npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1886-02-05 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

DEATH IN A RAILWAY TRAIN.—On Saturday evening an inquest was held at Hitchin on the body of a man found dead from a revolver wound in a carriage on the Great Northern Haitwit), at a late hour on the previous night. Letters in his pockets enabled the police to trace his friends, and it was found that his name was Watson, and that he had been employed in the Ordnance Survey at March, Cambridgeshire. He joined an express train at Peterborough, and so frightened two other passengers in the compartment by firing two shots from his revolver through the window and saying he would shoot them that they pulled the communication cord and stopped the train. Watson was then locked in by himself, and at Hitchin, the next stopping station, it was found that he was dead. There was nothing to show positively whether he had committed suicide or accidentally shot himself, and the jury took the latter view. It was stated that he had suffered lately from over-pressure of work.  The Cape steamer which reached Plymouth on Wednesday brought Captain Clarke, who recently commanded the American ship Frank N. Thayer, of New York. The Frank N. Thayer was bound to England with a general cargo, and she had a mixed crew, in. eluding two Manilla seamen, on board. On January 2nd these two men, when the captain and most of the crew were asleep in their bunks, armed them. selves with knives lashed to poles, and wont on deck. They at once struck at the two chief officers, and mortally wounded them. Then they made for the other three men on deck, who were also killed. Hearing frightful yells, the captain rushed on deck in his shirt, but he only just managed to escape death, getting back to his cabin full of wounds, in time to lock the door on his assailants. The mutineers thou fastened the captain'and crew below, and a whole night and day passed whilst the two remaillutl masters of the deck. They subsequently went to the skylight, and through it the captain shot one of them in the leg. lie leapt, shrieking, over the bulwark. His companion thereupon rushed below, and after setting fire to the cargo, followed the example of the first. The rapidly increasing flames obliged the crew to escape, and by desperate efforts, they forced their way on deck. They provisioned a boat, launched her, and pulled away from the ship, which was soon consumed. For a week gm remained in the boat, and ultimately reached St. Helena give bat seduced to exixonntio.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1886-02-12 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

MSTAKTS EARLY MADE.  "Adam had not a large number to select a wife from. and judging from the mistakes ho made, am glad that he was limited to Eve or none. If you take the divine direotion you will make no mil. take. A great deal has been said about woman being taken from the ribs of Adam. But there are twenty-four ribs, and there are twenty-three possibilities to one that you will get the wrong rib.— (Roars of laughter.) John Milton, the poet, who was blind, was told that his wife was a rose, and he replied, • I am not much of a judge of colour, but 1 think that it is very likely so, for I feel the thorn.' —(Laughter.) Look at Solomon, whose married life was as unhappy as it was multitudiuous, and among the wise observations of his experience in this matter is this : —• A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.' If in this matter you make no mistake von will have two heavens, one here below and one here. after; but if you do make a mistake you have two hells, one here and one hereafter."—Dr. Tafeiege.  Five-year-old was riding in the train with her mother last week. As they were stopping, and when the silence was profound in the carriage, she said in a loud tons, Mamma, did you say you Ware jiwty-two orfifty-two years old to day?'  Humour is the most popular of all literature. and justly so. It is that element of sunshine which is necessary tn mental and moral health. We tower Mid a laughini, jolly fellow committing suicide or murder, nor doss the titan who is feeling stay and happy habom immoral thoughts. No luau ever tools his own life in a humorous intlod. It is brood. Mg and sleeplessness that drive men to suicide. and any reputable physician will endorse (stir deolaration hal if a tuancan laugh heart ily for fifteen minutes before retiring, he will enjoy a restful sleet,.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1886-06-18 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

IGALTANT ATTEMPT TO SIVE LIFE.—The Cunard steamer Servia, which arrived at Queenstown on Saturday, en route to New York, reported that whilst the vessel was proceeding down Channel on Friday evening, a sailor named John Houston, a. Scotchn3an, fell from the foreyard into the sea. A seaman named Gordon, with daring courage, jumped after him from the forward bridge, in the presence of 450 passengers. Lifebuoys were thrown to the seamen, and the Servia's engines reversed. A boat was quickly lowered and succeeded in nick. log up Gordon, flouting on a lifebuoy in an exhaus. ted state. Houston must have been hurt by tne great fall, as he lay on the surface of the water motionless for some time, and then sank without making any struggle for life. Gordon was within eight yards of the drowning man when he himself became exhausted and seized the lifebnoy. Houston distinguished himself during the Oregon disaster in diving under water to the hole caused by the collision and saving three persons' lives. _  SEICIDE Or THE KING Or BevAtrA.—The King of Bavaria who, but a few days ago, was deposed on the ground of insanity, committed suicide on Sunday evening, by drowning himself in the lake of Sternberg. From the official notification of the event it appears that after the King had submitted quietly to the advice of the medical commission. hia Majesty left Berg Castle on Sunday evening for a walk in the park. accompanied by Dr. Gadden, president of the Board of Physicians. Their prolonged absence giving rise to some anxiety at the castle, a search was made in toe park and along the shores of the lake, and his Majesty and Dr. Gudden were found in the water. Both the King and his medical attendant showed, when first discovered, some slight signs of life, and efforts were accordingly made by Dr. Mueller to restore them to consciousness, but without success, and at midnight life was declared to be extinct in both cases. The sad event was announced in Munich on Monday by notices posted up by the police authorities.  EMIGRATION OF Boys TO
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1886-08-06 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

DEPRESSION R 4 TAX YORKSHIRE GLASS TBADE.--00 Saturday, a largelnumber of bottle hands and other workmen employed at the Hope Glass Norks, Stair. foot, near Barnsley, belonging to Mr. Dan Rylands, the largest employer of labour in connection with the glass trade in the kingdom, received a, week's notice to leave their employment. Attached to the notice is an explanation in which the owner says that the terrible depression which has affected the trade of the country for some time past has at length reached the Hope Glass Works, and he is now obliged to reduce the number of his men.  A BESIARRAntz Baw.—A saw without teeth, that will cut a steel rail in two minutes, is in operation in a New York firm. It is 38 inches in diameter, and three-eighths of an inoh thick at the edge. The disc is made of Bessemer steel, and runs at a. very high rate of speed. While in operation the many sparks flying from the revolving disc resemble a display of pyrotechnics. To keep the saw cool and prevent it from cracking, • tank of water ia placed above the machine, from which a small stream runs down and drops on the saw while in motion. The saw, while cutting, bears down hard on the rail, the end of which is left as smooth as the bottom of a flatiron.  A REMINISCENCE or A Muanza.—They have found in St. George's-in-the-East the body of a man with a stake through it. The papers have guessed that it must have been the body of Murphy, alias Williams, a famous murderer at the beginning of this century, who slaughtered a whole family and finally committed suicide in prison. Full details are given of the murder, but, curiously enough, an important fact is not mentioned. It was this murder that suggested the famous essay, "Murder as a fine art." That extraordinary piece of compo. sition is better known than the lengthy note by which it is followed, in which De Quincy tells the story of the crime after his own fashion. It is the greatest piece of what in these days we would call "special reporting" ever written. At the time of the murder there was a regular panic through tilt London, and people barred up their doors with an excess of precaution until then unknown.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1892-10-21 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

TOBY PECR.  MISDIRECTED BENEVOLENCE.  Clue God our country worships, and Mammon is its name— I don't say this is scandalous, or that it is a shame; but while we do profess a faith we should not act as though Man had no higher goal to mach—no higher object know. I go to church on Sunday and I hoar the preacher say, In tones that seem like earnestuess—in tones that seem to pray— Tow great I inoalculably great! the value of a soul; I leave the church—the arabs of the gutters in them crawl. It suuls, I say in wonderment, so valuable be. Why do we these our English boys and girls neglected see ? 1 parlor on this problem, and the answer comes at once, To save them would cost money! such is the sad response. For though we preach in churches grand, and chapels, too, of ease, That not a sparrow falleth down bat God its downfall sees . . . .  The les-4;on is not heeded—we have something elso to do, They say, than waste our means on these, their parents should look to. V,'l•, send our money to be spent on rnivions far away— That is, we have to keep them up, and missionaries Pay; And thus one million of oar British golden pounds is spent Abroad !—so prestige is maintained by this oar money sent.  /co wonder we in England hear of starved-ont  a suicides, Wen onr benevolence is chocked by interested guides, Who ride the hobby to their own lucrative profit, too, Diverung England's charity to channela we ne'er knew.  Thus is it in our wealthy land the workman is ignored, Our worn-out toilers in the fields, their fate by few deplored; Their heritage the Union, should they escape the That waits too oft on working men, and brings an early tomb. is through life's varied paths and through the streets  we go, Wh:kt sights we see of wretchedness, unutterable woe; nLe feeling heart cannot restrain, seeing these wrecks, tbe sigh, Of women lost to every grace, that meet th' observant eye.  h! happier lady, guarded well, and on whose blooming cheek Tile spotless rose of virtue and religion bhrshes meek, l'arn not disgusted—they are sisters—thy pure eyes away; Think bow, by poverty and vice, these have been led away.  Perbaps no anxious parent their supervision lent, Ur watched with studied care 11..:r youth, or saw the way she went— flay not have known • sweetened home, though beauty marked her face, That tender nurture, which imparts to woman every grace.  ! we've no tune to look to these; the blacks demand our care; rhe Methodists their thonsands give—shall we be outdone there ? ehail we, the old•established Church of England, be outdone • By schismatic sects, allow the Ethiop to be won? Tertsh the thought; let workmen starve, or to the workhouse go; Let women on the streets remain—be by disease laid low; Let Englishmen do what they can, exposed to winter's blasts, Our funds are wanted to convert the African outcasts. Lion.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1892-03-18 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

HINDLEY.  SAD SUICIDE MP A WsAvita.—•On Tuesday the body' of a weaver named Maggie Belch was taken out of the lodge at Pennington Mills. It appears that the girl, who is only 16, was discharged on Wednesday week, and went home as usual to her dinner, without telling her mother what had occurred, and went back to the mill to see if they would take her on again, but was refused. Since then nothing had been seen of her until she was taken from the lodge.  ELIMINATION OP Nox-172rtori5T5.—A correspondent writes .—This is a subject which in Hind Icy will have to be decided one way or the other before long. Whether the eliminating of non-unionists is right is a question upon which the employers have only one cry, viz., liberty, liberty; but the other party aggrieved have a very different cry to that, and it is becoming a question of justice to their fellow. workmen. The unionists have been told so often that it was an interference with the liberty of the subject when they have been trying to get iiheir tellow-workmen to join their society, but they have retaliated with the very plausible suggestion that all law is an interference with toe liberty of the subject; and since this cry has been taken op those strong opponents of organisation have talked a great deal smaller. The trade unionist in these changed times anu circumstances very properly looks upon his trade as his living, his property, his capital in fact, and ought he not have it as guarded by the laws of this country as the land or property owner, who, in the opinion of the majority of the country, have secured laws far more stringent for the protection of such land or property than there are laws to protect the labour of the labourer. The unionist so far has not been able to have his capital (labour) protected by Acts of Parliament, but there will be a time whet., the seats in Parliament are not monopolised as they are at present by property owners, landowners, and such like, and then the appeal for the redress of any grievance will be addressed not to the leaders of unionism, but to Parliament.
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1892-03-25 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

NOTES ON PASSING EVENTS.  The practice known as the driving system, or, as it is called, the slate system, in the weaving department of the cotton trade, has got to such a pitch in Burnley that the society, whether it likes it or not, will be compelled to try to put a stop to it, or in some way mitigate it. During last week two young persons committed suicide, and at the inquests held in both cases the juries found the persons were suffering from temporary insanity. One was a young woman named Ludlam, 29 years of age, who plunged into the canal on the Tuesday, she having told one of her friends in the mill she was afraid of Wednesday coming, meaning, of course, the making-up days. This was related at the inquest. There may have been some other reasons, but this one evidently produced such an impression on her mind that the jury thought proper to send for the overlooker, in order to sec what he had to say. The tackler, when asked what about the driving system in the sheds, condemned it in the strongest terms. The other case was that of a boy 14 years of age, who had had some trouble about his work, left his home on the 3rd instant, so that it is evident he has been in the canal 17 days. There were thus two such cases found within a week. We hope the Weavers' Association will take note of these, and if they don't put an end to the disgraceful system they will not deserve the name of a trades union. Many people blame the tacklers, but this is wide of the mark. It is not with the tacklers that the fault lies, as the whip is applied to them as strong as it is to the weaver. Readers may depend upon it, if two such cases come to the hoot in one week, there are numbers of weavers who are afraid every week of the booking-up day coming round. Lancashire weavers won't stand this much longer before the bubble bursts.  Matters have not, in Blackburn, been so lively of late as they used to be. The Town Council appears to have settled down for a spell of respectability, and the employers are taking the operatives into consultation when anything unpleasant occurs. But now and again some manager breaks out in a fresh place, as was the case during the past week, when one of them took upon himself to administer what a schoolmaster would term a little corporal punishment to one of his weavers. What the provocation was we are not concerned to inquire, as the Legislature has wisely provided that the thrashing of workpeople is an offence against the law. This particular manager, no doubt, felt that he was only doing his duty by "clouting" the weaver, but he is likely for getting a little practical illustration of the fact that managers are not the repositories of all the knowledge at present knocking about. A summons has in this case been taken out, but at the time of writing we have not heard the result; but
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1892-09-30 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

GREAT  FIARWOOD.  A crowded meeting of weavers was held on Tuesday evening in the National School, Great Harwood, to protest against the system of driving in the weaving sheds, which, it is alleged, prevails largely in the district. The meeting was convened by the Great Harwood Weavers' Association, the question of 'driving" being prominently brought before the public by the suicide last week of a young woman named Pilkington. Mr. R. DIIXBURY (in the chair) said the question was brought up two and a half years ago, but at present there appeared to tie more driving and humbugging of weavers than ever. Such had been the feeling in Great Harwood through the sad event of last week that the association thought it was time that something should be done to abolish the prac. tice.  Mr. Jamas WAREING thought they should show their sympathy with the family of the girl who so unhappily terminated her life, and he moved : " That this meeting emphs.tically condemns the system of driving which now prevails." When the complaints were brought under the notice of the employers two years ago they might have spoken to the tacklers and checked the practice for a week or two. It had, however, been allowed to grow and become as bad as ever it was. It was admitted that there was driving in the sheds, and some people believed the masters were to blame, and some the tacklers. The masters began the system of .driving by instituting the average question, which forced tacklers to come up to the average. The system of paying bounty to the tacklers placed a cruel whip in their hands, and it was a villainous system wherever carried out.  The resolution having been seconded, Mr. Taos. LORD (Nelson) said the weavers in Nelson had abolished the driving system. It was alleged it was this system of driving which had deranged the mind of this unfortunate young woman. He was surprised that the Jury did not add a rider to their verdict condemning the system. He urged them to be well organised when they made their demands, and they would have nothing to fear.— (Applause.) The meeting left it in the bands of the committee to use every legitimate means to put down the system oE driving and tyranny.  HIS WAY OP LOOKING AT iT.—Moneylots : "Look here, Sam; I told you never to wear those trousers I gave you on week days, when I am wearing the coat and waistcoat of the suit." Sam: "Why, boss? Is yo' fraid we will be taken Lo' twins?
The Cotton Factory Times. — 1892-04-29 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

DAB WEN. A MILL GIRL'S SCICIDE.-At an inquest held at at Darwen, on Monday night, upon the body of a girl, 14 years of age, who had committed suicide, it was alleged that she had been given to cheating at the works, and in consequence was discharged. One witness said that at a certain mill if weavers did not obtain an average wage they were discharged. These statements were denied by the clothlooker at the mill. A verdict of temporary insanity was returned. COTTON Cr..cern Acr.—Some of the operatives employed in this district have recently been complaining of the manner in which the Cotton Cloth Factory Act was being treated by the employers. During the week we have been visited by Mr. W. Williams, the inspector newly-appointed under this Act, who appears to be very attentively disposed to his business. The employers are aware of the previous prosecutions against infringers of this Act, and we can assure them that the authorities are prepared for a repetition.  and in regulating the oonditione of employment to suit their own interests, entirely disregarding the effect those regulations may have on the operatives they employ. In nothing is this more thoroughly exemplified than the practice of steaming in a number of our weaving shade, which undoubtedly has the effect of undermining the constitution of a large number of weavers, and bringing numbers of others to a premature grave. Therefore it has been deemed necessary, in order to protect the interests of Labour, to make a special effort to organise the weavers of this district, and we earnestly hope that this section of the community will reply to our efforts in that direction by giving us that measure of support by becoming members of the society, as it is the only method which can be employed in remedying the evils which are in existence in the weaving branch of the cotton trade. Although Todmorden is a stronghold of advanced thought on most questions affecting the pnblic, yet heretofore we have been comparatively weak upon the question of trades unionism, and there has been evideme of a want of sympathy where any formidable difficulty has presented itself, which is very much to be regretted, but we earnestly hope that in the near future all classes of labour will unite to protect each other's interest, and thus bring about a community of interests, and make common cause with each other for mutual protection against any encroachment which may be sought to be made upon them." At the foot of the appeal there is a scale of payments and benefits accruing under the different heads, and quoting from the appeal, the committee state that we venture to think that they will compare favourably with any scale of benefits of other weavers' societies, or any other societies whose weekly payments of the members do not exceed those tabulated." The oommittee conclude by expressing the hope that they may be able to largely increase the number of members, as no doubt they deeerve to do.