The Burglar Caught by a Skeleton: And Other Singular Tales From the Victorian Press by Jeremy Clay

Author:Jeremy Clay
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Europe, History, Great Britain, General, Modern
ISBN: 9781848316003
Publisher: Icon Books, Limited
Published: 2013-09-05T07:00:00+00:00

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LIFE AND DEATH

France

A remarkable case of mistaken identity is reported from

Fecamp. The body of a man was found recently in the Rue de

Valmont, and after the usual formalities was buried as that of an octogenarian named Godefroy. Two of Godefroy’s daughters

attended the funeral.

When they returned home they nearly died of terror at

finding their father sitting in his usual place near the fire. The BCS.indd 142

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143

shrieks of the women, who thought they saw a ghost, brought

in the neighbours, who restored them to consciousness. The

error was due to a remarkable likeness between Godefroy and

the man who had been found dead.

The Morning Post, November 2, 1896



Killed by a Mouse

– Extraordinary Occurrence

An extraordinary occurrence has been brought to light at an

inquest of a man in South London. It appears that in a work-

room where many young girls were at work a mouse suddenly

made its appearance on a table, causing, of course, considerable commotion and a general stampede.

The intruder was seized, however, by a young man who

happened to be present, but the mouse slipped out of his hand, and running up his sleeve, came out between his waistcoat and shirt at the neck.

The unfortunate man had his mouth open, and the mouse

on the look out for some convenient place of concealment,

entered the man’s mouth, and he, in his fright and surprise, swallowed it.

That a mouse can exist for a considerable time without

much air has long been a popular belief and was unfortunately proved to be a fact in the present instance, for the mouse began to tear and bite inside the man’s throat and chest, and the result was that the unfortunate fellow died after a little time in horrible agony.

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Several witnesses having corroborated the above facts, and

medical testimony as to the cause of death having been given, a verdict of accidental death was returned.

The Manchester Evening News, December 31, 1875



Singular Affair in London

An extraordinary case of being lost in London, which has

resulted in the death of a child scarcely six weeks old, was brought to light this morning.

It would appear that a Mrs Susan Cox had resided for some

time past in Elliot’s Row, St George’s Road, Southwark, with her husband and family.

On Tuesday last the family removed from that address to

a house in a turning off the Walworth Road, but so that Mrs

Cox should not be worried with the moving, she with her baby, which was six weeks old, went to Bayswater, to remain at the house of a friend.

Mrs Cox stayed there during Tuesday night, but started out

at three o’clock yesterday afternoon from her friend’s house to her new home, which she had seen previous to the removing,

but she was not certain as to the name of the street.

However, she felt sure she could find the place, and took

the underground railway to Westminster. From that point she

started to walk to her home and got as far as the Elephant and Castle.

According to her own statement she searched for Duke

Street (there is no such street in the neighbourhood) thinking BCS.

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