Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-07-31
Suicide.

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s4aAs sss=@ ~
Saul is the first recorded suicide, but
ever since his desperate end the eata-
legue has assumed grim protracted-
ness wortny OF Dante. It is curious to
recoIlect how comparatively modern
aud how completely Western is its es-
timation as crime Not word in
| Old Testament history condemns it
| In Hindoostan 'suttee" still obtains.
| nor Is the happy dispatch extinct in
Japan. In Greece suicide was inflicted
| by the law. In the later Roman En-
pire it became almost identified with
patriotism and independence; but,
under the more humane development
| of Christianity. life assumed sacred
aspect, and to kill was to murder ones
self; and so, though pathological and
other considerations avoid generally,
by their influence on. Coroner's juries,
such terrible consequences, bythe COM
mon law a felo de Sc foFfeits his prop
erty. his Will becomes void IS to his
personality, and Christian burial Is de-
MED him. Yet. though crime it is
I called and though In curious and wicked
as it certa; My is, it has ever been re-
garded wkh something of an awestrnck
compassion The zone more unfor-
tunatea Is beyond the reach of an
earthly tribunal: nor can the prime
cause of such a fell act be other than
extreme misery, for suicide from excess
of 10Y is in fact unknown. sxs,s i.
Wretchedness and death claim both
our sympathy and respect. and thus it
comes to pass that, whatever our abb
stract view may be. such strange con-
junction of the two main human Ills
will always evoke the pity and sorrow
of frail mortality. DPhelia and Gthelio,
alike IN nothing bat their suicide. are
proof of this. 3. sttig1ss Il asa
Indeed, there are SO many; kinds of
suicides that they tan hardly be ranked
together. The irresponsible mind. un-
hinged either by physical or sors allied
mental causes, the vi tim whelmed BY
the sings and arrows of outrageous
fortune" the betrayed girl or beggared
gambler, goaded to desperation, the
man wan tonly reckless OF. life. the mar
+ ar for a cause where Faith unfaithfnl
keeps him falsely true, = the remorseless
perpeiratOr of some wrong or another,
all differ SO widely in everything but
their end IS to deserve a separate no.
menclature.. Nor is il irrelevant or m
reyerent to imagine . case where the
VI tAl4bCklNC 10 u1O1C bu6u oub~
weighed by unrneribed agony Some
poor, bafied, starving wreta h. who has
none to need or mourn him, who has
strained every nerve In vain for work,
the victim of 5.'oTer-pepnlation.' Il q. Of
society of what You will, May well
argue, like poor Josephs inss Never Too
Late to Mend, - that the future an not
be as bad as the present. Apart from
the religious side of The question, its
moral aspect mainly >. depends on the
cowardice of an act that is the last lux
urv of the fuck1ess; and cowardice,
where none; depend on the, suicide.
there can be none. It is remarkable, if
we bear these considerations in mind.
that in the eyer-increasing strain of
work and competition. and the grow
ing artifciality of civilization, suicide
has not increased more than it has. /
Madness is far more prevalent, and
madness is the nurse of suicide! ssi4
A noteworthy fac t with regard to
suicide is its epidemic character. In
the year 1906 no fewer than sixty per-
ished by their own hand in Ronen. and
in 1913 100 destroyed themselves at
Versailles. Periods of CONFUSION and
agitation, which unnaturally excite,
often abnorma.ly extinguish fine and
sensitive minds, and if an acorn be
planted in porcelain it will soon break
the pot. The -Werther,'H craze was
fruitful in suicide, and Goethe had to
defend himself from an imputed possi-
bility In the same manner forms of
self-destruction seem to be fanliliarized
by initiation The many suicides of
late years on the railroad attest this,
for to submit to being run over by q j
steam engine must be surely the mode
Of death most to be dreaded and last to
be planned = - i
Cur list Of suicides comprises. rough
", the ruined. the heroic and the re4k-
less OF the ruined it would be-. COM
monplace to.speak History, fiction, 1
abound with ekasaF1es, and both are
united in the personeof Chatteton- Sui
eide Is, indeed the, very shroud of fail
ure. and, as failure is always dramatic,
it is on this side Of its interest that the |
modern French drama has SO
wildly seized. Not that like
the ancient statuesque Greek
tragedy. the suicide is wont to occur |
silently and off the stage Sara Bern
hardt and Croizette poison themselves !
vehemently, almost voraciously, and !
such denouements are rendered both |
psycaacaHy ana Pnysicaifv SenSatfonaf |
StilI less is it necessary here to discuss |
the heroic suicides that we have
enumerated as one of several distinct !
sub divisions- ). Cato and seneca are
typical instances. and there has even
been "a mock heroic suicide. that of
Fatel, the chiyalrous chef, who killed
himself in honorable despair because l
enough fish was not duly supplied TO
the royal tables. and was eiegiEed and /
eulogized by Boileau. But the sai-ide
who recklessly disregards his life is a
rarer and more fascinating study; the,
and the hypochondriac will |
thus end their days and
The famous story of the Suicide Cluo'
how an association of
such callous, Sybarites would meet at
periodical banquets. each OF which was
bv some poisoned Wand destined to end
the life of one of them, that one being
kept Id ignorance Of his doom. Lon
ion Globe. "A
The Coal Pool. as
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