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CRIME-REPORTS IN th 19 CENTURY NEWSPAPERS

Research questions: How are crime-reports structured? Is the structure in any way comparable to a narrative? How is the reader's attention captured? Is the reader manipulated? Data: articles on murders found in The Times from 1800 to 1900. Narrative structure:

1. An Abstract
Shocking Murder

2. An Orientation
Who? Mr. Jonathan Brumby and a policeman When? About 11 o'clock on Thursday night Where? Caughey street

3. Complicating Action
What happened? discovered the body of a young woman [] at once raised the alarm and soon a policeman went to the spot [] The constable got assistance [] It was found that the name of the deceased was Emma Starkie

1. An abstract:
MURDER

2. An orientation:
Who? The victim: MR. WIGGINS, a respectable miller, the unfortunate man The murderer: the villain, the assassin When? On Wednesday se'nnight, last between six and seven in the evening. Where? between that place [Bridgnorth] and his own house

Inside narrative:

Narrative Structure
1. An abstract: What happened? 2. An orientation: Headline

Crime Reports

Who? Emma Starkie [] a dress-maker When? After her day's work Where? a house in Colonial-street What happened? went to her aunt's house [] remained there until 10 o'clock [] left to go home What happened next? post-mortem examination [] an inquest was held

3. Complicating action:
What happened? He was on his return from Wolverhampton market and was met by a footpad about a mile from home [] the villain drew a pistol and shot him through the body [] the assailant was alarmed by his cries [] made of without taking any of his property [] the unfortunate man pursued his murderer after being shot [] was found by some persons [] was carried to the house, where he expired

2a) Who was involved? 2b) When was this? 2c) Where was this? 3. Complicating action: What happened first? What happened next?

The grammatical subject: the victim & the criminal

4. Evaluation
Time reference narrative of how the body was found Place reference This article is much less structured. It does not start with an account of the crime but describes how the body was found and then the post-mortem examination and the inquest. In this there is a second much shorter account embedded, describing what the victim did before she was murdered. The murderer is never a subject in the story, instead the passive voice is used: the instrument with which the death-blow had been given Apart from the introductory commentary phrase Shocking Murder no language is used that evokes any emotions. No additional information about the victim is given.

4. Evaluation

What is added to the basic story to highlight how it is interesting or relevant? It is remarkable that the unfortunate man pursued his murderer after being shot, for about a hundred yards. narrative of the murder itself The article is clearly structured. It starts with the basic information: who, where and when. Then follows speculation on how exactly the deed happened. This speculation is clearly marked as such (It is supposed that). The last third of the article is spent on the remarkable fact that the victim didn't die immediately but managed to walk away. Finally it mentions that the victim was planning to get married. Neither information seems relevant for the crime-report. The article also uses phrases that evoke strong emotions. The murderer is refereed to as villain (OED: Originally, a low-born base-minded rustic; a man of ignoble ideas or instincts; in later use, an unprincipled or depraved scoundrel; a man naturally disposed to base or criminal actions, or deeply involved in the commission of disgraceful crime) and assassin (OED: One who undertakes to put another to death by treacherous violence. The term retains so much of its original application as to be used chiefly of the murderer of a public personage, who is generally hired or devoted to the deed, and aims purely at the death of his victim.). The victim is respectable and an unfortunate man

For at l m vorage des U nt tt m ast s dur Klcken bear t eriel er ch i beien


4. Evaluation What is added to the basic story to highlight how it is interesting or relevant? 5. A resolution Providing a solution for the problem introduced in the narrative, 6. A coda How does the story relate to us here and now? Information surrounding the crime/Newspaper commentary/human interest -

The crime itself

1. An Abstract
Diabolical Murder

2. An Orientation
Who? Charlotte Billmore, an Orphan Child about eight When? Monday last Where? Mortimer West-end

3. Complicating Action

The three articles differ in several aspects. While all follow a narrative structure in describing the events there is a difference in what events are described. The article on the death of Mr. Wiggins narrates the murder itself, the one about Charlotte Billmore begins with describing the last moments the victim was seen alive, up to her disappearance, the search for her and then continues with how the body was found and the article about Emma Starkie describes only how the body was found. The article that describes the actual murder states clearly that the retelling of the actual events is just speculation (It is supposed that) and it is not clear why they did not also speculate on the murder in the other articles. The articles also differ in their use of emotional language. In the Emma Starkie-article there is almost no emotional language, only the introductory phrase talks about a Shocking Murder. The article on Mr. Wiggins is overall low on emotional language but it uses two very negative terms (villain and assassin) to describe the murderer. The most extreme case is the Charlote Billmore-article. The victim is referred to as innocent, the murderer a fiendish wretch and the way the victim was mutilated is horrid. Additionally the way the body was mutilated is described in much greater detail as in the other articles, possible also meant to evoke emotions of horror and disgust in the reader.

What happened? was on her return from school [] The cottagers [] became alarmed at her absence [] A young man [] found the corpse

Narrative beginning with her disappearance, continuing with the finding of the body and post-mortem examination. Very emotional language: cruelty [] without parallel mutilated in the most horrid manner A spectacle that makes the human frame shudder with horror fiendish wretch (OED: fiendish: superhumanly cruel and malignant. wretch: A vile, sorry, or despicable person; one of opprobrious or reprehensible character; a mean or contemptible creature.) innocent victim all phrases that are there to evoke sympathy for the victim and contempt for the murderer. Similarly the final paragraph in which the victim's family is mentioned remind the reader of the victim's life before she was murdered and so also help evoking sympathy for her.

Sources: Fries, Udo: Crime and Punishment. in Jucker, Andreas (Ed.): Early Modern English News Discourse. Benjamins, Amsterdam. 2009. Toolan, Michael: Language in Literature. An Introduction to Stylistics. Arnold, London. 2002. http://www.oed.com

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