npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
Weekly News. — 1889-11-07 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

ECHO OF THE DOCKERS' STRIKE. At the Mansion House Justice Room, on Saturday, William Cockiey was charged with assaulting and beating Frederick Bilbrough.—The prisoner was engaged in loading a vessel lying at Fresh Wharf, and on going on shore for his dinner he met the prosecutor and others in a neighbourkg publichouse. There was some conversation relative to the late strike, and a heated discussion took place, in the course of which there was a bandying of charges about blackleg/ok. The prisoner ultimately struck the prosecutor, ran away, and got on board his vessel, where he was arrested by a constable in the coal bunkers.—Alderman Sir J. C. Lawrence sentenced the prisoner to one month's hard lab or.  The AUstrian Minister of Justice has issued a report upon unclaimed property in that country. No I ess a sum than 645,600,000 florins is awaiting lawful slaimants, nearly half being registered for Vienna and Lower Austria, and 1,300,000 florins worth of this property consists of jewellery and plate. Lord Tennyson has left Haslemere for Freshwater Isle of Wight, where he intends to pass the winter months. The Poet Laureate is enjoying excellent health.  At Newcastle-on-Tyne, on Saturday, a cooper attempted to murder Ins wife, and afterwards committed suicide. About 7 o'clock his wife was awakened by a blow on her side. She found her husband standing over her is ith a large knife in his hand. The bedclothes had apparently prevented the blow from doing her any halm, and she wrenched the knife from his grasp before he could strike again. The woman fled in her nightdress. and with her three young children, into the street. On the house being entered the man was found lying dead on the floor with hie throat cut. His wife said lie had been a kind huic band, but had lately suffered from pains in his heads  Mr. Joseph Irving has brought his "Annals of Our Time "up to the date of the Jubilee. The first volume of this work covered the period from the accession of the Queen, on June 20th, 1837, to February 28th, 1871, the end of the Franeo-German war. This was so well received that a fir,t supplement was published, bringing it down to March 12th, 1874, when the Disraeli Ministry had entered office and afterwards a second was forthcoming, taking us to July 22nd, la76,the date of the return of the l'..inipw.eiltiaries from Berlin. Then came a lom.: wait, but w:tli in the next few days a further instalment will be icsued, covering the ground to June 24th, 1387, the close of the Jubilee week.
Weekly News. — 1892-10-06 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS.  A STRANGE SUGGESTION.  The Vienna correspondent of the Standard, "with every precaution warranted by the circumstances," takes note of the fact that in police circles there and in Pesth it is considered very probable that Szemeredy, the Vienna murderer, who committed suicide the other day in Pressburg, is likely to be regarded in England as the perpetrator of all the "Whitechapel murders." In July, 1876. at a house of ill-fame at Buenos Ayres, Szemeredy murdered a girl named Carolina Metz by stabbing her. He then passed is a military surgeon. It appears that lit the time when Szemeredy learned his trade, some 30 years ago, barbers in Hungary were still in the habit of acting as dentists and extracting teeth, and performing the operations of bleeding patients and dressing wounds, so that by such practice they could not fail to acquire some knowledge of the human anatomy. Barber Szemeredy, moreover, had served as a soldier in Italy during the war with Sardinia in 1359, and there he was probably employed in the military hospital, and might thus have picked up some surgical skill. It is said by those who knew him at the time that he despatched many an uncle whose nephews were impatient to succeed to their heritage. In one description of him, it is said that "a series of tombstones marked his path through Southern America." About the murder in Buenos Ayres a significant detail is mentioned. Szemeredy left his overcoat, hat, and umbrella in the murdered girl's room, so that suspicion was immediately fastened upon him. He nevertheless managed to get away to Rio de Janeiro. From the latter city he wrote anonymous letters to the authorities of Buenos Ayres uhich recall the alleged letters of the Whitechapel murderer to Scotland-yard. Szemeredy, moreover, owned to having committed murders, but he called himself an insane man. On being arrested for the Buenos Ayres crime, he continued to feign insanity, hut the result of the trial was that he was sentenced to death. Ile was, however, not executed. Public opinion was excited, and denounced the execution ef "an insane man." For five years the Argentine courts were occupied with him, until at length, in 1381, he was finally acquitted of the charge of murder, but sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment for theft previous to the murder. On his return to Hungary he was imprisoned as a deserter, and sent first to the military asylum, and finally to the State asylum near Pesth. He was released from the latter as cured in
Weekly News. — 1892-04-28 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

HOW LANGUAGES GROW.  A curious illustration of the growth of language (tomes to us from tha Caroline Islands. Shortly after the Spaniards made their savage attack on the Island of Ponape, and while it was feared that they might land at Kusaie, the native pupils in the school inquired of the teachers where Spain was, and were shewn the country on the map. The teachers notticed shortly afterwards that in their conversation the pupils frequently used the word "Spain" in a connection that seemed strange, and on inquiry discovered that the boys had just given the name "Spain," as the worst word they knew, to the raw sores which had appeared on their bodies in a peculiar epidemic. The word was immediately adopted by the people of Kusaie, and in a year or two had spread over all the Caroline, Gilbert, and Marshall Islands, a distance of 2,000 miles, so that it is now the correct thing in their languages, and in the English spoken there as well, to say that a man has "broken out with spains."  It is sari to hear that cholera is raging in Benares in alf ery viruhmt form, is terribly fatal, too. Out of 180 cases which . • occurred up to the present, 130 have proved sews has just reached Harlin of the suicide of M. Morirsund„ a prominent member of the Swedish Parliament. He was accused by the newspapers advocating the cause of his political opponents of certain irregularities in connection with the achninistration of a trust fund. This so preyed upon his mind that he went home, locked himself up in his study, and shot himself through the head with a revolver. Two letters were found in his desk, one addressed to his wife and the other to the President of the S'orthing.  Two men were killed on the Forth Bridge the other afternoon. They were engaged painting between the rails, when they were knocked down bv a passing express and instantaneously killed. Tliey failed to hear the approach of the train owing ta the high wind. A gentleman named John Portray Pledger, of Chelmsford, aged 45, who was accompanied by an attendant and a doctor, while staying at the King's Head Hotel, Dover, evaded them and committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor which he had secretly obtained on the previous night.
Weekly News. — 1892-05-19 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY AT NEWBURY.  SHOCKING END OF TWO LOVERS.  Late on Monday night the lifeless bodies of a young man named Wynn, a jeweller's assistant, who had been employed at Newbury, and a young woman nr..ned Stevens, who had for some time past held a situation in a draper's shop, kept by Mr. Jackson, Mayor of Newbury, were found by a police officer named holding lying in the Enborne Road, a short distance beyond the Grammar School, both having been shot with a revolver. At present no facts have transpired to account for the sad occurrence. Wynn had recently left his situation at Newbury and had represented that he WM going for a holiday to Italy, and shortly before 9 o'clock :it night he was in one of the Hotels in the town wishing his friends " Good-bye," and stating that he intended to start by the last train for London and would leave for Naples on Tuesday. Wynn, who was about twenty-three years of age, was shot in the mouth and Miss Stevens was shot in two places in her temple. A six chambered revolver was found lying upon Wynn's chest and in one of his pockets were two cartridges.  The- young man, whose full name was Ellis Watkin Wynn, was a leading member of the Newbury Guildhall Young Men's Club. Ile left the service of Mr. Garlick, his employer a short time ago and went to London, but returned to Newbury on Sunday when he walked out with Miss Stevens. He was also in company with a number of male acquaintances, and appeared to be in his usual spirits. He several weeks since told his friends that he had had acme money left to him, and intended to take a holiday in Naples. He met Miss Stevens on Monday night, after he left the Queen's Hotel, and they walked along the road towards Wallis Farm. where the struggle evidently took place. Up to the last, Wynn an Miss Stevens appeared to be on most affectionate ms, and reasons for their shocking end seem quite unaccountable.  On Tuesday night Mr. Coroner Piniger opened an inquiry at the Black Boys Hotel, Newbury, into the circumstances connected with the tragedy. Evidence having been taken, the Mayor said he had heard that W ynn's father shot his wife and afterwards shot himself. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased, Edith Stevens, was murdered by Wynn shooting her, and that he afterwards committed suicide by shooting himself. The jury added an expression that there was not sufficient evidence to show that Wynn was of un• sound mind at the time.
Weekly News. — 1892-04-14 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

SHOCKING DOMESTIC TRAGEDY. WIFE MURDER AND SUICIDE.  A shocking tragedy was enacted at High Wycombe about 7 o'clock on Sunday morning, when a man named George Coltman, a chairmaker, aged 58, murdered his wife Eliza, aged 57, and then committed suicide, at their residence, 45, Brook-street. The woman had got up to light the fire, and it is supposed that while she was in the act her husband went downstairs and attacked her with a dinner knife. The next door neighbour, Mrs. Milner, hearing screams, went to ascertain the cause, and saw Mrs. Coltman leaving the back door with her throat cut. The injured woman got as far as Mrs. Miler's doorstep, and then fell down and died. Some neighbours proceeded to the house, and on looking through the window saw Coltman walking about the kitchen with his throat cut almost from ear to ear, and on several persons getting through the window lin procured another knife and began hacking at his throat again. Coltman adopted a threatening attitude towards the people who had entered the ro,,m, but he suddenly rushed upstairs and died almost, immediately in his bedroom. Coltman's daughter Elizabeth, aged 18, and his son John were in td at the time of the occurrence. The former, In snug her mother scream, went downstairs, but had to run up again, as her father brandished the knife at her. On the arrival of the police the kitchen presented a dreadful spectacle, and as there were blood marks on the looking-glass it is evident that the man had picked it up to see how far his throat was cut. For the last 12 months Coltman had been in bad health, and was unable tc follow his employment. The doctor had constantly attended him, and his mind had been somewhat deranged, but not sufficiently it was thought to cause him to be placed under restraint,
Weekly News. — 1892-04-14 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

SINGULAR ATTEMPT AT SUNIDE. At the Aston Police-court, on 'Wednesday, a middle-aged man. named Matthew Lane, was charged with attempting to commit suicide by jumping into the canal at Witton. In pleading guilty, he said he suffered from sunstroke in Africa some time ago, and was occasionally troubled with his head. lie had lately been studying the Rainhill murders, the horrible details of which so preyed upon his mind that he, felt that if he did not destroy himself he sh,ml4 surely murder his dear wife and chiblreti, as Deeming had done. The prisoner, continuing in solemn tones, said: "This made me mad, and it was either their life or mine. I could stand it no longer, so I wrote a letter to my wife saying I was about to visit some friends. I drank, and the more I drank the worse I became. Devoid of money I returned home and slept. When I awoke I saw before me a knife, which I took, intending to kill myself with it. I wrote to my wife to that effect, but I afterwards decided to drown myself, and accordingly went to the canal at Witton and jumped in. I sack twice, and on coming up for the third time I heard a voice bidding me to get out. I did so, and went to the police-station and gave myself up as stated by the constable. I hope the magistrates will punish me severely for what I have done, and not let me go home to my wife and children, whom I dearly love, and whom lam afraid of injuring." The prisoner'seife said he had always been a good husband and father, but a short time ago he lost his situation, and his mother died about the same time. These two events had caused great depression, and were responsible for his late conduct. The prisoner was remanded in custody.
Weekly News. — 1892-03-03 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

KILLING THE BARBER. Detroit has a barber who if talking had neve/ existed would have invented it, and still he is 84 excellent barber with a good patronage. Since last Tuesday evening, however, he has been wearing i countenance of gloom and disappointment, and some of his friends think he is contemplating suicide. At 7 o'clock in the evening mentioned a man evidently from Chicago came in, and removing his external integiunents took a chair. , "Shave, sir?" inquired the barber, getting his implements ready. , "Certainly," responded the customer, fixing him. self comfortably. "I haven't been shaved for thrie days owing to the fact that several days ago, response to an invitation from a man whom I know only slightly, having met him but once or twice during his trips to Chicago on business in which we were both interested, I went over there into a back county of Canada about 50 miles from any rail road station, in a section of country where there weren't any razors except those the hogs wore OR their backs, and I haven't been able to slide my chin against anything sharper than a Canadian zephyr 20 deg. below the ice notch, and the consequence has been that I have had a growth of bristles that I think if my wife should run her face against on my return to my native village, would give her such a shock that she wouldn't let roe come near her again for the next six months, or at least until I had promised her faithfully that I never would let myself get into such a condition again, even if I went into the wilds of Africa, where I suppose a man's whiskers in the luxuriant climate of that latitude would grow to such a thicket of hirsute stubbiness that there wouldn't be any way of cutting them, unless he imported a double strengti reaper and mower with reinforced knives in order that there might not be any mistakes in the accomplishment of the job for which it had never been designed but for which, thanks to the excellence of American manufactures, it would readily adapt itself in an emergency of this kind, provided it were in the hands of a competent an efficient person who knew exactly its capabilities and was conversant with the proper methods of its application to—You ain't though, are you I don't want any shampoo, haircut, or anything elie. How much? Fifteen cents? Here's your money!" and slapping on his coat and hat he bounced without giving the barber a chance to say a single word.
Weekly News. — 1892-03-03 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

THE SUICIDE OF PADLEWSKY. Padhow-ky, who murdered the Russian General Seliverstoff in an hotel on the Paris Boulevards a  little over a year ago, has really committed suicide  at San Antonio, in Texas, if we are to believe M. , Georges de Labruyere, who assisted the Nihilist to escape from Paris. M. de Labruyere, says a Daily Telegraph correspondent, has constructed a romantic story out of Padlewsky's peculiar case. First and foremost he positively states that the man—Otto Hauser—who shot himself in San Antonio, was Padlewsky, and nobody else. Several of the Pole's fellow-countrymen and colleagues were aware of the death, but they remained silent, for the refugee had in his possession letters taken from General Seliverstoff's bureau, communications from revolutionists, and lists of those of his co-conspirators residing in America. These documents, as M. de Labruyere says, were to be kept by every means from falling into the hands of the police. They were either destroyed by Padlewsky before his death,or perhaps sold or handed over to the Russian authorities. None of them were found on Padlewsky's body, and none of them were seen by the coroner who held the inquest. M. de Labruyere, in commenting on the career of the strange person whom he has selected as a kind of hero, makes him out to have been a victim of love as well as of politics. The assassin of General Seliverstoff had become enamoured while in Paris of time wife of one of his fellow refugees. This woman was a Nihilist like himself, and it was on her account that he wanted ti die, after having first taken a political vengeance for the sake of his cause. Thus Padlewsky, according to his champion and historian, remained 20 minutes in Seliverstoff's rooms after the murder waiting arrest. Referring to Padlewsky's movements after he escaped from Paris, M. de Labruyere says that the Nihilist wanted to go to London before sailing for America. This determination upset all plans and prevented the Pole from receiving money collected for him in England and Switzerland by sympathetic Revolutionists, who despatched delegates after him in vain. M. Gregoire alone caught up with the refugee at Palermo, whence Padlewsky went to Malta and thence to Gibraltar. At the "Rock" the Pole led a life of wretchedness and want. He was turned out of his hotel, and was about to give himself up to the British authorities, when he met an itinerant Spanish musician, who gave him food and shelter until funds were forthoming. From the "Rock" the Pole went to London rid thence to New York.
Weekly News. — 1892-03-24 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

SENSATIONAL SUICIDES.  Mr. Carttar,coroner, received information on Monterday of the suicide, under strange circumstances, of William Chettle Lucy, aged 41 years, stationmaster at the Lewisham•road Station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. The deceased, it appears, was out for a walk with his wife when he suddenly ran to a railway bridge and jumped over the parapet on to the line. Mrs. Lucy called for assistance, and the unfortunate man's dead body was found fearfully managled after a train had passed. Letters found in the possession of the deceased show that he had appli,d to the railway company for a considerable increase of salary, which had been refused. The body was removed to the Deptford mortuary to await an inquest. A singular feature of the case is found in the fact that the deceased was a brother to the young soldier Lucy, who last summer attempted to murder his sweetheart in a railway carriage on the Great Eastern Railway at Silvertown, and subsequently shot himself, ith a fatal result. The Rev. Henry Powell, of 44, Leinster-square, Ilayswater, shot himself at the vicarage, Padbury, near Buckingham, on Sunday night. He had been taking Sunday duty for the last few weeks on behalf of the vicar, who is absent abroad, and arrived at Padbury on Saturday night for Sunday's services, lie conducted public worship morning and evening, in the parish church, and retired to rest at 8.30. Just before midnight a report of firearms was heard in the bedroom, and when the room was entered Mr. Powell was found lying dead on the bed, shot through the breast and temple. A revolver lay by his side. The deceased was unwell on the previous Sunday, and another cleryman had to take the service. Mr. Powell, who leaves a wife and three children, was about 50 years of age.
Weekly News. — 1892-10-20 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

ROMANTIC SUICIDE IN SOUTH LONDON.  A suicide of a romantic and exceptionally painful character at Stockwell was reported on Saturday. Some months ago a ger.tleman and lady took lodgings:at a house in Stockwell Park-crescent. They described themselves aa Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts, the gentleman stating that he was an army surgeon on leave of absence. From circumstances that have since transpired there is reason to believe that the parties were not married. Mr. Ricketts acted at different times as locum tenses to two well-known local practitioners, Dr. Swan and Dr. Lewis. He OM not stay regularly at the house with the lady, but visited the place very often. The parties appeared to be on very affectionate terms. Frequently the lady received letters from Mr. Ricketts, when he was unable to visit her, and these letters she generally read to the landlady with every indication of pleasure. About a month ago the lady discovered that she was enceinte. She told the landlady that she had informed Mr. Ricketts and that he had been very angry. He had told her that it was unfortunate, and he would be unable, under the circumstances, to take her with him to India. She became very moody. She remarked to the landlady, "If he does not take me, I shall go to my grave." Within the past fortnight she received three letters from Mr. Rickets, and, from her manner, the landlady inferred that they were of an unpleasant character. The lady, however, said nothing as to their contents. On Thursday morning last, upon the landlady entering the bedroom with breakfast, she was horrified to see " Mrs. Rick tts" in a state of unconsciousness, and bearing every evidence of having undergone terra le pain. Her mouth was burnt, and the face frightfully distorted. Drs. Jones and Lewis were soon in attendance, and a nurse named Dobson obtained from the Brixon Institute of Trained Nurses. From investigations which they made it was found that deceased had taken laudanum and also carbolic acid. In an interval of partial consciousness she stated to nurse Dobson that she had di unk a tumblerful of the poison last named. It is inferred that she first stupefied herself with the laudanum, and then draak the acid. She lingered till late on Friday, dying without giving any information as to her past life. On her effects being examined, it was found she had destroyed every clue to her identity. Under her pillow was a photograph of the gentleman who had lived with her. Several cards were found bearing the name "Surgecn Captain W. S. P. Ricketts, Indian Medical Service. Ln effort is being made to find Ricketts, who is oelieved to be in Londe Au incomp:ete story.—Mrs. tiazzam: "Is there anything in the paper, dear ?" Gazzam : "I See that wants a divorce." Mrs. Gazzam: "From his wife Grazzam: "The paper doesn't say." Oh, for a dungeon in Cuba, Or a respite on some lonely pass, • few minutes somewhere—anywhere— Away from that "Keep Off the Grass!'  Wintry maiden: "Do you think, Ethel, dear, tilt,.°.L. George could be base enough to marry me for my money ?" Charming Ethel: "That all depends, darling. I daresay he could if you have sufficient."