A Burglar Caught by a Skeleton & Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press (44 page)

Gruesome Curiosity.

Fall Through a Mortuary Skylight

On Thursday evening a peculiar incident occurred at the Hartlepool Mortuary. Two young working men, in their overweening desire to inspect the mangled remains of Mr Riley (whose sad death was recorded yesterday), repaired thither.

Finding the door locked, the more venturesome of the pair climbed on to the roof to peer through the skylight. Whilst so engaged, the glass gave way beneath his weight, and he fell through the aperture on to the top of the dead body, himself receiving rather severe cuts from the broken glass.

The door being locked, the inquisitive intruder could only be liberated on his companion fetching the police.

The Yorkshire Evening Post
, August 26, 1893

An Unfortunate Depositor

A peculiar incident in connection with the recent bank failures has occurred at Wigan. A few weeks ago an old man, who had deposited his savings in the Wigan branch of Parr’s Banking Company, became alarmed as to the security of his money, and like a large number of persons situated in a similar position in the district, determined to withdraw the amount.

Accordingly, on presenting himself at the Wigan Bank, he received the sum in notes, seven £100 and four £5 notes, total £720. Yesterday the depositor attended at the bank with his notes in a sad mess. On taking home the cash he appears to have placed the notes in a drawer in the house, where they were got at by the mice, and these little animals have had an expensive meal, all of the notes are more or less eaten away.

The notes will be forwarded to the Bank of England, and everything done to enable the man to recover his money.

The Edinburgh Evening News
, December 17, 1878

A Dangerous Experiment

Whilst the gallows in Duke Street Prison, Glasgow, which was to be used to-day for the execution of the Port Glasgow murderers, was being tested under the personal direction of Marwood, one of the workmen put his head into the noose. Scarcely had he done so, when either his foot slipped or the trap gave way, and unfortunately the man got a drop that almost hanged him.

The Manchester Evening News
, May 23, 1883

Extraordinary Adventure of a Runaway Boy

A boy named Edward Light, ten years of age, has been received into the Bedminster Union Workhouse reduced almost to a skeleton, and who was discovered in the trunk of a tree at Long Ashton.

He tells a most extraordinary and well nigh incredible story. He stated that about a week since he left home because he had spent his school-money, and having been pushed into some water in the People’s Park he walked about until the evening, when he pulled his boots off because they were wet, and crept for shelter into the hollow trunk of an elm-tree.

His feet then became benumbed and swollen, so that he could not put on his boots and could not walk, and he was unable to extricate himself from his voluntary prison. All he could do was to put his hand through a hole in the tree to endeavour to attract attention, and it was this signal and his moans which at last brought him aid.

He was rescued by two men named Bryant and Cook, employed by the Bedminster Coal Company, and was taken in a conveyance to the workhouse. The boy asserts that he was in the trunk of the tree from the day he left home until he was discovered – six days – without food. He has not been allowed to take any solid food yet, but is progressing satisfactorily, though he will probably lose some of his toes.

His parents state that the boy had a good home, that there was no reason for his leaving, and they had been searching for him since the day he was missed.

The boy adheres to his statement that he was in the tree on the Ashton Court Estate from Friday, the 18th December, till Christmas Eve, when his cries were heard. The first day he ate some orange-peel which he had in his pocket. Whenever he heard carts passing on the nearest road he shouted, but his cries were not heard.

He got worse and worse, and suffered greatly from thirst. He was able to lie down in the hollow of the tree trunk, but his hands and feet during the hard frost had got so numbed that he could not use them. He felt worse when the frost came, and he cried all night, and could not sleep.

When the hard weather broke he felt a little better, and then his cries were at last heard by the children in the adjoining lane. He has been visited by his parents, but he cannot yet be removed from the Bedminster Workhouse Infirmary.

The Illustrated Police News
, January 9, 1886

American Railway Disaster.

A Singular Explanation

A Chicago telegram says: A confession has been made by a boy, throwing light on the cause of the fatal accident which occurred on the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railway last Thursday evening, when the Vestibule express ran into a Blue Island suburban train, wrecking two cars, with disastrous results to life and limb.

The boy, who is only twelve years old, admits that he threw from the rear of the wrecked train a signal fuse, which, it seems, was in the nature of a notification to the train following the suburban train that it was behind time.

The result was that the driver of the express increased speed instead of slacking as he would otherwise have done. The boy declares that he did not know what the signal was for, and has been released. Of the seventeen persons injured in the accident seven have since died, bringing up the total loss of life to twelve.

The Evening Telegraph and Star
, Sheffield, November 14, 1893

Fearful Situation of a Female Somnambulist

On Tuesday last week a scene of a harrowing nature was witnessed by many of the inhabitants of Budingen, in Germany. A young lady, named Dorothea Lessing, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, has, for several months past, been in the habit of walking in her sleep. After perambulating for an hour or so in an unconscious state, she usually returned to her sleeping chamber without experiencing any mishap. Not so, however, on the night in question.

It would appear on this occasion that she opened the window of her bedroom, and afterwards endeavoured to cross a small iron bridge which connects the upper storeys of some warehouses to those on the other side of the street. The bridge, which is constructed of very slender ironwork, had not been used for some time, in consequence of a fracture near its centre.

The supposition is that it vibrated beneath the weight of the sleepwalker; but this is merely conjecture. It is certain, however, from some cause or another, that Dorothea Lessing lost her footing, and must have fallen into the street below had not her wrist been caught in one of the apertures of the ironwork. By this she was suspended. A piercing shriek aroused several of the inhabitants of the town, who were horrified at beholding a beauteous young woman in such imminent peril.

The burgomasters, some of whom chanced to be upon the spot, hastened to secure a ladder, which was not sufficiently long for the purpose. Another was brought by a neighbour, the two were lashed together, and the unconscious young lady – who had fainted from fear and pain – was with difficulty released. One of the bones of the right arm is seriously injured. The shock to the system is so severe that great doubts are entertained respecting her ultimate recovery.

The Illustrated Police News
, February 19, 1870