River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-07-18
A CoNvtCT's ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.
atom Ballard, the Counte11eiter, Tries to
Kill Himself.
Albany, July I'D Special to the New York

Albany, (July I'D Special to the New York
Times.
The Albany penitentiary was the scene last
night of the most determined attempt at sui
eide that has been recorded for many day.
Tom Ballard the famous connterfelter, who
was serving term of twenty years imprison-
ment for making counterfeit United
States notes, stabbed himself in the
neck and in the left arm with a rude
knife made by himself out of steel rib of a
shoe. Finding that death did not seem likely
to ensue from these wounds, Ballard, with the
same weapon, ripped his abdomen open from
the naval upward, so that his entrails Tapped
out upon the floor With all those wounds,
which he claims TO have given himself between
| and clock on Thursday morning, Ballard
lay conscious and without aid on his cot until
o'clock this morning, when his groans attracted
a keeper, who informed Deputy Superintendent
Woodruff that he thought Ballard i'll.
When Woodruff entered Billiards. cell he
found the convict in his cot under cover, and
so self possessed that no thought of the terrible
injuries he had inflicted upon himself was sug-
gested by his appearance. Ballard simply be-
gan begging that he should not be punished
and pulling down the bed-clothes and showing
the wound in the abdomen, said APP
pealingly: .Its no use to pun
ish me; l have taken my own life" The
deputy Immediately sent for the prison
physician, who did all that he could, but there
seems to be no possibility of recovery, as the
intestines are themselves gashed in places. 1t
was disclosed upon further inquiry of the
prisoner that he had meditated suicide for sew
eral weeks; twenty-seven years of his sentence
remaining still to be served, and the prospect
of so long time in prison was especially
gloomy to so active and intelligent man
Ballard has been. But he was never able to
screw his courage to the commits
sion of the act until last night,
when he heard two fellow prisoners in an adj
Joining cell say that they chad put up job to
get him the livelest switching he ever had"
Then, he said, he committed the deed on the
impulse of the moment, to avoid he switch
ing. He had had opportunities i plenty to
kill himself all along, as acids had been found
in his cell and he had used in the shop where
he worked, keen-edged knife but he had
nevertheless, committed the deed with hlrnt
instrument, as described above There was no
reason why he should fear punishment, beinga
well behaved convict, and never having been
either punished or reported. Ballard has
wife and daughter living ON Forty fifth street,
New York, who have been sent for. The Off
Gals of the peni.entiary. in Capt. Pillsbury's
absence, at first refused to give out any partlc-
ulars whatever about the matter, and even pro-
fessed ignorance of any unusual occurrence in
the prison. Ballard Will be especially rernem-
bered for an alleged proposal made by him to
the government to give the authorities recipe
for the prevention of all rounterfeiting in re-
turn for pardon, and FOR his general repnta-
ton as the most successful eounterfeiter IN the
country.