The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-07-03
SOME NOTABLE SUICIDES IN
WASHINGTON.

The recent announcement that q Secre-
tary of the Japanese legation had shot
himself through the head. at his resi-
dence in Washington city. has naturally
called to mind some other instances OF
| ttlo-dF-se which have occurred at the ma
tional capital since the year 1928, which
are Of general interest, owing to the
position held by the unfortunate men at
the time of their self-destruction. or the
circumstances connected with their
deaths.
The suicide of Mr. Agce Takato, secre-
tary of the Japanese legation, which oc-
CURED in Washington, on Saturday night,
June 9th, attracted comparatively little
attention at the time, owing to the fact
that the public mind was then, and for
some days afterward, entirely occupied
by the details of the Chicago Convention.
Moreover, the unfortunate gentleman had
been so short time i'll Washington that
he had few acquaintance there. lie az
rived the middle of April, and had spent
portion of the time thereafter in New
York, visiting the friends he made there
while student at the Law School of Co
lumbia College. He passed seven years
in this country acquiring his education,
and returned in 1876 to Japan, where he
was given a government appointment
prior to being sent to Washington rs a
secretary of legation.
He was about thirty years old, and no
one seems able to assign cause for the
mental depression which ended in his
shooting himself through the head with
a revolver. He left note for his rela-
tives in JAPAN but, as it was sealed, the
members of the Japanese legation have
no clew to any explanation he may have
made therein, but have forwarded it as
addressed. His family is an important
one in Japan. His body was placed in a
vault in the beautiful cemetery in George
town, Oak Hill.
1t is a singular coincidence that several
suicides, and death from accidental
shooting, have occurred in the immediate
neighborhood of the house in which this
one took place, No. 1871 Eleventh street.
n. w.
Opposite is the house-No. 100 NJ
Street-in which Captain Edward VI.
Wright. of the Ordnance Corps, L. S.
A.. shot himself on the oath of last April
1t is also asserted by the neighbors that
a young department clerk blew his brains
out within the last two years in the same
room in which the Japanese secretary's
suicide occurred.
The suicide of a member of the dplo-
matte corps has happily not been of fire.
quent occurrence in the United States.
Two other and very notable instances, in
addition to that first cited, are, however,
mentioned as occurring in Washington,
in one of which, like that of the Japanese,
the revolver was the instrument of death,
and in the other the suicide chose hang
ing. Both of these were Foreign Minis
tiers. One was Don Pablo Oregon, a
Minister from Mexico; the other and the
more recent case, was that of NJ. Lucien
Anatole Prevost-P aradol; Minister from
France to the United States. who shot
himself through the heart, at his resi-
dence in Washington, at \. NJ, July 90,
1870. He was Partisan by birth, and
residence, and had taken 4 prominent
part in French politics, but had not long
been supporter of Napoleon III, when
the latter sent him to Washington as
Minister. He arrived in the city in July,
1870, and presented his credentials to
President Grant on July l6-less than a
week before he terminated his life by
his own hand. He had taken 4 residence
on New York Avenue, between Ninth
and Tenth streets, and was living there
alone with his servants. \ valet and
femme de chamJre were the only other
persons in the house at the time of the
suicide. VI. Paradols son and daughter,
both of whom were under twenty, had
not accompanied him to Washington, but
were at Newport when the shocking
event occurred. This suicide was great
mystery at the time, and the only explain
alton made-temporary insanity-was not
altogether satisfactory, since, while NJ.
Paradol had seemed much depressed in
spirits for some time previous, his friends
had not attached great Importance to his
condition, and had ascribed his melan-
choly to some indisposition occasioned by
the heat, which was intense ut that time,
and to which, Of course, he was unaccus-
toned. The war between France and
Prussia, which had then just begun, was
also believed to have greatly affected
him.
lie had three chillren-two daughters
and son. The youngest child remained
in France when its father came to this
country. The daughter who returned to
France with her fathers corpse entered
Il convent, and died of broken heart -
The son has since committed suicide;
which facts suggest a melancholy tem-
permanent in the family, and give plausi-
blity to the theory of VI. Paradols in
sanity at the time he killed himself The
Catholic priest who used the rites of that
church at his funeral at St. Matthew s
Church, Washington, believed this. OF he
would not have been permitted by the
laws of the Church to give suicide a
christian burial.
The servants. though strangers in this
country, had from the first objected to
the house into which NJ. Paradol moved
so promptly after arriving in Washing
ton, insisting that it was haunted.
Strange to say, it was afterward discov-
cred that there had been two previous
cases of suicide in the same house
The first instance of a foreign Minister
killing himself in Washington is the most
interesting, owing to the fact that disap-
pointment in love occasioned the deep
seated melancholy and aggravated the
physical ailments which led to the deed.
Don Pablo Oregon was the second Min
lister Plenipotentiary and Envoy EXtraor-
binary accredited to the United States by
our neighbor Mexico. lie is well remem-
bered by many now living in Washing
ton as 4 most fascinating gentleman i'll
manners and appearance, and a great
favorite in society. He presented hia
credentials to President Monroe. Novem-