, 1859-02-07
Extraordinary Suicide in iNew Ore
1eAn8

The New Orleans [rescent Of the 24th gives
the following remarkable story of = suicide
Sylvester Rupert, 81 years Of age, M En-
g7ishnaa ny b;rlh, aud by trade chip carpen-
Ter, lived with bis vile and two children in
house OF Pcrdido street. In October last the
yellow fever. then prevailing counted among
its victims the youngest child of the Ruperte.
Their little girl Lizzie, ubout four years old,
and the particular pet Of the 'ather. This
was u blow from which the father never re-
covered. Not ably 10 buy q tomb, be had the
child buried III the ground in Greenwood Gem.
etery. The grief preyed heavily upon him.
It was bis oniy thought and bcing out of his
regular employment, he found employment
in his grief.
lie bought-a burial lot and some brickx and
other material, and with his own bands, and
md all alone in The cemetery, built him
blick tqmb. He had not The means to make
the tomb !isL one; 50 ia its mouth or eu.
trance he fitErd o wooden franz, aud On this
frame he fitted piece Of boasd. and secured
it wilb screH- in its four corners. On this
board with whicl, he enclosed lLe vault, lin
lien OF the usual britk and mortar or marble
elab,) he bad carved nicely with bis knife ,he
ishtd he di+iuiered lie cbIld's body nnd plac.
screws il order tLa: he might afterward have
no trouble in rclnuving it when LIE tclt like
gazing upon Tue decay ing remains Of his
child.
This employment finished, it was his habit
to visit tue cemetery, oprn the iomb and
1yok 1T The corpse of his pet. he always
Carried 4 scrcw-1riVer in lis pocket with
which 10 remove and replace the board, end
elso /" rcmove and replace the lid u the cot.
flu. Neither the l<ggard aspect Of tbs slrin~
king little corps. nor tie lonl cdor ofits de.
cay could repei him in his morbid grief. Ills
visits we're frequent, and sometimes lis xite
went with him. lie frequcntly complained to
her that be could rot get work aud this iua-
Dllity doubtless fos:crel the dependency
which vas drawing him to death. l3e fre-
qucnily spoke Of having no faith in the tu-
ture, and OF death as 4 desirable thing.
On Wednesday be went to tue cemetery
with tsso shrubs "hicn H. had purchased, aud
planted them in front OF the toulb. On Thu1s-
day when he lett home, he told his wife that
If lie had no better luck III fiu1ins work she
would never s"c him again. He also said
something about laying place in which to
rest
That evening. or that night, for no one
faw him in his gloomy proceedings, he visit
~ t1t- eeWc1At} AAhln6 WILL Hilu HIS eCteH
driver. N iron trunk laulle, aud small rod
OF iron. pl.ce Of ~ilc, some new screws, mud
lar se vial Of Iaulauum. unscrewing the
board OF tue tomb, he threw away the screws
and filled tie fcrcw'holcs ID the board with
clay.
Wl.h his new screTs he, then secured the
trunk-hand'e to the inside Of tue boatd. This
work Ut course, had to be done outside The
tomb. Pushing h's child.s colfin aside, he
got in by its side. taking with him ms poison
and the other ARTICLES "lta "hlcl pc mad pro
vided himself. Lis bat 3e placed upon the
coffin bis coat, which he lad taken on, be
wrapped around q brick for pillow. lie
shut himself In With the board, by means Of
tue handle he had screwed to it !; the board
fitting outside tue wooden frame. The iron
bar, which was Of the proper length, lie plac-
cd across tue frame inside. The thickness Of
the frame would not allow the lar to pass
through The truuk-handle On tho Inside Of the
beard be secured the handle aud tue bar by
meaus oi his wire, coiliug it through the one
aud round the other. He did not succeed in
fitting the board square upon the frame. One
corner Of it caught upon the bhck work out
side the frame this be did not discover,
probably, owing to the darkness Of tue night;
aud but for this little circumstance his tate
wouly probably have never been discovered,
or mt nt least for manV YEATS HaTinr