The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-25
The Frequency OF Suicide-The Cause
,Ef NJ ~ mhs. r...a~.r -

The Frequency OF suicide-The Cause
'sfb OF This Dreadful Act.
AT last suicide has become one Of the most
frequent of the great crimes. Twenty-Five
years ago It was almost as rare in its commits
sion as it is unnatural in its wickedness. But
now three or four INSTANCES Of If are reported
every day in the morning journals. Ordinary
murder is not at all SO common, nor even
is arson or highway robbery or forgery it
self In fact. from having been comparatively
unknown offence it has become more COM
mon than any Of the other leading felonies in
the penal calendar Of the Courts
In investigating the frequency Of this odious
crime in our midst we have discovered that
more than ten out of eleven of those who
perpetrate it are Germans and Americans.
Our Irish fellow citizens scarcely ever take
their own lives. With this singular and
honorable exception self-murder has its doors
in every position in society and at every
period of life. One day it is an old woman of
eighty-three, who has hanged herself in her
own cellar; on another, it is young girl of
eighteen, who has drowned herself in river
then comes the story Of well-to-do mer-
chant, q man happy, or seemingly SO,
in his wife and in his boys and girls,
who has destroyed his life with pistol; next
the news is of young man, not yet twenty,
who has taken poison then, again, the bloody
record is Of q prosperous farmer, who has put
the razor to his throat at midnight in some
secret part Of his premises In short, with
the remarkable and honorable exception given,
the fend Of suicide has his victims at all times
Of life and in all positions in society in the
United States.
What is the cause of the act? It is in no
way mystery. In the majority of instances
suicides leave after them written lette.s or oral
testimony that give clear intelligence Of their
motive for seif-destruction, and this motive is
the belief that suicide is lawful act and that
it directly leads to the enjoyment of eternal
happiness with God the Creator. In but
very few instances have we found the convic-
ton that the act Of self-murder was wrong in
all cases we have found the presumption that
the deed certainly and directly leads to Para
disc. Is it correct presumption Do sui
cides take the shortest road to Elysium?
That is the question.
Now how can the act of a suicide lead an
immortal soul to heaven? Does perjury do
it? Doesrobbery do it /? Does forgery do it
Does arson do it? Does blasphemy do it,
Does ibertinage do it? Does ordinary MUIR
der do it? It is clear that none Of these
crimes lead to heaven, for if they are crimes
how can they lead to heaven? It is impos-
sible. But none of these acts is so heinous as
suicide It is said that mans life is his own,
and, therefore, that he has q right to destroy
it like any other kind of property he pos
sesses; and, consequently, the act being thus
lawful, leads to heaven. But it is false that
man owns his own life. His life is not given
to him by himself; it is not conserved in it's
existence by himself; and the natural law of
right and wrong tells every man that suicide
is crime which is as wicked against divine
justice as it is abhorrent to the human
family. Suicide, therefore, must be crime.
Nay, it must be Of necessity crime
of the worst degree. For, as life is the
highest good, so the wanton destruction Of it
is, of logical and moral necessity, the most
wicked Of acts. But how can the most
wicked of acts lead to heaven? If the most
wicked of acts leads to heaven, heaven can be
natural common sense. Nor is this oil. For
what is life given? 1t is given, says religion,
for the fulflment on earth of the divine justice,
so as to merit heaven. Death isa visible proof
Of the responsibility of man to his Creator.
But, if the end for which life is conferred is to
merit heaven how can the act Of the destruc-
ton Of life lead to heaven2 It is clearly
out Of all possibility that it should
do 30. It will be said that God is
infinitely merciful. So He is, for He is
an infinite being-the Creator, the Eternal
Father, the source of all good. But how can
God be merciful to suicidesp Is His justice
eternals It mnst be that or He has no JUS
tice at ali for to give an eternal God justice
which is not eternal is absurd. The Creator
must be allowed to be consistent with Himself
in His eternal nature. But suicide is the
most wicked act man can do, Therefore it
has against it the absolute, eternal Justice
that is, it is under eternal condemnation,
which means that there can be no pardon for
it. Therefore there can be no mercy for it.
We are not here curtailing the power, the
mercy Of the Creator. The Creator Himself,
by His natural law, which He has implanted
in every human soul, and by His Christ
declares and has always declared that His
nature has On infinitely perfect consistency in it
in oil its attributes that self-murder is the
worst Of deeds, and that there can be
no mercy for it. Every crime can be re-
pented for but one-suicide. When man
kills himself he has terminated his power to
repent to do reparation to the Almighty, and
the consequences must be taken. And let not
the tongue of blasphemy break out in ribald