Suicide

[Redroger]

My grandmother died in 1901, my father then aged two was fostered by his aunt. He returned to Boston in 1919 after WW1 to work on the railway at the loco depot. From the depot you could see the house where my grandmother died, every day he was at work (most) from 1919 until 1964 he would pass that house at least twice a day, and sometimes many more times. He never said a word about it, when I told my mother in 1997 I don't think she knew either.

[harridene]

Although harrowing reading it really is worth going for the newspaper report. All witnesses and some relatives are mentioned. Also look for the funeral notice. In those days, especially in tragic cases, the newshounds were there at the funeral and all who attended and their relationship to the deceased are mentioned and also all the floral tributes named are given. In my case I found a whole new set of relatives I did not know existed. Also if you have an exact date of death, for a small fee, most libraries will look at their microfiche for the week or so following the death and will print off the report and post it to you. Look for the nearest main library to the death scene and the major newspaper of the time. Good Luck

[genuisscuffy]

Thank you for all your comments - I will write and see if they can help.

[pinkthistle1]

One of my guys tried to kill his wife in 1905 and all the local paper gave him was 4 lines on his sentencing which i thought was strange till I realised most of the others sentenced on the same day had been charged with the same thing  he only got a year in jail too!
What i thought was the most interesting though was i applied to the national archives, in my case Scotland, and was sent his trial papers..he had pleaded insanity so there were statements from neighbours, doctors, 4 police officers, the wife, her sisters...but the most harrowing was the statement from the 3 year old son who said ' i saw daddy trying to cut my mammys head off' The kids then end up n care as she recovers and it takes her years to get them back..
brilliant stuff, but really sad.

[genuisscuffy]

Oh wow - bet you was really surprised when you read that - I know people say things like that didnt happen as much in the olden times - but that just proves them wrong!

[Redroger]

We researchers often find that contrary to the wishes of the Sun and the rest of the gutter end of the press, there is much less violent crime now than there was 100 years ago. Drug addiction is much less now than then, you have only to read Sherlock Holmes to get an idea of the incidence. Even Queen Victoria was an opium addict, took it to ease the pain of childbirth and got hooked!

[Nick29]

True, but there is a world of difference between smoking unrefined opium and crack cocaine and crystal meth.  Probably similar proportions of addicts, but we now have much nastier drugs.

[cardinal1977]

My Great grandfather's younger brother committed suicide in 1926 by jumping into the Thames. I subsequently found 2 newspaper articles on it, however the only reason i believe it managed to get any press cover at all was because the suicide letter he left was initially attributed to the wrong man.

It occured to me that this other guy who done the same thing within a day of my ancestor, wasn't even named in the newspaper cutting and his death only seemed to have been mentioned as as back gorund story for the administrative cock up that ensued.

Poor guy, I've often wondered who he was and why he did what he did   

[Redroger]

If you read Sherlock Holmes you will know that Holmes was himself a cocaine addict by injection this c 1900 or before!