Free A Burglar Caught by a Skeleton & Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press by Jeremy Clay

lambs were washed. In this operation Mr Cowley and several of his labourers were employed.
    After assisting her son in the preparation of the soap and arsenic, Mrs Cowley proceeded to make a batter pudding for the dinner of her family and the labourers and servants. By some means as yet unaccounted for, it appears that some arsenic must have become mixed with the pudding, for the whole of the persons who partook of it, ten in number, became violently sick just after dinner, and exhibited all the symptoms of being poisoned.
    The best medical assistance in the neighbourhood was procured, but one man has already died, and another is not expected to survive; the others are all more or less affected.
    The Leeds Mercury , July 16, 1862

    Hilarious Burglars
    A remarkable siege has just been sustained by a villa at Passy, the owner of which is away in the country.
    Three burglarious youths entered the place, and pillaged the house from ground floor to garret. They might have got off with their booty, but the attractions of the larder and the wine cellar were too much for them.
    They feasted on the good things which had been left behind by the family, and finished up with Burgundy, champagne, and prime cognac.
    Then they lit the gas, danced, became maudlin, and sang songs, the strains of which floated on the night wind and awoke some neighbours, who sent for the police.
    Twenty ‘agents’ of the law surrounded the villa with revolvers cocked. Nevertheless they seemed afraid to move, as the drunken burglars threatened them from the windows, and they were loath to act without the instructions of their Inspector.
    That respectable functionary was in bed, and instead of getting up he told the policeman who had called him to keep the house well surrounded until morning.
    At an early hour the Inspector rose, and with the aid of his own men, of the milk-distributors, and of the early risers of the locality generally, went into the house and handcuffed the youthful miscreants, who were helplessly intoxicated. They had kept the policemen at bay during the night by exhibiting two rusty swords and a flintlock pistol.
    The Dundee Courier and Argus , August 30, 1888

    A Drunken Child
    On Wednesday morning a child about seven years old was admitted into the East Dispensary, Liverpool, insensible. The boy was the son of an organ grinder, and had gone into a public house for the purpose of making a collection, when several drinks of whiskey were given to him by the customers, and he fell to the ground.
    He was attended to by the doctor, remained in the institution a considerable time, and afterwards was taken home by his parents, still suffering from the effects of the spirits he had consumed.
    The Citizen , Gloucester, December 18, 1890

    A Priest’s Ruse
    A clever trick was practised on Wednesday night by Father Nugent, a well-known Catholic priest, in Liverpool. An entertainment was given in the League Hall, Liverpool, in celebration of St Patrick’s Day, to about 3,000 persons.
    When all had assembled Father Nugent gave orders to close and lock all the doors, and all means of exit were accordingly kept shut until after eleven o’clock, the time at which the public-houses close. Father Nugent is a great promoter of temperance organisations in the town.
    The North and South Shields Gazette and Daily Telegraph , March 20, 1875

    ‘Real Italian’ Ice Cream
    Some time ago the Lancet published certain startling revelations concerning the loathsome conditions under which ice creams are prepared by Italian vendors in London.
    Now, an exhaustive inquiry into the same subject has just been completed by Dr Macfadyen, of the British Institute of Preventive Medicine, and by Mr Colwell, F.I.C. Their report states among other things that microscopical examination revealed the following delectables: Bed bugs, bugs’ legs, fleas, straw, human hair, cats’ and dogs’ hairs, coal dust, woollen and linen fibre, tobacco, scales of epithelium, and