The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1859-02-15
EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.

EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.
Il Man Baries Hfrsself alice and takes poison IN
Tomb.
The New Orleans Crescent of the Gath gives
the following remarkable story of q suicide:
Sylvester Rupert, 81 years of age, an English
man by birth, and by trade a ship-carpentcr,
lived with his wife and two children in house
on Perdido street. In October last the yellow
fever, then prevailing, counted among its vic
tins the youngest child of the Ruperts-their
little girl, Lizzie, about four years old, and the
particular pet of the father. This was a blow
from which the father never recovered. Not
able to buy a tomb, he had the child buried in
the ground in Greenwood Cemetery. The grief
preyed heavily upon him. 1t was his only
thought; and, being out of his regular employ
ment, he found employment in his grief:
He bought burial lot, and bricks and
other material, and with his own hands, and all
alone in the cemetery, built himself brick tomb.
He had not the means to make the tomb a
stylish one; so In its mouth or entrance, he
fitted a wooden frame, and on this frame he fitted
a piece of board, and secured it with screws
in it's four corners. On this board, with which
he enclosed the vault, Gin lieu of the usual
brick and mortar or marble slab,) he had carved
nicely with his knife the burial inscription of
his child. The tomb finished, he disinterred the
the board with screws, in order that he might
afterward have no trouble in removing it when
he felt like gazing upon the decaying remains OF
his child.
This employment finished, it was his habit to
visit the cemetery, open the tomb, and look at
the corpse of his pet. He always carried screw
driver in his pocket with which to remove and
replace the board, and also to remove and replace
the lid of the coffin. Neither the haggard aspect
l:aAla A. lis. -
its decay, could repel him in his morbid grief
His visits were frequent, and sometimes his wife
went with him. He frequently complained to her
that he could not get work; and this inability
doubtless fostered the dependency which was
drawing him to death. He frequently spoke of
having no faith in the future, and of death a
desirable thing
On Wednesday he went to the cemetery with
two shrubs which he had purchased, and planted
them in front of the tomb. On Thursday, when
he left home, he told his wife that if he had no
better luck in finding work, she would never see
him again. He also said something about having
place to rest
That evening, that night-for saw
him in his gloomy proceedings-he visited the
cemetery taking with him his screw-driyer, an
iron trunk-hande, a small rod of iron, piece
of wire, some new screws, and large vial of
laudanum. Unscrewing the board Of the tomb,
he Threw away the scTeWS anu ulleu Tue 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 his childs coffin aside, he got
in by its side, taking with him bis poison and
the other articles with which he had provided
himself. His hat he placed upon the coffin; his
coat, which he had taken off, he wrapped around
brick for pillow. He shut himself in with
fhoh or1 hv, Of he he h~l
ed to 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 frame would not allow the bar
to pass through the trunk handle on the inside
of the board; so he secured the handle and the
bar by means of his wire, coiling it through the
one and around the other. He did not succeed
in fitting the board squarely upon the frame
One corner of it caught upon the brickwork
outside the France this he did not discover,
probably owing to the darkness of the night;
and but for this little circumstance his fate
would probably have never been discovered, or
not at least for many years. Having thus hid
himself away, he fanced, beyond mortal dis
eovery, he drained off the contents of the lauda-
num- bottle, composed himself on his back, placed
the brick and coat beneath his head, and went to
sleep, and off into the unknown region of suicides
AS he did not return home OH Thursday night,
tendency of his late conduct and the tenor of
his 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 hapI ened to notice
that the board did not fit snugly into the frame
as usual. Looking closer, she discovered the
mud in the screw-holes; and putting her hand
on the board, found it was standing loosely
She pulled it out a little, and the first thing she
saw was the dead face of her husband. She
fiinted away, ami laid in the grass she could not
tell how long. She recovered at last, got up and
went and informed the sexton, MIR Merritt, of her
discovery The latter went and looked at things,
and sent word to the coroner; and the inquest was
held, as We have stated, on Saturday.
The coroners verdict was in accordance with
the facts so plainly apparent-suicide by lauda-
mum.
ADULTERATION IN FooD AND DRINK.-People
who deal in groceries and other stuff necessary for
human CONSUMPTION in the laroe commerc,.l Cities