Yorkshire (West)

1/ Leeds Double Murder/Suicide, December 1882

 

Roundhay Park, Leeds – Drownings, Suicides and Accidents. (See No.43 also)

2/ August 1896 (Waterfall Death)

At a hospital gala, a bloke named Fox was looking over the edge of the waterfall, when he accidentally slipped and fell. He was killed on the spot.

3/ August 1907 (Boat Fatalities)

Abraham Cohen aged nineteen with a mate of his from Stockton, went for a boat ride on the lake when one of them dipped his oar in the lake to see how deep it was. The boat tipped over and both were thrown into the water. It was obviously quite deep because one of them was waving for help. Help arrived, but too late. One of the bodies was recovered a couple of hours later.

4/ December 1896 (Waterloo Lake Suicide)

A well-known Leeds businessman, Mr Andrew Wilson, a partner in a firm of wool-combers of Charlestown Mills, was in his carriage on his way to see his brother for dinner. He suddenly told the coachman to stop the carriage, whereupon he got out and told him to carry on without him. Coachman thought he was just behind him, but when he failed to arrive, a search party was organized. His lifeless body was found next to the Waterloo Lake in Roundhay Park with his throat cut.

5/ November 1901

“I leave this world without sigh or regret- cool, calm and collected. I have taken four dozen opium pills & a dose of belladonna liniment, so there is no necessity for a post-mortem”. This was the note left by Fred Dyson who committed suicide in Roundhay Park.

6/ December 1887 (Football Death)

George Harper Houghton from Leeds was injured while playing in a football match at Roundhay Park. He was knocked down and his spinal chord was damaged. He died at Leeds Infirmary from his injuries.

7/ Wakefield, (Charred Corpse in Barn) May 1885

8/ Otley Double Murder, November 1887

9/ Armley Gaol Murder, Leeds, March 1888

10/ Leeds Town Hall Suicide, June 1877

A labourer by the name of Bean was committed for trial at the Assizes on a charge of robbery with violence. Bean was waiting to be taken to Armley Gaol when he saw a prisoner decorating one of the corridors, so he asked if he could borrow a knife. The bloke lent him one and within a couple of seconds, he had sliced open his windpipe. He was dead in a few minutes and at the inquest there will be serious questions asked about how this could have happened so easily.

11/ Normanton,Wakefield ?- 1883

John Reaves of Hopetown, Normanton, expired through injuries received at Messrs.H.Briggs and Sons and Co’s Haigh Moor Pit at Whitwood. Deceased was quarrelling with a fellow workman and was struck with the endless rope on the temple. He became unconscious and was conveyed home and attended by Dr Kemp of Castleford but died on Saturday.

12/ Knowles Brothers Brewery, Denholme Suicide, (Bradford) ?-1883 (Boiled to Death)

An extraordinary suicide is reported from Bradford. John Hey aged thirty-three, who was employed as a night-watchman at Knowles Brothers Brewery. One night Hey, who had been out of sorts for some time, proceeded to his duty. The following morning he could not be found and on a search being made it was found he had partially divested himself of his clothing, removed the man-hole cover of a large boiler and jumped in, literally boiling himself to death. The body when removed was in a sickening condition.

13/ Brighouse, (Wedding Death) March 1885

At Brighouse on Monday, a Miss Beaumont was married. The wedding party was largely attended and in the afternoon Mrs Beaumont, the bride’s mother aged forty-six, who had been taking an active part in all that was going on, laid down to rest. When called upon some hours later to rejoin in the dances it was found that she was quite dead.

14/ Featherstone Main Colliery Explosion, near Pontefract ?-1883

15/ Kirkgate Railway Station Fatality, Wakefield, July 1901

A terrible accident happened at Kirkgate Railway Station when John Henderson from Driffield backed his horse and dray into the railway sidings and the vehicle dropped into the lower sidings, pulling the horse with it. Henderson was catapulted over the horse’s head and was killed instantly.

16/ Bradford F.C. Ghost, January 1905

This is early 20th-century rugby, I think! The Bradford Football Club was reported as having a ghost at the Park Avenue ground. It was seen by John Jennings the groundsman at Park Avenue on the outskirts of Bradford itself. His house looks over the ground and one Friday night he saw a light burning in the pavilion. He had checked over the pavilion only an hour ago, so he thought that burglars were inside, so he got dressed and went to where the light was still burning brightly. He peeped through a window and saw a man in a red, amber and black jersey- the colour’s of Bradford F.C. Jennings ran to get a policeman and when he returned with an officer, the light had gone and the intruder had vanished. The door was locked and when the place was examined, they found nothing either out of place or missing. At the match on Saturday, it was the talk of the crowd and someone recalled the story that a few days ago, a well-known former three-quarter for Bradford by the name of Jack Hawkeridge had died in San Francisco from typhoid fever. Was it “Joe” looking around the place one last time, reliving past glories at the club? Bradford won the match on Saturday 33-2. Was Joe helping?

17/ Leeds Murder/Suicide, June 1895

Joseph Walker of Dolly Lane, Newtown, went home and tried the door. It was locked, so he forced an entrance and went straight upstairs, where he found his 8-year-old daughter dead in bed and properly laid out. Beside her was the mother and on the floor was a tumbler that reeked of carbolic acid. She died at the hospital later on and the husband told police that she’d been behaving weirdly of late and having hallucinations. She thought everyone was trying to have her put in the Lunatic Asylum. The wife had left a couple of letters explaining what she had done and made allegations, which he denies.

18/ Dewsbury Colliery, (Six Dead) August 6th, 1892

A colliery catastrophe occurred late last night at Dewsbury, resulting in the loss of six lives. Seven men and boys were in the pit and only one escaped, only because he was near the shaft. The accident was caused by a sudden inrush of water from some old workings.

Dewsbury Colliery Flood, August 13th, 1892

19/ Holmfirth Wife Murder/Suicide, April 1900

A tragedy occurred at Holmfirth near Huddersfield to a fifty-year-old woollen weaver called Jonas Ramsden and his missus, while the kids were at school. Jonas had six kids, three at school and three working. When they all walked out the front door that morning they didn’t expect both parents to be dead when they came back for dinner break. The mother was lying on the bedroom floor and Jonas had hung himself from the ceiling. The wife had been poisoned with ammonia and a quick glance around the room suggested that there had been a struggle between the two of them, and also the fact that her arms were badly blistered.

20/ Leeds Abortion Death, August 1892

21/ Saltaire, (Hall Collapsed) April 1889

The floor of a hall taken by the Bradford Coffee Tavern at Saltaire, fell on Monday during alterations, killing one man and injuring three others, it is feared, fatally. (How many died altogether?)

22/ Otley Baptist Chapel, (Body Found) April 1894

A dreadful discovery was made at the Otley Baptist Chapel one morning, when the body of a widow named Mrs Leech, was found in the baptistry. Eighty-four-year-old Mrs Leech had been a volunteer there for several years and was the chapel-keeper. The theory is that she went to clean the baptismal place and there met with a sad end. (Is chapel still there?)

23/ Theatre Royal, Halifax, (Man Blinded) December 1859

An appalling accident happened at the Theatre Royal in Halifax on Monday night to a comedian named Mr Watson. It was the play “William Tell” which was being performed and it was the part where William Tell teaches his son how to use the bow and arrow by shooting at a target. Today’s “Health and Safety Inspectorate” would have a field day here, because a piece of sheepskin was held near the steps to prevent a stray arrow going into the audience. Watson had already given the audience a heads up, but an arrow flew towards him and penetrated his left eyeball. He is now blind in that eye, but lucky to be alive!

24/ George Street, Bradford, (Attempted Murders) August 1889

One night during a wake in a lodging-house at George Street in Bradford, a man named Emanuel Sugden died from the injuries he sustained when two other lodgers started kicking him. These are allegations at the moment, but a couple of hours later, also in George Street, a woman was found unconscious with deep head wounds.

25/ Castleford, (Father Drowns after Two Children Year Before) June 1899

26/ Hunslet Railway Suicide, near Leeds, July 1845

As the seven a.m. train approached the bridge over the river at Hunslet, the stoker spotted a bloke lie down on the train-tracks. As he put the brakes on he blew his whistle for him to move out of the way. The train and carriages drove over him and when they examined the body there was little left of him. It was John Sutcliffe, a married warehouseman from North Town End in Leeds, who left a wife and seven kids to fend for themselves. At the inquest, his wife stated that he been drinking heavily for the past few weeks and had been down in the dumps for some reason or other.

27/ Rawdon Baptist College, (Haunted?) August 1909

Here’s a strange tale from a college in Leeds that could mean that it is haunted. It is holiday time at Rawdon Baptist College and only four people are still on the premises. These four have, during the past week or so, been disturbed by knocking and banging from within the walls of the college. They happen at night mostly but also have occurred during daylight hours and they have been verified by several outsiders who didn’t believe it. Plants were carefully moved from desks and tables and placed on the floors. The gardener went round with a loaded shotgun but found no intruders of any kind.

28/ Keighley/Bingley, (Cyclist Killed) June 1895

29/ Huddersfield, (Crossland Reservoir Suicide) July 1889

Twenty-four-year-old Margaret Lees was discovered in the mill reservoir of Messrs.B.Crossland and Sons, drowned. Originally from Greenfield, she had lived in Huddersfield for two years due to work commitments. Charles North of Lindley, whose house she lodged at, found a letter on the table stating that she’d be found in Crosslands Reservoir. Lees had been seeing for a few months, and Albert Robinson, a joiner from Birkby, but this was at least five months ago. They were engaged but she broke it off and then he’d got a letter from her saying that he shouldn’t have asked her to meet him, when his heart with another girl. It carried on that if this had not happened it would have saved her a great deal of pain and worry. Robinson said he was amazed at receiving the letter. It seems that she still held a torch for him, but he wasn’t too bothered.

30/ Wakefield, (Fatal Scalding) November 1859

Alice Goldthorpe was watching her mother make a pot of tea and then she let it “mash” in the teapot on the kitchen table. Being very young she didn’t comprehend the fact that it was boiling hot, so she grabbed spout when her mother’s back was turned and took a huge gulp. There was a horrendous scream, then as her throat began to swell, she started to convulse with the poor girl eventually dying in terrible agony. A verdict of “Accidentally Scalded” was returned.

31/ Armitage Bridge near Huddersfield, (Work Fatality) March 1885

John Cunliffe aged twenty-eight, who was a labourer in the service of the Huddersfield Corporation, was ascending a hoist which works by steam at the premises of Messrs. John Brooks and Sons, Armitage Bridge, woollen manufacturers, when he put his head out of the cage and a descending weight caught him and he was killed on the spot.

32/ Darley Street Manslaughter, Bradford, June 1888

33/ Liversedge Station Fatality, September 1906

The stationmaster at Liversedge Station, Thomas Mann, died in a freak accident on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The train was in Liversedge Station, when he stepped on a footboard to give a passenger a bunch of flowers that he had personally grown. The train shunted forward, he stepped back and fell between the platform and footboard. The train came to an immediate halt, but his body was totally crushed under the weight.

34/ Leeds Double Murder/Suicide, February 1899

35/ Slaithwaite Railway Fatalities, April 1885

Two men were run over and killed by an express train whilst crossing the London and North-Western line at Slaithwaite yesterday afternoon.

36/ Gatland Infanticide, near Halifax, August 1897

On a Thursday night P.C. Hart was brought to the house of Annie Dickenson (who was a single lady) and found her in her bedroom with her dead baby. Annie was semi-naked but her clothes were soaking wet. She explained that she had gone to the nearby mill-dam and had tied the child to her back and jumped in intending to kill them. She kept floating up to the top and she climbed out, but the child was already dead. She went back home and before P.C.Hart arrived, she had given birth to another illegitimate child. The little girl who drowned was only fourteen-months-old and also named Annie Dickenson.

37/ Bunkers Hill Quarry, Dewsbury, (Fatality) January 1858

Two daughters of Mr Benjamin Exley of White Lee were coming back from Dewsbury Independent Chapel when they got lost in the dark at Staincliffe and they both fell into Bunkers Hill Quarry. One of the girls was killed on the spot, but the other managed to get to a nearby cottage after four hours of crawling on her hands and knees. She is in a precarious condition, but there are signs that she will make a full recovery.

38/ Wyke near Cleckheaton, (Fatal Procession) March 1885

 

39/ Alverthorpe, March 1898 (Death on the Football Field)

During the progress of a football match at Alverthorpe near Waterfield on Saturday, between the Alverthorpe and Normanton clubs in the Yorkshire Challenge Cup competition, William Edward Kaye, the oldest member of the home team, slipped and fell with his neck on the knee of a Normanton player. He injured his spine and death ensued some hours later.

40/ Ossett, (Self Immolation) February 1869

Thomas Illingworth from Ossett killed himself by self-immolation. Passers by saw a glare of light emanating from the kitchen window of his house and went to investigate. In an amazing spectacle, they observed Illingworth sat on a huge pile of burning coal in his hearth. They managed to drag him off and extinguish the flames and they heard him whisper- “I sat down on the fire. It was my own evil deeds that caused me to do it”. He died soon afterwards.

41/ Todmorden Drowning, August 1892

Late on Tuesday evening, Edward Barritt aged nineteen-years, a shoemaker’s apprentice from Beanhole Head, Cross Stone, was drowned in a pond near to Harley House, Hole Bottom, Todmorden. About eight p.m. deceased was seen to enter and swim about halfway across; he then appeared to dive but did not come up again. The water was drawn off and the body was recovered about nine o’clock.

42/ Armley Gaol Suicide, Leeds, March 1898

43/ Herbert Terrace/Roundhay Park Suicide, Leeds, November 1889

Mrs Watson, who lived at Herbert Terrace in Leeds, made a determined effort at suicide, by first cutting her throat open at her house, then wrapping up the wounds and walking three miles to Roundhay Park and then jumping into the lake and drowning herself. When police examined the home they found two blood-soaked knives and spattering in the kitchen and scullery. The cause of this was that she had lost her little boy who was scalded to death and was depressed and missed the child.

44/ Great Horton, Bradford, (Dies From Pea in Ear) December 1850

Richard Bolton’s son from Great Horton was messing about a few days ago with a mate of his who was pretending to put a pea in his ear and then make it come out of his mouth. Bolton thought the trick was genuine, tried to perform the trick himself and thrust a pea so far in his ear that it got stuck fast. A medical man tried to prize it out, but actually shoved it further in and four days later the young chap died from the effects.

45/ Aire and Calder Canal, Castleford, (Body Found) March 1892

46/ New Station, Leeds, (Childs Body in Bag) March 1878

The body of a newborn child was discovered inside a carpet-bag at the New Station in Leeds. The body of the infant was wrapped in a scrap of an old shirt and the bag was addressed to “Mr Anderson, Kings Cross”

47/ Dewsbury Manslaughter? May 1885

At an inquest held at Dewsbury yesterday on the body of William Gibbs who was fatally stabbed on Friday night during a quarrel. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Daniel Lee. From the evidence, it appeared that Lee was first struck and kicked by the deceased, and Lee, being drunk, stabbed him in the thigh, inflicting a wound from which he bled to death. The knife has not yet been found.

48/ River Aire, Saltaire, (Body Found) June 1899

49/ Wakefield, May 1885

Yesterday morning, about four o’clock, the body of a man was found on the Great Northern Railway at Wakefield in a shockingly mutilated state. The head and left foot had been cut off and it was clear that the man must have been killed by a passing train as he was walking on the railway. The body has not yet been identified.

50/ Beeston Pit Suicide, near Leeds, February 1866

At Beeston near Leeds, Sarah Twidell, the wife of a collier, but who had been for quite some time been separated from her husband, committed suicide by jumping down the shaft of a coal-pit. The shaft was of a considerable depth and she was killed instantaneously. Her body was terribly mutilated. (What pit-shaft was it?)

51/ Furnace Inn Murder? Low Moor, (Bradford) June 1891

52/ Wakefield, (Building Collapsed) May 1885

A fatal accident occurred at Wakefield last evening. Whilst some buildings belonging to Mr Wade, flour dealer, were being altered, a portion of the old wall fell and also a large beam of wood. Mr Edward Fawcett, a master builder, was shockingly injured and he died at the hospital in the course of the night. One of the workmen was also injured.

53/ Manningham, Bradford, (Childs Body in Sewer) April 1896

The remains of a fully developed child have been found in a sewer at Manningham, a fashionable suburb of Bradford. It is thought that a dreadful murder has been committed, as the child’s head was missing from the body and the arms and legs have been torn asunder. An inquest is due on Tuesday night and police are conducting inquiries.

54/ Farnley and Wortley Station Death, Leeds, July 1895

55/ Midland Hotel, Bradford, (Double Suicide or Accident?) August 1894

At midnight on Friday, a shocking discovery was made in the Midland Hotel at Bradford. The dead bodies of a waiter named Shilter and a maid named Peniston being found in the basement under the dinner-lift, with their heads smashed in. They had been missing for a few hours, but the question remains is, how did they get in this position in the first place. The lift-well is narrow and the entrance is guarded on each floor. (What did happen here?)

56/ Longwall near Elland, Leeds,  May 1885

On Saturday afternoon a youth named Milner Noble, the son of Thomas Noble, cotton spinner in West Vale was killed by falling down the rocks at Long Wall. He and another youth named Swallow, climbed up the cliff about eight yards and in coming down again Noble detached a large piece of rock and fell to the ground. The rock fell upon him and he died in a few minutes.

57/ King Street Chambers Suicide, Wakefield, August 1890

On Wednesday evening Mr John Masterman, accountant of King Street Chambers in Wakefield, committed suicide by poisoning. He had taken an ounce of laudanum and was found in his offices. Mr Masterman was clerk to Stanley School Board.

58/ Free School Lane, Halifax. (Dynamite Death) March 1885

59/ Holbeck Railway Station Fatality, August 1885

On Saturday morning, while a number of men were employed upon the alterations at Holbeck Railway Station in Leeds, some of the props of the roof gave way, killing one man and injuring several others, though not seriously.

60/ Leeds, August 1889 (Strange Suicide Note)

Twenty-one-year-old Charles Edward Eatch, killed himself in Leeds and left a strange suicide note to a woman named Morley. It read: “I am going to commit suicide on Friday morning, as I want to be buried on Bank Holiday Monday, so that I shall disappoint my cousin Annie, who is to be married that day, so there will be a funeral instead of a wedding! I hope you will attend my funeral. I will meet you in Heaven.” Verdict: Suicide whilst of unsound mind.

61/ Bradford Murder/Suicide, May 1857

An assistant bailiff named Samuel Charlton aged fifty-eight fell in love with a widow from Lidget Green named Mrs Hannah Holroyd aged forty-two. Hannah’s friends told her to stay away from Charlton, he was a weirdo they said, and besides a bloke by the name of Normanton was interested in dating her. One evening Charlton and Holroyd went to a temperance meeting and were walking back to her home when Normanton stopped to have a chat. Charlton carried on to her house and waited there, while her children were asleep in bed. She finally returned and he killed her in the front room in a fit of jealousy. He then rushed home and told his kids that he wouldn’t see them again and then ran out the door. The police meanwhile had found Holroyd dead on the floor and they were now looking for him. He had gone to a local suicide hot-spot, New Miller’s Dam, and drowned himself.

62/ Summit Tunnel Suicide, May 1861

James Rawson, 22, of Handle Hall near Littleborough was sliced in two by a goods train on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway not far from the Summit Tunnel. Rawson had been to the Summit Inn on Friday night getting drunk and was seen at 5-30 a.m. wavering about on the line by the driver of the train. The driver stated that Rawson simply shook his head, then laid across the rails. The driver slammed on the brakes, but to no avail and the train cut him in half.

63/ Albion Glass Works, Castleford, (Awful Death) October 1889

 

64/ Huddersfield Suicide, February 1862

Sixteen-year-old Mary Blackburn worked as a steam-loom weaver at Messrs Lockwood and Keighley’s factory in Upperhead Row, Huddersfield. She was coming back from work one night, with two of her work colleagues, when she told that an over-looker had found fault with her work and if she wasn’t at the mill at six a.m., then she had better drowned herself. They all turned onto the canal bank towards Lower Houses where Blackburn lived, when she suddenly exclaimed- “I’ll leap in- I’ll do it right now” and before they had a chance to grab her or talk her down, there was a splash. She floated away and eventually sank and when she was taken out, she was quite dead.

65/ Holmfirth Suicide, April 1889

66/ Waverley Temperance Hotel Suicide, Leeds, February 1910

Evidence at the inquest into the death of Glaswegian Charlotte Lebo, who was staying at Waverley Temperance Hotel in Leeds and who went to solicitors and left all her money, £388 in total, to the Leeds Infirmary, then poisoned herself in her room. A laudanum bottle was by her side in the hotel bedroom and she was rushed to the hospital but died shortly after being admitted. The papers that were discovered in the room were addressed to a Miss Charlotte Driver and the Inland Revenue papers were addressed to Charlotte Lebo. The Clyde Navigation Co. and the Charing Cross Bank in Glasgow also had receipts in her paperwork, plus £88 in the Glasgow Savings Bank. Confusing, but it is obvious she was using two names, so police are trying to find out the proper identity of the woman.

67/ Hoyland Nether Suicide, July 1889

68/ Bowling Old Lane, Bradford, November 1895 (Press-box Death)

Reporters attending the Bowling Old Lane versus Outwood Church at Bowling, got a strange reception when they arrived there. A crowd was gathered around the press-box and inside was the dead corpse of a man. The gates were opened at 2-15 p.m. and the reporters had gone up to the press-box to write down the proceedings. Twelve-year-old William Hargreaves saw a bloke curled up in the corner and on further inspection found him to be totally lifeless. He told the gateman and the police were fetched. The deceased’s name was Thomas Paterson aged forty-one, who had been hitting the bottle recently. Someone had seen him on Monday night, but when they looked for him they searched everywhere but the press-box. Now five days later, they came across the body. Nobody can explain why he was in the press-box.

69/ Robin Hood, Leeds, February 1892

A blacksmith named Hartley aged thirty-six-years-old and employed at Messrs.Charlesworth’s Colliery, Robin Hood, Leeds, was taken home intoxicated on Saturday night. He lived alone. On his house being entered on Sunday by neighbours, Hartley was found in the last agonies of death, being severely burned all over the body. Before assistance could be obtained he expired.

70/ West Riding Asylum Manslaughter, Wakefield, May 1897

A dreadful attack on a fellow inmate at West Riding Asylum resulted in the death of one of them. Annie Eastwood, a young lass from Halifax, was in the bathroom at 8-45 one morning when Louisa Westerman grabbed her by the hair and booted her in the head and face. She was grappled to the ground by attendants and Eastwood was taken to the Infirmary, where she remained unconscious until her death the following day.

71/ Pontefract Park, (Murderous Attack) March 1890

72/ “Weekly News” Office Suicide, Huddersfield, April 1894

The chief reporter for the “Weekly News”, Mr J.L. Crowther, a paper based in Huddersfield, was found to have killed himself in the office in the Market Place. He is supposed to have poisoned himself by taking some arsenic, but why he did is not entirely clear. He leaves a widow and one child. It could have been through stress and overworking.

73/ Bradford, (Horrific Death) November 1859

A young lad named Robert Blezzard was busy in Victoria Mill, Bowling near Bradford. The lad was oiling a shaft when his work-gear got snagged in the machinery and he was viciously rotated around the shaft at 95 revs per minute. His head was smashed to bits, brain matter spread throughout the area and all over the ceiling. His wife was working underneath the shaft when she heard the commotion, so she left her room to see what was the matter. Parts of her husband ended up in the fabric she was weaving, and to make it worse, she was expecting a child very soon.

74/ Hebden Bridge, (Bodies Found) January 1870

On December 11th, 1869, a boy named Samuel Thomas Townsend aged eight-years was emptying some ashes into the River Hebden at Hebden Bridge when he was swept away by a strong current and swollen river. Attempts were made to find him but they were futile. The Saturday afterwards another lad named Samuel Pearson aged nine was crossing the River Hebble at Lower Shaw Hill, Halifax when the plank gave way and he was swept away by the fast-moving current and his body was not found either. Now six weeks later on, both the bodies have been found in the River Calder near to Cooper Bridge. They were so decomposed and mutilated it was best not to let the parents have them in their homes. They were buried at Bradley churchyard straight away.

75/ Wm Crabtree and Sons Boiler Explosion, Dewsbury Moor, March 1878

76/ Leeds May 1892 (Sad Suicide Letter)

The thing I find so fascinating about these paper clippings from the Victorian era is that the reporters managed to get hold of every detail, they saw the crime scene, post-mortem reports, court proceedings word for word and slightly disturbing is that they were given the suicide notes to copy down or read themselves. This is one of those badly spelled, sad letters of a teenager about to meet her maker. Elizabeth Taylor Jackson aged nineteen killed herself in Leeds and it describes what she is going through and how she thinks that suicide is the only way to cope with the situation. It’s fairly short but oh-so-sad.

“Dear mother and step-father,

i hope you will forgive me what i am goinge to do. i cannot help it as a suden impulse that i cannot resist. i am doing it because i am disatisfied with my home. i am only to sorry to leave it and i am going to try hanging. i think it will be succeedful it will be better than trying anything else and having to go to an asylum and causing trouble. it is true i never intended to do it if i could help but if i have to do it i might as well try to do it right. i cannot always trust myself, i told mother so when she came to see me when i was away so good by”.

77/ Wakefield Lunatic Asylum Murder, June 1889

A patient at the Wakefield Lunatic Asylum named Hirst, was with another inmate mopping the floors when he suddenly cracked him over the head with a large piece of wood. The injuries sustained were horrendous and his death must have been immediate. The inquest evidence proved that they were both troublesome inmates. About six weeks ago the deceased had tried to strangle another patient to death. Hirst thought that unseen agents were trying to get him.

78/ Thackley Canal Drowning,  June 1899

79/ Ogden Lane Suicide, Brighouse, March 1894

John Edward Horsfall was found hanging in his house and was last seen about two weeks ago at the end of February. He lived on his own in Ogden Lane and the neighbours were getting quite concerned for John’s whereabouts, so a man named Edmondson had a peep in the window and saw him hanging from a cupboard door. They broke in and cut him down but he was dreadfully decomposed. The post-mortem proved he’d been up there for the full two weeks or more. He was in a good frame of mind when last seen but it was the verdict of “Suicide by hanging, but there was no evidence to show the state of mind at the time”.

80/ Halifax Murder, December 1908

Hannah Maria Whiteley aged twenty-nine was found on Christmas Day stabbed to death at 20, Great Albion Street in Halifax. There seems to have been a frenzied attack in the head, chest and neck area, and the gashes are wide and deep, which would suggest a butcher’s knife of some description. The bloke she lived with was a twenty-five-year-old butcher, Ernest Hutchinson. The neighbours heard the two arguing and shouting at each other and on Christmas Day he was stood at the window shouting “Maria is dead”. Blood was oozing under the doorstep, so the neighbours smashed a window and climbed in. Mrs Whiteley was dead, lying in a heap on the floor and Hutchinson was on the stairs, sitting bolt upright with a knife in his hand and his throat slashed. In a room near the murder scene was Mrs Whiteley’s five-year-old daughter who was extremely frightened and dazed by what she had witnessed. Mr Whiteley works away in Cumbria. Hutchinson was moved to the hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery. (Did Hutchinson survive?/ Was he a lodger or lover?)

81/ Clarence Ironworks, Hunslet, (Fatal Quarrel) May 1891

82/ Near Bradford (Kids Mutilated by Train) July 1859

This is a tragic accident that occurred near Bradford and resulted in the deaths of three children. The kids had been playing near a narrow arched tunnel when a train approached they entered the tunnel and squeezed up to the sides to let it pass through. The guard had put a wooden bar in one of the wheels, to act as a break, and the children were in the direct line of it and they were struck. The little ones stood no chance as the bar ploughed through them. One was decapitated and the others were just a pile of flesh and bones and barely resembled children. Accidental death.(Names?/Tunnel?)

83/ Leeds Accidents and Fatalities, November 1901

Another typical week in Leeds in the winter period. A Hunslet miner killed his wife and then committed suicide. On the same day, a young school-teacher threw herself in front of an oncoming train and was killed instantly. In Armley, the wife of a commercial traveller had an epileptic seizure and fell into the fire. Her face is dreadfully burned. Also in Armley, a moulder stabbed his missus with a pen-knife during a heated argument. She remains in a serious condition. Then a woman leapt from a window in Meanwood Road and she too is in a precarious condition and has serious head wounds.

84/ Huddersfield, (Hoist Death) January 1885

85/ Spink Street Murder, White Abbey, Bradford, December 1907

A young married woman named Mary Risden was found dead on the floor of her house, beaten to death with a poker. The murder weapon was lying by her side when police entered the building. Her husband, George Risden, has been arrested and charged with her murder. Apparently, on Friday night they had been out for a drink and something triggered off an argument, this turned violent as he beat her with the poker. He went to a hospital to get his wound dressed and he was arrested as he was legging it down the road trying to escape.

86/ Grantham Arms Suicide, Leeds, December 1855

On Sunday the 23rd December, a scruffy young man walked into the Grantham Arms in Leeds and called for a pipe, then sat in front of the fire. He put the poker in the fire and sat there staring into the flames for about ten minutes. Then he pulled out the poker, now glowing red-hot, and shoved it down his throat. The injuries were severe burns to his tongue and throat and these proved to be fatal. All that is known about the fella is that his name was Thomas Barker and he was from Bolton.

87/ Wakefield, March 1885

Yesterday the inquiry was resumed at the Wakefield Police Station on the body of Mary Aldane, widow of John Aldane, a fish merchant and smack owner from Hull, which was found in the River Calder at Wakefield last Saturday bearing marks of violence. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that there was no evidence to show the cause of death.

88/ Baildon near Bradford, (Wife Murder/Suicide) April 1885

89/ Leeds, (Corpse Springs to Life)  March 1847

Cracking story of a police surgeon being called to examine the dead body of a woman who had cut her own throat open. She was on the bed, he pronounced her dead and she was left on the bed in readiness for the coroner’s jury to view it. One of the policemen on duty asked to see the “dead body”. On seeing the body breathing, she was whisked off to the hospital and is now doing quite well. If the young copper hadn’t been so eager to view a dead body, she would have literally lay there and bled to death. But then again she wanted to die so it could be said that he has not helped her in the slightest.

90/ Albert Buildings Lift Death, Bradford May 1902

Three workmen were ascending in a lift to the top-floor of Albert Buildings in Bradford when the wire rope snapped and the men and the cage dropped from the fourth floor to the basement. Daniel Judge was killed, but the other two have sustained no serious injuries at all. (Is it still there?)

91/ York Street, Leeds, (Nightie Set Alight) August 1889

92/ Spinkwell Tavern Manslaughter, Bradford, July 1880

An argument got out of control at the Spinkwell Tavern in Bradford one Saturday night. One man named Horsfall and another named Newton were arguing about a game, when Horsfall said that he would blind Newton with a pint glass. They both faced off to each other and Newton punched Horsfall twice in the face. Horsfall dropped like a stone with his head on the table and within ten minutes he was dead. Newton was arrested by police and is custody.

93/ Keighley, (Footballer Died while Playing) December 1906 (Ten Thousand Mourners)

The funeral of the late captain of Keighley Football Club, Harry Myers, who died from injuries sustained whilst playing, evoked a huge public outpouring of grief as an estimated 10,000 people lined the streets to pay their respects. The two-mile route from Ingrow to the cemetery was packed solid with mourners and the Mayor of Keighley, members of the Referees Society, players from Dewsbury, Bradford, Bramley and others also came. The Keighley team were the bearers and the service was held at Keighley Parish Church.

94/ Elland near Halifax, (Man Dies in Roof Collapse) December 1885

95/ Bradford Midland Station, (Childs Body in Box) February 1895

A shocking discovery was made at Bradford Midland Station one morning. The eight o’clock London express had just trundled into the station when an unaddressed cardboard box was found under a seat and was dropped off at the cloak-room. Several days later a porter tried to obtain some sort of clue as to the owner, so he opened it. Inside was fully developed child wrapped up in fine linen. Police are investigating.

96/ Kirkstall Road Murder, Leeds, October 1893

On the premises of Messrs.Nichols and Beckworth’s tannery lived a husband and wife by the name of Thompson, who were sort of caretakers. One morning the milkman found Mr Thompson lying in a pool of blood and Mrs Thompson by his side, unconscious, but still breathing. Also nearby was a blood-spattered hammer which was the weapon with which they were attacked. Thompson was already dead, with his skull smashed to pieces and she also had head trauma, with furniture covered in blood, showing that a struggle had taken place. When I said the hammer was nearby, it was actually in another room altogether, the scullery. Police still couldn’t work out what exactly had happened here. It seems that the couple had gone to bed then there was a knock on the door, Mr Thompson went to see who it was and was attacked and battered to death. Then Mrs Thompson was attacked by the same assailant. (Was it ever solved?)

97/ Honley, near Huddersfield, (Gets Off a Murder Charge) April 1892

98/ Bradford Double Suicide, October 1886

Sixty-six-year-old Hetty Robinson and 21-year-old Elizabeth Ann Hirst, mother and daughter, were both discovered drowned in the canal. Hirst, who was married a short while ago, left her husband a note saying she was unable to make him happy and that both she and her Mum had arranged a suicide pact.

99/ Leeds Murder/Suicide, November 1901

John William Langley aged thirty-five of 14, Disraeli Street on Dewsbury Road, killed his wife by slitting her throat with a razor. He then cut his own throat but survived until he was rushed to a hospital, where he died in the operating room. They had separated but then reunited together again. There was a third person involved in this tragedy, and it was another woman in the house at the time Langley did this and she too was threatened with the same fate if she interfered. When Langley cut his throat she ran out and started screaming “Murder!”. Who was the woman? An ex of Langley’s?

100/ Hebden Bridge/Mytholmroyd, (Mutilated Body) November 1876

several children.

101/ Wakefield Prison Suicide, June 1887

Thomas Redfearn was a cattle drover from Penistone was up on a charge of sheep-stealing he was sent to Wakefield Prison. He seemed to be in an OK mood, or so the warder seemed to have thought, because next morning he was hanging in his cell from a gas pipe on the wall, with a noose made from his handkerchief. He wrote these few misspelt lines to his Mum:-

“Eliza Redfearn, the Old Crown Inn- My der mother, I rit thes few lines to you oping find you in good elth as levs me at present, give my best luv to you all. You come and see me sone as you can, I ma not see you a gain from youre affectnot sone, Thomas Redfearn”.

102/ Otley Triple Murder/Suicide, May 1905

At Otley, one Sunday morning, the wife of a police-sergeant named Carter, came running out of her house holding her hands against an awful gash in her throat. Neighbours rushed to her aid and went inside to find the children. All three were dead, with their throats cut by their father and when they found him he lifted the razor and sliced his own throat. The children aged seven, five and three, had their heads smashed in first, then their throats cut. The man and woman were rushed to the hospital and will both survive. Carter got promoted to police-sergeant last month and was sent for an assessment at Menston Asylum. Doctors gave him a clean bill of health and sent him home. (Did they survive?)

103/ Halifax Gasworks Fatality, June 1885

104/ Between Armley/Kirkstall, (Suicide Letter) November 1877

Luke Ripley, a book-keeper, worked for Clough Bros, corn millers of Farnley. He went missing two weeks previously and he had been down in spirits for this period. Sarah Graham, his sister and housekeeper was sent a note by him, which read:

“October 20th, 1877- My Dearest Sarah,- I am an honest man. I had an arrear in my cash last Saturday of 21 shillings, which I can’t make out. I wanted to give it to Mr Clough tonight, but he would not take it, and from the manner in which he spoke to me I fear he suspected me of dishonesty. That I cannot bear. If, after seventeen years of faithful services, he will declare it, I shall soon have to meet my Lord and Judge, who knoweth all things. I trust in him whom I have loved and served, though imperfectly. Dear Sarah, you must struggle on, but it will not be long. I hope and believe we shall meet in heaven. The Lord bless you- Your dear brother, as ever, L.Ripley”. He was found in the river between Armley and Kirkstall.

105/ Harrogate/Leeds, (Death Through Eating Vanilla Sandwich) June 1885

Yesterday morning Emily Chappell aged seventeen, the daughter of a Harrogate draper, died, it is alleged, through eating vanilla sandwiches purchased in Leeds. Mrs Chapell and her youngest children, Annie and Charles, also became ill after partaking of them. The last named soon recovered, but the others remain in a dangerous state.

106/ Whitwood Square Wife Murder, near Wakefield, June 1885

107/ Aire and Calder Canal, near Barnsley, July 1885

Tom Lundy, assistant lineman, employed in the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Telegraph Department at Barnsley, died yesterday at Becket Hospital from injuries received on the previous afternoon whilst bathing in the Aire and Calder near Barnsley. The deceased dived into the water and coming into contact with some hard substance injured his spine.He was single and aged twenty-seven.

108/ Huddersfield Railway Death, August 1885

On Saturday night Tom Parker, a cleaner at the Huddersfield tram-sheds, met with his death in a shocking manner. One of the engines had come into the shed but had got on the wrong line and while it was being shunted onto the right line, Parker somehow got into the pit as the engine being passed over it and before he had time to get out of the way, the engine crushed him so badly that he died on his way to the Infirmary.

109/ Bradford, August 1884 (19th Century Sawn-Off)

A policeman in the Barkerend part of town heard a gunshot at about 5-20 p.m. When he got to the spot where the sound came from, there was a man lying in the road in a pool of blood. He had a gun in his hand, but it never had a barrel. What had happened was, that the gun was put in his mouth and had been loaded so full that the whole back of his head was completely blown away. The barrel was several yards away. The post-mortem examination revealed half a pound of gunpowder in his pocket and a piece of paper with,”Joseph Richard Denton, late of Little Horton” written on it. He was a grey-haired gentleman, about sixty-years-old and smartly dressed.

110/ Fulstone near Holmfirth, (Triple Murder/Suicide) December 1881

111/ Liversedge near Cleckheaton, (Body Found in Mill) October 1883

A mill that was ravaged by fire three years ago and lay in ruins, had two men trespassing in it, for the purpose of getting an old boiler out of it. The grating in front of the boiler had been moved and on checking the inside, they thought it was a dog’s skeleton. They pulled it out and were horrified to see it was human. They fetched police to examine it and it was dressed in women’s clothing and was taken to a nearby inn to await further examination. About two years ago a young lass who worked at a neighbouring mill and who lodged nearby, suddenly vanished off the face of the earth. The persons that she hung around with have all left the district at the same time she disappeared and police are looking for those people to help with their inquiries. (Who was it?)

112/ Bingley Railway Fatality, December 1885

Yesterday afternoon a shocking accident happened on the railway at Bingley near Bradford. As the Barrow express came in, a young woman named Haxby, a servant in the employment of Mr Wildman, manufacturer, was trying to save her dog from harm when she was knocked down by the express and killed instantly. A foreman porter had his arms broken in attempting to save her.  The dog was also killed.

113/ Windhill, Bradford,(Teenage Girls in Canal) November 1891

An inquest was held on the bodies of Minnie Toulmin aged fifteen of Baildon and Alice Worrall aged fourteen from Windhill. Minnie was fired from her job on October 5th and went straight down to the river and dived in and drowned herself. Worrall went to church at eight o’clock on Sunday evening and was seen chatting with a young man. Her father told her to go home, but she didn’t go and was afraid of the consequences. She told others that she would rather drown herself rather than face the wrath of her father. She was later found floating face down in the canal.

114/ Leeds Child Murder, June 1891

 

murder occurred elsewhere.

115/ East Parade Mills Suicide, Huddersfield, September 1885

On Wednesday afternoon Isaac Swallow aged forty-five-years, the station-master at Kirkburton near Huddersfield on the London and North-Western system, went into the yard of East Parade Mills in Huddersfield and there committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol. Deceased, who was a single man, resided with his father at Deighton.

116/ Farnley Forge, Leeds, (Molten Metal Suicide) November 1854

George Towler of Parnley Wood, who was single and twenty-two-years of age had been labouring under insanity for some time.This manifested itself when on a Saturday night when two workmen at the Farnley forge heard a noise at the front of the furnace and looking out the window they saw Towler, stark naked. They tried to grab hold of him but he leapt head-first into the furnace, which had fifty tons of molten metal in it. Try as they might to extract him, it was a few minutes before they pulled out his spinal column and skull. These were charred black and were not even recognisable as being human.

117/ Brotherton Drownings, Pontefract, August 1885

118/ Bradford Teenage Suicide, November 1891

Eliza Keighley aged seventeen from Cowley Road, Windhill, was found drowned in the canal at Windhill. One of her co-workers at the mill, Bertha Holden,  said she was going to look at the body of Alice Worrall (see Windhill, just above). Keighley said in a calm and straightforward voice- “I’m going to drown myself in a day or two” and then made her promise to go and view her body when she was found in the canal. Another witness said she said the same to her and that this was all down to getting paid three shillings instead of eight shillings. She was suspected of fraudulently obtaining a ticket to get the other five shillings, which was being paid back anyway. Keighley refused the money that Mr Ogden, the owner of the mill, was going to give her and he thought that she was acting suspiciously, already having a ticket and told her it didn’t look good against her name. That same day she went and drowned herself.

119/ Leeds, December 1880 (Victorian Immorality)

A couple of cases went through the Leeds Corporation (Watch Committee) that sort of defy belief. The first one was a fourteen-year-old girl whose own father was the parent of her child! Even worse was to follow when a girl of sixteen, who shared a room with her Dad and brother, also became pregnant. The father of the child was either her father or the brother, she didn’t know which! These are times when women or girls had very little say in society and children were seen in most cases as a hindrance to the family. There was no contraception of any kind as we know it today and abortions would be some kind of back-street operation, that sometimes ended in death as they were botched up.

120/ Leeds Fatal Shootings, May 1885

121/ Roebuck Inn Human Remains, Bradford, July 1870

Workmen were knocking down some old buildings near to Market Street and Ivegate. One of the men was helping to demolish one that was adjoining the Roebuck Inn when his pick-axe went through the floor of the old inn and into an upper room used as a waste-room. He spotted a pair of human skeletons and he carried on chipping away, eventually, they were reduced to small pieces among the rest of the rubbish. Two human skulls remained intact, one female and one male, and a pair of arm bones. (Does anyone know who or where the skeletons now are?)

122/ Kirkstall Forge Ironworks near Leeds, (Shocking Death) March 1853

A horrific accident occurred at the Kirkstall Forge Ironworks near Leeds, to twenty-eight-year-old William Merritt, who worked near a steam-powered shaft that rotated a piece of metal for some purpose or other. Merritts clothes got snagged on this rotating shaft and he was spun round and round at a heel of a rate of knots. When he was taken from the machinery, the trunk of his body was in one part of the room and his head was in another. Also, one of his arms was torn off.

123/ Leeds Manslaughter, March 1885

124/ Bradford Teenage Suicide, November 1892

Fourteen-year-old Edith Walker Bell committed suicide by drowning herself in the canal, all for the love of a boy her own age. She had been seeing the boy next door for quite a while, but when she strolled in late one night she told her Dad that she had been kept behind at work. The father shouted at her that he’d seen her with the boy and not to lie to him, also stating that she was far too young for this type of thing and told her to split up with the boy the very next day. While at work the following day she told a mate of hers that she was off down to the canal, and left a letter addressed to the boy telling him to stay away from her house as her father would “give him a good hiding”. That was the last time anyone saw her alive.

125/ Halifax, (Love-sick Suicide) December 1893

A twenty-two-year-old shop assistant Blanche Edith Shackleton was taken ill one day, then was found dead the following day. On a search of her things, there was a bottle marked “Poison”, which was now empty. The previous day it was three-quarters full and was in a cupboard in the house. Obviously, for young Victorian suicides, it was all down to the love of a man. This man had now left the Halifax area. She left a melancholy letter explaining the situation and her feelings.It read:

“Dear Father and Mother- My punishment is greater than I can bear. I know that I do not deserve any sympathy, but I cannot face this terrible disgrace. Try and think of me kindly. I am not all to blame, although I confess I have sinned past forgiveness. I will try to atone in the other world. When you find this I shall have gone to meet my maker. I have been very happy with you, and have only myself to blame in one respect. Use all my things as you think best. All that is left is yours…..Please pay my doctor’s bill, and try to think kindly of me, Goodbye.- Your broken-hearted, Edith”. (I think she was pregnant as well)

126/ Wakefield, (Carefully Planned Double Suicide) February 1847

George Hampson aged twenty-five, tin-plate worker, had been seeing Susan Morton, twenty-one years of age, for three years and they both lived in Wakefield.

Hampson went to see his girlfriend one evening, but she was feeling ill and she was subject to fainting fits anyway. She asked her sister, Fanny, and Hampson who had hung around, if they wanted to go for a breath of fresh air at around ten p.m. All three went out and Fanny left them alone and went to stay with a friend after half an hour or so, then Hampson and Morton went back to her house. On Saturday morning, a hat and two coats were found on the banks of the Barnsley Canal near the bridge which crosses to Heath Wood. The bodies were close by and they were tied together with four handkerchiefs, embraced in each other’s arms. The knots were behind the girl’s back, which means he tied them up and in his pocket was a pistol loaded with two bullets, powder etc., and a soft paste-like substance was found as well. This all seems to have been carefully planned by the two of them and they took all the options with them to commit suicide.

127/ Leeds Executions, January 1890

 

128/  Holmestyes Reservoir, Holmfirth, (Suicide Before Wedding) October 1880

23-year-old Amos Sykes from Holme near Holmfirth had been working at Oughty Bridge and came home on Friday morning, as the Saturday was his wedding day. His mother said that he seemed quieter than usual but there was no indication that he would do anything to himself. Elizabeth Bennett saw him near Holmestyes Reservoir at two p.m on Friday and he was not seen again till the Saturday morning when Ben Earnshaw saw him floating on top of Reservoir. The body was taken to the Moss Hotel where an inquest was held. On Saturday, the wedding party got together, but the groom didn’t appear and the wedding was cancelled. Apparently, insanity ran in the family, as about six years ago an uncle drowned himself in the same reservoir. On the body of Amos Sykes was a pen-knife and it was the same pen-knife that was found on his uncle when they dragged him out of the reservoir.

129/ Stanningley/Farsley, September 1869

 

130/ Bingley Child Murder, April 1894

It never ceases to amaze me, how bloody callous and cruel some of the Victorian parents were to their children. I know it happens today, but they just killed new-born children and dumped them like an old mattress would be dumped nowadays. This one is no different. Ruth Ann Oddy and Martha M.Newall both from Shipley and both married, decided to get rid of Oddy’s child in just such a fashion. The poor little creature was strangled by a piece of twine around its neck, then dumped in the canal at Bingley. When they were questioned about the child they confessed immediately. They also told how they put the infant in a basket in a cellar while they decided what to do with it. Oddy tried to smother it first, then after this failed she tied the twine around its neck and strangled it. Then she gave Newall a shilling to dump it in a canal, as far away as possible.

131/ Burley near Otley, (Asylum Escapee’s Suicide) December 1862

A female lunatic named Hodgson from Bradford, made a daring escape from the asylum where she was an inmate. She evaded her attendants and ran towards the River Wharfe going past the lodge which leads to the asylum. The woman who lives there heard the gate close and thought it was her daughter coming back, but then she saw the image of a female running across the road from Burley to Ilkley, then jump into the River Wharfe. She went to look for her but found nothing. A bit further up the river, a man named Mason and some mates of his, saw some female attire by the river-side. They saw her flapping about and threw her a leather strap but she shoved it away, screamed a few more times and then sank. She was discovered next day near to the place she jumped in.

132/ Dean St.Mills, Leeds, (Boiler Explosion) September 1885

133/ Lowmoor Coal & Iron Company Suicide, Bradford, November 1882

An awful case of suicide was discovered at the Lowmoor Coal and Iron Company at Bradford, the victim being 28-year-old William Clegg. He was a boiler-firer at the works but had been depressed about something recently. He got to work at about two a.m. he got to work and stoked up the boiler to get the steam going, they went to his brother’s house, where he resided and had a sleep. His brother went to his work at 6-15 a.m. and told William to have a lie-in, but at 6-40 a.m. a workman by the name of Crowther saw him climbing a ladder to the blast furnace. He shouted up at him, but Clegg ignored him, so Crowther went to get his brother. When they got there he’d disappeared, so John Collins went up to have a look. He recoiled in horror and he saw the skull, teeth and larger bones were floating on the top of the fire. They tried to save portions of the man but as soon as it was picked out, the bones simply crumbled to bits.

134/ Hunslet Lane, Leeds, (Dreadful Death)  July 1858

An appalling accident happened at Mr Pratt’s Timber Yard in Hunslet Lane, when James McDonald, a workman there, was torn to shreds. McDonald worked in the saw-mill and he was there on Saturday afternoon trying to replace a strap on one of the drums. He tried this while it was in motion, so it was kind of his own fault, but his arm got entangled and he got pulled around the shaft. His body was mangled and torn to bits. They tried to get the body out in one piece but the legs fell off as soon as he was removed and both arms were crushed, as was the rest of the body. There wasn’t a bone that was not broken or smashed up, by the poor fellow’s terrible ending.

135/ Marsh Mills Foundry (Chimney Fall), Cleckheaton,  February 1892

The workmen on the foundry and machinery side of the estate having escaped injury, they at once

136/ Bradford, (Overkill Suicide) November 1891

This is a sad story of the suicide of an 18-year-old woman named Louisa Wade who poisoned herself at Bradford. She was seeing a school-master named Harry Turner for around six months, but about a week ago she got a letter from Turner saying that he wanted to break up with her. The doctor was told by the girl that she took a teaspoonful of strychnine, which could easily kill a hundred people or more. This is the fourth case of suicide of a girl in Bradford within the past week.

137/ Ivegate, Bradford, (Suicide) November 1870

Rose Hannah Atkinson aged eighteen came from Liverpool to Bradford as she had got a job as a chambermaid at Joseph Hartley’s eating house at Ivegate in Bradford. She had a terrible habit of not putting the money the customers gave her for their meals in the till, but keeping it for herself. Mrs Hartley told her that enough was enough and to leave the premises the next day. Atkinson became depressed at the fact that she was miles from home, no money and no job. While she was packing her stuff she thought that suicide was the best option and she plummeted from the sixth storey window onto the pavement below. When lifted up, her right arm was fractured and she had a stocking fastened around her neck, and one leg was bare, the other on her leg. She was taken to hospital but died half an hour after being admitted. “Temporary Insanity.”

138/ Leeds Bank Murder, March 1920

 

139/ Princess’s Concert Hall Cannonball Accident, Leeds, February 1880

John Holtum, a gymnast, who is widely known as the “King of the Cannon”, laid down a bet of £50 to anyone who could do what he does and catch a cannon-ball fired from a cannon. Yes it’s true! Elijah Fenton was in the Princess’s Concert Hall one night and he thought he could do it. Three men stood up with him and Elijah went first. The seven-pound cannonball was fired at him, while he was six yards away and he gave the ready call, but this cannon-ball smacked him on the head and knocked him unconscious. He was taken to hospital as a precaution but he seemed to deteriorate quickly. It was discovered that his skull had been fractured and the chances of him living were remote. Holtum ended up in court promising not to do the act again, but he mentioned that he’d been doing it for several years and nobody was ever injured. (Did Fenton die?)

140/ Bradford Tram Accident, November 1885

141/ Gelderd Road Suicide, Leeds,  November 1864

Twenty-two-year-old George Hibbert Lawton was a hotel waiter at Garrett’s Boarding House in Wellington Street, Leeds. Here he met one of the maid’s, Priscilla Garnett, and they soon became an item. A couple of months ago they got jobs elsewhere, he went to the Saddle Hotel and she went to the Wellington Hotel in Leeds. He had asked her to marry him a couple of times but she said no, due to a lack of a roof over their head. He went to the Wellington Hotel to ask her a third, and last, time. Again she refused his offer and this time he completely lost it, saying that she was lucky to be on her boss’s premises otherwise he “would have made an end of her”. Lawton stormed out saying that she would never see him again, and Priscilla thought no more of it and went back to work. His body was found on the line on the railway bridge which crosses Gelderd Road in Leeds. He calmly laid his cap at the side of the rails, placed his head on the line and let the engine run over his head. The skull popped like a zit and brain matter was found a couple of yards away. In his pocket was a letter to “J.H.Lawton, Wellington Hotel, Wellington St, Leeds”.

“9, Wellington street, Mrs Wood’s Temperance Hotel-

Whoever finds this my Boady make it none at wonce and convey it To the Wellington Hotel, Wellington Street, Leeds and My god have Mercy on My soul and My god grant my power Father soport under this Afflection. Priscilla Garnett is the cause of this. I will aunt her at night she as something To answer for-signed G.H.Lawton.

The father who lives in Cheshire and was in such poverty that he had to walk to the inquiry, said that he’d always been of weak mind and an illness three months ago made him worse.

142/ Kirkgate Railway Station Suicide, Wakefield, February 1882

A complete stranger to the area of Wakefield aged in his mid-thirties went into a waiting room at Kirkgate Railway Station and proceeded to blow his brains out with a revolver. One clue to his identity was the buttons on his trousers had a tailors address in Ludgate Hill, London plus a couple of bills with London addresses on them. On the Sunday at 3-45 p.m. he asked the porter, James Clarke, where there was a fire at the station as he was freezing cold. He told him to go to the waiting room and he followed the instructions. John Longbottom, another porter, was lighting the gas-lamps when he heard a gunshot from the waiting room. He was found on the floor, groaning in agony, with a large hole in his forehead and blood oozing from the wound. Dr Hollings was summoned to examine the body, which had pieces of the brain that had gone through the hole into his hat. He lingered on till about 6-45, then passed away, with the body whisked off to the Mortuary. There was no letter or identification left on the body, but some loose change, a box of cartridges, notebook, purse and a photo of a female. It was premeditated suicide and he was determined that he wouldn’t be identified after his death. (Who was he?)

143/ Huddersfield Railway Station Death, August 1885

144/ Leeds Wife Murder, August 1890

At Leeds Assizes on Monday, Samuel Harris aged thirty was charged with the murder of his wife at Leeds on the 9th of May. The prisoner and his wife had lived unhappily together and he had been in prison for assaulting her. On the day named, he suddenly attacked her with a knife, inflicting seventeen wounds. He also attempted to murder his child. He was found guilty and sentenced to death.

145/ Berry Brow, Huddersfield, (Attempted Murder/Suicide) July 1895

Berry Brow, a suburb of Huddersfield, was the scene on Tuesday of an attempted murder and suicide of a fish-hawker, named Fenton Rowbottom aged fifty-six. He had been married thirty years and was separated from his wife whom he assaulted and threatened on several occasions. He went to the cottage where she was living with her three daughters. Being foiled in an attempt to gain admission, he waited until his wife opened an upstairs window to tell him that she would have nothing more to do with him and he then discharged a pistol full in her face. He ran off and was subsequently found in a lonely lane quite dead, having shot himself through the head. The pistol was loaded with gravel instead of shot. Mrs Rowbottom will survive.

146/ Walsden near Todmorden, (Three Lads Drown) July 1889

Early on Saturday morning, three little boys named James Stephenson, Abraham Crossley and Ernest Greenwood were found dead at Gadden’s Mill dam near Walsden. The boys were last seen alive on Friday at noon by their parents who thought they were going to gather bilberries. It is presumed that they fell into the water accidentally.

147/ Holme Lane Chapel Death, Bradford, December 1885

 

148/  Saltaire near Bradford  (Horrific Accident)  August 1870.

149/  Brighouse Railway Death,   October 1870.

150/  Murder in Bradford, December 1870 ( Patrick Riley was found guilty and was sentenced to death a couple of days later)

151/ Four Die in Hunslet Gas Accident,  November 1870. (Jury Verdict, later on, deemed it to be “Accidental Death”)