The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-09-04
Aadersun gute1ligstresr.
FAMOUS SUICIDES.
A List Of Congressmen Who Have Died by
Their Own Hands.

Congressman Culbertson, Of Kentucky,
who attempted suicide week ago, and
has been the subject Of so much COM
ment, is on the big b road to recovery.
He will soon be in Kentucky looklng
after his iron manufacturing interests,
which are quite large. Mr.. Culbertsons
rash act recalls some interesting incidents
of that nature among men who have
preceded him in House or Senate. One
of the most prominent of those was the
suicide of the Hon. Preston King, who
for many years represented, .the. state OF
New York in the Senate OF the United
States. He was large man in figure
and in heart, sort Of David Davis in
person at least, and, like most persons of
large weight, was tender-hearted and
sympathetic. He was appointed by
President Andrew johnson Collector of
the Port of New York. after his retire.
ment from the Senate. The duties OF
that Office and the annoyances OF its ad'
ministration, particularly the appeals tor
position, bore upon the mind of King,
and one day he was found missing.
efforts to find him were, after week,
successful. when his body was found
floating in the river, attached to which
was q twenty-five pound bag OF shot.
The tender.hearted Collector, driven to
desperation by the appeals OF office seek
ers, had sought death in this manner.
The suicide of 80 prominent man IN
such a.strange way created quite sensa'
ton at that time, and it is we'll remem.
bered BY old New Workers in government
service here yet. Another suicide OF note
was that of the Hon. Thomas Jefferson
Rusk, of Texas, who was memoe! OF
the Senate in 1886, aud who committed
suicide Just. after his retirement from
that body, sby shooting, Whether the
story Of Senator Rusk's suicide is as ac-
curate as that of Senator King is uncer.
tain. Il can only be given az gathered
here. and is not a matter OF historical
record. as is the case of Senator King.
Senator =Rusk was very prominent ID
Texas, which State be represented IN the
Senate. He had been Secretary of War
in the Republic of Texas when it vas
republic. and had held other prominent
positions there. In the early history OF
Texas many of its citizens were, the
story goes, men who had found it con-
syenient to leave their former residences
Oh account of incidents which law and
good society did not tolerate. The story
that this was the cause of Mr.. Rusk's
removal from South Carolina to Texas
has never been verified, but there is
story of this sort. Anyway, be the facts
what they may have been, yet it Is
alleged that his suicide was the result OF
having this sort Of charge thrown against
him in the Senate during debate. bis
suicide was by shooting, and occurred at
his home in Texas soon after leaving the
Senate. "a Kentuckian whose illustrious
example Mr.. Culbertson tried to follow
was Congressman Hise, who represented
Kentucky in the Thirty-ninth Congress,
and had been elected to the Fortieth.
He had also been United States Minister
to Guatamala, and had likewise taken
prominent part in negotiating treaty
between the United States and Great
Britain, Immediately preceding the Clay:
ton. BulWer treaty. His suicide was sup
posed to have been the result OF mono
mania, caused by overwork. Still anoth.
er Kentucky suicide was that OF james
l.. johnson, who was. lin the Thirty ,hrot
Congress. He suicided at Owensboro,
Kentucky, during fit of dependency
cansed by illness.
Whether Mr.. John Ewing, who repre-.
sented Indiana in the Twenty.third and
Twenty-ffth Congress, committed suicide
lis not stated in history, but bis death
was at least 3 curious one. He was found
sitting in his chair at Vincennes dead,
and the following couplet, freshly writ
ten, lay beside him:
Here. lies man who loves his friends,
His Gcd, his country and iyincennes.
His death occurred in 1857. Felix
Nice Connell, of Mississippi, was one .ot
the most brilliant orators in the Twenty.
eighth and Twenty ninth Congress; but
Felix had q weakness for liquor, so the
story goes, and after a long spree cut his
throat at the:St. Charles Hotel, in this
city, and died. John D. Ashmore, of
South Carolina, was in the Thirty sixth
Congress, and was also in the Conieder.
ate army. He blew out his brains in
1871, at Sardis, Miss. Williamson r.
w. Cobb, of. Alabama, was member OF
Congress from 1857 to 1861, when ne
withdrew on the secession OF Alabama
and became o member of the Confeder-
ate Congress. His death occurred from
q pistol shot, the weapon being hsld in
his. own hand, though that it was lnten-
tional suicide is not certain, the supposl-
ton being that the discharge of the pis-
tol was accidental. There have been
rumors here of late that the Hon. HES
ter Clymer, of Pennsylvania, who few
weeks since was reported as having fall
en- q victim to apoplexy, really died by
his Own hand; this, however, has not
been confirmed.
James 81. Lane, of Lawrenceburg, Ind,
a son of Amos Lane, who represented
that district in Congress and was Sena-
tor from Kansas from 1861 to 1866, shot
himself at his home in Kansas soon after
his retirement from the Senate. Sobieski
Ross, who was in the Forty.third and
Forty.fourth Congresses, from Pennsyl-
vania, auicided shortly after his return
from Congress, by shooting, in his barn
at home, in Pennsylvania; loss of health
and consequent despondence were alleged
as the cause.
John White, of Kentucky, who was
in the Twenty-fourth, Twenty.6fth,
Twenty.sixth, Twenty-seventh and TWEEN.
ty.eight Congresses, and was Speaker OF
the House in the Twenty.seventh, and
uncle of John D. White, member Of the
present Congress, committed suicide at
Richmond, KY, by cutting his throat.
Jesse B. Thomas, who was in the Tenth
Congress from Indiana Territory" who
was later on Senator from Illinois, suici.
ded in 1850 by cutting his throat with
razor because of mental alteration.
Alfred P. Stone, who was ir the Twenty.
eight Congress from the Columbus, Ohio,
district, was af.erward appointed Collec.
tor of Internal Revenue, and, having
engaged in some contraband cotton spec,
ulations and became defaulter, suicided
apon the discovery of this fact by taking
poison and dying upon the graves of his