THE CURSE OF DRINK - THOMAS WHITING - SHEFFIELD 1882
I first came across the tragedy in The Manchester Guardian dated 7th December 1882 which reported that a Thomas Whitehead had died in police cells after murdering his daughter.
The next day's edition of The Manchester Guardian (8th December 1882) then posted a report of the Inquest into his daughter ANNIE WHITING (not Whitebread) which found that Whiting had "wilfully murdered" his daughter, and that he had died from "delirium tremens" that was occasioned by excessive drinking.
For a number of months this was the only information I had, but in November 2010 I accessed the reports of The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England) which gives some very detailed reports on both the tragedy and its aftermath. The first was dated 6th December 1882. Under the title
The following day another report appeared in the The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England),
The 8th of December edition contained two reports on matters relating to the case. The first related to the condition of Sergeant Astill who was seriously injured in the repeated attemps by the police to subdue Thomas Wilding in the police cells.
"The wound which was inflicted over the left eye of Sergeant Astill on Tuesday night at the police station by the man Thomas Wilding who wa locked up on the charge of murdering his infant daughter, became so painful on Wednesday that he had to remain off duty. Yesterday he became slightly worse and there is we believe, a danger of erysipelas setting in"
The second report was of the Inquest that was held in the tragedy
Sources
The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Wednesday, December 06,07,08, 1882; pg. 3
The Manchester Guardian dated 7 - 8th December 1882
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