This text about the fate of a wife travelled a long way to reach Stamford. It was picked up by a German newspaper from an original Swedish story.
“THE USE OF A DEAD WIFE.- A German Journal contains the following paragraph :- ‘The wife of a labouring man in the neighbourhood of Stockholm died some time ago, and the husband made the necessary preparations for her interment. He, however, deposited a block in her coffin, instead of the corpse, which he conveyed, during the night, into a forest, that it might serve as a bait for wild beasts. By this horrible expedient he succeeded in catching a wolf and two foxes. On the circumstance being made known, the man was arrested and carried before a Court of Justice; but far from being intimidated, he claimed the reward offered for destroying mischievous animals.'”
Stamford Mercury, 21st May 1819