Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-10
CONGRESSIONAL SUICIDES.
Examples Which Congressman CuH5er
son Tried to Follow.

Z Esmpie5 Which Congressman CaE,ert-
son Tried to Follow.
Congrs ssman CUI5ertsOn, of Kentucky,
who attempted to commit suicide q week
ago. and whose act mas been the subject
of so Il-lch comment, says a Washington
special TO the New York World, is on the
high read TO recovery. He viii soOn be in
Kentucky looking after his iron manufac-
turing interests, which are quite large
Mr.. CulbertsOn's rash act recalls many
interesting incidents among men who
have preceded him in House or Senate.
One Of the most prominent was the suicide
Of & on. Preston King, who for many years
REPRESENTED the State of New York in the
Senate Of the United States. lie was
large man in figure and heart-a sort Of
David Davis, in person at least-and like
most men of large weight was tender
hearted and sympathetic. He was
appointed by President johnson Collector
Of the port Of New York after his retire
u-enJ from the Senate. The duties of that
e-iice and the annOyances of its admins
tratiOn, particularly the appeals for posi-
tiOn, bore upon his mind, and one day he
was missing. Efforts TO find him were
after a week successful, when his body
was found floating in the river, attached
to which was a 2j-pOund bag of shot. The
tender-hearted Collector, driven to des-
peratiOn, had sought death in this man
ner. The suicide of so prominent a man
in such a strange manner created quite a
sensation at that time, and it is well re-
membered by old New Workers in govern
ment service here yet.
Another case of note was that of Thomas
jefferson Rusk. of Texas, who was a
member of the Senate in 1885, and who
committed suicide just after his retire
ment from that body by shooting. Wheth-
er the story of Senator Rusk's suicide is
as accurate as thatOf Senator King is I'M
certain, and it can only be given as gath
cred here but not as a matter of historical
record. Senator Rusk was very prOmi
nent in Texas, which State he represented
in the Senate. He had been Secretary Of
War in the Republic of Texas when it
was a Republic, and had held other prom
inent positions there. In the early
history of Texas many of its citi-
Zens were, the story goes, men
who had found it convenient to leave
their former residences on account of incl
dents 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 was such a story. 1t is alleged
that his death was the result of having
this sort Of charge thrown against him in
/ the Senate during debate. His suicide
was by shooting, and occurred at his
home in Texas soon after leaving the
Senate.
4 kentuckian whose illustriOus exam
pie Mr.. CulbertsOn tried to follow was
Congressman Hise, who represented that
State in the Thirty-ninth Congress and
had been elected to the Fortieth. lie had
also been United States Minister to Gau-
te maula, and had likewise taken prOmi-
nent part in the negotiating party between
the United States and Great Britain i'm
mediately preceding the Clayton Bulwer
treaty. His suicide was supposed to have
been the result Of mOnomania caused by
OYeTWOrk.
Still another Kentucky suicide was that
of James l.. Johnson, who was in the
Thirty-tirst Congress. He killed himself
at greensboro, Ky, during a fit of de-
spOndency caused by illness.
The case of man more prominent than
any of those already mentioned was that
of LincOln's most prominent Cabinet Off
Ger, Secretary of War Edwin NJ. Stanton.
He is printed in history as having died
suddenly. Old residents of Washington,
however, who were here at the time of lis
death, and who were in position to know
by reason OF their intimacy with men
prominent in public life, say that Mr..
Stanton died from an incisiOn in the throat
made by his own hand in a fit of insanity
n
of this the most responsible position in the
greatest war this country has ever seen.
Whether Mr.. John Ewing, who repre-
scented Indiana in the Twenty-third and
Twenty-fifth Congresses, committed sui
eide is not stated in history, but his death
was at least a curious one. He was found
sitting in his chair at Vincennes dead.
and the following couplet, freshly writ
ten, lay beside him:
Here lies a man who loves his friends,
His God, his country anu Nlncennes.'
Felix Mcconnell, of Mississippi, was
one of the most brilliant orators in the
Twenty-eighth and TWenty-ninth Con
crosses, but Felix had a weakness for
liquor, so the story goes, and after a long
spree cut his throat in the St. Charles Ho-
tel in this city and died.
John ID. AshmOre, of South Carolina,
was in the Thirty-siXth Congress and was
also in the Confederate army. He blew
out his brains in 1871 at Sardis. Miss.
Williamson r. w. Cobb, of Alabama,
was an Nj. G. from 81 to 81, when he
withdrew on the secession of Alabama,
and became a member of the Confederate
Congress. His death occurred from a
pistol shot, the weapon being held in his
own hand, though that it was intentional
suicide is not certain. The suppOsition
was that the discharge Of the pistol was
accidental.
There have been rumOrs Of late that the
Hon. Hester Clymer, of Pennsylvania,
who, a few weeks since, was reported as
having fallen a victim TO apOpleXy, was
really a victim OF suicide. This, how
ever, has not been fully confirmed.
James II. Lane, of Lawrenceburg, Ind,
son Of Amos Lane, who represented
that district in Congress, was a Senator
from Kansas from 1861 to 1866. He shot
himself at his home soon after his retire
ment from the Senate.
SObeisk Ross, who was in the Forty
third and EOurty-fOurth Congresses, from
Pennsylvania, committed suicide shortly
after his retirement from Congress by
shooting in his barn at his home in Penn
sylvania. Loss of health and consequent
dependency were alleged as the cause.
John White, Of Kentucky, who was In
the Twenty-fOurth, Twenty-ffth, Twenty
sixth, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth
Congresses and was Speaker of the House
in the TwentY-seventh, and an uncle of
John ID. 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 Senator from Illinois, COM
mitted suicide in 1850 by cutting his
throat with razor because Of mental abb
erratiOn.
Alfred p. Stone, who was in theTwenty-
eighth Congress from the Columbus, o.,
district, was afterwards appointed Col
lectOr Of Internal Revenue, and having
engaged in some cOntraband cotton spec
ulatiOn and become defaulter, commit
ted suicide upon the discovery of this fact
by taking poison. He died on the graves
of his two nhiIIrae, at tho onY1afarv Fnor