A Burglar Caught by a Skeleton & Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press (8 page)

The reasons were nuanced, but ultimately mathematical: women outnumbered men. It certainly didn’t help that a rigid class structure limited the choice still further, and that men had a found a taste for emigrating.

Some couples simply couldn’t be bothered with getting hitched. In the mid-nineteenth century the journalist Henry Mayhew’s survey of working-class London drew him into the world of the costermongers. Only one in ten of the couples living together were married, he found. ‘Of the rights of “legitimate” or “illegitimate” children the costermongers understand nothing, and account it a mere waste of money and time to go through the ceremony of wedlock when a pair can live together, and be quite as well regarded by their fellows, without it’, he wrote.

In hindsight, maybe Mrs and Mrs Glanister, the McNamaras and the bellicose Elizabeth Stanton would have agreed.

Extraordinary Duel.

A Strange Test of Bravery

A tarantula is a large insect of the spider tribe, and its bite is as deadly as that of a rattlesnake. The details of a remarkable duel which recently occurred at Las Vegas show the horror with which this terrible spider is regarded in South America.

Two young men – an American and a Mexican – fell out over a young woman they both loved, and the result was that the enmity became too great to be carried, and it was determined to end it in a duel.

The matter came about in an unusual way, however, and it was not a regular challenge and acceptance, but while in company of mutual friends the Mexican taunted the American with being a member of a race of cowards, and said the Americans had no bravery.

The American, of course, disputed this and said he would test the Mexican’s bravery if he wished it. He would be willing to go into a dark room with the Mexican and there decide the point. But the stipulation was that in the dark room there should also be a lot of tarantulas turned loose.

If either of them came out alive he was to have the girl. If either showed the white feather and came out before the death of the other or before all the tarantulas were killed he should give up all claim to the girl. The Mexican was disposed to refuse, but the fear of being looked upon as a coward caused him to accept.

The room was prepared, and the two men went in. There were at least a dozen tarantulas in the room and also two scorpions. The American walked boldly into the room and took his stand, while the Mexican followed, but was hesitating in his manner.

The doors had been closed but a short time when the Mexican was heard to scream out that he was bitten and was dying. The doors were opened and he staggered out and fell to the floor. The American walked out unhurt, and then it was found that the Mexican had not been bitten at all, but had scratched his hand on a protruding nail in the wall and had thought it a spider’s bite.

The Western Mail
, Cardiff, July 15, 1892

Lively Scene at a St Helens Wedding

An extraordinary scene in opposition to a wedding took place in the neighbourhood of Eccleston Street, St Helens, on Monday.

A middle-aged man, who follows the occupation of a coal-hawker, had decided to re-marry, but the new alliance did not meet with the approval of his children.

The man had been a widower but a few weeks, and seeing the ‘gathering storm’ he went away quietly in the morning, and the ceremony was performed in a church on the outskirts of the borough. Meanwhile preparations were being made for his reception at home.

On returning from church the couple were received by a crowd of people, who laughed and jeered, and evidently intended to show their feelings in an unorthodox fashion. Street sweepings were seized as a substitute for rice, and were thrown upon the couple, and rotten eggs were brought into requisition.

One young fellow struck the bridegroom a blow in the face, which disfigured him, while a young woman seized the bonnet of the bride and tore it up. The bride and bridegroom eventually got inside their house, and remained there. Meanwhile the uproar in the street continued until a late hour.

Charles Houghton, a brother of the bridegroom, was arrested on a charge of being drunk and disorderly. He was brought before Mr Biram and Mr W. Lee Pilkington at the Police Court on Tuesday. Chief Constable Wood stated that the man had been 88 times convicted. He was fined 7s 6d and costs, or 10 days.

Supplement to the Manchester Courier
, September 20, 1890

A Female Husband

A coroner’s inquest was held on Monday night at Belfast, on the body of a person who for many years has been known as John Coulter, but who on dying on Sunday from the results of injuries accidentally received was discovered to be a female.

Evidence was given to the effect that for twelve years she had worked in male attire as a labourer at Belfast quays; that 20 years ago she got married in Dungannon to a woman who was examined at the inquest, and deposed that the deceased was her husband; that they had been separated for the past six years on account of the drinking habits of the deceased, whom she throughout described as her husband.

At the time of their marriage the deceased was a farm servant in the employment of her father. The evidence went to show that, as far as could be traced, the deceased had always worn male attire, and had been engaged in work peculiar to men.

The death was the result of injuries sustained by falling downstairs on Sunday last while in a state of intoxication. The woman who had been married to the deceased undertook to inter the remains of her so-called husband.

The York Herald
, January 26, 1884

Selling a Wife by Auction

It is only a few months since that a paragraph went the round of the papers relating how a certain stonemason at Rawtenstall, in Rossendale, sold his wife to another man for the sum of £10; but it would seem from certain proceedings which took place last week at Stacksteads, a Rossendale village, that the money value of wives has sadly declined since that event.

A navvy, living at Tunstead Mill, Stacksteads, determined to get rid of the ‘partner of his joys and sorrows’ by offering her for sale by auction, the highest bidder as usual to take ‘the lot.’

On Tuesday last the sale took place at the husband’s house, but, despite Solomon’s testimony as to a woman being more precious than rubies, and notwithstanding that the spectators were numerous, the highest offer was only 4d, at which low figure the wife was eventually ‘knocked down’ to another navvy, who, by-the-by, lived next door.

The seller wanted to ‘throw in’ three children, but the buyer objected, and the bairns were left on hand. The wife, however, went joyfully to the home of her new owner, and seemed to be quite as glad to get away from her late liege lord as he was to part with her.

The occurrence has caused quite a stir in the locality, and has been commented upon by the local press.

The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent
, July 29, 1879

Chained to a Bed for Forty Years

An extraordinary case of sequestration has just been disclosed before the Court of Assizes of the Manche, a man having been kept concealed, chained to a bed for a period of forty years, by his own father first, and by a brother afterwards.

In the year 1830 a farmer named Boullaud lived with his wife and four sons – Charles, Jacques, François, and Julien – in the commune of Bomagny. Julien, who was then twenty-two years of age, had shown some signs of a deranged mind, the result of fright while walking out at night, and the father, to escape the trouble of guarding the young man, had him chained by the two wrists on a bed, from which the son was never moved.

The result of the captivity was that Julien’s limbs were at length completely paralysed from inaction, and he became a perfect idiot. The father died in 1852, having previously shared his fortune between the three other sons, on condition that Charles and François should each pay a sum of two hundred francs annually for the wants of their brother, while Jacques was to board and lodge him.

The unfortunate man continued chained to his bed until 1864, when, as he could no longer make any movement, the shackles were taken from him, but it was not till the present year that the facts came to the ears of the judicial authorities. A descent was made at the house, and Julien, now over sixty years of age, was found lying almost naked, and in a miserable condition, on a litter of straw, placed in a dark hole for concealment.