The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-13

Brief Record of Some Members Of Congress
Who Committed FeIo De Sc.

Who Committed FeIo De Sc.
Washington Post.
The recent attempted suicide Of Congressman
Culbertson recalls a number of prominent IN
stances of the taking of Of politicians, One OF
the most prominent of these was the suicide Of
Preston King. who for many years represented
New York He was q large man in figure and
heart. a sort of David Davis in person, at least,
and, Ike most men OF large weight, was tender
hearted and sympathetic. He was appointed by
President Andrew johnson Collector of the Port
of New York after his retirement from the Sen
ate. The duties of that Office, and the annoy
ances OF It's administration, particularly the APP
peals for positions, wore upon the mind of MT.
King. and one day he was missing. Efforts to
find him were after a week successful his body
being found in the river with a twenty fverpound
bag of shot attached.
Another suicide of note was that of Hon
Thomas Jefferson Rusk, of Texas, who was a
member of the Senate in 1856, and who commit
ted suicide just after his retirement from that
body, by shooting himself, at his hemein Texas.
Senator Rusk was very prominent in Texas,
which State he represented ia the Senate. He
had been Secretary of War in Texas, when it
was a republic, and had held other prominent
positions there.
A KeRtuckian whose example MI. Culbertson
tried to follow was Congressman Hirt. who rep
resented Kentucky in the Thirty ninth Congress,
and had been elected to the Fortieth. He had
also been United States Minister to Guatemala,
aud had likewise taken . prominent part ia the
negotiating pdrley between the TINTED O6AbeS
and Great Britain. Immediately preceding the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty. His suicide w~assnpposed
to have been the result Of monomania, caused
by oEerwork- Still another Kentucky snieide
was that of James L. johnson, who was in the
Thirty first Congress He sHicided at Greensboro,
KY, during . fit of dependency caused by i'll
ness.
Whether John Ewing, who represented In
diana IN the Twenty-third and twenty fifth Con
crosses, committed suicide is not stated in history,
but his death IN 1851 was at least q curious one.
He was found sitting dead in his chair at Vim
cennes, and the following eoupiet, freshly writ
ten, lay beside him:
Here lies a man who loves his friends,
His God, his country, aRd Kincennes
Other suicides recalled are those Of Felix
Mcconnell, of Mississippi. who cut his throat,
j d. Oshman, of South Carolina, who blew out
his brains; James II Lane, of Indiana, and Sobi
eski Ross, of Pennsylvania, both Of whom
shot themselves; John White, Of Ken
lucky, who was in the Twenty fourth,
Twenty-ffth, T~wenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh
and Twenty eighth Congresses, and was Speaker
of the House in the REIMBURSEMENT, and uncle
of John D. White, member of the present Con-
gress, committed suicide at Richmond, KY, by
cutting his throat
Alfred p. Stone, who was in the Twenty
eighth CONGRESS- from the Columbus, o., dis
triet, and afteFward appointed Collector of In
ternal Revenue, having engaged IN some con
traband cotton speculation, and; beea use a de-
~faulteP, he committed suicide upon the discov-
cry Of this fact by taking poison ane dying on
the graves of his two children. at the cemetery
near Columbus, in 1865 Only a few weeks ago
it was authovitatively stated thar Hester ely
mer's death, which had been reported as the re-
sultNof apoplexy, was caused by morphine taken
with suicidalinten