West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1884-08-22
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/ Saul is the first recorded suicide. but
ever since his desperate end the cata.
logue has assumed u grim protractcd-
/ ness worthy of Dante. Ii is curious To
recollect how compa' ativoly modern
and how completely Western is its cs-
! umauon aS crime. Not word i'm
! old Testament history condemns IA.
/ In lindOoStan ''SUttcc" still obtains.
nor Is the "happy dispatch extinct in
| Japan. In Greece suicide was inflicted
! 10y the law. In the later Roman EN-
! pire 1t became almost identified will
| patriotism and independence: but,
under the more humane development
! OF (hr stianity. life ass mcd sacred
! aspect, and To Kill was TO murder ones
self; and so, though pathological and
other considerations avoid generally,
| 10y their influence ON CorOucr's Iurirs
such terrible consequences, by the COM
mon law u felo dc 81 fur.cits his prap-
erty, his viii becomes void rs To his
| personality, and Christian burial Is de-
MED him. Yet. though crime il is
! called. and though in uriouS and wicked
! "a 1t ccrta My is, it has ever been re-
| gardcd WI h somcthingof an awcstrurk
| compassion Tie ''onc more unror-
| tunatc' is beyond the reach of an
earthly tribunal nor can the primo
cause ot such a fell act bo other than
| cNtrc misery, for suicide from excess
of oy is in fact unknown.
Indebtedness and death claim both
! our sympathy and respect. and thus il
comes to pass that, whatever our alb
stract view may be, such strange con-
unct on of the two main human ills
VIII always evoke the pity and sorrow
of frail mortality. Ophclia and cthcllo,
| alike in nothing but their suicide. are
proof of this.
Indeed there arc so many kinds uf
suicides that they can hardly be ranked
| together. The irresponsible mind, un-
| hinged either by physical or SO allied
mental causes, the vi tim whelmed bv
| 1.-the Sings and arrows of outrageous
| fortune, the betrayed girl or bcggared
| gambler, goaded TO desperation, the
| man wantunly reckless of life. the mar
+ for n cause where Faith unfa th.ul
! keeps him falsely truo, the remorsclcss
| pcrpctrntor OF some wrong or another,
all llcr so widely in everything but
! their end rs To deserve a separate no.
! mcnclaturc. Nor is il rrcle ant or iI'-
! rcvcrcnt to imagine case where the
sanctity Of existence is moro than out
weighed by unmertcd a ony Some
| poor, ballcd, starving wrct h, who has
| none TO need or mourn him, who has
! strained every nerve in vain for work,
! the victim of "ovcr-population of
society of what You viii, may well
argue, like poor Joscphs in "Ncver Too
| Late TO Mend, - that tho future an not
be aS bad rs the present. Apart from
the religious side of the question. its
moral aspect mainly depends on the
| cowardicc OF an at that is the last lux
ury OF The lucklcss; and cowardicc
where none depend on the suicide.
| there can be none. IL is remarkable, if
we bear these considerations i'm mind.
| that in the evcr-increasng strain of
work and competition, and the grow
ing arti ciaitv of civilization, suicide
| has not increased more tban 10 has.
! Madness is far more prevalent, and
madness is the nurse Of suicide.
a noteworthy fac with regard 10
suicide is its epdemc character In
| the year 1906 no fewer than SIXTY per-
| ished by their own hand in Rouen, and
| in 1898 1870 destroyed themselves at
| Versailles. Periods Of convulsiOn and
| agitation, which unnaturally excite.
| often abnOrma.ly oxtinguish fine and
| sensitive minds, and if an acorn be
! planted in porcelain IL will soon break
|
| fruitful i'm suicide, and Goethe mad to
! defend himself from an imputed possi-
| bIlity In the same manner forms of
| sclf-d5struction seem TO be familiarIcd
! by initiation. Tho many suicides Of
late years ON the railroad attest this,
for To- submit To being run over by "a
steam engine must be- surely the mode
! Of death most TO be dreaded and last 10
! be- planned
Cur list Of suicides comprises. rough
! " the ruined. the heroic and the rcck-
| less. OF the ruined il would be com
! monplaco to speak. History, fiction,
! abound with examples, AMI both are
! united in the person of Chaltcton Sui
! eide rs, indeed The very shroud OF fail
| urc, and, as failure is always dramatic,
! il is on this side Of its interest that the
modern French drama has so
! wildly seized. Not that like
! the ancient siatucsque Greek
tragedy. the suicide is wont to occur
silently and of the stage. Sara Bern
| hartt and CrOiZctte poison themselves
! vchcmcntIy almost vOrac ously aud
! such dcnOucmcnls are rendered both
! psyc icaly and physically sensational
] still less is 10 necessary here 90 discuss
| the heroic suicides that we have
] tNNiifINlt' dN Dli' Ol NfFtIN. uIHIlNfI
! subdivisions. Cato and eneca arc
| typical instances, and thc-e has even
been a mock heroic suicide. that Of
! y atel, the chiyalrOu chef. who killed
! himself n honorable dc pair because
! enough fish was not duly supplied TO
! thr royal tables and was clcgi ed and
/ culoglcd bv Eoilcau. But the sui ide
| who rockies Ay dsrc0ards his life .s a
! rarcr and more fascinating study. the
| yoluptuary and thc hypocb.ndriac will
| occasionally thus end their DAYS and
| the famous story of the 'Suici q CluJ
| commemorate how an a5so iatiOn Of
/ such callOus ~ybaritcs would meet 1T
| periodical banquets each o which was
| bv some poi-O cd Wand destined 20 end
! the life ot one OF them that one b.iup
| kept in ignorance of DIS doom -L LDll-
/ doU Gi0tc.
/ Ex-Marshai Maxwell. of Utah. "a.
/ Tcporfe q -a inc tha about tlc mo 3