7/31/2019 Crime Articles

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Narrative structure:

1. An abstract:MURDER

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

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

4. EvaluationWhat 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 followsspeculation on how exactly the deed happened. This speculation is clearly marked as such (It is supposedthat). The last third of the article is spent on the remarkable fact that the victim didn't die immediately butmanaged to walk away. Finally it mentions that the victim was planning to get married. Neither informationseems 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 ignobleideas or instincts; in later use, an unprincipled or depraved scoundrel; a man naturally disposed to base orcriminal actions, or deeply involved in the commission of disgraceful crime) and assassin (OED: One whoundertakes to put another to death by treacherous violence. The term retains so much of its originalapplication as to be used chiefly of the murderer of a public personage, who is generally hired or devoted tothe deed, and aims purely at the death of his victim.).The victim is respectable and an unfortunate man

1. An AbstractShocking Murder

2. An OrientationWho?Mr. Jonathan Brumby and a policemanWhen?About 11 o'clock on Thursday nightWhere?Caughey street

3. Complicating ActionWhat 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

Inside narrative:Who?Emma Starkie [] a dress-makerWhen?After her day's workWhere?a house in Colonial-streetWhat 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

4. Evaluation-

narrative of how the body was found

This article is much less structured. It does not start with an account of the crime but describes how the body was foundand 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-blowhad been given

Apart from the introductory commentary phrase Shocking Murder no language is used that evokes any emotions. Noadditional information about the victim is given.

Narrative Structure Crime Reports

1. An abstract:What happened?

Headline

2. An orientation:

2a)Who was involved?

The grammatical subject: the victim & the criminal

2b)When was this?

Time reference

2c)Where was this?

Place reference

3. Complicating action:What happened first?What happened next?

The crime itself

4. EvaluationWhat is added to the basic story to highlight how it is interesting orrelevant?

Information surrounding the crime/Newspapercommentary/human interest

5. A resolutionProviding a solution for the problem i ntroduced in the narrative,

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6. A codaHow does the story relate to us here and now?

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CRIME-REPORTS IN19th CENTURY NEWSPAPERS

Research questions: How are crime-reports structured? Is the structure in any way comparable to a narrative? How isthe reader's attention captured? Is the reader manipulated?

Data: articles on murders found in The Times from 1800 to 1900.

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

1. An AbstractDiabolical Murder

2. An OrientationWho?Charlotte Billmore, an Orphan Child about eightWhen?Monday lastWhere?Mortimer West-end

3. Complicating ActionWhat 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-mortemexamination.

Very emotional language:cruelty [] without parallelmutilated in the most horrid mannerA spectacle that makes the human frame shudder with horrorfiendish wretch (OED: fiendish: superhumanly cruel and malignant. w retch: 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 finalparagraph in which the victim's family is mentioned remind the reader of the victim's life before she was murderedand so also help evoking sympathy for her.

The three articles differ in several aspects. While all follow a narrative structure in describing the events there isa difference in what events are described. The article on the death of Mr. Wiggins narrates the murder itself, theone about Charlotte Billmore begins with describing the last moments the victim was seen alive, up to herdisappearance, the search for her and then continues with how the body was found and the article about EmmaStarkie describes only how the body was found. The article that describes the actual murder states clearly thatthe retelling of the actual events is just speculation (It is supposed that) and it is not clear why they did not alsospeculate 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 noemotional language, only the introductory phrase talks about a Shocking Murder. The article on Mr. Wiggins isoverall low on emotional language but it uses two very negative terms (villain and assassin) to describe themurderer. The most extreme case is the Charlote Billmore-article. The victim is referred to as innocent, themurderer a fiendish wretch and the way the victim was mutilated is horrid. Additionally the way the body wasmutilated is described in much greater detail as in the other articles, possible also meant to evoke emotions ofhorror and disgust in the reader.