The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-10-29
a RUSSIAN Suicide. n

a Nan Tired OF Life slowly Burns Hirns
TO Death-His Reasons Given at Length
He Curses the Woman He Loves with
His latest Breath.
A few days ago the proprietor of the Hotel
de France, St Petersburg became alarmed
At his failure TO arouse Mr.. Joseph o.
colonial agent, and caused the door to be
broken open. His almost nude body WAS
lying on bed, stripped of the mattress and
bed clothes. The eyes were wide open, fixed
in CLASSY death stare and the features dis
torted with agony. An oppressive odor. ms
of scorehed fat, peryadcd the room. No
wound was pereeptible upon the body, but
places By duh red stripes. As soon rs the
police, accompanied by the local medical
officer, had made its appearance on
the scene of this horrible trag-
edy, the corpse was turned upon its face. when
the cause of death became for the first time
apparent to the terror-stricken spectators. A
deep and broad burn was exhibited in the
middle of the back, and the spine was found
10 be completely carbonized. Upon the floor,
underneath the bedstead, We're discovered the
wiciSs, iabedded IN little blotch Of cold
stearine, of three candles, which had been
taken out of the candlesticks and been fixed
up on planking upon layer of melted
grease, and the fame Of these candles Mr..
O-had laid upon the skeleton framework
of his bedstead, and suffered his spine To- be
slowly consumed until he died. A manu-
script, placed on a table close to the bed, con-
tanned not only a resume of the reasons which
prompted this unfortunate man to undergo
selfinficted martyrdom, but minute details
of the torturing process by which he had
chosen TO destroy his life. 1t was written in
| four languages53erman, Russian, Polish and
| Czechish-and commenced in firm, bold
handwriting, the last few pages, however,
being scarcely legible, having evidently been
penned in dire agony
| A SUICIDES LETTER.
The first paragraph, in German, ran as fol-
lows: Il thought it would cease. but it
ceases not. So be it, then. Hereby / pro-.
pose 10 solve an important question-namely,
| are suicides in their right senses, are they
the victims of mental alteration? Thus the
question is commonly put, but i fancy thatit
does not touch the real point at issue. A
man makes up his mind TO put end TO
his life when he finds that he takes no inter-
est in it; when he can not discover in the
whole wide world the least thing which
awakens sympathy in his breast The ques-
ton, therefore, is not whether the suicide be
mad or sane, but whether not he has any
thing to hope for from life / hope for
nothing in life, but my intellect is perfectly
clear I'm Russian.l There is still another
question TO solve. (In Germany Are sui
cides cowards7 That lover who allowed him.
self TO be dragged to death by horse before
the eyes of his betrothed affords no proof 10
the contrary. Perhaps he would have cast
himself loose from the cords that bound him
had it been in his power TO do 80. That
other fellow, who burned himself to death in
Odessa, was probably coward. for
he might have thrown away the
petroleum lamp and thus saved his
life Yet his clothes were already on fire,
and the straw he was lying upon was snould-
ering; still he may have wished to escape
death, had it been feasible Now, a burning
candle to the fame of which the backbone
and spinal marrow are exposed, must GER
tainly make an end of life; that sort Of death
must be attended with atrocious suierings,
and the person inficting such agony upon
himself having no power to contend with
but his own proper will and pleasure can at
any moment interrupt the process BY the
slightest movement of his body. l will SUBJ
nit myself to this torture. (In Russan.)
Should l not succeed in enduring the pain,
the question will be settled, at least for the
present, in the sense that suicides are cow
ards. But if my corpse be found exhibiting
proof that have obtained death By two
! agencies-by burning candles as ministering
! factors and by dominant will,
which has not blenched before ex-
eruciating torments-that viii be proof posi-
tive men may die of their own free choice.
Let me begin" Here the writing became
irregular and progressively more and more
; illegible. II arise from my fiery couch
! amid hideous sufferings, but still not SO ter
rible as he had anticipated and feared. l
arise, but not to save myself. No. life is as
obnoxious to me as ever. But l mast send
YOU lin CZechish) my mother. my father,
last farewell; my last remembrance. my last
sentiment are dedicated to you? l think
also of those who are the unwilling cause of
this my dreadful death. Unwitting-for
they knew not that their love was indispen-
sable to my life / de without their affec-
, ton. like a fish without water, like creature
+ of God without air. My breath fails me.
FAREWELL You will follow me soon- Con-
/ sideration Of your feelings-you, who alone
love me-has prevented me for long while
from thus putting an end to myself. | can
2 not do otherwise. Ii is so easy to follow
: the dead. But il would be better were you
to forget me. Think not of mel l am dy-
ing-the experiment will succeed-;he worst
: pains are past. l do not suffer 80 much
now. Pain has at length become my
: friend.
MEMORIES OF wERTHER.
repeat it, am in full possession of my
: faculties1my heart beats as steadily as usual,
: but my pulse seems to be a little deranged.
Poor Wertherl the star gemmed skies still
! interested himl also have gazed at lit
is a desert there above, like here beneath,
like everywhere; aye, as in my heart and
everywhere elsel In Polish.l return to my
strange, silently burning bed. ] must put
:. something under the candles to raise them up
a little. Only one thing annoys me. that one
can not die nobly and pleasanily-the evil
smell of my own consuming body offends my
: nostrils. TN Czechish.) Motherl fatheri
forgive mel I'm Germany Perhaps ] should
also set down that / forgive the being who
has caused my death. But that would be a
lie. i curse her. and if spirits have the
: power TO return in ghostly tcrrors. oh. | will
do so, and leave her no single moments peace.
1t would have been so easy for her to make
me nanny or at least cnntented. LIZ l could