The Orangeburg democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, 1879-05-30
KILLED THEMSELVES.
AMERICAN CONGRESSMEN WHO HAVE
COMMITTED SUICIDE,

Ihe Chicago tribune says: Rid
dies suicide is simply the last Of a
list which begins with the foundation
Of the government. His Is similar,
lin some respects, TO that Of James
Blair, Representative from South
Carolina, in the Twenty4first, Twen-
ty-second and Twentysthird Congress-
es. During the first session Of the
Twenty-third Congress, Blair attend
ed the Washington Theatre ope night,
and, being displeased with the actors,
fired loaded pistol at them, for
which he was arrested aud. fined S5.
Physicians testified that he was under
the influence of brandy and opium,
taken to alleviate pain from chronic
rheumatism. Three weeks afterward,
April ], 1884, he blew out his brains
with pistol at his boarding house,
on Capital Hill.
Similar in many points Of The case,
was that Of Felix G. Mcconnell, a
Representative from Alabama, in the
Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth
Congresses, WHO committed suicide in
fit OF de!irium, in the st. Charles
Hotel, Washington, by stabbing HIM
self in the abdomen and then cutting
his throat, September 10, 1916.
Elijah Hisc, Representative in
the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Con-
crosses, committed suicide at Russoll-
vile, May s, 1876. Hise was the
Democratic candidate for Lieutenant
Governor of Kentucky in 1886, but
was defeated; was Charge .d'1faires
at Guatemala from Narchl31, l848,
to June 80, l849; was Presidential
Elector on the Buchanan and Breck-
enridge ticket in 1856, and served in
Congress from December 5, 1866, to
March 3, 1869.
John White is to be added to the
list. He was born in 1905; received
an academic education studied law :;
was admitted TO the bar, and prac-
ticed at Richmond, Ky; was elected
a Representative from Kentucky in
the Twenty-fourth Congress, as a
Wing, without oppositions. and was
successfully reelected to the Twenty
fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh
and Twenty-eighth Congresses with
out opposition, serving from Decem-
ber Z, 1885, to March 8, 1S45; was
Speaker of the House during the
Twenty-seventh Congress; was Judge
of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of
Kentucky committed suicide at Rich
mond, Kentucky, September %,
1945.
James G. Wilson, United States
Senator froa; New Jersey, fro:n De-
cembcr 4, 19l5, to 1921, WAS severe
ly injured in 1882, by imagining in
fit of delirium that his house was
on fire and throwing himself from q
second-story window. He had been
editor of the True American clerk
for many years of the State House oi
Representatives; was appointed by
President Monroe postmaster q
Trenton, and at the time pf his fit !oI
dclirium was member Of the State
House.
William Ramsey, of Pennsylvania,
is another Congressman who died by
his own hand: Born in 1910 lie was
attached to the American Legation
at London, under Minister Steven
son; was elected Representative
from Pennsylvania in the Twenty.
sixth Congress as Van Buren, Dem.
ocrat, serving from December 2,
1889, to October z, 1910, and re.
elected 10 the ,Twenty-sevcnth Con.
gross. A few weeks after he com.
mittcd suicide at Barnum's Hotel
Baltimore, by shooting himself in the
right eye.
John Ewing, of Indiana, was found
dead IN his room at Vinccnnes, Indi.
ana, in December, 1857. He had
been Representative IN the Twenty.
third and Twenty-fifth Congresses,
serving until 1889, and had served in
the State Senate. On his table was
found the following epitaph, appa.
rently just written by himself:
Here lies man who loved his friends,
His God, his country and Yincennes."
A mournful and tragic suicide was
that of Alfred F. White, of Ohio.
White had been q member of the