The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1859-02-11

hhdip iphrased y, h New York, but Ne
account Of a resent selfJmurder in New
Orleans hds- -efaced the impressions of
the novel and interesting case in ques-
ton.
81 The suicide was an Englishman, who
had lost little daughter in the fall, by
yellow fever The bereavement prtyed
upon, bis mind, and it was lpis frequent
custom to 60 and uncover the coffin, that
he might look upon the form Of his be-
loved daughter, even IN The lideousness
Of decay. The Crescent gives the follow
ing account Of the suicide: ,I,.r (
On Wednesday be went 10 lthe1 ceme-
terry with two Shrubs which he had pul-
chased, and planted them in front Of the
tomb. On Thur sday, when lie left home,
he told bis wife that il, he had no better
luck in finding work she would never see
him again. He also said something about
having a place in which to rest.
That evening, or that night-for no
one saw him in his gloomy proceedings
he visited the cemetery; taking with
him his screw>driver, an iron trunk. ham
die, small piece ofiron, a piece Of wire,
some new screws and large vial Of lau>
danum. Unscrewing the board Of the
tomb, he threw away the screws and fll-
ed the screw holes in the board with, clay.
With his new screws he then secured
The trunk handle TO the inside Of the
board. This work, of course, had to be
done outside the tomb. Pushing Lis
child's coffin aside, he got in by its side,
taking with him his poison and the othc'
articles with which he had provided him
self. His hat he placed upon the coffin,
his coat, which he had taken of, lie wrap
ped around brick for a pillow. He
shut himself in with the beard, by means
of the handle he had screwed 10 it the
board fitting outside the wooden frame. -
The iron bar, which, was of the proper
length, he placed across the frame inside.
The thickness Of the the frame would not
allow the bar to pass through the trunks
handle on the inside OF the board so lie
secured the handle and the bar by means
of his wire, coiling it through the one
and around the other. steos}
He did not succeed in fitting the board
squarely upon the frame. One corner
Of it caught upon the brickwork outside
of the frame; this he did not discover,
probably, owing to the darkness Of The
night; and but for his little circumstance
bis fate would probably never been dis
coyered, or not at least for many years
Having thus hid himself away, as he fan
cied, beyond mortal discovery, he drain
cd off the contents Of his laudanum bottle
composed himself on his back, placed the
brick and coat beneath his lead and went
to sleep. and off into the unknown region
Of suicides. IA, II, .r t,.s .,,,-,,
AS he did not return hone on Thurs
day night, his wife feared the worst, re-
well the tendency Of his late
conduct and the tenor Of bis parting words.
On, Friday morning she rose early and
went out to the cemetery. She looked
all around and failed, to find her husband.
she went and looked at their tomb, and
was about to leave, when she happened
to notice that the board did not ct snugly
into the frame as usual, Looking closer
she dis covered the mud in the screw holes
and putting her hand on the board, found
it was standing loosely. r,r
She pulled it out a little, and the first
thing she saw was the dead face of her
husband, She tainted away, and laid in
the grass she could not tell how long
She recoyesed at last. got up and went
and informed the sexton, Mr.. Merritt, Of
her discovery. The latter went and look
ed at things. and sent word 10 the coro-
ner; and the inquest was held, as we have
stated, on Saturday. ,,.s
The coroner's verdict was in accord
ance with the facts SO plainly apparent
suicide BY laudanum. ' "
MODIFICATION oFTHE MASSACHUSETTS,
JURY SYsTEM.-- Petitions have gone tothe
Massachusetts Legislature for a law al.
lowing Judges 10 accept verdict from