A Burglar Caught by a Skeleton & Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press (12 page)

A curious discovery was made at Birmingham on the 9th inst. An old man, named William Owen, who has been living by himself for the last eight or nine months at Hockley Hill, and been known in the neighbourhood as the ‘old miser,’ was visited on Wednesday by the relieving officer, as he was in necessitous circumstances.

The officer noticed in one of the rooms a large box, and was informed by Owen, on his being pressed, that it contained the body of his sister, Ellen Perry, who died in Islington Workhouse in 1863.

His sister always had a horror of being buried by the parish, and she was promised by Owen that she should be buried in Birmingham. He had the body enclosed in a zinc and wooden coffin, and brought to Birmingham, where he expected the family to help him defray the expenses of the funeral, but as they did not do so he determined to keep the corpse in the house as long as he lived.

This he had done, and when he moved from one district to another some months ago, the box containing the coffin was taken with the other things.

Owen was always an object of considerable curiosity and suspicion, and for 15 years no one entered his door. He lived in one room, and was never known to have a light in the house.

As the certificate of his sister’s death was in Owen’s possession, no inquest will be held. The man has been taken to the Workhouse.

The Western Gazette
, Yeovil, January 18, 1884

Singular Circumstance Attending the Birth of a Child

A curious incident occurred in a family the other day at Birkenhead, in which a husband actually lost his reason with excessive joy at the announcement that he had become a father.

The man is a joiner, and resides in Brook Street, Birkenhead. It appears that on Monday night last week, he returned home from his work, when he was informed that his ‘better-half’ had borne him a child.

The circumstance, although by no means unexpected, seemed instantly to produce a most joyous effect upon his mind, for he immediately danced and jumped about the room in a very excited state.

He was then told that his wife required a plaster for her chest, when he hurried to a druggist’s shop for the purpose of obtaining it. Whilst in the shop his manner appeared frantic, and after shouting that the police were pursuing him, he rushed out of the premises.

Nothing was heard of the man for two days, although a diligent search was made for him, but on Wednesday night he made his appearance at his own house, and had scarcely entered when the cries of his new-born child were heard, which produced on him the greatest excitement.

Without speaking to any one, he sallied forth into the yard, where he stripped himself of all his apparel, except his shirt and trousers, which he threw into an adjoining yard. He then rushed out of the house, and fled in the direction of Claughton Park, after which he was seen to enter a plantation at Bidston.

Several parties were deputed to endeavour to discover his whereabouts, but although he had been seen rambling about Bidston Hill in his wild and naked state, none of them succeeded in securing him.

On Friday morning, after being worn out with hunger and fatigue, he entered a small cottage at the foot of Bidston, kept by a person named Davies, and requested to be supplied with some milk. An old woman, pitying the forlorn condition of the wretched man, prepared him some bread and milk, which he ate with avidity, after which he again made his way into the plantation.

On the following morning, Davies met the maniac on the top of Bidston, and after a few words of salutation, the latter inquired whether he (Davies) had seen anything of the police. Being replied to in the negative, he asked to be taken to the old woman who had, on the previous day, supplied him with the bread and milk. Davies at once induced him to accompany him to his house, where the old woman again served him with a quantity of food. He was afterwards persuaded to retire to rest, and he slept soundly until 11 o’clock.

At this time the man presented a most wretched aspect, his feet and legs being torn and lacerated by walking amongst the briars in the plantation.

Whilst he was asleep, Davies sent word to his friends, who despatched a cab to convey him home, but he would not consent to leave the house, unless the old woman who had generously supplied him with bread and milk accompanied him.

After reaching the afflicted family, medical assistance was promptly secured, and although he had since suffered much from illness, he is now in a fair way of recovery.

The Kendal Mercury
, January 17, 1852

A London Mystery

Mr Lushington, the Bow Street magistrate, has received a letter from Captain Lewsey, of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, which tells a very strange story. He states that last Wednesday evening his wife took the 6.30pm train from Newport to London, taking with her her little boy Harold, aged four years.

She arrived at Paddington at 11.40pm, and drove to an hotel. She left the child there, and went out to make some small purchase. She then tried to return to the hotel, but failed to find it.

Though every endeavour has been made to discover the hotel, nothing can be heard of it, and the Scotland Yard authorities, in whose hands the matter has been placed, have been unable to trace the whereabouts of the child.

As a last resource, Capt Lewsey communicated with Mr Lushington, asking that the matter might be mentioned by the Press.

The Leicester Chronicle and Leicestershire Mercury
, September 5, 1896

A Real Romance in Humble Life

Seven years ago, an old Scotchman, named, we believe, Allison, arrived in the township of Underskiddaw, near Keswick, and located himself in Milbeck, at the foot of the majestic Skiddaw.

He obtained work as a labourer from a farmer, and after some time contrived to leave some little money from his earnings in the hands of his employer. One day the old man asked for his cash, saying, ‘I have a son in Scotland who could assist me in my work, and I want to bring him here.’ The amount was paid and Allison departed, and in a short time returned with his son ‘Tom.’

Tom apparently, was an awkward sort of a lad; still he worked with his father in draining and all other kinds of labourers’ employment. Some two years ago he worked with a great number of labourers, in deepening Bassenthwaite beck.

Tom, now and then, was apt to show the white feather, and his father would call out, ‘Tom, Tom, what ev’r ye aboot? Git on wi’ yer work.’ The youth’s general reply was, ‘Mind yer oon.’

The father and son lived together in a cabin quite cosily. Tom was also a frolicsome sort of a fellow; he went in company with the ‘lads of the village,’ and played off all kinds of nocturnal pranks, sweethearting the girls, drinking his glass, singing his song, and smoking his pipe; nothing came amiss to Tom. He courted, it is said, a young woman for 18 months. Our hero was quite a ‘character.’

Tom’s career as a young man was not, however, doomed to last for ever, for in the early part of last week ‘Tom’ unexpectedly gave birth to a fine child, to the astonishment of the whole neighbourhood.

Tom’s sex having never once been suspected, his female neighbours would scarcely believe their organs of vision after being called in, even when they found this extraordinary mother suckling the child, from the shortness of the crop of hair and appearing in unmentionables. The old man, we are informed, owns to the paternity of the offspring which has thus brought to light the sex of this rural celebrity. It has been said that since this auspicious event some of those who have occasionally employed Tom are overwhelmed with vexation at the notion of their having paid him from 2s to 3s per day, in place of 1s 6d, a woman’s ordinary wage.

The Huddersfield Chronicle
, September 13, 1856

FOOD and DRINK

Preface