The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1879-10-17
AN EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.

EAPEHfENCk. .1tft ~
The St. Petersburg Zeitang publishes
the following account of a suicide reccntlT1
committed in the town of Jhitomir, undsf
exceptionally appalling circumstances;
| few days ago well.dressed traveller arrivfd
at, the Hotel de France OF that city, statHg
that hs was Mr.. Joseph, o., a colonial
| agent, and that he wished to stay q 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 foureh 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
q good deal of futile knocking and shouting,
the hotel proprietor became alarmed at his
tenants protracted 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
rem oved; one of the sheets partly covered
the legs of the corpse, which was otherwise
in q state of nudity, his left hand pressed
tightly upon the region Of the heart, and
his right hand convulsively clutching HE
hair. The eyes were wide open, fixed in
CLASSY death stare, and features distorted
with agony. An oppressive odor, as Of
scorched fat, pervadcd the room. No
wound was perceptble upon the body, but
the chest was transversely barred in several
places by dull red stripes AS soon as the
police, accompanied by the local medical
officer, had made its 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-strcken spectators.
A deep and broad burn was exhibited
in the middle of the back, and the spine
was found to be completely carbonizcd.-
Upon the floor, underneath the bedstead,
were discovered the wicks, imbedded in
little blotch of cold stearine, of three can
dies, which had been taken out of the can
dlesticks and fixed upon the planking upon
layer Of melted grease. Over the fame
of the ca ldlos Mr.. O--had lain upon
tho skeleton framework of his bedstead
and suffered his spine to be slowly consumed
until he died a manuscript, placed upon
table close to the bed, contained not only
a resume of the reasons which prompted
this unfortunate man to undergo self.in-
ficted martyrdom, but minute details of the
torturing process by which he had chosen
to destroy his life 1t was written in four
ansuages-Gcrman, Russian, Polish and
Czechish-and commenced in firm, bold
handwriting, the last few pages, however,
being scarcely lcgible, having evidently
been penned in dire agony. The first par
agraph, in German, ran as follows: 81
thought it would cease, but it ceases not
So be it, then. Hereby propose to solve
an important question, namely, are suicides
in their right senses, or are they the vic.
Tins of mental alteration Thus the quos-
ton is commonly put; but 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
terest in it; when he cannot discover in
the whole wide world the least thing which
awakons sympathy in his breast. The ques-
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 perfcct>
y clear. Gin Russian) There is still
another question to solve. In German.
Are suicides towards That lover who
allowed himself to be dragged to death by
horse before the eyes of his betrothed
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
saved his life. Yet his clothes were alrea-
dy on fire, and the straw he was lying upon
was smouldcring; still he may have wished
to escape death had it beon feasible. Now
burning candle, to the flame of which the
backbone and spinal marrow ar exposed,
must certainly make an end of life; that cast
Of death must be attended with atrocious
sufferings and the person inflicting 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. will submit myself to this torture.
Qn Russian) Should not succeed in
enduring the pain, the question will be
settled, at least for the present, in the
sense that suicides arc towards. But
if my corpse be found, exhibiting proof
that have obtained death by two agencies
~ b,,n;n.~ oonlloa oa g.