The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-09-07
Some Remarkable Instances OF Self
Destruction.

THE Jewett case, which occurred in
a retiring partner, dissatisfied with the
division of the business, seems to have
dashed a grenade on the floor of the
counting-room, and to have dissolved
the partnership by involving himself
and partners in common destruction,
will be remembered, as ranking among
the remarkable cases, if it was really a
case of intended suicide; but the utmost
examination of which the case admitted
left room to think it may have been
an accident. Even the project of
advertising suicides is not altogether
novel, for the books narrate that once,
in London, a man advertised extensive
ly that he would, upon a certain day,
put himself to death in Convent Garden,
for the benefit of his wife and family;
tickets of admission one guinea each.
A similar counting of publicity is OBJ
servable in London case, which oc-
cured in the reign of George III. AS
that king was one day passing in his
carriage through the park to st. James
Palace man dressed in black, standing
close to the rails, watched till the royal
carriage came opposite him, then pulled
paper from his pocket addressed to
the King, which he stuck upon the
rails, and then drew pistol and shot
himself dead. Though the place was
crowded with people, they were watch
ing the King, and no one observed the
unfortunate mans movements in sea-
son to stop him. Investigation showed
he was James Sutherland, who had
been Judge Advocate at Minorca, but
had been removed under circumstances
which distressed him so much as to de-
range his mind. 1t is narrated that nine
Chinese servant girls, by exchanging
confidential accounts of what they each
witnessed in the families in which they
served, became so disheartened with
life that they agreed to leave it in COM
pany, sewed their clothing together SO
that neither one should fail in purpose,
leaped into the water, and were drowned.
There are accounts of man who ac-
complished self-destruction by lashing
himself to the stick of large rocket,
and of another who did the same by
leaping into the crater of Vesuvius.
In Paris man, to sacrifice his life,
cast himself into the pit where she
bears were kept, and before he could
be drawn out was so much mangled by
them that he died within q few hours
expressing, however, much satisfaction.
And two lovers, in France, whose par
ents refused them leave to marry, tied
ribbons to the triggers of two pistols,
exchanged last kiss, and, at signal,
each pulled the ribbon which discharged
the pistol that the other held, and they
fell dead together. Joint suicides of
lovers have not been uncommon; but
few have been as sentimentally planned
as this one. One of the most eXtraordi-
nary attempts at suicide upon record is
that made by Loyat, a resident of a lit
tie village in the Territory of Belluno,
in 1905. He was insane on religious
subjects, and conceived the idea of i'm
itating upon his own person the cruci-
fixion of our Savior. He constructed
within his lodging-room a wooden
cross, and provided himself with nails,
ropes, a crown of thorns, etc. Antici-
pating that he could not easily nail him
self to his cross he made net which he
fastened over it, securing it at the bot
tom of the upright beam, so that il
might partly sustain his weight. He
then assumed his crown of thorns, re-
moved his clothing, and girded his
loins with white cloth, wounded his
side with a knife, and, introducing him.
self into the net, nailed his two feet and
his right hand to the cross. And at last
he succeeded, by series of ingeniously
prearranged contrivances, in swinging
the cross, with himself upon it, out al
the window, so that it confronted the
villagers as they came out next morn
ing. He was, however, taken down
and cured of his wounds, though not o
his melancholy.-N. Y Times.