The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1876-05-26

The New York Tribune says. The
death Of Rubensiein, the condemned
murderer Of sara Alexander, is the SUBJ
ject Of interest and study among ply
sicians and Psychologists. Ii is -ener
ally conceded that he committed sui
eide BY determined and long continued
abstinence from food. lie died Of star
walton with food within his reach, a
thing which many physicians Of prom
inence have heretofore held was impOs-
sible. On the morning of his death
Keeper Stinson supplied him with two
boiled eggs, some bread, and a cup Of
tea. When DIR. A. w. Shepherd, the
County Physician, made post-mortem
examination few hours afterward, not
a particle Of food was found within the
body, and the stomach and intestines
appeared as If he had taken no food for
a long time. IL was then apparent that
the man had thrown his meals away,
and an examination Of the water-pipe
to the sewer revealed the articles which
he had thus disposed Of. The attenu-
ated condition Of the frame Of the
prisoner also indicated starvation. His
skin adhered 10 the bones with hardly
any intervening flesh, presenting the
appearance Of shriveled parchment. Ii
would have been a difficult matter TO
have hung him without attaching
weights to his feet. He
weighed only forty-fve pounds,
but he was Of medium stature, and had
probably at one time been man Of
good frame. Hardly drop Of blood
was found in his brain, and very little
in his body, which had been dried aud
shTiveled up. In the upper lobe Of his
left lung there was discovered 4 small
cavity, but DR. Shepherd declares il
was altogether insufficient 10 cause
death, and would not have interfered
with long life. The brain, the heart
(what there was Of il, for it was phe-
nomenally diminutive in size, although
perfect in structure), the lungs, the
liver, and the kidneys were in their
normal condition.
The interest in the case is excited by
the fact that, experiencing-as Is claim
ed by some he must have experienced
the terrible cravings Of hunger, which
have sometimes led men 10 kill their
fellows, have set them crazy, or have
forced them 10 gnaw wood, iron, and
even their own bodies in their agony,
this man day after day had the almost
preternatural self-control to throw food
away when il was offered him. Some
physicians have asserted that in the
case Of men in such position a. Ru-
bernstein the will would be overpower-
ed, and that the arms would carry the
food 10 the mouth instinrtively, in spite
OF the will. Ii is asserted, in opposi-
ton To this theory, that Rubenstein did
not care for food after having become
weakened bT eating only small quanti-
ties. lie grew thinner and thinner and
weaker and weaker, and a. his vitality
became exhausted. there was less de-
mand for food, until finally the sight Of
il became Rauseating and distasteful to
him: thus his condition assisted him in
carrying out his design OF starving him.
self to death. In support of this, doc
tors mention the example of a person
afflicted with disease. 80 sick that he
can eat nothing and hates the sight OF
food Of consumptives who have reject
ed nourishmeni until thsir bones pro-
truded through their flesh; 81 persons
greatly troubled in mind,or bowed down
with grief Or remOrse. who can not eat.
These persons, though actually dying
for want OF nourishment. it i claimed,
do not suffer the pangs Of hunger. which
are not even felt III the presence OK the
greater trouble tt Is urged that the
terrors Of the law, the fear Of punish
ment temporal or eternal-his super
stitions, his rcn0rse. and his abject
condition rendered RubenStein oblivi-
Gus II cravings for food, even if such
cravings were felt at all.