npedrazzini/19thc_murder_suicide_news huggingface dataset:
The Sun. — 1860-04-30 (London, England)

EXECUTION OF GENERAL ORTEGA.  The Dkrio of Barcelona publishes the following particulars of the execution of General Ortega, which took place, as already stated, at Tortosa on the 18th :  " On the previous day the general was put ' in chapel,' according to the Spanish custom. He immediately proceeded with the utmost composure to make his will, and settled all his family affairs even to the minutest details. Soon after a sergeant came for the purpose of searching his person. This proceeding affected him deeply, and he exclaimed, This was wanting to complete my humiliation ! a sergeant search a general !—am I then capable of committing suicide as they apprehend P Certainly not; I shall die like a Christian !' He then took a medal of the Holy Virgin, which he wore suspended from his neck by a gold chain, and charged his cousin, Don Ramon Blasser, to deliver it to his mother. His confessor, the Canon Don Benito Sanz, afterwards came and had a long conversation with him. At six o'clock on the morning of the 18th, he took the sacrament, and some time after had a cup of chocolate, and received successively a missionary and a friend of his, a physician, both of whom were astonished at his self-possession and firmness. Having been informed about 10 o'clock that his execution would take place at three in the afternoon, he merely remarked, ''That is very late.' Then he asked for a basin of soup and ate it with good appetite. At a quarter to three he was informed that his time had come. He immediately rose, saying, ' I am at your orders, gentlemen,' drew his loose coat round him, and took his place in the centre of the guard. As he passed the postern of the castle he took off his coat, and requested that it might be given to his aide-de-camp Moreno. On hearing the roll of the drums, he exclaimed, ' My God ! you who were innocent also suffered these humiliating preparations; it is just that I, who am guilty, should undergo them too.' His voice was unfaltering, and his step firm. On entering the middle of the square formed by the troops, he noticed the people crowding round, and said, ' The Lord also allowed the people to be present at his execution.' He knelt under the flag to hear his sentence read. On being conducted to the fat al spot, he inquired 'How must 1 place myself?" Facing them,' was the reply; at the same instant a handkerchief was put over his eyes, and he knelt down. An explosion was heard, and the general was no more."  HARBINGERS OF SPRlNG.—Numbers of swallows were seen in this neighbourhood on Thursday last, but they have appeared Mat home during the snow bla.sts with which we have been visited since that time. The "wandering voice" of the cuckoo was heard on Sunday in the vicinity of Dinton—somewhat before the time it would appear.— Wiltshire Mirror.
The Sun. — 1860-05-24 (London, England)

DESPERATE ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE BY AN ACTOR. —For many years an actor, now considerably past middle age, named William Mackay, has been engaged as one of the theatrical company of Mr. Mosley, at Bradford and Halifax, and for a season or two at a new theatre in Douglas, Isle of Man ; but during the last winter and sp ring he has been unable, from severe illness, to follow his profession on the stage. His wife, however, to whom he has only been a few years married, was a shopkeeper in Duke-street, and his circumstances were thus respectable. He slowly recovered ; but the season for the time was over, and the company are preparing to return to the Isle of Man, where, it ebe room d-roobme., appears, he woul not be able to go with them as formerly, and from this and other causes his spirits were greatly depressed. i while his s Sundaywi fe a uf forenoon, e noon , wen servant girlow, he became desperate, sat deliberately down before the hlalon weree in nin hist h mirror with a razor in his hand, and at four different plunges inflicted numerous wounds in his neck, extending from ear to ear, but still without dividing the jugular vein, and so causing instant death. Policeman Bowyer, who was on the beat, was called in, and surgical assistance obtained, but any hopes of saving his life are very slight. The roots and connecting ligatures of his tongue are completely severed ; and if he should even survive, he will be unable to articulate. The windpipe is also partially cut through. He still, however, while we write, is alive, but little more cart be said. He, we understand, was originally from Glasgow, and has always been held in high respect by the public and the corps dramatique with whom he associated on the boards. The Derby Day—the Derby Day—the great holiday'of hard-working England We have not as many Saints' Days as they have in continental countries ; but we do our best to cram all the fun of the year into eighteen hours, and we generally succeed. From the Premier down to the poor Cabt y, we all own the influence of the time. Cares, anxieties, and worries for the space of one day are consigned to the vasty deep. Upon that day all Blue Devils commit suicide. Creditors are not. 'Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes cease to run. Work is forgotten. Honourable Members ruu away from their Parliamentary duties, and gentlemen who have no Parliament:al), duties leave their private affairs to take care of themselves. The two tall sentries at the Horse Guards feel a rued desire to 6-ive their two huge black horses a breather up Whitehall iu honourable rival, y. The nurses with the perambulators would like to run their vehicles against each other for the Two Year Old Stakes I The baker's boy, who delivers the rolls at the door, has a small bet with Jenny upon the favourite, intimating with a wink that he is not without pretensions to that character. If the great heart of England, during those twenty four hours, were opened, upon it would be found engraven in sanguine characters a list of the running horses, with the names, weights, and colours of the riders I--From " The Derby Day," in Once q
The Sun. — 1860-06-29 (London, England)

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE IN THE ROUSE  OF LORDS BY A HINDOO.  Yesterday the Lords met, and, assisted by the Common Law Judges, proceeded to hear appeals from the courts below, and in one case Mr. Bovill, Q.C., was addressing their lordships, when at about half-past one, as they were about to adjourn for the purpose of lune...eon, suddenly a person dressed in Eastern garb, with a turban of various colours, emerged from the crowd of persons behind the bar, and began an harangue in Hindostanee, throwing up papers, and gesticulating in the most frightful manner. The Lord Chancellor ordered his immediate removal, but before that could be effected, to the consternation of those present, he drew a small knife, and with cries of " Allah, Allah !" passed it across his throat, inflicting severe injuries. His yelling continued to such an extent that their lordships were compelled to rise, and the unfortunate man being secured, he was-conveyed to Westminster Hospital by Sergeant Drake, where he received every attention from Mr. Win. Allen, the housesurgeon, and although the wound was not dangerous, he was permitted to remain. Singularly enough, one of the porters at the hospital, Wm. Allen, had served some years iu India, and was familiar with the Hindostanee language, but was enabled only to elicit that his name was Mohammed Ali Khan, and that he belonged to the Bengal Presidency. He had formerly belonged to one of the districts, and had acted as secretary to the Nawaub Bahadoor, but from some cause had been removed and replaced by an Englishman, and being denied redress in his native country, he came over to petition the Queen and the Inaia Board in furtherame of his claims for compensation. He had some time ago laid his case before the India Board, but, getting no redress, he had petitions prepared to the Queen and the House of Lords, and supposing that he had no other means of presentation, he went to the house. The petitions, which are in the possession of the police, disclose a large amount of grievances to which he states he has been subjected. For some time past it has been observed that this man had haunted the various offices connected with the India Board, and had importuned persons upon his claims • but little notice was taken of his appeals. He had resided since his arrival in this country in the neighbourhood of -Westminster, and was known as a person who had claims on the Indian Government. This extraordinary event, caused for some time a cessation of their lordships proceedings, which were afterwards resumed.
The Sun. — 1860-06-29 (London, England)

THE SUN, LONDON FRIDAY EVENING, JETIM 29, 1860.  spends whole hours alone with the King, or in conference with Sir James Hudson and the French  The Neapolitan Government, convinced that the capture of the two vessels was illegal, intimates its disposition to restore them and their passengers but, with characteristic dislike of performing an act of justice, it is striving to turn the restoration to its own profit, by making it conditional on its receiving some antirevolutionary aid from us. If I am well informed the Sardinian Government has replied that it is not concerned one way or the other with the revolution that has broken out in Sicily, and may break out at Naples ; and if volunteers go from our territory, they go also from Trieste and from Naples itself to serve under De Merode and Lamoriciere ; let -there be equal liberty of going and coming for all—only let maritime law be respected. The Sardinian Government knows that Austrian men-of-war have carried Austrian subjects to Messina ; whereas no vessel belonging to  :he Sardinian Government has carried volunteers  to Sicily, much less Sardinian soldiers. Therefore the restitution of the captured vessels and their passengers must not be made conditional on any concession or equivalent on the part cif the Sardinian Government.  Contributions in aid of Garibaldi's enterprise are pouring in on all sides. Of the generous help it has received ft om England I need not speak ; France, Belgium, and Switzerland are sending money and arms. A Swedish foundry has sent six cannon, and America sends many more. In Italy millions are being subscribed, and there are about 30,000 volunteers anxiousto join. I believe that in a few days a regular line of steamers will run between Genoa and Sicily. The undertaking is projected by a company consisting partly of French and partly of Genoese. Count Dann, one of the very few Hungarians who have ranged themselves on the side of absolutism, has just shot himself at Viterbo. He was there organising a regiment of cavalry out of Austrian soldiers who had been discharged or sent there. The ridicule which has been thrown upon these soldiers of the Pope has already driven away many officers ; others are on the point of taking themselves off; and the few who remain through punctilio or necessity are so constantly meeting with annyances and disappointments, that they lose heart and spirit ; so it is no wonder if one of them has committed suicide. To serve the Pore voluntarily is at this time of day a sort of moral suicide, and that is only a step removed from ma ter:al suicide. Garibaldi has issued two proclamations, one to Lis cacciatori, urging them to prepare for fresh combats, which may point equally to an attack on Messina or a disembarkation on the mainland ; and the other to the bands of Sicilian peasants, thanking them, commending them, and setting them at liberty to follow their ordinary pursuits. The fact is, these bands are no longer of any use to him. For this kind of extempore warfare, so to speak, town volunteers are much better.
The Sun. — 1860-05-25 (London, England)

KOSSUTH. It is also certain enough, as the author remarks, that the Italian war did spring from the principle hefie6oribe6.; that the " arrest of  " Picture it, think of it, Dissolute man, Lave in it, drink of it, Then if you can."  Apart from this pathos associatz:d with the River of so many Suicides, there is that other thrill of  loathing over the stream (whether for " laving" or " drinking" purposes) which is inseparable from the remembrance of its many secret abominations. And all this filth, this wide open sewer, ebbing and flowing perpetually through the whole capital from Battersea down to the Towers of SULIIIS, diffusing its odious, and even at midsummer pestilential vapours, on one hand into Surrey, on the other into Middlesex, washing and weltering, and lapping between the crowded dwellings of a metropolis peopled with from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000—all this foul and turbid deposit is continually from year to year, from month to month, from day to day, accumulating. The evil we have all been complaining about for so long a period upon the occasion of every returning midsummer, will be worse in the deg days of 1860, than it was in the dog days of 1859, as the evil then was worse than in 1858, and in 1858 than it was in 1857. That it should be so stands to reason. While the drainage of the capital is for the most part emptied into the river Thames the population is ever and ever increasing —and increasing too, if we may so express it, increasingly. A system of Dirty Cleanliness, this, as it has been happily called, that has continued in operation now for so long a period that it is fast attaining a magnitude that threatens (in one sense happily) to be no longer endurable. The House of Commons will be tired out at last to very nausea of having to disinfect the atmosphere floating through the open doors and windows by curtains saturated with chloride of lime. It will resolve at last in veritable earnest to exorcise that demon of the Thames, who with as loathsome an alliteration of evil influence as
The Sun. — 1860-12-20 (London, England)

SOCIETY.  A meeting of the governors of this institution was held yesterday at the offices of the society, Trafalgar-square, under the presidency of Mr. T. E. Baker, the treasurer. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, the following gentlemen were elected on the committee as new members :—Sir William Fraser, Admiral Cator, Captain Egerton, R.N., and Mr. H. Cartwright, F.G.S. The committee recommended the case of Joseph Killingbeck to the next general court for the award of the silver medal of the society. It appears that on the evening of the 17th ult. a boy named Joseph Sheldon was in the act of emptying the water out of a bucket of a well at Hunslet, near Leeds, and while doing so made a false step and fell backwards down the well to the depth of about 18 yards, there being at the time about 18 feet of water in the well. On the alarm being given two men, named Brooksbank and Killingbeck, ran to the spot, and the former let down the bucket to the boy, but Killingbeck, telling Brooksbank to hold the handle, slid down the chain. He then seized the boy by one hand and the chain by the other and called to Brooksbank to draw them up, but they had only got about midway between the water end the top of the well when the chain broke, and both were again precipitated to the bottom. Killingbeck, however, again seized the boy, and directed him to hold by the chain which had again been let down, and he ultimately reached the top in safety; the chain was then sent down to Killingbeck, and, he wee Ably .drawn up., The bronze-medarOf 'the sod *at recommended to be awarded to the following :—ToFrederickWatts, ablebodied seaman of her Majesty's ship Sphinx, for saving Peter Elms, seaman, whose boat was swamped in the river of Peiho, China, on the Ist of September last; to Llewellyn Lloyd, schoolboy, aged 11, for saving Alfred Warrington, a child between three and four years old, who accidentally ' fell into a pool near Chester on the 3d ult. ; and to John Murphy, watchman, for saving Ann urchill, a young woman, aged 20, who attempted suicide by jumping into the river at Cork on the Ist instant. Pecuniary rewards of £1 each were given to Wm. Read, gate foreman, for saving J. Sutherland, ship's carpenter, and his son, who accidentally fell into the water at the West India Dock entrance on the 22d ult. ; and to John Donovan, labourer, for saving Philip Mason,a little boy four years of age, who accidentally fell into the Thames, at Hungerford-wharf, on the Ist inst. Donovan has been rewarded before by the Royal Humane Society for saving life. After the disposal of some further business of a mere formal character, the usual compliment was passed to the chairman, and the proceedings terminated.
The Sun. — 1860-09-21 (London, England)

THAMES.  BENT ON SUICIDE.—Emma Sargison, a woman of the town, was brought before Mr. Selfe, charged with attempting to commit self-destruction.  The wretched prisoner, though young, presented the appearance of an old woman, haggard, careworn, and bloated, but not more than three years ago she was an _interesting and beautiful-looking girl. Drink, dissipation, and disease, has effected the sad change in her, and if she is not kept in prison or a lunatic asylum, she will undoubtedly meet her death by violent means. She has made repeated attempts on her life while labouring under intoxication, and has thrown herself into the river, the Regent's Canal, and other waters, and also hung herself, and attempted strangulation in the police cells, and cells of the court, while under remand. She has given an immense deal of trouble to the police, and they have been under the necessity of closely watching her on the many occasions she has been in custody to prevent her committing suicide. William Gisling, a police-constable, said that he fouxd the prisoner last night in a shed in Poplar. She was very drunk, and covered over with wet sacks. She said she had thrown herself from the window of a room three storeys high. He procured a stretcher, to which she was strapped and convoyed to the station-house. George Pullen, 161 K, said it was quite true that on Tuesday last the prisoner either fell or threw herself from the window of a house three storeys high. Her fall was broken by a shed. She rolled over it, and was fearfully bruised. She was taken to an hospital, and her wounds and bruises were dressed. Next day she came home. Yesterday she became helplessly drunk, and was carried into a shed and covered with sacks. During the night he visited her in the cell ; She was nearly strangled. A cord was round her neck, fastened tightly, and the other end of it made fast to a bench. She was quite black in the face, and ho had some difficulty in recovering her.  Roche, the gaoler of the court, said the prisoner had given him a good deal of trouble. Ile was obliged to watch her closely whenever she was in his custody. The prisoner, who was labouring under delirium tremens) made no defence. She was in a low dejected state.  Mr. Selfe said the case was a fearful one. He really thought the prisoner ought to be treated as a lunatic, and kept under restraint for the remainder of her life. The prisoner was an incorrigible and disorderly prostitute and drunkard, a perfect nuisance to society. Bad as she was he would save her if he could. He would keep her in prison for 6 months, and the only way to do so was to order her to find one surety in the sum of £2O to be of good behaviour and keep the peace for the next 6 months. No one would be bail, and she would be detained, in default of finding bail, for six months in the House of Detention, Clerkenwell, where she would receive spiritual instruction from the excellent chaplain of the prison.
The Sun. — 1860-09-21 (London, England)

THAMES.  BENT ON SUICIDE.—Emma Sargison, a woman of the town, was brought before Mr. Selfe, charged with attempting to commit self-destruction.  The wretched prisoner, though young, presented the appearance of an old woman, haggard, careworn, and bloated, but not more than three years ago she was an' interesting and beautiful-looking girl. Drink, dissipation, and disease, has effected the sad cluinge in her, and if she is not kept in prison or a lunatic asylum, she will undoubtedly meet her death by violent means. She has made repeated attempts on her life while labouring under intoxication, and has thrown herself into the river, the Regent's Canal, and other Raters, and also hung herself, and attempted strangulation in the police cells, and cells of the court, while under remand. She has given an immense deal of trouble to the police, and they have boon under the necessity of closely wAtching her on the many occasions she has been in custody to prevent her committing suicide. William Gisling, a police-constable, said that he found the prisoner last night in a shed in Poplar. She was very drunk, and covered over with wet sacks. She said she had thrown herself from the window of a room three storeys high. He procured a stretcher, to NNhich she was strapped and convoyed to the station-house. .  George Pullen, 161 K, said it was quite true that on Tuesday last the prisoner either fell or throw herself from the window of a house three storeys high. Her fall was broken by a shed. She rolled over it, and was fearfully bruised. She was taken to an hospital, and her wounds and bruises were dressed. Next day she came home. Yesterday she became helplessly drunk, and was carried into a shed and covered with sacks. During the night he visited her in the cell; She was nearly strangled. A cord. was round her neck, fastened tightly, and the other end of it made fast to a bench. She was quite black in the face, and he had some difficulty in recovering her.  Roche, the gaoler of the court, said the prisoner had given him a good deal of trouble. He was obliged to watch her closely whenever she was in his custody. The prisoner, who was labouring under delirium tremens, made no defence. She was in a low dejected state. Mr. Selfo said the case was a fearful one. He really thought the prisoner ought to be treated as a lunatic, and kept under restraint for the remainder of her life. The prisoner was an incorrigible and dism-derly prostitute and drunkard, a perfect nuisance to society. Bad as she was he would save her if he could. He would keep her in prison for 6 months, and the only way to do so was to order her to find one surety in the sum of £2O to be of good behaviour and keep the peace for the next 6 months. No ono would be bail, and she would be detained, in default of finding bail, for sit' months in the House of Detention, Clerkenwell, where she would receive spiritual instcuction from the excellent ckaplt iu V the Flog.