American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-01-08
Suicide In Paris.
"Grace Greenwood writes from Paris
IL.

"Grace Greenwood writes from Paris
to the New York Times:
"A week or two ago there was in good
society singular double suicide, caused
by a little family unpleasaniness. A gen.
tleman whose wife had left him some
months previous, on account of his pro-
clivity for ruinous speculatiOns, called al
her lodgings, accompanied by her son, a
youth of eighteen or nineteen, hoping,
with the good news of a lucrative Govern
ment appointment, to effect = reconcilia-
ton. But the lady was memorable, and
persistently refused To admit either of her
visitors, whereupon the heart broken hus-
band drew revolver and blew out his
desperate brains. 1t seems to have been q
family literally provided with the means
of sclf-dcstruction, for Immediately the
son, with a filial piety essentially Partisan,
drew another revolver and shot himself
through the heart, falling dead on the
body of his father. Even then the wife
witnessed the tragedy from an upper win
dow, and who had literally the death of
husband and son at her door, refused to
open that door until summoned by the
police-more powerful than nature, hui
mainly or womanly pity. Gcndarmcs
rushed in where angels could not tread.
+" The Column Nendome is again a
favorite point for the leap into eternity.
The present guardian of the column is
humane, for " soldier, and never allows a
suspicious, looking person
to mount to the summit alone. One after
noon, lately, a young gentleman having a
somewhat wild and melancholy aspect,
hair rumplcd and cravat awry, presented
himself 10 the Sergeant, who, after hav-
ing vainly attempted to dissuade him from
ascending the column, on the ground that
il was late and the weather not favorable,
slyly sent after him two soldiers, with
strict injunclions to Keep within grasping
distance OF the unhappy young Mon
sieur's coat-tails. The stranger seemed
not to notice them, but stood sadly look
ing out over the world OF roofs, spires
and towers, most OF the time through a
veil of dreary drizzle, for an hour and a
half. 1t was then time for the poor
fellows to return to their barracks !;
they hurried down and the Sergeant
hurried up, hardly expecting to be in
time to avert the suicide. Near the top of
the stairs, however, he met the young
man, safe and sound, and, profound mys-
terry of human nature, was little disap-
pointed. When they were both fairly
down he laid his hand on the shoulder of
his charge and said: "Now, confess,
mon anas, when you first came you had the
intention to throw yourself off the mOnu-
ment.' 'Ah, yes replied the melancholy
gentleman, giving the inevitable shrug,
but you see, on looking down, l noticed
those ugly, sharp spikes of the railing,
and reflected that in falling on them I
might hurt myself. Bon jour, Monsieur
"There is really no need for toiling up
all those steps in order to push on bloody
death One has only to attempt to walk
slowly across any one of the narrow bust
ness streets or broad boulevards of the
city, and a furiously- driven couture or gi-
gantic omnibus will do the business for
HIM. Pedestrians have no rights which
French coolers are bound to respect.
Neither does the law protect or avenge
them, for if one is run over on the street
he is actually liable to be fined for causing
q sensation, collecting a crowd and OBJ
structing the sidewalk. Some months ago
q poor man whose child escaped from
his shop, ran into the street and tell in the
way of an omnibus, arresting it and
travel for while in very disagreeable
way, was Obliged to pay fine of twenty
francs. The child was killed. At the
crossing of the streets, where there is an
open space, there are certain round,
slightly raised places called refugees
where one is safe from the chariots and
the horsemen. They are like islands in
the midst of the rapids of Niagara. Hav-
ing reached one we linger on the brink
and fear to launch away, thinking with a
homc-sick longing of the sturdy, gallant
policeman of broadway, our modern
Santo Christofero. The most noble PROM
enader Is at the mercy of the most vulgar
character. In the times of the Bourbons it
was the aristocracy who tore through the
streets of Paris at full speed, without even
shouting gdreP driving over the people.
Now it is the people who drive over the
aristocracy: So the world advances.
Anrehonsb O