an inadvertency, because the declaration was repeated. 'The question becomes, therefore. a pertinent one, though considering the moral interests at stake, I would hope, not an impertinent one, to ask whether it was expedient in the interests of his clients to pronounce baccarat to be an innocent game; or could it possibly locvsa bucit with tne • ill W of conciliating the Prince of Wales, who occupied a prominent position in the game of baccarat on that occasion? I know what gambling is, and I have great cause to be devoutly thankful that when I was a wild young Ensign, surrounded by gambling influence, I providentially entertained a decided adversion to that mania, because I feel assured that if a liking for playing billiards and cards for money had been added to other reckless habits it would have led to my utter ruin—soul and body. Gambling at that time was a prevailing vice in the Bengal Army, and I reckon it as one of the best acts in the public career of Sir Charles Napier, an excellent officer, and our Indian Coininander-in-Chief, that he adopted the most stringent measures for the suppression of this hurtful amusement in the Army under his command. And judging from the never-to-be-forgotten scenes I witnessed during my fortnight's stay at Homburg in 1867, when out of sheer curiosity I watched the gambling tables nearly every night, and learnt how every year poor desparing wretches committed suicide after being utterly ruined by high play at the Kumasi gambling tables, I say, considering all this, I feel sure that my antipathy to all kinds of gambling is just and reasonable, and that it ought to be suppressed pr a bono publwo, wheresoever and by whomsoever committed. Gambling, certainly, cannot be technically called cheating; but lam inclined to think that it is about as bad considering the misery and death occasioned thereby. In my opinion cheating and gambling are twin branches of the tree of covetousre3s which is the worship of the golden coin of the realm."
Weekly News. — 1891-03-05 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

DEATH OF AN M.P.  Mr. George Kynoch, of Hamstead Hall, :Handsworth, Birmingham, and Bmdgate House, GrobY, Leicester, M. P. for Aston Manor, has died in the Transvaal, where he had been resident for a period of twoyears, at the age of 56. Be was the youngest son of Mr. John Kynoch, of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, and was born on August 22nd, 1834. He was educated at the parish school, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, and entered early in life upon a commercial career, in which he was engaged for many years as an ammunition manufacturer at Witton, Birmingham, first upon his own account, and afterwards in °lnflection with George Kynoch and Co. (Limited). Mr. Kynoch, who .married in 1863, Helen, youngest daughter of Mr. Samuel Bird, of Birmingliitif. contested Aston Manor at the last general election in the Conservative interest against Mr. H. G. Reid, who had represented the borough in the short preceding Parliament, and who was also an Aberdeenshire man. The contest was an exciting one, and resulted in an easy victory for Mr. Kynoch, who received 3,695 votes to Mr. Reid's 2,000. Towards the close of 1888 Mr. Kynoch left the country for the Transvaal, where he was reported to have large interests, and bas never since been in Birmingham, his prolonged absence causing much dissatisfaction to his constituents. A few days since a letter war, received from him stating that he was hopelessly ill, and that his doctor had warned him to fear the worst. The deceased was a native of Birmingliani.  An emigration agent at Plotsk has just been sentenced to imprisonment for 15 months for makitig false statements to peasants for the purpose of inducing them to emigrate to Brazil. Lieutenant Holman, of the Devonshire Regiment, who was wounded in the recent fight near Okpt had a narmw escape; two bullots went through his helmet, only grazing his head. On 'Monday morning. Corporal Ginn, of the 17th Lancers, committed suicide in one of the stores at ,:!Inrncli If- Gawp by shooting himself with a Martini-henry carbine. He had served 24 years in the regime»t.
Weekly News. — 1890-03-20 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

REMARKABLE WILL SUIT.  In the Probate Division on Monday, Mr. Justice Butt and a special jury had before them the case of Fuller v. Fuller and others. It had reference to the testamentary dispositions of the late Mr. John William Fuller, who for 12 years was secretary of the United States Telegraph Cable Company. The plaintiff, the widow of the deceased, propounded a will dated April 26, 1887, by which she was constituted universal legatee. The property in dispute amounted to £6,000. The defendants opposed probate on the usual grounds.—The case was before the court on Saturday, when it appeared that the contest was ! an unusual one, inasmuch as the validity of the will was called in question by the two attesting witnesses, one of whom was the brother of the deceased. While in Paris, engaged in telegraphy work, Mr. Fuller made the aquaintance of a woman of the name of O'Connor, who pursued him for some time, used to call at his office in London and get SUMS of money from him, and, according to the opening statement of counsel, "no doubt this connection worried him into the grave." In 1581 he became acquainted with the plaintiff, who at that time was living with her mother in Gowerstreet, and became engaged to her, lie told her of his entanglement w:th Mrs. O'Connor. lie married the plaintiff on the 19th October, 1586. The first time anything unusual was noticed about him was on the 18th April, 1887, when he was in the chair at a Masonic dinner at Freemasons' Tavern ; but on the day the will was executed, the 2fith of that month, he wrote a sensible letter. Afterwards he got worse. and early in May of that year it became necessary to put him in confinement, Upon the case being resumed on Monday it was stated that the parties had come to terms, under which the will was pronounced for.  A double nmrder and attempted suicide occurred at Nottingham on Monday morning. Thomas Argyle, an old man, cut Ids ‘vife's and grandson's throats, and attempted to batter his own head with a poker. He then went to the police and stated what he had done.  A boiler exploded on Monday morning on the premises of Messrs. Levi and Thomas Usher, rop• manufacturers, Great Crosby, near Liverpool. The building was wrecked, the roof being blown completely off, and the dila. is carried a great distanoe unto an adjoining field. Two men and four women who were in the boiler house were terribly scalded. and were removed to Bootle hospital. The eaus• of the explosion is unknown.  No liquor has ever been sold in the town of Hancock, Maine. Hancock people bays no mod of so altnehouse: - - • •  Owing to the approach of she rainy Beaton the troops comprising the Chin.Lushai field force must return to Burmah at • very early date. The body of a young niau, who is supposed to have committed suicide, was found recently in a wood, near Flizabeth,New Jersey, and has now been identified as that of an Englishman, said to be the sou of an es-member of Parliament
Weekly News. — 1890-01-16 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

RINGWOOD.  THE ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.—John Smith, the land• lord of the Rank Inn, Southampton, whose desperate attempt at suicide we recorded last week, was brought before Mr. J. Mills on Friday, and charged with attempting to murder himself. Prisoner was defended by Mr. Bell, of Southampton.—Alfred Bist, of the Railway Inn said prisoner had remained in his house I all day on Wednesday waiting for a friend, who did not turn up, and left it about six o'clook, when lie was perfectly sober.—Dr. H. CI. Dyer said be had attended the prisoner, he had found a lacerated wound on the top of his head about an inch and a quarter in length, and reaching to the long part of the skull. If the prisoner had died from exposure, he should certainly have concluded that 'a foul murder had been committed, as it was difficult to imagine such a wound could have been self.inflicted.—lnspector Foster said after examining the spot where prisoner was found, he proceeded to the Workhouse to make inquiries of prisoner. Mr. Bell objected to any evidence being tendered as to what prisoner then said, as he was in a very collapsed state when Inspector Foster visited him. The magistrate refused to admit the evidence. juspector Foster then said he had gone to the Union that day (Friday) and charged prisoner with attempting to commit suicide at Crowe on Thursday. Prisoner said, " Yes unfortunately, it is too true." Mr. Bell addressed ;he Bench, at considerable length on behalf of the prisoner. He said that he (prisoner) had been , in great pecuniary difficulties, and these had preyed I upon his mind. He had walked from Southampton to Ringwood, and then instead of having some solid food, he hid taken nothing but brandy and beer. Comm. quently he must have been in such an exhausted state, ' that He could not have been responsible for his actions, when he made the attempt on his life. There was no ' probability of his repeating the attempt, so he asked the magistrate to discharge the prisoner, and if desirous he could find sureties for his future good behaviour. Mr. Mills dismissed the prisoner, who went off with Ws friends.