A Burglar Caught by a Skeleton & Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press Read Online Free PDF Page B

take its meals on his hand, and although the tiny creature was at first shy of going through its table d’hôte on such an unusual festive board, in a very short space of time it grew to expect to be fed in that way.
    Sir John preserved this pet with the greatest care. True, it stung him once, but then it had every excuse for doing so. Sir John was examining it on a railway journey, and, the door being opened by a ticket collector, he unceremoniously stuffed it into a bottle, and the outraged Spaniard, not feeling quite at home during the process, gave him a gentle reminder as to the proper way to treat a guest.
    The wasp was a pet in every sense of the word, and became so fond of its owner that it allowed itself to be stroked.
    It enjoyed civilisation for just nine months, when it fell ill, and although Sir John did all he could to prolong its life, it died.
    Many wasps have been under Sir John’s observation, but he has never had such a genuine pet as this one.
    The Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette , March 16, 1899

    A Lion Loose
    Mr T.J. Osborne of Old Market Street, Neath, was the subject of a strange adventure at the Bridge Hotel, Llandrindod Wells, on Friday afternoon, about half-past three o’clock. Mr Osborne was preparing to leave for home by the afternoon train on that day, when a full-grown African lion dashed in through the open window. Mr Osborne seized a chair to defend himself. At this instant the lion’s keeper and a staff of men appeared on the scene. The keeper warned Mr Osborne not to stir. With as little delay as possible the keeper and his assistants made their way to the room with the necessary appliances for recapturing the brute. With some difficulty they succeeded in throwing a sack over the lion’s head, after which he was firmly secured with ropes. It was found that the lion had made its escape from Wombwell’s menagerie, which was located on a plot of ground near the Bridge Hotel.
    Berrow’s Worcester Journal , July 6, 1889

    A Monkey Murderer and Suicide
    An extraordinary occurrence is reported as having happened at Jump, near Barnsley, on Saturday afternoon, and on inquiry the following facts were well authenticated: A miner named John Hines possessed three monkeys, an old one and two young ones, and like the generality of the tribe, the elder one was fond of imitating what was going on in the household.
    On Saturday afternoon whilst shaving himself, Hines was called out into the back yard to see after some pigs that had broken out of the sty, and half-shaved as he was he rushed out, leaving the razor on the table, and his pets, apparently oblivious of his movements.
    No sooner, however, was his back turned than the father of the two young monkeys seized the razor and commenced to try his ’prentice hand on his offspring. He evidently miscalculated the keenness of the edge, for in the twinkling of an eye he had severed the heads of the little things almost completely from their bodies.
    Even here his experiment did not stop, for he next turned the blade against himself with an almost similar result, for he inflicted a deep gash in the throat.
    On Hines’ return in a few minutes he found his two young pets quite dead, and the father gasping for breath on the ground, bleeding profusely. The author of the mischief lingered until Sunday, and then he too succumbed to his self-inflicted injuries. The affair has excited considerable interest. It is the intention of the owner to have the dead monkeys stuffed.
    The Royal Cornwall Gazette , March 20, 1890

LOVE, MARRIAGE
and FAMILY

Preface
It was a wedding night to forget for Henry and Mary Glanister of Liverpool. At least, it would have been if they could remember it in the first place.
On the morning of their first day of married life, they woke up apart. The groom had been arrested the evening before and spent the night in a police cell. His new bride would have been furious with him if she hadn’t been locked up too.
Perhaps