Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1868-05-07
SUICIDES.

ma ana g - 1891 2 =
The Pu1ie Spirit for May contains a
Chapter on Suicides, from which we OK
tract as follows:
Persistent disregard of human life seems
TO have characterized all classes and condi-
tons of people since the world began
The pages of remote rs well ms modern
history show that no nation has been eX7
empt from the crime of selfmurder. Schil-
ler's theory that death cannot be an evil
since it is universal" has met with adequate
appreciation, despite the efforts of phihn-
thropists to invest the period of dissolution
with hideous and hateful terrors. Differ
ence of race, variety OF climate. physical
organization, constitution and tempera-
ment, of course, produce a great dissimi-
larity of ideas concerning the final dissO-
luton of the animal frame The Chinaman
and HIndoO, on account of their peculiar
physical constitution, meet death with the
utmost stoicism, while the Anglo-Saxon,
with totally different organization, car
ries within him the elements of hard and
painful death. The religion of BWldha
strangely enoug loslifies on, third of the
human kind, CT Dr~s. hg the most unlike
races, to look W tli 4imost absolute indiffer-
ence ON death, Nth annih ration "a its inn
mediate consequence. This disregard Of
life is characteristic of all nations, civilized
and barbarous, but il Is more common
among enlightened people than the heath
en- races. 1t is singular fact that man is
the only animal tina commits selfdestruc-
ton. The once current belief about the
suicide of the scorpion has been exploded
by careful scientific investigation.
In England, many years ago. this crime
was punished not only with forfeiture of
goods and chattels, like other felonies; but
to mark the severity of the law against the
suicide, and TO deter others from Il similar
crime, the body of the self-murderer was
treated ignominio,ssly. and buried in the
open highway will stake thrust through
IL. This curious custom was not revoked
until, in the reign of George ~, the
uSages of society.a rs well a. law, demanded
that the bodies Of suicides should be buried
at night, and without the performance of
religious rites. fHkk tff sa
There is no such barbarism in our day
and time, but there is sentiment of hor-
ror manifest in most minds at the mere
mention of suicide that is scarcely ex-
celled by the abhorrent impression pro-
duced by any other species of violent
death. Yet, despite this sense Of the hor-
riblc, men study and analyze the phe-
nomena of suicide, and find in the subject
not only very substantial food for thought,
but many instructive lessons likewise that
hsrve direct bearing upon society and the
worldat large. For there is social prob
lem involved in this subject, problem as
vast as ii Is momentous, and one that de-
fnands and deserves solution by the fore
most social economists and publicists of
the age Suicide is crime not only
against the individual, but against so
ciety The law, both human and divine,
recognizes it as such, for although there is
no immediate prohibition of suicide by
name in the Scriptures, except it be i'm
piled in the sixth commandment, general
prohibition Ito do no murder" must ex-
tend to a mans killing himself as well as
his neighbor: hence, in either case, wher
done without legal authority, it must be
murder The jviiole scope and tenor of the
gospel comprise one uniform argument
against selfmurder, although il nowhere
prohibits 1t BY name -4 {. ir'''i-
Buckle, in his "IIistory Of Civilization
in England" SAYS that in London, about
2f0 persons every year make way with
themselves; the annual suicides oscillat-
ing, from the pressure of temporary causes,
between 266 the highest, and 213the low
est. In 1916, which was the great year of
excitement caused by the railway panic,
the suicides in Lo2a4n were 266; in
1917 began slight Improvement, and
they fell to $50; in1 1913, they were 247
in 1S49, they Were .213, and in 1850 they
were 229"
We have no record of the suicides i'm
London from 1850 to 1853, but the statis-
tics from and including the latter year to
the present time are complete In the
don was 23S; in 1859, there were 256 in
1860, there were 2S5 . i'm 1861, there were
261; III 1862 there were 266; in 1863
there were Pol in 1864, there were 800
in 1866. there were. 267. in 1866, there
were 25S; and in 1867, there were 26O
During last year, AZ occurred in the first
quarter of the year, ~ in the second, .66 in
the third, and 30 in the fourth The num-
Der of suicides in 1865 was unusually large
267 or one in II, PIG Of popula ion; and SC
was the number in 1861, being ESQ, or one
in every 11,S55 of population. The re
turns for all England, completed only ton
the flve years preceding 1856, showa range
of from 1877 to 1899; the latter figure
being for 1866, and showing an unusually
large number Of suicides, amounting tC
one in 5000 of the population The sta
tistics also show that of the suicides that
have occurred in London during the past
ten years, 13S were caused by shot
wounds, 56s by knife or other sharp in.
struments, 4s3 by poison, 40s by Drowning,
S42 by hanging and 112 by means not
specified Tie total number efSrecorlcd
suicides in London for the past ten year.
has been 1901, The actual number o
persons who committed, suicide during
that period is doubtless largely in excess