4 days ago
'Tales of frightful beastliness' from the Island and beyond
The Victorians loved stories of ghastly horridness in their newspapers, and Fleet Street's finest were only too glad to feed their appetite.
Even our very own County Press carried tales of frightful beastliness, usually under the umbrella of The Week's News.
We begin with this cheery County Press item from May, 1885.
It reads: 'Two persons committed suicide at the Eiffel Tower this week."
It went on to explain just how.
Read more:
'Destructive' fire in Wroxall and more in days gone by
'Worst ever" Cowes Week firework display and more in days gone by
It's Newport High Street in Edwardian times and looking very familiar to readers of a certain age who will all remember Timothy Whites, The Lamb and the Bugle. All that's missing are traffic lights and an endless stream of traffic. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) On July 24, 1886, The Week's News carried this cheery item: 'A boy named Bartlett was assisting his father in feeding a threshing machine on a farm in Paignton, Devon, on Tuesday, when his scarf became entangled in the revolving bar of the machine and before it could be stopped...."
The rest was a gory account.
In December 1892, this tantalising letter appeared. Sadly, what lay behind it, we shall never know.
'Sir, I would like to thank the roughs of St Helens for their courtesy to me last Thursday night, the 24th of November, and also to apologise for not giving them their desired pleasure by turfing me out of the village.
'I hope that the time will soon come when St Helens will be wholly civilised.
Not much of this scene exists today. Taken in 1905, it shows Pan Bridge at its junction with South Street and Furrlongs. The photographer is stood on the access road to today's KFC and Matalan. All the houses in South Street and Lower Pyle Street have long gone. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) 'Yours obediently, sufferer.'
On April 28, 1894, The Week's News ran this truly wonderful item.
'An inquest was held on Thursday on the body of Owen Williams, 42, who earned money by frequenting public houses and swallowing bottles, saucers, and other things.
'Evidence was given that the man died from internal obstruction, and that a post-mortem examination revealed inside him, numerous pieces of cork and tin foil, a lead bullet, a piece of string with corks attached, eight bronze pennies, pipe stems and a piece of leather nine inches long with a hook at each end.
'A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned.'
On November 26, 1898, under the headline: A Stray Cow, the County Press reported: 'Frank Rose, dairyman of Shide, was charged with permitting a cow to stray in Pan-lane.
A quiet morning in a very different Sandown High Street, seen here in 1910. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) 'PC Kenny gave evidence and attributed the wanderings of the cow to faulty fences round the field occupied by defendant.
'Defendant denied the charge. When told he could be sworn, he replied: No, I don't want to swear, Sir (laughter).
'The Bench inflicted a fine of 2s. 6d. and 4s. costs, in default, seven days in gaol.'
It appears there is some truth in the proverbial stories involving lovesick farm workers and nervous sheep.
In October 1898, 15-year-old George Cooke of Chale was, in the oh so discrete words of the County Press, charged with an unnatural offence.
In a report headed: A Shocking Charge, the County Press declared: 'Edmund Linington, who works at Atherfield Farm, said that on the previous Wednesday evening as he was leaving the sheepfold in a field at Atherfield, he saw the prisoner walk into the field.
Again, not the best quality photo. This photograph, taken from a glass negative, shows Queen Victoria visiting Ryde during her Jubilee Year. The procession is just passing the premises of photographers Hughes and Mullins whose enamel sign is still plainly visible today, high up on the side of the building. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) 'He concealed himself and saw the defendant enter the fold and commit the offence.
'Prisoner said: I can't understand what made me do it, and when asked by his father if he was guilty of the charge, he replied: I suppose I am. Yes, I am guilty.
'Prisoner was committed for trial at Winchester and was given bail.'
Well, usually the County Press carried full reports of Winchester trials involving Islanders, especially lurid ones like this, but they were short of space the next week and simply reported on how George Cooke was bound over under the First Offender's Act.
Finally, on September 30, 1899, The Week's News told the sad tale of 'The Tragic Death of a Doctor'.
It read: 'The death of Dr John Dick of Eastbourne, under distressing and extraordinary circumstances, is reported.
On the 14th inst. the doctor made up a bottle of medicine for a lady patient, which she believed was poisoned, as a dose she had taken made her very ill.
'To disprove her statement the doctor himself drank a portion of the contents of the bottle and then left for home on his bicycle.'
It was not a good move.
'As Dr Dick pedalled home, he began to feel ill, and by the time he arrived he was foaming at the mouth.
'Putting two and two together, he called for a stomach pump, but it was too late, and he died the next morning.
The County Press filled in the details: 'The subsequent inquest was told that the medicine which deceased had partaken contained strychnine and not the chloroform which he said he had used.
'It appeared that the bottles in Dr Dick's surgery containing these solutions were identical in appearance.
'The jury decided the fatality was due to strychnine poisoning.'
'And on that note, good health!'
