The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1879-10-17
AN EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.
a TRAVELLER BROILS HIS BACK OVER
SLOW FIRE, AND DESCRIBES MS

the following account of suicide recently
committed in the town of Jhitomir, under
exceptionally appalling circumstances: a
few days ago well-dressed traveller arrived
ut the Hotel de France of that city, statfg
that ho was Mr.. Joseph, o., 40 colonial
agent, and that he wished to stay o short
time in Jhitomir upon business. A room
on the second floor of the hotel was assigned
to him, and he spent two or three days in
walking about the streets, although the
weather was uuusally wet and stormy On
the fourth evening he retired to his room
early and locked himself in. Next morn
ing he was called at his usual hour, but
returned no answer to the summons. After
a good deal Of futile knocking and shouting,
the hotel proprietor became alarmed at his
tenants protractcd silence and caused the
door Of the room to be broken open. A
terrible spectacle presented itself to the
assembled household. Mr.. O.-'s body
was lying on the bare bedstead, from which
the mattress and bed clothes had been
removcd; one of the sheets partly covered
the legs of the corpse, which was otherwise
in state Of nudity, his left hand pressed
tightly upon the region Of the heart, and
his right hand convulsively clutching The
hair The eyes were wide open, fixed in
CLASSY death stare, and features distorted
with agony. An oppressive odor, as Of
scorched fat, pcrvadcd the room. No
wound was perceptible upon the body, but
the chest was transvorscly barred in several
places by dull red stripes. AS soon as the
police, accompanied by the local medical
officer, had made it's appearance on the
scene of this horrible tragedy, the corpse
was turned over 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 to be completely carbonized.-
Upon the floor, underneath the bedstead,
were discovered the wicks, imbcdded in a
little blotch of cold stcarine, of three can
dies, which had been taken out Of the can
dlcsticks and fixed upon the planking upon
layer of melted grease. Over the flame
of the ca ldles Mr.. O-.had lain upon
the skeleton framework of his hedstead
and suffered his spine to be slowly consumed
until he died. y manuscript, placed upon
table close to the bed, contained not only
a rcsun.c of the reasons which prompted
this unfortunate man to undergo sclt-in-
hictcd martyrdom, but minute details of the
torturing process by which he had chosen
to destroy his life. 1t was written in four
languagcs-Gcrman, Russian, Polish and
Czcchsh-and commenced in firm, bold
handwriting, the last few pages, however,
being scarcely lcgible, having evidently
been pcnned in dire agony. The first par
agraph, in German, ran as follows: IL
thought it would cease, but it ceases not
So bo it, then. Hereby 1 propose to solve
an important question, namely, are suicides
in their right senses, or arc they the vic
tins of mental alteration Thus the quos.
ton is commonly put but l fancy that it
does not touch the real point at issue. A
man makes up his mind to put an end to
his life when he finds that he takes no in
tcrcst in it; when he cannot discover in
the whole wide world the least thing which
awakcns sympathy in his breast. The qucs-
ton, therefore, is not whether the suicide
be mad or sane, but whether or not he have
anything to hope for from life. hope for
nothing in life but my intellect is pcrfcct>
ly clear. Gin Russiau) There is still
another question to solve. In German. }
Are suicides towards? That lover who
allowed himself to be dragged to death by
a horse before the eyes Of his bctrothcd
affords no proof to the contrary. Perhaps
he would have cast himself loose from the
cords that bound him had it been in his
power to do so. That other fellow, who
| burned himself to death in Odessa, was
probably no coward, for he might have
| thrown away the petroleum lamp and thus