Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-06-16

That the possession Of wealth, even Of millions
upon millions, does not always suflice to make
life happy, or even tolerable, was never more
cOnspicuously shown than In the recent suicide
of the Cleveland millionaire, Amasa Stone. His
act Of salf-destruction is by no means the only
one Of its kind recorded In modern American an
mails. though 1t should be said that very rarely
has rich man committed telo de se upon whom
there had not been exerted the severe compul-
sion OF complete ruin or supreme disgrace. Notes
upon some ofthe most noteworthy modern cases
OF suicide by wealthy persons may not be with
out their interest for the readers Of the World
GRoEsBECK.
Col. John Groesbeck was q brother Of William
s. Groesbeck, the well-known Ohio politician,
and upon his fathers death had inherited large
estate. He served with distinction in the war,
married happily, and with fine health seemed
to have all that mans heart could desire He
was lawyer by profession, but had turned
Spectator and was supposed to be doing well
In Wall street, when in a furry In telegraph
stock In 1877 his fortune disappeared-disap-
peared so completely that he found himself in
absolute want.
On the 18th of April, 1878 Colonel Groesbeck
left the Fifth-avenue hotel where he boarded,
telling the head waiter that he was going west.
He visited Wall street, where he played
friendly game of cards with brokers' clerk,
seemingly in excellent spirits; in the evening
he was seen up town; a few days later one Of
the walters saw him at Fort WadsvOrth, 8. l.,
and noticed that he seemed to be In trouble
Afterward nothing more was heard OF him
until the Goth Of May, when his body was found
floating In the North river. A loaded pistol and
bowie-knife were In the pockets, but there
was no wound or mark of violence on the
corpse. In one pocket was an empty envelope,
the writing on which had been almost washed
out by the brine. Nothing else.
RALsTON.
On the 26th Of August, 1875. the great Bank
Of California suspended business. For eighteen
months William C. Ralston, long its cashier, had
been its president. On the following day he
went out to q sea-bathing establishment on the
North Beach. A boy near by saw the fallen
fnancier, after DOMINIC his bathing-suit sit
down upon the shore, tear up some papers and
cast the fragments into the sea, drink off the
contents OF vial and plunge into the tumbling
surf. After swimming out to O distance of some
200 yards, Ralston disappeared behind a vessel.
Soon after his body, with scarce spark of life
Pickering in 1t, was seen drifting shOrewards
pallid and inert and though it was soon brought
to land and help was summoned. aid was all too
late. In the clearinghouse were found RalstOn's
statement to the bank and few dollars in cur
rency.
Ralston was one of the most brilliant and sue
cessful of the Occidental millionaires. Great as
was his ability, bis ambition was still greater
Quick and bold to plan, as prompt and daring in
execution he had made himself power on the
Pacific coast, and aspired to make that power
absolute in politics, mining railroad manage
ment. commerce. He had at Belmont a palace
which 1t cost millions to build and MAIN
tain, and the bank allowed him 800 600 a year
toward entertaining the scores Of guests whom
hundreds of .blooded horses bore daily out from
the city. His pride in the financial institution
with which he was so completely identified was
the strongest sentiment he had ever known,
and when, after series of unsuccessful specu-
lations-like that In Ophir in which he lost
%, 600 O0O-the fact had to be made public that
destroyed himself.
In February, 1878, Ann Lehman, whom New
Workers. knew better by the name of "Mad
Restell." was arrested in her fashionable man.
sion on the corner of 9Th avenue and SD street,
every stone of which, it might be said, was
cemented with blood. Her stout figure, dark
square features, thick black hair slightly
fecked with gray. and small, piercing black eyes
had been known to the residents of the city for
a generation.
Early on the LIST of April, AZ Mrs. Lohman's
chambermaid was descending to the basement
she knocked at the door of her mistress bed
room, and, receiving 10 answer, looked in to find
the bed empty; but as It's occupants night-gown
was lying on the floor she concluded Mrs. Lob
man was in her bath. and 80 went down
stairs. Returning after little while she
was struck by the stiffness of the apart
ment. and. glancing into the bathroom, was
Mortified to see the unclothed body of Mad
Restcl in the bath, which was filed it seemed,
with blood. With carving which lay by
the side Of the bath-tub the desperate woman
(whO had been acting strangely for some days,
moaning lamenting that she would be cause
lessly prosecuted. and insisting that her enc
mics were resolved upon cOnvcting herr had
severed the carotid artery. The parting of the
soul had left no trace Of agony upon the fea-
lures, which were peaceful and composed
She left an estate of S750, 900 to her grand
children, Charles r. Purdy and Mrs. Carrie
Shannon.
Two years afterward report, such as was
circulated at the time of DR.. Webster's execu-
been substituted for the woman's body, and
that she was living abroad in luxurious safety,
but it was disprOved.
LAFL1N
On the Gath Of September, 1873, Addison H.
Latin, ex-COngressman and naval officer of the
port of New York, having obtained possession
Of rope, despite the close watch kept over
him by his family, stole noiselessly up stairs to
the garnet of his house at Pittsfeld Mass, and
hanged himself to rafter, where his still warm
body was found by his Mortified wife few mo-
ments after his absence had been noticed He
was in his fifty-fourth year, rich and happy in
his family relations, but he had for year been
possessed of the hallucnatiOn that he was to be
overtaken by want, and had passed into state
Of brooding melancholy. He had been APP
pointed to the post of naval officer in 1871 when
Mr.. COnkling's friends secured their crushing
victory over the Fentonites. but only held it
few months, making way for Alonzo B. Cor
nell
He was not the only New York customs o.:
fetal who had died by his own hands. In the
exciting days OF Johnson's administration the
President appointed Preston King, a veteran
free-so democrat, whom the late E. D. Morgan
had just beaten for the Senatorship, to the col
lectorshp, in the place Of Simeon Draper, who
had been largely instrumental in Kings defeat
This was On the LIST of September 1865 The ex-
element Of the administration and the difficulty
of dividing the patronage as to satisfy all the
contending factions proved too much for Kings
brain, and he went mad. filed his pockets with
shot and threw himself from North river ferry
boat. His body was recovered six months after
ward. on the day that his successor, Henry A.
Smythe, was sworn in.
VANDERBILT.
The circumstances of the self-destrcction Of
Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt are too fresh in