Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-05-08


"ConsiderinS tl,s number Of diseases
of homicidal and suicidal impulse that
come under the notice of experts IN
nervotis Diseases" distinguished
specialist remarked, lit is wonder TO
me that so few tragedies from that
source really happen. Last week
business man in this city. who owns q
handsome country residence ON me
Hudson, and would be regarded oy MS
acouaintances as the last person in the
world to be possessed by such wham:
came to me in great worry OF mind ana
told me he had something to communl-
cate that must be held strictly inviolate.
The story was typical. have heard IL
with triiiing variations thousand times
in five wears. He had not been feeling
v nv well rather nervous and Ill az
ease-for some days. That morning.
as he left the house to take the train Tor
New York. he happened to pass his gar
dener who was at work on the grounds.
and stopped to talk to him minute:
The man was stopping over clump OF
ornamental shrubbery. thinning put the
dead stalks with a pruning Knife. a
spade was leaning against the trunk OF
a tree at his feet. Il had never had any
quarrel OF misunderstanding with the
man. said this patient. telling his story.
But the impulse was upon me In an IN
slant to seize that spade and brain the
poor fellow on the spot. trembled all
over like n leaf, with kind of nervous
terror that l can scarcely describe to
YOU. Doctor. Finally, not daring to
trust myself longer, turned and walked
away as fast as my legs coaid conven-
iently carry me. lelicve. sir. that l
should have Killed the man if had lin
gered five minutes longer. Now, what
is to be done?',''
The doctor advised his patient to
avoid temptation for a few days, turn
his mind resolutely to something else,
and gave him sedative prescription
bromides, of course with instructions
to call again in day or two. The
man was sensible enough to act ON the
advice. and on the fourth day he
dropped in and told the doctor that the
trouble had passed OF and he felt like
himself once more. And so tragedy
was averted, probably.
The physician went on to say that ne
had no less than nine cases OF homl-
cidal or suicidal impulse then under
treatment, OF these, seven were sui
c:dal and the other two homicidal. One
OF the latter had been on his hands for
three weeks. The Patient, man OF
some note in literature, had been sleep
less for several weeks before the i'm
pulse manifested itself He was a
married man, and loved his wife de-
vo.e.ily. One night, after doing q
few minutes with terrible dreams, he
awokc with a strange presentiment OF
Impending disaster. His wife was
sleeping quietly. The moonlight strug-
Cling through the window pane fell up
on her face and white, shapely throat.
As sudden rs the leap OF tiger, the
impulse seized him to cut the woman 8
throat, and he was actualy out of bed
ana hunting for his razor in the bureau
drawer before any realizing sense of
the enormity of the deed that he was
about to perpetrate interpreted to pre-
vent the tragedy. He returned to bed
and lay in tremble till daylight. His
wife never knew how near she had been
to death. He had no wish to kill
anybody else as yet.
Zone of my suicidal patients" con-
tinued the doctor, ''was first seized with
the impulse on Brooklyn ferry-boat.
He had been across the river on bust
ness, and was on his way back. He
went on board one of the boats ut the
Fulton ferry and stood gazing listlessly
at the rampant of business houses ex-
tending far to the right on Furman
street The boat started suddenly as
he stood Illuminating. He insists that
the impulse had its origin in irritation
OF the rctina caused by the movement
of the sunshine floOded surfaces of
brick across the optic field, and very
likely he is right. For an instant he
says, 4 was wild; and when came to
myself my hand was on the railing and
a coupe of stalwart passengers had col
Jared me. had never thought of such
a thing rs comm tting suicide except as
Il towards resource Now" added the
doctor, "ihis man was no more mad
than l am; it was a typical case of sui
cidal impulse, caused, perhaps, by long
nervous tension.
In point of fact, both suicidal and
homicidal impulses appear to be far less
frequent with women than men. In all
his experience, the doctor has treated
only i've cases of the impulse in women,
while of the sterner sex his patients
have been numbered by scores. He in
lines &c the belief that the habit con.
tracted by men of business of always
being in II hurry, engaged, occupied, is
one of the principal instrumentalities,
next to malaria poisoning. in producing
this type OF nervous disturbance. land
l imagine lie concluded, "tEat our
former Commissioner of LUnacy, DIR.
Oruronnaux. was not far cut of the way
when he declared that one man in every
hundred who walks the str, cts is poten-
italy murderer or a suicide; {. start
Ing declaration, but one that my own
practice during the last ten years has
abundantly verified. IT,
Sometimes the impulse is accompanied
by voices in the ears, urging the patient
70 kill; sometimes a red Eght-lurid,
dismal, weird -suifuscs the eyes, and
with one of the doctors patients the
attack Is announced invariably by a
premon.tory SILVER or shudder of mo-
mentary duration only, which precedes
it by second or two. 1t is curious
fact. also, that serious organic trouble
with the brain and spinal tract seldom
gives rise to these strange parOxysms.-
A. y. tun.