New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-01-05
TIE YEARS SUICIDES.

spite of all the teachings OF philosophy ana
religion, the universal feeling of the European
civilization accepts dissolution rs the one
irremediable misfortune. We speak of our
own civilization, because the love OF life and
the dread of death Is greater among those
races to which the Christian religion has gwen
weighty sense of personal responsibility
than among those whose traditions and fanat-
icisms have made all the incidents OK living
and diving a matter of comparative unconcern.
The .Japanesc gentleman resents IN afiront by
rinnine I'D his own bowels, and his discour-
icons adversary must follow the chivalrous
example or be held boOr and craven In
some provinces of China man condemned TO
death can buy o substitute for few hundred
dollars. The yicarious convict makes his wlre
and children comfortable for life, and then pro.
ceeds TO make himself comfortable for death by
induIcing in q protracted orgie OF rum and
opium. ut the end of which the executiOners
sword cures the logical headache, and tho
troubles of life and housekeeping are ended.
But this indicates triumphant exercise Oh
what the Germans call Pure Reason, above
the reach of the Caucasian intellect. a man
life may be very worthless, but ho VIII not
sell it for money. He still says, in excuse 1or
any meanness, "A man must live.r and DR..
Johnson, NJ. De Talley1and, Didaskalos Tis,
and all the vita and sages since jest-books
were written, may reply In vain, do not see
"the necessity" The gloomy wisdom OF
Solon's warning to the Lydian King - to
count no man happy until his death - is
usually reversed in the sanguine instincts of
average human hearts, which persistently re-
fuse to despair this side of the undiscovered
country.
The report of the Coroner gives some hint,
therefore of the utter wretchedness which ex-
lists unknown at our very elbows, when 1t in
forms us that in this, the most practical and
prosperous of all the worlds great cities,
during the year just finished, 1l2 persons
found the miseries of life more dreadful than
death, and laid violent hands on their own ex-
istence. OF these, only % were natives OF the
United States--the element of hope IS stronger
in the Yankee than any other creature. Beer,
metaphysics. and home-siclness give to the
Teutonic immigrant predisposition to self
slaughter increased by indiscreot reading OF
IVerther and the Robbers. The German sui
cides reach the dispropoTtionatc number OF %.
The Irish are relatively much less numerous.
Many of them would seem to have little to
live for, and yet only 10 have thought best to
die, OF the French, who at home have such a
passion for charcoal and the Seine. only three
chose TO run the ordeal of an alien Morgue.
As might naturally be expected, tho very young
people have not been eager 10 leave world
where there was kissing and dancing.
Under twenty years Of age there was but one
solitary unfortunate; under thirty there were
26; under forty there were 81 that grew tired
OF the hard fight; under fifty q; there were
10 under sixty and 10 under seventy, and one
who had finished tho allotted limit of men
grew impatient and courted his dallying death.
The suicides were pretty evenly distributed
through the year. January was the month
most affected by the self-saughterers, and in
March there were fewest, This is natural
enough, as midwinter is destitute Of cheer to
the wretched, and hope wakes in every heart
where it slept at the first vivifying touch Of
Spring.
Either because they suffer less or endure
suffering better than men, comparatively few
women commit suicide. Last year the pro-
portion was 20 to 50. There is a curious and
characteristic difference in the manner in
which the two sexes make way with their
lives. The largest number OF men shoot or
hang themselves; but only five women used
the ungraceful rope, and not ono had the
courage TO load and fire q pistol. Most OF
them took poison, which allows one to die in
picturesque and heart-broken attitude. Four,
who had possibly read Hood and seen Hamlet,
sought a watery grave, which they would not
have done if they had ever seen a drowned
person. A blonde Bavarian girl came before
the Coroner few days ago and said: "My
clover and l agreed to die now while We
"were young and loving. He brought two
"pistols and shot himself, and l was afraid
| II this Romeo of the Bowery had brought
phal of Prussia acid, his Juliet would have
gone unfinchingly with him into the Silent
Land.
The predominance of foreigners in all such
| lists shows that nostalgia is the most fruitful
cause of that utter despair which makes life hate
| full. A condition of misery among strangers is
worse than financial ruin OF disgrace, or de-
spised love. In the early days of the CoOle
Emigration, the contractors on the lsthmus of
Panama frequently found their working gangs
seriously reduced by suicide The unhappy
bondmen would go through some religious
ceremonial, and then, droning melancholy
hymn, they would clasp hands and lie down
| in platoons on their faces in the warm and
shallow brooks and never move again. This
they imagined was the easiest way to get
| home.
We are delighted to hear of several sensible