On Mon, 2008-01-21 at 23:12 +0000, telepathic wrote: > I couldn't help but feel /*horrified*/ reading that. Does anyone claim > these people as relatives? > > What could have possessed that poor woman? What desperate straits she > must have been in. What agony of mind. > > Surely, no one who does something like that can be in their right mind, > and therefore cannot be criminally responsible for their actions. I've seen other stuff like that in old newspapers (always more interesting than the stuff you're actually trying to find!). One account was of a suicide. The victim swallowed vitriol (sulphuric acid), which failed to kill him outright. So he then hanged himself. He seesm to have been rather inept, since this failed to kill him, too. So he then slit his wrists, and staggered out onto the street. This was obviously not his day, because he was then promptly arrested by a passing police constable, for the 'crime' of attempted suicide. The poor soul then died in the police station, a few hours later, of the effects of the vitriol. So much for the good ol' times... -- Regards Dave