npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1841-07-20 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SUICIDE.—This town was thrown into great consternation on Friday last; by a report that a private in the party of the 9th Lancers, quartered here (luring the election in Exeter, had destroyed himself in the most deliberate manner by blowing his brains out with a pistol. The report proved unfortunately too true, and the following are the circumstances of the case :—The deceased, whose name was Terence Shields, was billetted with several of his comrades at Bastin's Globe Inn. They slept in rooms at the top of the house. In the morning the deceased hadf, been out on parade, and had returned to his sleeping-room for the purpose of shifting his parade-dress. This was about half-past eight o'clock. One of his comrades was with him for the same purpose, but, having changed his dress before the deceased, left the room and went to the stables. About five minutes afterwards the report of tire-arms was heard in the room, and, an alarm being given, the unfortunate man was found extended on the floor quite dead, half of his face being blown off. An inquest was held on the body by Mr. Aberdein on Saturday last, when evidence was given eliciting the above facts. It appeared that the pistol with which this dreadful deed was committed belonged to the deceased ; and so determined had he been in his purpose, that he had actually loaded it with four rounds of ball cartridge. The balls were found lodged in the ceiling, with a portion of the scalp of his head. The deceased had betrayed no symptoms of insanity, excepting a slight melancholy, previous to destroying himself; and one of his comrades deposed, that five minutes before his death he was perfectly cool and collected. He was somewhat given to drinking, and had been intoxicated two days previously, .which circumstance seemed to have preyed on his mind. His sergeant gave him a good character, describing him as a quiet and inoffensive man. He was 24 years of age, and not married. After deliberating upwards of four hours, the jury returned a verdict offelo de se, and the body was buried privately the same evening, no funeral service being read over it.—West of England Conservative.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1841-07-20 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SUICIDE.-'--On Thursday, and by adjournment on Friday, an inquest was held before the borough coroner, on the body of Anne Rowe, a married woman, who died in consequence of having swallowed a quantity of arsenic. A number of witnesses were examined on the inquest. From the evidence it appeared, that the deceased had been married about seven years to a man of the name of Henry Rowe, and that they lived very unhappily together, as he was in the habit of leaving her without any means of support. They had five children, three of whom only are living. The eldest of the children living is six years old. The deceased, for some time back had been very uneasy in her mind, and was much distressed in consequence of the neglectful conduct of her husband. On Monday morning she proceeded to the shop of Mr. John Parry, chemist and druggist, in Springfield-street, i►r company with a little girl and asked for a pennyworth or two of arsenic, in order, as she said, to destroy rats which went into her cupboard. Mr. Parry very properly refused to serve her, as he was unacquainted with either of the parties, but told her she should have it for the purpose alleged, provided she brought a proper witness with her. She then went out of the shop and returned in company with a woman of the name of Flanagan, and Mr. Parry then served her with nearly half an ounce of arsenic, cautioning her at tke same time to be very careful in the use of it, folding it in paper, and marking it " arsenic—poison." She then returned to her dwelling, where she mixed the arsenic in a cup with some water, a►►d drank off the contents. Shortly afterwards she wrote a letter to her father, telling him she wished to be buried in the same grave with her children, and that the ill conduct of her husband had driven her to commit suicide. She then became exceedingly ill, and two surgeons, who had been sent for, applied the stomach-pump, and administered emetics, which recovered her a little, but after a time she got worse again, and died at six o'clock in the morning. Mr. Cheeseborough, surgeon, made a post mortem examination of the body, and discovered about three inches of dark inflammation near to the lower orifice of the stomach, which had evidently been occasioned by some poisonous matter. He then made an analysation of the stomach and its contents, and found that it contained arsenic. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that death had ensued from the deceased having taken a quantity of arsenic while in a state of insanity. We beg to draw attention to Mr. Davis the optician's address, inserted elsewhere ; we can recommend him to the notice of strangers and visiters in Liverpool
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1841-06-04 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

NOGO.  --.29. TO EDWARD RUSHTON, ESQ., STIPENDIARY  MAGISTRATE  Workhouse, June 3d, 1841. conceive that no apology is demanded from me in addressing you thus publicly on the recent cause brought under your judical cognizance from this establishment, so that I shall at once enter upon the subject. I say, then, that your decision was extraordinary, and that the treatment I received on that occasion at your hands was most uneourteous. What are the facts of the case? An abandoned female is brought before the magistrate, charged with an attempt at committing suicide by drowning, and it being proved that she has been leading a dissolute life, the bench very humanely recommended her for admission into the Penitentiary, where, for want of room, she could not at present be received, but was sent by the matron of that institution to this establishment as a mere temporary asylum. Having remained here three days, and where every possible care was taken by the governor for her comfort, she became impatient of controul, and in order to effect her liberation, broke the window of the apartment where she was fixed : for this offence she was sent to Bridewell, and subsequently brought before you. Then, and for the first time, it appears that a certificate of insanity had been lodged with you against her. Yet, on the very face of that document, she is recommended to the Penitentiary. How is this? Is the Penitentiary converted into a lunatic asylum ? Now, sir, with regard to the treatment which I, as a professional man, received from you, I have just cause to complain. A certificate of sanity in this case was furnished by me, and treated by you as a worthless document, because you held a previous one of " temporary insanity." lam not pinned to the sleeve of any professional man, but I will just state, that one of the honorary physicians of this institution saw the case, and that his opinion coincided with my own. I was, however, prevented in a court of justice from giving evidence on the case, and affording information derived from most authentic sources as to the girl's previous character., which would have disabused your mind, and have completely altered the entire feature of the whole affair. But no; the case was summarily and angrily dismissed, with a severe and, to my mind, an unmerited reprimand to the officer whom the governor deputed to conduct this unpleasant affair. Thus, on an exparte statement, a decision is arrived at. and the salutary maxim, "Audi alterani partem," treated as a dead letter.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, BRE BETON NIG HTINGALL, For eighteen years Surgeon to this Institution, and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1841-06-04 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

NOGO  TO EDWARD RUSHTON, ESQ., STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATE.  Workhouse, June 3d, 1841. conceive that no apology is demanded from me in addressing you thus publicly on the recent cause brought under your judical cognizance from this establishment, so that I shall at once enter upon the subject. I say, then, that your decision was extraordinary, and that the treatment I received on that occasion at your hands was most uncourtrona. What are the facts of the case? An abandoned female is brought before the magistrate, charged with an attempt at committing suicide by drowning, and it being proved that she has been leading a dissolute life, the bench very humanely recommended her for admission into the Penitentiary, where, for want of room, she could not at present be received, but was sent by the matron of that institution to this establishment as a mere temporary asylum. Having remained here three days, and where every possible care was taken by the governor for her comfort, she became impatient of controul, and in order to effect her liberation, broke the window of the apartment where she was fixed ; for this offence she was sent to Bridewell, and subsequently brought before you. Then, and for the first time, it appears that a certificate of insanity had been lodged with you against her. Yet, on the very face of that document, she is recommended to the Penitentiary. How is this? Is the Penitentiary converted into a lunatic asylum ? Now, sir, with regard to the treatment which I, as a professional man, received from you, I have just cause.to complain. A certificate of sanity in this case was furnished by me, and treated by you as a worthless document, because you held a previous one of " temporary insanity." lam not pinned to the sleeve of any professional man, but I will just state, that one of the honorary physicians of this institution saw the case, and that his opinion coincided with my own. I was, however, prevented in a court of justice from giving evidence on the case, and affording information derived from most authentic sources as to the girl's previous character, which would have disabused your mind, and have completely altered the entire feature of the whole affair. But no; the case was summarily and angrily dismissed, with a severe and, to my mind, an unmerited reprimand to the officer whom the governor deputed to conduct this unpleasant affair. Thus, on an exparte statement, a decision is arrived at. and the salutary maxim, "Audi alteram partem," treated as a dead letter.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, BRERETON NIGHTINGALL, For eighteen years Surgeon to this Institution, and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1841-06-04 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

EDWARD RUSHTON  ESQ., STIPENDIARY  MAGISTRATE  Workhouse, June 3d, 1841  conceive that no apology is demanded from me in addressing you thus publicly on the recent cause brought under your judical cognizance from this establishment, so that I shall at once enter upon the subject. I say, then, that your decision was extraordinary, and that the treatment I received on that occasion at your hands was most uncourteous. What are the facts of the case? An abandoned female is brought before the magistrate, charged with an attempt at committing suicide by drowning, and it being proved that she has been leading a dissolute life, the bench very humanely recommended her for admission into the Penitentiary, where, for want of room, she could not at present be received, but was sent by the matron of that institution to this establishment as a mere temporary asylum. Having remained here three days, and where every possible care was taken by the governor for her comfort, she became impatient of controul, and in order to effect her liberation, broke the window of the apartment where she was fixed : for this offence she was sent to Bridewell, and subsequently brought before you. Then, and for the first time, it appears that a certificate of insanity had been lodged with you against her. Yet, on the very face of that document, she is recommended to the Penitentiary. How is this? Is the Penitentiary converted into a lunatic asylum ? Now, sir, with regard to the treatment which I, as a professional man, received from you, I have just cause to complain. A certificate of sanity in this case' was furnished by me, and treated by you as a worthless document, because you held a previous one of " temporary insanity." lam not pinned to the sleeve of any professional man, but I will just state, that one of the honorary physicians of this institution saw the case, and that his opinion coincided with my own. I was, however, prevented in a court of justice from giving evidence on the case, and affording information derived from most authentic sources as to the girl's previous character, which would have disabused your mind, and have completely altered the entire feature of the whole affair. But no; the case was summarily and angrily dismissed, with a severe and, to my mind, an unmerited reprimand to the officer whom the governor deputed to conduct this unpleasant affair. Thus, on an exparte statement, a decision is arrived at. and the salutary maxim, "Audi alteram partem," treated as a dead letter.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, BRERETON NIGHTINGALL, For eighteen years Surgeon to this Institution, and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-01-04 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SHOCKING MURDER AND SUICIDE AT MANCHESTER. —A horrible tragedy was on Thursday last perpetrated in Manchester. A man, named James Rowe, in the employment of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, having murdered his son John, a boy only seven years of age, by cutting his throat with a razor, afterwards committed suicide by walking deliberately to the railway and laying his head across the rails in front of an approaching express train which was proceeding down the incline into Manchester, from Leeds. From the evidence given at an inquest held upon the bodies on the same evening, it appeared that Rowe had for some time past exhibited symptoms of derangement, the consequence, it is supposed, of injuries received upon the head in his employment as a waggon-sheet maker ; and he had been frequently heard by his wife to say that when he died, the child (which was his favourite) should die the same day. On Wednesday night he was writing, and his wile, thinking his mind not fitted for study, destroyed his papers ; and on the same night he had said he thought of destroying himself and two of his children. He had manifested nothing unusual in his conduct before going out on Thursday morning, and took leave of his wife by saying, " God bless you," as was his usual custom. At the moment when his wife was informed of the suicide one of her children came to her to say that its brother was bleeding, and this was the first intimation she had of the murder. He was never in the house after going out to his work in the morning, so that he must have killed the boy before he left the house. When he went to the railway for the purpose of committing suicide, he was not observed by the driver of the express engine until the train was within about twenty yards from him, when it was too late to stop in sufficient time to prevent his being run over. After the train had passed over him, the body was found lying across one of the rails, with the face downwards. The wheels had gone over his shoulder blades, severing the head and shoulders entirely from the body. In his pocket was found a razor stained with blood. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that John Rowe was murdered by James Rowe, and that the latter, while in a state of insanity, committed suicide.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-01-04 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SHOCKING MURDER AND SUICIDE AT MANCHESTER. —A horrible tragedy was on Thursday last perpetrated in' Manchester. A man, named James Rowe, in the employment of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, having murdered his son John, a boy only seven years of age, by cutting his throat with a razor, afterwards committed suicide by walking deliberately to the railway and laying his head across the rails in front of an approaching express train which was proceeding down the incline into Manchester, from Leeds. From the evidence given at an inquest held upon the bodies on the same evening, it appeared that Rowe had for some time past exhibited symptoms of derangement, the consequence, it is supposed, of injuries received upon the head in his employment as a waggon-sheet maker ; and he had been frequently heard by his wife to say that when he died, the child (which was his favourite) should die the same day. On Wednesday night he was writing, and his wile, thinking his mind not fitted for study, destroyed his papers ; _ _  . . and on the same night he had said he thought of destroying himself and two of his children. He had manifested nothing unusual in his conduct before going out on Thursday morning, and took leave of his wife by saying, " God bless you," as was his usual custom. At the moment when his wife was informed of the suicide one of her children came to her to say that its brother was bleeding, and this was the first intimation she had of the murder.  He was never in the house after going out to his work in the morning, so that he must have killed the boy before he left the house. When he went to the railway for the purpose of committing suicide, he was not observed by the driver of the express engine until the train was within about twenty yards from him, when it was too late to stop in sufficient time to prevent his being run over. After the train had passed over him, the body was found lying across one of the rails, with the face downwards. The wheels had gone over his shoulder blades, severing the head and shoulders entirely from the body. In his pocket was found a razor stained with blond. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that John Rowe was murdered by James Rowe, and that the latter, while in a state of insanity, committed suicide.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-08-02 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MURDER AND SUICIDE ON THE HIGH SEAS.—The following tragical occurrence took place on board the British ship Countess of Winton, Cringle, master, while on a voyage from Liverpool to Shangai :—She left the latter place on the 27th of April, and on the 17th of May the captain gave some order to the mate. He disobeyed rthe order, and high words ensuing, the mate armed him<elf with a cutluss, and rushed at the captain, whom he murdered with the weapon. The crew then endeavoured 0 seize the mate, but, seeing the movement of the men, he immediately jumped overboard, and disappeared. He was not seen afterwards. The second mate then took command, and the body of the murdered master having been consigned to the deep, the ship continued her course to 'England.  WILLIAM llAcKgrr, a dock labourer, was yesterday committed to the sessions for trial on a charge of brutally assaulting James Agnew, provision dealer, 30, Saltneystreet, on the 21st of July. It appeared, from the evidence of the parties concerned, that Hackett and his wife occzpy a room in the house of Mr. Agnew, and that on the day of the assault (as was frequently the case), Agnew and his wife had had a slight disagreement, the former being in a state of intoxication. Mrs. Hackett went into tie room to settle differences between the inharmonious couple, when she was hustled out, and in the process her arm was cut. She straightway proceeded to the docks for her husband, who came up and assaulted the poor old man with great brutality; and, from the evidence of Dr. Stewart, the medical attendant of Agi!ew, it appeared that the irjuries were of such a serious character that he had not yet got the better of them, nor was likely soon to recover.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-08-02 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

FOREIGN NEWS.  FRANCE.—The movements of the Emperor and Empress still form matter for speculation. It is reported that the Empress will shortly repair to Triancn, while the Emperor makes short excursions to the northern departments and the camp, which is to be removed from Helfaut to Boulogne, on the very ground that was occupied by the famous camp of Napoleon. On Monday a note from the Russian Government was presented to M. Drouyn de Lhuys by M. Kisselef. lts terms amount to an intimation that Russia is willing to negociate, but upon the condition that all her demands should be complied with. M. Drouyn de Lhuys showed the note to M. de Persigny, who instantly set out alone to St. Cloud, to lay it before the Emperor. The French Government is highly indignant. Monet, ex-Municipal Councillor and Officer of the National Guard has been convicted at Grenoble of the murderof Viscount Dampmartin, the Mayor of Uzes, on the 30th of September last, and is sentenced to death. The circumstance of the murder may be briefly recalled. The Mayor was shot on the threshold of his own house, at an early hour of the morning, as he was about to start for Nismes to meet the (then) President of the Republic. The characteristics of the proceedings at this trial very strongly remind one of the notorious Peytel case, so vigorously followed out and commented upon by the English writer Thackeray. Several witnesses saw the assassin fire the shot and run away, but could not identify his person with that of Monet. The authorities, therefore, caused Monet to dress as he was supposed to have dressed on the presumed occasion of his firing the shot, and compelled him to discharge a gun, at the same place at the same hour, and at the same stage of the moon. The hesitating witnesses were then asked whether the " impression" created by this rehearsal of the scene was that which they felt on the morning of the murder. Some of them answered in the affirmative. Two who could not be got to do so were arrested in Court. Monet has, since his sentence, attempted suicide in a very singular manner. He broke a bottle of wine, and with the pieces of glass stabbed himself in several dangerous places.
The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-08-02 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MURDER AND SUICIDE ON THE HIGH SEAS.—The following tragical occurrence took place on board the British ship Countess of Winton, Cringle, master, while on a voyage from Liverpool to Shangai :—She left the latter place on the 27th of April, and on the 17th of May the captain gave some order to the mate. He disobeyed the order, and high words ensuing, the mate armed himself with a cotluss, and rushed at the captain, whom he murdered with the weapon. The crew then endeavoured to seize the mate, but, seeing the movement of the men, he immediately jumped overboard, and disappeared. He was not seen afterwards. The second mate then took command, and the body of the murdered master having been consigned to the deep, the ship continued her course to England.  AVILLtam HACKETT, a dock labourer, was yesterday committed to the sessions for trial on a charge of brutally assaulting James Agnew, provision dealer, 30, Saltney. street, on the 21st of July. It appeared, from the evidence of the parties concerned, that Hackett and his wife occupy a room in the house of Mr. Agnew, and that on the day of the assault (as was frequently the case), Agnew and his wife had had a slight disagreement, the former being in a state of intoxication. Mrs. Hackett went into the room to settle differences between the inharmonious couple, when she was hustled out, and in the process her arm was cut. She straightway proceeded to the docks for her husband, who came up and assaulted the poor old man with great brutality; and, from the evidence of Dr. Stewart, the medical attendant of Agnew, it appeared that the irjuries were of such a serious character that he had not yet got the better of them, nor was likely soon to recover.