Litchfield enquirer., 1859-02-10
EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE IN NEW
 ORLEANS.
4 Man Buries HimseIf Alirs- He Taies
 Poison in u Tomb

FOaS0n aR lOm0
 The New Orleans Crescent of the 24tl gives the following remarkable story of suicide:
 Sylvester Ru) crt, 3I years of age, aud En- g'islllnan hy birth, and by trade ship car rentcr, lived With his wife and two children in house on Perddo street In October last the yellow fever then prevailing, counted among its victims the youngest child of the Ruperts-thcir little girl l. zzie about iour years old, and the particular pet of the fnth. CT. This was blow from which the father never recovered. Not able to buy tomb, he had the chlu buried in the ground in Green wo al Cemetery. The grief prryed heavily upon him. It was his only thought and be- ing out of his regular eml lloymcut, he found cmI'loym, nt in his grief.
 He bought a burial lot aud some bricks and olEcr material, and with his own hands. and all alone in the cemetery, built hun q brick tcmb. He had not tue means to nuke the tomb stylish one 90 in it's mouth or entraLce he fitted wood, frame, and on this frame he fitted a piece of 6oard, and secured it with screws in its four corncrs. On ths board with which he enclos the vault, Gin lieu of the usua! brick and mortar or nlarLlo sab, he had carved nicely with his knife the burial inscription of his chlld. The tomb fir- i>lcd, he disint,rrrd the chiId's body aud lla- u It there. He fastened the Jcurd with screws, in order that he might aiterward have no trouble ill r,n ov.ng it when le felt like ga- zng upon the dcc"yng rcnla.ns of lis child.
 This employment finished, it was his habit to v.Sit the Cemetery, open the tomb, and look at the corpse of hls pet. He always carried q screw-drycr ill lis ockct with wh.ch 10 re- move and rcplace the board, aud also to re- move and replace the lid of the coffin. NeIh- CT tic haggard aspect of the sllrinking Little corr SC, nor the foul odor of its decay, could relrul lnm III lis murb.d grief II visits were frequent, and sometimes his wife went with han. He frequently complained to her that he could not get work aud ths inability doubtless fostercd the despon,leucy which Was drawing lLn 10 d, ath.. He frequently spoke of having no faith in the future, and Uf death as a desirable thing.
 On "Wednesday he went to the cemetery with two shrubs which he had purchased, aud planted them in front of the tomb On Thurs- day, when hc left home, he told lis wife that if he had no better luck in finding work, she would never see him again. He also said something about having place in which to rest.
 That evening, or that night-for no one saw him in his gloomy procecdings-hc visited the cemetery ; taking with him his screw-drivcr, all iron truHk-handlc, small rod of iron, Q Wccc of wire, some new screws and Il large vi- al of audanum. Un>crcwing the board of the tomb, he threw away the screws and filled the scrcw-holcs ill the board with clay.
 With his new screws he then secured the trunk-llandIe to the inside of the board. This work, of course, had to be done outside the tomb. Pushing his child culin aside, he got ill by its side, taking with him his poison aud the other articles with which he had provided hnscf His hat he placed upon the coffin lis coat, winch hc had taken off, he wrapped around brick for d pillow. He slut himself in with the board, by meuns of the handle he had screw. d 10 1t the board fitting outside the wood,n lralne Tine iron bar, winch was of tue proper length, he placed across the frame inside. The thickness of the frame would not allow the bar to pass through the trunk handle on the inside of the board {; so he secured the la;.dIc and the bar by mcuns of his wire, coiling it through the one end around the other. He did Lot succeed in il- ting the board squarely upon the frame. One corner of it caught ul on the bri, work out side Inc frame this he did not discover. prob ably, owing to the darknrss of tic gilt aud but for this little circumstance his fate would probably ncver have been dlscov, red, or not at least for mary years. Having thus hid himself away, as he fancicd beyond mortal dScoyerJ, he drained off the contents of his ludanun bottle, composed himself on Il back, placed the brick and coat beneath his head, and went to sleep, and off iuto the unknown regions of the suicides
 As he did not return home on Thursday i,.bt his wife feared the worst, rcIneml ering well the tendency of his late conduct aud the ,euor of his parting words. On Friday morn- .nr she rose early ald went out to the C me- !, t. ". She looked all around, aid failed to find her husband. She went and locked at their tomb, and was about to leave, wktn ,Le happened to notice that the board d not fit snu .sIy into the frame as usual. Looking cles- CT, she discovered the mud in the screw-holess; aud putting her hand on tile board found it was standing loosely. She pulled it out a in. tie, and the first thing sue saw was the de.d